You can not tell people that they should do one thing (create a new ticket titled Hacked Account…….) repeatedly for days to “prioritize” a ticket then suddenly do an about face. Moving the goal posts only serves as a delaying tactic. If people have followed your suggestions to the letter, do not punish them for your failures and consign them to the eternal nether of support obscurity.
All faith that Anet support will ever even get round to my brothers account is now totally lost.
He will be visiting the bank at noon when he gets a break and demanding a cahrgeback. You can argue with the bank over who is in the wrong, you can also be sure that both support tickets are being printed out showing nothing from Anet other than one! copy paste response. Which will be left with the bank.
Just so you can save the effort of typing out a response asking for ticket numbers they are as follows….
120903-013639
120901-012496
Final thought to others reading this, if your in the same boat then stuff Anet.. Do a chargeback. Voting with your wallet is the ONLY way we, as customers, can send a message directly to the head of the company who owns Anet (Ncsoft) that this is not acceptable service.
Aside from having to wait a few days for a reply I’ve had no problems.
Demand on GW2 has been unprecedented I think ArenaNet is doing the best they can.
A warrior, a guardian, and an elementalist walk into an open field…
The Warrior turns to the guardian and says, “Did you hear something?”
Guardian replies, “No, but how’d the elementalist die?”
There has not been sufficient time to remedy the situation to warrant a chargeback. Guild Wars 2 is a great game in and of itself, and it would be a shame to have you barred from ever coming back as people start getting their accounts back.
SoPP I agree they are doing the best they can, and that its quite possible my brother is a very small minority who have fallen through the cracks of support, unfortunately that’s not good enough nor acceptable as an excuse.
My brother is not being unreasonable. He followed their advice to the letter. What did it get him? naff all. If Anet/Ncsoft can’t/won’t stump up the cash for a decent support service (including telephone and live chat), then what can they expect from those of us who do not get resolution.
All around us we see people saying on the forums they are no longer hacked and back in game and with tickets created AFTER ours. So what do they really expect from us the patience of a saint?
Freyar – Shame to lose a customer, only on anets side, brother is fast losing the will to even care that he can’t play. He could have been a little gem mine for anet to pluck away at for years, now they won’t even get his initial purchase let alone gem payments.
Performing a chargeback will get them to block his account and possible the IP. Meaning that if he lives in the same house as you, then you’ll probably loose access as well. See the ToS.
Freyar – Shame to lose a customer, only on anets side, brother is fast losing the will to even care that he can’t play. He could have been a little gem mine for anet to pluck away at for years, now they won’t even get his initial purchase let alone gem payments.
Business is not instant. It never has been. It’s a co-operation between so many different people that have so many different parts. Business, between a company and a customer (or even between two people) is a two-way street. Now, you might say you’ve been getting “zero” help here, but with accounts starting to get moving, now would be the worst possible time to do something that would permanently damage the business relationship.
Is it bad that ArenaNet didn’t have the support structure in place? Absolutely, but they are getting things moving and it will only get faster here on out.
Keep in mind that ArenaNet would likely block ALL accounts associated with one that issued a chargeback. If you share a connection, you’re at risk. Future account/license purchases are at risk as well.
Sadly I am considering the same. It has been a week since my original ticket, and despite my following every instruction they gave, and Gaile’s honest attempts to help, I have still yet to have anything resolved. The problem that I see is that now that they have our money, they have little incentive to get moving on our problems, as long as we aren’t in game where we can do damage to their economy. The only way that we as customers can hold them accountable is to demand our payment back from a game that we are unable to play. Blocked Account – Ticket submitted August 30 – Ticket number 120830-007345 [Incident:120904-000568]
There’s plenty incentive to get you playing ranging from artistic pride to financial reasons revolving around the Black Lion store. Let’s not don tin-foil hats here, the Asura are the only people that should do that.
I’ve had some frustration with getting the game going, but there are a lot of things going on and I can’t hold it against them.
I don’t think they were terribly in the wrong to not anticipate every problem that could crop up. And without a monthly fee, I understand that they likely do not have the financial power to hire as many people as they “need” right now. If Blizzard is raking in over 100 million dollars a month, every month and still can’t manage to answer some tickets for days…
I don’t think it’s feasible for ANet to do live support at this point.
I do feel this “prioritise” business is a bit of a false hope. If 10k had a problem and then all “properly prioritised” their tickets, you’re still in the same spot in line – though it’s of course good to put you ahead of the people whose problems aren’t game-breaking.
Performing a chargeback will get them to block his account and possible the IP. Meaning that if he lives in the same house as you, then you’ll probably loose access as well. See the ToS.
Source? I’ve scoured the ToS and admittedly may have missed it but as far as I can tell there is nothing about all accounts using an ip being banned. Should that be the case though then I feel bad for any students on a university network.
If Anet want to ban my account and my partners along with having my brothers hacked. All for failure to resolve a hacked account dispute and because my brother chargebacks. Then anet will have to deal with even more chargebacks from me and my partner too (plus a chargeback for each gem purchase).
Business is not instant. It never has been. It’s a co-operation between so many different people that have so many different parts. Business, between a company and a customer (or even between two people) is a two-way street. Now, you might say you’ve been getting “zero” help here, but with accounts starting to get moving, now would be the worst possible time to do something that would permanently damage the business relationship.
Is it bad that ArenaNet didn’t have the support structure in place? Absolutely, but they are getting things moving and it will only get faster here on out.
Keep in mind that ArenaNet would likely block ALL accounts associated with one that issued a chargeback. If you share a connection, you’re at risk. Future account/license purchases are at risk as well.
permanently damage the relationship? That was done already and might I add that Anet with the poor support did the damage.
Yes I have been first to admit that my brother could have picked a stronger password. Yes the ‘hack’ may be down to his initial failures to ensure the safety of his account.
However after jumping through Anets hoops like a circus sideshow act and to receive no support it is a bit much to insinuate that we are the guilty party here for not jumping through the hoops at the right time or correct hight.
Next Anet will be saying that to get support you need to jump through a hoop of fire while wearing a suit doused in petrol. Then later adding that if that suit is pink instead of blue you’ll need to re-jump the hoops of fire because they can only offer support to people jumping flaming hoops in blue suits.
permanently damage the relationship? That was done already and might I add that Anet with the poor support did the damage.
Yes I have been first to admit that my brother could have picked a stronger password. Yes the ‘hack’ may be down to his initial failures to ensure the safety of his account.
Then you freely admit this isn’t ArenaNet’s fault. Your brother will need to wait till ArenaNet can sort his problem out that he caused on his own. You know what would have bypass ALL this headache? Proper security on his part. This is his fault, not ArenaNet’s, not yours. Smack him and educate him on the importance of practicing basic security.
The rest of this is irrelevant as the whole thread has turned into someone did something stupid, and is mad that he can’t be taken care of right away since a lot of others did the same thing and are in front of him.
There are no hoops here. Submit his ticket, wait for a response, respond if necessary, get account back. It’s a combination of people being impatient and lax with their security and ArenaNet’s admittedly poor staffing for support.
I’ve been thinking about this and I have come to the conclusion it would be cheaper for ArenaNet to just refund everyone who has had their accounts compromised.
The company seems to be spending a huge amount of time and resources dealing with hacked accounts, which must cut into any profits they’ve made from the initial sale.
Why not just offer refunds to the credit cards that are associated with the accounts and let the player re-purchase the game? Sure, they may have to use a new email address, but they really should be doing this anyway.
It would be the fasted way of getting players back in the game no?
I appreciate your trying to help Freyar, however admitting that a stronger password could have been used does not equate to accepting blame or liability.
Logically I agree that there are no hoops either, however ticket submitted… responded as requested to. Waited days and now see people posting ticked dated 3rd and 4th September who have their account back and are in game. So I can’t help but get emotive about it and use the hoops of fire analogy to express how the entire debacle of support is making not only my brother but also I feel.
You can not tell people that they should do one thing (create a new ticket titled Hacked Account…….) repeatedly for days ……
Good luck with that. Just a little bit of advice, you wont get your money back. You purchased a product and have used it, the product works like it said it would do.
The problem of you being hacked has nothing to do with that. Youll just have to wait around a bit till they fix the problem for you. Be glad your not paying 15 euros a month and dont bother the rage.
You can not tell people that they should do one thing (create a new ticket titled Hacked Account…….) repeatedly for days ……
Good luck with that. Just a little bit of advice, you wont get your money back. You purchased a product and have used it, the product works like it said it would do.
The problem of you being hacked has nothing to do with that. Youll just have to wait around a bit till they fix the problem for you. Be glad your not paying 15 euros a month and dont bother the rage.
No rage, just an expression of thoughts and opinions as is the meaning of the word forum.
As for chargeback not working, my brother paid for a service not a product. If the service is being denied him then he is within his rights to chargeback regardless of the hows or whys.
I wish we was paying £15 a month for the service, maybe anet would have half decent support in place and actually act on tickets rather than make like an ostrich and bury there head in the sand.
Taiance: They’ve said to update the existing ticket. Yes they goofed and gave bad advice but you know what? They ADMITTED IT, I’d like you to tell me when any other company has ever said oh yeah what we told you to do was bad advice sorry. Just do what they said to fix the mistake delete all but the one ticket change the title info to the fact you’re petition was X date etc and give them a day or two to fix it. A bunch of people posted last night that they did the corrections last night to have one ticket, changed the title etc and the problem got resolved.
EDIT: Also having worked CS for an MMO you will NEVER have enough support staff to handle the number of petitions when a game launches with the kinds of numbers we are seeing MMOs launch with now. People put tickets in for stupid stuff, if the ticket is prioritized right then it will get seen faster but each hacked account requires investigation. These Investigations sometimes take 20 minutes or more per account to finish.
Now I’ve seen numerous people say it’s all ANet’s fault yet they admit they had weak passwords or used the same username/password as other games (Blizz was just hacked you know right?), or the same username/password as GW2 fan websites (which one just recently was hacked) yet somehow it’s all still ANet’s fault.
Performing a chargeback will get them to block his account and possible the IP. Meaning that if he lives in the same house as you, then you’ll probably loose access as well. See the ToS.
And blackmail makes me want to support a company so much more.
I am also placing a chargeback today if my account issues are not resolved by tonight. Its going on one week to the day for me, and I haven’t received the slightest bit of assistance. You wanna keep giving me the runaround? Fine – I’m taking my money elsewhere.
What a shame, because this really is a fantastic game, and it is being brought down by the absolute worst customer service in the industry.
edit: Ticket 120831-017385 if anyone out there cares enough to help.
EDIT: Also having worked CS for an MMO you will NEVER have enough support staff to handle the number of petitions when a game launches with the kinds of numbers we are seeing MMOs launch with now. People put tickets in for stupid stuff, if the ticket is prioritized right then it will get seen faster but each hacked account requires investigation. These Investigations sometimes take 20 minutes or more per account to finish.
Now I’ve seen numerous people say it’s all ANet’s fault yet they admit they had weak passwords or used the same username/password as other games (Blizz was just hacked you know right?), or the same username/password as GW2 fan websites (which one just recently was hacked) yet somehow it’s all still ANet’s fault.
And if “not enough support staff” constitutes to a CS rep addressing your ticket and vanishing MID-WAY through the resolution, then I don’t know what to say.
People have two options now. Either be patient (to which I’ve already lost hope on my account, its been almost a week) or request for a refund. No need to tinfoil here.
P.S: Be nice to Gaile, she really is doing her best. If anything blame all the Stevens you’ve been getting automated responses from haha.
Brother was just calling me to let me know he was late setting off for the bank and asked me to quickly check if any news before he went.
Resolved.
I won’t come all cap in hand begging forgiveness et-al. I stand by what I said re chargebacks.
Drintar, yes they admitted their mistake, as for naming another company who did so… CCP during the Jita Riots, that even had the CEO posting public apologies left right and centre.
A final thought Drintar, not that I want to be argumentative but my brother never used the email associated with GW2 for WoW or registered with fan sites for GW2. He’s the epitome of a casual gamer and an idiot when it comes to the internet. With no idea he was even hacked until I explained what had happened to him. Even now has never been onto GW2guru, I’m the addled fan who visits all that stuff.
As I already said he could have had a stronger password but that’s all I can really say with any certainty. And unless anyone here posting are the hackers or sat in on the Anet security meetings anything you offer contrary to that is pure speculation on your part.
Aye congrats on him getting his account back I wasn’t trying to say your brother visited sites etc I was saying I’ve seen others admitting that yet wanting to pitch fork and torch ANet. Pointing out it’s not necessarily fair to blame ANet when they have tons of petitions from people who admit it was their own fault clogging the system as well as the legitimate petitions. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
As for chargeback not working, my brother paid for a service not a product. If the service is being denied him then he is within his rights to chargeback regardless of the hows or whys.
I guess I don’t understand how making a one-time purchase of a game equates to purchasing a “service”. A service has a recurring bill. Guild Wars 2 does not. It’s a purchase of a product that comes with a service.
As for chargeback not working, my brother paid for a service not a product. If the service is being denied him then he is within his rights to chargeback regardless of the hows or whys.
I guess I don’t understand how making a one-time purchase of a game equates to purchasing a “service”. A service has a recurring bill. Guild Wars 2 does not. It’s a purchase of a product that comes with a service.
But congrats on getting fixed.
I’ve had access to neither a product or a service so I think that’s good enough reason to get my money back.
KidneyCarver I hate to make you feel even worse than you already may do, but, it was first raised on the 1st September.
All I can say is that if all else fails do consider your options and don’t be shy to announce what your considering. I can’t say with any certainty that this thread helped but one things certain, it helped me vent my frustration in a way that ranting and raving would not have helped had I gone down that path. It also helps serve as a distraction from pressing F5 on the support page if nothing else!
Glad to hear that. My ticket’s been open since the 30th and I kinda went through the anger → frustration → acceptance ordeal. Right now I’m just slightly disappointed but glad people are getting theirs resolved.
I’ve had access to neither a product or a service so I think that’s good enough reason to get my money back.
Unless you’re unable to install and launch the game, then you have access to the product. Logging in and connecting is a different matter, that’s accessing the service.
And, in case you’ve forgotten what you Agreed to: You acknowledge that Service may be interrupted for reasons within or beyond the control of NCsoft, that NCsoft cannot and does not guarantee You will be able to use the Game or any Account whenever You wish to do so, that NCsoft will interrupt the Service on a regular basis for purposes of maintenance or updates and may do so without providing You with notice before such interruption, and that NCsoft may provide subsequent versions, enhancements, modifications, upgrades or patches related to the Software that You must accept and/or install before You will be able to use the Game.
orca, InstantIdiocy please take it to PM’s this thread may still help some, inform other or jsut be light reading for the bored. There is no point posting with malice as getting this thread locked and deleted serves no purpose.
I wasn’t trying to say your brother visited sites etc I was saying I’ve seen others admitting that yet wanting to pitch fork and torch ANet. Pointing out it’s not necessarily fair to blame ANet when they have tons of petitions from people who admit it was their own fault clogging the system as well as the legitimate petitions. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.