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Where To Go When Customer Support Fails?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Not a flame, just an honest cry for help.

What is the correct course of action to take if customer service repeatedly "hangs up" by resolving an unresolved ticket? After working with CS for over a week to try to resolve an issue regarding my 300 and 700 day veteran rewards by providing numerous pieces of evidence, they seem to have gotten tired of me and "Resolved" my ticket without actually fixing the problem.

I have attempted to open new tickets and even took screen shots of my character logs showing that the customer service records were incorrect, but they now are just "Resolving" my tickets without even acknowledging or addressing the contents.

Is there an address I can write a real letter to? Is there any way to register my displeasure with my customer service experience? Has anyone else had to go through something similar to this? I recognize that these folks must be super busy after the F2P launch, but I feel very put out by my treatment, and would like to know the appropriate course of action that I should take.

Thank you in advance for any advice or support. This has been an extremely frustrating experience and I am trying my best to work through it with a cool head, but as you might imagine it's been a challenge.

Brian
Disgruntled 700+ Day Subscriber
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Send a message to PWE_BranFlakes... he's our community rep guy, so perhaps he can help out actually getting the issue resolved... going to BBB will do nothing to get you what you want on an online game, and the nice feeling itll give you to report Cryptic will only last so long :)

    BTW, what is the issue with the veteran rewards? maybe others here are having the same issue and can help out as well
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Remember, no moderator or community manager (ie brandon) can/will answer to PM's.

    As such, if you have an official complaint about a ticket you think didn't get resolved properly, submit another ticket (I know i know but it's the only way :() to community issues to let brandon/stormy and the awesome group over there help you :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    It's ridiculously complicated, but simple at the same time.

    I never received my 300 and 700 day character slots, but I didn't realize until a few weeks after the 700 was supposed to appear. When I contacted customer support, they looked at my account and saw that I had five character slots, and said "Looks like you're wrong, you've got all five of your slots."

    In actuality, I've had five slots ever since I purchased two character slots on or around July 9th 2011. Unfortunately for me, Customer Support's records indicate that I have never purchased character slots from the C-store. Fortunately, I created my fourth and fifth characters on that day, and I have provided screen shots showing the creation dates of those two characters. I have offered to provide screen shots of my other three currently existing characters, all of which were created well before the day in question. Basically, I can prove that I had (at least) five character slots as of July 9th 2011.

    Because character slots only come in packs of two, there are only two ways for a monthly subscribed account to have exactly five character slots:

    1) They have received both 300 and 700 day veteran slots but have purchased no slots from the c-store OR
    2) They have purchased two slots from the store and have received no veteran reward slots.

    Since obviously I hadn't received my 700 day veteran reward by July 9th 2011 (I don't believe the 700 day reward actually existed at that point) - the only possibility is that I purchased slots from the C-store and had not received my 300 day slot (which I should have received approximately six months prior to that date).

    Not only did CS records indicate that I had never purchased slots from the C-store, they also initially indicated that the two characters created on July 9th 2011 had actually been created on January 7th 2012 (coincidentally the very day that my 700 day veteran rewards kicked in). In a later post, the customer support rep indicated that only one character was created on July 9th 2011, suggesting that they changed the records for one character but not the other after my initial conversation.

    They ended up giving me one character slot (out of the two they owed me) and "resolving" my ticket before I could present the aforementioned screen shots. They might think that's cool, but they basically just told me that they know something is hinky, but they're not willing to admit that I was completely correct.

    I know it sounds crazy to get this heated up over a single character slot, but I think that's what makes it so frustrating. Customer support is being very stubborn and hard headed over a purchase whose total is less than half of my monthly subscription fee! I've gone through extraordinary lengths to explain myself and provide evidence, but now I am being told, "Any further tickets regarding this issue will not be responded to."

    Hung up on. Logic denied. Honor questioned.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Askray wrote: »
    Remember, no moderator or community manager (ie brandon) can/will answer to PM's.

    As such, if you have an official complaint about a ticket you think didn't get resolved properly, submit another ticket (I know i know but it's the only way :() to community issues to let brandon/stormy and the awesome group over there help you :)

    I have done what you suggested and submitted a ticket to community issues. It was closed in the exact same fashion as my other tickets. Customer support is flat out refusing to listen to me. What kind of policy is that? Why is this awesome group not attempting to help me?

    In addition, there is another development. I have asked for and received my C-store transaction history. After adding up the credits and subtracting the debits I have found a discrepancy. Not enough to account for a missing character slot purchase, but enough to indicate that there is something not right. My current C-points should be at 473 according to the transaction history. I actually have 412. I'm not sure where the problem is occurring, but the discrepancy in the totals is just another symptom I'm sure.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    If you had purchased the slots, how many C points should you have? I see that you say you should have a certain amount (473) according to the transaction history. I'm assuming that is a record from cryptic stating how many points you accrued and how many you spent and what you spent them on. And there, at the bottom of the page, after an entire page of no character slot purchases, it says 473. When you access the cryptic store it currently shows a balance of 412. Things are hinky indeed. Lets say two slots are 200 c points. You would suspect that you would currently only have 273 points and they would owe you 2 veteran slots. A 139 point and 2 slot difference. So in conclusion with the evidence presented so far you have 139 points to many, and are short 2 character slots. You have been given one additional character slot. If you were to purchase two more slots for 200 c points you would be exactly 139 points and one character slot to the good.

    That is a BARGAIN!

    Or....is it possible there is a confusion between bridge officer slots and character slots? I no longer see an option to purchase 2 character slots, only 4. There is still an option for 2 bridge officer slots. (that is the 200 figure I grabbed) If there's a confusion between the two its likely things are spot on. Add up your bridge officers. Look for a bridge officer transaction. This would explain it and leave you with the 61 point difference to work out.

    Hope you find some satisfaction with this it does sound frustrating.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Askray wrote: »
    Remember, no moderator or community manager (ie brandon) can/will answer to PM's.

    Maybe not officially... doesnt mean they don't answer :p

    EDIT:
    Found the post I was thinking of:
    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=242848

    That was a post where Rehpic (dev) was being very helpful to people, explaining to them whether or not their calims to missing slots were valid or not... perhaps PM him pointing to this thread (not supposed to PM devs, blah blah, but never know, might get your issue resolved, Rehpic seems like a cool guy and seems like he has the access to at least see what's potentially wrong)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Thissler wrote:
    Or....is it possible there is a confusion between bridge officer slots and character slots? I no longer see an option to purchase 2 character slots, only 4. There is still an option for 2 bridge officer slots. (that is the 200 figure I grabbed) If there's a confusion between the two its likely things are spot on. Add up your bridge officers. Look for a bridge officer transaction. This would explain it and leave you with the 61 point difference to work out.

    Hope you find some satisfaction with this it does sound frustrating.

    I've never purchased bridge officer slots. I'm sure I bought those 2 character slots because they have had characters in them since July 9th 2011.

    I also got customer support to provide me with a list of my characters and their creation dates/times. According to their own list, I created my fifth character on July 9th 2011. The only, ONLY way for me to have had 5 slots on that date would have been for me to buy character slots from the C-store. If I hadn't bought any slots, the maximum number of characters I could have had at that point would have been four. (Assuming that I had actually received my 300 day veteran reward, which I had not).

    But they continue to "Resolve" my tickets without comment. "This issue has already been addressed. Further tickets pertaining to this issue will not be responded to." Ridiculous! :mad:

    Their own records show discrepancy, yet they refuse to even acknowledge that something is wrong.

    My only recourse may be the BBB link provided above. Any lawyers out there have a few minutes and want to draft a letter for me addressed to Cryptic support? :D

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Yeah I am having some trouble too. We had a few players empty our fleet account recently - some of them taking items purchased with real cash via the cryptic store. Cryptic has not responded yet to our ticket(s). I kind of want to sue those players for thieving, but not sure whether it is worth the lawyer or not to send the message.

    If you play - beware.

    They will rip you off. Latest model is to either join a fleet or start their own and recruit you and take all of your stuff.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    masseyboy wrote: »
    Yeah I am having some trouble too. We had a few players empty our fleet account recently - some of them taking items purchased with real cash via the cryptic store. Cryptic has not responded yet to our ticket(s). I kind of want to sue those players for thieving, but not sure whether it is worth the lawyer or not to send the message.

    If you play - beware.

    They will rip you off. Latest model is to either join a fleet or start their own and recruit you and take all of your stuff.

    If you're aren't the fleet leader with permissions to do so, contact your fleet leader or player with the permissions because this is what they/you need to do...

    Each tab within the fleet bank has permissions which can be set by any player with permissions. What you need to do if you're going to put items into the fleet bank from the C-Store is place them in a tab that no other player (especially at the lowest fleet rank) should have access to because you've locked that tab out.

    What I'm saying is fleet members with permission have the ability to secure the fleet bank, so legally speaking anything placed in a fleet bank tab that isn't locked is free for any fleet member to take, as that's what the fleet bank is for... sharing items, but who you share those items with is up to you.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    masseyboy wrote: »
    Yeah I am having some trouble too. We had a few players empty our fleet account recently - some of them taking items purchased with real cash via the cryptic store. Cryptic has not responded yet to our ticket(s). I kind of want to sue those players for thieving, but not sure whether it is worth the lawyer or not to send the message.

    If you play - beware.

    They will rip you off. Latest model is to either join a fleet or start their own and recruit you and take all of your stuff.

    As crappy as that is, I don't see how it's Cryptic's fault. If your fleet had things in your fleet bank and they didn't control the permissions properly to keep out new fleet members, that's really kind of your own fault. At the very least, it's the fault of the players, not Cryptic. Don't see how they could do anything for you.

    The only reason I say this is that I feel like it's problems like this that have been flooding customer support over the last couple of weeks making it very difficult for someone like me, who has a legitimate fixable problem, to be heard.

    I was (mostly) joking about the lawyer thing. Although it might be worth the fees just to see the looks on their faces.

    I'm still waiting for them to respond to my most recent ticket. Right now they appear to be ignoring it, but I'm sure they'll get around to pressing the "Resolve" button without actually reading it's contents any time now.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    Fozter wrote:
    As crappy as that is, I don't see how it's Cryptic's fault.

    Sometimes customer service isn't always defined by "fault."

    Going that extra mile to help a customer in need can generate good long term relationships and help spin some positive word of mouth advertising/testimonials for a company.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2012
    superchum wrote: »
    Sometimes customer service isn't always defined by "fault."

    Going that extra mile to help a customer in need can generate good long term relationships and help spin some positive word of mouth advertising/testimonials for a company.

    Absolutely true, but I still don't think someone robbing your fleet bank is a customer support issue.

    Having faulty account records that lead to missing character slots certainly is, and they are continuing to ignore me.

    Either way, you're right, they're not following what most businesses would consider to be good customer service policies. My entire issue could be resolved by them simply saying, "Sorry sir, you were right" and handing out the pixels they owe me. And the cash value of said pixels is actually less than half of what I pay every month to subscribe to this game.

    My wife, who doesn't play games, is astounded. "You mean they're arguing over how many imaginary slot thingies you have? Can't they just push a button and give you more?"

    From the mouths of wives.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I would like to say that after opening over a dozen tickets, mentioning an official report to the better business bureau, and sending a PM to the developer suggested in this thread, I was finally "escalated" to the "customer service lead"

    My issue was resolved. It was related to a bug that once existed allowing players to create holodeck characters on their foundry slot. After over a week of banging my head against the virtual wall, I finally got someone who knew what they were talking about.

    So, I guess the lesson here is that if customer support tells you that there's nothing more they can do and you want to talk to the boss, the best way to do that is to repeatedly re-open your ticket for about five days. That surely seems like the most cost effective way of dealing with the situation.

    I chuckle to myself thinking of the approximate labor cost of Cryptic's argument with me. Surely it cost them well more than the 5 dollars that the argument was about.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    having similar problems here too,and cryptic hides from its customers,not even a phone numer for call-in support.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I repeatedly asked if there was any way to get in touch with someone over the phone and was told that Cryptic does not offer phone support.

    Keep at it! If you have a legitimate concern and they "Resolve" your ticket without actually addressing your concern, just keep opening new tickets. After about a week of this, I finally got through to someone. Threatening to notify the better business bureau might have also helped to get my case heard.

    Persistence in the face of injustice.

    Brian
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Here is the info...
    Perfect World Entertainment Inc
    (650) 591-1211
    1001 E Hillsdale Blvd
    Foster City, CA 94404
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    and here is the number for Cryptic

    Cryptic Studios Inc
    980 University Ave
    Los Gatos, CA,
    95032-7620

    408-399-1969
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