Herinteractive purchasing policy

I went to re-download The Shattered Medallion yesterday and was informed the following:

"It is too late to download this file. You were allowed to download within 30 days.

If you have any questions, please contact Digital River Customer Service at CustomerServices@digitalriver.com". Apparently any games purchased after 2011 must be rebought.

This is a bad policy and I am very annoyed.

Yes, after taking a peek at HerInteractive's FAQ page, it looks as if you have to pay extra for their "Extended Download Service", which allows you to redownload a game for a period of up to five years. Otherwise, you're limited.

Hi, Rushes!

That is a horrible policy. If you purchase the game, you own the game and should be able to download it as often as is necessary, within reasonable limits. What happens if your hard drive crashes ... or you need to reinstall Windows ... or you purchase a new computer?

I have never ordered from HerInteractive, but I certainly won't in the future.

Susan

I've never ordered from them either, Susan. I always used to purchase my Nancy Drew games on disc from either Interact or Amazon. They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming into the download-only age.

Hi Susie!

Yep, right. It would be better to open an Amazon account, purchase the game there for download, which is the same price as HerIinteractive. It then goes into your library and is available for download any time.

I certainly wouldn't want to download games from there. I knew that there was an extended download option but didn't know the details. Not good.

At least on GOG and other sites ,you can download and play the games you own forever.
Richard

I either order my games on disc from Amazon.ca or download them from BFG. I did download "Tesla Effect" from GOG but, as Richard stated, they allow you to download and play the games you own without any restrictions.

If ever I cannot find a game here in Canada that I really want to play, I'll download it from Amazon.com. I placed an order with them last year for an item that wasn't available in Canada, and their service was excellent.

Susan

I think you can re-use your original download if you ever want to reinstall your game or install it on another computer.
Be sure to burn the download to a DVD or store it on a flash drive or some other storage medium.
I think they offer multiple downloads when you first buy a game in case you have a problem downloading, and not because they expect each download to be good for a single install.

I have no idea if HerInteractive would be willing and able to re-activate a download for you if you request it. But even if they do, there will be a delay in when you can play because of the time it takes for them to respond to emails.

Yes they should make it clear that the downloads are time-limited. But HerInteractive probably has to pay extra to Digital River (or whatever company stores the downloads) to make them available for more than the default time. So they pass the cost on to those who want online storage.