Reading some of these responses makes me wish that a meteor would strike the earth. I can't see any purpose to continuing the species if we can't apply even the most basic level of deduction or common sense.
1- OP changes stories about logging in to fit his/her argument. Not a sign of honesty.
2- OP states that rep didn't seem to understand English, but somehow fails to realize that this may have resulted in nothing more than a communication error.
3- Despite my pessimism I still have to think that at least one of you should be able to read dates. The offer http://news.softpedia.com/news/Age-of-Conan-Offers-Special-Subscription-Deals-126814.shtml was BEFORE RotGS released. If you read the link the article even states that there wan't even a release date at that time, November 12th, 2009. By taking advantage of the 12 month offer you would recieve a copy of RotGS when it came out, which occurred in May 2010. The OP states that he took advantage of an offer in December of 2010, well after both the expansion release and the offers duration.
4- Despite the offer being over with at the time the OP purchased a 12 month sub, AND the admitted language barrier, rather than behaving like an adult and admitting that he was mistaken, OP decided to do a charge back.
Since the offer wasn't valid at the time the OP purchased the 12 month sub and he failed to behave responsibly both in not taking appropriate steps to work with Funcom to resolve the problem, and in admitting he had misunderstood what was being offered, this is a case of buyer's remorse not bad customer service.
Unhappy that he had made a mistake the OP then punished the company wrongfully, committed fraud and made a decision that any rationale adult should know would burn bridges.
Well you know what, I am adult enough to recognize a mistake when I see one. You claim I knew about the dates; which I didn't. Hell I didn't even know the product wasn't even available at the time of the promotion offer, even to this date until just now.
Nor did the representative make a mention about it in regards to why it was not even enabled on the account yet. I think they would of had access to that bit of information seeing they worked for Funcom, or in hindsight they were just as oblivious about the details to the expansion as I was.
So theres two wrongs there both concluding to a Lack of communication and obvious details such as this. Like I said when I was interested in the offer I had no knowledge about the development of the Expansion, in my mind from what I saw on the advertisement it was being promoted as available. I didn't see anything about the expansion would be enabled on the account eventually since it was still in development.
If that was the case I wouldn't of been so hasty to cancel the subscription, but I had no idea it was still in development.
Well damn my bad, I withdraw my accusation on this matter, but they should of at least been able to refund the subscription and reinstate the account since I didn't use any time on it, I never logged back into the account once I found out the expansion wasn't enabled; while I was waiting for a response, that part of it should still be able to be corrected in the least.
Good eyes augustgrace, I guess we all learn a lesson today, companies don't promote products still in development unless you make it clear as day it won't be available on the account until such and such time.
well done to you for standing up tp them if they promised the xpac with a 12 month sub and did not include it . then you had every right to demand your money back . to many players just take it on the chin and give up they hope you dont rock the boat . about time new rules were made to protect buyers .
if like you say you did not log in to the game you did not use any of there game time if you did contact them the day after then you should be in your right to have a full refund any normal company would just give you the product you payed for
under trading standards they advertised a product which they did not give you
Well Funcom does have bad reputation not becasue of accident. Their customer service had many many flops during years , much more than most of repectable comapnies do. Issues like chargining your account for purcharses you did not made (becasue of some faults, errors) were reported many times. Well refunded ones but it takes time and effort...
So well unfortunetally I am not suprised.
Bit sad as I am european myself and this is european based company
Well anyway I don't like recent Funcom's strategies and flops like those who OP described really don't help as well.
Not to mention their double dipping strategy with TSW
Don't think I am going to bother myself with Funcom's productions unless maybe they offer something revolutionary in future.
1.) Received promotional offer: Buy 12 month subscription, get Godslayer expansion free.
2.) Took the promotional offer: Bought 12 month subscription, did NOT get Godslayer expansion free.
3.) Right after discovering that he did not get the promised expansion, contacted customer support.
4.) CS refused to give the Godslayer expansion.
5.) In response, asked for a refund.
6.) CS refused to give refund.
7.) Charge back.
---------------------------------
Asside from having your account banned for any charge back being in the norm in the MMO world, I'd say that after attempting to solve the issue with CS and them refusing to, you'd be in the right. Still, it's standard to have your account banned for it.
Besides that, I love how people are adding "what they just know in their gut happened" to the story, and then attacking you for the info they decided to add or assume.
Don't you love the internet? You're always 100% guilty until you prove your innocence. And even if you actually MANAGE to do so, eeh you know what? You're still guilty.
Finally a logical post in this thread. I don't care one bit about this game or Funcom but, after reading the nonsense in here after it was clear what had happened and a VERY large number of you not understanding (even going as far as claiming he/she had stolen from FunCom) I'm pleased to see one reply that's not ignorant.
Agreed. Even moreso, now that someone's posted a link to the promotion the OP talked about.... and people attempted to call him out on.
Funcom advertised the full expansion - not only parts of it - with a 12 month payment.
Funcom didn't deliver on what they advertised (if it wasn't available yet, it shouldn't have been advertised).
When contacted about it, Funcom refused to provide what they advertised, and failed to simply explain "the expansion hasn't been released yet". Even if there was a language issue, the representatively surely should have known to say "Oh, it's not enabled because the expansion has not released yet". You'd think the people dealing directly with the customers would be given that kind of info.
Funcom refused to refund the money paid for the product they did not deliver on, nor did they expalin - again - that the product couldn't be activated as it wasn't available yet.
Ergo... Funcom was in the wrong here. Period. They created the promotion, they released the promotion and they accepted orders for the promotion.
I'd have done exactly the same thing were I in that position. I'd have probably gone further, in fact, as that is false advertising on FC's part, plain and simple. I have a feeling many others would as well (and for all we know, they did, but haven't discussed it on a message forum).
But, as is bound to happen - especially around here - some people will completely ignore what an OP actually says and instead replace it with their own theories and versions of what happened... and then proceed to attack the OP for it. Classic.
The only thing I think the OP is a bit loopy for (not really, just saying :-p) is going back for more after all that. If a company did that to me, they would not get a single dime more of my money or a minute more of my time.
And I rather like FC. I'm a huge fan of the Longest Journey/Dreamfall games, and I really enjoyed Anarchy Online and even thought AoC was a pretty fun game (stopped playing as soon as they announced F2P).
Anyway... To the OP. You did the right thing. Ignore the nay-sayers and spin-meisters.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
1.) Received promotional offer: Buy 12 month subscription, get Godslayer expansion free.
2.) Took the promotional offer: Bought 12 month subscription, did NOT get Godslayer expansion free.
3.) Right after discovering that he did not get the promised expansion, contacted customer support.
4.) CS refused to give the Godslayer expansion.
5.) In response, asked for a refund.
6.) CS refused to give refund.
7.) Charge back.
---------------------------------
Asside from having your account banned for any charge back being in the norm in the MMO world, I'd say that after attempting to solve the issue with CS and them refusing to, you'd be in the right. Still, it's standard to have your account banned for it.
Besides that, I love how people are adding "what they just know in their gut happened" to the story, and then attacking you for the info they decided to add or assume.
Don't you love the internet? You're always 100% guilty until you prove your innocence. And even if you actually MANAGE to do so, eeh you know what? You're still guilty.
Finally a logical post in this thread. I don't care one bit about this game or Funcom but, after reading the nonsense in here after it was clear what had happened and a VERY large number of you not understanding (even going as far as claiming he/she had stolen from FunCom) I'm pleased to see one reply that's not ignorant.
Agreed. Even moreso, now that someone's posted a link to the promotion the OP talked about.... and people attempted to call him out on.
Funcom advertised the full expansion - not only parts of it - with a 12 month payment.
Funcom didn't deliver on what they advertised.
When contacted about it, Funcom refused to provide what they advertised.
Funcom refused to refund the money paid for the product they did not deliver on.
Ergo... Funcom was 100% in the wrong. Period.
I'd have done exactly the same thing were I in that position. I'd have probably gone further, in fact, as that is false advertising on FC's part, plain and simple. I have a feeling many others would as well (and for all we know, they did, but haven't discussed it on a message forum).
But, as is bound to happen - especially around here - some people will completely ignore what an OP actually says and instead replace it with their own theories and versions of what happened... and then proceed to attack the OP for it. Classic.
The only thing I think the OP is a bit loopy for (not really, just saying :-p) is going back for more after all that. If a company did that to me, they would not get a single dime more of my money or a minute more of my time.
And I rather like FC. I'm a huge fan of the Longest Journey/Dreamfall games, and I really enjoyed Anarchy Online and even thought AoC was a pretty fun game (stopped playing as soon as they announced F2P).
Anyway... To the OP. You did the right thing. Ignore the nay-sayers and spin-meisters.
The way he did charge back is a fradulent practice. So he deserved the ban. And seeing that you would do the same i think companies are justified in banning account of players like you.
The way he did charge back is a fradulent practice. So he deserved the ban. And seeing that you would do the same i think companies are justified in banning account of players like you.
"Players like me" eh?
You mean people who have never charged-back a single dime on a single MMO they've ever played? Of course, I've also never encountered a situation like wha the OP described, either.
You dont' know a thing about me soups.. So, how about you keep your presumptions about others to yourself, and stick to what you know, okay? Less likely to end up looking foolish that way.
What part of "Funcom didn't provide the product/service they were advertising" is lost on you, exactly? In *any* line of business - MMO or otherwise - when a company advertises something - very clearly, in black and white - and then fails to deliver on that product or service, they are in the wrong and a charge-back is 100% justified. In this case, as the OP understood it, that is exactly what happened. Thus, no... the way he did a charge-back is not a "fraudulent practice". It's common-sense.
That the customer rep he spoke to failed to inform him that the expansion hadn't released yet is not an "out" for FC. They should have been better prepared to handle it. If they'd simply said "Oh, RoTGS isn't out yet. Once it is, you will be given access to it", I'm sure the outcome would have been very different.
If you'd be happy to let a company who failed to deliver on what they advertised keep your money, leaving you empty handed.. then hey.. all the more power to ya. I'm sure those companies would love to do business with you. For those of us who actually value the idea of "getting what's advertised"... we'll hold the companies to their advertising and hold them accountable when they don't.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Sadly, this does not surprise me in the least and I sympathise with the OP. On several online games I have had my personal accounts banned due to phishing and "other" in-game activity which I was not reponsible for. Reponses from support departments range from pro-formas to no response at all (*glares at Blizzard*). I run more system security than most but it makes no difference.
Game companies have a history of treating their subs apallingly. And the situation is not improving in a hurry. There is an "elitist" and "precious" attitude amongst large game companies. There are too many examples of this to mention and it almost covers the entire industry. It's time for companies like Funcom to drink a large glass or perspective. Out in the real world, if you purchase a product, you have entitlements and rights. Seems to me that gamers have neither of these.
Originally posted by augustgrace Reading some of these responses makes me wish that a meteor would strike the earth. I can't see any purpose to continuing the species if we can't apply even the most basic level of deduction or common sense. 1- OP changes stories about logging in to fit his/her argument. Not a sign of honesty. 2- OP states that rep didn't seem to understand English, but somehow fails to realize that this may have resulted in nothing more than a communication error. 3- Despite my pessimism I still have to think that at least one of you should be able to read dates. The offer http://news.softpedia.com/news/Age-of-Conan-Offers-Special-Subscription-Deals-126814.shtml was BEFORE RotGS released. If you read the link the article even states that there wan't even a release date at that time, November 12th, 2009. By taking advantage of the 12 month offer you would recieve a copy of RotGS when it came out, which occurred in May 2010. The OP states that he took advantage of an offer in December of 2010, well after both the expansion release and the offers duration. 4- Despite the offer being over with at the time the OP purchased a 12 month sub, AND the admitted language barrier, rather than behaving like an adult and admitting that he was mistaken, OP decided to do a charge back. Since the offer wasn't valid at the time the OP purchased the 12 month sub and he failed to behave responsibly both in not taking appropriate steps to work with Funcom to resolve the problem, and in admitting he had misunderstood what was being offered, this is a case of buyer's remorse not bad customer service. Unhappy that he had made a mistake the OP then punished the company wrongfully, committed fraud and made a decision that any rationale adult should know would burn bridges.
Active for a 12 months subs and get frre copy of Godslayer.
and its normal practise if you chargeback the account gets cancelled.
OmaliMMO Business CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 1,177
I won't call the OP a liar, but I do think his case falls into the one-in-a-million category of a bad chain of events leading to a bad outcome, and that his case shouldn't be used as a story of "look at how this company conducts its business, you shouldn't give them your money they are scam artists."
Stories like this happen wtih every company, no exceptions.
Actually to me the chargeback is not the issue. The op was right to do it, and funcom within their rights to ban/suspend that account. To me the real issue is the crappy service Funcom provided the op. A lot of game sales depend on word of mouth... Word of mouth for funcom is not good, in fact has been bad since the epic fail of a launch for AoC. They began to balance that with the good work they did later to balance it(and yes I played AoC after the launch when things had settled out and liked it) but with reports of stuff like this it will fall back down. Now someone will always buy their games, but will that amount of someones be enough to sustain a server load? Will they end up having a viable game called the Secret World, or will they just have to settle for whatever they make from presales and watch the game go belly up because no one trusts them enough to play it. I really like the look of TSW but i will be holding off to see what happens. my opinion.
Well you know what, I am adult enough to recognize a mistake when I see one. You claim I knew about the dates; which I didn't. Hell I didn't even know the product wasn't even available at the time of the promotion offer, even to this date until just now.
Nor did the representative make a mention about it in regards to why it was not even enabled on the account yet. I think they would of had access to that bit of information seeing they worked for Funcom, or in hindsight they were just as oblivious about the details to the expansion as I was.
So theres two wrongs there both concluding to a Lack of communication and obvious details such as this. Like I said when I was interested in the offer I had no knowledge about the development of the Expansion, in my mind from what I saw on the advertisement it was being promoted as available. I didn't see anything about the expansion would be enabled on the account eventually since it was still in development.
If that was the case I wouldn't of been so hasty to cancel the subscription, but I had no idea it was still in development.
Well damn my bad, I withdraw my accusation on this matter, but they should of at least been able to refund the subscription and reinstate the account since I didn't use any time on it, I never logged back into the account once I found out the expansion wasn't enabled; while I was waiting for a response, that part of it should still be able to be corrected in the least.
Good eyes augustgrace, I guess we all learn a lesson today, companies don't promote products still in development unless you make it clear as day it won't be available on the account until such and such time.
First off the above quoted because clearly everyone missed it.
The new link that has been provided by someone is for AoC EU which extended the offer until December 20, 2010.
August 2010 another 12 month offer comes out, Does NOT include RotGS. Comes with helmet, potions, pet and other extras, but NOT RotGS.
First off to the OP-
You admitted you were wrong which was a pleasant surprise. It is rare that someone is willing to admit they made a mistake. Makes me feel like a dick for coming off too strong, my apologies.
To everyone else-
Contact an adult education program and ask if they have an adult reading/comphrehension course. If they don't most libraries will offer this program which seems to be sorely needed by some people.
This marks the end of my involvment in this thread as I don't enjoy trying to help the hopeless.
The way he did charge back is a fradulent practice. So he deserved the ban. And seeing that you would do the same i think companies are justified in banning account of players like you.
"Players like me" eh?
You mean people who have never charged-back a single dime on a single MMO they've ever played? Of course, I've also never encountered a situation like wha the OP described, either.
You dont' know a thing about me soups.. So, how about you keep your presumptions about others to yourself, and stick to what you know, okay? Less likely to end up looking foolish that way.
What part of "Funcom didn't provide the product/service they were advertising" is lost on you, exactly? In *any* line of business - MMO or otherwise - when a company advertises something - very clearly, in black and white - and then fails to deliver on that product or service, they are in the wrong and a charge-back is 100% justified. In this case, as the OP understood it, that is exactly what happened. Thus, no... the way he did a charge-back is not a "fraudulent practice". It's common-sense.
That the customer rep he spoke to failed to inform him that the expansion hadn't released yet is not an "out" for FC. They should have been better prepared to handle it. If they'd simply said "Oh, RoTGS isn't out yet. Once it is, you will be given access to it", I'm sure the outcome would have been very different.
If you'd be happy to let a company who failed to deliver on what they advertised keep your money, leaving you empty handed.. then hey.. all the more power to ya. I'm sure those companies would love to do business with you. For those of us who actually value the idea of "getting what's advertised"... we'll hold the companies to their advertising and hold them accountable when they don't.
You said you would do the same, so yeah my assumption is based on what you wrote. I could care less what your personal beef is with Funcom but somethings are just plain wrong.
Actually to me the chargeback is not the issue. The op was right to do it, and funcom within their rights to ban/suspend that account. To me the real issue is the crappy service Funcom provided the op. A lot of game sales depend on word of mouth... Word of mouth for funcom is not good, in fact has been bad since the epic fail of a launch for AoC. They began to balance that with the good work they did later to balance it(and yes I played AoC after the launch when things had settled out and liked it) but with reports of stuff like this it will fall back down. Now someone will always buy their games, but will that amount of someones be enough to sustain a server load? Will they end up having a viable game called the Secret World, or will they just have to settle for whatever they make from presales and watch the game go belly up because no one trusts them enough to play it. I really like the look of TSW but i will be holding off to see what happens. my opinion.
I understand this feeling, but the OP can only give 1/2 the story (sorry OP, but it is true). How one views one self and how we are viewed by others is often is not the same.
to all those who think that funcom was right for the ban, i hate to break it to you but they were wrong. what they did is filled under false advertisement. they claimed if you paid for 12 months you will get a free expansion pack. the original poster paid for the 12 months and did not get the expansion pack he was promised. because they failed they are in breach of contract for false advertisement, which if the original poster wanted to could have filled a lawsuit about. he did not he told his bank to ask for a refund(which he rightly deserved).
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
After reading every post in this thread... yes of every page, I'm surprised more people haven't harped on what I think is the biggest problem. Why couldn't Funcom refund this guy's money if he did contact them the very next day and did not log back into the game?
How many people play MMO's? Of these people, how many do you think have made a mistake or unintentionally subscribe to something? If you did not take advantage of the subscription, why shouldn't you be entitled to a refund? In the non cyber world, I do not shop anywhere that won't give me a refund if I haven't used the product. Fortunately just about every major chain offers refunds. The only things that shouldn't be refunded are prepared food (unless they got the order wrong or there was hair in the food, etc), and personal wear like underwear.
If the OP asked for a refund the next day without logging back into the game, IMO Funcom is in the wrong any way you slice or dice it. Man Up Funcom!
The whole problem is Funcom themselves. They dont reply to people, think what they do is oh so great, whilest they dont even know what the players really want. They think they do, but really, they dont. They sit in their ivory tower looking down and only thinking of your cash.
It's nice to see the OP admit he may be wrong since discovering from another poster that RotGS wasn't released until summer 2010..so at that point it would have been activated on his account. Which is why he got the RotGS goodies but not the expansion itself..when he took advantage of the offer. His misunderstanding.
BUT ...why did the Funcom rep overlook this fact. "Hey...Mr. OP...you WILL get the expansion when it releases in summer 2010."...Case closed.. Pretty crappy service from someone that should be better educated in their own product and promotions. ...and this coming from someone who has had nothing but good experiences with Funcom's Customer Service...even when it was my fug-up.
Wanted to bump with update - for anyone that was interested in hearing the results. Original post is edited with the new info at the top. Thanks for everyones support and assistance with this issue who took the time to help out with the incident.
Most if not all MMO's will ban you if you do a charge back, thats just how it is.
Bingo. This really should be common sense. Whether OP is in the right or wrong, if one does a chargeback one is getting banned.
Anyways, OP you should be thankful. Why would you even consider going back to a company that lied and mislead you?
I never had an account on any service banned for any reason regarding cheating or in this case wanting a refund on a service. Regardless if I play the game or not is not the situation. It's the fact I had enabled a collectors edition on this account; which is property I paid for. It's my right to have access to it at any given time. On top of that getting banned for a misunderstanding on the Customer Rep's side isn't an issue I was going to let stand when I found out about what happened to the account.
Comments
Well you know what, I am adult enough to recognize a mistake when I see one. You claim I knew about the dates; which I didn't. Hell I didn't even know the product wasn't even available at the time of the promotion offer, even to this date until just now.
Nor did the representative make a mention about it in regards to why it was not even enabled on the account yet. I think they would of had access to that bit of information seeing they worked for Funcom, or in hindsight they were just as oblivious about the details to the expansion as I was.
So theres two wrongs there both concluding to a Lack of communication and obvious details such as this. Like I said when I was interested in the offer I had no knowledge about the development of the Expansion, in my mind from what I saw on the advertisement it was being promoted as available. I didn't see anything about the expansion would be enabled on the account eventually since it was still in development.
If that was the case I wouldn't of been so hasty to cancel the subscription, but I had no idea it was still in development.
Well damn my bad, I withdraw my accusation on this matter, but they should of at least been able to refund the subscription and reinstate the account since I didn't use any time on it, I never logged back into the account once I found out the expansion wasn't enabled; while I was waiting for a response, that part of it should still be able to be corrected in the least.
Good eyes augustgrace, I guess we all learn a lesson today, companies don't promote products still in development unless you make it clear as day it won't be available on the account until such and such time.
well done to you for standing up tp them if they promised the xpac with a 12 month sub and did not include it . then you had every right to demand your money back . to many players just take it on the chin and give up they hope you dont rock the boat . about time new rules were made to protect buyers .
if like you say you did not log in to the game you did not use any of there game time if you did contact them the day after then you should be in your right to have a full refund any normal company would just give you the product you payed for
under trading standards they advertised a product which they did not give you
its amazing how bad some peoples reading comprehension skills are...
Op you were in the right, anyone disagreeing has an IQ of 2.
Make a new account and start fresh??
Well Funcom does have bad reputation not becasue of accident. Their customer service had many many flops during years , much more than most of repectable comapnies do. Issues like chargining your account for purcharses you did not made (becasue of some faults, errors) were reported many times. Well refunded ones but it takes time and effort...
So well unfortunetally I am not suprised.
Bit sad as I am european myself and this is european based company
Well anyway I don't like recent Funcom's strategies and flops like those who OP described really don't help as well.
Not to mention their double dipping strategy with TSW
Don't think I am going to bother myself with Funcom's productions unless maybe they offer something revolutionary in future.
Agreed. Even moreso, now that someone's posted a link to the promotion the OP talked about.... and people attempted to call him out on.
Funcom advertised the full expansion - not only parts of it - with a 12 month payment.
Funcom didn't deliver on what they advertised (if it wasn't available yet, it shouldn't have been advertised).
When contacted about it, Funcom refused to provide what they advertised, and failed to simply explain "the expansion hasn't been released yet". Even if there was a language issue, the representatively surely should have known to say "Oh, it's not enabled because the expansion has not released yet". You'd think the people dealing directly with the customers would be given that kind of info.
Funcom refused to refund the money paid for the product they did not deliver on, nor did they expalin - again - that the product couldn't be activated as it wasn't available yet.
Ergo... Funcom was in the wrong here. Period. They created the promotion, they released the promotion and they accepted orders for the promotion.
I'd have done exactly the same thing were I in that position. I'd have probably gone further, in fact, as that is false advertising on FC's part, plain and simple. I have a feeling many others would as well (and for all we know, they did, but haven't discussed it on a message forum).
But, as is bound to happen - especially around here - some people will completely ignore what an OP actually says and instead replace it with their own theories and versions of what happened... and then proceed to attack the OP for it. Classic.
The only thing I think the OP is a bit loopy for (not really, just saying :-p) is going back for more after all that. If a company did that to me, they would not get a single dime more of my money or a minute more of my time.
And I rather like FC. I'm a huge fan of the Longest Journey/Dreamfall games, and I really enjoyed Anarchy Online and even thought AoC was a pretty fun game (stopped playing as soon as they announced F2P).
Anyway... To the OP. You did the right thing. Ignore the nay-sayers and spin-meisters.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The way he did charge back is a fradulent practice. So he deserved the ban. And seeing that you would do the same i think companies are justified in banning account of players like you.
"Players like me" eh?
You mean people who have never charged-back a single dime on a single MMO they've ever played? Of course, I've also never encountered a situation like wha the OP described, either.
You dont' know a thing about me soups.. So, how about you keep your presumptions about others to yourself, and stick to what you know, okay? Less likely to end up looking foolish that way.
What part of "Funcom didn't provide the product/service they were advertising" is lost on you, exactly? In *any* line of business - MMO or otherwise - when a company advertises something - very clearly, in black and white - and then fails to deliver on that product or service, they are in the wrong and a charge-back is 100% justified. In this case, as the OP understood it, that is exactly what happened. Thus, no... the way he did a charge-back is not a "fraudulent practice". It's common-sense.
That the customer rep he spoke to failed to inform him that the expansion hadn't released yet is not an "out" for FC. They should have been better prepared to handle it. If they'd simply said "Oh, RoTGS isn't out yet. Once it is, you will be given access to it", I'm sure the outcome would have been very different.
If you'd be happy to let a company who failed to deliver on what they advertised keep your money, leaving you empty handed.. then hey.. all the more power to ya. I'm sure those companies would love to do business with you. For those of us who actually value the idea of "getting what's advertised"... we'll hold the companies to their advertising and hold them accountable when they don't.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Sadly, this does not surprise me in the least and I sympathise with the OP. On several online games I have had my personal accounts banned due to phishing and "other" in-game activity which I was not reponsible for. Reponses from support departments range from pro-formas to no response at all (*glares at Blizzard*). I run more system security than most but it makes no difference.
Game companies have a history of treating their subs apallingly. And the situation is not improving in a hurry. There is an "elitist" and "precious" attitude amongst large game companies. There are too many examples of this to mention and it almost covers the entire industry. It's time for companies like Funcom to drink a large glass or perspective. Out in the real world, if you purchase a product, you have entitlements and rights. Seems to me that gamers have neither of these.
My bad, but the first link is talking about a promo 1 year 10 months ago... so around december 2010. http://www.massiveonlinegamer.com/forums/8-age-of-conan/512-funcoms-qcome-back-to-conanq-promotion
Also here is an official post on the AOC forums with the offer around that date (Scroll down a bit). So the OP is still not delusional
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=161567&page=6
I do clearly remember the promo
Active for a 12 months subs and get frre copy of Godslayer.
and its normal practise if you chargeback the account gets cancelled.
I won't call the OP a liar, but I do think his case falls into the one-in-a-million category of a bad chain of events leading to a bad outcome, and that his case shouldn't be used as a story of "look at how this company conducts its business, you shouldn't give them your money they are scam artists."
Stories like this happen wtih every company, no exceptions.
Actually to me the chargeback is not the issue. The op was right to do it, and funcom within their rights to ban/suspend that account. To me the real issue is the crappy service Funcom provided the op. A lot of game sales depend on word of mouth... Word of mouth for funcom is not good, in fact has been bad since the epic fail of a launch for AoC. They began to balance that with the good work they did later to balance it(and yes I played AoC after the launch when things had settled out and liked it) but with reports of stuff like this it will fall back down. Now someone will always buy their games, but will that amount of someones be enough to sustain a server load? Will they end up having a viable game called the Secret World, or will they just have to settle for whatever they make from presales and watch the game go belly up because no one trusts them enough to play it. I really like the look of TSW but i will be holding off to see what happens. my opinion.
Currently bored with MMO's.
First off the above quoted because clearly everyone missed it.
The new link that has been provided by someone is for AoC EU which extended the offer until December 20, 2010.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=210849&highlight=rise+godslayer+free
This link shows Famine from AoC stating that the offer including the free copy of RotGS was expired. This was January 2010.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=208258&highlight=rise+godslayer+free
Another link regarding that promotion. Offer expired December 1st, 2009.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=226170
August 2010 another 12 month offer comes out, Does NOT include RotGS. Comes with helmet, potions, pet and other extras, but NOT RotGS.
First off to the OP-
You admitted you were wrong which was a pleasant surprise. It is rare that someone is willing to admit they made a mistake. Makes me feel like a dick for coming off too strong, my apologies.
To everyone else-
Contact an adult education program and ask if they have an adult reading/comphrehension course. If they don't most libraries will offer this program which seems to be sorely needed by some people.
This marks the end of my involvment in this thread as I don't enjoy trying to help the hopeless.
You said you would do the same, so yeah my assumption is based on what you wrote. I could care less what your personal beef is with Funcom but somethings are just plain wrong.
Well above all else what we learned and that is all that we can really ever desire from a company claiming this.
I understand this feeling, but the OP can only give 1/2 the story (sorry OP, but it is true). How one views one self and how we are viewed by others is often is not the same.
to all those who think that funcom was right for the ban, i hate to break it to you but they were wrong. what they did is filled under false advertisement. they claimed if you paid for 12 months you will get a free expansion pack. the original poster paid for the 12 months and did not get the expansion pack he was promised. because they failed they are in breach of contract for false advertisement, which if the original poster wanted to could have filled a lawsuit about. he did not he told his bank to ask for a refund(which he rightly deserved).
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
After reading every post in this thread... yes of every page, I'm surprised more people haven't harped on what I think is the biggest problem. Why couldn't Funcom refund this guy's money if he did contact them the very next day and did not log back into the game?
How many people play MMO's? Of these people, how many do you think have made a mistake or unintentionally subscribe to something? If you did not take advantage of the subscription, why shouldn't you be entitled to a refund? In the non cyber world, I do not shop anywhere that won't give me a refund if I haven't used the product. Fortunately just about every major chain offers refunds. The only things that shouldn't be refunded are prepared food (unless they got the order wrong or there was hair in the food, etc), and personal wear like underwear.
If the OP asked for a refund the next day without logging back into the game, IMO Funcom is in the wrong any way you slice or dice it. Man Up Funcom!
The whole problem is Funcom themselves. They dont reply to people, think what they do is oh so great, whilest they dont even know what the players really want. They think they do, but really, they dont. They sit in their ivory tower looking down and only thinking of your cash.
i played the free game not impressed anyway.
Bingo. This really should be common sense. Whether OP is in the right or wrong, if one does a chargeback one is getting banned.
Anyways, OP you should be thankful. Why would you even consider going back to a company that lied and mislead you?
It's nice to see the OP admit he may be wrong since discovering from another poster that RotGS wasn't released until summer 2010..so at that point it would have been activated on his account. Which is why he got the RotGS goodies but not the expansion itself..when he took advantage of the offer. His misunderstanding.
BUT ...why did the Funcom rep overlook this fact. "Hey...Mr. OP...you WILL get the expansion when it releases in summer 2010."...Case closed.. Pretty crappy service from someone that should be better educated in their own product and promotions. ...and this coming from someone who has had nothing but good experiences with Funcom's Customer Service...even when it was my fug-up.
Wanted to bump with update - for anyone that was interested in hearing the results. Original post is edited with the new info at the top. Thanks for everyones support and assistance with this issue who took the time to help out with the incident.
I never had an account on any service banned for any reason regarding cheating or in this case wanting a refund on a service. Regardless if I play the game or not is not the situation. It's the fact I had enabled a collectors edition on this account; which is property I paid for. It's my right to have access to it at any given time. On top of that getting banned for a misunderstanding on the Customer Rep's side isn't an issue I was going to let stand when I found out about what happened to the account.