This morning I received an email of my last customer. He was asking if he could redownload the game because he "accidentally formatted the hard-disk".
LOL, ok I look in esellerate control panel and reset his download count. Note that by default esellerate let you download the game three times, which should be enough for someone to play!!!

Anyway I gave him the possibility to redownload the game.

Well, this evening I got another email asking if I could let him redownload it some more!!!! :D

I looked at stats in my control panel (esellerate one) and I noticed that he already downloaded the game another three times.

I really don't know what he's doing, probably he's giving the download link to other friends..?

Anway my game is only 4mb, so why he doesn't send it directly to all his friends??? That person is dishonest and stupid too!!! :)

Bah... I've decided not to reply to him anymore.
But now I realize that while there are good and nice person, there are a lot of IDIOTS around! :mad:

Never go "on record" being negative about a customer. The Web is far too small, and too well indexed.

-David

I have no experienceon the subject, but maybe there *is* a reason why he's downloading the game several times. Maybe a stupid one, sure; but as you said: if it is for other people to download the game, why wouldn't he simply spread the file himself ? It would be more convenient.
Have you asked him? Maybe he needs to reinstall Windows each time he plays your game ;-) ...
Ok, right, it sounds more like he is a "newbye pirate" and doesn't know how to upload a file to his personnal web space...
I don't know if Esellerate stores the IP used to d/l the files. You could check if they were d/led from the same ISP each time.

why wouldn't he simply spread the file himself ? It would be more convenient.
maybe got a modem connection, or his friends email don't support size larger than 4mb, or maybe he doesn't know how to send an attachment... :p

really I am willing to help any customer: but I see NO REASON to download 3 times, then send an email saying something about an accidental hard-disk formatting, then RE-DOWNLOAD 3 TIMES (instantly, the same day I reset the download counter) and start bothering again with a system crash...!!!

seems a bit too absurd.
if he only needed to re-download the game, he would have done it ONE time, not THREE TIMES :P simple.

about the IP tracking, I'll send an email to esellerate support, it is a good idea and maybe they store the IP address... :)

Perhaps he's using a download manager like GetRight that does multiple downloads, and each of those counts as "a download" by esellerate? I don't know how esellerate works with GetRight type utilities, but it's a possibility that he's really only downloading it once each time.

I don't know how esellerate works with GetRight type utilities, but it's a possibility that he's really only downloading it once each time.
Yeah, that was the problem!
Talked with him (luckily is an italian) and discovered that he was using Freshdownload and got errors.
I've made a deal, I'll send him a CD with the latest version.
He was quite happy and wrote me an email full of compliments.

I feel better now :)

Customer service is VITAL for the survival of any indie game company, so i'm glad you stuck with it and worked it out. Unlike a "big" company like EA or others, indie companies can't afford to throw away any potential satisfied customers. :)

yes, expecially because I was really wrong with him.
He wrote an email full of suggestion, and I discovered that he's really an expert of soccer management games, so it was really worth to keep such a customer :D

Isn't it always the way? Often the customers who may seem awkward or nit-picky at first, turn out to be the best customers you ever had. Often they're tremendously pleasant people too! Thanks for sharing Jack, it's a good little story to remember.

Thanks for sharing Jack, it's a good little story to remember.
yes, I'll have to remember that too in future :)
eventually he confessed that he "showed" my game to two friends of him. Don't know if they copied it, but since it's so nice and is providing me a great morale support, I don't care anymore :p
After all fighting with piracy is almost impossible. But if you provide an outstandig customer support and create a list of interested people, maybe the one who didn't buy your first game they'll buy the second... so you've got really not much to lose ;)

very good story. something to remember in the future. :D