Well apparantly you do have to cancel but it is made obvious when you purchase.

I am over this-

Off to play Mystic Emporium.

*********

BFG-Guy says they have tested looking at user clicks- isn't that spyware?

I do not care about it but others do and I am particularly confused about many things on this site why some things are acceptable and others not.
This is a good example.

There are varying kinds of cookies Bella. There are those that track you activities when you are on the site (just about every site on the web does that) and there are kinds that track what you do when you leave.

Apparently you are not over this, but I am. If you want to find fault, you will. Nothing is perfect.

Also, please stop stacking your posts. If no one has posted behind you, use the edit button.

Now I'm really getting worried, not about Big Fish Games, but about the idea of becoming a member simply by buying a product. I am stupid about canceling something when I don't even know how it happened because I would never in the world think that I was joining something just by the act of buying. Golly, that scares me. I would see the cancel as meaning CANCEL THE ORDER and why would I want to do that when I was trying to buy it, that wouldn't make sense to me so I would ignore any cancel button. Also, another point here, I would like to know the terms of any membership or anything that I sign up for BEFORE I actually sign the dotted line. Simply buying doesn't tell one anything about what is offered and needs to be cancelled if one doesn't want it. That sounds totally ridiculous to me. I mean, signing me up and then telling me I can cancel when I don't even know what is going on is tee-totally confusing to me.
I'm certainly glad I'm a member already before this happened, because, otherwise, I would not have joined and would never know what I was missing! That is the scariest of all!

You guy are making too much out of this!

Lori

And Why is it the ones that are already members worried about it!?

Your covered let the ones not members yet worry about it!

How can you decide what you would think sight unseen? Everyone is making assumptions but they haven't tried it. Seriously, if you have not seen it with your eyes, you do not know.

I don't want to throw everyone out of the pool, but if we keep rehashing the same issues without merit, I will close this discussion.

Amen Ana!

Lori

I sure will stop stacking my posts since it seems an issue here.

Thanks Ana

Bye

I have been trying to get on BFG since lastnight and site won't load, trying to feed my addiction, anyone else having a problem?

No problems getting on the site for me, Quest. I hope you figure out what's going wrong!

I'm thinking it might be an AOL problem because after posting I tried internet explorer and it went right to the site. Go figure.
Thanks!

hehehe
No BellaRosa.
We bring customers into our usability labs every week and have them test new games, new product features and they were testing our new Big Fish Game Club purchase process over the past several months. They come in and get paid to have us watch them play or buy games, what is better than that! But seriously, put an product person or an engineer in a room and have them watch a customer...amazing to see the lights go on in their (the engineers') heads about how to improve a product!

Geesssh give it a rest, it's in the RULES read them

BFG is a great site. I have joined and cancelled several times and had no trouble. I will continue to buy games from BFG. They are the best.

SnickersMom

Well, I may try to give a piece of reply about BFG motivations here for proposing this new rates/subscription policy. I'm working with BFG (not AT BFG) and when I saw this new proposal (here on GB), I was very surprised and didn't understand at once why proposed it, then I thought about it and I smiled with satisfaction.

BFG has been always ahead of the other sites concerning customers support, helping people to game their games to work, replying fast, etc... One concern with games is Price obviously. BFG was the first to propose the games as everywhere else at 19.99 and at the same time a subscription with games at 6.99 for 12 Months or 12 game credits. If you are a player, playing 12 games a year is not a problem, paying them 84 USD instead of 240 USD is quite a bargain. Then if you are not a heavy casual gamer, you could buy some games 19.99.
Later on, other web sites (aggregators as we call them), began to follow the same policy: subscriptions, game credits, and so on. BFG needs to move on, and does it in favor of the players: decrease the price of ALL games, from 19.99 to 6.99. 6.99 is CHEAP price and this is what some of the skeptic seem to forget. Some seem to say "whatever the price, I will never subscribe". but in reality, for BFG it's exactly the opposite, BFG can have low price only through subscription, and proposing subscription they force themselves to have an 5-star customer service to keep their subscribers; We expect, as subscribers, to be treated as important clients, we expect special attention when a problem occur, we expect the company that sold a game 6.99 (and give half of it as royalty to the dev) to spend 10 hours on emails, phone calls, online tutorials to help us update our video adapter drivers, and this support is free (while it is charged in any other industry and simply not done by other aggregators) and the support costs X hours of an employee in Seattle, WA. As a conclusion, I can tell you, doing support for our own games, you can sell a game in 30 seconds and you can take 3 days to help somebody whose hardware is slightly old or not up-to-date (sometimes I'm too busy, I mail Mag and tell her : Mag!!! Help!!!). Therefore BFG is far more committed to the subscription system than any players around, they have so many employees, so many means, to support players, that of course, it costs a lot, and of course, they need to have a financial volume that is big enough to maintain and improve their support.
What could appear presumptuous from BFG is to assume that players trying their subscription would not leave, and of course nobody likes to enter a subscription if they don't feel the need to, but here BFG guy speaks from experience and statistics: people trying BFG subscription have many reasons to stay, and they actually do.
In this forum, we can read exactly the position of subscribers and non subscribers, people who are already subscribers certainly intend to stay as such, even better, now that everybody will pay 6.99, members will have new benefits. Those who are not subscribers, say why should I? first you don't need to and you will benefit a wonderful price policy, second if you are satisfied with the service and if you believe BFG will have at least once a month a new game that you will enjoy, you will certainly end up as subscriber, not because you are forced to, but because it will be for your best interest.

Gosh, what a hooha!
I can't think that BFG would do anything to alienate their customers, ever. I have found that everything they do is with their customer in mind, and they have the best deals and customer support, second to none.
They have a very loyal customer base, and that's why , I think, they give so much back.
I would not go anywhere else now, and if something isn't available, then I just wait.
As someone said, they are, at the end of the day, a business, and they have to think about paying their staff and overheads, as well as keeping us all happy.
Roll on BFG, you are the best

linward

I have been a member for years now almost since it started. However I am really confused now. What is the benefit of me having a game membership anymore? Just to see a game in advance? I live in Europe so don't know if the live chat works yet. I have 4 credits to use and when they are gone, it sounds like there is no perk in being a member anymore. I love my BFG Guy but really don't understand why you buy at a price everyone is buying at, but we have to cancel if we don't want to get repeatedly billed. What am I getting billed monthly for? Now if BFG Guy gives me a credit for a new game everytime I buy one, or at least a free game a month, for being a member, that would be a good reason to stay a member. So confused, glad I am not the only one.

EDIT...................
I just want to add even if I cancel membership, that doesn't mean I am canceling BFG. I am forver loyal to BFG and BFG Guy. There is none that can compare. I will wait to see after I use up the credits I got stored up.

Thanks thehood.
You said what I would loved to have said but not articulate enough to put into the right words. I agree with it all.
Right on, linward, I'm not going anywhere else nor any of my family who are BFG subscribers. I guess some people can never be satisfied and that's what makes the world go around.
I will go now and get some more games.

carlahelp

thehood, thank you, thank you, thank you! now get back to work on Department 42, I'm dying to play it! (Just kidding, I'm happy to see you here!)

Sherryah, why would you think you should get a free game a month? You arn't paying membership dues, you are getting a game credit. If the benefits of being a member do not entice you, cancel. The option is there.

Ana

Bella, yes, if you do not wish to be a Club Member, you can Cancel that by clicking 1 button on the buy screen. Your membership will be canceled and the game will still be activated.

From BFG-Guy

I've been watching this discussion for several days and I think I have a perspective that might be helpful.

Prior to yesterday's announcement, persons wanting to purchase a game from BFG for $6.99 faced two barriers:

1. They had to commit to purchasing 12 games, and

2. They had to join the Game Club and authorize automatic monthly withdrawals.

BellaRosa is right, then, in thinking that the new BFG pricing structure does not remove both requirements. It does, however, remove the first and most onerous one.

And while persons who want to cancel still have to go through the cancellation process (which may or may not be user friendly, depending on your point of view), it should be pointed out that that's no different than what they had to do before.

It's pretty clear, then, that the new pricing structure is an improvement from the customer's perspective.

There is also an additional customer benefit that hasn't been mentioned.

I joined in 2006 and, new to casual gaming, I was unwilling to make a commitment to purchasing 12 games. Instead, I enrolled in the Club level that required fewer purchases (3 or 4 or 6, something like that) for $7.99 per game.

I was among the many BFG-Guy mentioned who do not leave, but it took 26 months of continuous monthly withdrawals of $7.99 each - and in some cases the purchase of additional game credits at $7.99 each - before the light finally dawned and I changed my membership to the Gold one or whatever it is that requires 12 purchases for the reduced price of $6.99 per game.

Now, some people may think BFG should have gone out of its way to analyze the use of its many customers and either notify them of a more attractive option or automatically change their subscriptions, but I disagree. While this would have been "nice," BFG had no obligation to do that. The responsibility to govern my expenditures, satisfy my commitments, join, cancel or change memberships, etc., paid for via automatic withdrawal is mine. And secondly, the games I purchased are well worth $7.99 each. If I didn't think so, I would have looked into it sooner. And when I did decide to make the change, the online process was quick, intuitive and very user-friendly.

(Without any request on my part, incidentally, BFG "counted" my prior purchases and upon my changing my subscription I was immediately notified that I had satisfied my 12 game purchase requirement and had no further purchase obligation.)

I think it's important to note, though, that under the new pricing structure NO ONE WILL EVER PAY MORE THAN $6.99 FOR A GAME PURCHASED THROUGH BFG.

In summary, the change has no downside that I can see for either existing customers or new customers. And while it may not be everything one could hope for, it's undeniably a much more generous and consumer friendly structure than the one that previously existed, which itself was very popular and provided excellent value.

Go, BFG!

I can't imagine why anyone would be upset with BFG for making all games available to everyone for the same low price. The only requirement if you don't want to commit is you have to move your cursor over a button and push your index finger. Sorry, but I don't see the problem.

Personally, I love being a member. It's so much fun to go to the Big Fish site to check out what's new and to see that I have a game credit waiting to be spent. It's a little like Xmas . Although, that doesn't happen often since I typically spend them faster than they can accumulate.

So if you don't want to be a member, click the button and then enjoy the game you just bought for the lowest price you'll probably ever see it.

Is there a way I can cancel my membership without buying a game? I've been a member for a number of years and wouldn't go anywhere else. I rather not have 6.99 taken out of my account each month. I would like to log in and buy a game and log out. Thanks
Richard

It's really easy, kjos. Just:

1. Sign in.

2. Click on the My Account tab at the top of the page.

3. At the bottom of the large Account Summary box on the left there's a green arrow icon that says "Cancel My Membership" in blue text. Click on it.

I've thought of doing this myself just because I also don't like automatic withdrawals, but it's my understanding that BFG will be announcing significant new Game Club member benefits in a couple of weeks so I've decided to wait to make a decision about that.

Regardless of what the new benefits are, though, I must say I really like being able to get Tomorrow's Game Today. I also hate having to wait for customer service and really like the live chat service option, so I'll probably end up staying a club member just for those things.

Hope this helps!

GPM-I did that yesterday and today and nothing happened I'm still a active member. Richard

Richard, please contact BigFish. They have a support team there that can help you.