SOE requiring verification/call to cancel?

[Numtini]

I tried to cancel my EQ2 account today. Well actually I'm trying to cancel it now. No luck. They are now asking for where I was born? Now, I don't remember ever filling this out. But that might be because it's been six years since I created the station account for EQ. (Or was it 8 years ago for EQ's beta?)

Either way. I know where I was born and it's not accepting it, so now I'm in the void of their phone system having it reset.

Is this a new way to reduce account loss? If so, it certainly isn't having that effect on me. It's moving me from that "often incompetent and greedy but ok" to "SOE is the spawn of Satan" column.

[WayAbvPar]

I think at that point I would cancel my credit card. I would rather talk to my bank than to SOE. Let them find out next month when the bank tells them to go fuck themselves. I bet they find an easy way for you to contact them then, you walking wallet!

[Signe]

I saw another pos complaining about not being able to cancel due to it asking for the answer to their secret question and they didn't remember either.  Can't remember where I saw it though.  They had to use the telephone to cancel and the person on the other end only asked for their last name or account name and their address... or something.  Gordon and I have cancelled SOE games in the recent past and never had a problem so I guess this is a new thing.

[WayAbvPar]

I saw another pos complaining about not being able to cancel

Now, now- I don't think it is necessary to call poor Numtini a piece of shit just because she wants to cancel 


I am all full of piss and vinegar today- it is Friday and I managed to survive another week of work relatively intact. Even got a raise!

[Signe]

eek!  Sorry!  I forgot my tea!   

[WayAbvPar]

Sure...blame it on a lack of caffeine instead of a passive aggressive bash on poor Numtini!


Actually, I think a lack of caffeine beats the shit out of the Twinkie defense. It is probably still trumped by Chewbacca, however.

[Numtini]

After 20 minutes on the phone I got through to someone and got it cancelled. I also inquired about my secret question and they told me exactly the answer that I had inputted into the system before calling them. They gave me a lesson in case sensitivity, but that was the first thing I checked for.

Not at all happy. Really incredibly not happy.

That's exactly the kind of "demotivator" that SOE is so good at producing.

And I put the lack of coffee defense at the top. But honestly, I thought it was a Freudian thing where she saw SOE and the first thing that came to mind was POS.

[sarius]

I've called a CC company and banned them from charging for my SWG account I cancelled 2 months ago.  I've called back the first time they billed me after cancellation, but the second time they get the ban.  Also, I might mention that you can make reverse credit entries with VISA documenting erroneous billing that continues after cancellations, just ask them.

I'm playing EQ2, but their continuing lack of CS in billing stands as a reason that I will never use a CC again with SOE.  /rude station pass

[Venkman]

That's odd. Just last night I finally got around to cancelling my SWG subscription, using the website, and all that needed was a click on the old 'Cancel Subscription' button.

Anamoly, or changed practices?

[sarius]

That's odd. Just last night I finally got around to cancelling my SWG subscription, using the website, and all that needed was a click on the old 'Cancel Subscription' button.

Anamoly, or changed practices?

Wait for the next bill, then tell me it's cancelled.

[Llava]

Y'know, I've never once had a problem cancelling a MMG account.  It was always as simple as going to Account Options>Cancel Account>Are You Sure?

That was it.  And I never got billed for it until reactivation.

I've also never played a SOE game.  Hearing these stories is enough to make me want to keep it that way.

[vex]

Once you get pat the secret question on the EQ2 cancel then you get hit with a 27 question survey.  You can't get past this until you fill it all in.  I'd tell you what was in it but I just clicked answers.

Once you finish the survey your presented with a page of all these "did you try" things to do in game.  At the bottom of that is the cancel button.

Better than calling I guess.

[Samwise]

Still better than AOL.  My girlfriend had an AOL account before she moved in with me, upon which she had to cancel because I wouldn't let it in the house.  Cancelling AOL apparently requires that you call them and get on the phone with a real live person who will refuse to cancel your account until they've had a chance to beg and plead for half an hour to get you to reconsider.  I had to restrain myself to keep from grabbing the phone away from her and screaming threats and obscenities into it.  Cockbags of the highest order, AOL.

[Mesozoic]

Once you get pat the secret question on the EQ2 cancel then you get hit with a 27 question survey.  You can't get past this until you fill it all in.  I'd tell you what was in it but I just clicked answers.

Holy crap, thats it.  Thats why SOE makes shitty games. 

[Numtini]

I've never had a problem cancelling a SOE game before. Honestly, I am just on a WOW kick and those rarely last very long because I can't stand the solo grind. I like to group. But I'm just a little burned out on EQ2. I had every intention of coming back--until this. Maybe it's just an anomaly or it's set to require verification under some set of circumstances or randomly every X customers. But it's really annoying and it makes it far far less likely I'd resub on a whim.

I know that EA took Sims Online off of their web-cancellation system shortly after release and routed calls to a customer retention office that required one of my friends to get into an argument with them before they'd agree to cancel (SOE was at least easy). Horizons used the porno-biller i-bill and I seem to remember you had to call for that and even then it didn't work. I don't think anyone else has required a phone call.

[Nebu]

I cancelled EQ2.  They required my secret word and then proceeded to spam me with pages of crap all containing an "Are you sure you want to delete" statement.  Then they assaulted me with an exit survey. 

The whole thing pissed me off to the point that I may not subscribe to another SoE product.  I have a feeling that's not what they're after.  What's so fuckign wrong with entering an account name, a password, and hitting a cancel button?  Apparently I'm wanting too much from my games again.   

Edit: What Vex said above... with added commentary for effect.

[HaemishM]

Exit surveys are important to improving future products, provided you: 1) Listen to them, or 2) make them short enough that they don't piss the customer off.

Apparently SOE has failed on both accounts. No shock there.

[WayAbvPar]

Still better than AOL.  My girlfriend had an AOL account before she moved in with me, upon which she had to cancel because I wouldn't let it in the house.  Cancelling AOL apparently requires that you call them and get on the phone with a real live person who will refuse to cancel your account until they've had a chance to beg and plead for half an hour to get you to reconsider.  I had to restrain myself to keep from grabbing the phone away from her and screaming threats and obscenities into it.  Cockbags of the highest order, AOL.

I seem to remember going through something similar when I cancelled my AOL account about a million years ago. I actually had fun telling them (in great detail)  how incredibly inferior their product was compared to pretty much everything out there. After I ranted for a couple of minutes, the cancellation process moved right along  :-D

[Riggswolfe]

Still better than AOL.  My girlfriend had an AOL account before she moved in with me, upon which she had to cancel because I wouldn't let it in the house.  Cancelling AOL apparently requires that you call them and get on the phone with a real live person who will refuse to cancel your account until they've had a chance to beg and plead for half an hour to get you to reconsider.  I had to restrain myself to keep from grabbing the phone away from her and screaming threats and obscenities into it.  Cockbags of the highest order, AOL.

I seem to remember going through something similar when I cancelled my AOL account about a million years ago. I actually had fun telling them (in great detail)  how incredibly inferior their product was compared to pretty much everything out there. After I ranted for a couple of minutes, the cancellation process moved right along  :-D

At least one of the AOL call centers is here where I live. ( I think it might be the only one.) Noone who has ever worked there has spoken kindly about the company after leaving. I knew of people who were told to quit by their doctors before they had a heart attack from the stress.

[Polysorbate80]

Shadowbane is the only game I remember getting hit up with an exit survey on cancellation; fortunately it was easily answerable with a nice short "Fuck you!"

Still, one more reason I like to pay with gamecards when I can.  I never have to actually cancel, I just let them expire :)

The only billing mishap I've ever had was with DAoC, and that turned out to be mis-timing on my part--I'd waited until the last day and the automated billing had already gone through.  A quick email to customer service got the charge reversed, no muss no fuss.

[Lt.Dan]

Yeeesh.  Tough crowd.  You forget your place of birth - SOE's fault.  Have to click through some survey answers on a web form - SOE's fault.  The SWG stuff, well yeah, SOE's fault in more ways than one, but they did touch you in a bad place too.

But still, I like the "I'm taking my bat and ball and going home" attitude.  Keep that up.

[schild]

I think in the SW:G thread I mentioned something about an extra layer of hell for people that bitch about customer service.

[Numtini]

You forget your place of birth - SOE's fault

Not only did I not forget my place of birth, but I inputted it with the exact same punctuation and capitalization that the CSR told me was in their records.

[5150]

I cancelled my station access ok the other day with no problems, having said that it was based on my swg sub so we're not comparing like for like

[jpark]

I saw another pos complaining about not being able to cancel

Now, now- I don't think it is necessary to call poor Numtini a piece of shit just because she wants to cancel 


I am all full of piss and vinegar today- it is Friday and I managed to survive another week of work relatively intact. Even got a raise!

Gratz mate!

[Signe]

I meant the letter tea.   

[Llava]

Yeeesh.  Tough crowd.  You forget your place of birth - SOE's fault.  Have to click through some survey answers on a web form - SOE's fault.  The SWG stuff, well yeah, SOE's fault in more ways than one, but they did touch you in a bad place too.

But still, I like the "I'm taking my bat and ball and going home" attitude.  Keep that up.

I remember reading about a man who hoped he'd die being mauled by a bear.  He said this because he has noticed that people invariably try to find a way to blame the dead person for their own death, whether reasonable or not.  He figured there was no way to blame him for being mauled by a bear.

(Of course, I can think of ways.)

Anyways.  You reminded me of that.  Sure, he FORGOT HIS BIRTHPLACE, that sounds WAY more reasonable than SOE fucking up their customer service.

[Strazos]

I remember having to call EA to cancel Earth and Beyond. That was a big bag of fun.

[Numtini]

She remembered her birthplace Milford fucking Massachusetts. Goddess knows, I have had more correspondence with their town clerk's office than I ever wanted to.

The whole thing is insane and between it and Blizzard reaffirming their commitment to GLBT guilds while SOE continues to censor them, I doubt if I'll go back. That's what's called a "demotivator" and Blizzard's triumph hasn't been in giving you any particular reason to play, but in not giving you a reason to quit in disgust.

The whole thing rather irks me because I did like EQ2, I was having a good time, and I just spent money on the expansion. But I just wanted a bit of a break and was figuring I'd reup in a few weeks and save five bucks or something.

Instead it might have cost SOE a customer.

[Engels]

Hey Nums, can you tell me about how Sony censors GLBT guilds? Not that I'm surprised, but you and I remember that Coven guild on Morell Thule; did they get mistreated by Sony?

Btw, this is Tinnax/Aga from RA.

[Numtini]

OMG! well I know that Mystic Alliance (a GLBT guild--with a huge chapter on SWG)  had their recruiting posts censored on the forums within a dozen or so posts. We ended up resorting to all sorts of idiotic euphemisms including "straight friendly" (appropriate as half the guild was straight) in order to recruit.

At the same time this was going on Spectrum Blade/Rage which is my WOW guild had reached 40k reads and had maxxed out the forum software. A lot of this was pure homophobia, but Blizzard let us give as well as we got and that's all we wanted. Around the same time, Spectrum was so large we had to start deguillding alts because there's a 400? 500 limit on players in a single guild in WOW? We always got the feeling that Blizzard "got it" where SOE didn't.

It goes a lot beyond anything glbt, Blizzard seems to be far more on the gamer's mentality than SOE.

Mostly it's just another way in which SOE has pissed away customers that could have been their's. EQ2 is still twice the game that WOW is. But i'm playing WOW. Says a lot.

[Venkman]

Wait for the next bill, then tell me it's cancelled.

I've cancelled EQ1 eight times, PS three times, SWG four times, MxO once, and EQ2 once. No hiccups ever. Not saying it can't happen this time, just that I'd be very surprised if it did. Maybe I'm just that lucky.

But I sure as shit ain't going to be getting an All Access Pass either. I don't need them to mess something like up and end with charging me full subscription fees for their entire library :)

[Numtini]

For whatever it's worth, this was an all access. I was hoping to shift some unplayed alts to inactive status.

Instead I get what is it 8 or 10 per sever? And I started a new 'lock. I wish they figure out server transfers tho.

[Llava]

You know, I vaguely recall cancelling Horizons.  I think I did have to call, but I only dealt with a recording.  It was sort of irritating, but overall not too bad... and I wasn't charged again.

Though Horizons still pissed me off when they emailed me like a year later saying 'COME BACK TO HORIZONS, OMG PLAYERS CAN FLY YOU CANT DO THAT IN ANY OTHER MMG'

Um.  City of Heroes, who did it way better than you?  Shadowbane, who did it way earlier than you?  Ohhh yeah!

But, you know... I digress.

Making the cancellation process a total bitch isn't going to save you any customers.  Just makes them less likely to come back, because they don't want to have to deal with that bullshit again.  They're much more likely to decide "Fine, I just won't play again." than they are to decide "Well, I'll just have to keep my account open FOREVER."

[HaemishM]

It goes a lot beyond anything glbt, Blizzard seems to be far more on the gamer's mentality than SOE.

Don't you mean 'GAYMER' mentality, or some such shit?

And let's face it, we all know MMOG players are masochistic bitches who will take it anyway it's given to them.