How do we get waived fees when paying with WebMoney?

I have a Japanese account from PS2 launch, and my Japanese is too rusty to do phone support to Japan. I have to pay with WebMoney since your company stopped taking payment from my US VISA card at the end of 2008, since my bank can't respond fast enough to the request of the servers for verification. My prepaid time is about to expire, meaning I won't be able to play tomorrow since Japan is almost a day ahead of me here in Alaska, and my Content ID is demanding I pay another 1,344 yen for my character for April, with no waiving of the April fee. How do I get the free month you guys have announced for April?

I haven't used spoken Japanese in about 5 years due to having to study for my current job in computers, and so I am now too rusty to handle the support call to a center that stopped taking English calls in 2003. I was learning the language when I created the account, and never got enough kanji to handle business conversation. English support is my only hope, and the people at the US call center say they can't manage my account since it isn't American. I can't change the region of the account either, which is disturbing, since it is unrealistic to expect someone would live in the same place for 9 years, when your age demographic this game was aimed at was high school and college. The game turns 9 in May, and I have moved 7 times in those 9 years. I am still stuck with a Japanese address on my account.

bungiefan,

As noted in the general forum rules, this forum is for the discussion of technical issues, and we are unable to assist with any account-related issues. Please note that the specifics for the waiving of April’s fees will vary from region to region, due to the different payment options available for each region (Japan, North America, and Europe). As such, you will need to contact the appropriate Support Center for the region of the PlayOnline account in question, if you have further questions regarding how this fee waiver applies to you.

And I asked here because I cannot speak the language fluently enough anymore to contact said support center. The American one doesn't have access, and the Japanese one stopped speaking English in 2003.

My account is globally usable, but is not able to be changed as I move around over the years, and I don't get as much practice with Japanese as I did at the time the game came out. I'm stuck because of this

I have been informed by another user in Japan, and apparently it is the case for North America too, that you pay the April fee and then SE will refund it a short while later, meaning you still have to have WebMoney on your account or money available on your credit card, to play this month.

i think the more important question is - why are they making you pay with web money in the first place? and is SE not being able to accept american credit cards is not a technical issue, then does that mean that they are doing it on purpose?

Well, I can add my card over the phone, like you can if you don't have a 3D Secure card in North America, but I have to speak Japanese fluently enough on the phone, and make an international call, to do so. They spoke English and Japanese for phone support from the game's Japanese launch until the American launch. Now they just reject English calls. There is no communication between the support centers around the world, so I can't get account support from the American office.

bungiefan,

Please keep in mind, that while FINAL FANTASY XI has been released internationally, each of the three regions it has been released in (Japan, North America, and Europe), are handled separately. Agents in the North American Support Center have no access to European PlayOnline accounts, and so on.

This situation is why we recommend purchasing the software appropriate for your region, to ensure that the proper billing and support options are available to you.