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The Great Stipend Robbery
Valoreah
Member Posts: 75
Back in April, it would seem Cryptic made an error in rewarding double or triple the amount of Zen stipends to some customers. Myself and 3 other fleetmates did not receive any duplicated stipend, and have yet to receive any stipend since April. From the looks of it, there are quite a few other players in the same boat.
Cryptic is claiming this issue is resolved, however I can say for fact it hasn't at least in my case and that of my fleetmates. We're still waiting on at least 2 months worth of Zen stipend. I've not had this issue with CO as I've received my stipend like clockwork there. This looks to be local to STO only.
As we don't have any proper account history that tracks stipends or store purchases, we as the paying customer are essentially forced to take Cryptic's word for this. Numerous requests since the launch of the store/F2P for a proper account history have gone ignored, which is not really a surprise.
I thought this important to share as the stipend is one of the selling points for subscribing. Buyer beware.
Comments
So, a little over 1 week after submitting my billing support ticket, I received the following response from PWE support;
"Hello
As you may already be aware we experienced a technical issue with stipends in the month of April, again we apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for bearing with us. In regards to this issue some players may have been credited more than once meaning they may have received more than the allotted monthly allowance. In order to correct this we have skipped this month's stipend for the player who did receive double last month's stipend to balance out the allowance, this will also apply if you received triple and would mean you will not get another month's stipend. To simply clarify if you got 1500 stipend In April, you get no stipend this month and last month.
If you're issue does not pertain to this response, please reply back to this ticket and we will get to your ticket in the order we receive them in. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
---------------------------
Perfect World Support"Within this general response, there is no mention of my not receiving double or triple stipend in April as I know I didn't. There is nothing specific about my account, nor is there any stipend history that I had requested. I explained in my original ticket that I my Zen balance is no different now than it was in March. I did not receive any double or triple stipend allotment. I have one other fleetmate who has the same exact problem. The others have not received a reply from PWE support yet.
As you may have guessed, PWE also closed my ticket, forcing me to update and wait for a reply.
Anyone considering buying a lifetime sub or regular sub may want to think twice about doing so. I also recommend using extreme caution if buying anything from the C-Store as there is no way for you to track what items you purchased. In the event of any error, you're forced to take PWE's word for it.
Buyer beware.
PWE only tracks Zen you buy and what game you transfer it to. They won't track what you spend it on in game, nor do they have stipend tracking. If you wind up having any problem, which to be fair can happen, you've no way of defending your position. You're forced to just take their "good word" for it.
Proper account history is something that has been asked for since the inception of the C-Store. Cryptic/PWE simply buries, ignores or removes any threads/posts asking for it. I've never seen an official response as to why we can't have them. It's pretty shady if you ask me.
No matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
This question has appeared many times in STO related forums since Cryptic launched the game. Initially customers brought their concerns directly to the official forums. Cryptic forum mods have historically gone on sprees of closing/locking threads and banning users with legitimate complaints. So STO players come here to try to warn others, not only of Cryptic's heavy-handed forum moderation, but also of it's poor customer service. People often come here asking if STO is a good game and while most players agree the game has improved over time, it is not without its share of lingering issues.
And this is a lingering issue that has been around since the game launched the C-Store. Time and time again, players have requested a proper account history to show what items were purhased and when. Cryptic - and this is a Cryptic issue, not PWE - outright ignores/buries/silences these requests.
There is no denying this is intentional and is done because Cryptic doesn't want to be held accountable to any of the numerous bugs with the C-Store. In the event of an error, you have no documentation/proof other than a fleeting message that scrolls across your screen. You receive no email confirmation, no account history... nothing. You're at the mercy of Cryptic/PWE's utterly useless Customer Service department who will summarily dismiss your ticket.
Something to keep in mind for those who are considering a sub for STO.
Finally received a reply from PWE Customer Service.
Their initial response to my ticket was that I received a duplicate stipend back in April. When I asked for a specific record of when I received the duplicate stipend, they supplied me a list that shows I received triple stipend in April! Their story changes with every reply.
As expected, my ticket has since been closed by PWE. They completely ignored my questions regarding how I have the same amount of Zen on my account since March if I received additional stipend payments by accident.
This issue still continues for many subscribers, and all requests on the official forums for proper account histories go ignored as usual.
I suggest staying very far away from spending any money on Cryptic/PWE games. They're great for F2P, but definitely not worth this hassle.
Buyer beware.
I agree. While it has nothing to do with quality which is great (or I'm just biased, I like their games since CoH), their model is clearly f2p heavy.
There was a thread here on the subject, with the result of huge no to subscription. In STO you should play for free, or free with occasional Zen purchases, or (if you want the veteran stuff) with buying a lifer. Maintaining a subscription is the worst option and almost pointless
On topic of stipends, that was a well-documented (I mean they announced it, investigated, mails were sent, etc.) one-time bug, and not a common event.
For the account history... yep, it's PWE
I agree they should improve on that part. A lot.
Yes, Cryptic did report about it on the forums. The post Cryptic made is in the link I put into the OP. However, this is not a one-time bug. There are still quite a lot of customers who are not receiving their stipends, some who have NEVER received a stipend since buying a LTS etc. It's definitely not fixed. Sorry if I didn't make that clear with my previous posts.
Stuff/accidents/bugs happen no doubt. However, this one is one which IMO should be getting a lot more attention/care than it is because stipends are a selling point for buying the LTS or subbing. People should know about this issue before making a purchase decision.