Guild Wars 2

Hey,
I’m just writing this to express my frustration and disappointment concerning ANet’s consumer service.

Three days ago I paid 1800 gems to transfer server from Dragonbrand to Northern Shiverpeaks to be on the same server as the rest of my guild (so the influence I accumulate isn’t wasted). Yesterday (2 days after I paid to transfer) I saw that transfer to medium population servers (including Northern Shiverpeaks) is free for a limited time. I asked for a gem refund as I find it frustrating to have paid 1800 gems for something that became free 2 days later. Anet’s response: “we understand your frustration but will not issue a refund”. I find this answer really disappointing and a lack of consideration for their customers.

So I do the only thing I can do about it, complain in the forum and never buy gems again.

Thank you for your time.

I swear, everytime a sale occurs, you always get these similar threads.

“I didn’t know a sale would occur in the future after I purchased it, can I get a refund?”

The answer is going to be no eveeeeeeeeeeery single time.

Skolar.4801:

Hey,
I’m just writing this to express my frustration and disappointment concerning ANet’s consumer service.

Three days ago I paid 1800 gems to transfer server from Dragonbrand to Northern Shiverpeaks to be on the same server as the rest of my guild (so the influence I accumulate isn’t wasted). Yesterday (2 days after I paid to transfer) I saw that transfer to medium population servers (including Northern Shiverpeaks) is free for a limited time. I asked for a gem refund as I find it frustrating to have paid 1800 gems for something that became free 2 days later. Anet’s response: “we understand your frustration but will not issue a refund”. I find this answer really disappointing and a lack of consideration for their customers.

So I do the only thing I can do about it, complain in the forum and never buy gems again.

Thank you for your time.

Why should they refund you?

If they set a policy of “We’ll refund anyone within 2 days of a sale”..

then you’ll have the 3 day people whining.

And if they increase the policy again..

you’ll have the 4 day people whining…and on and on until you have the month people whining.

Better for them to put their foot down and set NO refunds.

And I understand there are retailers out there who actually refund you the difference in case a product goes on sale, but no company has an obligation and I don’t despise them for not doing it.

[/quote]
Why should they refund you?

If they set a policy of “We’ll refund anyone within 2 days of a sale”..

then you’ll have the 3 day people whining.

And if they increase the policy again..

you’ll have the 4 day people whining…and on and on until you have the month people whining.

Better for them to put their foot down and set NO refunds.[/quote]

I understand it, still it’s more than a sale, it’s free! And 1800 gems is a lot of gems. Like you said I also understand that they have no obligation to refund, but a company with a good customer service do. And you have to understand my frustration…

hell yeah I do, you just gotta think of it from their perspective. As I mentioned, if they cave in and refund gems to you, then how about the guy who bought it 3 days earlier. It’ll set off a chain reaction where the guy who bought a server transfer 2 months ago will complain.

So it’ll save all the grief to just implement a no refund policy, no exceptions.

There isn’t anything ArenaNet should be expected to do, because they don’t have any policy in place that says they are supposed to. However, many major US retailers have a “price protection” policy that more or less says if the thing you bought goes on sale within a week or you find a different store that sells it for cheaper, they will refund you the difference. It makes people more likely to commit to buying something if they feel more confident that they’re getting the best possible value for their money. Comparing a game currency to real-life currency is generally tenuous reasoning, but I think in this case the underlying issue of consumer confidence is the same.

Elentari.9156:

There isn’t anything ArenaNet should be expected to do, because they don’t have any policy in place that says they are supposed to. However, many major US retailers have a “price protection” policy that more or less says if the thing you bought goes on sale within a week or you find a different store that sells it for cheaper, they will refund you the difference. It makes people more likely to commit to buying something if they feel more confident that they’re getting the best possible value for their money. Comparing a game currency to real-life currency is generally tenuous reasoning, but I think in this case the underlying issue of consumer confidence is the same.

Exactly! Good consumer service is the art of making people satisfied so the feelings they have about the company are good. Then they’ll be more likely to buy there again in the future and to recommend it to their friends.

In this situation, I feel I’ve been had and I feel frustrated because of it. The negative response made me feel disappointed. Even if I understand the reasons why they won’t refund, I still have these negative feelings and they are associated with ANet. If a friend asked me 3 days ago if he should try GW2 I would have said “sure man, it has it’s flaws but overall it’s a great game”. If someone would ask me the same question today I’d answer “don’t bother, they don’t care about you”. So overall it’s usually more hurtful for a company to have one unhappy consumer than what it would cost to make him happy.

All this being said, please excuse any grammar errors that may have slipped in. English isn’t my primary language.

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

Lane.3410:

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

See my post above. Replace Skolar’s name with yours.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

Edit – Do you complain when you buy milk at the store one week, then it goes on sale the next? Did you ever buy a new pair of shoes, and it goes on sale the following month?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Lane.3410:

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

See my post above. Replace Skolar’s name with yours.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

Edit – Do you complain when you buy milk at the store one week, then it goes on sale the next? Did you ever buy a new pair of shoes, and it goes on sale the following month?

If they were giving away that pair of shoes for free two days after I bought it I sure would complain!

Skolar.4801:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Lane.3410:

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

See my post above. Replace Skolar’s name with yours.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

Edit – Do you complain when you buy milk at the store one week, then it goes on sale the next? Did you ever buy a new pair of shoes, and it goes on sale the following month?

If they were giving away that pair of shoes for free two days after I bought it I sure would complain!

But the key question here is “When you made the decision to pay for something, and you received exactly what you wanted for said price, did you complain?”

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Skolar.4801:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Lane.3410:

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

See my post above. Replace Skolar’s name with yours.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

Edit – Do you complain when you buy milk at the store one week, then it goes on sale the next? Did you ever buy a new pair of shoes, and it goes on sale the following month?

If they were giving away that pair of shoes for free two days after I bought it I sure would complain!

But the key question here is “When you made the decision to pay for something, and you received exactly what you wanted for said price, did you complain?”

You’re missing the point, the key question is "how does that make you feel when you buy something expensive (relatively speaking) and it goes for free two days later? "

Skolar.4801:

You’re missing the point, the key question is "how does that make you feel when you buy something expensive (relatively speaking) and it goes for free two days later? "

I shrug, feel a bit sad, and move on.

We get your point. Anet does not have a refund policy however, because as Vol stated, it will never be fair. If they give refunds within 3 days, what about the people who purchased it 4 days before? You’re never going to please everyone.

Skolar.4801:

You’re missing the point, the key question is "how does that make you feel when you buy something expensive (relatively speaking) and it goes for free two days later? "

That’s unfortunate, but it’s just a case of bad luck/timing. However, you got what you wanted (a server transfer to be with friends/guildmates) at the price you were willing to pay at the time.

On the plus side, now that it’s free, more people may transfer to your server thereby improving your experience there.

Skolar.4801:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Skolar.4801:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Lane.3410:

A similar situation happened with me. The result is they permanently lost gem sales from both myself and my best friend (who was also affected). We were planning on buying more gems too before it happened. The difference was only 200 gems for the each of us, but apparently that was worth losing all future sales from two customers.

See my post above. Replace Skolar’s name with yours.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But Skolar, did you complain when you first paid for the transfer? You paid the Gem amount needed at the time, and you got what you wanted. So what’s the problem?

Edit – Do you complain when you buy milk at the store one week, then it goes on sale the next? Did you ever buy a new pair of shoes, and it goes on sale the following month?

If they were giving away that pair of shoes for free two days after I bought it I sure would complain!

But the key question here is “When you made the decision to pay for something, and you received exactly what you wanted for said price, did you complain?”

You’re missing the point, the key question is "how does that make you feel when you buy something expensive (relatively speaking) and it goes for free two days later? "

You have every right to complain, but the point is, you made the choice to spend the money to get something you wanted. Hindsight is always 20/20. If I knew Crystalline Dust would skyrocket, I would have 4 mule characters with nothing but stacks of dust.

Off topic: dragonbrand is way more potential the northern shiverpeaks… I’ve been on both…