Billing charging old value

Edit:

I made a mistake in my calculations, I was only counting my character fee once instead of 6 times for a 6 month period. There still stands the huge discrepancy between dollars and Euros though so in the end I was still charged considerably more than I should have been (over AU$64, US$66, instead of $47).



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Original post pre billing commencing:

I read on the Lodestone news that we could set up our billing any time from now on. Yet when I try to do so, the Click and Buy site (my only payment option here in Australia) is still charging the old prices, rather than the pre 2.0 discounted prices. For example, to set up 180 days of payments in advance, the base fee (sans characters) should cost $29.94, plus a $3 per character fee (of which I have only 1 right now), but I'm being billed like this:
"Options Continued Automatically Service Fee
Crystal
Dreams
Selbina
EUR 18.00
Basic Service EUR 41.94
Bulk Service Discount EUR -12.00
Total EUR 47.94"

Please get this sorted out so that I can set up my billing options. Thank you.

Well, I submitted a support ticket on this issue and got a reply today that I thought I'd share in case anyone else was getting this issue:

"I am sorry for any confusion regarding the billing for FINAL FANTASY XIV.

There will be no charge for the service until the 6th of January. If you arrange the payment method just now, it will show you an indicative price.

The lower rate will be in effect until version 2.0 is released, so this will be the price you will pay. This will be updated once the billing actually starts to show you paying the lower rate."

So it seems the lower price won't actually be told to Click and Buy until the billing period actually starts (hopefully before they take the first payment!). This seems a little odd to me but ah well; the important thing is that the correct amount is going to be billed.

Oh, I'm fuming... I was charged the full EUR47. That's just over $64 when I should've been charged about $32. I contacted Billing again. Was anyone else overcharged too?

Hello Crystal!,

First of all I'm sorry to hear you are having difficulties with the billing. Second, I just checked my billing status and it hasn't billed me at all yet, granted I'm in the EU and it could be a timezone related thing, but I'll keep you posted. Goodluck and [See you again] soon!

Unfortunately this is the correct price. This is what Americans and Europeans are both getting charged. I know I know Americans get shafted in some things where Europeans have the upper hand. And Europeans get shafted in things where Americans have the upper hand. Unfortunately gaming is one of them, at least when SE is involved, because SE has always made $1 = 1€ even though they are not equal to each other since the currency rate keeps changing. As of right now however Europe is getting charged less than america cause $1 is .07 cents more than over in Europe, but that changes allot and usually $1 is less, but right now you will be saving .07 cents per $1 spent <,< if that makes u feel better lol.

Quote:

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EUR 18.00
Basic Service EUR 41.94
Bulk Service Discount EUR -12.00
Total EUR 47.94"

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Where most people are getting things wrong is they are assuming that the $3 character fee is only a one time charge, where as it isn't it is a monthly charge which is what i'm thinking you are thinking to. It breaks down like this if your using the 6 month structure which I think you are using.

$4.99 * 6 = $29.94 (Which is what you got.)
$3 * 6 = $18.00 (How much your character will cost you.)

$29.94...................................................................€29.94
+ $18.00................................................................+€18.00
---------------------------------------------------------------
$47.94...................................................................€47.94

Quote:

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EUR 18.00
Basic Service EUR 41.94
Bulk Service Discount EUR -12.00
Total EUR 47.94"

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If you want to see it with your rebate which is how they are showing you here, (Because in the above example i included the rebate with the multiplication of the deducted price so it took one step, instead of two steps which is how they are showing you) the general break down is like this.

$41.94...................................................................€41.94
+$18.00................................................................+€18.00
--------------------------------------------------------------
$59.94..................................................................€59.94
- $12.00................................................................-€12.00
--------------------------------------------------------------
$47.94...................................................................€47.94

The above two examples show that both Americans and Europeans get charged exactly the same way, when you look at the numbers. But of course the exchange rates aren't the same, which is why one or the other are going to in the end get screwed over meaning that one is going to pay more than the other in the long run. Right now Americans are paying more like I stated earlier, but only by .07 cents per $1 spent.

You're right, I was mistaken about the character fee and only calculating it in once instead of 6 times. As such, I should have been charged $47.94.

I was however charged over AU$64 in the end (after conversion to Euros and some extra that I haven't been able to identify yet, maybe C&B's conversion fee or something). That's about 51 Euros or US$66. The conversion between Euros and American dollars is not a matter of cents but Australian dollars to American is. No matter how I look at that, that's broken or a lie to get people to pay more than they agreed to.

SE says they're looking into it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbncd

You're right, I was mistaken about the character fee and only calculating it in once instead of 6 times. As such, I should have been charged $47.94.

I was however charged over AU$64 in the end (after conversion to Euros and some extra that I haven't been able to identify yet, maybe C&B's conversion fee or something). That's about 51 Euros or US$66. The conversion between Euros and American dollars is not a matter of cents but Australian dollars to American is. No matter how I look at that, that's broken or a lie to get people to pay more than they agreed to.

SE says they're looking into it.

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You weren't lied to, you aren't paying more than you were told you would be. Australia pays in euros. That was always the case. I'm sorry for you that the entire game industry hates Australia, really I am. But when you argue silly points you do yourself a disservice. It DOES really suck that they bilk people outside NA/JP by charging them in euros and completely ignoring the exchange rate. You would have nearly universal support in complaining about that. Australia and Europe get screwed by the game industry every time, and I feel for you. Maybe you could ask for a refund claiming you didn't understand the currency exchange rate or something and it was more than you intended to pay for the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raikki

You weren't lied to, you aren't paying more than you were told you would be. Australia pays in euros. That was always the case. I'm sorry for you that the entire game industry hates Australia, really I am. But when you argue silly points you do yourself a disservice. It DOES really suck that they bilk people outside NA/JP by charging them in euros and completely ignoring the exchange rate. You would have nearly universal support in complaining about that. Australia and Europe get screwed by the game industry every time, and I feel for you. Maybe you could ask for a refund claiming you didn't understand the currency exchange rate or something and it was more than you intended to pay for the game.

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As the Lodestone post said dollars, that is what should have been charged. American dollars or Australian dollars, it comes out to about the same, but both are drastically different from Euros. Euros were never mentioned on the post giving us the prices. When this issue was brought to SE, they said that the amount to be charged would be changed with C&B when billing began. This did not happen. As such, I stand by what I said earlier: They either made a mistake or they lied. I'm perfectly happy to go with mistake and leave it at that if they do something about it, otherwise it was a lie; two lies actually (between the Lodestone post and the rep's word of the change that never happened).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbncd

As the Lodestone post said dollars, that is what should have been charged. American dollars or Australian dollars, it comes out to about the same, but both are drastically different from Euros. Euros were never mentioned on the post giving us the prices. When this issue was brought to SE, they said that the amount to be charged would be changed with C&B when billing began. This did not happen. As such, I stand by what I said earlier: They either made a mistake or they lied. I'm perfectly happy to go with mistake and leave it at that if they do something about it, otherwise it was a lie; two lies actually (between the Lodestone post and the rep's word of the change that never happened).

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It sounds like you were viewing the North American lodestone. Lodestone displays information based on your browser language setting. For example, if it is set to "en-us" (English - United States) it will display the relevant information for North America. If I change my language setting to "en-au" (English - Australia), this is what I get when I look at the "price discount" post you are mentioning:

http://i.imgur.com/BPpOU.jpg

There was no deception here. I'm not going to white knight them though, SE erred here in trusting language preference instead of offering a traditional manual region selection. Most likely the representative you spoke to was clueless about what was going on and assumed you had a different issue, which is also hardly excusable.

That issue aside I'm curious why it lists GBP as an option for Australians if it didn't let you convert to pounds for your payment. That would have saved you a lot of money since they more or less properly value the pound while woefully undervaluing the Euro.

I was charged the full price as well. I put in for the three month deal and ended up paying 38$. This is not a discount. I paid 13-14$ a month for FFXI, times that by three and we're at the same price minus like a dollar. Useless POS system, what an absolute waste. Should have just stuck with the one month, or not have subscribed at all. Pathetic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raikki

It sounds like you were viewing the North American lodestone. Lodestone displays information based on your browser language setting. For example, if it is set to "en-us" (English - United States) it will display the relevant information for North America. If I change my language setting to "en-au" (English - Australia), this is what I get when I look at the "price discount" post you are mentioning:

http://i.imgur.com/BPpOU.jpg

There was no deception here. I'm not going to white knight them though, SE erred here in trusting language preference instead of offering a traditional manual region selection. Most likely the representative you spoke to was clueless about what was going on and assumed you had a different issue, which is also hardly excusable.

That issue aside I'm curious why it lists GBP as an option for Australians if it didn't let you convert to pounds for your payment. That would have saved you a lot of money since they more or less properly value the pound while woefully undervaluing the Euro.

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Yes, I probably was reading the NA lodestone, but I was charged roughly 66 NA dollars, which is not the $47ish the lodestone quotes ($4.99 per 30 days * 6 (total $29.94) + $3 per character per 30 days * 6). If that isn't a mistake or deception, I don't know what is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbncd

Yes, I probably was reading the NA lodestone, but I was charged roughly 66 NA dollars, which is not the $47ish the lodestone quotes ($4.99 per 30 days * 6 (total $29.94) + $3 per character per 30 days * 6). If that isn't a mistake or deception, I don't know what is.

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Lodestone only shows $47.94 for the NA region. That's why I included the screenshot of what it shows when you view the page as an Australian user. Nobody outside North America was ever offered the option to pay 47.94 US Dollars. There are numerous versions of the lodestone page you keep referencing that are displayed depending upon region, and you looked at another region's page.

If it makes you feel any better, Japanese people can't get a 6 month discount and the best they can do is 2772円 (after tax) for 3 months which at current exchange rates works out to 71.90 USD for 6 months.

http://i.imgur.com/RnnYd.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raikki

Lodestone only shows $47.94 for the NA region. That's why I included the screenshot of what it shows when you view the page as an Australian user. Nobody outside North America was ever offered the option to pay 47.94 US Dollars. There are numerous versions of the lodestone page you keep referencing that are displayed depending upon region, and you looked at another region's page.

If it makes you feel any better, Japanese people can't get a 6 month discount and the best they can do is 2772円 (after tax) for 3 months which at current exchange rates works out to 71.90 USD for 6 months.

http://i.imgur.com/RnnYd.jpg

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Logged in as an Australian user, this is the only info I recieve:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/mbncd/Fees.png

And you're right, it doesn't specify USD, it only specifies dollars, but there aren't a lot of dollars in the world so it would be either American dollars or Australian dollars, both of which come to about the same amount.