Broken Functionality: A Response | HomeStation Magazine
Editor’s foreword: The following article is a response from VEEMEE to some user concerns recently raised in a HomeStation article. We are very grateful for their detailed answer; it takes time to draft such a letter, and our hope is that this response reaffirms the old aphorism that the exception proves the rule.
In this case, HSM’s decision to publish an article which skirted the editorial edges of what this publication allows — and in so doing seemed to capture a strong amount of emotional response — provided a golden opportunity for VEEMEE to demonstrate not only their own company commitment to quality and consumer satisfaction, but also illustrate that developers do in fact listen and pay attention. This further reinforces the importance of providing consumer feedback that focuses more on constructive criticism and less on emotional invective.
It’s a more difficult (and less cathartic) road to take as a consumer, but it’s ultimately far more valuable.
by Alan Searle, VEEMEE Studio Manager
All of us here at VEEMEE want nothing more than for the users who buy and use our products to have a good time with them – that’s why we do what we do. Our community team does its best to help out everyone that gets in touch in the best way possible.
Occasionally, technical glitches can occur and users may have to contact us claiming that they have purchased a pack of Acorns or 3D Printer Tokens and have not had them added to their park or printer profile.
While this does happen occasionally due to scenarios that are often outwith our control (these types of item work in a very different way from regular items such as clothing, companions etc.), we aim to resolve these situations as quickly and efficiently as possible. To do this, we have a set process in place where we require that a user supply us with their confirmation receipt of purchase that they received from Sony. Without this, we have no way of validating a purchase ever took place – it is the same as trying to return an item to a physical high street shop without a proof of purchase – anyone could bring any item in and ask for reimbursement. The matter is complicated somewhat by the fact that developers are not part of the transaction chain which happens directly between a user and Sony, and as such if an error does occur, we do not have immediate visibility of all of the facts required to resolve it.
In one particular case, a user initially asked for assistance on the community forums, and was advised by our community team to contact our support channel. We do not deal with support requests directly on the forums because a support topic can often include sensitive information such as credit card transaction details, as was the case in this instance. Upon contacting our support team, the user then notified us that they no longer had their receipt for the purchase of their Acorns. As you can understand, we cannot simply add Acorns to an account with zero proof that the user is owed them. The user then got back in touch with us and supplied us with a confirmation number – however while helpful, this did not allow us to immediately verify the transaction. We were however then able to contact Sony directly and asked them to validate the transaction for us by using that ID – which had a 2 day turnaround time. As soon as we had this verification, we updated the users profile with the Acorns that they had purchased.
Whilst we want to ensure that everyone gets what they have paid for and have an amazing experience with our products, we can’t add tokens to a user’s account without proof of purchase. If we did that we would create a scenario where anyone could email us claiming that they had lost Acorns or 3D Printer tokens and expect them to be added straight to their profile, even if they had not purchased them – this would not only lose us revenue, but also impact honest users that spend hard earned money to obtain Acorns and 3D Printer tokens legitimately. Checks have to be in place to stop this from happening, and unfortunately, these checks can sometimes mean that a user will not be able to use their purchase for a short amount of time. To reiterate my earlier point, the team here work extremely hard to ensure that this delay is kept as short as it can possibly be. It is not in our interest to upset users or cause frustration.
Over the past year, we have been actively making an effort to engage more and more with the community and have been working hard on strengthening our support system with the success of both Acorn Meadows Park and the 3D Printer within Home. We want nothing more than to have happy users having a happy time.
There is no denying the fact that occasionally problems may occur which is the precise reason why we have a support team in place to help if things do go wrong. We recommend that users always maintain copies of all of their receipts to avoid any potential delays with our ability to assist them as smoothly as possible. The most important thing for the VEEMEE team is to ensure that anyone who purchases or uses our products is happy with them and able to enjoy the best possible experience that they can whilst using them.
If anyone has or is currently experiencing a problem within Acorn Meadows Park, the 3D Printer or with any of our other products and wishes to get in touch with us, simply drop us a mail to and we will do our very best to help you out.
