First, let me start by saying that I have enjoyed every bit of time I have actually been able to play FF14 ARR. The problem is the horrible support SE has, and how they have treated me as a paying customer. This has been my experience with FF14.
1. I bought the original FF14 1.0 when it first came out. I (like many) thought the game was horrible/unplayable, and never got a character over lvl 10.
2. I stopped playing FF14.
3. I found out they were completely remaking FF14 and that ARR was supposed to be awesome.
4. I played the FF14ARR Beta and fell in love with the game. This is finally the game I expected FF14 1.0 to be.
5. FF14ARR launced in August and I was very happy playing with my friends on Midgard.
6. September 17th came around and it was time for me to pay my first monthly subscription fee.
7. I paid my Monthly subscription and continued to play FF14ARR happily.
8. On September 23rd I got a text message from a friend in my FC telling me that my account must have been hacked because I was in Limsa Spamming RMT messages.
9. I checked my e-mail to see if I got any notices about a suspicious IP trying to log in, but all I found was the e-mail saying that my account had been banned for violation of the terms of use. Specifically advertising RMT in game.
10. I then changed my password and called SE Support to report my account being hacked(Let's not get into details on how much of a pain it is to find SE Support's actual phone number).
11. I talked to a support agent (after waiting 2 hours on hold) and they told me that they knew this was frustrating, but he assured me that it would be fixed quickly as they have been having a lot of these hacks being reported and he was sure they would get to them all in a timely manner. He told me that the average waiting period was 3-5 days and then everything should be back to normal. I thanked him for his time and got off the phone.
12. I wasn't happy that it was going to take as long as 3-5 days(especially when other games have a history of getting compromised accounts back in a few hours), but I was ok with it because I felt it was my fault for not getting an authenticator for the account in the first place.
13. I promptly downloaded the authenticator app to my smartphone and hooked it up to my account.
14. I waited a full week and still heard nothing back from SE regarding my account.
15. I waited another week and still hadn't heard anything from SE regarding my still banned account.
16. I called SE support again(waiting another 2 hours on hold). This time the person I talked to was not supportive at all. He just told me that there was nothing he could do. He said that they have had a lot of compromised accounts and assured me that they would be fixed in the order in which they were reported, but he let me know that they only send out notifications to you IF they investigate and find that the account was compromised and then they will give it back. I asked him what SE would do about my play time, since I paid for a month on September 17th and only got 6 days of playing time in before they banned my account. He said that he didn't know what they would do for the people who's accounts got compromised, but that he was sure that they would do something to make it work out.
17. I waited another week and didn't hear anything back.
18. At this point, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get my account back, but I spent the next couple of weeks going back and forth with SE Support, either by phone or chat support, and every time I got the same canned answer of they don't know what's going on with my account and that I will be contacted when it is resolved. (Not very friendly at this point either).
19. On November 16th, I finally got an e-mail from SE saying that they finished the investigation and realized that the RMT advertisements were due to a compromised account and that they lifted the ban on my account.
20. I was happy to finally get my account back (after 54 days), so I tried to log into the game only to find that my subscription was no longer active because the last time I paid was on September 17th.
21. I was unhappy about my time not being carried over from the extended ban, but figured I would re-do my subscription and then contact support on Monday to try and get the payments situated.
22. Once I logged in, I found that my FC had transferred to a new server (Adamantoise) when SE was giving out the Free Character Transfer.
23. I logged out and went to see if I could move my character for free still, but they wanted to charge me $18 to transfer servers.
24. I waited for the server transfer so that I could contact SE Support today and see if there was anything they could do for me.
25. When I talked to support today, they said that they would not transfer my character for free, they said they would not be able to do anything for me regarding the only 6 days of service I got, and also that they were unwilling to give me a refund for the current month of service I just paid for.
So basically because they took 54 days to complete a simple account restore are they are completely unwilling to work with me at all, they have just lost a subscriber for good. I can't see myself ever buying another SE game after the way they've treated me.
I would love to see others post on this thread about the horrible experience they had with SE Customer support. Maybe if enough people share their experiences, they will fix it for their future customers.
Also just want to thank the people telling me to use EDIT...didn't know that was the way to bypass the 1000 character limit.
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11-19-2013, 06:29 AMRichard_RahlMy Horrible experience with SE Support and why it's causing me to leave..
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11-19-2013, 06:30 AMRichard_Rahl
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11-19-2013, 06:30 AMArkista
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EDIT lol use edit. -
11-19-2013, 06:31 AMRichard_Rahl
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11-19-2013, 06:31 AMRichard_Rahl
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11-19-2013, 06:31 AMEbon_Drake
I hope to god I never have to go through this with SE..
I love FF14 ARR so much. It's all I talk about with friends and I log in every day after work and play until I go to sleep. I spend all of my weekends playing as well since I'm newly single.
If I had to deal with even half of what most of the people complaining about SE support have to deal with I would quit, flat out.
There are too many other things out there worth my time and money to have to spend time dealing with a company that makes so much money off of their IP that they no longer care about individual customers. -
11-19-2013, 06:32 AMRichard_Rahl
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11-19-2013, 06:34 AMFF2GO
I am sorry for your experience. I actually had no issue finding an NA SE contact number. I just googled Square Enix NA contact number, called it and was on the line with an English speaking rep in less than 2 minutes. Fyi, I called because I lost my cell phone which had my token generator on it so I was not able to get into my account because I didn't have the emergency password. Anyway, after the rep verified my info thoroughly he removed the token off my account, had me reset my password, login and I was in. Within 8 mins from the call I had been able to log back in. IDK why people have such a hard time with SE support. I am not trying to start a war, I just don't get it. For me, it was seamless and easy.
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11-19-2013, 06:35 AMShinkuTachi
You only need to make one post for all this.
The EDIT POST button is your friend. It won't hurt you, I promise. -
11-19-2013, 06:36 AMRhindas
What you are describing is par for the course with SE's customer service that they have been doing with compromised accounts since FFXI was first hit with RMT (though back then it was 100% the players' fault according to them). Patience is all I can recommend because you will get nothing but increased frustration worrying about it. They *will* eventually get to you, they really will, but it will take awhile. You might also ask them if cancelling your account will impede their investigation of your account because they will happily continue to charge you while you're unable to play.
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11-19-2013, 06:37 AMArkista
So your whole account was banned or just the character?
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11-19-2013, 06:48 AMAngryPanda
Someone went to a website they shouldn't have...heuehuehu~~~ Seriously though...this is as an opportunity as as life lesson to stay away from phishing websites, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, get the authentication (phone app) the moment you started this game so you wouldn't have had to go through the experience you did. \O/ live and learn~
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11-19-2013, 06:59 AMRichard_Rahl
It actually had nothing to do with going to a Web Site I shouldn't have...It was actually a really really old Guild Wars 1 ArenaNet account that got hacked. My problem was that I re-used the same username and password. Beside's, this isn't about the fact that the account was compromised. As I said, it happens, and it totally taught me to put an authenticator on a new game from day 1. What this is about is the fact they it took SE 54 days to get the account back to me, and now they're basically saying "*** you" If you want to go play with your friends, you'll have to pay me another $18 to do it.
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11-19-2013, 07:06 AMKeyblade
This experiance just shows that SE dont really care about the people subbing to there game.
You would think this would warrent a responce but you can guarentee not a single community manager will appoligise for lack of support they give out.
I quit the game to and wont be coming back for quite some time after a number of support tickets ive raised get ignored and the ones that do get a repsonce SE go . Nope sorry we dont do that or we cant help you.
Absolute joke..... -
11-19-2013, 07:33 AMMakior72I've said this before to people but in a far ruder way and gotten banned for it. I will say it now in a more appropriate manner since SE cares so much about the feelings of people on the forums. Plenty of people have been hacked without ever going to a phishing site. Many people use the same user name and password across multiple games. League of legends for example was hacked not to long ago and some account info may have been compromised. Anyone who uses the same username and password combo here could be at risk. Assuming someone went to a site they shouldn't have is plainly put, stupid. However what you say about the authenticator is absolutely true, always get one if you can especially if you can do it for free.Quote:
Originally Posted by AngryPanda
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11-19-2013, 07:53 AMCikala
I really feel for those this has happened to. I know if this ever happens to me, I'll be doing a chargeback on any subscription fees that cover the time I'm unable to access my account. You didn't get what you paid for, you have every right to file a chargeback. This is absolutely atrocious handling from a company that you pay for a service, and is not acceptable. As much as I'm loving this game, SE is really trying to push us all away.
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11-19-2013, 08:23 AMTrystWildkey
I sympathize, but only up to a point.
If your phone breaks or is stolen, does your cell phone provider credit your account for the time you don't have a phone? If your tv is stolen, does your cable company credit you for the time you were unable to watch tv?
I'm not saying that it's right that they didn't credit you, just saying that it shouldn't really be expected, at least, not these days.
This could also be turned around the other way. "Just because a customer got his account hacked, he wants us to credit him for the time he couldn't play"Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard_Rahl
Again, I sympathize, but only up to a point. *shrug* Customer service isn't what it used to be, and probably never will be again. Corporations wring every dollar and cent they can out of customers. Customers are no longer a valued asset. This can be said for the majority of businesses today.
You certainly have the right to not do business with a company that you feel does not value your custom, I'm not arguing against that. But, I just don't think it has the effect you think it will. -
11-19-2013, 08:36 AMAnaviAnael
Stuff like this is really getting old. (Not against you, Mr. Rahl, against SE.) Hopefully you get the same customer service feedback survey I got a few days ago, so you can check "Very Disappointed" with most of the categories like I did.
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11-19-2013, 08:37 AMAnimaAnimusActually if you inform your cable company promptly they will suspend service and you will not be charged. Been there done that.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrystWildkey
Same with a lot of other companies. If your account is hacked and it is found by SE to have been so they should most definitely credit you for the time you were unable to play. Esp since it took them nearly 2 months and other companies can do it in a couple days. You would think they would eat one months sub fee to keep that fee coming in month after month after month. -
11-19-2013, 08:38 AMYashnaheen
Is SE support 3rd party? If it isn't they sure seem to run it like it is. No one knows what is going on, no one to transfer you to who does. You get the exact same complaints in Telecom where each center, team and phone rep have certain metrics they have to hit to get paid well. Giving you a refund won't get them paid well and won't make their boss happy. Getting you to hang up semi satisfied that they are working on it will get them paid. There is likely some legal BS in the ToS where they aren't responsible for lost time anyway.
I'm sure they are entirely capable of working something out with you about missed time you paid for. It's just better not to for the rep / team. -
11-19-2013, 08:55 AMZell
On November 5, 2013 at 11:20 p.m., I turned in a quest in Coerthas on my lvl 41 Summoner. I immediately noticed that my gil dropped down to 0 from 71k. My seals also went from 28k to 0. I said to myself, must be a bug. I'll log off and log back on and hope everything is ok.
I tried to log back in. It said, "World Data cannot be obtained, Please try logging in later. Error 1016."
I got the same error for the next 2-3 days. Every time. I can log onto other characters, but not my main, legacy character. This character has 2 million gil I brought from 1.0. I has all classes except arcanist at 50. It has 4 crafting classes at 50. It has two gathering classes at 50. It is my 2 years of devotion put into FFXIV. I love my character.
I contacted customer support. They told me that Error 1016 is a port forwarding error. It was 100% my router or my ISP. I did all of the following:
1. Open the ports they asked. Didn't help.
2. Update the firm where on my router. Didn't Help.
3. Contacted the ISP and confirmed they're not blocking any of my ports.
4. Connected to the internet via modem only. Didn't help. SAME ERROR.
5. Did a clean reboot of my computer and confirmed none of my programs were the problem.
6. Tried to log onto my account using my ps3. Same Error.
7. Took my PS3 to my cousin's house, in the same city but another ISP. Same Error.
8. Days later, went to my friend's house 100+ miles away, different city, different ISP. SAME ERROR.
All this time, I called customer support 6+ times and everytime they told me. It's a port forwarding issue. It's not our end, there's something WRONG on your end. AFter taking my PS3 to my friend's house and getting same error, they agreed to "escalate the ticket" and have someone look into it. That was on November 8, 2013. They told me, you'll get an email in the next couple of days keeping you informed of the issue. They even told me, "hey there's going to be a maintanence, that should fix your problem. Call us back if it doesn;t"
November 12 SAME ERROR, I call them back and they say "Oh the maintenance didn't help, now we're going to really escalate the ticket. WE didn't escalate it on November 8 while we waited for you to call back." This really pissed me off.
It's November 18 going on 19. I have yet to receive a single email from them even acknowledging they're working on it. I've paid for the 6 month sub because I love this game. I stayed with this game when it was horrible. I paid for a subscription because I believed in YoshiP and the direction of teh new game. I have never bought gil. I have never sold million gil priced items on the market wards. My account has never been compromised. I have repeatedly pleaded that they roll back my character, or copy/paste a confirmed and working version. Each time they've said no "they have to look into it."
Going on two weeks, i'm still waiting for the infamous email from them.
At this point, while my 6 month sub is being milked dry, i'm starting to feel my devotion is also being taken advantage of.
Flame me all you want, but when I played WoW, it had teh BEST customer service. You had your issues resolved in one to two days TOPS!. Even stolen and compromised accounts.
SE this is a joke. Because I havn't played in 2 weeks, I'm starting to have less of a reason or desire to log on even when (or if) I get my character back.
This isn't how you should treat loyal customers who've done nothing wrong other than ask for help. -
11-19-2013, 09:08 AMAlcyon_Densetsu
It's been years. SE's is one of the worst customer support in the gaming industry, and a real cause for concern; it goes far beyond any gaming consideration, since we're talking about real money and too often, SE's behaviour is at best abusive and at worst a borderline breach of contract—charging for a service which you don't provide due to your own incompetence. If it were a physical service, they just wouldn't be able to act with such negligence and get away with it (imagine a gym club that would deny you their service for months, claiming they must re-print your stolen member card, while charging you the whole time… yeah, but no).
Real-life laws should really step up on these matters and punish abusive companies (to the very least, allow customers to sue/class action, and obtain reparation).
Meanwhile, we can vote with out wallet, but that doesn't protect others. Voicing discontent only works to some extent and didn't make SE, for instance, change in over a decade of awfully disappointed customer feedback. -
11-19-2013, 09:19 AMRichard_RahlWhen I mentioned to the Support Agent I talked with on Chat Today that I would need to contact my credit card provider to cancel the charge since they wouldn't refund me, all he did what quote the Terms of Service saying that if SE has a charge charged back to them, that this would result in a permanent ban on the account....Quote:
Originally Posted by Cikala
For me, it doesn't really matter because I'm leaving the game anyways...but other people should be aware that if you do a chargeback, it's in the ToS for them to perma ban your account. -
11-19-2013, 09:21 AMRichard_Rahl
Does anyone know if it's against the rules to post the log from your Support Chat Session? I saved the communication I had where I actually got escalated to a manager and will post it. I just don't want to post it and have the thread deleted because that violates some forum rule.
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11-19-2013, 09:21 AMQuesseActually what they're saying is that its not their fault you got hacked. Which... its not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard_Rahl
SE's support is not stellar but not seeing the problem here. You want them to bend over backwards for your mistake? -
11-19-2013, 09:25 AMRichard_RahlNo, at this point all I wanted was to get the Free Character Transfer that everyone else who suffered through the horrible launch of the game got. I'm not asking for them to bend over backwards at all...and honestly...with the fact that it took 54 days to get a compromised account back...I don't expect a thing from this company anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quesse
All I've been saying to them is that if they give me the transfer, they'll keep a subscription for the next couple years. -
11-19-2013, 09:34 AMGiantbane
Did you pay by credit card? Call your card company, explain the situation, ask if you can have the charge voided. They'll probably side with you because you were not able to access what you were paying for.
However, this will almost guarantee that your acct will then get locked and never be unlocked so make sure you do this only if you are certain you do not wish to play any longer. -
11-19-2013, 09:40 AMBlarp
I would do a chargeback via my bank. SE will invariably perma-ban your account, but I'd be so disgusted by this point, I don't think I'd care very much.
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11-19-2013, 09:41 AMAlcyon_DensetsuRegardless of whose responsibility it is, a 'good' customer support tries to actually help customers. Many good companies sincerely try to accommodate their formal rules in order to help their customers who experience problems. That's just how good business is done. That's possible because customer support and business relationships are done by human parties, not rigid computers. in this case, SE's is partially responsible for him missing the free transfer window because their investigation took much more time than the industry average, so it would only feel logical, and nice, that they gave him that free transfer (exceptional situations call for exceptional answers).Quote:
Originally Posted by Quesse
You surely don't expect much from a customer service. :( That's too bad for you, because many companies must be able to get away with minimal efforts with you as their customer, and I suspect you may often have got much less than you could have obtained, when you had issues with a product or a service. Trust me, you have the right to at least ask for help; and you'll see that companies and stores are often willing to help you, to give you freebies and very nice solutions to your problems, because that's just good practice if they hope to keep you as a customer. :) -
11-19-2013, 10:10 AMAlexb150that is completely different and your examples are ridiculous. yes if your phone is stolen the company supplying the contract would credit you the time, they'd also replace the handset. cable and a tv are completely different items.. he wasn't saying his computer was broken, hes saying that they aren't providing a service which they provide and is essentially stealing his moneyQuote:
Originally Posted by TrystWildkey
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11-19-2013, 10:16 AMDoraymon_Prime
the level of customer support in this company is beyond garbage, especially if you compare it with blizzard
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11-19-2013, 10:23 AMAlexb150I'll agree to that. I'm far from a blizzard fan and only played WoW for a short time. I had my account hacked, my characters deleted and items sold.. it took them two days to restore my account and return the items to me. from a company like SE i'd hope for betterQuote:
Originally Posted by Doraymon_Prime
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11-19-2013, 10:34 AMSilverRhythm
Mr Rahl, I really sympathize with your situation and yeah I guess we need to be extra careful then when dealing with SE on our account problems. From what I know in the business world, customers are always what we should place with highest importance because that is where the revenue comes in, if this kind of case happens then SE is just asking for trouble with the mentality of "Yeah we are great, so you must continue to buy from us to keep up to date with the trend".
But one word for you is the decision is yours whether you wish to still enjoy playing the game with your buddies or end it once and for all due to the terrible customer service and leaving the fun you once had. SE will sooner or later have to realize the internet is a very powerful tool that one major mistake, it will spread like wild fire. -
11-20-2013, 12:58 AMRichard_Rahl
I created a new thread that actually has one of my Chat Support session's. It is a wall of text, but it shows the kind of support you get from this game.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ble-support-is -
11-20-2013, 02:00 AMZellI havn't received an email from SE after I was told my ticket was escalated. However, I was able to log onto my character for the first time, in two weeks, this morning. I don't know If it was the maintenance (because previous maintenance hadn't worked), or whether they actually fixed it. I'm thankful, but I still feel the CS for SE needs a lot of work. Don't underestimate the positive vibe it creates in the community when you know a company still has your back even after you buy the game, especially when that game requires a monthly fee.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zell
SE, our monthly fee pays for your customer service as well so the service out of the game should be as strong, if not stronger than the service you provide by game updates and expansions.