The Worst Customer Service Yet~

Electro057 · August 2019

I've played many a game....

Many an MMO....

And this is the worst customer service I have had to deal with so far.

Five years of a broken feature.

Six months of fighting uphill with the customer service, who keep passing me back and forth.

Aure, forum access and Mogstation reliability isn't necessary.

But they're features of the service that I pay for, and they don't work as intended. And as a paid service that is frustrating ... And after six months of being polite and respectful, I've finally hit a point that I'm rather fed up.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/400799-Forum-Character-Broken

I'll just copy pasta the thread here too.

Electro057 · August 2019

Date & Time: Since 2015
Frequency: All the tine. It's awful.
World name: Coeurl
Character name: Zoran Asursch
Retainer name: Not a clue
NPC name: Nope
Monster name: Nope
Class/Level: Got a ton of those
Party or solo: Nope
In-game time: Nope
Area and coordinates: Nope
Housing: Nope

My main character is inaccessible on the forums to post, and has been for four years. I have brought this up repeatedly, with the Support Desk. With the GMs. With the support desk. And you always just reply like a broken chat bot that doesn't speak English.

I have put hundreds of dollars, and thousands of hours, into my main character. I would like to be able to use the forums to post about said character.

Zoran Asursch.

He isn't even listed as an option in the profile character settings pane.

All my alts are, who have posting limits.

But the character I have spent years working on isn't even there.

Do you see him?

Do you see this character?

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...racter/3272612

In this menu where you choose your character?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5mnw8p1dng...hrome.jpg?dl=0

And while you're at it, look for Naobi Glazghotsyn on Typhon.

Woah!

He doesn't exist!

Shocking.

That's because he is Zoran. And has been since Shadowbringers.

But that's not all, Naobi has been max level since ARR.

He hasn't been on Typhon since Heavensward.

I transferred him to Balmung then, and have played him consistently, having him be max level each expansion etc etc

So how bout you fix this, eh? Pretty shameful your FORUM CODE is this broken.

And so is your Mogstation, same issue there. Good Job.....

Not.

Electro057 · August 2019

It is super cool that I can post on a character that hasn't existed for five years.

But maybe fix my account so I can use the forums more than twice a year, and also so that I recieve my damn items I buy in the Mogstation? Been waiting a week now on my last purchase, it's just lost in the void. And I've checked my inbox multiple times, requested the items.... Cleaned it out of mail....

Still waiting. That's a lie, I did get haaaalf of my order. On Zoran.

Aforementioned Order apparently stuck in Amaurot's post office:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c6fj6rxw2t...Gmail.jpg?dl=0

10/10 game code. /s

So glad I gave this another chance after the disappointment that was 1.0

Y'all sure have learned your lesson and strive to deliver quality content for the price gouging you engage in.

Electro057 · August 2019

And this is me trying to get help with the customer support desk, like "Help I cannot post on the forum my character is broken!"

And your agents reply?

"Have you tried posting on the forums?"

Sorry! HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THAT. EXCEPT. I HAD TO MAKE AN ALT AND BUY A LVL 70 THING SO THAT I COULD POST BECAUSE MY PROBLEM IS LITERALLY I CANNOT POST-

Here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0was2rbqt...Gmail.jpg?dl=0

And this is me fighting an unending and excruciating battle with your inneffectual customer service, being told "It is not problem." And other such nonsense for months.

Here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6n9b6r18h...35727.jpg?dl=0

And in case for some inexplicable reason you cannot possibly take the information displayed in that image, the case references are:

9546641
9732836
9694271
11105393

Dating back to February.

hallucigenocide · August 2019

it's kind of baffling how poorly they manage these types of things.
everything is ancient and if you encounter any type of problem you better figure that shit out on your own because SE will blame it on you.

Electro057 · August 2019

hallucigenocide said:

it's kind of baffling how poorly they manage these types of things.
everything is ancient and if you encounter any type of problem you better figure that shit out on your own because SE will blame it on you.

Even worse the fanbase keeps attacking me on the forums but especially Reddit, as if I am harassing the customer service team.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX THIS WITH THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM FOR SIX MONTHS. AND THEY IGNORE ME, DISMISS ME, AND PASS ME BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.

Electro057 · August 2019

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/cnbqrw/intense_screaming/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

This entire thread is just the "wonderful welcoming community" that people always go on about, insulting me.

And so was the last I posted.

hallucigenocide · August 2019

Electro057 said:

hallucigenocide said:

it's kind of baffling how poorly they manage these types of things.
everything is ancient and if you encounter any type of problem you better figure that shit out on your own because SE will blame it on you.

Even worse the fanbase keeps attacking me on the forums but especially Reddit, as if I am harassing the customer service team.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX THIS WITH THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM FOR SIX MONTHS. AND THEY IGNORE ME, DISMISS ME, AND PASS ME BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.

yeah i know.. they're fake as shit as a community. i had to do some hardcore digging only to find out my only solution was to use a vpn or be forever plagued by constant disconnects.

Wizardry · August 2019

I am right off work,a bit tired and it has been quite some time since i dabbled in the SE setup.
Reading over what you are saying,it sounds like you did make a mistake somewhere in the registration.

Like i said it has been a long time but you have an account and needs to be a SE account,not just a FFXIV account.Then in side the SE account is where you do all the registering of games and players/accounts etc etc.
So you may have registered that player under some old account that is not being recognized as the current account.As long as your money keeps going through you would still be able to play and seemingly with no probs.So my assumption is the name you THINK is the registered forum name is likely NOT the name because the Forum setup/name is different than the SE account setup.

If i had of been on the SE account setup recently i could be more specific in help but been too long.I do know there system/design setup is as awkward as their systems used to be in the old days with FFXI and the POL login.

As to customer service there is only one painful approach,a long distance phone call of which you better hope you get an English speaking person.They will put you on hold for 15/20 maybe even 25-30 minutes,sickening i know.If you do get an English speaking rep then you should be good.always worked out for me.Don't bother with the foreign language speaking reps,they ALWAYS sound like they are reading off cue cards with very little clue about the game and setup.

The bogus reps will simply ask you more questions than they answer,it is like a whole questionnaire,then they will try and get you to fill out some form with a ton of questions but will get you NOWHERE.That is why you have to get an English speaking rep or you'll have more headaches than you can handle.

Electro057 · August 2019

Wizardry said:

I am right off work,a bit tired and it has been quite some time since i dabbled in the SE setup.
Reading over what you are saying,it sounds like you did make a mistake somewhere in the registration.

Like i said it has been a long time but you have an account and needs to be a SE account,not just a FFXIV account.Then in side the SE account is where you do all the registering of games and players/accounts etc etc.
So you may have registered that player under some old account that is not being recognized as the current account.As long as your money keeps going through you would still be able to play and seemingly with no probs.So my assumption is the name you THINK is the registered forum name is likely NOT the name because the Forum setup/name is different than the SE account setup.

If i had of been on the SE account setup recently i could be more specific in help but been too long.I do know there system/design setup is as awkward as their systems used to be in the old days with FFXI and the POL login.

As to customer service there is only one painful approach,a long distance phone call of which you better hope you get an English speaking person.They will put you on hold for 15/20 maybe even 25-30 minutes,sickening i know.If you do get an English speaking rep then you should be good.always worked out for me.Don't bother with the foreign language speaking reps,they ALWAYS sound like they are reading off cue cards with very little clue about the game and setup.

The bogus reps will simply ask you more questions than they answer,it is like a whole questionnaire,then they will try and get you to fill out some form with a ton of questions but will get you NOWHERE.That is why you have to get an English speaking rep or you'll have more headaches than you can handle.

Nah, I already went over this. I can see the all the characters on that service account but the one I am complaining about. It is the right service account. I can even see that character before he was transferred five years ago, and then race changed this year. The forum fails to update him past that point five years ago.

So, in short. No.

But I will call.

Akulas · August 2019

Yep, SE customer service gets a 0.5/10

Electro057 · August 2019

hallucigenocide said:

Electro057 said:

hallucigenocide said:

it's kind of baffling how poorly they manage these types of things.
everything is ancient and if you encounter any type of problem you better figure that shit out on your own because SE will blame it on you.

Even worse the fanbase keeps attacking me on the forums but especially Reddit, as if I am harassing the customer service team.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX THIS WITH THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM FOR SIX MONTHS. AND THEY IGNORE ME, DISMISS ME, AND PASS ME BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.

yeah i know.. they're fake as shit as a community. i had to do some hardcore digging only to find out my only solution was to use a vpn or be forever plagued by constant disconnects.

Yeah, it's.... Actually worse than WoW or LoL, or about the same. Which is hilarious cause they constantly brag in other MMOs how great the community is....

I mostly play Everquest and they constantly come around saying how welcoming and friendly their community is.

Liiiiiiike fucking heeeeelll!

It's a cult, and if you don't drink the Kool Aid they basically turn on you and insist you're not worthy of playing XD

Krimzin · August 2019

Blizzard has great customer service and a shitty game. Which is worse? Pick your battles
\

Electro057 · August 2019

Both need to be destroyed so that a new creation may yet live.

Annwyn · August 2019

Having read the comments in the forum thread, I would have to echo Elladie's message. I'm also in the customer service industry and I've seen a lot of angry players. While I always do what I can to help all players, I won't go above and beyond for players who start throwing their anger around, especially for such a minor issue as not being able to display the proper character on a forum.

In any case, I'd wager that the main reason this hasn't been solved is that they probably don't have the tools to fix it or they might have been told that the bug will be fixed at some point. Since it's such a low priority item, they're likely not in a hurry to fix it as opposed to more important issues. Game companies aren't usually keen on promising anything via their customer support branch, so they're probably giving you some steps hoping it will fix things, because that's all they can do and they can't promise anything.

Here's something that you can try if you haven't done so already: What happens if you try to change your forum character selection to another one? What happens if you create a new character in-game, and try updating your forum profile again? (I'm guessing there might be a delay for a new character to appear on the Lodestone, but I could be wrong). Either solution could force the game to update your character list possibly, but it's just a guess.

Another possible case, though this one is a rare one and you might not have access to it, but do you have any special characters anywhere on your account or forum profile? I've seen really odd cases in the past where a single special character could trip up an account system and cause some weird behaviors.

Electro057 · August 2019

Annwyn said:

Having read the comments in the forum thread, I would have to echo Elladie's message. I'm also in the customer service industry and I've seen a lot of angry players. While I always do what I can to help all players, I won't go above and beyond for players who start throwing their anger around, especially for such a minor issue as not being able to display the proper character on a forum.

In any case, I'd wager that the main reason this hasn't been solved is that they probably don't have the tools to fix it or they might have been told that the bug will be fixed at some point. Since it's such a low priority item, they're likely not in a hurry to fix it as opposed to more important issues. Game companies aren't usually keen on promising anything via their customer support branch, so they're probably giving you some steps hoping it will fix things, because that's all they can do and they can't promise anything.

Here's something that you can try if you haven't done so already: What happens if you try to change your forum character selection to another one? What happens if you create a new character in-game, and try updating your forum profile again? (I'm guessing there might be a delay for a new character to appear on the Lodestone, but I could be wrong). Either solution could force the game to update your character list possibly, but it's just a guess.

Another possible case, though this one is a rare one and you might not have access to it, but do you have any special characters anywhere on your account or forum profile? I've seen really odd cases in the past where a single special character could trip up an account system and cause some weird behaviors.

I have created many characters in the five years I have had this problem, and swapped my forum character daily almost... Nothing.

My character names contain only standard English characters.

I even made a new character six days ago, which is within the past five years I have had this issue.

I've even changed the forum selection today, and the class selection although my class selection on the affected character is frozen in 2012.

New characters act normally and as they should, it's simply my main and the character I play daily never updates no matter what I do.

No matter what PC/Year/Browser or how many times I change or log in and out.

It didn't change when I race changed. When I name changed. Or when I transferred servers three times.

It simply stopped.

Annwyn · August 2019

Electro057 said:

I have created many characters in the five years I have had this problem, and swapped my forum character daily almost... Nothing.

My character names contain only standard English characters.

I even made a new character six days ago, which is within the past five years I have had this issue.

I've even changed the forum selection today, and the class selection although my class selection on the affected character is frozen in 2012.

New characters act normally and as they should, it's simply my main and the character I play daily never updates no matter what I do.

No matter what PC/Year/Browser or how many times I change or log in and out.

It didn't change when I race changed. When I name changed. Or when I transferred servers three times.

It simply stopped.

By special characters ($#!% etc), I was mostly referring to your SE or Forum account itself, rather than your in-game characters.

As for your particular issue, my best guess at this point would probably be that they would have to manually delete your character and re-create it. I'm guessing a "copy" might not be possible or could cause whatever bug that exists to persist with the copy as well. If the copy doesn't work, they'd have to re-create your character from scratch and manually grant it every single item that you have, and possibly the retainers as well. Depending on their tools' options (or lack thereof), this could take a long while to do if they have to go over each item 1-by-1.

If they have the tools to do this, regular agents may not have the necessary permissions to do something like that. You could try requesting that your ticket be escalated, explaining (politely) all the steps you've gone through to attempt to resolve this issue, along with the potential hypothesis that I wrote above or one of your own making. With luck, that might lead to something.

DafAtRandom · August 2019

Escalate. And escalate until you're told there is no one higher that can help you. Sadly when you have to deal with people who do customer service that display the same levels of empathy as a mold-covered lug, getting at the top is the only way to get to resolution...sometimes. You've been dealing with this for a very long time, either the regular agents do not have the means and tools to help you, or they're too jaded by their job to even pretend to care.

Albatroes · August 2019

Honestly, SE has always had horrible customer services since back in the FFXI days. And honestly never deal with anything online with regards to them, always call them directly. I remember 2 bad experiences I had in my 10 years of playing FFXI back in the day. One was when my account got hacked and I had my character moved. They rolled back my character and gave me all my stuff back (which was a one time deal according to them, unless you had their security token, which I'll get into my 2nd experience), but they never refunded the 25$ for the transfer. I tried for at least 6 months getting a refund, always getting the same excuse (It is still an open issue and will take time to resolve......for at least 6 months, really....?). The 2nd time was when I bought a security token shortly after the first experience, but I was young, loved the game and dumb. I received the token (which costed 25$ at the time go figure), but it was broken upon arrival. I called them and they said they would open a ticket for another to be sent......again, months later and never got it coupled with the first issue still open, so they ended up getting 50$ out of me. To this day, I never got my refunds or the damn token. I'll always love FFXI, but SE is just a garbage company when it comes to customer service.

Xatsh · August 2019

SE sorta always have been horrible with customer service.

It is drastically improved compared to how it use to be though.

Do not need a notarized forms stating you own your account, 2 forms of IDS, Codes for every expansion to reset a password anymore. And no I am not joking on this... this was how it was back in 2007

Account was hacked as well back then. Once they actually unlocked my character it was transfered servers and of course charged me the transfer fee.

Thier response right after they agreed my account was compromised and reset the password. "We looked into the purchase of the character transfer a week ago. Based on our investigation the transfer was a legit and we cannot undo the transaction... you may transfer back to your original server in 2.5months." I threatened a charge back on the first tranfer and they said if I do that the account would be perma banned for violating ToS. So not only did I have to pay for a notarized form, wait about 2 weeks I had to eat 2 transfer fees and could not play with my guild for 3 months. Had to use a guild bank alt int he mean time.

Annwyn · August 2019

Baalzharon said:

NCsoft is still unbeatable for worst customer service. It was so bad I had to google and then I found out...

So the game I had issue with was Aion because I didn't transfer my account to their new system, so I lost all my collector's edition stuff. Except, turbine transferred accounts to a new system and I never lost my LOTRO account. So that should been a massive red flag. But Aion sounded good with the updates, and so I gave all the info of my CE edition to support (cd key, date of purchase etc etc)...

And the support pretty much said "F* you don't care"

So I googled it and found out NCsoft doesn't actually have customer support. They hired an outside company that has nothing to do with MMOs or games at all for their support and the company they hired was literally in India rofl

A lot of game companies, possibly even a large majority of them, subcontract their customer support. It's cheaper, and teams can be scaled more easily according to the needs of the game company. They're still in touch with the game company, though generally through a single point of contact that is in charge of the customer support.

Honestly, if you need to contact customer support for any video game company, chances are that you'll be dealing with a subcontractor.

As for whether the issue is with the subcontractor or the game company, well it's often 50/50. :P

Kyleran · August 2019

I commend your patience, I would have taken my business elsewhere after such aggravation, no game is that much fun.

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The Worst Customer Service Yet~

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The Worst Customer Service Yet~

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV