Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]

[Namir]

Either that... Or maybe if everyone that's in a country where they are getting the errors and can't buy crysta files a complaint through the Better Business Bureau bbb.org (if I remember correctly Square-Enix has an "A" rating lol...) about how they sold a product in a country where you canmt actually pay for the product and how they are asking you to buy yet ANOTHER of the said product and change your registration so that it can actually work...

[Hycinthus]

Ya'll try again today, I almost gave up too (after 3 credit card, 1 debit card, crysta, ultimate pay, ultimate game card, paypal, all rejected), but maybe it's the beginning of the month? I just tried again with Paypal for crysta, and it magically accepted. I haven't played for 3 weeks, now I think I can login, let me go ahead and try.

[Narlor]

Let me put my 2 cents in (since Square doesn't seem to want it anyway): me and my wife have FFXIV accounts (hers is legacy). I could pay for mine with my credit card. She cannot pay for hers with her credit card. Both cards are from the same bank, and have the same characteristics. Our bank has already assured us over and over again no attempt at charging has even been made on her card. Yet they charged my card just fine. So no, it cannot be the banking institution (her error is the 601).

I contacted support, explained everything above (in greater detail) and plainly asked them for help. Here's their response:

"Dear Customer,

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

We do not have information on why your transaction may not have been approved. If you are getting any sort of decline message, please wait 30 minutes, verify all of your billing information, and try again. If you would like further information about this specific transaction decline, please contact your bank or financial institution.
601, 401, and 105 means the financial institution may be declining the transaction attempt due to security reasons. While we are unable to see exactly why the transaction was declined, we can provide you with some guidance:
If the credit / debit card in question is 3D Secure, please make sure that you are inputting the correct 3D Secure PIN / password associated with it. Also, please be sure that 3D Secure is actually activated on the account.
Make sure that the card you're trying to use isn't already being used to pay for another account. Problems may arise if the an attempt is made to use the same card to bill two separate accounts simultaneously. If this is indeed your situation, please wait 24 hours between reactivation attempts.
Make sure that your card provider allows $1.00 preauthorization holds. This billing attempt is made in order to make sure that the account is valid for billing. After 1 to 2 business days, these funds will be placed back on the account. If your card issuer does not allow such preauthorization holds, you may want to contact them.
Please be aware that if the current credit / debit card you're using has resulted in either of the codes listed above, that card will be blocked from any further billing attempts for 24 hours. At this time, please try using another payment source as continued attempts using the blocked card will reset that 24 hour timer.
If you attempted this method of payment multiple times with a failed result, there is a possibility of a longer block being placed on the account. This block can last 30 days. If you have done this, you will need to use a different billing method.


Thank you for contacting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center."

A copy-paste response from someone who clearly didn't read my ticket thoroughly. And every time I see one of those "error 401 and 601 are your banking institution fault" kind of answers, what I actually read is: "we don't care enough about your problem to try and find out what the real issue is".

My 2 cents. C'mon Square, take my money!

EDIT: just to make the irony even plainer - my wife bought her collector's edition (twice - one for PC and one for PS3, so she could have extra free time till we manage to sort this issue out, if at all possible) from the Square-Enix store using the same card they are refusing to accept as a payment option for the subscription.

[Hycinthus]

Let me put my 2 cents in (since Square doesn't seem to want it anyway): me and my wife have FFXIV accounts (hers is legacy). I could pay for mine with my credit card. She cannot pay for hers with her credit card. Both cards are from the same bank, and have the same characteristics. Our bank has already assured us over and over again no attempt at charging has even been made on her card. Yet they charged my card just fine. So no, it cannot be the banking institution (her error is the 601).

I contacted support, explained everything above (in greater detail) and plainly asked them for help. Here's their response:

"Dear Customer,

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

We do not have information on why your transaction may not have been approved. If you are getting any sort of decline message, please wait 30 minutes, verify all of your billing information, and try again. If you would like further information about this specific transaction decline, please contact your bank or financial institution.
601, 401, and 105 means the financial institution may be declining the transaction attempt due to security reasons. While we are unable to see exactly why the transaction was declined, we can provide you with some guidance:
If the credit / debit card in question is 3D Secure, please make sure that you are inputting the correct 3D Secure PIN / password associated with it. Also, please be sure that 3D Secure is actually activated on the account.
Make sure that the card you're trying to use isn't already being used to pay for another account. Problems may arise if the an attempt is made to use the same card to bill two separate accounts simultaneously. If this is indeed your situation, please wait 24 hours between reactivation attempts.
Make sure that your card provider allows $1.00 preauthorization holds. This billing attempt is made in order to make sure that the account is valid for billing. After 1 to 2 business days, these funds will be placed back on the account. If your card issuer does not allow such preauthorization holds, you may want to contact them.
Please be aware that if the current credit / debit card you're using has resulted in either of the codes listed above, that card will be blocked from any further billing attempts for 24 hours. At this time, please try using another payment source as continued attempts using the blocked card will reset that 24 hour timer.
If you attempted this method of payment multiple times with a failed result, there is a possibility of a longer block being placed on the account. This block can last 30 days. If you have done this, you will need to use a different billing method.


Thank you for contacting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center."

A copy-paste response from someone who clearly didn't read my ticket thoroughly. And every time I see one of those "error 401 and 601 are your banking institution fault" kind of answers, what I actually read is: "we don't care enough about your problem to try and find out what the real issue is".

My 2 cents. C'mon Square, take my money!

EDIT: just to make the irony even plainer - my wife bought her collector's edition (twice - one for PC and one for PS3, so she could have extra free time till we manage to sort this issue out, if at all possible) from the Square-Enix store using the same card they are refusing to accept as a payment option for the subscription.

It seems like a Legacy issue. I am also LEgacy, as many other people in here. Someone was taking a poll earlier in this thread, that he was also Legacy and if all having issues are people from 1.0.....

[Narlor]

It seems like a Legacy issue. I am also LEgacy, as many other people in here. Someone was taking a poll earlier in this thread, that he was also Legacy and if all having issues are people from 1.0.....

Ok, I realize I wasn't clear enough on my post.

My account is also from 1.0 and I even have my 1.0 characters on my legacy server (Durandal). The only reason I did not receive the "legacy status" is because I wasn't paying the game on the 3 months prior to the 1.0 billing deadline (whereas my wife was). So technically I'm also a legacy player (if not in name, and don't have the cool legacy chocobo ) and I could pay just fine for my subscription.

EDIT: and if this problem really was related to the legacy accounts, all the more reason for Square not to give the "we don't give a damn" kind of response. Those are the people who supported your game so you could clean after your mess and restart fresh, for crying out loud!

[Isenwan_AngelSoul]

Ya'll try again today, I almost gave up too (after 3 credit card, 1 debit card, crysta, ultimate pay, ultimate game card, paypal, all rejected), but maybe it's the beginning of the month? I just tried again with Paypal for crysta, and it magically accepted. I haven't played for 3 weeks, now I think I can login, let me go ahead and try.

A big Thanks to you, i have the same issue, and try your paiement method : Paypal for crysta, it's works fine.

[Guammasa]

I'm not legacy, nor are some of my friends that have this same problem.

[Orion31]

I'm not legacy, nor are some of my friends that have this same problem.

So I was able to talk to live chat... they were no help, but they gave me a number to call and said to call asap as there was no wait. So I called and was helped immediately. For the credit card issues he said that there is nothing he can do, it's blocked for 30 days. So I'm gonna try in another 30 days. As for the Crysta issue and why Guam accounts do not have that option, he said it is under "intense investigation." He did also confirm that Guam should have that option as we are a part of the American Region. So I'm gonna wait a month and try my credit card again, if that doesn't work then I'm canceling.

[Valifor]

Fellow Guammie,
Hafa Adai !! I have the same Problems like you !! thanks for the updated for i was not Able to connect to them ?! Hope this gets fixed soon ...

[Wyverm]

Global Collect answered my email. They said the transaction was denied because the system think it was a fraud (error 160 from them), and they also forwarded my email to SE, to try a solution to my problem.
I advise everyone do the same, maybe from Global, they see this with other eyes.