FF14 Support and NO Resolution

[Fu_Hao]

I have to break up the post because it is too long.

(Part 1 of 5)

I'm very frustrated because I have been given the run around with e-mail support, chat support, and the GM ticket service in-game. This is unusual for me because I am used to the customer service from Blizzard, Kakao Games, and others that I have reached out to and received VERY helpful responses and not felt like I was talking to a wall or robot. So, I'll explain what happened.

[Fu_Hao]

(Part 2 of 5)

I recently came back to the game by purchasing a subscription, the expansion, a class boost, and a Phial of Fantasia. I loved everything except what I did with the Fantasia. I have had friends in the past who submitted a ticket the same-day and the GMs were helpful and sent them a new Fantasia so they could revert the changes or change to whatever else they liked. I do not feel as though I am as immersed in the story with my character because of the changes I made, and I did not think it unreasonable to ask if it'd be okay to be sent a new one so that I can be happy with my purchase. First I sent an e-mail and received the generic response that replies to anyone with the keyword "phial of fantasia" (I swear!!!) that they can't refund me my money or item (but I explained I don't want my money back, I just can't afford to buy another one within the same WEEK of purchasing).

[Fu_Hao]

(3 of 5)

So I then went to Chat Support, who told me they can't help me BUT I could contact a GM in-game through the Support Desk and the GMs are capable of sending me a new Fantasia.

After submitting my ticket, they reached out the next day with the SAME generic reply I was originally e-mailed. I replied back that I was not asking for a refund, but that I just wanted someone to help me. They responded back the day after that to tell me they appreciate me reaching out and to submit feedback on the forums??? I replied again, and the day after THAT they tell me that this request is outside their "scope of services"????

[Fu_Hao]

(4 of 5)

But I have seen this happen before AND Chat Support SENT me there. Frustrated with waiting 4 days, I hopped on to Chat Support to explain to them the situation and how long I felt neglected as a customer (seriously, my replies are being ignored and I'm just being given copy+paste message) and Agent Kyle closed the chat on me! We spoke for a few minutes and he continued to make my complaint feel ridiculous and kept trying to tell me he was done with the conversation. I tried to tell him that I was fully aware he thought my complaint was ridiculous and I asked him if it was really that unreasonable? I asked him if he were at a restaurant, ordered something and disliked it, would the staff make him stick with his order? No, they would take his dish back and bring him something he'd enjoy. Right after I sent that, he pasted the "good-bye" response and closed the chat on me and eliminated all contact I had with him.

[Fu_Hao]

(5 of 5)

This is really disappointing to me. Honestly, if no one is going to help me with the Fantasia thing, fine. But this run-around and the RUDE service is enough to make me on the fence of boycotting this game because of where my money is going. Not actually going to happen because I do enjoy it, but wow I feel pretty angry at how I am being handled here. Blizzard ALWAYS helped me with things like this!!! Same with EVERY OTHER game I have played. This is the ONLY game I have played where I have NEVER had a decent interaction with the customer support. Not saying all of their agents are bad, I'm SURE there are some amazing employees and I sure wish I had been lucky enough to be in their service instead of everyone I've encountered so far.

Thanks for letting me vent. Awfully frustrated at the moment.

[Enkidoh]

Firstly, you can get around the 1000 character per post limit by simply posting a few lines and then going back and editing in the rest.

Secondly, I am not sure exactly what the problem is you had with your Fantasia - did something go wrong with the transaction and did it debit your account without actually sending you the item to your inbox? Did you successfully get the item but it did not 'work' when you used it (as in, allowed you to change your appearance on the login screen)? The Fantasia is pretty tricky to use from what I understand, in that after using the item, you need to strip your character of all gear completely (with weapon excepted of course) before the character edit option becomes available on the character selection screen.

As for the SE Support line, their agents are actually limited by what they can and can't do, and thus have no choice but to use boilerplate responses for tricky questions they cannot help with (which is standard customer service, speaking as someone who has worked in customer service in the past), so getting upset with them does not solve anything.

Your claim you have friends who were given free Fantasias by GMs seems suspicious too, as this I have never heard of GMs doing this, although SE does offer what they call a 'one-time item rollback', in that SE has a non-advertised policy if you lose an in-game item (such as an item disappearing from your inventory mysteriously after a server crash for instance) the GMs can restore it.... one time only. You can only do this once for the entire life of your account.

So your friends probably used that service to restore a Fantasia because they didn't like the changes they made to their characters anymore and couldn't be bothered buying a second Fantasia and foolishly used this service to get a free one (this item restoration service was meant for items accidentally lost due to bugs and server crashes, not changing your mind after using them).

Fantasias are a one-use item, once you confirm and save the changes on the character edit screen that's it, to change back to how your character was before the Fantasia or to make any more changes you need to buy a new Fantasia, that's how it's always been since the very beginning of the game's service I'm afraid.