Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]

[siverstorm]

I've contacted EU support and global connect support. Hopefully I can get some answers and resolutions (though I doubt it).

Meanwhile, Na customer services is fucking horrible,
it is literally the worst customer services i have ever seen, .
And all the fucking time, they have only one Cs to do the job -- Agent.Jxrdxn, why the fuck they have only 1 customer services for such a big company?? And he is impolite and lazy as fuck, all the copy paste replies is fucking making me mad.

Pretty much, I can easily say I've never seen worse customer support. I was effectively told to give up if I don't want to waste the money on time cards....Having spent 4 years of my life in customer service years ago I am literally appalled by the terrible quality of service I've gotten from such a big company. It breaks my heart since I enjoy the game so much.

Does anyone know if prepaid credit cards work? I've been trying my visa but I'm wondering if a prepaid mastercard will work.

[Wulf]

With Paypal (and UltimatePay) being removed, I purchased a $50 prepaid MasterCard. Error 401 when I try to add Crysta. Error 601 when I tried to set up a payment.

I could purchase a FFXIV time card, but I'm a Legacy player so it's a waste.

[siverstorm]

So prepaid cards don't work either -.- I shouldn't even be surprised at this point...

This just keeps getting better and better. I decided in a last ditch attempt to contact global connect support directly and got this:

Dear xxxxx,

Thank you for contacting GlobalCollect.

GlobalCollect is a Payment Service Provider. A Payment Service Provider handles payments on behalf of other companies.

Please be informed that your payments were rejected on Square Enix end.

We have forwarded your request to Square Enix. Square Enix will contact you accordingly.

For any further questions we advise you to contact Square Enix directly via the following website:
http://support.na.square-enix.com/ma...r2em53bnr9djq7

Kind regards,
Ilse,
Customer Service

Which is from the company that MANAGES and PERFORMS the payments. Where I get this from SE support:

If you are receiving an error 601, 406, or error 401 when attempting to update your payment method, then there is an issue where the financial institution is declining the authorization attempt. Unfortunately as SQUARE ENIX is not the financial institution, we are not provided with any information as to why the authorization was declined, only that it was.

This is literally a joke right?

(ranty bits)

Though now that I think about it, maybe if tons of people have problems buying stuff from the cash shop they might actually start paying attention to this....

[ManweSulimo]

I really wish someone would read these posts because I am having the same issue. Can I just say that I AM FURIOUS with this situation just like you all. I have been a subscriber for 6 months off and on and I have never had any problems until yesterday. For now I got a 60 day digital gamecard, but I am very unhappy with that because I feel that I have been scammed into buying that since it's more expensive. Unfortunately it was literally the only option available for me to be able to start my subscription yesterday to get some last minute raiding and tomes in before the reset. Furthermore I don't like the extended amount of time as I don't want to become totally enslaved to this game so in between months I take a week or two off in order to get some real life things done.

Anyways this time when I tried to buy crysta doing the exact same thing I've been doing for 6 months, I got an error 401, both with my credit card AND with my debit card. I also got error 601 when I tried to extend my subscription directly using Mog Station. I have never had this problem before and I did not do anything different whatsoever than I did the previous 6 times. So I put in a ticket and this was the response:

***********************************************************************************
Dear Customer,

Regarding your request for billing support. Please find your answer below.
If you are receiving an error 601, 406, or error 401 when attempting to update your payment method, then there is an issue where the financial institution is declining the authorization attempt. Unfortunately as SQUARE ENIX is not the financial institution, we are not provided with any information as to why the authorization was declined, only that it was. Please confirm that all billing information is entered correctly on the SQUARE ENIX Account in question. Please also note that once an authorization has been rejected, that form of payment cannot be attempted again for a full twenty-four hours, and any further attempts before that time will automatically be rejected. If you would like further information about this specific authorization attempt, please contact your financial institution.

(I did contact my financial institution and it has nothing to do with it. The financial institution is not declining my authorization attempt, the website has a bug in it.)

Please ensure the personal information listed on the Square Enix account matches the information listed on the credit / debit card. For example, name of the Square Enix account holder must match the name that's listed on the credit / debit card itself. Keep in mind that only certain pieces of personal information on a Square Enix account can be adjusted (street address and email address) after creation.

(I will need to change the name on my account because it isn't my name it's just a bunch of random keystrokes because when I set up the account I was hesitant to trust the website.)

Make sure that the card you're trying to use isn't already being used to pay for another account. Problems may arise if the an attempt is made to use the same card to bill two separate accounts simultaneously. If this is indeed your situation, please wait 24 hours between reactivation attempts

(It isn't. Even so, nobody should have to wait 24 hours to give you money. Please fix this.)

Make sure that your card provider allows $1.00 preauthorization holds. This billing attempt is made in order to make sure that the account is valid for billing. After 1 to 2 business days, these funds will be placed back on the account. If your card issuer does not allow such preauthorization holds, you may want to contact them.

(It does.)

If you attempted this method of payment multiple times with a failed result, there is a possibility of a longer block being placed on the account. This block can last 30 days.
Thank you for contacting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center.

(This is unbelievably ridiculous. For someone trying again because they thought they may have made a mistake with the credit card number this is very unforgiving.)

___________
For additional assistance with this issue, you can reply to this email directly. For assistance with a new issue, please visit the SQUARE ENIX Support Center at http://support.na.square-enix.com.

***********************************************************************************

I spent like 3 hours of my life that I will never get back trying various things until I finally was able to get a 60 day game time card. I am also extremely angry that I was scammed into this option due to the other methods not working. I can't believe a company that has however many millions of customers world wide could possibly screw this up this bad FOR OVER A YEAR WITH OVER A THOUSAND POSTS ABOUT IT ON THIS THREAD. Normally I pay $12.99 for 30 days but this time I paid $31.79 for 60 days. I don't know how we can get our voices heard but to be honest I would expect that any customer service worth anything would take 30 days off of my subscription and refund me $18.80 at the very least. A step above that would be to send me an apology for the bad system and the time I wasted on its account. Furthermore this should be addressed publicly and dealt with and we should be given a date that this issue will be fixed by.

It just boggles my mind WE ARE TRYING TO GIVE YOU MONEY FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!

[GalateaG]

do those 1€ ever get refunded?cause i went fully retard and spammed it and they took like 10€

[siverstorm]

do those 1€ ever get refunded?cause i went fully retard and spammed it and they took like 10€

Yes those charges are just authorization charges that will fall off eventually.

Be sure to keep track of the number of failures you have. You now need to wait 24 hours X number of fails before trying again. They will just throw a 30 day block (seemingly refreshable) for multiple failed payments.

[VaidaVoss]

Are we still able to purchase Game Time Cards as of today? I am one of the ones that tried multiple times to have SE take my money. Danielle from support told me I have a 30 block now and that it is my fault and would not give me any alternative solution.

Will GTC work for me?

[VaidaVoss]

This is my original post:

I've been trying to transfer to a new server since Friday or Saturday. I keep getting an error 401. I emailed SE and got a ticket number, they never got to my ticket over the weekend so I called Monday. I was told to make sure my bank wasn't blocking Square Enix or Global Collect. Tuesday I call my bank and they tell me they are not blocking anything and that in fact SE is not communicating/connecting to my bank.

I've tried to look at solutions online with no luck.

Hello,

We are aware of a number of customers experiencing issues when trying to set up their subscription for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
Customers affected by these issues are receiving either a 401 or a 601 error code message when attempting to enter their payment information.

If you have encountered either of these error messages, we recommend that you take the following steps:

1.) Make sure that you are entering all of your card information (CC#, expiration date, CVV#, etc) correctly.
2.) Make sure that your financial institution has all of your latest billing information (address, name, etc).
3.) Contact your financial institution to make sure there no issues with your account.
4.) After taking the preceding steps, if you are still encountering error code messages, please wait 24 hours and then try again.

For additional support please contact our Support Center here.
When contacting the Support Center, please note that you will need to verify your account information.

Now, I've done all 4 things posted above. Today when I get a hold of Danielle SE phone support (after waiting over 24 hours to try again), she tells me that because I tried multiple times to transfer servers that SE security LOCKED my account from making any payments with any card FOR 30 DAYS! And that it was my fault because I tried more than once and that other people resolve the 401 issues other ways.

This is a HUGE issue since I have 20 days left from my subscription (so how am I supposed to pay for my sub after the 20 days?) and I need to get to my new guild before the patch.

Danielle would not put me through with her supervisor and said there is nothing she can do for me. She can't even just grant me a transfer or let me pay for the transfer over the phone. They have been giving me excuse after excuse for the 401 error. I've used my same card on this account since 2010. I used another one just to make sure it wasn't that particular card.

Has anyone gotten this same issue? Is there some way to bypass this and get a transfer? Is Danielle from SE support telling the truth about not being able to help me in any way or just being down right worthless.

Thanks!

[siverstorm]

I've gotten more helpful responses from Global Collect customer support than I did from SE support. EU support helped answer my questions, but ultimately couldn't do anything for me as my account is not an EU account.

Please read all of my points before commenting, the following is not an instant solution. It is a way to help put pressure on SE to either fix their current system or re-introduce the PayPal method faster.

To see this issue fixed in the long term I would suggest everyone do the following:

• Verify the error is with SE, call your financial institution and VERIFY the payments were being authorized. Failure to ensure this weakens your argument to the point where it's worthless.
• Verify your SE account information is identical to the information on your credit card. Meaning address, email, phone number, etc is identical between the two (this technically shouldn't NEED to be done but I know some payment processors use that information to verify purchases).
• Once you've ensured the above try contacting Global Collect about the issue. http://www.globalcollect.com/company/contact

PLEASE NOTE: Global Collect is a payment PROCESSOR, all they do is take the response from the bank and return it to square enix. Square Enix then approves or rejects after. Please do not attack/bombard the GC service reps (this technically goes for SE too...as aggravating as NA support has been). Since this issue directly affects their business, and they actually care about making money from the looks of it, they will also put in effort to contact SE and see this through.

I've been told that they are aware that this issue exists and is also trying to contact SE about it. If you send them a polite message about it they might be able to help us in the long run. You need to explain that your payments are verified on your financial institution's end, it means that they saw the approval and passed it onto SE who then rejected it. IF you lie about your payments being approved it will only hinder progress, so please ensure and verify everything you can.

[ManweSulimo]

Well I just contacted Global Collect so let's see how this goes