Easier Payment Options (08/23/2011)

[Karbuncle]

They weren't overcharging anyone anymore than microsoft, nintendo and sony or any other company with a point system.

and all of those systems suck for various reasons.

But yah, Not law-suit worthy at all.

[Morwy]

I just hope they'll do the same soon for EU players as well

[RAIST]

EU POL site finally posting (8/25) the same changes are coming:

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...92/detail.html

We wish to thank all our players for the support they have shown towards FINAL FANTASY XI.

We have taken your valuable feedback on board and, as a result, we are working hard in tandem with our US team to address any issues you may have encountered with the new billing system. To ensure that a number of significant improvements can be introduced, we have decided to extend the period to transfer accounts in order to benefit our customers in Europe as well as players in other countries.

- New credit card payment options for Crysta [Available Now]
- The option to specify exactly how much Crysta you want to buy [Early Autumn]
- New recurring payment credit card options [Mid Autumn]

We will continue to investigate other viable billing options suited to Europe and other countries and endeavour to keep you informed. We remain committed to providing our players with a FINAL FANTASY XI experience that is as rich, fun and exhilarating as possible.

Once again, we sincerely appreciate all of your ongoing support and hope you continue to have many more exciting adventures in the world of Vana'diel!

FINAL FANTASY XI Online Team – Europe

[Nianny]

EU POL site finally posting (8/25) the same changes are coming:

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...92/detail.html

Woot! Thank you very much Raist, I was about to check it for these news.

[Malamasala]

They weren't overcharging anyone anymore than microsoft, nintendo and sony or any other company with a point system.

It really depends on how they do it. SE was attempting to overcharge you for a decade due to how the math would play out. With Nintendo you could put in money and get all of it back in 1-3 purchases of games. And the games are already there, while SE certainly don't have 100 different items for us to buy for crysta today.

Also I don't think Nintendo takes a monthly charge, but what do I know.

[Ravenmore]

In case anyone hadn't noticed, the company that owns Click also owns T-Mobile. I really don't think C&B is as shady as people are claiming. It a international company which is why banks aren't keen on it.

Doesn't mean a thing. Theres companies own by the Rupert Murdoch that had no clue that phone hacking was going on or companies he had a stake in. His whole defense(which may be a load in his case) is he had no clue what was going on. Long and short is parent companies might know little of the day to day operations or care to know whats going on if they can claim ignorance.

[Korpg]

Doesn't mean a thing. Theres companies own by the Rupert Murdoch that had no clue that phone hacking was going on or companies he had a stake in. His whole defense(which may be a load in his case) is he had no clue what was going on. Long and short is parent companies might know little of the day to day operations or care to know whats going on if they can claim ignorance.

Generally, child companies (or subsidiaries as they are more known to be) are self sufficient and can produce profits on their own without any input by the parent companies at all. Parent companies own them for additional profits, to help hedge their own costs, and/or for tax purposes (Qualified stocks are taxed at 15%, which means that any dividends that the parent company receives, they only are taxed at a 15% rate where if they directly owned the company, they can get taxed between 15-35% depending on the size of the company and the amount of profits generated and where the company is located).

Parent companies generally do not interfere into the daily workings of the subsidiaries and, depending on the amount of ownership, consider that company separate in every way except for financial statement purposes only.

In case you couldn't understand that, Parent companies don't mess with their children companies. It wouldn't make sense for a company to completely control another in a different industry, which in your example, they don't run side-by-side with.

[Alhanelem]

Parent companies generally do not interfere into the daily workings of the subsidiaries and, depending on the amount of ownership

Not always. The supermarket chain I work for is constantly being influenced by the company that owns it and several other chains. They pressure us to cut costs when we're doing fine and even though our stores are ranked some of the best in the area for good customer service (especially at check out) and basically propping up all the other chains the parent company owns, they want us to consider doing away with front-end service associates (e.g. baggers and general help). The company goal for the year is "earn even more customer praise," but how are they going to do that when they let half the people providing the customer service go?

Additionally, they have been unifying the store brand across all of the chains that they own (e.g. every chain sells the same store brand name instead of it having the store's name). Just because a parent company doesn't typically interfere with day to day operations of its children, doesn't mean it isn't ever the case.

[Aldersyde]

In case anyone hadn't noticed, the company that owns Click also owns T-Mobile. I really don't think C&B is as shady as people are claiming. It a international company which is why banks aren't keen on it.

The problem concerning some NA banks is this international status. The call center rep that I spoke to told me that because CnB were international vendors and the types of transactions they dealt with could be used for fraudulent purposes, my bank would flag the transaction every time CnB tried to charge my account. Consequently, they would either freeze my account or call me to clear the transaction, which defeats the purpose of creating an account for an automated service. It's inconvenient.

I don't know why people keep saying things like this. As a consumer can't I simply choose not use a company when doing so creates annoyances for me? Why do they have to be proven to be shady or larcenous first?

Hopefully, there will be a move back to direct billing with these new options, that way people who couldn't use the verified system can pay without fighting with SE's old payment options while offering the rest of us the convenience we already enjoyed. That's good customer service.

[Neika]

EU POL site finally posting (8/25) the same changes are coming:

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...92/detail.html

Yay! I was kinda nervous when our EU friends didn't get a notice on their site the day after we did.