Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

[Kailea]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

yea it's starting to look like i'll have to go to start a new account or forswear SE for all time and hiead over to WoW.... with it's 0 storyline annoying players annoying graphics /sigh god i hate WoW

yeah you do that, and enjoy the same thing over there.....

WoW accounts banned

and your idea of customer support is way off, I had no trouble getting my account back, and hell I did not even have my reg codes. That's why I say you have to keep calling back, when you get someone on the line that actually cares about his job, things get done.

[Kurb]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

already phoned up twice.First time the lady sasid I had been playing for 3 or 4 years would not be surprised if i did not have the codes gave them to her along with everything else.They said I would be up and running by the end of the day that was 3 or 4 days ago.Should I give them another week or two? start over half way through August.Or should I simply walk away start again or go to WoW other than that I cannot see any other options.So wait restart or jump ship.If there is another option plaese by all means point it out.I welcome those who make sense as you can see i seldom do

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

We can go on an on about POL customer service if we want to, but the reality is that call center has been understaffed for years and you know as well as I do there probably isn't much reason to expand on it in the US now that its clear POL as an internet portal has not been a success and that the economy isn't that great.

FFXIV won't even be supported by POL in any way.

There really isn't much reason for POL's continued existance now that the three parties that formed it technically don't exist. Squaresoft and Enix merged, Namco dropped out and later merged with Bandai. The concept behind POL has been given up and SE only carries it now for FFXI, Tetra Master and some other little games few care about.

I've talked with POL reps over the phone after being put on hold for twenty minutes and yeah, that's frustrating. Yeah, they give canned answers and pre-written responses. Lots of call centers do. If you call Sony and suggest and sort of fault within their pristine products, they'll try to pin blame on you somehow. If you call Bethesda and question why their ambitious game designs crash so much, they'll simply tell you to be less ambitious with their games so you have a crash-free game experience (maybe).

About the only customer service I've ever seen bend over backwards cheerfully to solve an issue has been Nintendo. If the problem is with some online game, however, it will be solved by a universal and cold nerf of some kind after months and months or even years of allowing it to persist. Oh look, your Mews are now all Dittos. See also: Sega and Phantasy Star Online/Phantasy Star Universe.

Rage on all you want, there will never be perfect solutions to online gaming or perfect customer service for them. What about the numerous more "innocents" banned from WoW or some other MMORPG?

Did you seriously think SE would stop at RMTs? That they'd be the only people ever banned from the game? Do you seriously expect me to believe that there might not be evidence of RMT, griefing, racism/harassment of other players, exploitation of the system or other dysfunctional behaviors on the behalf of players banned from FFXI?

You know as well as I do people speed and position hack, you've seen it on the way to HNM camps. Those people aren't innocent, they're using third party tools that compromise the system. You know as well as I do some people make Morion Gael their second home or have GMs deal with them regularly. Or that there are people that never run out of gil or have multiple relics.

Does it surprise you when these people get banned? It doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I don't think an arbitrary process is at play here.

[Kailea]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

We can go on an on about POL customer service if we want to, but the reality is that call center has been understaffed for years and you know as well as I do there probably isn't much reason to expand on it in the US now that its clear POL as an internet portal has not been a success and that the economy isn't that great.

FFXIV won't even be supported by POL in any way.

There really isn't much reason for POL's continued existance now that the three parties that formed it technically don't exist. Squaresoft and Enix merged, Namco dropped out and later merged with Bandai. The concept behind POL has been given up and SE only carries it now for FFXI, Tetra Master and some other little games few care about.

I've talked with POL reps over the phone after being put on hold for twenty minutes and yeah, that's frustrating. Yeah, they give canned answers and pre-written responses. Lots of call centers do. If you call Sony and suggest and sort of fault within their pristine products, they'll try to pin blame on you somehow. If you call Bethesda and question why their ambitious game designs crash so much, they'll simply tell you to be less ambitious with their games so you have a crash-free game experience (maybe).

About the only customer service I've ever seen bend over backwards cheerfully to solve an issue has been Nintendo. If the problem is with some online game, however, it will be solved by a universal and cold nerf of some kind after months and months or even years of allowing it to persist. Oh look, your Mews are now all Dittos. See also: Sega and Phantasy Star Online/Phantasy Star Universe.

oh god yeah -.- I love Phantasy Star Universe to death.... even started over on the 360 when the PC version became to.... stupid -.-
but Sega's support for it in the states is horrific at best

many things they did wrong, and all of them easily fixable within the first year of the game being out,but they never did -.-

but Kurb, if thats what you where told, and it still not active, call again, and check up on it. You dont just call once and then leave it be, you call again and again untill things are done.

[Pawkeshup]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Well, it's a new day, with a newly banned set of accounts:
Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI

And no, nothing more at work here than SE's screwed up policies. If you want to act like a bunch of ostriches and bury your head in the sand, go for it. I for one am going to try to do something before the hammer gets me next.

5 years I've been in this game, and I have no intention of getting arbitrarily banned because some database crawler thinks I'm a cheat, or because SE has no goddamn clue how to charge payments on my credit card.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

This still isn't really being banned though, it's just an inability to pay the fees because of their new verification that apparently isn't working for a lot of people. It definitely does deserve attention, though. Just thought I'd throw it out there, this isn't a ban. You just can't play because - according to them - you can't pay. It's different.

Though I wouldn't doubt that they would eventually start banning people who can't be verified through this.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Well, it's a new day, with a newly banned set of accounts:
Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI

And no, nothing more at work here than SE's screwed up policies. If you want to act like a bunch of ostriches and bury your head in the sand, go for it. I for one am going to try to do something before the hammer gets me next.

5 years I've been in this game, and I have no intention of getting arbitrarily banned because some database crawler thinks I'm a cheat, or because SE has no goddamn clue how to charge payments on my credit card.

So what you're saying is that you didn't pay attention to the warning about the credit card security feature being added - something SE was rather upfront about in advance - and that you're mad because you didn't do anything about it.

Misdirected rage, folks, gotta love it!

[Kailea]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

and if its not supported by what you have, I dont think POL looks for it. MY credit card is signed up for it, but it would not let me sign up my Debit card (what FFXI is on) and so I could not get this verify code for it, and I am still running fine.

Now if your card can use it, and you failed to sign up for it (very easy I might add) then well.... thats your fault

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

In advance? They gave people about a three-day's notice! That's not enough advanced time to get a new card if you need it, or attempt to call them and get them to actually help you. Last time I applied for and got a credit card, it took at least a month for me to receive it.

I don't think it is too much to ask that they A. Give more advance notice than three days, B. Have some sort of system in place for people whose cards can not be used with this verification, especially because the notice given was not sufficient.

Basically, they told a good portion of their playerbase that they would no longer be able to play. If they're going to implement something, they should implement something that the majority of card companies are using, not a minority. They are really hurting a lot of their players here. The people not affected are the ones whose cards just got billed regularly and didn't have to change. This will eventually affect everyone, and it's not such an easy switch to fix when you don't hold and/or can't get a card that uses VbV or SecureCode. And that actually does encompass a large portion of the playerbase.

As usual, I don't think they put enough thought into this before just doing it. They don't have the foresight to see that it's a problem, they just say, "Oh, well that's too bad, guess you can't play." They don't want to take my money because I can't get the "proper" card? Fine, I'll spend it elsewhere. They're losing customers daily because of things like this.

Advanced notice my ass. They gave merely days before the billing cycle, and only a few hours' notice before they changed the policy. People have lives outside this game, they don't time to hunt down new credit cards. They needed to give more notice, and it wouldn't hurt to let people call in with correct information (including registration codes!) and register their accounts if their bank or card company can't/won't use this system.

[Pawkeshup]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Actually... if you read, someone did register with their card, two different ones in fact, and neither was accepted even though they were "Verified" cards.

And you must fail in regards to reading comprehension. I never posted that I was banned, either there or here. The simple fact is that between their new screwed up billing process and the bot, there's no telling whether or not you're safe from losing access to your account, and there is no accountability from Square-Enix.

Odds are this poster, Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI , will wind up like Aksannyi, banned for "suspicious credit card activities".

Giving one day's notice for this new, "improved" security measure was ridiculous, and will only wind up in more bans.

[Sylvane]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

there is no accountability from Square-Enix.

the thing is, it's their property, therefore they don't need to be accountable for it. just like no one asks you what you're doing when you take the lube to the bathroom.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

It's their property but it's my money. They have some accountability if the service they provide for me with the money I'm paying is not to par.

[Sylvane]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

It's their property but it's my money. They have some accountability if the service they provide for me with the money I'm paying is not to par.

if you don't like a restaurant, don't eat there. it's the same principle. I don't like the verified by visa or secure code thing either, but we've known for years that their customer service is for crap

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

If I don't like a restaurant I won't eat there, but if I do like a restaurant but they serve me a shitty meal one time that I go there, I have the right to complain that it's not what I wanted. If you count SE as this restaurant, I've enjoyed eating there for the past five years, but when they serve me crap I'm going to complain about it. I believe I have that right as a loyal paying customer.

If they start to consistently serve me crap, you're right, I can stop eating there, and I will. All the great meals I had in the past don't mean much when they start to make less tasty, less satisfying meals that are not as filling and at a lesser quality to what they used to serve. I can and will tell them that I think their quality has declined, and that I won't be back if it doesn't rebound.

You are most certainly right. If I don't like something, I don't have to eat there. However, I still have the right to tell them why I no longer wish to eat there and what they could do to keep me eating there. Most restaurants would be willing to at least listen, if not attempt to change what they are doing wrong, especially if other customers have expressed similar concerns.

And the problem with this entire analogy is that it has nothing really to do with the quality of the game, or their service per se, but the fact that they've effectively blocked a chunk of people from paying them. It isn't that I don't want to eat at their restaurant, but that they aren't accepting certain cards anymore ... and I won't even know if they take mine until I try to pay them. And if I they can't take my card, they won't even try to work with me to allow me to pay them some other way. They're blocking me from coming back to the restaurant, even if I enjoy it.

It's fucked up.

And yeah, I ran with the restaurant analogy.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Aks, you're rationalizing this by your need for something to do. It may not be enough time to get a new card, but you'd have it a few days later, wouldn't you? Would you survive the three to seven days you couldn't play the MMORPG?

I've been slaved to death at my job, with nary a day off and I've managed without FFXI. No cold shakes or anything. I'm left so worn out and don't even want to sit and flip on my PS2, I'm sprawled out on the bed with my DS and a couple games of choice and I play maybe a hour or so before nodding off. If I need a persistant world fix, I have Pokemon Platinum.

Yeah, you have kids, that makes it a little different, but by your own admission, you have other games on the side you're playing. You'd make it.