Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Detective Agency Recruiting

Oct-19-2011 08:21

We all know how Sidekicks are supposed to work. The recipient gets a discount, and the sender gets credited on his/her detective page.

I sent a Sidekick that was redeemed 2 weeks ago on Oct. 5. AND I STILL HAVE NOT BEEN CREDITED !

I know that the recipient used it since that recruit told me so and even provided me with the code used.

I have repeatedly pm'd SS and the rest of the admins, but THERE HAS BEEN NO ACTION.

So I am appealing to all of you to help me get this shortcoming on the part of Sleuth Noir resolved. Please add your opinions on this matter.

Oct-21-2011 10:04

Sidekick Coupons NEW RULES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A great price for your friend, and PERHAPS bonus mysteries for you! UNLESS WE FEEL LIKE DISCRIMINATING.

Sidekick Coupons are OUR way to introduce new playerS to Sleuth while USING YOU TO DO OUR WORK--RECRUITING. Just send a coupon YADA, YADA, YADA.

A Great Price for Your Friend, BUT YOU GET NOTHING IN RETURN.
Your friend can purchase their first subscription at a 15% discount off the regular price. IF THEY ARE NOT IN THE USA, WE WILL MAKE IT HARD ON THEM BECAUSE PAYPAL IS VERY SLOW TO RESPOND OUTSIDE THE USA.

Bonus Mysteries for You
When your friend purchases their first subscription, they become OURS, AND WE MAKE MONEY. YOU DON'T! The more sidekicks you have, the more cases you can play every day, BUT ONLY IF WE DON'T DISCRIMINATE.

The table below shows you how many bonus daily mysteries you can earn by signing up sidekicks.

FORGET THE TABLE. WE JUST DON'T CARE TO AWARD ANYTHING. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, JUST LET US KNOW. THEN WE CAN IGNORE YOU AND LAUGH.

Rules and Limitations
- THERE ARE NO RULES ANYMORE.
- WE JUST DON'T CARE WHETHER YOU RECRUIT ON OUR BEHALF OR NOT.
- IT IS OUR HOPE THAT THE REST OF THE SUBSCRIBERS ARE APATHETIC TO THIS NEW POLICY
- PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST--WE ENCOURAGE APATHY. WE JUST WANT TO COLLECT OUR MONEY, AND HOPE YOU ALL LEAVE US ALONE.

Oct-21-2011 11:35

Just so everybody knows. I do love Sleuth and all of you.

The admins can very easily stop all this criticism. All they have to do is respond and say, "We will do everything we can to fix this."

Oct-21-2011 14:21

What about it, SS? Please address this issue with Night Queen.

Oct-21-2011 18:50

"Ben's working on it."

Happy Sleuthing to those who love the game.

SS.

Oct-21-2011 22:57

Thank you, SS. I eagerly wait to see Ben's results. I will remain mute on this subject until then.

Dec-5-2011 21:34

Hello Night Queen,

First off, thank you very much to help promote Sleuth. I realize that without dedicated evangelists such as yourself, Sleuth Noir would not be around, and much less be the vibrant community it is.

I am very sorry that it's taken so long for me to get back to you on this. I have been fairly clear that it has been an incredibly busy couple of months for me (brand new baby and a very demanding crunch at the day job), but it is also due to some degree to a lack of organization on my part in tracking this complaint.

After looking into your complaints, I have confirmed that the player named "Vodkapop" used a Sidekick coupon code sent to her from "Synesence" on 10/4/2011 and "Summer Daze" did not subscribe using any code on 10/5/2011 (she paid full price). So, there does not appear to be any reason your account should be credited with the benefits associated with successful use of these Sidekick coupons.

I do note that your account has since been credited with recruiting another sidekick, so thank you very much for your continued help with the program.

Let me know if this doesn't answer your questions.

Thanks.

Dec-5-2011 21:43

Also, a note about the supposed discrimination:

There is no human process involved in crediting or accepting sidekick coupon codes. As long as the system determines the coupon passes two tests, it will automatically credit the coupon sender at the time the payment is processed:

1) The user can't be sending the coupon to themselves or using it on an account associated to the sender.

2) The recipient can't have subscribed before.

That's it.

Dec-6-2011 03:25

Hi Ben

Congratulations on your new arrival!

Thanks for investigating this. I know that the paper chain and e-chain involved in financial transactions these days can be a nightmare to wade through. However, I most definitely did use a coupon code from Night Queens on 5 October this year when I first subscribed to Noir. The code was: 1GTR1518. I recall typing it in the little box and it all submitted as normal.

However, I have just re-checked the email that I received from PayPal - the one confirming payment made to Hypothetical Software - and compared this with your list of subscription charges. It does indeed look as if I paid the full price - no discount was made. Because the amount paid seemed so tiny for several months subscription I must have assumed that this was the discounted price (lol).

Who can we blame? PayPal? I think we just have to let this one go ....
Perhaps it could be written up as a Noir featured mystery?

Oh and I should perhaps add that I recently recruited a new subscriber and the sidekick coupon code worked without a problem.

Dec-6-2011 03:49

Yay, Ben is back and solved the case!

All torches and spears towards the Paypal company!

Dec-6-2011 07:31

I will have to start a new thread...

Paypal Transactions - Worthless?

While I am glad that Admin has finally responded, I am sad that it took this long. I am also disheartened that I had to even resort to this thread. Weeks before I started this thread, I had pm'd all 3 admins. The only response I got was from SS. He stated that I needed to wait for the transaction to be credited to Hyposoftware's account before the Sidekick would credit me.

Having had 2 previous Sidekicks, I knew that was false.

I have since had another (3rd) Sidekick. I was credited instantaneously. So they do work. And there is no waiting.

My opinion is that Admins need to be better when addressing subscription issues. This issue is about subscriptions. In my engineering profession, it is considered unprofessional to wait longer than 24 hours to respond to inquiries. I have had babies too, and the world does not stop.

Most posts are not subscription related, and slow responses are sometimes acceptable in those situations. Sometimes not.

Meanwhile, I derive great joy in Sleuth Noir. I have subscribed Night Queen for just a little over a year now. In that time I have amassed over 20 million xp and risen to the 14th overall detective. I have also given gift subscriptions, given real dollars to other members' causes, dispensed gobs of advice and encouragement, doled out millions of Sleuth money with no repayment required, and recruited.

I will continue to do all these things with great joy.