Have a hacked account? There is something you can do about it.

[KisaiTenshi]

This is not true. Hacking is illegal therefore the hacker is the one at fault here.

As for your analogy, it would be more like you leaving your password on a post-it note in public. Unauthorized access of anything is considered illegal.

And what part of your analogy is different from mine. You're leaving your password/key to your property unsecured. People do it all the time because they "never had something bad to them" happen before. It only takes one time for people to smarten up, and some people still insist on convenience over security.

At no point in time is SE at fault for blame if you lose access to your account if you did not do everything in your power to secure it, and related accounts. People still leave their keys in the ignition when they go to drop a letter in the mailbox, and people still leave passwords written down on sticky notes and don't delete emails containing usernames and passwords.

The point of this thread was someone insisting that the BBB is their solution. It is not. Want to know how the BBB works?

X many people complain about service not being provided by Y
BBB calls up Y and tells them they will get a bad rating if they do nothing to fix X's problem.

The follow up to that is, because of the bad rating, people won't go to that company for service, hence the car analogy. This is why it doesn't work if there is no competing service. SE can just ignore the BBB forever until something bad happens on a huge scale that really is their fault, in which case it's not the BBB that does anything, but the Media attention. The BBB just asks for membership fees, and their "bad rating" magically goes away, even if the complaints continue.

[kaiyouske]

And what part of your analogy is different from mine.

You said that if someone's account got hacked, then it's the user's fault.

I said that your analogy is more like if you left your password on a post-it.

Getting hacked and leaving your password on a post-it are two totally different things.

In short, leaving your password on a post-it for everyone to see is the user's fault whereas getting hacked is NEVER the users fault no matter how weak the password is.

Let me put this in plain English for you: HACKING IS ILLEGAL.

[Musai]

I cannot believe what I've read in these pages. People are arguing back and forth with each other and either blaming the victim or blaming SE. The fault lies first and foremost with the hacker. Hacking is illegal.

Regardless of whether it is a game, money you put into a bank, credit under your name through a credit card, a car, your home, or anything else... if it's not yours and you were not not given express permission to have it, then it is theft.

There is a reason Security Tokens are called a SECONDARY line of defense. It is the user's responsibility to keep their information safe. It is the company's responsibility to make sure the security information that they store is kept safe. If you did not give your information away and if it wasn't gained through a hole in the company's line of defense, then it isn't anyone's fault but the hacker. Also, each case is an individual situation. We can guess but unless it's happened to us, we don't know why or how it happened. Arguing amongst ourselves doesn't help to figure out where the breach is coming from.

I wish everyone luck in getting their individual situation resolved.

[kaiyouske]

So I got an official response from SE on my complaint from the BBB:

------------------------------
We apologize to our customer for any inconvenience and frustration that this situation has caused. We would like to inform them that their concerns have been forwarded to our management team. Regarding their specific issue, these cases are dealt with on a case by case basis and are handled in the order that they are received. While we are unable to restore access to the account immediately, we assure this customer that they will be contacted as soon as their case has been processed. We do apologize for any delays they have experienced in receiving a result in this matter, but we ask for their patience while we look into the case further. We accept this customer's feedback, and we are always looking to improve our turnaround times as well as streamlining these procedures as much as possible to resolve customer's issues as fast as possible.

This customer seems to be suggesting that a 3rd party may have logged into the account and caused the violation and subsequent account termination. We would like to remind this user that the accounts security is the user's responsibility and that they hold no ownership rights to the account in question. SQUARE ENIX Cannot be held responsible for any loss of game time or other compensation due to the violations that caused the account to be terminated.
------------------------------


It seems like SE likes to treat their customers like criminals. Oh well. I guess they won't be getting my money any time soon. I'll be abandoning the FF franchise. It was fun while it lasted.

[KisaiTenshi]

We would like to remind this user that the accounts security is the user's responsibility and that they hold no ownership rights to the account in question. SQUARE ENIX Cannot be held responsible for any loss of game time or other compensation due to the violations that caused the account to be terminated.

I would like to emphasize the part about SE owns the data, not the end-user.

It seems like SE likes to treat their customers like criminals. Oh well. I guess they won't be getting my money any time soon. I'll be abandoning the FF franchise. It was fun while it lasted.

Like I said, you think you have some right to play the game, no matter how poorly you protect your account access information.

I'd much prefer SE just require account authentication devices/apps for everyone, and that would be the end of it except the portion of players who use internet cafes or share a family computer.

Of course this is victim blaming. Go ask anyone who works in customer support how often the customer calls in for stupidity on the part of the customer. Few people want to admit it's their own fault. Once we get past the "It's the company's fault for letting (colorful metaphor for lack of intelligence)'s like me play" stage of the blame game we move on to solving the problem.

The problem is, again:
a) People reused usernames and passwords for their email and game, or other games and this game
b) People downloaded rootkits/malware loaded bots or unauthorized game modifications
c) People were stupid enough to buy gold from one of the hackers (do you really think you can trust a gold seller when they're using hacked accounts to advertise?)

There is no d) SE sucks

[kaiyouske]

Like I said, you think you have some right to play the game, no matter how poorly you protect your account access information. <snip>

No one has a right to anything. But I will do everything in my power so that Square Enix never gets a single penny from me ever again. As for saying that customers are stupid..well, that's just .. stupid. I would actually use the word 'ignorant'. If Square Enix actually has organized information on their support page, the man power to handle all the issues that their customer base are having, and better business sense I probably wouldn't have to be waiting 10+ days to get my compromised account back.

Once again, people fail to realize that we're complaining about the 14+ days of waiting of getting our account back. I don't find this very 'acceptable' at all. Other competitive MMOs will recover your account within a day at the latest.

I'm not arguing that it's the customer's fault for having their account compromised(although I don't agree with it).

I've had many accounts without some clunky 'authenticator' and they've never been hacked so I find this argument invalid. I'm a firm believe of 'if they want to hack your account, it WILL get hacked no matter what' so I take everything with a grain of salt.

Sorry, but SE's customer support sucks. I'm sure each and every single person on the team works their butt off, but the lack of direction and improvement in the management level is baffling.

I find it hilarious that these hardcore SE fans will go so far as to pretend that there's nothing wrong with the company. Are they ever SO wrong and they really need to wake up and smell the horrible stench that is their customer support.

[Will01]

First of all, let me define hack for you:

"To gain access to (a computer file or network) illegally or without authorization"

So apparently to you it's your fault when someone does something illegally to you. Nice.

While you are correct in this statement, I believe Nekodar has a point.

In some cases, the user being hacked has not taken all the necessary steps to protect their account, so ofc, the blame is on the person who hacked their account, but at the same time, a small amount of blame needs to be levelled at the user also.

It's kinda like your bank account, if you dont protect your details well eventually you will get burned. Sure, if the fraudster's did not exist, this would not be necessary but unfortunately they do, so we need to take every step to protect our accounts.

[Cirsce]

Wow kaiyouske, you're still waiting for your account? I remember that you had been waiting 2 weeks when my husband got suspended. And that took him 2 weeks to get it back.

Sorry to hear that it seems you're SOL with their customer support.

[kaiyouske]

While you are correct in this statement, I believe Nekodar has a point.

In some cases, the user being hacked has not taken all the necessary steps to protect their account, so ofc, the blame is on the person who hacked their account, but at the same time, a small amount of blame needs to be levelled at the user also.

It's kinda like your bank account, if you dont protect your details well eventually you will get burned. Sure, if the fraudster's did not exist, this would not be necessary but unfortunately they do, so we need to take every step to protect our accounts.

I completely agree with this. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt that they've taken the steps to better protect their accounts, unlike most other people here that assume the hacked are stupid people.

[kaiyouske]

Wow kaiyouske, you're still waiting for your account? I remember that you had been waiting 2 weeks when my husband got suspended. And that took him 2 weeks to get it back.

Sorry to hear that it seems you're SOL with their customer support.

Yeah, it's still suspended. To be honest it's their loss. I just wouldn't want this to happen to happen to any other person though.