Billing issues for areas not covered by ClickandBuy or Crysta

[Maacha]

There is an issue that seems to have been lost in all the rage over the billing changes. Under the upcoming system, many people will be unable to pay for their accounts anymore because they are not able to use ClickandBuy (unsupported country) and are unable to buy Crysta (Crysta not available for their country).

I understand that FFXI is not "officially" available in these countries anyway, but up until now people living in these countries were able to pay and access the game just fine. The sudden change has many of us scrambling to find a way to play, but many will likely have to allow our accounts to lapse.

I hope to get an official response to this issue before the deadline comes and many accounts are cancelled. I have transferred 1 account already and find that I am unable to fund it, I am waiting as long as possible to transfer my other 2 accounts to the new system, but come Aug. 31st if there is no change, those also will be cancelled.

[Rosina]

I hope this gets SE attention. This was a issue with ff14 as well. I didn't see if they fixed it but no one on ff14 has any issues setting up accounts. Yes even though game is free you still need to set ab account and a payment option.

[Alhanelem]

-edit- nevermind I messed up

[RAIST]

Think I've seen New Zealand and Australians post they have run into this already. They found a way to get on and pay through the POL 3DS/VbV system, but can't find a way with the new choices. Wonder if the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia areas will have the same issues. Hawaii seems to be doing OK though. But if that entire pocket south of Japan winds up in jeopardy now...they may have just completely disenfranchised an entire region by this move in one fell swoop.

Smooth move ex-lax.

Edit: Something Ironic just hit me...what if Indonesia is hit by this... and SE has been using the Jakarta solutions for a lot of what they do there? (for those unfamiliar...web hosting solutions used heavily in the Java/Linux camps--and some of us forced to work within the Microsoft world)

[Tsukino_Kaji]

How can an area not be covered by crysta?

[RAIST]

idk myself, but SE even states in it's own documentation that it may not be availble based on where you live. Might be an issue with Virtual Property Rights Laws (or the lack thereof):

http://www.square-enix.com/na/account/crysta/charge.html

The following payment methods can be selected for settling service fees in the Square Enix Account Management System.

Square Enix CrystaYou can pay for options by adding Crysta to your account and using your Crysta balance to pay service fees. To use Crysta, select it on the payment method selection screen.
*Crysta cannot be used as a payment method if you do not have enough in your account.
*Depending on your country of residence, Crysta may not be available.

Credit Card, Debit Card and ClickandBuy accountIn addition to Crysta, you can pay for some services with a credit card, debit card or use other options via ClickandBuy account.
ClickandBuy is an account-based billing system provided by ClickandBuy International Limited. An account can be acquired for free and used to add options and automatically pay service fees per service period. To use credit cards or debit cards as your payment method, select "Credit Card/Debit Card via ClickandBuy account" from the payment method selection screen.
*It is possible to register multiple credit cards and debit cards to a single ClickandBuy account.

For information on service fees, please refer to the service's website.

Depending on your country of residence, Square Enix Crysta may not be available. If you live in such a location, please use "Credit Card/Debit Card via ClickandBuy account" to settle your service fees.
*Square Enix Crysta will become available in more countries as they are legally approved.
Adding Crysta is simple!

kinda messed up, eh?

[Kimble]

Aren't these regions not supported by the SE anyways because the game isnt suppose to be sold to people in those regions?

[Maacha]

Aren't these regions not supported by the SE anyways because the game isnt suppose to be sold to people in those regions?

Technically yes, but we have been playing for years and have had few problems up until now. By choosing a 3rd party who is unable to accept our credit cards, where SE had been able and willing to accept those cards before, they are now locking out a decently large number of players. Simply allowing us to continue direct payments if our payment method was accepted before now would pretty much solve the whole problem.

[RAIST]

also, people MOVE. Just because they've relocated doesn't necessarily mean they are going to drop their their credit card accounts and such. Some are in the military and get shuffled all over the place.

This is arbitrarily cutting people off who have been able to make arrangements to pay and play in the past.

[Maacha]

Bumping this thread so that hopefully we can still get an answer... Not sure it'll get noticed if it's lost on page 3 ^^;

[Meyi]

Aren't these regions not supported by the SE anyways because the game isnt suppose to be sold to people in those regions?

Yes, but since people in these regions have begun playing, I don't see why Square Enix doesn't open its arms to the extra income and support said regions. China I can understand having a blockaid on, but countries like Australia?

I hope for everyone you find a way to continue paying. I have an Australian friend who is devastated by this change. He's one of the nicest people in the game and I'd hate to see him not be able to play because the company won't accept his money anymore.

[Drusenija]

Aren't these regions not supported by the SE anyways because the game isnt suppose to be sold to people in those regions?

Some of them perhaps, but FFXI has been available in Australia since soon after the launch in Europe.

[Kimble]

They already said they will continue looking into other methods for payment so most you can do is wait.

[Drusenija]

I'm still waiting for them to fix the August billing stuff up so I can actually do the transfer (I'm getting the 'try again next month' error), but from what I'm reading, even once that's happened, I can't actually pay for the game anymore due to my location.

Between the fact they're charging me an additional 40% a month by forcing me to pay in Euros instead of US dollars and now the fact they're apparently not allowing to pay at all, I'm questioning how much I'm willing to take to continue experiencing Vana'diel.

I think I'm at the point where if someone pointed me to a site that had all the cutscenes on it as videos so I can see the rest of the storyline, I'd walk away.

[Zyhlaari]

This. I wrote an article about it on Kotaku when FFXIV was released, and it holds true in this instance as well. Australia is a supported region, I bought the game from a store here before Euro was even a payment option and I have continued paying in US dollars as the lesser of two evils. Exchange rates fluctuate, but the Euro has been consistently more expensive for Australian players (and I dare say others in a similar position). At one stage a friend who looked in to playing was faced with upwards of $40 AU a month on euro conversion, whereas my US$ conversion was a little over half that. I don't mind paying a foreign currency conversion fee, I understand they don't want to support every currency, but I do take issue to being forced to change currency now when it seems unnecessary.

Add to this being unable to pay in Crysta (not available in Australia), for some being unable to register a C&B account at all (thus removing all possible ways to make payment) and this gets out of hand. I've been playing for a long time, and will be sad to stop, but it looks like we might not even get a choice.

I just hope our situation isn't overlooked amongst all of the (legitimate) concerns of the US and European regions. We tend to get forgotten down here (we still can't purchase from any of the SE online stores, so good luck getting limited items such as that leviathan pendant from a few years ago).

[Maacha]

Lost my mule account today, since Paypal is still trying to authorize my Korean credit card and C&B doesn't cover my region. Gonna lose my other 2 accounts at the end of Aug if nothing is changed >.>

[Dragoy]

I think I'm at the point where if someone pointed me to a site that had all the cutscenes on it as videos so I can see the rest of the storyline, I'd walk away.
Yo Tube probably has most, if not all of them in a form or another.

I also remember reading of a particular site with a vast, if not complete collection of the cutscene videos. Can't remember where or what, nor have I ever ventured there myself.
Just saying. ^^


It is really unfortunate how they are going about this, and with so little time given without much of a warning (which probably most players are still oblivious about, at least of what it really means).

The solution is simple: Add more options to pay without the Crystanonsense.
How simple it would be to implement, well, that's not for me to say, but I'm sure it's nothing SqEX couldn't do!

[Mokatu]

Looks like another SE screw up. SE just couldn't wait until they got approval from every country for crysta and whatnot before they just went up and did this. As if SE didn't learn already from the mess they made of Final Fantasy XIV, and quite frankly, things like this will cause people to leave in droves... and not because they want to.. but because they have to. SE, your business antics are sloppy, and you remind me of Luther Corp.. not giving a shit about your customers, and pulling these little experiments to "imrpove the quality of gaming life."

[Maacha]

I think I'm at the point where if someone pointed me to a site that had all the cutscenes on it as videos so I can see the rest of the storyline, I'd walk away.

Here you go ^^ I think they have most of them here.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/50364-Complete-Mission-Cutscenes

[Elexia]

I can sympathize but we have to be real here, if a product or service isn't supported in your area but you still got access somehow and suddenly you no longer can access it, there's nothing wrong because legally and officially it was never supported to begin with.

The whole billing issue affects everyone in the end though.

[Knives]

Still being real here, there are a lot of players out there who don't strictly adhere to the US/UK/JP areas and only use those SKUs to play the game because their own countries do not have a specific version, like Australia. Legally and officially SE never provided for them in the first place, but players from these other countries still found ways to play using their own time and money. These players are still a large chunk of the playerbase, and if they can't play anymore, they'll be taking their money with them. I assume Square likes money, so even though these players don't fit into a specific region, Square is screwing themselves out of money in the process.

[RAIST]

I can sympathize but we have to be real here, if a product or service isn't supported in your area but you still got access somehow and suddenly you no longer can access it, there's nothing wrong because legally and officially it was never supported to begin with.

The whole billing issue affects everyone in the end though.

That may apply in the general sense...but they were/are SELLING THE GAME IN/TO THOSE REGIONS. It's not that far fetched to think that if you can buy the game in your region, you should be able to play it too.

[RAIST]

Looks like another SE screw up. SE just couldn't wait until they got approval from every country for crysta and whatnot before they just went up and did this. As if SE didn't learn already from the mess they made of Final Fantasy XIV, and quite frankly, things like this will cause people to leave in droves... and not because they want to.. but because they have to. SE, your business antics are sloppy, and you remind me of Luther Corp.. not giving a shit about your customers, and pulling these little experiments to "imrpove the quality of gaming life."

It isn't necessarily that a country won't let them sell the Crysta. Granted, some may have something on the books that prevents it, idk for certain. But there are countries that have precedence in the courts and possibly laws/regulations concerning virtual property rights that would override their ToS and render SE liable to refund people for unused Crysta. As such, they may be OPTING not to support those regions. Might also explain why the original game services were never extended to some regions--SE Legal Division didn't want to have to wrangle with contrary VP legalities.

[RAIST]

...

The solution is simple: Add more options to pay without the Crystanonsense.
How simple it would be to implement, well, that's not for me to say, but I'm sure it's nothing SqEX couldn't do!

or they could just replicate what they did for the JP region and let everyone else pay them directly with their credit cards also. They already have the agreements to process our cards for their online store, so they have a means to take our money on the back-end--they just opted (for whatever reason, it was a decision they made--it CAN be done as evidenced by them doing it for nearly a decade via POL system) not to put a front-end on the site and link to that back-end this time around.

[Mayoyama]

I live in Australia and I didnt have any issues setting up the click and buy payments O.o My friend in NZ didnt have an issue either. Really wierd how some people have issues and others dont.

Exchange rates fluctuate, but the Euro has been consistently more expensive for Australian players (and I dare say others in a similar position). At one stage a friend who looked in to playing was faced with upwards of $40 AU a month on euro conversion, whereas my US$ conversion was a little over half that.

I've been playing for 3.5 years and had to pay in euros which after conversion rates, conversion and intl transaction fees from the bank every month it does add up quite quickly (eg back when I used to have 2 accounts it would cost me upwards of AUD70+ per month! That's almost a whole day's pay). If I had the choice I would DEFINATELY prefer to pay in USD which would as Zyhlaari said would make the cost of this game so much cheaper (considering atm AUD is higher than USD). If we're getting forced to use clickandbuy is it not possible to be given the option to pay in USD?

Please SE take other countries like Australia into consideration; after all we have all the cute Koalas and Kangaroos that you like to come to Sydney to see lol :)

[RAIST]

Count yourself lucky...the other posts I've seen from AU/NZ are having C&B blocked by firms that were letting SE bill no problem.

[Drusenija]

I can sympathize but we have to be real here, if a product or service isn't supported in your area but you still got access somehow and suddenly you no longer can access it, there's nothing wrong because legally and officially it was never supported to begin with.

Australia is (was?) supported though; we're considered part of Europe (I suppose SE still thinks we're just ex-British convicts ^^), but the game was officially released here and was sold through EB Games and other major game retailers.

[Drusenija]

Here you go ^^ I think they have most of them here.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/50364-Complete-Mission-Cutscenes

Thank you thank you! ^^ I think I'll have an evening watching the FFXI storyline tonight!

Edit:
BG only has the WotG videos, but I've found another site that has a lot of them:
http://ffxicutscenes.blogspot.com/

[Revanchist]

I live in Australia and I didnt have any issues setting up the click and buy payments O.o My friend in NZ didnt have an issue either. Really wierd how some people have issues and others dont.

I tried setting up and C&B account last night (an act of desperation but also curiosity), and was asked to provide my passport/driver's license/power bill info. Sorry, but I don't supply that kind of info just to have a account to play a game, where the previous payment option worked.


I've been playing for 3.5 years and had to pay in euros which after conversion rates, conversion and intl transaction fees from the bank every month it does add up quite quickly (eg back when I used to have 2 accounts it would cost me upwards of AUD70+ per month! That's almost a whole day's pay). If I had the choice I would DEFINATELY prefer to pay in USD which would as Zyhlaari said would make the cost of this game so much cheaper (considering atm AUD is higher than USD). If we're getting forced to use clickandbuy is it not possible to be given the option to pay in USD?

I've been playing since December 16th, 2006... and had to pay in Euro's ever since (on Xbox 360). I admit, there have been some months where money was a little tight, but overall worked fine. Had my bank keep aside X amount of funds solely for the payment to SE for FFXI, and was able to (eventually) work out a budget which included payment not just for FFXI, but for other things as well (Telephone, power, water, general cost of living etc). A friend of mine, has been playing since 2005 (on PC and paid in USD) and while she did complain about the recent switch from USD to Euro's earlier this year, the fact that we were paying via our Debit Cards directly to SE Europe (Then on to to SE Japan), it was simplier to do so.

The two methods of payment now... after my attempt to register with C&B last night, I refuse to have anything to do with them period. That leaves PlaySpan... which I'm still looking into (via asking at local game stores if they can get those cards), but if we had the choice (which atm, we don't), I'd prefer to stick with the method I've been using for all of my FFXI career.


Please SE take other countries like Australia into consideration; after all we have all the cute Koalas and Kangaroos that you like to come to Sydney to see lol :)

Sadly, all we can do for the next 30 days, is wait and see what SE decides to do...

[Drusenija]

Still being real here, there are a lot of players out there who don't strictly adhere to the US/UK/JP areas and only use those SKUs to play the game because their own countries do not have a specific version, like Australia.

For what it's worth, Australia very rarely gets localised versions of games, mainly because we don't need them. We're an English speaking country, so a US or EU version of the game is usually fine. The best we usually get is an Australian ratings label on the box.

[Drusenija]

Okay, finally had a chance to explicitly test this out myself rather than rely on word of mouth now the maintenance is over.

When using my Australian NAB Visa Debit card with VbV, I wasn't asked to provide additional information to Click and Buy (i.e., no scanned ID, no utility bills, etc), and was then able to use the C&B account to successfully transfer my account.

Interesting enough though, within 2 minutes of putting the transaction through, I received a call from my bank's fraud department confirming that it was me responsible for processing the transaction (which I did). Once I confirmed it, they were happy to let it go through.

So there is definitely something shady going on here with C&B; I can however confirm that _some_ Aussie users are still able to get onto the game.

[Maacha]

My main 2 accounts had billing go through yesterday (double billed for the one that was cancelled in July ><), but I can't transfer them over to the new system yet because it still says maintenance... Clock is ticking to when those 2 will be cancelled, still no way for my to pay from Korea.

Glad to hear that some in Australia are able to pay now, but there's alot of us outside the regular service area that still need another option for payment...

[Maacha]

My attempt to register Paypal to charge our Korean credit card has apparently failed. Paypal finally authorized our card, but either SE or Paypal wouldn't allow the transaction to complete. Not sure why, this is all I can see:

http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/73383f5b94de4d46eb260f8b0502e86c.jpg
http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/0648c5b07ee0e85977e3ce63a5f70244.jpg

It wouldn't allow me to choose "Other Country" for my location, so I chose the US since mine are US POL accounts and my SE account is US. My last hope will be trying to register a Korean bank account via Paypal, but since the credit card didn't work, I'm not holding my breath.

Clock is ticking SE, give us more options!

[katz]

Still being real here, there are a lot of players out there who don't strictly adhere to the US/UK/JP areas and only use those SKUs to play the game because their own countries do not have a specific version, like Australia. Legally and officially SE never provided for them in the first place, but players from these other countries still found ways to play using their own time and money. These players are still a large chunk of the playerbase, and if they can't play anymore, they'll be taking their money with them. I assume Square likes money, so even though these players don't fit into a specific region, Square is screwing themselves out of money in the process.

Im getting the distinct impression SE dont like money. First the give ffxiv free, now they are not allowing payments to them......

[Pawkeshup]

Apparently, there are game cards you can buy. I intend on doing so for this month, then waiting to see what they plan on doing in September, since it's blatantly obvious that SE talks a good game about listening to us but hasn't done crap as yet.

[Neika]

Those cards aren't available in my area, and my bank told me not to do business with Click and Buy. SE really needs to bring back direct billing.

[RAIST]

Im getting the distinct impression SE dont like money. First the give ffxiv free, now they are not allowing payments to them......

beginning to wonder if SE isn't trying to "cook the books" so they can qualify for some financial assistance of some sort.

Hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it is just hard to rationalize going this route with all the recent issues with C&B and other services clearly documented not only on the internet, but within C&B's own support portal...and now those same issues are cropping up for FFXI as well.

[Zumi]

Those cards aren't available in my area, and my bank told me not to do business with Click and Buy. SE really needs to bring back direct billing.

Ebay or Amazon sell these game cards they are not hard to get even if they are not sold in a store where you live. Often at cheaper prices then stores sell them for.

[Nitecon]

my bank told me not to do business with Click and Buy A great endorsement for click and buy right there!

I live in the heart of London (zone 1 right on the river), and Click and buy does not recognise my address. I sent them an email about the issue and they offered no help whatsoever, basically said if your address is not accepted you can't complete the registration. Kind of glad I failed to register, paypal it is then.

[Maacha]

2 weeks left and still no word on anything being done for those of us unable to use ClickandBuy or buy Crysta...

I'm starting to say goodbye to friends, though I haven't given away any of my stuff yet. 7+ years in this game, it's such a shame to go out with a wimper just because SE doesn't want my money anymore...

[Joslyn]

I haven switched over yet( waiting till last minute to see if there is a change but more than likely not happening) but it really pains me to see so many loyal long time players leaving cause SE has found a way to alienate us. I'm being optimistic here but i'm hoping that once SE see's the drop in people playing they might decide to open up to those outside of JP to do direct pay again.. Again i'm being optimistic here......

[Maacha]

Bumping my thread in light of the new options added.

Yes, it's nice that more options have been given in the short term, and even more promised for the next few months, but some of us who have already transferred will still not be able to pay in about a week. It is nice that the old billing system was extended for those who did not transfer yet, but what about those of us who did? I tried again yesterday to add Crysta to my account, but neither the direct credit card option via Playspan nor credit card via Paypal worked for me. I absolutely won't accept the option of Dao Pay, which was asking $200 for $100 worth of Crysta, and ClickandBuy does not support my region.

Please, give us an answer, what will be done for those of us who have already transferred and who cannot use the current payment options?

[Alhanelem]

I tried again yesterday to add Crysta to my account, but neither the direct credit card option via Playspan nor credit card via Paypal worked for me. Why didn't these options work for you? Both should work for everyone who has a credit card, or with paypal, a checking account. Maybe it's something that can be troubleshooted.

[Maacha]

Why didn't these options work for you? Both should work for everyone who has a credit card, or with paypal, a checking account. Maybe it's something that can be troubleshooted.

No idea why, I've been talking back and forth with support from Playspan, Paypal, and SE for weeks. They have tried to charge my Paypal, but the charge is immediately cancelled. When trying direct credit card via Playspan, it simply says declined, even though I know for certain the cards are valid (I've tried several cards).

http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/73383f5b94de4d46eb260f8b0502e86c.jpg
http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/0648c5b07ee0e85977e3ce63a5f70244.jpg

[Maacha]

I finally managed to pay for my Crysta... all I had to do was to log in to my parent's computer in the US using a VNC program and do my payment from there >.> Not exactly the kind of option that most people have. They even did the payment in Won and directly to the credit card...

http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/24da3dbbcc988dec3af33b2c2e05b902.jpg
http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/gallery/a7773f3dd1bd95640bdb83343e0a0a31.jpg

No idea what that new "Dao Pay" option is, but what a scam! $200 for $100 worth of Crysta... I did pay a tiny bit extra to do a direct payment through Playspan rather than using Paypal, but I figured it had a better chance of going through after all the problems I had, and I was right.