Thanks for the reply. Windows Blinds was the problem. Game worked fine without it and did not work at all when it's running. They told me to exclude that application. But that was too late. I do not want to deal with a company that takes a week to reply to a simple email request. Yes both times I received a confirmation email. Tonight I have sent a 3rd request and received another confirmation email. Communication seems to be the problem here.

Either way I want my money back. Don't want to use Stardock's software. As simple as that. I noticed a significant improvement in my computer's performance after removing OD.

At this point I REALLY don't care about Stardock and have zero interest in helping them to provide a fix. After I get my refund I'm done with this company.

BTW my computer is

AMD Athlon 64 3500
2 GB DDRAM
nVidia 6600GT
360 GB of total HD space
Windows XP Pro SP2

So no it's not some old piece of junk.

Also I do not use IRC.

Still no reply.

Did you email sales@stardock.com to get your refund (if you are entitled to one)?

Did you contact support@stardock.com to determine that the software was at fault (therefore entitling you to a refund)?

This forum is NOT an official channel.

Regarding your Wincustomize serial, it looks fine here.  A renewal doesn't change the serial number so your existing one should continue to work just fine.

OK I received a reply from them. They want me to troubleshoot it even though I stated several times that I no longer have their software installed.

They offer a 75% refund otherwise. They won't explain why should I give them $13.72 for no reason. I know this is a holiday season but I'm not in that much of a giving mood right now.

I did email sales AT stardock DOT com tonight and will see what will happen. Also I received another Wincustomize serial but never tested it because I don't have any of the software installed on my computer.

Also once I purchase something I expect some support to be provided. Waiting for days to get a reply doesn't do it for me.

Well I don't really care about their policies. Normally I use my credit card and duspute the charges if neccesary but I made a mistake and used my debit card for this purchase. That makes things more complicated. Already contacted my bank but it will take more time.


Either way I'll leech some bandwidth and share some links if I get 75% refund.

Hello Jason. Thanks for the suggestion but for almost a month now I did not use Stardock software.

I'm reinstalling it now and will use it for some time and after that I'll request 75% refund. That way at least I'll have something for paying $13. Even if this time everything is perfect there is no way I'm giving them $54. It's personal now. Stardock is the worst company I ever had to deal with. After my initial purchase I had some speed issues and it took them about a week to reply. That was over a year ago. It's not much better this time. A guy named Mike keeps sending scripted replies. I have other things to worry about than to deal with this company.

With all the activation stuff and logins what's the point? Why bother paying for it? It's not like they have half decent tech support but a bunch of people sending scripted replies without even reading your emails...and on top of that you need to wait 4-5 days to get a reply. The only reason I spent some money was the support. I'm not paying for a digital copy. Support is #1 thing to me. If something goes wrong I know there are people who can help me. But not with this company.

I'm a member of many online forums and will make sure people hear about this and even if they lose one customer it will be worth it. Not only that but I will point poeople interested in Stardock software to warez websites (and there are many) where they can get working files for free.

They can keep my $13 but will lose more I promise you that.

Dumpa ....just a quick question....if, as you say, these Stardock programs 'don't work', then what, pray tell have you been doing with your 117 megs of downloaded content.  Tiddlywinks?

Since it is stated that 75% refund is available for those who will not at least attempt an appropriate communication for resolution I doubt very much that the offer remains on the table "if this time everything is perfect".

I doubt, also that the people who provide skins for these particular programs will much relish the idea of having those skins offered to someone who apparently shows so much disdain, and not everyone is as generous as Neil Banfield [WB's coder] to be offering actual SUPPORT and ASSISTANCE to people who have screwed themselves and their systems with stolen/warez property, so going 'down that road' isn't the most wise.

Most will make references to 'doors hitting butts as you leave....etc'....instead.

Stardock Support, with the additional [where possible] Community User-support [Wincustomize.com is BY FAR the biggest community source] is an invaluable knowledge-base, and CANNOT be replicated elsewhere.

OK, so cracks can be sourced elsewhere...as can pre-pubescent coding-idiots who, as we already have seen will wreck your system faster than you can type Astala...etc.

A sensible, moderate person would persevere with the correct approach, and not treat each and every issue as 'disaster central'.

Posting these tirades via email to support@stardock.com  would be one course of action....likely to evince a response, whereas posting them here on a community forum is nothing more than a flame-fest [ b.y.o. popcorn] designed to do nothing more than denigrate the efforts of others..

Anything can be 'fixed'.  Sometimes it takes YOU to do the right thing as well....

Jason you have no idea what a good tech support means! Try nsclean.com. A reply with 10 minutes most of the time. Just awesome! But for me within 24 hours is good enough.

And few other companies. But Stardock is not even close.

Also about warez, well I hope it's obvious I paid for this software.

Order number VZVN0E28D8EE-1127051053 if anyone working for Stardock is interested to look into.

This does not aplly to me, does it?

Not "yet", it seems....from your prior comments.

As for suggestions of leeching bandwidth as some sort of spiteful conduct I'm sure there's solutions to that as well.

Much more can be had from life through polite, considerate interaction,  Foot-stamping just makes your feet sore....

I was polite but I have my limits. To me it's unacceptable to wait 4-5 days to get a reply. Maybe it's OK for you guys so you can stick with this company but not me.

Is it being polite sending scripted answers over and over again?

I don't think so.

PS Jafo did you notice any changes with my bandwidth usage?

I wish you had some of my mom's Christmas cookies instead of popcorn. That would be nice.