Guild Wars 2

First, I’ve been a loyal and longstanding customer since Guild Wars was released 10 years ago. I’ve committed countless hours (GWAMM was a hard slog!) and real money through the Gem Store to support what I consider to be two great games, so imagine my surprise when I tried to log into Guild Wars 2 earlier this week, only to be told the following:

“Your Guild Wars 2 account has been suspended for an account issue. Please contact Support for more information.”

So, I did contact Support, and was told that the GW2 serial code used to create my GW2 game account was flagged as a fraudulent purchase, and that they would not assist me any further. I pre-purchased this code on April 10, 2012 through the GW2 website using my own credit card, so I was absolutely floored when Support told me this more than three years later!

I sent them visual proof of the credit card statement clearly showing the transaction to CHARGE.NCSOFT.COM, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Just today, I received clarification from Support saying they received a chargeback and banned my account as a result, and if I wanted to play the game again, I would have to purchase it again and create a whole new account. Of course, I have never initiated any chargebacks, and have even gone so far as to verify this with the bank.

I absolutely do not understand how this has occurred, nor the Support responses to date. Every single one has come across as dismissive and I have not sensed any desire to work with me on this. I just cannot accept the fact that my account has been banned for an action that I didn’t commit, and it’s absolutely gut wrenching thinking that all of the hours spent progressing my characters and account has suddenly gone up in smoke.

I’ve already done what any of you would have advised by reaching out to the Support team, and don’t know where to go from here. Any advice or escalation of the ticket (#1751022) by a Support Lead would be greatly appreciated.

You can continue to update your ticket, and you can post your ticket number in the Sticky above, ‘Tickets for Review’, where the CS Team Lead will take a look.

Good luck.

There were some false flags in the past, not sure if was fixed or not, which could be your case if things are as you said:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/My-account-is-suspended-via-HoT-purchase/first#post5315060

azyume.6321:

There were some false flags in the past, not sure if was fixed or not, which could be your case if things are as you said:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/My-account-is-suspended-via-HoT-purchase/first#post5315060

Thanks for that. I was unaware of that issue.

Those cases seem related to the HoT expansion, though according to Support, my case is related to the GW2 code used to create the account. The underlying issue is the same, however: an account has been unjustly banned.

Where did you buy your account from? As in, what retailer?

Edit: I meant the code, when you first bought your game to be created. I don’t want you to think I meant you bought that account already created.

Ellieanna.5027:

Where did you buy your account from? As in, what retailer?

Edit: I meant the code, when you first bought your game to be created. I don’t want you to think I meant you bought that account already created.

Directly from the GW2 website (http://buy.guildwars2.com).

You can post yout ticket number in the GW2 Tickets for Review (3 days & older) sticky, and ask for further clarification if support isn’t answering. Is is possible that you recently purchased gems and there was an issue?

Ellieanna.5027:

You can post yout ticket number in the GW2 Tickets for Review (3 days & older) sticky, and ask for further clarification if support isn’t answering. Is is possible that you recently purchased gems and there was an issue?

It’s not so much that Support isn’t answering; rather, they’re being dismissive and are unwilling to investigate it further.

I will definitely post my ticket in that thread in a few hours when it officially ticks over 3 days. As frustrating as all of this is, I still want to respect the processes they have put in place.

I haven’t purchased any gems recently. I should mention that I did purchase HoT through a retailer; however, unless Support has miscommunicated the issue, their response suggests that it’s related to the original GW2 code used to create the GW2 account, which I purchased directly from the GW2 website.

“The Guild Wars 2 Serial Code used to create your Guild Wars 2 game account was initially purchased from https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/. Through normal purchase reviews, our payment processor discovered that the serial code was acquired through a fraudulent purchase. As a result, the serial code was disabled and the account with which it was associated has been permanently closed. Unfortunately, we will not be able to assist you further with this issue.”

Is it possible that back in 2012 when you made the pre-purchase through your card your bank account was overdrawn when the transaction was first processed?

If that was the case and your bank didn’t grant an unauthorized overdraft to cover it, then later successfully processed the transaction as a ‘re-submit’, on paper it could look at a casual glance like you never actually made the payment.

There would be two transactions involved on paper, the first overdrawn one being charged back by your bank, then the second being the same payment going through once sufficient funds were in your account – meaning two different ‘payment’ dates on your game account records.

May be worth checking your account balance at and just after the time of your April 10 2012 purchase and confirming it was in credit and not overdrawn at any time during the processing ‘window’ before the transaction cleared.

I find it had to believe that it takes Anet’s purchase processor three years to check if a purchase payment was made…not what I would describe as a ‘normal purchase review’.

If this is the problem then the fact they have changed payment processors since may also be an issue, if full payment records from that far back didn’t make it to Digital River the current service supplier.

Good luck either way…hope they are able to provide you will some clarity on exactly what their records show.

Have you double checked with your credit card issuer to see if a charge back had indeed been done? It sounds like an error happened somewhere.

This is why it is always prudent to purchase Serial Keys either directly from ArenaNet or authorized retailers.

Good luck.

Bbear.7830:

Is it possible that back in 2012 when you made the pre-purchase through your card your bank account was overdrawn when the transaction was first processed?

No, absolutely not. I’ve already done the due diligence with the credit card provider to ensure that the transaction went through and was paid for.

Chris Cleary.8017:

You said in your ticket that you purchased HoT from Gamers-Outlet.net

This isn’t actually a official retailer – You purchased a fraudulent key. Unfortunately it looks like you are going to have to work this out with Customer Support.

Thanks for clarifying, because that wasn’t expressed to me in the responses by Support. They made it out to be the original GW2 key, not the HoT key, and I don’t understand why they couldn’t have been clearer about it.

I purchased the HoT key from Gamers-Outlet.net without realising that they weren’t an official retailer. They advertised that they were, and I made the mistake of believing them. I will seek a full refund from the retailer, but that doesn’t explain why I must now suffer a full account ban. Why not revoke the HoT key, keep my GW2 account active, and allow me to purchase a HoT key directly from ArenaNet?

In reality it´s not a HoT-Key but a key for GW2 including the HoT-expansion.

Considering past cases, whether it was HoT or buying gems, they’ve never really been clear. A chargeback has about a 90 day window however, so use common sense.

Thrymr.1568:

Why not revoke the HoT key, keep my GW2 account active, and allow me to purchase a HoT key directly from ArenaNet?

It’s fraud. From their perspective, you tried to steal the game. You bought it through a reseller who bought it from them using a stolen card. Support only sees you, which is why you have to contact them to clear up the mess.

If they just revoked it, people would abuse that. For example, the ultimate edition.

CptTrips.6512:

In reality it´s not a HoT-Key but a key for GW2 including the HoT-expansion.

Sure, I get that, but I don’t believe that ArenaNet cannot recognise the longstanding integrity of my account and the legitimate GW2 key that’s still applied to my account.

Even when I log into the GW2 website, it says that GW2 is “Active” and allows me to purchase a HoT upgrade if I wish to do so.

A full account ban is very extreme for a buyer who has been duped by an unauthorised retailer.

This post by Chris on Reddit gives me hope, but unlike the OP on Reddit, I haven’t even been given the option to work with ArenaNet to come to an amicable agreement that the fraud wasn’t committed by me; instead, I’ve been dismissed and told that if I ever wish to play GW2, I have to purchase the game again and create a brand new account.

Healix.5819:

It’s fraud. From their perspective, you tried to steal the game. You bought it through a reseller who bought it from them using a stolen card. Support only sees you, which is why you have to contact them to clear up the mess.

I have done everything in my power to demonstrate that the fraud wasn’t committed by me. I’ve sent them a credit card statement, as well as screenshots of my prior purchases on the GW2 website and on Gamers-Outlet.net. What more can I do from here other than plead?

If the key was fake and they finally caught up to it, however long it took, then it’s a fake key and the account is invalid. Therefore they deactivated it. The fact that you paid someone for a fake key, no matter how innocently, doesn’t mean the key will ever become not fake and that ANet will accept it. Essentially you bought stolen goods and your purchase isn’t acceptable as legit.

As I understand from previous posts, their insurance requires all such account terminations to be final. It costs them money to process refunds, chargebacks, etc, and their financial insurance requires them, by contract, to take a hard line on the situation and permanently close the accounts, with no chance to reopen.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If the key was fake and they finally caught up to it, however long it took, then it’s a fake key and the account is invalid. Therefore they deactivated it. The fact that you paid someone for a fake key, no matter how innocently, doesn’t mean they key will ever become not fake and that ANet will accept it. Essentially you bought stolen goods and your purchase isn’t acceptable as legit.

Unsure if there’s some confusion. There’s a lot of information in this thread and some clarity has been shed since Chris jumped in. Essentially:

• I still have a legitimate GW2 key in my account that I purchased direct from ArenaNet in 2012.
• I did have a HoT key that was only purchased and applied to my account a month ago, which Chris has since identified as fraudulent.

I am not asking for ArenaNet to make a fraudulent key non-fraudulent. I am happy for them to deactivate the HoT key on the basis of fraud, and I will seek financial remedy from the unauthorised retailer who deceived me.

What I’m unhappy about is that my account, as a whole, is no longer accessible. I am trying to understand why ArenaNet cannot recognise the legitimate GW2 key and keep the account active, and give me the option to purchase a legitimate HoT key from them instead.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

As I understand from previous posts, their insurance requires all such account terminations to be final. It costs them money to process refunds, chargebacks, etc, and their financial insurance requires them, by contract, to take a hard line on the situation and permanently close the accounts, with no chance to reopen.

If that is indeed the case, I find it very difficult to continue to support a company who would agree to such a contract.

This is an incredibly hard line approach to a loyal customer of 10 years, and I cannot understand why there would be no gesture of goodwill in recognition of that fact.

Outside of the game, I run a business, and I would never allow one of our customer support agents to treat a customer in this fashion.

They have, in the past, closed accounts for fraud keys, and let the customer purchase a new key to apply to the account to fix the issue. Do as Chris said and continue to talk to support.

Offer to purchase a new key Hot key, since Anet can’t refund that key (thus remove it) as they didn’t sell it to you. That is how previous posters with this issue have fixed it.

Thrymr.1568:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If the key was fake and they finally caught up to it, however long it took, then it’s a fake key and the account is invalid. Therefore they deactivated it. The fact that you paid someone for a fake key, no matter how innocently, doesn’t mean they key will ever become not fake and that ANet will accept it. Essentially you bought stolen goods and your purchase isn’t acceptable as legit.

Unsure if there’s some confusion. There’s a lot of information in this thread and some clarity has been shed since Chris jumped in. Essentially:

• I still have a legitimate GW2 key in my account that I purchased direct from ArenaNet in 2012.
• I did have a HoT key that was only purchased and applied to my account a month ago, which Chris has since identified as fraudulent.

I am not asking for ArenaNet to make a fraudulent key non-fraudulent. I am happy for them to deactivate the HoT key on the basis of fraud, and I will seek financial remedy from the unauthorised retailer who deceived me.

What I’m unhappy about is that my account, as a whole, is no longer accessible. I am trying to understand why ArenaNet cannot recognise the legitimate GW2 key and keep the account active, and give me the option to purchase a legitimate HoT key from them instead.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

As I understand from previous posts, their insurance requires all such account terminations to be final. It costs them money to process refunds, chargebacks, etc, and their financial insurance requires them, by contract, to take a hard line on the situation and permanently close the accounts, with no chance to reopen.

If that is indeed the case, I find it very difficult to continue to support a company who would agree to such a contract.

This is an incredibly hard line approach to a loyal customer of 10 years, and I cannot understand why there would be no gesture of goodwill in recognition of that fact.

Outside of the game, I run a business, and I would never allow one of our customer support agents to treat a customer in this fashion.

As been said, continue to talk to support to try to resolve it. The post I saw about the insurance was at least a year ago if not more, and no telling what their policy is now.

Good luck.

Ellieanna.5027:

They have, in the past, closed accounts for fraud keys, and let the customer purchase a new key to apply to the account to fix the issue. Do as Chris said and continue to talk to support.

Offer to purchase a new key Hot key, since Anet can’t refund that key (thus remove it) as they didn’t sell it to you. That is how previous posters with this issue have fixed it.

This is the best advice on this topic, you got caught out by a fake website, ankittene key, it happens, not everyone is tech savvy and can tell a fake site from a real one, some people are to trusting, after all there are a lot of sites out there claiming to sell HoT now, you should ask them if you can buy a real key directly from them and have them apply it to your account,

Its completely bizarre that support would tell you after years of playing, to bad your account is banned go buy another copy of the game, without offering you the chance to buy a real key to keep your account in good standing.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

This is why it is always prudent to purchase Serial Keys either directly from ArenaNet or authorized retailers.

Good luck.

Yeah .. i also only buy either directly from the website of the game, or else only from
Amazon.

Ok I Did It.2854:

This is the best advice on this topic, you got caught out by a fake website, ankittene key, it happens, not everyone is tech savvy and can tell a fake site from a real one, some people are to trusting, after all there are a lot of sites out there claiming to sell HoT now, you should ask them if you can buy a real key directly from them and have them apply it to your account,

What’s sad is that I am tech savvy. In hindsight, I just made a very poor decision while in a rush by not going through the due diligence to ensure that they were an authorised retailer.

Ok I Did It.2854:

Its completely bizarre that support would tell you after years of playing, to bad your account is banned go buy another copy of the game, without offering you the chance to buy a real key to keep your account in good standing.

Yes, I’ve been left completely floored.

In the past few hours, Gamers-Outlet.net has since apologised and offered a full refund, which is pretty amazing support. I just wish I could get an equally positive outcome here. Nevertheless, I will continue to deal with Support on this matter. I am not willing to let my account go.

This is really very simple. There is no difference between a HoT key and a GW2 full-game key with HoT. You cannot simply have your expansion privileges revoked and continue to play the regular game.

The solution is simple, too. Talk to customer support and let them know that you’re willing to purchase another HoT key. They will ask that you purchase it and then email them [GW2 Customer Support] that key, and they will do the swap on your account. Once that swap has taken place, you will be unbanned.

There is really no other possible way for you to fix this and there is nothing that anyone else on this forum can do to help you further. Good luck.

I wouldn’t be willing to let the account go also. Not one that’s 3 years old and has my HoM tied to it.

Send them the apology and refund notice from that company as further proof that it wasn’t you that was at fault and press for repurchasing another key to reactivate your account. If that still fails, most definitely plead your case in the stickied thread above for ticket reviews.

Good luck.

I want to personally acknowledge GM Bri, who in the last hour, took over the case, told me to disregard all previous Support e-mails, and removed the block on my account with zero fuss. That is an example of customer support at its finest.

I’ve since purchased a HoT key through the GW2 website, just in time for the second beta weekend.

Thanks again, GM Bri!

Thrymr.1568:

I want to personally acknowledge GM Bri, who in the last hour, took over the case, told me to disregard all previous Support e-mails, and removed the block on my account with zero fuss. That is an example of customer support at its finest.

I’ve since purchased a HoT key through the GW2 website, just in time for the second beta weekend.

Thanks again, GM Bri!

It’s good you had your account sorted and got a refund for the fraud key.

I read your post earlier today and thought about the whole reputable seller thing a bit hypocritical.

If you live in the u.k, ultimate is £79.99. If you live in the Usa ultimate is $99.99, which converts to £65.50 and it’s a global key.

It’s no wonder people will shop about when the most expensive place on the planet to buy the expansion is in the u.k

I’m so glad you got your account back. If I lost mine, I doubt I could keep on playing. Congrats. And have fun in game.

Thrymr.1568:

. Unfortunately, we will not be able to assist you further with this issue."_

GZ Thrymr

I am glad to see that these silly standard sentence was wrong ….one more time!

Welcome back to Tyria

Also goes to show what remaining polite will do… People make mistakes and support only follows what they’re told to do until it gets escalated/ you request it to be escalated. It’s a pain in the kitten sometimes but generally, ANet has SUPERB customer service.

My Roommate is experiencing the Same issue, except he can’t access the forums. Infact, Support will not tell him Absolutely Anything about why he was suspended or Even Respond to his Inquiries. He tells me that in the past 48 hours he’s submitted 2 tickets and sent 13 emails trying to get Information.

codinky.4590:

My Roommate is experiencing the Same issue, except he can’t access the forums. Infact, Support will not tell him Absolutely Anything about why he was suspended or Even Respond to his Inquiries. He tells me that in the past 48 hours he’s submitted 2 tickets and sent 13 emails trying to get Information.

Well that is part of the problem. They have said send only 1 ticket, and duplicates will send you to the back of the line.

First he needs to close this duplicate ticket. And he needs to give them time to reply. Did he get the automated message when he sent in his ticket? If he didn’t get that, then he’s not getting any mail from Anet. There is information in the sticky on what he should try, and if that doesn’t work, send in a ticket with a different email, referencing his first ticket number, explaining he’s not receiving their emails.

Ellieanna.5027:

Well that is part of the problem. They have said send only 1 ticket, and duplicates will send you to the back of the line.

First he needs to close this duplicate ticket. And he needs to give them time to reply. Did he get the automated message when he sent in his ticket? If he didn’t get that, then he’s not getting any mail from Anet. There is information in the sticky on what he should try, and if that doesn’t work, send in a ticket with a different email, referencing his first ticket number, explaining he’s not receiving their emails.

He got the Automated replys, It’s more of a matter that he hasn’t received any details concerning said suspension. He only found out about the Suspension due to him getting disconnected then trying to log into the game again. His Ticket Number is 1752415

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I’m so glad you got your account back. If I lost mine, I doubt I could keep on playing. Congrats. And have fun in game.

Zaron.1987:

GZ Thrymr

I am glad to see that these silly standard sentence was wrong ….one more time!

Welcome back to Tyria

Thanks for the support, everyone. Feels good to be back in the game!

codinky.4590:

My Roommate is experiencing the Same issue, except he can’t access the forums. Infact, Support will not tell him Absolutely Anything about why he was suspended or Even Respond to his Inquiries. He tells me that in the past 48 hours he’s submitted 2 tickets and sent 13 emails trying to get Information.

I don’t know what exactly helped me in the end. While the elegance of it is debatable, it’s important to still respect the support processes that ArenaNet has put in place, and not let frustration take over too soon. If we, as players, do our part to respect the system, the onus is on them to do the same and see the issue through to the end (hopefully, amicably).

2 tickets and 13 e-mails is certainly a lot to submit as part of an initial enquiry. If he still hasn’t heard from a human in 72 hours, or does and has a particularly strong objection to the responses received, you have the option of raising it in the “GW2 Tickets for Review (3 days & older)” thread for escalation.

Here’s hoping to a positive outcome for your roommate.

codinky.4590:

Ellieanna.5027:

Well that is part of the problem. They have said send only 1 ticket, and duplicates will send you to the back of the line.

First he needs to close this duplicate ticket. And he needs to give them time to reply. Did he get the automated message when he sent in his ticket? If he didn’t get that, then he’s not getting any mail from Anet. There is information in the sticky on what he should try, and if that doesn’t work, send in a ticket with a different email, referencing his first ticket number, explaining he’s not receiving their emails.

He got the Automated replys, It’s more of a matter that he hasn’t received any details concerning said suspension. He only found out about the Suspension due to him getting disconnected then trying to log into the game again. His Ticket Number is 1752415

Anet has never sent out information when they suspend someone. The log in message says why they were suspended, and if more information is needed, they can create a ticket to respond.

And as it has been said, it can take upwards of 72 hours to receive a reply, but every time he sends in information (and 13 over 48 hours is less then 1 message every 4 hours, on top of it being over 2 tickets) it can delay the response as the agent needs to review it all, and put it into his ticket. 1 ticket, with the details and waiting will go a lot faster then what your friend did.

Thrymr.1568:

I want to personally acknowledge GM Bri, who in the last hour, took over the case, told me to disregard all previous Support e-mails, and removed the block on my account with zero fuss. That is an example of customer support at its finest.

I’ve since purchased a HoT key through the GW2 website, just in time for the second beta weekend.

Thanks again, GM Bri!

Glad that you got the outcome that you should have had in the beginning, I also find it kind of scary that someone in support basically said to bad, and if you had no pushed it on, you may not have gotten your account back, I hope whoever is in charge of support, pulls in the original person whom dealt with your case and retrains them.

Enjoy your beta weekend.

grats man … gw2 support is awsome