Fallout 76 fans are livid over what they call a collectors edition ‘bait-and-switch’

    
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Answer a question, Todd.

Bethsoft just can’t catch a break with Fallout 76, can it. Players across social media are bemoaning an apparent switcharoo in the Fallout 76 collector’s edition. The original collector’s edition advertisement, both the photo and text, described a “West tek canvas carrying bag” that looks pretty swanky. However, what actually arrived in these kits was a cheap-looking nylon bag that doesn’t match the description or the image whatsoever.

Naturally, players who shelled out $200 for this product were a bit miffed and contacted Bethsoft. And now, according to multiple users on Reddit, customer service reps for Bethsoft have given answers on the topic that differ in tone but not in result: Bethsoft decided to switch the product without warning. Here’s one:

“Due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions.”

And here’s another – ouch, right?

“We are sorry that you aren’t happy with the bag. The bag shown in the media was a prototype and was too expensive to make. We aren’t planning on doing anything about it.”

Twitter user @AllGamesDelta posted photos of what was advertised vs. what was actually delivered:

It’s not clear whether anyone has any grounds for legal action – I mean, we’re talking about a bag here – but Redditors in the thread with nearly 24,000 upvotes are discussing the efficacy of credit card chargebacks at the least.

Source: Reddit, Reddit again, Twitter, Spieltimes. Thanks, Danny!
Update
Bethsoft has now issued a formal statement explaining why the second response above was so, uh, curt:

“The Bethesda Store’s Support member is a temporary contract employee and not directly employed by Bethesda or Bethesda Game Studios. We apologize to the customer who took the time to reach out. The support response was incorrect and not in accordance with our conduct policy. Unfortunately, due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions.”

The message on Reddit also has an edit that says it will compensate buyers with the equivalent of $5 in cash shop currency: “We are working with our CS team to provide 500 Atoms to Power Armor Edition purchasers.” Incidentally, the first Redditor to report all this has also pointed out that Skyrim had a similar issue back in 2011.

Update Dec 3
Bethsoft has now promised to send everyone who requests one the bag that was promised. More here.
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