PC Gamer Caitlyn Skin Invalid - What to do?

Being abducted is a daily occurance. I got this.

As most of you know, the US November 2011 issue of PC Gamer magazine for $8.99 includes the free Arctic Warfare Caitlyn skin in NA servers only along with the hero if you don't already have her unlocked. Unfortunately, as a result of poor security on the magazine copies, it's very easy to flip to page 72, take a picture of the code, and steal it without paying for the magazine. In fact, the majority of the magazines have had this happen.

I personally bought a copy of the magazine yesterday knowing full well that this might happen. Why?

Because you can still get the hero + the skin, but it might take up to 2 weeks, which I feel is still worth it for a free Caitlyn (975 RP) and this boss skin. If the store you're buying them from has extra stock of the magazine in the back it might be worth asking since it'll save you an e-mail and two weeks.

Here's the official standing from PC Gamer magazine:

Contact information has changed, please make sure you follow these steps,

1. Please only contact us directly at [email protected]
- Ignore all previous emails or phone numbers that’ve been posted here on the forums—contacting those will result in you being helped SIGNIFICANTLY slower. Emails already sent to those older addresses will not be affected by this change.

2. In order to be helped, you must include a photograph of your receipt and your code page, with the code clearly readable.
- We’re clamping down on our process and will be individually checking every code that is submitted to ensure that fraud is completely eliminated.

3. Unfortunately, the sheer number of fraud attempts sent in, and the counter-measures we’re having to do to fight against them, will cause our response time to slow down, and it may take us up to two weeks to respond to your email.


It's definitely worth also sending a support ticket to Riot here:
http://support.leagueoflegends.com/anonymous_requests/new

There are also other users suggesting that you buy the $1.99 coverleaf digital version of the magazine for the code instead, and several people have succeeded in receiving the code. However, PC Gamer might be cracking down on this, and seems to imply that they will be checking each code individually and no longer issuing the Caitlyn code to purchasers of the digital copy.


Update: Apparently the Coverleaf version is now also $8.99

As for the people stealing the code on the magazine, be warned that there have been suggestions to the effect of banning users who have stolen the code if the owner of the code sends in the picture of the magazine and code, so I'd advise against it.

Hope this post helped some of you! Feel free to comment below :)