Really disappointed in your customer service

rnosa5 · March 2017

Hi,

I just want to let you know that I am really disappointed in your customer service...like honestly shocked at how little you care.

I am a returning player with a founder's account so I have been around for a while.

I bought 2 name change tokens to swap some character names around on my account. Now a lot of other game companies will allow you to swap 2 names on 1 account using just 1 name change token/payment. You wanted 2 tokens which is 100% OK with me, I honestly do not mind.

I did the name change and messed up when using the tokens. I renamed the characters that I wanted to but did not apply the swap correctly so where character 1 should be called A and character 2 should be called B it is the wrong way around with character 1 called B and character 2 called A. A stupid and simple mistake made by me....no one to blame but me.

I contacted customer service immediately and the response I receive was. - You may purchase new tokens for the characters and For this situation, you would have to continue with the current items that are left for the character and if further items are needed, they would have to obtained through normal in-game methods.

I really thought you'd be a little more helpful than this. How do you normally assist with real account problems?

kreatyve · March 2017

Generally speaking, if it's completely player error, they tend to not be quite as forgiving. If you accidentally delete an item, they will replace it if you asking them kindly, but only as a 1 time courtesy.

Side note, I've played a LOT of MMOs, and have never heard of one allowing you to swap the names of 2 characters by only paying once.

rnosa5 · March 2017

Yea it was 100% player error, I returned after a few years away and wanted to swap my names around to follow the same system used in other mmos I have been playing. Took me a while to figure out how it all worked but then still messed up. So my first experience back after being afk for so long is pretty negative

And the game seems like a lot of fun but this has me feeling a bit negative.

Wow let's you swap out names using 1 purchase as long as you notify a GM before you do it so that they can replace the character you swap from with a name_number combination and this then frees up the name for you to use.

rnosa5 · March 2017

Oh and I think I asked and explained things pretty nice and kindly in my support ticket, here is the message I sent:

I bought the tokens a few minutes before opening the help ticket, literally minutes before logging the ticket.

I was planning to rename my paladin to my alt rogue's name and I did not want to lose the name I already had so I bought 2 tokens to save the other name on a lower character alt.

I then accidentally used the name on the wrong characters.

Anyway I know I can get 2 more rename tokens and do it properly without my mistake but I wanted to see if at least there is some assistance for errors like this, I mean I reported the error within a few minutes of it happening. I am just trying to see if there is some assistance available instead of me spending 4 rename tokens to get this fixed.

kreatyve · March 2017

You don't lose names in Neverwinter. Look at all the characters named Drizzt or Legolas. You just can't have 2 characters named the same thing on 1 account. But anyone else can take and make characters with your character names.

rnosa5 · March 2017

I did not know that, thanks for the info

kalina311 · March 2017

rnosa5 said:
I did not know that, thanks for the info

*sigh*

+1 for customer service Rep

george · April 2017

> @kalina311 said:
> > rnosa5 said:
> > I did not know that, thanks for the info
>
> *sigh*
>
> +1 for customer service Rep

Not really.

-- Customer Service might have explained what the player was misunderstanding.

-- Customer Service might have allowed the intended name-change without asking for more $$$.

So, -2 for Customer Service

strathkin · April 2017

Well I think anyone who plays the game know @handle is a reference to your game account, and the name before it a reference to the character which each name must be unique. This thread started as the player was upset he accidently gave the wrong name to two of his toons only because he wants them to be the same as other mmo's.

Yet if they do play other mmo's: Chances are character's don't look the same, even if they are an elf, as each game designs outfits and characters differently... Nothing wrong if that's something the player wants use the same names, but they need to be more careful when selecting them. Cryptic gave them a service they paid for, and did in fact rename the account, just as the player had indicated.

Besides what's wrong with having unique names for characters? This does not impact game play or prevent you from enjoying the game.

kreatyve · April 2017

Right. The player got exactly what they payed for. For all CS knows, the player named their characters correctly but is just trying to say they messed up, in order to get free name changes. There is no way to verify that it was an accident, and even if it were possible, it was the fault of the player and not the game, therefore they are not liable.

Unknown · April 2017

This content has been removed.

george · April 2017

> @kreatyve said:
>
> … therefore they are not liable.

America is such a litigious country. I guess it goes with all the aggression (*). Yes, indeed, in the eyes of the court Cryptic is indubitably not liable, not only because the player admitted it was his mistake, but because Cryptic no doubt has pages and pages of fine-print that protect them from every and any possible reason that anyone might want to sue them. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, like Steam and others, they have forced-arbitration and no-class-action clauses in their ToS.

All of which is completely irrelevant to making a happy playerbase.

> There is no way to verify that it was an accident…

Who cares? Every player is out to scam the company, is that it? So there's no room for "benefit-of-the-doubt," but only paranoia?

If someone establishes a pattern, or if there are signs like a 6 month delay or some such, then maybe a denial might be justified. But this guy said he immediately contacted support… so, do you really think he was trying to scam the company for that oh-so-re-marketable extra name change?

(@strathkin above you even played down the importance of having names that are aesthetically the way you like them. Not like this is a "role playing" game or anything….)

> … it was the fault of the player and not the game,

Sadly, I can tell you that even when it is the fault of the game, Cryptic support is just as obstinate.

---

(*) "The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we intend toward each other." (Frank Herbert, Dune)

demonmonger · April 2017

I accidentally deleted a stack of 99 opals before when I was drag dropping to upgrade gear old method way. Before new changes... customer service said be more careful too bad

kreatyve · April 2017

demonmonger said:
I accidentally deleted a stack of 99 opals before when I was drag dropping to upgrade gear old method way. Before new changes... customer service said be more careful too bad

I've heard stories like that go both ways. Sometimes they replace 1 single item, sometimes they won't. I don't pretend to know their criteria for replacing lost items, however in this case with the renaming tokens, I would have to agree with CS's decision.

george · April 2017

To be fair, support has replaced both Astral Diamonds and Dilithium (in STO) when they were lost due to game bugs.

Based on the limited experience of a few cases, I would *guess* that they're willing to replace currencies tied to real money (and probably log those transactions better as well), presumably because that carries more legal risk; while things related to purely in-game currencies or items are easier to blow off as not having any "real" value.

On the other hand, in both games, as with these rename tokens, they've been perfectly fine making things bought with cash or Zen inaccessible. I have to admit, my mind boggles.

Whatever's going on there, it's sad that they would make decisions based more on legal risk than proper (i.e., business/community supporting) behavior toward their players.

> @demonmonger said:
>
> I accidentally deleted a stack of 99 opals …

The thing about that is that they should have *logs* of what happened, and know that someone isn't likely to discard something as valuable as that. I've nearly discarded such things when trying to put them into refining slots as well -- apparently due to server lag not acknowledging the pickup-and-drop (and a kind of bad UI) -- so it's something they should be aware of and willing/able to compensate for. (inb4 bots: That's an entirely different problem, with different solutions….)

> @kreatyve said:
>
> Sometimes they replace 1 single item, sometimes they won't.

Well, that's another issue, isn't it? They should also be consistent, and preferably with well-publicized policies. Not that anyone really would, but at least potential players would then have the opportunity to see how much they're going to get demotivated when things go wrong.

rnosa5 · April 2017

Hi,

Nice to see a discussion going here. I am just going to give more input so people can understand why I am disappointed. All of these reasons were provided to Arc games with the hopes of them assisting me.

Me and 2 friends decided to start playing again. We've all been away for many many years so basically completely new again.

I wanted my healer to be named the same as in my previous 2 MMOs I played and to make it easier for my friends to continue calling me the same as what my nameplate says. I did not know you are showed according to account name, I thought it was per character.

So I had 2 characters in game that required a name change each. I bought a token on each character (yes I did not realise tokens is saved on account and can be used on any character, however this did not affect anything)

I then went ahead and renamed my cleric to the name I thought I wanted it and also my paladin to the name I thought.

When I then logged in I saw that the healer cleric had the name my paladin should have received and the paladin now had my cleric's intended name. All of this done due to me not getting it correct, absolutely nothing here was due to any error by Arc games at all. 100% my mistake.

It is only after I contacted customer service literally minutes after doing all of this that I felt disappointed in the customer service. They have shown 0 interest and a total lack of understanding. I am not here trying to rename other characters or anything like that, just literally swapping out the 2 names on the characters I already renamed.

The response I received was "When did you buy them? You can buy new ones in game". I explained I did it a few minutes ago. the next ticket reads "We will not have your request processed and I must continue with the current items that are left for the character and new items need to be purchased. This was the response twice more when I tried to explain that there are no items left on the character and I just wanted to swap the names out. To swap the names out will involved another 3 name change tokens (I need to replace the 2 names on the 2 characters). This means the entire process will involve 5 tokens....5 tokens just so that I can start playing the game again like I want to.

It was then escalated to the development team and over a week later after I reopened the ticket their response was "For this situation, you would have to continue with the current items that are left for the character and if further items are needed, they would have to obtained through normal in-game methods"

Maybe I am wrong and maybe everyone is out to get the most amount of money available to them. I just thought if that was me and a new player is coming back to a game that I'd try and be more understanding and assist the player so he walks away at the end of this with a positive feeling towards the game instead of negative. Yes it was my mistake....but if you purchase anything anywhere else you can walk back in and the person on the other side will more than likely look at your situation and refund, exchange or try and help you in some way....not flat out dismiss you.

edit: spelling error

Really disappointed in your customer service

Comments