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Every year on my birthday my mom gives me cash to buy games with, and since my early youth I've trudged out to get a new bit of entertaining software. This year I only wanted to get one game, and there were only a small handful of contenders: Orange Box, Battlefield 2, or the last two Sims expansions that I don't have yet. Being a huge fan of BF42 and BFV, and after being told for a while how much I'd love BF2 if I gave it a chance, I decided to get that. Easier said than done!

So I went to Circuit City to buy the game: sold out. Target? Sold out. I didn't feel like driving clear across the city in Holiday traffic, so I decided to simply drive home and buy it off of Amazon. And since it was extremely cheap, I picked up a copy of Black & White for my girlfriend, in an attempt to ween her off of her World of Warcraft addiction. Shy of casino games, I've never been known for having good luck, so here's another classic gem with Matt getting the bad end of a situation, lol.

The order was placed on the night of the 17th, with two-day shipping. Because it was late and the holidays were in full effect, it was scheduled to arrive on the 20th via UPS. B&W was shipped regular ground through the USPS, and was scheduled to arrive between the 24th and 28th. So on the 20th, I wait around all day for the UPS truck, and finally it shows up at around 5pm. The guy is sitting in his truck staring at the apartment building, never actually stepping out of said truck, so I put my jacket on and head outside. By the time I reach the building's front door, he'd driven off! Furious, I called UPS and they claimed the package wasn't labeled with an apartment number. I gave them the address and they said it would arrive the next day. Well, the next day the UPS truck didn't even drive passed my house. I looked it up online, and it claimed they *did* try to deliver it, so I called again, saying "your driver never even came down my street, I want this package delivered inside the hour, right now, I paid for two-day shipping and I expect to get that." They said their drivers were all busy, so I'd have to come in and pick it up myself! WTH! So the next day on Saturday we headed out to get the package. Guess what's sitting in our mail box? Black & White, shipped through the US Postal Service, arrived several days EARLY, and on a Saturday!

If you think my adventure is done there, you're wrong, lol. So I get the game home after driving out to UPS to pick it up. My video card royally sucks... an ATI 9200 with 128MB RAM. But the system specifications clearly state that BF2 should run on an ATI 8500+ with 128MB, so I figured I was in the clear. I install the game, run it, and... black screen. The game didn't like my card! So after several hours of toying with my video settings, checking drivers, and all that, I finally tried changing my AGP setting from 8x to 4x... presto, game runs fine now, without a hint of video lag, and most of my settings are at medium as well.

Knowing someone might search the net and find this thread: right-click the "ATI" logo in your system tray, then click "Settings," then click "ATI Display Settings." From there, click SMARTGART(TM) and then slide the "Set AGP Speed" thing down to 4x... presto, working game.

So yeah, getting BF2 was a headache and a half lol. I have the worst luck . But the game works and I can finally play it, which is good. Anyway, just thought I'd share that with everyone. It's the holidays so I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to vent about bad shipping practices. This is why I always ship stuff through Fed Ex, I've never once had a problem with them... UPS is aweful.

A quick note, I've officially retired my signature image. Slappy the Pwnage Penguin will slap no more. If I saw that penguin get hit one more time my head was going to explode

I didn't know you could turn 17 on your 27th birthday


Nah, it was annoying, but you got your package. The WORST luck would have been Amazon.com being hacked and redirecting you to a false Amazon who you give your information to and instead of getting a video game you get a bill for a new car that you can't remember buying.

Hmm unlucky

I've had a similar bad experience with amazon this christmas. Ordered items on 19th, paid extra for 1st class delivery, items estimated to arrive on 22nd, and 'guaranteed' to arrive by 24th.

I still haven't got the items. And they were meant to be christmas presents for people Got an automatic email saying I can expect them by 2nd January (??!!) What a joke. Sent them a rather aggressive reply, I'll see what happens. I know the post was pretty dodgy but I don't see how they can guarantee something if it's not in their hands...

Why did you wait till the 19th to buy Christmas presents?

lol you lost me there


lol yeah, it could have definitely been worse. I think the paypal problem I had a while back was the biggest issue I've had on the net to date, if that happened again I'd go crazy :/


What company is shipping them? Do you guys have UPS and Fed Ex in Britain? I figure you have your own shipping companies but I know Fed Ex at least is international (not sure but I think UPS might be as well), I'm wondering if UPS is globally horrible or just nationally terrible, lol.

Yeah, if I'd waited until the 19th to order my Christmas stuff I'd be annoyed but I couldn't be angry at anyone but myself.

Usually Amazon orders in the UK come by Royal Mail. They spend half the year on strike because they don't get paid enough (here's a thought - try actually doing your job and you might get paid more). Then on the few days they do work they come round at ridiculous hours when most people are at work (and they will only try delivering something once, then you have to go collect it from them). Oh and the best bit is when your parcel/letter arrives with the "found open at sorting office - content may be damaged or missing" tape stuck on the top.

I'd take US Post office over UPS any day. I can't tell you how many times they "attempted" delivery.

A good day for me is when I *get* to go pick it up at the UPS location, and sometimes they'll even show mercy on me and let me pick it up in the moring rather than 7 at night!

USPS? They leave it there on the porch for me, always in mint condition. I USPS

Yeah, I love USPS, and Fed Ex too, they don't mess around, they get your package to you on time, they ring the doorbell, they leave contact information if they can't find you... tops . What can brown do for me? Apparently nothing

They can brown up the neighborhood, no?

USPS is one of the best ways to ship I think They always seem to be perfectly prompt and are usually pretty cheap. I've never had a single problem with UPS or FedEx though, so

They *guaranteed* to deliver items by the 24th, so I figured it'll be ok...yeah, it was with royal mail

Just got an email from someone in broken english by a Mr. Phani Kumar:





wtf? lol

apparently they think it was lost in the post, so they're going to have to send a replacement order - but they have to wait till the 31st of december until they can put out the new order. *sigh*. No, i wont be buying christmas presents off amazon anymore. lol

My results were, and have always been better with UPS than Fed-Ex.

My wife ordered a print from Overstock.com and it was shipped Fed-Ex. Item was supposed to be delivered.

At that time we lived among a group of my wifes relatives and no one even saw fed-ex on that day of delivery. When we inquired if maybe it was delivered to the wrong address; we were strongly informed it was signed for by F. Door, so it was delivered. We wound up contacting Overstock.com about the problem. Of course Overstock reshipped, but the thing was that within a period of three days we had the same item delivered twice by Fed-Ex. We returned the over shipment to Overstock as it was not their fault.

UPS has always delivered for us, and it works better for us as someone (my wife) is usually home expecting the delivery.

I bought all my christmas presents on the 22nd and 23rd.

But that's normal for me...

lol. My mom went Christmas shopping before Halloween...

I had forgotten what I'd asked for, it had been so long.

Eh, my experiences with UPS have always been bad, and Fed Ex have always been good. Maybe it's a regional thing, I dunno... but here in New York UPS does little more than bog up traffic with bad driving . And their tracking data isn't remotely as good as USPS or especially Fed Ex, who in my experience have the best tracking data of any of the companies. But again, I'm sure there are factors of regional performance for all tracking companies.

I agree that it will vary from place to place and situation to situation; so you are probably right. And I was sorry to hear about your bad fortune.

May the new year be much better.

You are kinda fortunate, most gamers want a gaming GF...

Well, you can't really blame amazon if it got lost in the mail... But ye I get your point

I wouldn't buy Christmas presents off Amazon (or any online company) either unless it was way in advance

Actually, it turned up this afternoon, so it didn't get lost in the post, it was just late. Amazon are refunding me for the postage, guess that will do.