Help for UK owners please?

[grant74]

Hi Guys,

I apologise if this has been bought up before, but I have a question regarding the Atari VCS 800. I am based in the UK and have recently purchased a very nice all in one walnut fronted unit off Ebay and have been really pleased so far - apart from one issue..... I can't work out how to purchase games from the store. I managed to subscribe to Antstream arcade ok and I notice that the prices for the games in the store appear in my native currency of British pounds - however, when I enter my debit card details I am asked for my Zip code. We don't have that here in the Uk - we have postcodes instead - which consists of letters and numbers. I have tried entering my postcode and its not recognised. Has anyone from the UK  managed to get around this issue? If so could you please tell me how to do it? I want to support Atari and buy some games but at the moment the VCS store wont let me. Thanks in advance and any help is gratefully received.

 

 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I'm in the UK and have been able to purchase games perfectly fine on the VCS for coming up on 3 years. The problem your describing is a new issue that seems to have popped up recently and if effecting alot of users, even users in the US are having issues purchasing games and updating there card details in the store due to this exact zip code error. I've seen it pop up quite a lot on the Atari VCS discord lately. I think Atari are aware of the issue and are working on fixing it but unfortunately in the main time there's not much you can do. I read there's a work around by purchasing a gift card and checking out by paying using the gift card but i have no experience with that but it could be an option you could look in to.

[THX-1138]

1 minute ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I'm in the UK and have been able to purchase games perfectly fine on the VCS for coming up on 3 years. The problem your describing is a new issue that seems to have popped up recently and if effecting alot of users, even users in the US are having issues purchasing games and updating there card details in the store due to this exact zip code error. I've seen it pop up quite a lot on the Atari VCS discord lately. I think Atari are aware of the issue and are working on fixing it but unfortunately in the main time there's not much you can do. I read there's a work around by purchasing a gift card and checking out by paying using the gift card but i have no experience with that but it could be an option you could look in to.

Not sure that will work.  US Gift cards will use the US dollar, as far as I know, UK gift cards and prepaid debit cards will use GBP only and not work.  I personally have had problems using my VISA debit card as it doesn't support US dollars.

Can't really help the OP, I signed up for my VCS account so long ago I don't remember what I did but I'm fairly sure I had the account before I could secure an actual VCS.

 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I was able to add another card to my account around a month and a half ago so this is definitely a new issue. For my zip code i just used my own UK postcode and all other relevant UK data nothing different from when i added my card to the PS5 etc. That's rubbish the gift card work around wouldn't work here in the UK for new VCS owners, what a rubbish situation to be in. I'd honestly love to tell op the best games to buy but right now id suggest looking into installing another OS like Windows 11 or Linux on the device and installing Steam and waiting to see when the issue get fixed. It seems the VCS is just getting worse with bugs and glitches on the store front, its needing tore down and re built but again all money and we all know Atari hates investing to much into the VCS. I hope this new upcoming firmware fixes the issue there's always that. 

[THX-1138]

7 minutes ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I was able to add another card to my account around a month and a half ago so this is definitely a new issue. For my zip code i just used my own UK postcode and all other relevant UK data nothing different from when i added my card to the PS5 etc. That's rubbish the gift card work around wouldn't work here in the UK for new VCS owners, what a rubbish situation to be in. I'd honestly love to tell op the best games to buy but right now id suggest looking into installing another OS like Windows 11 or Linux on the device and installing Steam and waiting to see when the issue get fixed. It seems the VCS is just getting worse with bugs and glitches on the store front, its needing tore down and re built but again all money and we all know Atari hates investing to much into the VCS. I hope this new upcoming firmware fixes the issue there's always that. 

In my case I was able to use another VISA card that supported US currency and I've never had a problem since.

The store has never been a problem for me beyond the initial card problem I had.  I do think they have a problem with their card processor, usually it's folks in the US and Canada that have problems and it all 'just works' for me.   Not sure the store will ever be fixed as such, anymore than we'll ever be able to buy -anything- from Atari in the UK.

[grant74]

Thank you for the help so far guys. I'm hoping this problem will eventually be sorted and go away! I will keep trying things. What a shame that Atari seem to have turned their backs on UK based customers. I think there is still a market for them over here (albeit a small one compared to the heydays of the 80s). Who knows, maybe one day they'll listen. Great products, crap service.

 

[E. King]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:45 AM, grant74 said:

Thank you for the help so far guys. I'm hoping this problem will eventually be sorted and go away! I will keep trying things. What a shame that Atari seem to have turned their backs on UK based customers. I think there is still a market for them over here (albeit a small one compared to the heydays of the 80s). Who knows, maybe one day they'll listen. Great products, crap service.

 

The VCS will never be offered by Atari to ship to the UK. It is only sold by Atari to ship within the USA.

The various VCS game store problems have been ongoing nagging issue for a very long time and there is no reason to expect Atari will ever get things straight.

Atari has so many other priorities that come before the VCS.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Might be worth trying to add a credit card again to your account, it's been giving me a message saying the Atari VCS store is currently undergoing maintenance at the moment. I think they might be fixing the zip code error, it should be that since they wouldn't want to lose extra sales on Mr Run and Jump when it launches next week on the Atari VCS!