Account address issue has STILL not been acknowledged by Square.

[MyouRi]

Why has the country address issue STILL not been acknowledged after the disastrous payment system update?

At this point it is really dampening my excitement for Dawntrail when Square is treating it's players abysmally. I do not attribute these issues to the dev team but it does get to a point where I am wondering why even they are ignoring the issue.

The way this issue has been handled has just been so disappointing. No acknowledgement, no explanation, no plan of action. This issue is completely separate to the Visa debit issue that has been acknowledged.

For those who might be unaware, You are unable to change the country listed on your account address. Which is so incredibly dumb to not even be able to give an accurate address when the new payment system update asks you to confirm your address for security. It's almost laughable at this point.

This issue has affected people since the games launch but with the payment system updates it's now blocked people from paying with cards that do not match their listed address country.

Some people have suggested to use paypal to buy crysta or gametime cards but these are not payment options in every country or massively expensive. And in 2024 there really is not excuse for not allowing people to at least update their address. I do not believe that people should not be making excuses for a multimillion dollar company with poor customer service.

One player told me when he pointed out that Square was in violation of EU GDPR (right to rectification) to customer service, they countered with essentially "You are requesting us to delete your account, please confirm."
After years of subscriptions and cosmetics purchased on both his and his wife's accounts.

The lack of care from Square and acknowledgement is beyond disappointing for me. Whenever I see new Dawntrail info there's a voice in the back of my head wondering if I'll even be able to access my 2.0 account in a couple of years due to some other payment system update...

They need to do better and people should continue to speak out about this issue until they acknowledge it.

[KisaiTenshi]

Why has the country address issue STILL not been acknowledged after the disastrous payment system update?

This is a universal problem with all US-based payment providers. Because of the requirements to charge taxes in other countries, service operators that operate outside the US are required to charge the local taxes, and hence make horrible decision that you must have an address in the country of the currency you use.

Don't expect that to ever change, not even Square Enix has that pull.

For those who might be unaware, You are unable to change the country listed on your account address.

This issue has affected people since the games launch but with the payment system updates it's now blocked people from paying with cards that do not match their listed address country.

Yep, I'm not affected (legacy player) but I have friends who did free trials, but for some reason it was assigned as "United States" when they aren't there, and their service spontaneously expire.

The reason for not being able to change the address is largely the same reason why you can't on Steam, Nintendo, Apple. Payment providers don't allow non-US addresses when they are in USD. It's a huge scam so the payment provider can pocket the currency exchange fees, and blame it on the countries tax system requiring them to collect taxes. You CAN still charge foreign taxes in USD, taxes are in percentages, those percentages don't change with the currency fluctuations. What this does is penalize everyone who lives outside the US but is paid in US funds (Eg in Paypal) so that they are charged currency exchanges twice when the original transaction and the original funding source were in USD.

[MyouRi]

This is a universal problem with all US-based payment providers. Because of the requirements to charge taxes in other countries, service operators that operate outside the US are required to charge the local taxes, and hence make horrible decision that you must have an address in the country of the currency you use.

So I am in EU and I've moved from the UK to Mainland Europe. By not allowing me to update my country address, I am not able to be charged in local taxes as I should be.
Before the payment system update I had requested to at least swap my subscription to Euros from GBP, (which will actually cost me more) but was told by customer service that this is not possible either.

The reason for not being able to change the address is largely the same reason why you can't on Steam, Nintendo, Apple. Payment providers don't allow non-US addresses when they are in USD.

I can't speak to Apple or Nintendo as I don't use their account systems but you absolutely can update you country of residence in Steam and I have done. I have also had no issues using multiple bank cards on steam, ones in GBP, Euros and Hong Kong dollars. Even when my listed country of residence did not match the account at the time.
Maybe you're unable to change your country of residence on US steam, this is only my experience as a non-US user.

But this is all just to say that online international payment systems are not impossible in 2024 and Square need to do better.

[Reinha]

The fact that you can't change your address on the Square Enix website or through support has nothing to do with the payment processor, laws or taxes. It's a stupid choice made by SE.

Also, if other companies can take money from people who physically move countries then there is no reason SE couldn't as well. Simple as that. This is the only gaming company that expects you to delete your account if you move, it's completely absurd. People need to stop excusing bad service.

[SweetContext]

It is highly unacceptable, and unprofessional of a company to tell players to just abandon their account, and rebuy the entire game in the relevant region. That is a slap in the face -- why would I want to fork out money again after being told to just forget all my hard work and earn it again? Players can have tens of thousands of hours logged in this game, and rightfully, shouldn't be told to abandon that because of a poor choice to not update their own systems to support current transaction requirements. I understand why a payment method would need the correct address to match the card info, but please, update your own, outdated system, to be able to handle this issue.

Square Enix, as far as I am aware, is the only major MMO and/or major company to not allow you to simply change your address, including country. I don't mind having to show a proof of address (like Blizzard has in the past) or whatever, but I should not need to open a bank account to pay for 1 subscription in a country I do not live in anymore. For now, there are some ways around this for buying crysta in only some countries that allow paypal etc, but for how long will this last? And again, not all countries support paypal or the other still currently valid remaining payment options; gamecards on amazon are being driven up in price far exceeding their value, or just aren't even available for purchase any longer.

I will note that there are certain countries that are not even listed for the address, and that is because of their local laws around these kinds of purchases. I cannot delve into ins and outs of support for them because that contains complex laws that I do not fully understand myself.

However, countries like Australia, which must register to European accounts (to the best of my knowledge) are now being locked out because surprise, their address is "European" but their payment is not. And as Myou says, EU GDPR has the "right to Rectification", which means they have the right to update and fix any inaccurate or incomplete personal data; and square is in violation of this. This is one of many other examples of the issue of their system simply not being up to date with current standards is causing.

I moved from Canada to the US almost 8 years ago, I refuse to abandon my account. Edit: Not to mention I moved within the same region. There are plenty of WoL that have also mentioned that they have moved countries and regions, and now we're just being left to flounder? I also got married 8 years ago, and I cannot update my maiden name to my married name. Will that be next on the chopping block because my card name doesn't match my account name?

We just want some answers. Acknowledge that this is a problem, that something is or will be done about it and what steps are being done. We've had transparency in the past, so where is that transparency now?

[Menriq]

Square Enix, as far as I am aware, is the only major MMO and/or major company to not allow you to simply change your address, including country. I don't mind having to show a proof of address (like Blizzard has in the past) or whatever, but I should not need to open a bank account to pay for 1 subscription in a country I do not live in anymore.

This is mostly correct, however Blizzard doesn't let you change region. I.e. if your account is EU, and you move to US, your Blizzard account will always be EU and you can't change it. However, inside that region, you are correct in that you can change country.

[SweetContext]

thanks! It's been a while since I had to change stuff (last time I had to was to update my battle.net to be able to play diablo II lol) I just vaguely remembered changing something about my address with them!

[LianaThorne]

I feel like out of all the threads on this forum, this one should stay front page as it's actually an issue preventing people from playing the game.

[MyouRi]

This is mostly correct, however Blizzard doesn't let you change region. I.e. if your account is EU, and you move to US, your Blizzard account will always be EU and you can't change it. However, inside that region, you are correct in that you can change country.

I think the majority of players would be happy enough to keep the same region that their account is tied to.

All we want is to be able to update our address correctly pay for our game subscriptions.

The company solution of 'just abandon your account' and buy a new one is still so shocking. How can anyone in management have okayed that approach?!

Please acknowledge the issue that you've caused and is adversely affecting your customers Square.

[KisaiTenshi]

I can't speak to Apple or Nintendo as I don't use their account systems but you absolutely can update you country of residence in Steam and I have done.

You can't freely do so, so if you move every year to another country, or travel for business purposes, kiss your steam purchases goodbye. Apple, and Nintendo lock your purchases behind the "region" your card is. I used a prepaid card on an iPad while I was in the US, just because I needed ONE US app, and when I went back to Canada I had to switch it back.

I think the majority of players would be happy enough to keep the same region that their account is tied to.

All we want is to be able to update our address correctly pay for our game subscriptions.

That's the problem. Because the payment processor refuses to accept US dollar payments unless the card has a US billing address. That's what I've been saying. Even awful Paypal does this. God help you if you have USD bank accounts outside the US, the payment processor will be "nope, you are in the EU, you pay in Euros" or "nope, you are in Canada, you pay in Canadian Dollars". That's the purpose of this "feature". It's likely that they even use different banks in different regions to minimize the currency exchanges.

All Square Enix has to do to fix this is allow users to use any payment card they have, and select the currency to charge it in. That solves everything. Ignore address verification as long as the name, card number and expiry is correct. When people go into a physical store, they are not asked to verify their address with the cashier/self-checkout. If it's the same payment card they've been using for the last 14 years, why the sudden incompetence? Did "Square Enix" get a better deal from another payment processor, who happens to be sorely incompetent (see the VISA Debit issue), or is it simply they are trying to "protect" accounts from using stolen credit cards/gift cards/prepaid cards from foreign countries?

There is no reason to tell players they need to make a new account.