Negative Experience Abuse Arrogant Administrators Complain complaint complaints Unfair Business Practices Problems internet fraud deceptive ads Unethical Busines Practices, messy 8-bit graphics in new client, Review
Here's my personal experience with so called "free" MMO Darkorbit (aka Dark Orbit)
Pros:
Simple to play (in old client), no installing necessary
Cons:
For somebody (especially children) it could be habit-forming. Ambiguous and faulty rules. Arrogant administrators (especially CZ/SK). Often swearwords and abuse in (CZ/SK) chat used. Instability/errors in GUI. 8-bit messy graphics in a new client.
Administrator can ban you from the chat or user forum for more days without any warning or noticing (chuckling admins call it "silent murder") just because of two letters in name (in my case BA as Bratislava) or for copying one Wikipedia page at user forum (30days ban) when arguing (1 ,2) about that so called "BIG" should be added to the rules, so user can recognize easily, it's a "crucial personal information", he's not allowed to mention in chat (or 7days ban). Of course, there's nothing mentioned in Chat Guidelines about BIG nor forbidden prefix "BA" in user's name.
Support replied me (mail from 11 June, 2010):
"It is covered by "scamming" you post a BIG number in chat, it encourages people to spend real money on someone elses account." I asked then, why so they don't minimize this risk of scamming by including "BIG" term (with explanation what does it mean + risks related) to the rules explicitly, I've got very strange answers... :-O
Administrators (CZ/SK) use swear words in replies to users i.e. "an*l alpinism" or "as*-crawler". If user asks to get more explanation of The Rules, admins often ignore him, lock the topic or block user on the forum.
In chat (even in "prime-time" 8:00-11:00 PM) is often a rude language, spamming, sexual taunt, abuse and insulting seen. Children can join this "trash talk" easily (regardless, under the Terms & Conditions only 18+ users are allowed to play).
When I claimed these activities on user's forum, I received the answer, that Global Europe 3 is just a "server for newbies" (!!!), one besides many others (for elite players?) and administrator cannot take care of them all during evening "prime time" (when many children/beginners are chatting too).
Ambiguous or faulty rules, there're two different versions of the (SK-local) rules, one linked from main window, another from user's forum. There's no list of penalties mentioned in the rules, so it's a pure administrators' "free-style". I've got no answer from the forum nor from support, which version of the rules is correct one.
Errors are even in "Terms & Conditions" (SK version or at sk.bigpoint.com/termsofuse" ). E.g. web address www.bigpoint.sk hosted information about one private Slovak Tennis Academy and it has nothing common with any games provided by German Bigpoint.
Under General Terms & Conditions for Bigpoint GmbH,
chapter 8.3 , Bigpoint GmbH may cancel your account if you were not log in for 1 month. It means, Bigpoint takes your 100 bucks, you paid and if you don't log into the game (for any reason) for limited time, you lost your money forever. Joke? I'm affraid, not.
You must just exclude bigpoint domain from your anti-spam filter (yes, even BP admits itself, your e-mail client could
evaluate BP email as SPAM, see 5.6 of GT&C: User ...is responsible for settings and maintenance of the spam filter...)
and obey this SPAM (Wikipedia: unsolicited bulk Email (UBE), junk mail, or unsolicited commercial email (UCE), is the practice of sending unwanted e-mail messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients...), they send you...
In conclusion: if you're calm, asking for nothing, complaining for nothing, just paying for Uridium, everything might be fine (except GUI instability and a chat trash talk). But if you are at the top with ship equipment (no much further fees expected?) or mention any technical problems with your ship control in chat (cost me 500 uri and 2days ban), troubles will begin (jeer, ban, blocking, ignoring...). My advice is, be very careful, if you consider to start with Darkorbit!
Everything above mentioned, I've got documented. I would appreciate any advice how to get know how all these facts correspond with EU Consumer Rights and Children Internet Protection Law.
You can send me your own experience and comments via e-mail, link it at 
Facebook or join BigPointProblems News Group.
10 Apr 2010, Bratislava, SK - former player DO Vlado_BA_SK / VladBA alias OdpalenyChatCenzorom
May 2010 update:
When I tried to log in "Global Europe 3" server on 30 April 2010, I got this error message: "An error occurred. Please try again in a few minutes. support.en@darkorbit.com"
From somebody signed as "Bigpoint-podpora (Bigpoint-support), tel., address and Managing Director: Heiko Hubertz", I learnt that my account is blocked because of "inappropriate" name of my clan ([BA] - "B.Admin"). When I was asking on user's forum in before, how DO rules treat clan names, I received the answer , that there are only set the rules for users' nicknames, but it's nothing said about names of clans. This explanation fully corresponds with other (appropriate) clan names used in DO for a long time yet: 1 or 2. I asked Mr. "Bigpoint-support" then for sending me any tangible warning or noticing me, that my clan name is "inappropriate" and I'd rather change it, but I received nothing. The result is: I have no money paid to Bigpoint and I have no access to the Bigpoint game, what I paid for. What's the "appropriate" name for this kind of "business activity" then? Theft, fraud, deceit?
4 May 2010:
I'm banned on user's forum as well. Reason: Mr. "Bigpoint support" says: it's because of multiposting. Multiposting means in this case following: I asked on the forum, what are the rules for naming clans, that I had to break (and unbounded ban followed). The reply was: You have a duty to 1. Follow the instructions. This "rule" is however part of the Chat Rules (EN version), and has nothing to do with clan naming, what I asked for. Concurrently, I didn't received any instruction what clan names are "appropriate" and what are "inappropriate". I claimed these facts to Mr. "Bigpoint support". His answer was BAN.
8 May 2010:
Another ban on forum. DODA (Darkorbit Dictator Admin) says: because of "repeated off-topic" despite of "many warnings". So what happend this time? I just convict DODA from having a mental mess when arguing about the rules. I proved to DODA, that he's absolutely wrong, when mixing together chat rules and game rules and clan naming convention rules (which doesn't exist). It seems, DODA understood, so he tried to build up another "theory". DODA says: "You're banned in a game, because you didn't obey Art. 9.3.6. of General Terms & Conditions for Bigpoint GmbH", which says:
The User agrees to abide by the instructions of Bigpoint GmbH, its employees, assignees and vicarious agents, especially including but not limited to administrators and moderators of forums for a specific Game and/or Service. I asked DODA then, what the RULE or instruction precisely I didn't follow, when naming my clan. His response was deleting complete part of the thread (incl. his own "bluff & fluff theory", really funny reading, unfortunately in Slovak only: 1 & 2 + current
version after DODA's sweeping out his... "theory") and 10days BAN. Amateurism? No, I'd say: darkorbitism. At a small Shutter Island in a cyberscape...
12 May 2010:
Good example of how does Bigpoint "correct" errors in its own "General Terms & Conditions".I asked on 3 May 2010 in Slovak forum , why does Bigpoint state the address of former tennis private academy in Bratislava (that has nothing to do with Bigpoint GmbH nor Dark Orbit game and currently URL is offline anyway) in Slovak version of General Terms & Conditions. I've got no answer. So I put the same question in English forum and the answer looks like this. Topic was closed, I've got no answer from any "Seph" until today and www.bigpoint.sk is offline, but still listed in General Terms & Conditions for Bigpoint GmbH (SK-cookies mus be on, or alternatively at:sk.bigpoint.com/termsofuse").
Infinity ignorance?
15 May 2010:
A few good practical examples of darkorbitism - terror of red commissioners. What I don't understand, rude language, spamming, sexual taunt, abuse and insulting documented at this page above is generally tolerated at GE3 server & SK-chat.
So watch & learn!
- don't say "who cares"? in chat or 2 hrs ban,
- don't say "turkish" or 7 days ban,
- stay outside the group ;) or 7 days ban (by DODA's mistake? who cares?),
- don't use "YAWNNNNN" or ban,
- have not a fun in chat or you will be banned,
- don't ask about other ships or a ban,
- don't say: "[player xyz] as a mod? god help us all!" or you will be banned,
- don't say: "walaikum salam" (meaning: And upon you be peace!) or ban,
- don't shorten the fellow players name or ban (forget mercy),
- don't reveal your rank in chat or ban!
- don't say thank you in abbreviated form (ty) in chat or ban!
breath is probably allowed in DO, but to be sure rather ask DODA... or ask nothing, but pay to Bigpoint... more and more of EUR, USD, GBP,... and once... you will be silently murdered by wicked DODA...
Even if you commit nothing (nobody tells you, you did anything wrong), in DO you could be "silently murdered" anyway. If you have a good luck, you will be able to play without chatting at least. But mind, you must not complain ever!!
Conclusion: You'll find soon, chatting is not very welcome in DO. Mind that if you chat, you don't spend uridium (~ money), and of course it's not good for doing business with "free online game"! So please don't be surprised of any senseless ban, you will receive from DODA sooner or later (but definitely not because of swear words as you can see above)!
18 May 2010 (ongoing updates) :
Here's a few similar recent experiences with DO, BP and DODAs by other former or still active players:
* Urk:I wish I could argue in BigPoint's favor in this, but I can't. They are a god-awful bunch of speech nazis.
* CrazyCrow:
So now my account is suspended and I cant do anything but wait, no 1-800 numbers to call just their ridiculous billing support site, and when you use it you're forced to communicate through screenshots!
* Who you.....:I strongly Agree with CrazyCrow i have made several purchases (of uriduim) and two days from when i paid, my Account was supended!!!...I got really pissed off, not only they supended my account but they want me to pay d(z.?388.83 !!!...This is just pathetic..
* ZeusMichel:BigPoint are extortionists, how else would you explain accepting a purchase and then canceling it , without warning or notice and then demand you pay funds to a collection agency , Now after this time I went to the site to see what I now owed ( according to them) and am now being accused of fraud if I dond(z.?t pay!
* Jack5521: I also am having the same problems, and after spending "REAL" money on dark orbit it is getting very frustrating.This site and Bigpoint are a complete fraud. If im not mistaken NBC owns Sci-FI and I will be sening a e-mail to them also.
* Mansquito: Darkorbit is pretty much telling people it's not there fault as usual and placing the blame elsewhere. They are a greedy company and do not care about paying customers.Why SCI-FI supports them I have no clue!
* SUSSEX BOI's: DO NOT PLAY DARK ORBIT, LOADS OF PEOPLE GOT THEIR ACCOUNTS STOLEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2009 INCLUDING THEIR CREDIT CARDS ARE AT RISK.
* hurley87:
Anyway after a couple of calls i recieved 2 lots of credits but 60 pound phonebill (way over charged) and then a month later i recieve another phone bill where i was SUPPOSED to of called them and was charged 20 pounds but i never called them...How do i claim my money back..
* Jay: AVOID THIS COMPANY AND THEIR GAMES!
This germany based company feel they are above the trade standards law. dark orbit didn't function well for some reason and I couldn't play properly, but I had already forked out cash for a decent ship and armaments. They rudely refused a refund and I'm now setting my solicitor on them. Their terms and conditions state that you cannot have a refund at all if you have played the game. They deem registering as having played the game??????? even their higher management respond to emails as a angry 14 year old might (maybe thats who is running the company?) THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN!
* N/A: This game is horrible, I worked my ass off for like 2 years to get FE. I get it then just cause I post a link to player reviews like this one, I get banned. It steals peopled(z.?s money, and it does not care even for those that spend money on this game. Thats what bigpoint is all about: Money.
I also have incriminating emails by darkorbit support team; I might as well put it on a website and submit it to search engines to help kill bigpoint.
* Odin:I Played DarkOrbit for over 1 year, Bugreports, technical problems you wish to talk about after you spent a few houndret real money will may cause the company bigpoint to delete your account, a support is not available, 20-30% of the accounts were deleted for no reasons, or better because the players used to say what was wrong.
billions of real money had been payed and the company just want more money but delivers no quality work. better lighten your cigarrettes with your money it will have more sense then buying something from bigpoint, they betray, lie and will never fix any problems!
* Michael M:
Now saying all that I did enjoy the game, it just cost me a fortune to do it and in the end , my account was suspended for what I feel was an error on BigPoint part in their billing methods, Overcharging me $19.06 . ( on a prepaid card! ) which resulted in a lack of funds using a " Forced Post" method of transaction.
At the very least this type of behavior is unethical and I can not in good conscience endorse it.
* EDSEL
The latest update says you cannot change ANYTHING on your ship unless you are at base... wow how do you do gates and shield up for the cleanup..not even at a port can you switch equipment..a bunch of pansies run this game and now it is nothing more than "ANOTHER" game that wiil go by the way of dinosaurs if they keep it up.
* lottospammo:I always have a hard time getting problems fixed. Matthew Milligan and Etienne Belmar almost never
fix a problem without my having multiple email conversations with them - and them threatening to
suspend my account. The two of them are ineffectual as support and rude. Worse than no help at all.
* Beefermatic
I've had a similar problem with the company, threatening to press charges etc, I'd like to see them go for it, my Lawyer would slaughter them, anyway the money is already out of my account, they have no case, I had a bad feeling from the start, f**k it.
Wish I had listened to my gut. W/e, you win and lose I guess.
* Nico132I started playing this game and true got destroyed quite a few time until you get up in rank and better ships…BUT…it seems money is on their mind. They have added numerous extras and colored ships and seems to overload servers. I play on the eastern server and found numerous bugs that support fails to acknowledge as they say they cannot replicate them. In the past if a bug was found you lost whatever you gained from it. This time i was told by support, and have email, to use bug to my advantage and tell players I have permission. This says to me that the game is getting away from the support team and is going downhill due to sever lag.
* dervynne ahh…I bought URI on a happy hour and my bank queried the transaction..however, DO had earmarked the payment to come out anyway…So, it was a happy hour at the time of payment….hence, I should have received an extra 330,000 uridium…unfortunately i never:( ….I repeatedly emailed them and they have given me the run around …basically I have gotten nowhere…..they said prove it?…so I checked my receipt in my email…and guess what…it was dated 2008..and payment was zero…however I have the date of the email …it was sent 30th may 2010…they are thieves and they also send fraudulent emails….dont waste money…these people are right they do delete accounts too…bastards!!
* Kaster
Dark Orbit is a waste of time period, whether you pay real money or not, and the fact is you won't last an hour unless you pay money up front. There are too many griefers in the game who prey on new players, and the devs do nothing about it. Oh, that's right, they're in the game, playing, they just don't give a ****. Why? Because if you get one shotted by some a**hole (who used daddy's credit card to get the top elite ship and weapons) multiple times until you have no uridium left to repair your ship, you'll be forced to pay real money to get it, which is exactly Sci Fi's plan all along.
Don't waste your time or your money.
* zynaps
yh the last guy is right they are thieving faggots..please some one give this guy the number to make a official complaint against them….or even sue….I know him and if he has the evidence all he needs is the right line of enquiry to get these guys to surrender to the players!!!
* Oscar Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
this is what happens when you as a client speak your mind out and you get treated with no respect..abuse of authority.. my account was suspended for this in Dark Orbit. Read entire Oscar's story here
* Anthony
Bigpoint is a con.
You need to look into the workings of the game “DarkOrbit”.
The support team never seem interested in anything we (the paying customers) have to say, they just sweep most of our complaints under the carpet. I have been unable to play the game on 3 occasions because of coding errors and have dropped in rank by what cost me roughly over ?100 and hard work to attain. Not once did I receive an apology or any form of compensation. Therefore, I have wasted money on your game. I call it being robbed.
And the support team constantly accused me of being a cheat that was later proven to be another coding error. You need to keep more of an eye on your support team and inchat mods/admin.(...)There are so many complaints that are swept under the carpet by your so-called support team.
Just as you are posting your advertisements on the net, I too am posting my complaints on the net. I believe it to be my duty in protecting the unsuspecting public against the treatment received from employees of bigpoint.
Every rip-off, scam-site on the net is going to hear about the following. I am sick and tired of them using a bug as an excuse.(...)
* TiredofDisappointment - Unethical Business Practices. A few months ago I was publicly accused of cheating in the game by taking advantage of a coding error. I say "publicly" because the details were posted on one of Bigpoint's public forums by a Bigpoint staff member.
As a result of this accusation some of the in-game items that I had purchased through their payment system and earned through online play were confiscated as they were believed to be acquired as a result of the coding error.
(...)
Over the course of my dealings with the support and administration people I was repeatedly threatened with punishment for continuing to respond to the accusations in public, and at one point a representative of Bigpoint posted information of a personal nature about me on a public form belonging to Bigpoint(...)
* Malik
(...)
I did not get any warnings, any e-mails, any type of communication at all apart from trying to login one day and being locked out of my account .
"You’re account has been suspended " is the only notice you get!
If there was a problem why then did that purchase go through?
If there was a problem why did 3 other purchases made after the fact go through using the same card?
(...)
So my main complaint is this company has unethical practices, imagine if this was done to a child!
(...)
* Justin
I opened an account with bigpoint (dark orbit online game).
I have bought various premium services for payment from paypal over a period from feb 2010.
Yesterday I was playing the game and saw my premium membership logo had dissapeared, so I thought the period had run out.
I went to the banking area on thier site and payed ?19.00 from my paypal account to them to renew my premium membership.
I then tried to log back on to my account and found I could not.
I tried several times over the next hour thinking it might be a server problem but still no luck.
In the end I emailed thier support address and got an email reply saying they had terminated my account for using unauthorised script on the website. This is a matter of seperate dispute.
I had been sent no email or message of any kind before this happened. So my account was terminated but they still took ?19.00 from me without any intention of giving me the service i have paid for.
When I asked them for a refund I was told no chance. Below is all messages that went between us, Make up your own mind if they are wrong, Do you think I am entitked to a refund? Further info and a really looong correspondence with Bigpoint (Etienne Belmar), which of course solved nothing, sent by email...
* ~FlaminPheonix~ (Seafight ~ another MMO run by Bigpoint in almost the same way as DO)
First off, let me just say, i know im posting this in the wrong category, but the contact support team is no longer helping me! my account, ~UZI~, user ID 10169706, on the USA EAST server has been suspended for no reason! Bigpoint is saying that i purchased $59.99 worth of pearls and i didn't. My credit card was suspended because BIGPOINT was scamming it, using the number to make purchases that I NEVER AUTHERIZED. i did use it to buy pearls 2 times, but other than that i NEVER bought ANYTHING with it. i dont know what to do anymore. please, any mods who could unban my account, or do anything to help, please do. thanks.
* kevinjordan does any one know how to contact any one at bigpoint as they are screwing me also and i have all my bank records and all the emails from
them and support please email me at kevin.jordan79@yahoo.com.
* ppono I started this game 5 months ago and to tell the truth you can play it alone without a clan. 240 million credits, 175000 uridium FullyElite Goliath with level 6 (8) drones and am walking away when premium runs out. Too many bugs, lag, extras, colored ships and the who cares attitude from support along with insults from mods in forums who close threads at their convenience, make this game not what it used to be. In the past you lost what you gained by using bugs but now you are being told to use them with supports blessings. I saved email for this as some people would never believe it. I found a major problem with 3 bugs and was told it was my pc along with "it is your pc when chat does not work". I thought your pc only did what the server said to do. If this is true then the servers are getting overloaded and complaints are rampant in this, what could be and was a great game, but now seems to be a "we won't work hard for the money" team that, in my opinion, is overloaded with problems and their coders seem to be working overtime and could use some gifts of RED BULL to keep the game going. My opinion: DO NOT START THIS GAME UNTIL YOU SCOWER THE FORUMS AND LEARN THE GAME AND ALL THE PROBLEMS THAT GO ALONG WITH IT!!!!!!!.
*
Guest BigPoint Billing is boderline extortion.
My complaint concerns a German company who offers free on-line gaming.
I have spent about $450.00 on that site in the first month, but because of billing issues concerning bonuses on time sensitive offers despite their advertisement that ANY payment method was valid, I purchased a pre-approved credit card!
(...)
BigPoint are extortionists, how else would you explain accepting a purchase and then canceling it , without warning or notice and then demand you pay funds to a collection agency,
Now after this time I went to the site to see what I now owed ( according to them) and am now being accused of fraud if I don’t pay!
(...)
They are most unethical and I believe borderline criminal business practices and I hope your site can do something about it. Warn people that this could happen to them too .
*
pgen
Etienne Belmar is the most obnoxious and ignorant individuals
I have ever had the misfortune to come across, I too have had dealings
with this so called support manager from Dark Orbit, and found him
to be extremely unpleasant and especially uncaring as they come. (...)
*
NA
To DENNIS ..this game is loaded with bugs and have encountered them on a daily basis..the problem is this company promises you everything and delivers you money spending extras and calls it a free game.YES it is free but to COMPETE it WILL cost you money. If you decide not to spend money and get the in house currency by killing aliens or boxing there is no guarantee on what you buy will ever show up on your ship
*
jiorgossant I also think the worst about Bigpoint.For me this company is just rubbish.All they care is to take your money in the first 2 or 3 months.The supporters are rude and they start acting crazy by locking accounts or reducing levels when a game is getting old.I advice evreyone NEVER to use Bigpoint.
*
Yousif A. Sounds like these guys are up to their necks in illegal practice, keep us posted and we will follow up the story.
We’re always intrested in keeping gaming clean.
*
CrazyCow (...)They did not even send me any confirmation e-mails on teh last 5 purchases I made but luckily I have kept all transaction ID from them.
Will keep you posted on the rsults , but this is typical of their billing support team, I think it’s manned by the gestapo.(...)
*
XOTITANOX
I can prove all of the following statement in a court of law by using emails and people.
Bigpoint is a con, the people at the top are ignorant, greedy and very selfish.
I am tired of them conning me time and again and I have only been associated with them for nine months.
The support team never seem interested in anything the paying customers have to say, they just sweep our complaints under the carpet. I have been unable to play the game on 3 occasions because of coding errors and have dropped in rank by what cost me roughly over £100 and hard work to attain. Not once did I receive an apology or any compensation. Therefore, I have wasted money on their game. I call it being robbed.
*
jiorgo
All I have to say is that I agree that Bigpoint is rubbish.
I was playing 1 year deepolis and i spent over 1000 euros to their
stupid game.Suddenly they decided to take 25% of my levels with the
excuse that I didnt follow the rules.They could not even tell me why
and same thing happened to 5 more players I know.People in support
think they are Gods and they dont care about the money Bigpoint will
lose.My advice is: DONT USE BIGPOINT.Their games have only a nice cover
on the outside but in the inside they suck.
*
-_-GUNNY-_-
All yes big point is horriable i bought uri from them and
about a month later i recived a message stating that
a third party tried to access my paypal account, after
going to court and getting a supena i recived a discloseure
of info about that person which turns out to be bigpoint
games after multiple messages Matthew Milligan stated that
he is the highest ranked person at bigpoint and he has double
checked and no one tried to access my paypal account even
tho i have an ip address that tried to access my paypal
account owned by bigpoint.
*
.:.punisher.:.
All I have to say about this issue is wake up people, quit playing this games if you can and find every possible way to let other people know about this scammers, the money that I have spent on this stupid game was "protected by paypal" but guess what, I tried to open disputes or claims against this company and it is not possible because they protect only goods and not services (Another scam?).
*
Anthonyas
Support: there is no actual support, only few people that give you automatic copy past reply w/o actually checking ur problem, always the end user fault, even if its a coding error. and 99% the clear ur cache reply. if you have a real big problem, they don't double check for error, just stick to there main idea. my account got banned for the reason that some players have reported me because they think i'm too strong! well where is my fault if i'm strong and they are noob! and support isn't willing to check my acc. in details to see if i used a script or no.
(...)
Ethical behavior: what i noticed from my experience and what i sow, and what i heard and read from other people, i can say that BP have no ethics in business! i don't recommended anyone using there games. i have prof that some players got there account unbanned for the same reason that other players still have there account banned! when u contact support with this claim, they tell u that they have the right to ban and unban who they want! and so, customers don't have any way of defense!
I can write pages on Dark orbit and Big point, and how they steal account, how support is totally inificiant, i have writen proof on the unethical behavior of support, and honestly, if i didn't come from a country, where lawyers take loads of $ for a case, i would have definitely sewed Big point for banning my account for no reason, and for all the unethical practice!
BIG fail for big point!
*
Bigpoint = Misery
Bigpoint's current lineup of games consists of repetitive, medium to low quality game play that caught on because of it's relative value.
Unfortunately their new agenda seems to be geared towards charging large amounts of money for the same low quality, repetitive game play.
And it's evident from the drop in percentage of people sticking around to play some of these games.
This new ideology is a complete reversal of the business model that has catapulted Bigpoint to the forefront of the online gaming industry.
*
dontlikebigpoint
Yep couldnt agree more with all comments, they take your money then they find a jumped up way to remove your account obviously to make space for the next wave of people to scam money off. I spent £65 in 2 weeks got big and they accused me of running illegal scripts (which i was definately not) banned my account. All I can suggest is that if you play this game do not spend any money on it. But probably best to stay right away.
I have trawled the net since my experience and have found hundreds of examples of the same story or similar, and thats just the ones in english. They say contact their legal dept but will not give you the address. They say they have evidence but will not supply it to be veiwed.
Perhaps we should all think about legal action.
If you have address for legal dept of bigpoint please post.
or if you have personal email for boss of bigpoint.
or if you have managed to take legal action and won then please help.
*
Loki
Couldn’t agree more with you.
Pathetic company employing complete losers who wouldn’t know good code if they found it floating in their soup.
They actually alpha test code on live servers – how useless is that?
*
666TITAN666
Don't bother with Bigpoint, their admin, support team and everyone are completely arrogant.
You are treated like filth, even after you have spent loads of money on their games.
You are not allowed to have an opinion on the forums or chat rooms unless you say something nice.
The game"DarkOrbit" has been having many problems lately and I commented on this, this is what happened.
These people are pathetic and steal your money, I have purchased things that have not been given to me and the support team just call me a liar.
This is a bad place to pay money into.
*
lawver
game is not free you can reach a certain lvl but after that you have to spend money to be succesfull . verry verry adictive game .
also game admins and chatmoderators using their power of their piositions for taking advantage in the game . also alot cheats botts in the game that make the game absolut laggy and non playable .
review if you plan to spend 400 bucks or more a month on a game that is laggy and not fair start playing dark orbit !!
for all others STAY AWAY
*
Nbk
Big Point does nothing for there consumers. There mods are very unfair, especially if you are at war with there clan, guild, or what have you. Everytime I type in chat i get ban, and recently got a suspension for calling someone mean.
Work together on the unfair play. I have wrote support over 20 times and get nothing in return other then what they initially decide. I have supported this game for 2 years and it is really out of control now. I am at the point of hiring a lawyer. If anyone knows anyone I could speak with over these matters that would actually persue, then drop me a note. I am thinking about contacting dateline NBC to get to the bottom of whats really going on.
*
hms-titan
I have been wrongly banned from the game too and as it stands right now i have started an investergaion by the European Consumer Centre? i am hoping to get somwhere with this i would urge you all to cheak out there website and make compliants of you own as if my compliant is upheld i am going to try to recoop all the money i spent on this from day 1 of playing
*
Veteranii
Click that image above and read the Story of a normal Darkorbit player, that was treated with so much indiference from the support and from the whole DO crew. Please transmit this to everyone who you know and make it as public as you can so that we, together, all the players, can try and bring down this outlaws and stupid fu*ks. Thanks.
*
old_friend
Read here guys:http://www.mydarkorbitexperience.com/index2.html
One of my friend put this link on DO Forums and he get banned lol..P.S. All information presented in that site is 99% true !!!Trust this one.
*
marioalessandria
Hi everyone, 1 mounth ago, my account it was banned, in this one I have spend lot of money and I have play for 8 mounth. so for they, I'm guilty of "bot user", problem is, this account never see the bot...
so this account now is cancelled (hundred of account like my).
For my experience, DO NOT START TO PLAY! there are lot of game, throusand time better of this.
*
slayeriain@gmail.com
all i can add to this is that u r all right but instead of giving up i am gonna give them a fight i hope hope the y have a load of very good programmers on hand cause they are gonna be in deep doedoe when i am done with them if anybody wants to help send me a line on slayeriain@gmail.com
*
Matt
Surely you have heard of Dark Orbit somewhere. It is a online, multi-player, supposedly free space combat game from a company called BigPoint. But behind the glossy cover lies a world of fraud, scam and coding errors, where moderators and admins swear and insult in the support forums and, worse of all, let you spend hundreds of dollars and then ban your account for being to powerful (in the game, that is).
If you don´t believe me, here´s some of the comments from angry users I´ve found. See the lot here
*
kev
Upon experience of being a DO player for some time, given credit, there are a couple of chat moderators, but yeah, all in all I got banned yesterday for saying something I KNOW I did not, because was talking with two people about the server lag, and then next thing I get a system message saying that I have been banned from the system, so I contacted bigpoint support who told me that I got banned for saying lmfao rogue.. WTF is rogue because I was not talking with him and his name does not show up in the chat log. so my experience is with a complete and utter moronic poor excuse for a chat nazi!! and yes they are too extreme with chat abbreviations. O.O
*
Anonymous
The game is made only for money nothing else,lak of save zone to farm confirm that opinion.Every player have to pay if he want to play.There is no other way in Dark Orbit.
*
Is1
(...)Support for these people appears to be "go away or we will take away what you have paid for to teach you a lesson". I have never come accross this type of arrogant behaviour and blatent threat in order to make a complaint "go away" and i am absolutely disgusted with them. I have asked for details of the contact at their Legal Department and at the time of posting i am still waiting for a response...
*
-bigbadboys-swt1.mmo
big points have stolen money off me and their so called support are absolutely useless.i paid for six monthas premium on my account using paypal and they have removed it after 3 months.i tried to solve this with paypal but after 45 days it is not possible, bigpoints are saying they cannot find any payment details but i have sent them the unique paypal payment code.as far as i am concerned this is theft and i will do everything in my power to sort it, and happily bad mouth the useless german company
*
tiredofbeingscammed
My son just told me that he is speaking with someone in game and they said he would be banned if he submitted a complaint. This company needs to be shut down. Why a business located in SF only provides an international number to deal with issues (and you can't get through) is ludicrous. I demand justice!
*
SeRixX14
(...)i used to have account on usa east 2... when i make videos for my ship hunting in enemies maps, after i viewed my videos on youtube, they banned my account for no reason although i built my ship by myself for 3 years ... u r right in every word u say in? the video(...)
*
pissedoffconsumer
I filed a separate report as my details are a bit different but the way this company does business is criminal and fraudulent. My account attached to one transaction for my child was drained of over $500 and bigpoint won't respond to my requests to resolve this and get to the bottom of the fraudulent transactions. I had my child go in the game to see what he could find out and they told him that if he filed a complaint his account would be banned. After many expensive attempts at calling their only number in Germany and emailing support with no luck or response, I posted a request on Facebook for them to contact me and they kept deleting my posts. This is one big scumbag company. I am complaining to the FBI and AG in CA next.(...)
*
TITAN
The coding on the game keeps coming up with errors, for instance; I was suspended for none payment when the fault was with them. Then they tell me that I wasn't suspended as it doesn't show in the coding.(...)
This is the worst company I have ever come across, they never listen to anything their customers have to say and told me that whether I was cheating or it looks as though I was cheating because of some mistake, they don't care and I should have reported a bug, a bug I don't even know about.They have more complaints than any other site I have ever seen, and they just ignore the people or abuse them by calling them liars etc.
*
I will sue Bigpoint!
After a year and a half game, poured huge sums of money to me the worst happens, stolen account. I do not enter the game in two months and then it turned out that my account is gone - deleted. Comply with all rules. It turned out that one insider has changed part of my story. Now to file a civil action and start litigation. Write to my mail: e_planet@abv.bg I will sue them!
*
ZeusMichel
Anyone who plays this game after a family member or good friend got screwed like this is a twad. Dont be a twad, stay away from DO and BigPoint!!!! Because eventually they will make a point of stealing your money.
*
bigbadboys-swt1.mmo
bp robbed me as well.i paid for six months premium and they removed it after 3 months,no refund or explanation support are useless they said they cannot find record of purchase even though i sent them paypal unique code.
thieving germans
*
User863259
Beware of giving this company your credit card information, they will yank every penny you have and then make it hard for you to resolve it and ban your kid's account if you take it in that direction. Not a good way of doing business but then again what a profit they made off of me in two days! Scary stuff. This is illegal.
* mail from justin
I have now been in touch with trading standards in the uk and started an official complaint about bigpoint taking money after termination of contract and it has been passed on to the european consumer centre.
The trading staandards also told me that if you are in the eu and have a complaint about bigpoint they are happy to hear about it ( it has to be a trading complaint i.e Taking money wrongly, or not supplying service paid for, or breach of contract etc. Not for complaints about mods being rude or things like that.)
you dont have to be in the uk to contact them but must be in the eu.The number from uk is 08454 040506
or this link to website Consumer Direct
Remember the more complaints the better so get on the phone if bigpoint have robbed or misled or conned you....
*
MoMoneyBetterService
this will tell you how childish they are. I called their San Francisco office to talk to their legal department this morning and this is what they did. Megan answered the phone, I asked to speak to their legal department, she put me on hold. Someone picked up the phone, put it on what I assumed to be speaker phone because I could hear all of the back ground noise and could hear people talking in the distant back ground. No one said hello, and it was silent for the first minute except for the back ground noise. Myself assuming that they were just going to sit there, I started recording the conversation because I knew this was apparently not going to be handled in a professional manner. After starting to record someone started smacking on the desk next to the phone. To give you a visual: put your hands palm down and smack on a table in alternate rhythm with your hands. So I then state on the recording " So this is what you get when you call Big Point's legal Department" Another minute of silence and I stated " This is----my name, and this is my 1st attempt and contacting Big Point's legal department, the time is 12:05 pm eastern, the date is Aug.12, 2011" Immediately after that a female voice says "ringggg" and hangs up on me. So if their whole legal department acts like that then this up coming court case should be a synch.
*
MoMoneyBetterService
I had filed a complaint with the BBB over Dark Orbits customer support, rather the lack of customer support, more like customer abuse". Since I have filed the BBB claim, which they did not even answer because they all ready have an F rating, my account has had a technical issue;. It is broken and I can't even use it'. They then took money out of my bank account that was not authorized, to purchase something on an account that I haven't been able to even use since June 24th.. That was after having to grapple with "support" over missing items on the account for 2 weeks prior to that:. They have had well over 30 days to fix it/. I would expect a good company to either reimburse me for my account in full, or to fix my account, and reimburse me for the 30+ days worth of equipment!. At this point I would really rather just be reimbursed for my account , the money they have stolen from me 1,000+, because their business practices are only getting worse!. Do Not Start Playing Big Point Game.
*
Anonymous
I agree darkorbit and bigpoint sucks what you need at this game is money and kiss admin's ass so you can be top playa i played darkorbit since old version
You have right old version is ALOT GOOD no wallet warriors but in future this game is becoming shit and dyieng
I agree darkorbit and bigpoint sucks what you need at this game is money and kiss admin's ass so you can be top playa i played darkorbit since old version
You have right old version is ALOT GOOD no wallet warriors but in future this game is becoming shit and dyieng
Coud it be all those above a matter of coincidence? :-o
22 May 2010:
Here's a small "case study" how Bigpoint "solves" the problems: Non-existing addess in General Terms & Conditions for Bigpoint GmbH
One interesting
article about Bigpoint (in German). Is it really a company for sale today? So Jay was right, when wrote: "THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN"?
30 May 2010:
And one cardinal revelation: DODA says, that a simple check on usernames / clan names when registerring is " not technically feasible+thread" in DO. Just he didn't disclose the reason. Is it:
1. Amateurism of Bigpoint pogrammers,
2. or rather a fear of DODAs can lose a fat nightstick, they like to (mis)use so much today
11 Jun 2010:
Yesterday I asked CZ/SK DODA, if it's true, that they are allowed to play the game (possessing administrator priviledges) along with ordinary players (non-DODAs). I received the answer, that "of course, they are allowed". I don't understand this at all, since I don't know any fair sports discipline or a game, where referees could be the players in contest/battle at the same time. Anyway, I din't get to the question about rewarding of these "referee/players" from side of Bigpoint, because my Forum access was banned again: BAN. When I click at the page to contact administrator, to know the reason of my ban, I read: "Email function at Forum is not activated" or "URL /sendmessage.php was not found on this Bigpoint server". I don't understand this Bigpoint's strange sense of humor... Do you?
14 Jun 2010:
Domain bigpoint.sk, which is a part of General Terms & Conditions by Bigpoint GmbH for some months yet, is currently offered for sale! Are you not interested? ;-)
21 Jun 2010:
The good example, how "brave heros" are BP "volunteers". Misusing their admin privileges,
they ban users from the forum and then kick them, if they cannot defend. When argued to Czech DODA on
the Slovak forum how it's possible that there're plenty of clan names in DO similar to my name, but still not banned.
My last post at darkorbit
forum has been cut off entirely. You can find however uncensored full version of the topic
here.
Another example how BP "solves" safety in DO: Players can find this "safety
information" after login. Despite, they continuously send not encrypted bulky volumes of SPAM
with login and users' passwords information to every registered customer.
At the same time, they resist to notice users that "BIG" is one of sensitive
private informations and it must not be published in chat or forum. Strange behaviour. Cui bono?
7 Jul 2010:
Regardless, my account at GE3 is still locked, BP didn't stop sending me this SPAM
containing my full login and password information and inviting me "back to the battle".
10 Jul 2010:
One funny thing: "Thank You" in abbreviated form (ty) could be considered to "F-Bomb" in DO too.
After having seen many similar previous cases, I can believe this story.
Thanking or helping users is not very welcome in DO (and could be considered
to "f-bomb" thus). DODAs like much more: F I G H T, F I G H T, F I G H T and B A N! So yes, be very careful before hitting the enter key.
For those who don't understand "f-bomb" term, read explanation here:
f-bomb. You can see now:
Thank You (ty) is really a "typical" f-bomb
(I'd expect to hear from DODA: every player of DO knows what's BIG and that "thank you" in
abbreviated form is F-bomb! And of course, any mention of both expressions is illegal in DO!) ... LOL! :-)))
11 Jul 2010:
Regarding questions about how to reach German BP by classic mail or personally worldwide:
Under official BP page, there're only 3 offices worldwide:
- HQ in Hamburg: Bigpoint GmbH Online-Games, Christoph-Probst-Weg 3, 20251 Hamburg, Germany,
- Bigpoint Berlin (Radon Labs GmbH), Alexanderstraße 5, 10178 Berlin, Germany,
- Bigpoint, Inc., 2 Bryant St. Suite 220, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
In June, 2008, NBC Universal and General Electric’s Peacock Equity Fund acquired
a 70 percent share of Bigpoint. The rest of company is still owned by German national
Heiko Hubertz. Unfortunatelly, I'm not acquainted with any public source, where it
might be found any up-to-date annual report or auditor statement for Bigpoint GmbH...
20 Jul 2010:
Another good example of how "the highest" in support hierarchy signed as Etienne Belmar really "helps"
ordinary users: Account Deleted (maybe, who knows?)
or here (not anymore,
thread was completely deleted at Bigpoint's "User Forum"). Just imagine:
if you were a bank client. You try to withdraw some your money from your account. But you receive
a message on ATM: "Failed! Try to enter PIN-code again, again and again...". You ask then
bank's help-line what's the problem with your card/money, and you receive this "information":
"Well, ehm... if you were gone for months without a single log in your account, it MAY have been
deleted, accounts are not kept forever (even if you have still your money on it!),
either way we can´t help you...". Sounds unbelievable? Not in Darkorbit!
22 Aug 2010:
These pages are visited by BP users regularly. I've granted then one (stupid of course) BAN to them too.
Check this out!
24 Aug 2010:
BAN updated:
Besides... Bigpoint.de is NOT allowed user's domain name on this site. It can be misinterpreted by users/admins
of this site with Slovak company name: BIG POINT s.r.o.
established in 1997. This site doesn't support any indications of a plagiarism.
31 Oct 2010:
19 Nov 2011:
8 May 2012:
23 Oct 2012:
Here's The Petition:
URL address of www.mydarkorbitexperience.com
was mentioned in BP user forum,
but after some users clicked the link, the whole thread was censored by DODA.
Thank you, my friends, for promoting this experience, even at BP pages! ;-)
01 Nov 2010:
Unbelievable!!! Bigpoint has corrected its own Terms & Conditions at last!
A server's name of somebody else www.bigpoint.sk was changed to correct one: www.bigpoint.com.
After months of noticing on this M I S T A K E included in the Terms & Conditions!!!
Of course, there's not any mention about updating T&C and it's signed as of 5.1.2010...
26 Nov 2010:
Trend is positive indeed. Still more and more people are getting to know what's DarkOrbit and Bigpoint:
After one year, very nice view on the chart:
Scam nearly Over:
.
and the free public forum about DO weird matters:
...
..
.
!["[player xyz] as a mod? god help us all!"](Darkorbitism7.JPG){kind=link}
