So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

[seq]

reactivated my account in 25 April, payed about 15$
and now on 2 May they r asking me to reactivate my account again?
is there something wrong i did by activating my account in 25 April? i'm payin to play for a month ( 30 days ) not 5 days....

[Kadath]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Part of Square's "smart" billing system.

They rebill the first of the month even if you activated it the last day of the previous month.

Yes, you paid for five days.

[Protes]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Same thing happened to me in March when I reactivated my account towards the end of the month. I sent SE an email asking about it but they never responded back. I happened to buy a 2nd Content ID and noticed that time around SE's billing policy on charges for Content IDs. Basically it says the same thing Kadath said. I forgot SE charges at the beginning of the each month

[seq]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

so "Smart" billing system.... thanks anyway

[DrivenTooFar]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

This is why I reactivated my account on April 1st.

[neighbortaru]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

lesson of the day: never, ever, activate FFXI in the middle or end of the month. you pay for the calender month, not for 30 days.

[Kadenmire]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

I don't if this is off the subject but twice in the last three years I've loged on to find my account deactived for no apparent reason and took several days to reactavate. Anyone know why this happened?

[blobboid196]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

why the hell is that called a smart billing system?

[Macht]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Well if you read Square-Enix's Service & Support section about that they even warn you if you activate it at the end of the month you'll be charge the entire month. The reasoning is once you have a content ID that just inactive they are sustaining that data, so the $15.00 fee becomes a reactivation fee no matter how many days it is till the next month's billing cycle.

So yes if you want to wipe that activation fee then you should reactivate it immediatly after a billing cycle. The design also prevents an obvious occurence you could see people doing trying to circumvent their auto-billing system, deactivate your account before and re-activate after. Don't think someone wouldn't be so low as to try and find way to cheat a company out of money, happens with the people I work for quite often it's a pain in the butt.

You kind of learn to hate cheapskates like that REALLY fast and have many very colorful words and actions you'd love to say or do to them. The ones that know they've got you and antagonize you to just rub it in are the worst, busted a brand new phone with one of them.

[Balfree]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Smart because they get more off of you, pretty clever!

[Darkhound]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

ouch.. that is not morale correct from them

[Etra]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

That just happened to me. LoL...I don't mind, though. I know it's going to a good company that has kept me entertained for...almost half my life, really.

SE is like the father I never had.

>_>

<_<

/backs away slowly

[Kafeen]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Are you sure you were billed the full price?

I know when you first create your account the first month you're only charged fir the part of the month you use.

[Cometgreen]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

Yes, I remember being billed only a dollar or two way back at the end of Nov 2003, after my free 30 days were up. Has their protocol changed since then?

[Macht]

Re: So i've payed 14$ to play for 5 days? sigh...

No that is a pro-rating for no Content IDs that were Inactive. If you wiped all the content IDs and made completly new one I think it'll pro-rate still. Just they have a re-activation fee that you are charged if your account is reactivated after a billing cycle has passed you didn't pay on.

Like I said before the logic is that fee is you paying to have the Content ID restored that's been in their system. Different story if you've deleted all the content IDs and then get charged the whole thing for a new one you make. Reason for this structor is because they don't want people activating an account then deactivating it just to try and cheat a pro-rate system to make your monthly charge cheaper.

So it's a very simple structure payed that months worth fell free to activate and deactivate all you want, didn't pay that months yet must pay the price it would be as a re-activation fee instead regardless of when next billing cycle is. This data has beein in the "Service & Support" section for years, not their fault if no one can read.