Payment Method Registration Errors [Error Code 401 and 601]

[Wyverm]

If Global Collect resolves our issues ill certainly be happy that we'll be able to play, but the fact that SE stayed with their arms crossed through the whole process is very disappointing.

I'm only doing this because i'm a big fan of franchise, otherwise, if were another MMO i ever played, i had unistalled already.

[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!

[Guammasa]

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

[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.

[Namir]

That seems like at least some progress where non has been made for a while Wyverm. I can't send them an email since I have extra free days from adding my PS3 code, and I added a new card that has yet to be billed, but please do keep us informed!

[shenirio]

Haha hell no, I'm not buying any other square-enix mmo, if they ever make another that is, after this experience. Anyway I just got done calling globalcollect customer service and they said that they do accept payments from all over the world and they don't have any regions or blocks depending on where the card is issued from so the problem IS square-enix as we all already know... The customer service representative told me to send an email describing the error to cs@globalcollect.com if I experienced it again after my free trial is over, and he encouraged everyone who is having the same problem to do so as well, include any relevant information, as well as a screenshot of the error he said... Maybe if they start calling square-enix and telling them of the error that will put some pressure on them to fix their shit.

Tnx for the info and providing the email. I just sent them an email about the problem maybe we should all send them emails so they can get on SE ass about this problem.

[Iymala]

After sitting on Hold for close to an hour I am starting to wonder if it is even possible to get through to SE Customer service to clear this up.

Edit Follow-up: I finally got through to customer service on the phone to have them tell me there was nothing they could do and that the system "automatically" blocks cards. For no reason, we now have a 30 day block on our cards that they are unable to lift. This is completely unacceptable customer service. I am very sorry that my account already processed my 180 subscription while my fiance is having to deal with this. I would have cut my losses and found a new game. While I truly enjoy the game this level of customer service, with no apologies made is unacceptable and nothing I would feel good supporting.

The only suggestion they gave was to go find an Ultimate Game Card.