Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]

[Zerona]

Have had this issue for months now. Have tried Chase, Amex, Mastercard and nothing works. No Square, my bank is not blocking a stupid charge, the charge isn't even being attempted.

The last time I called support I told the guy everything I did and he basically said: Yeah, it doesn't work at all for alot of people and there is nothing we can do. We may get more payment options in the future (yeah right)

Extremely, extremely annoying.

I know exactly where you are coming from. I have tried Visa, Mastercard and Pre-paid Visa under their current system. Back when you could use UltimatePay they would still reject my Credit/Debit/Paypal. I actually had to select a Merchant from UltimatePay's 'other' payment methods and choose MoneyBookers which worked every time... Basically I was paying a Merchant to pay a Merchant to pay SE to get Crysta to pay for my accounts. However, since they dropped UltimatePay this is no longer an option and the time on my accounts is ticking away.

This has been effecting me for over a year now. I will try usually once/week to buy Crysta and 95% of the time will get the 401/601 error which locks payment on the account for 24 hours. I also have multiple accounts and ALL of them are effected (this is useful as I can test multiple theories e.g. cancelling accounts and then trying to pay, re-adding the account then trying etc. none have worked!). Just the other week I went through all of my accounts getting the 401 error until I got to my final account which for some reason processed the payment. There seems to be a 5% chance I will successfully be charged and a 95% chance it will simply be locked for 24 hours.

Recently I decided to try and fix it once and for all. I read the documentation SE provides on the errors where they simply blame the financial institution. I contacted my financial institution and they performed an investigation. The result was them telling me that they have not rejected any payment attempts from SE and do not even see them in their records. They told me it is completely on the Merchant's side.
I then went to SE support and made my case even showing them the chat I had with my bank. The action they took was just silly. They dropped the 24 hour lock on the account I had tried to buy Crysta for which of course I knew would not solve the problem and I simply got another 401 error.
I then contacted SE support AGAIN but this time I got a rep who did not seem to want to help me at all. He tried to tell me he cannot look up my ID because of Final Fantasy XI maintenance (I have not played XI for 4 years and my IDs are long since cancelled). The previous rep had also checked my ID without issue so I knew the guy was just trying to get rid of me so he could go to lunch or something... I then insisted he check another of my accounts which has never been associated with XI. He told me I should just buy game time cards, there is nothing he can do and that I should wait 24 hours.
At this point I felt both infuriated and betrayed as the second rep had been very disrespectful and obviously had just been trying to get rid of me. It was very obvious he did not read a word of what I was typing when I tried to explain my case to him as he even spammed his copy/paste text as I was outlining the issue. Below is an example of what I am talking about.

You: I have tried Credit, Debit, UltimatePay, Paypal
Agent Daniel W: Understood. Well let me see if there is any advice we can give you. I need to verify an account. Please give me an ID.
You: and I make sure to only try once every 24 hours
You: all of those resulted in a 401 error
Agent Daniel W: Understood. Well let me see if there is any advice we can give you. I need to verify an account. Please give me an ID.
You: However, maybe once every 20 days or so it will work, which only further adds to my confusion
Agent Daniel W: Understood. Well let me see if there is any advice we can give you. I need to verify an account. Please give me an ID.

(he never read anything I said)

Agent Daniel W: Ok, I am sorry but it looks like you have XI or PlayOnline service accounts. We are currently under maintenance for that. I have no access to the account. I would advise you to contact us later in the day when this is finished.
You: I have not played XI since 2010
Agent Daniel W: Ok, there is still a service account on this account. I am sorry but it is under maintenance. Are there any different issues I can assist you with right now?
You: can you remove the XI service account if it is causing issues?
Agent Daniel W: I cannot even see the account right now.
You: Interesting.. could you look into another account which was never associated with XI?

(tried to get rid of me by claiming XI wouldn't let him look at my XIV account. The previous rep had not given this excuse 15 minutes prior)

You: is there a way to elevate this issue?
You: I have been trying very hard to figure it out..
Agent Daniel W: There really is not. I am sorry but you would just need to buy a game time card or just wait a bit.
Agent Daniel W: Are there any different issues I can assist you with right now?

(Got rid of me)

For one; I did not want game time - I wanted Crysta so I could use their cash shop. This was just after 2.4 and there were lots of things I wanted.
Secondly; I have legacy accounts I am paying $8/mo for doing the 180-day plan.. why would I pay $15/mo via game time cards...

I have also waited 24 hours over 400 times!!! waiting 24 hours is definitely not the solution here!

However, the solution to all of this has become VERY clear to me. All SE needs to do is allow you to redeem the $30 60-day game time cards for 3000 Crysta. Then you can pay the appropriate amount for your accounts AND use the cash shop. The game time card codes can also be purchased directly from amazon; so there is not even any shipping involved.

I really hope a rep sees this post and takes their actions/my proposed solution to this issue into consideration.