Terrible Payment System

[Chocobits]

Well, actually yes. It does hurt to try. It means I'm consenting to them billing me for a verification service, which I would prefer they didn't do when a simple first-time purchase should be more than enough to verify the card's validity. They don't NEED to bill my card separate to a real transaction to make sure it works. Being in a foreign zone, the fees I would probably incur from both C&B and my own bank are a sufficient disincentive - the fewer international transactions I engage in the better and they're asking to do two of them.

I have enough reason to not trust this company already.

A lot of payment gateways do something similar to verify an account. Like PayPal. Except instead of WITHDRAWING $3, they DEPOSIT 20 cents. And I meant, no harm in trying if you were already going to give CnB unfettered access to your entire life anyway.

[Catapult]

A lot of payment gateways do something similar to verify an account. Like PayPal. Except instead of WITHDRAWING $3, they DEPOSIT 20 cents. And I meant, no harm in trying if you were already going to give CnB unfettered access to your entire life anyway.

This makes me all the more glad that my card has a lowish limit and expires in March.

[Chocobits]

Hey, can someone post a link of this thread into a similar thread on the FFXI forums:

Petition - clickandbuy the only way no thanks

The more cross-exposure the topic gets, and the more outcry we achieve, the better our chances are of forcing SE's hand on this.

[Tifia]

Hey, can someone post a link of this thread into a similar thread on the FFXI forums:

Petition - clickandbuy the only way no thanks

The more cross-exposure the topic gets, and the more outcry we achieve, the better our chances are of forcing SE's hand on this.

I thought it had already been done, but I'll add it to my most recent post just in case on the 11 forums.

[Catapult]

I thought it had already been done, but I'll add it to my most recent post just in case on the 11 forums.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, some XI players are also finding themselves double-billed: By SE account and PlayOnline simultaneously.

It shoes the account management systems have bugs in them. For a financial system, this is VERY bad.

[Chocobits]

So the users in the FFXI thread similar to this are getting hosed with lame answers apparently. We're still awaiting an official response from SE about alternatives to Click&Bankrupt or Crysfascism.

[Tifia]

So the users in the FFXI thread similar to this are getting hosed with lame answers apparently. We're still awaiting an official response from SE about alternatives to Click&Bankrupt or Crysfascism.

From what I've been reading through the FFXI thread, BG, and the like, a lot of players are seeing multiple, unexplained charges. Some are international fees. Some are new account fees (according to ClickandBuy). Some are account cancellation fees (again according to ClickandBuy). It's just...insane.

I'm not understanding how it's more "secure" to go through a third party system then to keep everything in house. I've worked for a large online retailer in their credit/debit verification department. I know how horrible a lot of these other companies are with handling customer data. Even PayPal. Don't get me started on PayPal. Though you sign an agreement with SE, ClickandBuy, PayPal, etc. have their own set of rules that can vastly differ from SE. A lot of these companies will sell your info, including card numbers. It's happened, a lot. I'm not saying that ClickandBuy does this, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. At least if everything is with SE, they have greater control over monitoring customer data and can provide real time responses in case something should happen. Where as if it's with a third party, who knows how many weeks it would take to be notified that your account as compromised. Unless you're Sony. >.>

Not to mention, from a cost perspective it's confusing. With the POL system having been in place for years, SE has easily recouped the cost of having their own merchant verification system. While the initial cost of setting up your own in-house system to communicate directly with banks is a little pricy, it pays off over time. Why? Because you're not losing money on every sale by giving a fraction of it to a third party company whom are processing the payments for you. Something like this works for home business that want to sell things on EBay. Not for companies as large as SE. I can only see it as losing money. Unless they're trying to completely cut entire departments, but even that wouldn't make up for the money being given to ClickandBuy for their services.

It's just mind boggling. It would be nice if I could get a straight answer from their customer service department, or a manager, or someone who knows that I'm speaking their jargon. It's ok to be straight with me. I'll respect an honest answer, even if I don't agree with it, over bull. It also doesn't help that their Japanese customers are still being allowed to have a direct payment to SE option. Everyone else is getting screwed. There's no logic behind that. Whatever "security" reasons they may have, you can't exclude certain regions/groups. It's either everyone has to be on the same system, or no one.

My hope is that SE will listen and stop the insanity before the month ends. Anyone who's currently playing FFXI has until August 31st to make the move or the account will be deactivated. And if SE doesn't budge, my other hope is that those people who have said "I'm no longer playing" actually keep their word. FFXI is a hard habit to break. But if enough of us say NO to SE, if we stand united and not make the billing move and allow our accounts to be inactive, SE will have to listen. I hope those people don't flake out and end up transferring their accounts. I know I won't be. We need to stick together with our resolve. If you said NO, then don't transfer the account.

Money talks. And if enough of us follow-through with our word to stop playing, they have to listen. Sadly it's never from a customer service perspective. It's always all about money.

I just wish we had known about this payment system before 14 was released. I would have never purchased my CE of the game. Not that I'm really playing it now, but that's a different story for another time.

[Eunys]

Well if more fire needed to be added to this fire, people from FFXI including some friends who still play are getting additional charges such as "International Processing Fee" and "Currency Conversion Fee". These are ranging from two to six dollars... So yeah no joke this is a giant scam company no wonder BoA and Chase warn customers to not use this service while under investigation for fraud.

Edit: Waits for the C&B employee Kailea Nagisa to make a post saying how two of the nations largest banking firms are wrong and shouldn't be listen to. The charges are real honey, C&B is a joke and SE hasn't done anything to help FFXI people with multiple added Fees or Double Billings.

[Kailea_Nagisa]

Well if more fire needed to be added to this fire, people from FFXI including some friends who still play are getting additional charges such as "International Processing Fee" and "Currency Conversion Fee". These are ranging from two to six dollars... So yeah no joke this is a giant scam company no wonder BoA and Chase warn customers to not use this service while under investigation for fraud.

Edit: Waits for the C&B employee Kailea Nagisa to make a post saying how two of the nations largest banking firms are wrong and shouldn't be listen to. The charges are real honey, C&B is a joke and SE hasn't done anything to help FFXI people with multiple added Fees or Double Billings.

if they are truly being charged these "fees" then they need to take that up with C&B and SE, and not just sit there and bitch about it. I just find it a little odd that SE would use a company that is "shady", and was my original reason for saying people where over exaggerating. As anything on the internet though... pics or it didn't happen.

If they are truly doing this and people are not turning mole hills into mountains, then SE does need to kick them to the curb, followed by a lawsuit drive by.

[Catapult]

if they are truly being charged these "fees" then they need to take that up with C&B and SE, and not just sit there and bitch about it.

Some are, but are also hitting brick walls of futility with such attempts.