Wanton and callous customer support will drive players away from the game

[Platinumstorm]

Recently I filed a support ticket in regards to improper compensation for exchangeable guild marks.

You can read about it here where it was dealt with in a pretty standard way.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...or-guild-marks

Basically, I would have X number of guild marks and only receive compensation from a fraction of them, and it's happening at nearly every guild that I go to.

However, my discussion is in regard to the ticket I filed using the online support form for FFXIV. I reported it quite similarly to how I did in the forum thread, and this was the response that I received.

Dear Customer,

Regarding your request for account support. Please find your answer below.

We understand how vast the world of FINAL FANTASY XIV is, and that it could take hundreds of hours to simply scratch the surface of its content! However, in order to avoid the possible spread of misinformation, and to keep the playfield level, GMs cannot provide gameplay hints and tips. This includes -- but is not limited to -- Mission/Quest steps, NPC locations, how to use items, battle system information, and how to acquire Gil.

If you would like to learn more about these things, please research them and communicate with your fellow players via the official Lodestone Community Site.

Thank you for contacting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center.

What do I say about that? I realize, that when you weren't charging for subscriptions, that it was difficult to staff a CSR team capable of dealing with problems, and maybe not even have the capabilities, due to the incomplete release of the game, for dealing with issues in FFXIV.

The response, however, shows a lack of professionalism and understanding on behalf of Square-Enix and the support team, and its management of FFXIV.

No where did I ask for a hint; no where did I ask how to do something. I documented and a reported a bug not just once, but twice, and asked to have some help fixing the bug on my end [which at this point is totaling over 200,000 gil]. In return, I received an automated response for my efforts that doesn't even correctly categorize the issue at hand. It's unbelievable, and frankly, disgusting, and I haven't seen this poor of a level of support in any of the mmo's I've played; save perhaps one. I realize you may be limited in what you can do right now, and likely want to help your players more,[and if you are limited, maybe you should consider admitting that to your players instead of completely dismissing them; forbid, even writing to your customers], but please ensure you have the ability to adequately support your players for 2.0, and try to get things fixed before then, if possible, since we're already paying customers.

Update: 3/19/12

On Friday I received another email from Square saying that they understand why I put the issue in the in-game issues section, and then said I was partially confused causing me to get a less than optimal message. Evidently they would have preferred this in the bug section. They then said they have found ways to make improvements to their bug reporting system.

While this is a bug, I usually classify a bug as "I saw this happen and I'm reporting this" whereas an in-game issue can be a bug or social issue that requires additional services from customer support. I don't feel I made a mistake in how I reported it, but that's just kinda how PR speak goes.

The letter, however, gave no mention of the issue that I'm having, and how I could get it resolved, which was a substantial reason for my distaste for how I was dealt with, so I decided to shoot off an email to them today, thanking them for contacting me and for the half-apology, and I told them I was glad they were able to make an improvement to their system. I then said an important aspect of CS is not only being able to conduct conversation properly with your customers, but also to address their issues, and I explained again that this was a game system issue, and I would like to know if there was anything they could do to help ameliorate my issue, and if not, if they could explain why.

Tonight I received a strange mail from template@Sheet [No Subject]. I was going to just delete it straight out, but then curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it.

It turned out template@Sheet [No Subject] was the response I received in regards to my latest FFXIV CS contact.

This time, I received an automated message that stated:

Hello and thank you for your GM call. We understand that you have encountered an aspect of game play that is not working correctly, and we apologize for any frustration it has caused. This issue has been brought to our attention and is currently being investigated further. As we continue to look into this issue, updates may be posted to the Lodestone website at http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com, so please check the site occasionally for news. Thank you for your patience, and best wishes to you.
FINAL FANTASY XIV Game Master Team

So, I did get a more appropriate response, this time, but unfortunately wasn't able to get answers as to why a GM couldn't intervene to help manually address this evidently uncommon [or unnoticed], but significant, problem.

It was striking that it came from Template@Sheet [actual email address was support_na_ig2@square-enix.com [the one you have to kinda dig around to find] , however.

In summary these are the errors/negative experiences that occurred during my CS experience.

#1. I didn't receive an appropriate initial response
#2. My issue wasn't dealt with.
#3. I received a response that was mostly a PR apology for misunderstandings, which attributed part of the blame to me, and part of the blame to Square, which still didn't discuss my issue.
#4. I received an email that wasn't readily identifiable from Square Enix [and showed that it was a template], which, if it happened to another customer, could have missed their "support" entirely.
#5. My request for information as to why I couldn't be assisted by a GM wasn't answered [within their right, but still a negative experience].

Again, I'm not writing this because I want to be a douche, but mainly because I think MMO players in general have high expectations on what customer service means in an MMO today. I highly suggest, again, that you take a look at the processes, tools, functions, and role that you want customer service to display to the rest of the world. Right now it definitely adds to the negative experiences that I've seen as palying the game in the 1.0 state. The development team can, and is, taking the game in the right direction, but Final Fantasy needs to have sound support as well to make it a sustainable title.