Terrible Payment System

I like this system because on FFXI after the 3-D secure thing I couldn't regist any credit card anymore and SE won't help me because i'm from Argentina. Now with Click and buy on FFXIV and now added to FFXI i can play ^^.

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Originally Posted by vax

I like this system because on FFXI after the 3-D secure thing I couldn't regist any credit card anymore and SE won't help me because i'm from Argentina. Now with Click and buy on FFXIV and now added to FFXI i can play ^^.

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Except ClickAndBuy will scam you and charge you to register your CC and then charge you 2-4 randomly, anytime they want, as well as multiple charges for one purchase.

Japanese credit card system is crap... on FFXI it was nice I can use my US credit card on JP FFXI account through JP playonline but for FFXIV I can't, most Japanese stores only accept JP credit cards now, if it's foreign, outside of Japan it gets rejected... reason why I had to buy the US FFXIV but good thing FFXIV has JP language option unlike FFXI. (I play most of my games in Japanese)

I used to be able to buy games/books from Japanese stores to send to my relative, friends place... now I can't even do that... it really sucks... lol (import stores are too expensive lol)

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Originally Posted by Aramyth

Except ClickAndBuy will scam you and charge you to register your CC and then charge you 2-4 randomly, anytime they want, as well as multiple charges for one purchase.

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Why they would do that? If C&B do that i don't think SE will thrust on them to do this payment system.

I think you're quite wrong with your through. At this moment no payment has been made to say that. Wait some month and let see what happen on ffxi or in a future with xiv.

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Originally Posted by vax

Why they would do that? If C&B do that i don't think SE will thrust on them to do this payment system.

I think you're quite wrong with your through. At this moment no payment has been made to say that. Wait some month and let see what happen on ffxi or in a future with xiv.

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Google them. You'll see what people have been saying about them. SE is probably using them because they gave them the cheapest deal and they have to save money where they can to try and save the sinking ship that is Square Enix.

I did before on 2010 and was (or were, not very good on english) a short amount of people. Pretty sure a lot of people did something on click and buy and sure some people will get some problem, nothing is 100 % sure. Maybe 1% of people that do something on C&B get some problem, or maybe is something like this. One guy get a problem with that page and start to move the ball saying it's a shitty page and ppl stay to believe what he told.

Wait some time and let's see if it work or not. How can you say it's a shitty payment system if never had a problem with it?

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Originally Posted by vax

Why they would do that? If C&B do that i don't think SE will thrust on them to do this payment system.

I think you're quite wrong with your through. At this moment no payment has been made to say that. Wait some month and let see what happen on ffxi or in a future with xiv.

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Atm, I can't even access my C&B account, let alone get a reply from thier customer service, I'd say they are very untrustworthy

And the playonline service was good? They can't help me because i'm from South America.

The only way that I found to play on FFXI was to find an old player from FFXI so he could regist the new credit card on pol using xbox (on xbox there is no 3-D secure thing) so between having a page like Click and buy or have to tell all my credit card info to a player I preffer C&B.

A few month ago SE added a new service to help people with problem on the secure but that is on NA / EU players :/.

Playonline accounts have just been transformed into square-enix accounts I believe. Hopefully they decided to bring over a proper payment system in the process.

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Originally Posted by Reika

Playonline accounts have just been transformed into square-enix accounts I believe. Hopefully they decided to bring over a proper payment system in the process.

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No, they are just making XI player subject to the lousy billing options we will have. People need to complain about this more. ><

they are actually keeping C&B like a retard. read XI's news http://www.playonline.com/homeus/polshift/

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Originally Posted by Chardrizard

they are actually keeping C&B like a retard. read XI's news http://www.playonline.com/homeus/polshift/

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I don't see where is says that on the link...maybe I'm an R-tard and just not reading right...anywho, if that is the case...that they keep C&B and don't give another option to pay that is legit and not a pain in the behind...then I may not play when it comes P2P...

YOU HERE THAT SE! GIVE ME AN OPTION THAT WON'T RIP OFF MY ACCOUNT OR GIVE ME A HEADACHE AND I WILL MOST LIKELY NOT QUIT!!! Other than that, I will quit... :/ and I really don't want to...I like this game...

go to the FAQs and you will see C&B is still mentioned.

I think that only if your card doesn't supper that 3-D secure thing do you have to use click&buy and that other thing mentioned. But, i know mine doesn't, and ive actually never even heard of it lol.

Get rid of Click and Buy, SE. You need to give players a hassle-free payment system that they can trust with their credit card information. The current system forces us to choose between trading our real money for space bucks or signing on with a shady third-party company. Either choice is sub-optimal, and many people find the system as a whole to be confusing.

Playing this kind of game with customers seems like something that a cheap, third-rate company would do. I hardly expected it out of Square-Enix.

I had been eagerly awaiting this game for a long time, but they almost had me lost when they announced the payment methods I think the day of the retail release. I was so turned off from it that despite all my hype and loyalty to the FF series and previous MMO, I would have skipped this one entirely. The only thing that kept me in was the fact that all my friends were also playing, and since we've had a long haitus from billing it's not a current concern but always a looming one.

I remember when I picked up my copy from Gamestop, the clerk naively tried to upsell me some prepaid cards that other MMO's use. When I laughed at him and explained what this game actually requires he, and the other employee were completely dumbfounded. None of us could really fathom why a large company such as SE was going a backdoor route more befitting of an indie title. And all recognized that this game will be extremely difficult to sell to minors ever.

It just adds a whole lot of confusion and a lot of extra time signing up for various other services and accounts to this that and the other, just to be able to start your game play. SE has many other branches within the company that have their own online stores with direct credit card payment set up. I'm not really sure why they decided to go this really uncomfortable route for their gaming branch.

Even if it meant me paying a small processing fee on top of my credit charge, I'd still prefer direct payment over the other options.

I hope a com rep is able to project our concerns to the dev team. Not that I expect they are able to personally do anything about it as that is a different relm, but it would be one more step up the ladder to someone whom could.

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Originally Posted by Aramyth

Google them. You'll see what people have been saying about them. SE is probably using them because they gave them the cheapest deal and they have to save money where they can to try and save the sinking ship that is Square Enix.

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Hmm.. so maybe C&B was the only option for SE right now. D:
If that's true then I hope that other options become available later, for those who can't use (or refuse to use) the current sucky options.

The shitstorm has reached the coasts of Vana'diel:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...-way-no-thanks.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ent-and-crysta

Also it would seem that the remaining bits of crysta on our accounts would have to be refunded in the case SE stopped operating all the games using it. So instead of donating few USD to SE times the number of customer using crysta, we will be only lending them at a no interest rate and for probably dozen of years. Feels better, eh?

It seems they never going to allow us to buy straight up or buy 12.99$ of the amount of crysta we need.

In some cases, they don't even allow us to give them money !!

Seems like Eorzea and Vana'deil are tied together after all.

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Originally Posted by Aramyth

XI player are up in arms over the new methods of payment they have.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ay-no-thanks.?

Hopefully between them and us complaining it will get fixed, somehow. That we can at least purchase Crysta in exact amounts and perhaps make them cards available at gamestop etc.

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That XI thread has 553 responses and counting...

What will it take? And how many subscribers has their cash-cow now lost?

EDIT: Bayohne posted this on the XI forums:

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Greetings all,

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are aware of the comments and discussions taking place regarding the new payment procedures not only on the official forum, but on the community sites, as well.

While we don't have specific details to share at this time, we do want to inform you that improving the payment processing options are still a part of an ongoing process. We will continue to take all the feedback we receive as we strive to make the experience as user-friendly as possible for all of our customers going forward.

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It's inside This topic

Bayohne and Rukkirii. We know you know stuff. Time to spill what beans you can.

Can't they just make a deal with freaking PAYPAL.. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

They're just trying to avoid having any sort of responsibility for the payment side of the game. I think it seems really shady.

Huh? You can buy crysta using paypal (in North America at least).

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Originally Posted by Kio

Huh? You can buy crysta using paypal (in North America at least).

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Yes, in NA and also "some" EU, apparently not in my choice of country has this service. that the problem.

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Originally Posted by Seirra_Lanzce

Yes, in NA and also "some" EU, apparently not in my choice of country has this service. that the problem.

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How frustrating! Wouldn't it be much easier for SE on a managerial level and also on a PR level to have all the players be on the same page with a payment system?

How hard is it to come out with 30$ game cards? you even have little left over for mules or NPCs. Or set up a paypal like every other game have. I can't believe SE is this far back in payment systems -.- it's a joke really.

The major issues here are that the forms of payment are not standard for all locations. Some people can pay via direct debit, some can only use third party or game cards through a third party, and some people have just the choice of one form of payment period. Add on top of all this that one of the forms of payment at least in the United States side of things is a very big risk (asking people to give their info to companies under review for fraud by two of our largest financial institutions).

All SE has to do is suck it up or pass along the cost of accepting Credit Cards to the players, or at the very least come up with a Crysta Card in lets say $15, $25, $50 amounts and have them widely available. Hell if SE is to cheap to print out game cards, places like Walmart and Game Stop do receipt cards. You walk up to the counter with a display card they charge you the amount you ask for and print a code out on your receipt, then they put the display card back on the shelf. There is very little reason for this mess of a system SE has come up with other then they have some High School drop outs working in their Account/Billing service department.

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Greetings all,

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are aware of the comments and discussions taking place regarding the new payment procedures not only on the official forum, but on the community sites, as well.

While we don't have specific details to share at this time, we do want to inform you that improving the payment processing options are still a part of an ongoing process. We will continue to take all the feedback we receive as we strive to make the experience as user-friendly as possible for all of our customers going forward.

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This is very good news, with luck they will get this all under control before FFXIV becomes P2P.

Personally I haven't touched the game since this happened. There's almost no point in liking this game if I can't pay for it once it goes P2P. It's unfortunate. but with SWTOR getting closer and closer around the corner I don't see my loyalty to SE holding out much longer. :(

Put CC info in to ClickandBuy about 2 weeks later I had 2 fraudulent charges for a total of ~500$. Coincidence maybe, but doubtful.

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Originally Posted by Eunys

This is very good news, with luck they will get this all under control before FFXIV becomes P2P.

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I feel bad for the XI players as I say this, but it is my hope that SE learns the implications of the SE account billing system from the XI fallout rather than our own game going pay2play and causing a 2nd corporate jaw-drop in the XIV department.

Any misconceptions or disbelief should be swept aside on September 1st when SE sees just how many XI players have decided to not migrate from PlayOnline and instead allowed their account to be cancelled.

1 month to fix, or facepalm.

I'm sorry but we demand an actual answer soon. This is getting out of hand. When I first had seen it was clickandbuy I had to go through, I was so frustrated. That company is so shady and they get bad reviews everywhere. Why is it that SE can't do their own personal Payment System. Stop being lazy! I know so many people that are going to leave come P2P if they don't change their payment system out.

I won't pay a dime to click and buy and i wont use crysta due to them making me pay more up front when i really only want to pay 12.99 x2. So when this game goes p2p i guess i'll wait for better payment and i was going to return to FFXI and pay ffxiv at the same time but i guess that also out of the question.

Great job SE at picking payment types.

looks like i'm not the only one having problem with clickandbuy.

SE seriously need to clear this payment issues with us or else they can forget about going p2p much less fixing the game.

This was a very interesting read. Quoting:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...l=1#post159123
Poster is RAIST on the XI forums.

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May have stumbled on something about C&B. There might actually be a specific reason why some financial institutions are rejecting them, just haven't been able to get further details as it looks like the site I was in just hit a maintenance window while I was on it.

Click&Buy is stating they are authorised and regulated by the FSA UK:

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ClickandBuy International Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom. (Register Number: 454127)

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http://www.clickandbuy.com/EU/en/sa/...bereich=surfer

So out of curiosity I went to pull up their reports on them, but can't get any real info on them just yet as it looks like they've started stopping some webapps for maintenance or something while I was browsing. This particular one went offline just after I pulled it up, but the first page from my search was still in my cached pages so I was able to grab at least their basic info:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/register/index.shtml
searched on firm registration number: 454127

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Basic details for:
454127 - ClickandBuy International Limited

Current status: No longer Authorised
Effective Date: 01/07/2011
Tied Agent:
Undertakes Insurance Mediation:
Registered under Money Laundering Regulations:
Address: Lincoln House
137/143 Hammersmith Road
London
W14 0QL

Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Website:
44 020 7605 0670
44 020 7751 1848
No e-mail supplied
www.clickandbuy.com

Notices:
Other information: The firm now has an e-money record. Please check the e-money link for more information.

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Clicked the e-money link and that's when pages started coming up as unavailable. Guess I hit it right when they were taking things down.

Interesting that their basic info states they are not authorised. Which is a little concerning as they are still claiming on their site that they are authorised.

When you go to the FSA's detail on status entries, it simply states

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No longer authorised
A firm is no longer allowed to carry out certain types of business that we regulate.

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http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Register...us/index.shtml

Which makes me even more curious about just what they are no longer authorized to do, and why. Wish I could get at the reports to get more info.

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Now that's even more dodgy!

(PS edit: Yes, links in there are broken, but the link to the page I'm quoting should work - you can get to them from there.)

I have not yet received a reply from SE on this topic. I am now sending the following email to the UK financial services authority:

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Hello,

I am a member of an online gaming community playing the online game Final Fantasy XIV, produced by Square Enix. Being an online game, there are to be subscription fees for this game in the future. One of the prevelant payment options (and indeed the only payment option for many regions around the world) is through the company ClickandBuy based in London, which quotes the FSA registration number of 454127.

I would like to refer you to the following website:
http://www.clickandbuy.com/EU/en/sa/...bereich=surfer

In your database, this company is listed as being "No longer authorized".

If I may ask, at what point in time did this company lose its authorisation? Also, are any activities occuring in an attempt to restore the authorisation? Lastly, and presuming the worst with this question, would the continued operation of this company in financial services constitute a violation of United Kingdom law?

It is my hope that I might be able to take any feedback on this matter to my community of players, who have been receiving very little in the way of correspondance on this topic of our concern, from both the game producer and ClickandBuy itself. Any information you can provide may assist us in deciding whether or not to engage with this company in the future.

Yours in sincerity,

*my real name here*

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Let's see what we can find out.

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

How hard is it to come out with 30$ game cards? you even have little left over for mules or NPCs.

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Again, no. A prepaid card must allow to pay exactly for one month (or an entiere number of month), not a single cent more. Otherwise that would mean giving millions of treasury to SE to freely play with. I don't want to be part of that.

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Originally Posted by Nipa

Again, no. A prepaid card must allow to pay exactly for one month (or an entiere number of month), not a single cent more. Otherwise that would mean giving millions of treasury to SE to freely play with. I don't want to be part of that.

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Did you even understand my post? 30$ card would give you two month a free money left over for NPC.

12.99 + 12.99 = 25.98 You have 4.00 left over for npcs that = two month with 4 NPC top of your 2 you get for free that pretty good deal to me.

that what i'm talking about a time card for 30$ that give you two month and give you left over money for NPC.

I've had two friends interested in trying XIV be so turned off by the archaic payment system and the need to spend a half hour on vent with me trying to figure out how to give their money to SE that they just gave up and never even tried the game.

Fix it. Fix it, yesterday.