Minion Mishap and unsatisfying customer service

[Tsumoro]

I should start by saying that I don't mean any ill-will at all, I am deeply enjoying the game. I have had many false starts, by-which I mean I played for short periods of time and then cancelled my subscription. I pretty much did this for ARR, HW and SB of which I still haven't completed yet.

Whilst I was unsubscribed I was invited back into the game via email and I thought 'why not give it another go' as I am a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise.

This time it seems to of stuck and I am enjoying playing the game a lot!

However, when I was unsubscribed and as I am a fan of the franchise I still purchased physical goods. I have all the Eozea Encyclopedia's and artbooks to say the least which are proper quality products and I am awaiting my Odin and Shiva statues.

But one thing I had forgot is that they came with item codes, codes I hadn't claimed as I was not subscribed at the time.

The problem comes with the Eozea Encyclopedia I of which it has a minion code and over the Christmas break I thought this would be a good time to get this logged on the mogstation. However, I found that the code was not working.

I contacted support and it transpires that the code expired 31st Dec 2018 and I first tried to claim it 1st Jan 2019, a day out!

They have effectively told me that there is nothing they could do but I do feel a bit wounded by it but accept that the code does have a shelf life I didn't take advantage of, so more fool me.

I just feel quite bummed by it as I was enticed to play the game again and when I tried to claim the digital goods it was too late and for the sake of a day it left me feeling somewhat gutted.

Lessons learned I suppose and sorry to vent my spleen here.

With kindness,

Ghast

[Nihility]

i mean expired is expired and they probably don't have a stock of just in case codes.
It's a bummer but did you try it anyways? sometimes expiration doesn't actually happen when it says

the in game support is a bit iffy though. I remember when they did the shire token gear so many people had to do there "once in a lifetime" item exchange because that gear's naming scheme was super similar and confusing. The GM's should have a bit more understanding than they do imo

[TheGrimace]

The fact that the codes even expire at all is dumb.

[Enkidoh]

The reason the bonus codes with merchandise have expiry dates is to deter onsellers of the codes/merchandise who buy the item from SE then sell it again for a profit on a third party website like eBay, often the code being unused but sold repeatedly (this is why Mogstation item purchases have no expiry). An example of why this was put into place was the bonus items that came with the standard and collector's editions of FFXIV 1.0 (Garlond Goggles and Onion Helm respecitively). After 1.0's failure and shutdown SE ordered retailers with unsold stock to return them to SE for disposal, but, the codes remain useable with ARR, thus this has resulted in sealed copies of 1.0 going for absolutely ridiculous amounts on eBay, especially the standard edition despite the game itself now being totally useless.

No doubt SE wants to avoid a repeat of this, so ig item codes that come with physical merchandise have a limited window to be redeemed (generally about two years after that item's release). It's annoying, but it's life I'm afraid.

[TheGrimace]

The reason the bonus codes with merchandise have expiry dates is to deter onsellers of the codes/merchandise who buy the item from SE then sell it again for a profit on a third party website like eBay, often the code being unused but sold repeatedly (this is why Mogstation item purchases have no expiry). An example of why this was put into place was the bonus items that came with the standard and collector's editions of FFXIV 1.0 (Garlond Goggles and Onion Helm respecitively). After 1.0's failure and shutdown SE ordered retailers with unsold stock to return them to SE for disposal, but, the codes remain useable with ARR, thus this has resulted in sealed copies of 1.0 going for absolutely ridiculous amounts on eBay, especially the standard edition despite the game itself now being totally useless.

No doubt SE wants to avoid a repeat of this, so ig item codes that come with physical merchandise have a limited window to be redeemed (generally about two years after that item's release). It's annoying, but it's life I'm afraid.

Thank you for the explanation. I can't say I agree with that method of limitations, but I can see why they choose to go that route in the hopes of discouraging bad resale tendencies.

If that's the case, I would appreciate it if they would sell these types of items through the Mog Station, even if it were for a higher than usual price, but then they would also have to worry about alienating buyers of the original products, so it's a difficult tight-rope to walk.

[HadesNight]

If that's the case, I would appreciate it if they would sell these types of items through the Mog Station, even if it were for a higher than usual price, but then they would also have to worry about alienating buyers of the original products, so it's a difficult tight-rope to walk.

I think it would be cool to have access to all the "limited items" as well. But then people wouldn't be happy. For example, I've spent 300+ dollars on the Odin and Shiva statue. As proof of that investment, I have two bonus emotes that are exclusive.

While I personally wouldn't care if they were just expensive Mogstation emotes, some people would feel as though it belittled their investment. Like white raven shenanigans all over but worse because they spent real money on something more expensive.

Further, then we'd get a new thread from all the poor people that are complaining about the Mogstation right now as it is. The "I'm special and should be able to get this for free crowd" and my personal favorite "SE is the worst company ever, they are money grabbing. I'm not entitled, I'm complaining because I CaRe". So it's a slippery slope all around and even though having access to these limited items at all would be amazing and more people would win than lose, a vocal minority would make it so SE can't win at all.

At the end of the day, these items are not the product, they are a bonus. I think the real lesson here should just be to redeem your code in the allotted time considering when you purchase the item you agree to the terms in which it is being sold.

But I agree, it would have been way better customer service if there was a policy that everyone had a one time ability to get a code resent if they go through the effort of purchasing something from the SE store. I'm not convinced that the cost of these "free bonus items" isn't factored into the cost of the product anyway lol.

[TheGrimace]

Yeah, it's kind of walking on eggshells and not really simple to get around at this point. I would like them to take a look at the situation and plan adjustments to how their formula works. They may not help with items that have already been released and have expired, but maybe they could prevent disappointments in the future.

[HyoMinPark]

No doubt SE wants to avoid a repeat of this, so ig item codes that come with physical merchandise have a limited window to be redeemed (generally about two years after that item's release). It's annoying, but it's life I'm afraid.

Not anymore—DLC as recent as the 2nd HW artbook and The Far Edge of Fate OST do not have expiration dates. The ones released during Stormblood’s tenure, however, are single-character only. There has also been discussion about some DLC becoming available again after their expiration dates: the two carbuncle minions are an example of this.

[Tsumoro]

Thank you all for the positive replies, I would happily pay for the minion if it appeared on the mogstation as I do want to collect them and I don't mind showing my support in this way. I also get as to why they might do this, but with a days difference between them I found it somewhat harsh.

But I appreciate others feel the same way I do <3

[ern815]

This happened to me too when I tried to redeem the in-game items for HW collector's items. The codes unfortunately have expired and I was hoping that I could contact SE support to hopefully allow me to enter the codes. Unfortunately, the SE support was quick to dismiss me, saying that they can do nothing much and closed the ticket.

Kinda unfortunate but I moved on from this experience. Hopefully someday, they would allow us to exchange expired codes for new codes when we contact them but I doubt that'll happen.

P.S.: SE really needs to improve on their customer support.