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Turbine threatens to ban players for pursuing refunds of their new expansion
leojreimroc
Member UncommonPosts: 371
In case you haven't heard, there's a bit of drama going on in the LOTRO world. Turbine had promised on a FAQ to include an instance cluster with the expansion. This statement was later removed and there is in fact no instances coming with the expansion. This of course, angered quite a few who pre-ordered the expansion thinking they would get some instances included with their purchase. They're flat out refusing refunds and threatening account bans if anyone pursues it.....
Here's the forum post with a screenshot of the email from Turbine:
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?463712-No-instance-cluster-So-what&p=6230806#post6230806
Really crooked of Turbine to state something about an upcomming product then changing it after selling a bunch of them.
-Edit-
Link to the email below if you don't feel like going on the turbine forums:
Comments
Well I can tell you that some other services and platforms operate this way as well. Take Steam for example. If you purchase a game, then later do a chargeback, they can basically restrict you from your account and you will lose access to any other games you have purchased. Most publishers also do not offer refunds of any kind. Some do (Blizzard offers one for Diablo 3 and Anet will allow you to get refund if you purchase from them for GW2 from what I hear), but it is rare.
As far as the bait and switch, that blows and I would probably be ticked about them removing that too. I don't play the game but I assume that previous expansions included instances? They are probably going to change extra for those now at a later date I imagine. I hate that freemium shit.
This might be a new one. I've heard of plenty of games that released with missing features, but never an expansion.
Time for a miracle patch.
I am the original poster of this screenshot. It is the fact that I am being denied a refund and then threatened over a company error that disgusts me the most.
I am keeping multiple forums updated with Turbine's responses to me. Let's see how this turns out...
THis is just wrong are there really so few people actually playing this game that they need to take advantage of players like this?
I've said it from the begining selling lifetime passes for a MMO would ultimately kill a MMO. Im sure the majority that still play this game do it on a Lifetime sub and give Turbine nothing. That 100-200 dollar price they paid back in the day paided for the first year or two of content...
This really is a shame because the game it self is pretty solid imo.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Just file a criminal chargeback with your card/bank company and then report it to the FTC. Im not sure why everyone on these sites think and firmly believe that game companies cannot be held accountable like any other company. People said that I would be banned and couldnt get a refund with rift because I applied the key and believe me I got my refund after reporting them and then attaching the complaint to my email I sent back to CS after my account was hacked at release. EULA doesnt mean crap seriously people , thats just the game company trying to keep you from doing stuff. Its YOUR digital software NOT theres regardless of EULA and in a court of law like so many old cases before the company doesnt win. If a company does not provide ample service within promised offer, you are entitled to a refund period.
Right, but the issue isn't getting the money back, the issue is getting banned for getting their money back.
Interesting.
Edit: Maybe you did touch on the issue, I am currently having a difficult time comprehending much, so my apologies if I missed something.
Either way, it is total B.S. that they renigged on what they originally promised, then send out a statement such as this that basically threatens to ban people when they want a refund.
I thought Turbine was a decent company?
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
I honestly would go after turbine in this case if I was banned personally because he isnt breaking any ground rules enforced by game and they cannot just go around making exceptions because of corporate greed. you guys should go to this site http://gamepolitics.com/category/topics/eula and look at some of the different cases brought against these companies and how many are not even legal in most states. Another thing OP start an online blog get players to sign a petition and make your voice and others heard against turbine so they can see if they do something stupid its going to cost their wallet in the end. Thats probably the only true way to get what you want with the larger companies is hit em in their wallet.
If it comes to that, I am more than happy to file a chargeback. I have already filed a complaint with the BBB, and posted this email and all related info to many sites.
While I am interested in waiting this out and see what Turbine's final decision is, I am not terribly worried about losing my account. Turbine will likely not learn from the backlash from this, and I am not signing up to get walked all over (again) because I love Tolkien's world.
Edit: To clarify why I am waiting this out, I believe Turbine believes I will eventually get bored and back down. I assume that from my billing information and whatnot they have discerned I am a fairly young woman, and thus will not drag this out.
How wrong they are.
im glad youre being diligant one thing though....BBB is not something to really worry with as they are not a agency that can do anything about a company . They are just a rating website company that gives companies a grading scale rating etc. While its def a good thing to report them it will not get you your money back if they are sticking to it. They will just lie to the BBB and say its against the contract you were given and of course the BBB will not follow up. I learned long ago when filing a complaint with an internet based company the BBB is not up to the times. Another thing is to call and ask to speak with a CS manager and see where that will get you. It did well for me with Trion Worlds when I had my issue.
BBB is pretty much useless. Contact (or threaten to do so) the FTC instead. They're much more up with the times, and are actually in a position to do something effective.
Or just do a chargeback, eat the ban and tell Turbine to go fornicate themselves with a rusty iron stick.
Thank you all for the tip about the FTC. I'm not terribly good at this, as I've never had such a drastically bad experience with any company before.
Turbine has seemed to respond to the BBB in the past. If that doesn't work, I will most certainly move up to the FTC.
For now, I'm just going to see how this turns out... On my end and on Turbine's.
Does anyone recall the debacle that SOE pulled on players with the expansion that was sold to players just for the NGE? Yes, they sold an un-usable expansion to players knowing good and well that it would not function with the NGE. It wasn't until after the fact that they allowed people to get refunds. My guess is they expected a certain number of players wouldn't pursue it and would just cut their losses. My thoughts are Turbine is hedging the same bet.
Must be a pretty sweet game if you guys are all too scared about 'losing' access to it when you get swindled.
Really, i read some of that thread, be firm and do the right thing. If enough of you do it, turbine MIGHT realize they are being wads. (They do simiar stuff with DDO players too, its NOT new)
Honestly the game can't be that awesome that you can't find another home.(Trust me, if it was worth playing I'd be there instead of ddo, lotho isn't all that amazing tbh, ditch it and move to a better game, plenty are out and coming out right about now.)
The 'be men' comment shows im a sexist prick :P I really mean 'stand up and don't let people walk all over you.'
Not to make light of the intent behind this thread or the situation which is surrounds but am I the only one who found the quote at the bottom on the screen shot pretty hilarious considering the content of the email?
"Turbine, powered by our fans"
I guess what they really meant to say was "Turbine, powered by our fan's checking accounts"
Well Fk Turbine for threatening you with a ban hammer.
Why don't you go to those gaming media and tell them about it?
Some of them might question their management like they did when EA banning people in their forums.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
The customer is always wrong?
Take a step back and think about what Turbine is saying that they will ban you from your account if you try to get a refund .....With that in mind ...Gamers have the power to make or break a company how about all gamers ban Turbine games a mass withdraw would put the company in crisis Maybe then they would respect all of us gamers and start to listen to all of us as a whole Gamers have always had the power to make or break a game ....With every action there is an oppisit reaction...
..
Jeffrey Stieffel crashed LOTR into the wall with uniformed tokens, and Kate Paez lit the car on fire with F2P and dungeon finder.
There is nothing left of what a great game Moria was.
I get what you are saying and it's a tried and true method however the problem is....it only rarely works. And that's because for every unhappy customer (as long as the product itself isn't complete shat) there is a perfectly happy customer that has ZERO interest in your cause. This is then compounded by the F2P or P2W model. It really doesn't survive off the many because they aren't spending nearly as much as the PHAT few who are throwing hundreds if not thousands of dollars at it.
It's a principle thing that bothers me about getting banned. I'm not returning to LotRO no matter how this turns out, but if Turbine bans my account because I wanted a refund? That's a whole can of worms as far as principles go.
In regards to notifying gaming news outlets, I have been doing just that. No responses so far, however.
I am also waiting for Turbine to send another response (since my request has been escalated to a 'supervisor').
How can anyone be surprised by Turbine's (powered by our fans™ ) behaviour after its fiasco around Asheron's Call 2 (selling paid boxed expansion and claming the game is in healthy state a month before they announced to shut down all servers with no compensation whatsoever)?
REALITY CHECK
It just goes to show that a company doesn't even need to be bought up by EA to turn completely evil! lol.
What a shambles!
This whole debacle around Riders of Rohan is getting better and better.
It's really sad, but Turbine really is killing this game! There are hardly any people left in my once active guild. People have just gotten totally fed up with Turbine and left the game.
Ever since the F2P Freemium conversion, this game has gone straight downhill from a wonderful enjoyable game to a cheap horrible cash grab grindfest!
I was following along until I hit.."players who pre-ordered". When oh when will teh masses learn. Maybe with GW2, maybe.
Well had it not turned F2P it woudl have been a very dead and canceld game by now.
This have been a good conversation
why you need to boycott the game like i did at siege of mirkwood. Show them with your wallet. There isnt a game anymore its just a store thats it nothing more. They did the same thing with the last xpac made you buy the raid (i could be wrong) but i do remember hearing that with isengard to. Rohan is a joke anyways lol mounted combat 5 years in? seriously the game needed this 2 years ago in the least. Oh well another franchise down the drain. You should seriously unsub though theres no game left anymore its just a store.
lol why do you think they offering a free horse if you get 5 people to join? financial trouble you say?