A Canadian's Problem with NBG

 by TheEsquire » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:10 pm

Hey there all. I just have a couple of simple questions about Namco Bandai Games and their handling of the localization of Ni no Kuni and their Wizard Edition. I've been waiting for a few months now in hopes that answers would pop up without me having to ask them, but the end of August is getting closer and closer so I'm just going to ask them myself.

Why can't NBG ship up to Canada (or Mexico for that matter) when they claim they serve all of North America repeatedly in anything and everything they publish on their site? It just doesn't make sense...

Second, I'm a Canadian that lives very close to the US/Canada border. I commute back and forth all the time between the two countries and have dealt with websites that only ship to the States many times before. I have a place that I can ship US packages to no problem, and have done so many, many times. Why can't I even put my proper billing information into the site? That is the most poorly designed system I have ever seen, barring that you are saying you won't let anyone that lives outside of the States even BUY anything from you guys. Off the Namco Bandai North America website at that...

Third (and finally), why can't people out of the States Pre-order the Ni no Kuni: Wizard Edition at all? If NBG wants the States to have to buy from their website, that's their decision. But if they won't let outsiders buy from the website, why would they make it exclusive to their website? It's a very, very poor decision on their part from a business standpoint. They would make a lot more money if they'd let us buy the game.

Look, I don't even CARE about the fact that I can't get onto the Ninostarter (though I would love to be able to get all the extra goodies...), I would be happy with just the basic Wizard Edition. I've been a fan of Studio Ghibli since I was a little kid and I own almost all of their works. I have been looking forward to the localization of this since it was announced in Japan. I have been scouring the internet for information on this game for over a year. I have waited very patiently to be able finally purchase the game in my native language, alongside the massive spell tome that is supposed to come with the game. It looked beautiful, sounded beautiful, and from what I've seen of game play footage over time is everything I want in a video game. To be told that I straight up can't have the item I want simply because I live half an hour north of an invisible line is ridiculous. ESPECIALLY when I can send items to the other side of that magic line and you STILL won't let me.

This is the poorest I've ever been treated by any company, ever. I've contacted customer service both by phone and by e-mail. The e-mail told me that Club Namco doesn't serve products to people outside of the States, then went on about how their support email was for currently released titles and nothing more, giving me a phone number to call instead. I called the phone number and got a little further from a nice woman who tried to work things out. She was told in the end that I would need a credit card that had an address tied to "North American" country that was available from the dropdown list (AKA, The US of A), and was very apologetic. All that needs to be done is say "This guy's billing address should be Canada, not the States for his country listing". As a someone who works with computers and databases for a living, I know there is no real problem there. They just won't do it.

Seriously, this has gotten ridiculous. You've left me in a situation where my best options for buying the Wizard Edition of Ni no Kuni are "Try and get a random people I know from the States to buy this game for me if I give them the money" and "Wait until 'Scalpers' put the game on eBay and such for 2-3x the regular price (which is money that doesn't go into Namco Bandai's pocket I must point out AGAIN)". This is just... dumb. There's no other word for it.

I know these questions have been asked many times, but at this point I know nothing is going to be done about it unless people start getting really annoying about this. Yes, I know you forum admins really have no control over what happens with this, and I'm sorry that we keep pestering you with the same complaints over and over again but a point has to be made :/

Sorry for the long post. TL;DR version, Namco Bandai needs make their products accessible to those who want them and are doing a poor job of running a store for "North American" customers. They're losing a ton of money the way they're running the show.

Re: A Canadian's Problem with NBG

 by Slart » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:31 pm

I'm glad you posted a long, well written post.

I don't have much faith that NB will read it though.

They don't seem to particularly care about their customers outside of Japan and the US.