Terrible Payment System

[Zenaku]

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.

[Eard]

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.

[Catapult]

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

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:

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.)

[Catapult]

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:

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*

Let's see what we can find out.

[LillithaFenimore]

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:


Let's see what we can find out.

Cat, have you heard anything back from this? I was just curious. Also if you havn't I would like the link to where I can send this exact same letter since I have already sent the same letter earlier to SE about billing. Trying to help light some fires under bottoms to maybe get some more answers.

[Catapult]

Cat, have you heard anything back from this? I was just curious. Also if you havn't I would like the link to where I can send this exact same letter since I have already sent the same letter earlier to SE about billing. Trying to help light some fires under bottoms to maybe get some more answers.

Sadly, not yet, but this is a government department we are talking about and I'm not based in the UK either.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/consumer...ct/index.shtml
This is where I got the contact info from.

No response form SE either. Probably filed in the "better to not say anything controversial" basket.

[LillithaFenimore]

Sadly, not yet, but this is a government department we are talking about and I'm not based in the UK either.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/consumer...ct/index.shtml
This is where I got the contact info from.

No response form SE either. Probably filed in the "better to not say anything controversial" basket.

Cat,
I am not in the UK either, however, maybe just having a "trail" to C&B of issues and what not may have an affect on them changing the payment system in the future? I mean it can't really hurt to try.

[LillithaFenimore]

Cat,
I am not in the UK either, however, maybe just having a "trail" to C&B of issues and what not may have an affect on them changing the payment system in the future? I mean it can't really hurt to try.

Cat, when I tried to click on e-mail, it woudln't let me grab the email because I don't use an e-mail client, I use gmail. Do you think you could post the email addy so I can cut/paste? Thanks.

[Ainilome]

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.

[Platinumstorm]

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.

Or because it was possible to be charged 30 days worth for 5 days, then be charged 30 days again directly after that?