Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]

Should I buy the game for PC Platform for getting a free month again? and starting all over again? SE please fix this shit we payed for your game and you aren't giving us the service that we paid for.

I sent an an e-mail to support and basically got the same response. I live in Japan, but have a US debit card that's tied to my valid address in the US, but it just doesn't want to go through. I've opted to use paypal, but I'm stuck waiting the three-five days for them to move the funds from my bank account. Then I'll have to hope PayPal works, otherwise I'm SOL. I was inclined to think the issue was legitimately with my bank at first because I've had a similar issue adding funds to PSN with the same card, but after seeing how many people are having issues, I'm not sure what to think. It's also through Visa, so I'm curious if it's the issue that other guy was talking about a few pages back.

Regardless, I think Square-Enix needs to find some way to make this whole process easier on their customers. In this age of constant international travel, you'd think I ought to be able to just buy a Crysta card here in Japan and use it whether I have a US account or not.

Well, guess I am like a lot of people in this thread SE, love your game but your customer service is a disgrace.

Interesting in this day and age that a company can be doing so well that you don't need money. It really can't be that hard for you to collect a payment, or speak to the major credit card providers you have listed to make sure they will clear the way for you, can it?

There are other games that will, and have already taken your money so I guess you are now at the back of my service queue.

Be careful of how light you want the loads on your servers to be SE. In the coming weeks you may get your wish, and yet another failed game executive may well be asked for his apology letter and to fall on his sword for the good of this company. History does seem to repeat round here.

Well, off to play other things(and give others my money)

Regards,

Devuse.

PS Yes I realise that SE more than likely does NOT bother reading these threads.:D

i paid my fee almost two days ago, using credit card, i've waited a email or something, but nothing happens, i'm missing something? I'M LOOKING FOR SOME HELP !, i can't found what to do. SE you should put more info on your pages and fix these ERRORS, nice game, i loved FF series until now, sooooo lame services and logistics.

I can't play because SE doesn't let me pay my subscription fee ... and i paid my fee almost two days ago, with credit card, no error launched and i've waited a email or something, but nothing happens. AND NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT, I'M LOOKING FOR SOME HELP ! i'm trying on every post of SE and no enough info.

I just tried to sub because my time ran out while I was out of town.
What do I get

Quote:

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An error has occurred..
Please confirm the status of any relevant options and then try again.
As repeated registration failure can lead to restrictions being placed on your account, we strongly recommend that you contact the Square Enix Support Center for guidance before attempting to register a Credit/Debit card again.
If you are registering a payment method with a payment service provider, please contact them directly.
(Error code: 601)

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So, I clicked the back button at the bottom of the page as told to do to review my account and got this:

Quote:

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ERROR (-24202)
A technical issue has occurred.
Try accessing the site again. If the issue still has not been resolved, please contact the Square Enix Support Center.

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I want to play the darned game dudes! This is ridiculous.
Tribal Wars takes it, GW2 took it, Rift takes it and WoW also takes the SAME CARD.

so what's your problem? :mad:

I live in South Africa. Square sells the game here on all the store shelves, but doesn't let South Africans pay for the subscription. This is theft. I have paid for a game that only has a one month 'free trial' (anyone see the irony there?).

I have never encountered a company so inept that they are unable to accept their customers' money.

My suggestion is for everyone to just give up on FFXIV and allow it to be the dismal failure it was clearly always destined to be.

So i have to try again in 24 hours? and that doesn't work what then? do I try the next day and the next day? because I have checked and done everything you have said, I just dont understand why... is it because I live not i EU? and in NZ?

Oh heck I live in Canada and they don't want my money either apparently.
NO. I should not have to wait 24/48/72 hours for my card to be processed when it takes 30 seconds with my other games (one of which uses Globalcollect like you do!!!)
So too bad so sad SE.
You've lost yet another willing-to-pay-but-you-won't-let me customer

Just talked to someone from Square by chat and they gave me two options, one was

Quote:

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SEE Karen: Can you please send a scan or digital picture of your credit card, with the name and only the last 4 numbers clearly visible to the email address sel-id@square-enix.com.

Please make sure the other digits of your card number are not visible (blacked out).
Please ensure that the attachments do not exceed 5MB in size and write 'Ticketnumber xxxxxxx' in the subject line.

SEE Karen: I will then escalate to our account department and you will be contacted again in an email."

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or i could get a time card from anywhere in EU -- i live in NZ and my account is EU so it will work.

Quote:

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You: if i buy a game card from the UK for example will it work here in NZ for my account?
You: time card**

SEE Karen: Your account is EU so it should yes

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Thats what i got from them.

OMG you play in New Zealand as well ! I feel less lonely in my issues with this payment system yay!

But seriously, so its not us being in NZ that's the problem, it's them?

Square wont admit it but yes the problem is all on there end.

OMG I've the same problem here. really annoying. -"-

The free trial for my FFXIV collectors edition ran out on the 6th October, I subscribed using the Mog station and used a debit card first, which had a $1.35 pending transaction that was never processed. Used a credit card next that has two pending $1.35 transactions that I'm betting will never go through. Have purchased a game card from game.co.uk am waiting for the email with my codes as per suggestions made in this thread.

Hopefully that will be a way around the issues I have been experiencing with the billing system put in place by SE. On that note, SE WTF!. You know situations like this require a CONTINGENCY PLAN. You know the thing you plan to do in the event something goes wrong, like this billing system was bound to do. What SE should be telling people is where to go and what to do so they can keep playing, even if that is to purchase the game card from game.co.uk. They should also have come clean regarding the fact that the issue with the billing is at their end and not ours or our banks. There should be enough anecdotal evidence given in this forum for you guys to have at the very least investigated the issue and post an update since the thread was begun. Whats the worst thing for most people is not knowing what to do, and for that we have had to go through forums like this to get the info we needed. Thanks all those who have posted suggestions here to get us though. As for the post by the SE rep, man...cmon whats the deal, either come out with an honest response with some accurate information on where we can get the issue resolved, or heres a thought, just fix the problem. It is said that sarcasm is the lowest form of humour, but I'll argue it is the highest form of criticism. Guys, pull your finger out!

I hope all those who love this game can get what they are trying to pay for and that I can join you folks again on this awesome game.

The game card really does work, good onya guys!

I had this problem, too. Error 401 and 601. My boyfriend and I tried to pay with the same credit card. For him it just worked fine. I got the errors.

Square Enix asked me via Email to send them a picture of my credit card and make sure that the first 12 digits of the card are blacked out. You then have to send it to sel-id@square-enix.com including your ticket number because the standard email-address filters out all the attachments.

I sent them the picture and today (4 days later) I got an email that my problem is fixed and I can register and use my credit card for subscription.... and now I'm back in game.

Hope this helps you guys and solves your paying problem, too. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shenirio

so after waiting in queue for hours I finally got one of there retarded agents and this is how it went.
Agent Joseph M: Sorry about that wait, I did check with the billing and fraud department, unfortunately *WE CAN NOT GUARANTEE ACCESS TO THE GAME* outside of the support territories, those being Japan, European, and North American. The card was just not able to be applied currently, most likely because of the card's registered area if it is the xxxx.
You: what kind of bullshit is that
You: you sell a product but it is not a guarantee it will work in certain regions?
Agent Joseph M: The error codes are most likely because THE GAME ISN'T FULLY SUPPORTED IN YOUR REGION. (What does that mean so it's just somewhat supported??) Agent Joseph M: Unfortunately all we are getting is a general error, there isn't a specific reason given. However as the "my location" are not within the support regions WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO GUARANTEE SERVICE.
You: i thought this was a world wide game
You: you sell a product but cant guarantee the service for certain regions?
You: this sounds like fraud to me
You: my brother in the next room can pay for his account but i cant
Agent Joseph M: It is only in the support areas listen on the web site, you would need to select a region in order to create the account. Only the support regions are available to be selected.
Agent Joseph M: Some people may be able to get the account to work outside of these regions, but IT IS UNSUPPORTED.
You: so you are telling me you took my money for a game that i cant even play
You: tell me what that sounds like to you

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Oook so according to this rep SE sold a game to regions where they were not sure if they would be ully supported?? Wtf is that? I believe that's grounds for a lawsuit...

Last night I finally had my 401 error problem solved. Instead of using my card through Global Collect I used the last option called Ultimate Play. I believe that's the option and I bought 1500 Crysta that way with my credit card. If you do this option called your card provider and let them know your doing the transaction this way. This is enough Crysta for 30 days. Enough to get past the block and just play until then. Try again after the block and see what happens I say.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Namir

Oook so according to this rep SE sold a game to regions where they were not sure if they would be ully supported?? Wtf is that? I believe that's grounds for a lawsuit...

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That is what it sounds like to me, i have been looking around the web to find a way to get there fraud system out in the light not just keep it all here on these forums. I was able to pay for y sub back in 2010 but now i get this bullshit bout it is no supported in my region for 2.0.

Okay, so I just tried to purchase 1500 crysta using paypal after getting the 401 error with my pre-paid card and losing $6 for 6 tries. And guess what, 401 error. Not only did they take the $1 for additional fees this time but they also took $16.25 for the crysta aswell, leaving me with nothing! Is there anyway I can get my money back?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RubySt

I had this problem, too. Error 401 and 601. My boyfriend and I tried to pay with the same credit card. For him it just worked fine. I got the errors.

Square Enix asked me via Email to send them a picture of my credit card and make sure that the first 12 digits of the card are blacked out. You then have to send it to sel-id@square-enix.com including your ticket number because the standard email-address filters out all the attachments.

I sent them the picture and today (4 days later) I got an email that my problem is fixed and I can register and use my credit card for subscription.... and now I'm back in game.

Hope this helps you guys and solves your paying problem, too. :D

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Will try this... what do you write on "Subject" and the body of the mail?

Quote:

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Please note any amounts of £1/?1/$1.45 removed from your account during each attempt are only test transactions, which will be refunded very soon if they have not already.

Should the issue persist after taking these steps, please contact us again with your Square Enix account ID, email address and the details of the failed transaction.
We will then forward your details on to the relevant department for investigation and will get back in contact with you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

The Square Enix Support Centre Team

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This email came to me just now hopefuly that helps people about the money in there account been taken.

^ Thank you very much on the info

First I opened a ticket at SE Support Center ("Contact Us"). Category: Billing/Payment and subject "Error 401/ 601". You have to send them the following information (explained here: http://support.eu.square-enix.com/fa...=2&kid=68643):
o SQEXID
o Payment method you are trying to use (credit/debit card or Crysta)
o Type of the card used (Visa, MasterCard, etc.)
o Country the card was issued in
o Country you are currently in
o Name of the bank that issued the card
o Number of times you tried to process the payment after you got the initial error message

After filling out all the gaps you receive a confirmation email. A few days later they contacted me via email and asked for the picture of the credit card. So I sent the picture as requested (only last 4 numbers visible) to sel-id@square-enix.com. Subject was my ticket number. In the body of the email I just wrote "... picture of my credit card as requsted", my SquareEnix ID and the ticket number again.

I had to be patient, but they solved the problem. :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RubySt

First I opened a ticket at SE Support Center ("Contact Us"). Category: Billing/Payment and subject "Error 401/ 601". You have to send them the following information (explained here: http://support.eu.square-enix.com/fa...=2&kid=68643):
o SQEXID
o Payment method you are trying to use (credit/debit card or Crysta)
o Type of the card used (Visa, MasterCard, etc.)
o Country the card was issued in
o Country you are currently in
o Name of the bank that issued the card
o Number of times you tried to process the payment after you got the initial error message

After filling out all the gaps you receive a confirmation email. A few days later they contacted me via email and asked for the picture of the credit card. So I sent the picture as requested (only last 4 numbers visible) to sel-id@square-enix.com. Subject was my ticket number. In the body of the email I just wrote "... picture of my credit card as requsted", my SquareEnix ID and the ticket number again.

I had to be patient, but they solved the problem. :-)

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Thanks Ruby! If all these steps can actually fix the problem it would be great! Many friends in my linkshell have this payment issue right now, I will let them know about this.

I want to know why did you guys release FFXIV for the ps3 and then you can't pay for the game through PSN or use the PSN cards to pay for the game online, so if people don't have a credit card they're basically screwed because of your stupidity?

The site is now down for maintenance, could this be a possible fix?

So after waiting on hold with SE for an hour and a half a person told me that i could buy crysta through a different billing account that they use called Ultimate Pay. When you go an select your payment selection (where you pick pay pal, master card, visa, blah blah blah) there is a option underneath them called ultimate pay its kinda colorful hard to miss. USE IT! it actually works. no error 401 or 601 on my end :D

I've have used the ultimate pay with the same visa card I've been trying to use, but I still get the 401 error?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RubySt

First I opened a ticket at SE Support Center ("Contact Us"). Category: Billing/Payment and subject "Error 401/ 601". You have to send them the following information (explained here: http://support.eu.square-enix.com/fa...=2&kid=68643):
o SQEXID
o Payment method you are trying to use (credit/debit card or Crysta)
o Type of the card used (Visa, MasterCard, etc.)
o Country the card was issued in
o Country you are currently in
o Name of the bank that issued the card
o Number of times you tried to process the payment after you got the initial error message

After filling out all the gaps you receive a confirmation email. A few days later they contacted me via email and asked for the picture of the credit card. So I sent the picture as requested (only last 4 numbers visible) to sel-id@square-enix.com. Subject was my ticket number. In the body of the email I just wrote "... picture of my credit card as requsted", my SquareEnix ID and the ticket number again.

I had to be patient, but they solved the problem. :-)

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I tried to click the link so I could check the info, unfortunately, it now says: "The Knowledge Base article you are attempting to access does not exist." I have the best luck in the world.

Did some checking, the URL has changed. Here's the new link for the same article: http://support.eu.square-enix.com/main.php?id=5383&la=2

Decided to do a chat with the U.S. customer support team and this is the transcript (I waited 1.5 hours on queue btw):

Agent Josiah L: Hello and thank you for contacting SQUARE ENIX Customer Support. Just a few moments while I review your question, please.
Agent Josiah L: While I look over your ticket information, may I have your first name please?
You:........John......Error 401s and 601s are what I am getting every time I try to pay and renew my subscription.
Agent Josiah L: Okay, John, I see.
Agent Josiah L: So, first of all, does your credit card information coincide with your SQUARE ENIX account information?
You: Yes
You: I've used 2 different cards that are under my name with no success
Agent Josiah L: Hm, I see.
Agent Josiah L: Are you currently in the country?
You: No, I am currently in a different location. Duty calls!
Agent Josiah L: I see. Are you on a vacation, or something to that effect?
You: Employment
Agent Josiah L: Okay, I see, I see. Hold on for a bit. . .
Agent Josiah L: So your ticket mentioned that you have tried paying through various means, and it's always rejected, right?
You: Yes via traditional Credit/Debit means, using Crysta, and Ultimate Pay through PayPal.....All have been rejected
Agent Josiah L: I see.
Agent Josiah L: Ultimate Pay should be more easy-going on the error possibilities than SQUARE ENIX, so if you continue to have errors, it might be a good idea to contact them about it, and ask why the account is having trouble
being paid for.
You: Well the charge will go through from PayPal and then get cancelled a second later by Square-Enix
You: and I have contacted them and they pointed it back to Square-Enix who does the declines
Agent Josiah L: Okay, I see.
Agent Josiah L: It might be a good idea to try purchasing Ultimate Game Cards, which can be purchased digitally, to pay for Crysta. If PayPal pulls from the bank, then the bank itself might be canceling the charge if it isn't letting the
charges through for SQUARE ENIX / gaming related measures.
You: Nope, my bank is not even seeing the charges go through so how can they cancel it?
Agent Josiah L: Was the money for the Crysta on the PayPal account?
You: That was the first thing I did was to check with my financial institution
You: The Crysta was using Credit and PayPal
You: No dice!
Agent Josiah L: So was there money actually on the PayPal account for the Crysta to use?
You: Yes, it pulls it from my savings account
You: automatically
Agent Josiah L: Okay, so PayPal pulls from your bank.
File attachment upload has started.
The file PP.jpg (165.17KB) was received.
You: See attached screen shot
You: the last two are from playspan which are ultimate pays
You: the last one that was accepted was for another game subscription that I have
You: so the problem cannot be coming PlaySpan
Agent Josiah L: Unfortunately, I won't open links here on my terminal, but if the issue doesn't seem to be on PlaySpan's part,
Agent Josiah L: then I'm not sure about this particular case, and what could be a solution.
Agent Josiah L: The problem may be in part that you are out of the country, with your information indicating that you're in the US.
You: So I wasted 1:30 hrs on queue and another 30 minutes conversing with you just to get nowhere on this issue?
Agent Josiah L: I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but this particular issue seems rather difficult to deal with,
Agent Josiah L: especially since you're having issues with different methods of payment.
Agent Josiah L: You're going to probably have trouble paying on SQUARE ENIX's site if you're out ofthe country, so paying through Ultimate Pay would be the most likely means of getting through.
You: Am I talking to someone that is in the U.S or someone outside of the U.S. (call center)?
Agent Josiah L: However, if you're still having issues even paying through there, then you could try paying with an UltimateGameCard, or contacting PlaySpan to ask about. I'm in the US call center, here.
Agent Josiah L: So error 601 and 401 would be your main problems for SQUARE ENIX's side, and those errors indicate a couple of different problems.
Agent Josiah L: The solution to one may be to wait some time, while the solution to the other could be a couple of things. That's why it's generally advised that if you're having trouble paying through normal means,
Agent Josiah L: then it would be advised to try paying through UltimatePay with Crysta.
You: Not sure why this seems to be a hard issue to deal with for the US customer support when there is about 60 plus pages about this problem on the FFXIV forum website. If I have to wait longer then I will just take my gaming
elsewhere!
Agent Josiah L: Or with an UltimateGameCard.
Agent Josiah L: That's understandable, and I appreciate that a lot of people seem to be having these kinds of issues.
Agent Josiah L: Like I've mentioned, the main solutions you would be looking into would most likely be to wait a bit if you've tried to pay many times on the same SQUARE ENIX account,
Agent Josiah L: and try Ultimate Game Cards (which are digital), or try calling / contacting PlaySpan about the issue.
Agent Josiah L: It's odd that none of the payment methods are going through, unfortunately, so it seems like it might be best to ask them about it.
Agent Josiah L: Our error code 401 and 601 is generally somewhat vague, so it makes it hard to troubleshoot on our end here.
You: Well, that pretty much does it for my faith with Square-Enix
You: Thank you for all your help
Agent Josiah L: I'm sorry about that. Hopefully this issue will get some clarity / ironed out in the future. Are there any different issues I can assist you with right now?
You: Nope that is it
Agent Josiah L: Okay, then. Thank you for visiting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center! Take care and hope to see you online

Glad that the EU issues were able to be resolved and I find it funny that the option to send in a pic of the CC was never even mentioned in my chat:o

Just dropped by to add one more confirmation that the game card / time card "solution" (more like a workaround) works. And another solution (at the "BTW" section below).

Account: Europe / other regions
My location: Israel
Location of the store I bought the card in: UK (at least according to the URL)

I gave up and went to the site someone mention a few pages back (game.co.uk) and got me a 60-day card using paypal (which is nice, because square don't let me pay with paypal... or at all for that matter).
First try failed with error -24202, but I guess it's because I had the mog station page opened for too long and my session ended.
Second try was a success! I'm in game now and can play with my brother again :)

BTW, my brother paid with a credit card he purchased from the local post office, that you can load money in it and pay on the internet (I think it's called a debit card). I'm not sure if there's something similar in other countries. He paid for a renewal of 30 days the regular way.

Still nothing, no email recived, no error launched and no technical support, when i bought the game the credit card charge was taken days after i got my licence, so i dont know if the bank is still procesing my purchase, i dont want to try again and finally paying twice for the service. How many days i must wait until you SE puts hands to work a resolve this FREACKING ERROR ! ... i pay for a game i cant play even dont let to pay for play?! c'mon you suck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NGdraconoss

Still nothing, no email recived, no error launched and no technical support, when i bought the game the credit card charge was taken days after i got my licence, so i dont know if the bank is still procesing my purchase, i dont want to try again and finally paying twice for the service. How many days i must wait until you SE puts hands to work a resolve this FREACKING ERROR ! ... i pay for a game i cant play even dont let to pay for play?! c'mon!

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The issue has been around since september and they've done nothing so far.

I'm also unable to play. I advice to you use your money on another game. Usually companies would take matters such as this one very seriously, but SE doesn't seem to care.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RyukoM

Snip

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That's nice to know but that method only works with accounts in EU it seems. :(

I've already talked with SE via chat support and they told me that since I've only had error 401 I should wait 48hrs and try again with Crysta using PlaySpan, which I doubt will work since that method fails every time for me, but let's see how things go in 48hrs. :C

Got the same canned response from SE. I have two $1 pending charges on my cc. I can't log into my account because it says I have no subscription attached to my account and my character is not attached to my account anymore. Pretty much ready to say f it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pucks

and my character is not attached to my account anymore.

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It should be. On the main page of the mog station it sometimes say "no characters" but if ,for example, you select the "enter game card option" (forgot the actual name) it will say how many characters are on the account. That was the case for me anyways.

So almost 4 days in this forced withdrawal...
When will we get a SE reply?
and srysly WHY can't you guys be like other p2p games?
example WoW.. payments are so EASY in Blizzard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RyukoM

It should be. On the main page of the mog station it sometimes say "no characters" but if ,for example, you select the "enter game card option" (forgot the actual name) it will say how many characters are on the account. That was the case for me anyways.

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It bugs sometimes and says 0 characters.

Got the same stuff happening but I'm trying to pay with a Pre-paid $50 Mastercard. This stuff usually works with all my online games. Would it be a waste of time to call SE through their phone support? I'm pretty certain I'm locked out for 30+ days =/