Guild Wars 2

whoah they just fix my account problem!

Response Via Email (GM Atheum)
To protect our customers, we have implemented a Payment Risk Management System to detect possible unauthorized transactions or account use. This means that something about your transaction is being perceived as high risk by our system.

Although there is something about your transaction that is being flagged by our system, we have authorized your "xxxxxx " e-mail address to complete transactions for the next 24 hours. Please try your transaction again within the next 24 hours.

i tried purchasing gems and it works. i hope it’s not 24hrs only and stays ok forever.

anyways!
ty for the unban for the moment!
and guys/girls .. i hope your issues got resolved soon too

So what happens after the 24 hr ban? Do you go back to not being able to buy gems again?

I want to share this with you. This is my conversation with the support team.

Hello,

For a few days me and my friends (Netherlands) have been trying to buy the game online. For me, it worked, but suddenly all credit cards and paypal attempts were declined. The same is true when I’m trying to buy gems in the gemstore.

When I use a credit card it says the details are incorrect (while they are correct, i’ve tried with 3 mastercard creditcards), and through paypal it says that there was an error finalizing my payment. It doesn’t make sense, I just want to pay you for goods, but I am unable to.

Help.

I have read the facebook update about questions regarding Gems and the online purchase of the game.

I can assure you that the details I’m entering have been correct with all the attempts i’ve made. (3 different credit cards, 2 paypal accounts)

automatic E-mail from response about the large pile of tickets

Today I’m still not noticing a change. I still can’t buy gems through credit card (Card approval failed, with whatever card I try) or paypal (An error occurred finalizing your purchase.). I really want to buy gems, and have been waiting for almost 5 days now. I understand you are very busy, I just can’t find any information on this error anywhere.

Thank you for contacting us!

Could you please provide the following information so that we may review your billing issue and transaction attempts?

- If the payment was attempted by credit/debit card, please provide the last 4 digits of the credit/debit card used ONLY:
- Country where card was issued: (if you are using a credit/debit card)
- Card Type: (if you are using a credit/debit card)
- If the payment was attempted using PayPal®, the e-mail address associated with the PayPal account:
- Do you have a verified or unverified PayPal account? (if you are using PayPal)
- Country where PayPal account was created/set up: (if you are using PayPal)
- Country where you are currently residing:
- Your billing address, including your billing zip code or postal code:
- The e-mail addresses you used when attempting to make your purchase:

We look forward to your reply.

Regards,
Erick

Yes:

Credit card: Mastercard, issued in the Netherlands, card ending —--

Paypal: —-———————————, I have a verified account set up in the Netherlands.
I reside in the Netherlands.
Billing address: —-—————————————
E-mail I used: —-—————————————-

Thank you for providing that information. Unfortunately I am unable to locate any purchase attempts for Gems under the card ending in —--. Is there another card that you have tried to use or a PayPal® account that we could check?

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Have a great day!
Lindsay

Hello,

I have last tried to buy gems with that card at september 7th, however, it says Card Approval failed, like it always does while I know the card is valid and charged for sure. (I have actually bought this game using this card! When I tried to purchase another copy of the game with this card for someone else, it started saying ’card approval failed)

However, I’d rather use paypal. Could you check the paypal information I provided? I’ve used that account to try and purchase gems every day since the launch of this game, and it keeps saying “There was an error finalizing your payment.” after I fill in the details and confirm through my paypal.
The problem is not on the Credit card company’s end, and also nog on paypal. It is your system, or maybe the risk-detection system that is interfering with the purchase of my gems.

Please, I just want to buy your products.

… I do not get why you would ask me if there maybe is a Paypal account you chould check, since I already provided you with my paypal information, which is clearly insinuating I DO have a paypal account you could check.

Regards,

Ok, so is this tiring or what?

I can’t buy gems too.
Incident: 120908-006132
get my money plz.
thank you.?

After the beta-weekends, and Anets fast response with fixing minor errors, and small bugs. I had really hopped that they would at least show some manner of giving a crap with this, weve had what.. one response in here from a rep? Ive had a response from NCsofts billing department and i doubt ill get another one before im fed up waiting.

Come on guys, this is just bad.

Surreal.4176:

So what happens after the 24 hr ban? Do you go back to not being able to buy gems again?

No idea, i’ll post the update tomorrow after 24hrs and we’ll see what happen.
I hope it stays unban .. haha

same issue
ticket number: 120904-005388

Nunna.6413:

whoah they just fix my account problem!

Response Via Email (GM Atheum)
To protect our customers, we have implemented a Payment Risk Management System to detect possible unauthorized transactions or account use. This means that something about your transaction is being perceived as high risk by our system.

Although there is something about your transaction that is being flagged by our system, we have authorized your "xxxxxx " e-mail address to complete transactions for the next 24 hours. Please try your transaction again within the next 24 hours.

i tried purchasing gems and it works. i hope it’s not 24hrs only and stays ok forever.

anyways!
ty for the unban for the moment!
and guys/girls .. i hope your issues got resolved soon too

I don’t suppose I can get my credit card unbanned for 24hrs? My ticket dates back to the 10th of August for goodness sake. Players are managing temporary fixes and I’m really happy for you but given how old my ticket is and I’ve still heard well… nothing other than “get a new credit card” this is getting more than disheartening.

just got the email asking for the cc and payapal info
noticed that the origination wasnt from ncsoft but an outside support service
rightnowtech.com which was recently acquired by Oracle
so now they are outsourcing their support :/

Lady Lozza.9670:

Nunna.6413:

whoah they just fix my account problem!

Response Via Email (GM Atheum)
To protect our customers, we have implemented a Payment Risk Management System to detect possible unauthorized transactions or account use. This means that something about your transaction is being perceived as high risk by our system.

Although there is something about your transaction that is being flagged by our system, we have authorized your "xxxxxx " e-mail address to complete transactions for the next 24 hours. Please try your transaction again within the next 24 hours.

i tried purchasing gems and it works. i hope it’s not 24hrs only and stays ok forever.

anyways!
ty for the unban for the moment!
and guys/girls .. i hope your issues got resolved soon too

I don’t suppose I can get my credit card unbanned for 24hrs? My ticket dates back to the 10th of August for goodness sake. Players are managing temporary fixes and I’m really happy for you but given how old my ticket is and I’ve still heard well… nothing other than “get a new credit card” this is getting more than disheartening.

I feel you.

Incident: 120827-001121

Going on 2 WEEKS still havent fixed it.

Let me buy gems with the same card i bought the game u fhbejkhbfkjhebkjfbskj.
Makes no freaking sense.

Here’s a very unhelpful update. After responding with full details to this message;
Thank you for contacting NCsoft Account Support.
Could you please provide the following information so that we may review your billing issue and transaction attempts?
- If the payment was attempted by credit/debit card, please provide the last 4 digits of the credit/debit card used
ONLY
- Country where card was issued: (if you are using a credit/debit card)
- Card Type: (if you are using a credit/debit card)
- If the payment was attempted using PayPal®, the order ID or transaction ID from your PayPal® payment history
for the transaction
- Country where you are currently residing:
- Your billing zip code or postal code
I got another response from them saying;
Thank you for the update.
After reviewing your account, we see that your first few purchase attempts were declined by your financial institution. When this happens, we are not given a reason of the decline. Because of those refusals, all subsequent purchase attempts resulted in an immediate error due to our fraud prevention rules. We cleared that “too many failed attempts” lockout issue for you. You will need to contact your financial institution to resolve the issue with the initial declines. Once you have resolved the issue with your financial institution, try to make your purchase again. Please be sure to use ______________ as the e-mail address when purchasing. You should have no further issues.
Please keep in mind that too many failed attempts within a short time frame will always result in an immediate error.
Let us know if you continue to experience difficulties making the purchase.

This Is the email I got needless to say I still can’t buy gems ?? . It’s rly getting kinda sad I almost wanna buy gold from some third party then just trade for gems I’m sure their system will take my money . I’ve been waiting over two weeks to buy gems. Thought I accually had something with this email tried pay pal failed… Tried card failed so I called my bank they said no one is trying to with draw money ok…. So I called the MasterCard center they also said the same thing so I know it’s nothing to do with me or my bank sorry ncsoft . I’m trying to be patient….. ??

Support ticket submitted 9 days ago – unanswered
Multiple pleas on this forum – unanswered
Multiple tweets to GW2 Twitter site – unanswered
Multiple PMs to Gaile/GW2 Forum Rep – unanswered
Letter to ArenaNet CEO – unanswered

( incident# 120905-001653 )

Ok, I have since had a long conversation with Bank Of America VISA and they have now approved purchases made to NCSoft. Can someone please clear this through your insane Risk Management Program so I can buy gems?

So i bought gems in game over 24 hrs ago and have yet to receive them in game. I was charged on my Credit Card and even received the verification email stating as such. I have filed a support ticket to this as well with no help. I would like some insight into this situation seeing as i have already been charged without delivery for i’d say quite some time now.

Incident # 120908-000419

Bought gems well over 24 hrs ago. Received a verification email thanking me for my purchase and have yet to receive any gems in game. I greatly would like this situation taken care of as my credit card as already been charged for said purchase and i have yet to get a response or receive what i paid for

Here is my [Incident: 120908-007379]?
Im also unable to purchase gems ever since the game release

120907-001744

Same problem with being unable to buy gems. Tried a few cards and paypal, no such luck. Roommate and me tried both cards on mine, neither worked through my account but worked through his.

Hi, I bought $50 worth of gems today and tried to buy another 10 tonight but it kept saying Credit card approval failed, my incident number is [Incident: 120909-001244]?

I am attempting to purchase gems and like everyone else here I’m getting a card approval error. My ticket number is #120909-001500. Thank you.

GaileGray.9587:

Guys, you’re right. I look through this thread and I feel bad — you’re not getting as much information and you should, and I apologize for that.

I’ve sent off an email to the team who is working night and day on various issues related to the BLTC and the Gem Store. I hope to be able to post more in the near future or perhaps one of their team members will post an update. But in the meantime, please accept our apologies for any difficulties you’re experiencing.

If you bought and did not get your gems, update your ticket (don’t make a new one, it slows the process) and we’ll watch for those. If you cannot purchase, we also need to look into those situations. We appreciate your interest in purchasing gems and believe me, we want to make it possible for you to do so!

Thanks, again, for your patience.

SOOOOOO glad to hear from an actual support staff member. After almost 2 weeks of experiencing this problem we get some recognition as a GROUP issue and not individual. Hope you can get it figured out soon!!!

Thanks so much!

5 days. 3 forum posts. Submitted a ticked. Replied to the mass mailer. No reply.

Not even the same authorization issue that is a difficult case.

Mine is a simple matter. The gem store ate 2000 gems and I would like them back.

120904-001722

It’s been about 5 days of aggravation for me as well, and this isn’t the first problem I’ve had with my NCSoft account. It actually goes all the way back to the release of AION. Part of the reason I left that game was the slow response by support. I have never had the shear number of account problems with any of the other game companies I have dealt with. Sorry for QQing but I would simply like to be able to play GW2 without having to constantly deal with technical account difficulties.

As for my problem, I have contacted my credit card company and they have placed a note on my account allowing NCSoft purchases. Please unlock my ability to buy gems from the gem store and make it so I don’t have to go through this again everytime I want to make a purchase. A 24 hr lift is not an acceptable solution when it takes almost a week for support to respond. I will not make any further attempts to buy gems until I get a response.

Incident # 120905-001653

GaileGray.9587:

Guys, you’re right. I look through this thread and I feel bad — you’re not getting as much information and you should, and I apologize for that.

I’ve sent off an email to the team who is working night and day on various issues related to the BLTC and the Gem Store. I hope to be able to post more in the near future or perhaps one of their team members will post an update. But in the meantime, please accept our apologies for any difficulties you’re experiencing.

If you bought and did not get your gems, update your ticket (don’t make a new one, it slows the process) and we’ll watch for those. If you cannot purchase, we also need to look into those situations. We appreciate your interest in purchasing gems and believe me, we want to make it possible for you to do so!

Thanks, again, for your patience.

I know every single one of you are extremly busy atm and have bigger issues to iron out but what we want is to see anet acknowledge the problem…no pity post.

Youve been gone from this thread ever since you opened it,its been what ? over 5 days and this is still gone un noticed by anet game status while they did mention the gems delivery delay…While we kept receiving a generic GET A NEW credit card insulting reply.

Like others said,you guys need to fix this problem at large and stop trying to do silly 24 hour lifts and omg stop letting ur staff tell us to get another credit card this is beyond ridiculous…realy.

2 weeks still unresolved.
Incident: 120827-001121

I’m still unable to access the Gem Store. I haven’t been able to access it since I started playing the game. I’m starting to get annoyed because nothing in the trading post is working for me at all. I’m also unable to get the celebration hat item and it’s going to run out in 3 days time. I’ve already sent a report in game and posted in the forums 3 days ago with my problem

Hi, also been having issues buying gems in the last days :/ heres my ticket number

[—-001:000511:53107—-]

120907-002617 please fix asap

Gaile thanks for finally providing some Arena Net input on this.

One of the problems I think is that submitting a ticket on this issue seems so random. There are some people reporting having had a ticket outstanding for over a month and others who are getting at least ‘temporary’ fixes a few days after submitting a ticket.

I do not mind waiting in a queue for support but I do not want to be in a lottery to get it and that is what it feels like currently.

GAILE,

ty for showing use someone is actually acknowledging that we are here and having problems. As for my problem its been at least 32 hrs and still nothing i’ve updated my ticket a few times every 4 hrs or so. I did post in here with my incident number but figured it would be easier to do so again.

Incident number: 120908-000419

Hopefully my problem will be resolved shortly as well as everyone elses. TY again Gaile and hope to hear back with an update on my problem.

Hack gemmes

120908-002974

120908-005299

Credit approval failed, even though I successfully purchased gems once before. I told my bank to accept charges from NC Soft. Please advise. Thank you.

If u buy Digital Deluxe and u’re 80 lvl then you won’t get Mistfire Wolf. I bought it and my 80 lvl char got everything immediately except this elite skill. My lvl 1 characters have got this skill unlocked, so this bug only affects 80 lvl(or maybe 30-80) characters. Please fix it, I’d like to see this mistfire wolf in action.

SAME ISSUE…… Incident: 120909-001320

Please fix this soon…. Love the game Hate this issue

Same problem for me. Can’t buy any gems, with credit card or paypal. What can I do? Submited a ticket the 07/09/12 number 120907-004466

No news so far…

Gaile, frankly I do not think ArenaNet management is aware of this issue because if they were this issue would be as high a priority issue to address as any other and would certainly warrant a mention in the game status update! Below is the letter I submitted directly to Mike O’Brien, ArenaNet CEO. I do not have any direct confirmation Mike has received the letter yet but I wanted to make you aware this has been submitted to him. If I do not receive satisfaction from him my next stop will be NCSoft management.

Mr. O’Brien,

A serious problem exists with Guild Wars 2 that is preventing thousands of customers from making gem purchases in the Black Lion Trading Company. Undoubtedly, this problem is costing ArenaNet customers and significant amounts of sales revenue. More stunning still is the apparent lack of acknowledgement or concerted response by ArenaNet to address the issue. I am a Senior Vice President at a Fortune 10 financial services company so I know something about managing a large and complex organization. I suspect upper management is not aware of this problem because if it were the resolution of this problem would be a top priority given this problem represents a significant risk to Guild Wars 2’s business model.

By my estimates, thousands of upstanding ArenaNet customers are falling victim to a faulty system intended to police “unauthorized transactions”. The system has been described by ArenaNet employees as the “Payment Risk Management System.” The apparent purpose of the system is to “detect possible unauthorized transactions or account use.” This system apparently places a purchase restriction on a customer’s account preventing them from making any purchases with real money. The purchase restriction blocks any purchase requests from reaching the credit card companies. I have confirmed this with my credit card companies as they have not received any charge requests from ArenaNet in relation to my gem purchase attempts. Further below is a link to the Guild Wars 2 support forum where you can view for yourself a number of customers complaining about this system. This group of customers is surely just a microcosm of a much larger group of customers with the same issue.

Undoubtedly, this “Payment Risk Management System” is faulty as it is inexplicably tagging thousands of your customers as possible fraudsters. My humble suggestion is to drop this system altogether. Credit card companies have robust and sophisticated systems in place to detect potentially fraudulent activities. If ArenaNet is resolved to have such a system then at least disable it until it functions in some semblance of a sensible manner.

[CONTINUED]

While I can accept that a well-meaning company implemented a faulty system, what I and many other customers have found completely unacceptable is ArenaNet’s response to this issue. For a week, there was complete silence on this issue from ArenaNet. Despite submitting support tickets, tweets, and posting on Guild Wars 2’s Facebook, I received no direct response nor was there any acknowledgement of the issue in the daily Guild Wars 2 status updates. Alarmingly, last week posts about this issue were actively deleted on Guild Wars 2’s Facebook. But the most shocking aspects of ArenaNet’s response was yet to come.

Two days ago ArenaNet opened the Guild Wars 2 Support Forum so that customers could post about issues they were having with the game. I was the first to post about this issue a few minutes after the forum opened. Additional customers flooded the thread with posts mentioning the same problem. The link to the thread is here. You can see for yourself the extent of this issue and the level of frustration it has caused amongst customers:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Gem-Store-Questions-Issues-merged/first

To my chagrin and that of many other customers, this issue has continued to lack acknowledgement in the Guild Wars 2 status updates that have been posted since ArenaNet representatives acknowledged the issue as a “serious issue” in that thread. Evidence exists that a few customers here and there are getting resolution. But the resolution is itself shocking. Customer are being told they have been flagged as fraud risks but that they can receive a “24 hour override” to the purchase restriction placed on their account so they can make purchases. That is obviously a ridiculous explanation. If a customer was actually a fraud risk then you would not lift the purchase restriction. And if you acknowledge the system incorrectly placed a purchase restriction on the customer and thus would override the system then why would you not override it completely rather than just for 24 hours?

It is a testament to the great game you and your team have developed that I am writing to you about this problem. If this were a lesser game I would just write the game off and choose to play one of the many alternatives in the marketplace. But the game you and your team have crafted is extraordinary. But there are limits to my patience and that of other customers. When I log into the game the first thing I try to do is purchase gems and when that purchase fails I often simply log off in frustration. You have stated customer experience must be the first priority of a MMOG company. This problem is dramatically impacting the experience of many customers and in particular customers that are eager to generate sales revenue.

I know you and your team poured your heart and soul and a good chunk of your lives into making Guild Wars 2. I attended the Guild Wars 2 presentation at Comic-Con in 2011 and demoed the game in the Exhibit Hall that year. I could feel the pride and excitement your team felt about the game even then. As a MMO veteran who has been playing these types of games since Meridian 59 I must say you have created a real gem. It would be a major tragedy if the success of Guild Wars 2 is curtailed or even precluded by this faulty system that is currently in place and more importantly an inadequate and indecisive response to the problem. I am happy to discuss this issue in more detail with you or any member of your team. I can be reached at [OMITTED] or at [OMITTED]. My account name is Sangrivane.4360.

Best regards,
[OMITTED]

120909-003544
Tried 2 credit cards in game got the Cant Validate Error
Tried 1 Debit card got the cant validate error
Tried 2 Paypal accounts got the ‘an error occured contact support’ error

Please fix! i need to get some gems .

#120909-003776
I feel if I say anything else it will just be the same repetitive thing everyone else has already said. Been trying for 3 days with 2 different cards.

Ref# 120909-003905

Been trying everyday with PayPal. Use this PayPal on a weekly basis with no issues at all.

[Incident: 120904-003402]

Already mentioned on this thread but almost a week now and NO response at all. Am actually feeling personally insulted by the whole issue.

I am not sure if this is related but my card won’t work in the gem store anymore. It may have been because of my address change, as of which I had no idea how to alter. I did make a ticket: 120909-002863

My ticket has been unresolved and its been 14 days. I really wonder if the devs and support staff where in our positions what they would do or how they would feel at the customer service we are getting if it was happening to them.

My ticket ID is: 120828-002891

Id really love to get this issue resolved.

unable to buy gems. tried different credit cards and paypal to get “card approval failed”. help? ticket 120909-001446

TAKE MY MONEY ?!

I want to buy everything you guys have, but my money is no good there
had the problem since release….

i guess you guys are working on this, since you want cash, but it have been alooong time now..

no offence, but Anet need to have more support staff. cant even call you guys.

KKow.2657:

unable to buy gems. tried different credit cards and paypal to get “card approval failed”. help? ticket 120909-001446

I have not been able to buy since launch….and my ticket does not get answered.
I figure it this way…they don’t want my money…oh well.

It has worked out to because I was going to buy the armor skin but now my armor looks good so no longer need…..

Currently cannot purchase gems.

Card is in working order, and my bank is allowing all charges.

Let me give you money.

120909-004646

Nice letter you wrote there Sangrivane. I really hope it will reach them, because this whole issue is really frustrating.

It shouldn’t be this hard to just spend my money on something.

#120906-001285

Same approval failure issue as everyone else, Im fine with the 24 hour window really, atleast then I can buy in bulk to last me untill the issue is resolved.