So now it is Monday morning at 11:09 am, I have still had no reply from Cryptic/PWE/ARC support since Friday 00:00 31/10/2014 (The times have been converted to GMT UK) that is almost 60 hours without them responding to my ticket.
If they have basically baned my account for buy ZEN off of an officially supported online digital retailer, Steam. What can I do? what options do I have?
So now it is Monday morning at 11:09 am, I have still had no reply from Cryptic/PWE/ARC support since Friday 00:00 31/10/2014 (The times have been converted to GMT UK) that is almost 60 hours without them responding to my ticket.
If they have basically baned my account for buy ZEN off of an officially supported online digital retailer, Steam. What can I do? what options do I have?
Feel sorry for you man, at least I haven't been banned.
I've had the issue since Thursday, I'm still unable to sell ZEN for Dilithium. I received two responses though, both from separate customer support officers. Both of which provided exactly the same response which is shown below.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us! Due to your recent Zen purchase from Steam, your account has been placed on a temporary probation period, and you will be unable to use the Dilithium Exchange, or purchase unbound Zen Market items until the probation ends. We apologize for the inconvenience, but Customer Service cannot remove or alter the duration of this probation.
Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.
I've had the same problem and I'm using Arc linked with PWE, not steam. I first -noticed- it on Friday 31 October, but not sure when it actually started on my account. And I -just- bought a lifetime account on that day--only reason I was looking.
Edit: ... you think they got TRIBBLE and are doing a security check on the downlow? Their warnings sound more like they are double checking everything rather than a glitch.
I've had the same problem and I'm using Arc linked with PWE, not steam. I first -noticed- it on Friday 31 October, but not sure when it actually started on my account. And I -just- bought a lifetime account on that day--only reason I was looking.
Edit: ... you think they got TRIBBLE and are doing a security check on the downlow? Their warnings sound more like they are double checking everything rather than a glitch.
It must be a bug with lifetime membership, as so did I.
Send in a bug report and I'll do the same... hopefully, if it goes to their development team instead of customer support team, we'll have more success.
this has only happened to me since i payed for the lifetime subscription. the same has happened with my brother and we both use the Arc launcher. tis' rather annoying when you could use some dilithium
It must be a bug with lifetime membership, as so did I.
Send in a bug report and I'll do the same... hopefully, if it goes to their development team instead of customer support team, we'll have more success.
Feel sorry for you man, at least I haven't been banned.
I've had the issue since Thursday, I'm still unable to sell ZEN for Dilithium. I received two responses though, both from separate customer support officers. Both of which provided exactly the same response which is shown below.
I DIDN'T USE STEAM, I DON"T EVEN HAVE IT DOWNLOADED.
They're absolutely pathetic, never experienced such poor CS on a game before. I'm surprised they even have a userbase with that lack of support.
Wow you have had to responses, lol I have had one and that was that Generic one you got. If I was only bad from the Dilithium exchange I would be mift, but I can't even play the game and they have done nothing to contact me about it. I have been a good little customer and I have waited and waited for a response that hasn't come.
Makes me want to flood the forums with the same topic over and over until they listen and spam the ticket system with the same ticket over and over until they listen.
Wow you have had to responses, lol I have had one and that was that Generic one you got. If I was only bad from the Dilithium exchange I would be mift, but I can't even play the game and they have done nothing to contact me about it. I have been a good little customer and I have waited and waited for a response that hasn't come.
Makes me want to flood the forums with the same topic over and over until they listen and spam the ticket system with the same ticket over and over until they listen.
Feel so bad for you mean, this is awful - hard to imagine that they could be so careless. You expect CS to be more sympathetic and helpful, especially when it's their mistake...
It must be a bug with lifetime membership, as so did I.
Send in a bug report and I'll do the same... hopefully, if it goes to their development team instead of customer support team, we'll have more success.
Ok I got a reply to my ticket:
"Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
We appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you."
Sounds like a bug--still interesting that it's crossed into Steam AND Arc/PWE
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Based on the information you've provided your issue may be the result of a currently unknown gameplay bug. While we understand you would like us to be able to resolve your issue quickly, some issues require further development from departments outside our control and cannot be resolved by the CS and GM teams.
With that said, we would like to encourage you to submit a Bug Report with your findings. This may be done by clicking the question mark ("?") icon located at the lower-right area of your minimap, then selecting "Report a Bug" from the list of available help options. Do note that Bug Reports are reviewed, however, you will not be able to edit or view any reported bugs. Additionally, Bug Reports do not receive personalized responses.
In the future, to help us provide the highest quality service to our players, please use the "Report a Bug" button in the Help and Support menu, rather than "Request GM Help" when reporting possible bugs that may not require immediate intervention by a GM.
Thank you very much for your deep patience and continued patronage.
"Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
We appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you."
Sounds like a bug--still interesting that it's crossed into Steam AND Arc/PWE
I decided to contact billing instead, due to CS telling me I used steam when I didn't. Billing support, were far more useful. Although they couldn't reaolve the issue directly, their response was far more satisfying.
Hello,
Thank you for getting back and bringing this to our attention. Based on the information you've provided your issue may be the result of a currently unknown gameplay bug. While we understand you would like us to be able to resolve your issue quickly, some issues require further development from departments outside our control and cannot be resolved by the CS and GM teams.
With that said, we would like to encourage you to submit a Bug Report with your findings. This may be done by clicking the question mark ("?") icon located at the lower-right area of your minimap, then selecting "Report a Bug" from the list of available help options. Do note that Bug Reports are reviewed, however, you will not be able to edit or view any reported bugs. Additionally, Bug Reports do not receive personalized responses.
In the future, to help us provide the highest quality service to our players, please use the "Report a Bug" button in the Help and Support menu, rather than "Request GM Help" when reporting possible bugs that may not require immediate intervention by a GM.
Thank you very much for your deep patience and continued patronage.
Ok so I finally got a response over this matter and you cannot believe the response, this was my reply to them on Satuarday 11/11/2014 11:47am
Hello
I don't want to be rude here, but did you even read my question. My account has been BANNED, it has not been put on a temporary probation period. Also how is this a good business idea that if your customers buy an in game currency through a business partner of yours i.e STEAM they are treated with suspicion. This whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth. Not only have I been made to feel like a criminal, you have put my STEAM account good standing in jeopardy, banned my Star trek account for no good reason and caused me a lot of undue STRESS. As this account is a life-timer, so you would imagine losing £300+ and how much more money I have spent on this account, to wake up and find it is gone for doing nothing wrong.
I would like my account reinstated and a apology over this matter
Regards
A very pissed off My real name hidden
I have waited all weekend to play my account, I haven't been able to play the Mirror event or compete my DOFF mission or my Reputation missions, I have missed out in about 20 hours of gaming and can you guess their response can you guess how sorry they were over this matter and can you guess how much compensation they game me. This was their response.
Hello,
Thank you for your patience.
Kindly check your account so that you can see the current status of your account as no longer banned.
Should you have any other Billing concerns, please don't hesitate to shoot us an email.
We hope to see you in-game!
Unbelievable, absolutely shocking, this shows the value we are to them. Not even an apology, they couldn't even muster up a single word of "Sorry" or "we are truly regretful of this situation" nope, I mean it only took me 5-8 seconds to right that and they couldn't even do it themselves.
I would be angry but I am into much shock to even be mad. Well congrats PWE/Cryptic/ARC as someone who has spent more than £1000 on my account can you guess how much I will be spending from now on.
I agree with all you, but not the people who say there's was gone lickidy split~! BULL SHIOT!! i sent a message in and i got the same exact response as everyone it seems:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us! Due to your recent Zen purchase from Steam, your account has been placed on a temporary probation period, and you will be unable to use the Dilithium exchange, or purchase unbound Zen Market items until the probation ends. We apologize for the inconvenience, but Customer Service cannot remove or alter the duration of this probation.
Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.
Bull ****, its the same response each time, they just keep sending automated responses, makeing a purchase and it not being deliverd and then us being punsihed is not only inferiateing, BUT ILLEGAL, and trust me i will be contacting the BBB. So hurry the hell up TRIBBLE wipes and fix your damn game!
I agree with all you, but not the people who say there's was gone lickidy split~! BULL SHIOT!! i sent a message in and i got the same exact response as everyone it seems:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us! Due to your recent Zen purchase from Steam, your account has been placed on a temporary probation period, and you will be unable to use the Dilithium exchange, or purchase unbound Zen Market items until the probation ends. We apologize for the inconvenience, but Customer Service cannot remove or alter the duration of this probation.
Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.
Bull ****, its the same response each time, they just keep sending automated responses, makeing a purchase and it not being deliverd and then us being punsihed is not only inferiateing, BUT ILLEGAL, and trust me i will be contacting the BBB. So hurry the hell up TRIBBLE wipes and fix your damn game!
Thank your lucky starts you didn't get banned and then got a slap in the face response 3 days laterwithout even a simple apology.
A lot of companies responses are per-typed, however if something was done wrong on their part on your account. A simple apology would have been nice. A lot of companies do apology to insist the customers about their concerns. It's more of the matter of the customers service policies PWE has in place. I my work in customer service myself for an major company. if a customer call or e-mail us their concerns, we always start with, "We will like to take this opportunity too apologize" and then we address their concern. This is done regardless if the customer is right or wrong. You want your customers to know that you care about what is being stated to you.
A lot of companies responses are per-typed, however if something was done wrong on their part on your account. A simple apology would have been nice. A lot of companies do apology to insist the customers about their concerns. It's more of the matter of the customers service policies PWE has in place. I my work in customer service myself for an major company. if a customer call or e-mail us their concerns, we always start with, "We will like to take this opportunity too apologize" and then we address their concern. This is done regardless if the customer is right or wrong. You want your customers to know that you care about what is being stated to you.
A lot of companies responses are per-typed, however if something was done wrong on their part on your account. A simple apology would have been nice. A lot of companies do apology to insist the customers about their concerns. It's more of the matter of the customers service policies PWE has in place. I my work in customer service myself for an major company. if a customer call or e-mail us their concerns, we always start with, "We will like to take this opportunity too apologize" and then we address their concern. This is done regardless if the customer is right or wrong. You want your customers to know that you care about what is being stated to you.
You are correct in that most companies responses are pre-typed, and I roll my eyes a little when it is so obviously. However I don't blame them for having pre-typed messages, given that they probably answer lot of customer queries/tickets about roughly the same issue. It's the way the system works.
I don't however or can't stand how they didn't read my or any query correctly and fail to deal with the issue in the correct manor. Especially when their system stops me playing their game and then after a ridicules amount of time, deal with it and give me a poorly written response.
They didn't explain why I had been banned, they didn't apologize and not that I asked for it, but they didn't even offer up any kind of compensation. However it would have been nice and I would probably be signing their praises now.
Their attitude and lack of customer care pretty much sums up their opinions of us, I am not bashing them just to be an TRIBBLE. I hope they learn from this and no one will have to go through this mess that I had to suffer.
I hope they learn from this and no one will have to go through this mess that I had to suffer.
I hope the development team resolves it, as much as I want the CS team to learn from this. If the patch this week doesn't fix it it'll be really annoying.
It's not a bug. It's a new feature. You cannot trade zen, or ANYTHING you buy with zen or get from any series of actions through that zen, because they have bound it. No getting keys with it, opening lockboxes, and selling anything from the boxes. No converting to dilithium. It is irreversible and permanent on any items/zen affected.
It's not a bug. It's a new feature. You cannot trade zen, or ANYTHING you buy with zen or get from any series of actions through that zen, because they have bound it. No getting keys with it, opening lockboxes, and selling anything from the boxes. No converting to dilithium. It is irreversible and permanent on any items/zen affected.
It's not a bug, and it's not funny.
Well, if that's true then it IS still a bug, as I've never used steam ever, to purchase my ARC Zen/Packages. My purchasing has always, been directly through the Arc website.
In addition, they've already confirmed it's a bug. The anti-fraud system itself isn't a bug, but there's a bug within it affecting people that it shouldn't.
Well this anti-fraud system has buggered my Steam, I still can't buy anything off my Steam account. It will be a week now and Steam support has still not got back to me!
Well this anti-fraud system has buggered my Steam, I still can't buy anything off my Steam account. It will be a week now and Steam support has still not got back to me!
The patch notes did not mention a fix of this issue, nor did the already known list mention it.
On Thursday October 30, Star Trek Online enabled a new fraud prevention system. This system has been in place on another Cryptic game, Neverwinter, since July, where it has worked effectively. It has been enabled on STO due to increases in credit card fraud over the past several months.
What this new system does to protect all players is to temporarily change the way ZEN is treated by accounts that may be flagged for consideration in the new probation system. While we are introducing this system into STO, there is a chance that the rules may result in a false positive trigger but we have reduced the chance for that to the bare minimum. When purchasing ZEN, if an account is flagged, it puts the account into a temporary probation state for review by the system. New ZEN buyers and those with a limited purchase history may get temporarily flagged into the probation system. Once you have an established purchase history with us, the system is unlikely to trigger.
When on probation, Zen cannot be traded on the Dilithium Exchange to acquire Dilithium. Also, some purchases made in the C-Store may become bound-to-account instead of being tradable. You will get a warning dialog at the time of purchase letting you know that the purchase will be bound-to-account.
The bound-to-account status is contagious, so that if you open a Lock Box using a Master Key that has this status, everything from the Lock Box will also be bound-to-account in the same way. This contagious nature applies to anything you get from the C-Store that can be opened, and the purpose is to prevent fraudulent purchases from being traded off of the account.
The system is intended to have minimal impact on users who purchase for themselves. All purchases are bound-to-account, so you can still move the purchases between your own characters. This is only an inconvenience if you planned to purchase for later trading to other players.
If you receive the warning about a C-Store purchase being bound-to-account and do not wish to have bound items, cancel your purchase and try again the next day. The probation status is removed from your account once the financial transaction is confirmed, which can take up to 10 days. Any purchase you make after the probation status is cleared will not have the bound-to-account status added, and can be traded freely. Purchased items that become bound-to-account will permanently remain account bound, so you need to make this choice before purchasing.
Current and past users that have an established purchase history with us are less likely to have this ever trigger on their accounts so the majority of you should not see any difference when you purchase Zen and items.
Thank you for your continued support!
Aaron "Adamanteus" Biedma
Product Manager
Star Trek Online"
I sent a copy of this into my ticket as an update and got this response:
"Hello,
Thank you for getting back to us.
We appreciate your feedback. We regularly compile this information and forward it to the developers for their consideration.
All feedback should be presented on the appropriate forums. Although you may not receive a custom response from a developer, rest assured that they are reading your posts.
We appreciate your patience and continued patronage."
To me... I'm FINE with a security system actually. It's a good thing with so many companies being TRIBBLE... but I told them in my update that "surprising" us with it was the problem--assuming that's what's going on. They need to COMMUNICATE with us. So moderators, developers... if you are reading this... pay attention to that.
Comments
If they have basically baned my account for buy ZEN off of an officially supported online digital retailer, Steam. What can I do? what options do I have?
Feel sorry for you man, at least I haven't been banned.
I've had the issue since Thursday, I'm still unable to sell ZEN for Dilithium. I received two responses though, both from separate customer support officers. Both of which provided exactly the same response which is shown below.
I DIDN'T USE STEAM, I DON"T EVEN HAVE IT DOWNLOADED.
They're absolutely pathetic, never experienced such poor CS on a game before. I'm surprised they even have a userbase with that lack of support.
Edit: ... you think they got TRIBBLE and are doing a security check on the downlow? Their warnings sound more like they are double checking everything rather than a glitch.
It must be a bug with lifetime membership, as so did I.
Send in a bug report and I'll do the same... hopefully, if it goes to their development team instead of customer support team, we'll have more success.
Already sent, with a screenshot too.
Wow you have had to responses, lol I have had one and that was that Generic one you got. If I was only bad from the Dilithium exchange I would be mift, but I can't even play the game and they have done nothing to contact me about it. I have been a good little customer and I have waited and waited for a response that hasn't come.
Makes me want to flood the forums with the same topic over and over until they listen and spam the ticket system with the same ticket over and over until they listen.
Feel so bad for you mean, this is awful - hard to imagine that they could be so careless. You expect CS to be more sympathetic and helpful, especially when it's their mistake...
Ok I got a reply to my ticket:
"Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
We appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you."
Sounds like a bug--still interesting that it's crossed into Steam AND Arc/PWE
If this isn't a bug, that's quite a funny reply.
I decided to contact billing instead, due to CS telling me I used steam when I didn't. Billing support, were far more useful. Although they couldn't reaolve the issue directly, their response was far more satisfying.
I'm going to take their advice, and make a new thread in the bug report forum. I encourage everyone else to post on it too, or create their own.
Hello
I don't want to be rude here, but did you even read my question. My account has been BANNED, it has not been put on a temporary probation period. Also how is this a good business idea that if your customers buy an in game currency through a business partner of yours i.e STEAM they are treated with suspicion. This whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth. Not only have I been made to feel like a criminal, you have put my STEAM account good standing in jeopardy, banned my Star trek account for no good reason and caused me a lot of undue STRESS. As this account is a life-timer, so you would imagine losing £300+ and how much more money I have spent on this account, to wake up and find it is gone for doing nothing wrong.
I would like my account reinstated and a apology over this matter
Regards
A very pissed off My real name hidden
I have waited all weekend to play my account, I haven't been able to play the Mirror event or compete my DOFF mission or my Reputation missions, I have missed out in about 20 hours of gaming and can you guess their response can you guess how sorry they were over this matter and can you guess how much compensation they game me. This was their response.
Hello,
Thank you for your patience.
Kindly check your account so that you can see the current status of your account as no longer banned.
Should you have any other Billing concerns, please don't hesitate to shoot us an email.
We hope to see you in-game!
Unbelievable, absolutely shocking, this shows the value we are to them. Not even an apology, they couldn't even muster up a single word of "Sorry" or "we are truly regretful of this situation" nope, I mean it only took me 5-8 seconds to right that and they couldn't even do it themselves.
I would be angry but I am into much shock to even be mad. Well congrats PWE/Cryptic/ARC as someone who has spent more than £1000 on my account can you guess how much I will be spending from now on.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us! Due to your recent Zen purchase from Steam, your account has been placed on a temporary probation period, and you will be unable to use the Dilithium exchange, or purchase unbound Zen Market items until the probation ends. We apologize for the inconvenience, but Customer Service cannot remove or alter the duration of this probation.
Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.
Regards,
Ichirou
Game Master
Perfect World Entertainment
http://support.arcgames.com/
Bull ****, its the same response each time, they just keep sending automated responses, makeing a purchase and it not being deliverd and then us being punsihed is not only inferiateing, BUT ILLEGAL, and trust me i will be contacting the BBB. So hurry the hell up TRIBBLE wipes and fix your damn game!
Thank your lucky starts you didn't get banned and then got a slap in the face response 3 days laterwithout even a simple apology.
It'll be looked at quicker by the QA team if it's in this forum, at least, that's what CS said.
Agreed, you're absolutely right.
You are correct in that most companies responses are pre-typed, and I roll my eyes a little when it is so obviously. However I don't blame them for having pre-typed messages, given that they probably answer lot of customer queries/tickets about roughly the same issue. It's the way the system works.
I don't however or can't stand how they didn't read my or any query correctly and fail to deal with the issue in the correct manor. Especially when their system stops me playing their game and then after a ridicules amount of time, deal with it and give me a poorly written response.
They didn't explain why I had been banned, they didn't apologize and not that I asked for it, but they didn't even offer up any kind of compensation. However it would have been nice and I would probably be signing their praises now.
Their attitude and lack of customer care pretty much sums up their opinions of us, I am not bashing them just to be an TRIBBLE. I hope they learn from this and no one will have to go through this mess that I had to suffer.
I hope the development team resolves it, as much as I want the CS team to learn from this. If the patch this week doesn't fix it it'll be really annoying.
It'll be looked at quicker by the QA team if it's in this forum, at least, that's what CS said.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=20483851&postcount=14
It's not a bug. It's a new feature. You cannot trade zen, or ANYTHING you buy with zen or get from any series of actions through that zen, because they have bound it. No getting keys with it, opening lockboxes, and selling anything from the boxes. No converting to dilithium. It is irreversible and permanent on any items/zen affected.
It's not a bug, and it's not funny.
Well, if that's true then it IS still a bug, as I've never used steam ever, to purchase my ARC Zen/Packages. My purchasing has always, been directly through the Arc website.
In addition, they've already confirmed it's a bug. The anti-fraud system itself isn't a bug, but there's a bug within it affecting people that it shouldn't.
The patch notes did not mention a fix of this issue, nor did the already known list mention it.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/9003533-release-notes%3A-november-6th%2C-2014
Appears that when CS say it has been escalated, it hasn't been investigated as much as it should have been...
"Hello STO Players and Community.
On Thursday October 30, Star Trek Online enabled a new fraud prevention system. This system has been in place on another Cryptic game, Neverwinter, since July, where it has worked effectively. It has been enabled on STO due to increases in credit card fraud over the past several months.
What this new system does to protect all players is to temporarily change the way ZEN is treated by accounts that may be flagged for consideration in the new probation system. While we are introducing this system into STO, there is a chance that the rules may result in a false positive trigger but we have reduced the chance for that to the bare minimum. When purchasing ZEN, if an account is flagged, it puts the account into a temporary probation state for review by the system. New ZEN buyers and those with a limited purchase history may get temporarily flagged into the probation system. Once you have an established purchase history with us, the system is unlikely to trigger.
When on probation, Zen cannot be traded on the Dilithium Exchange to acquire Dilithium. Also, some purchases made in the C-Store may become bound-to-account instead of being tradable. You will get a warning dialog at the time of purchase letting you know that the purchase will be bound-to-account.
The bound-to-account status is contagious, so that if you open a Lock Box using a Master Key that has this status, everything from the Lock Box will also be bound-to-account in the same way. This contagious nature applies to anything you get from the C-Store that can be opened, and the purpose is to prevent fraudulent purchases from being traded off of the account.
The system is intended to have minimal impact on users who purchase for themselves. All purchases are bound-to-account, so you can still move the purchases between your own characters. This is only an inconvenience if you planned to purchase for later trading to other players.
If you receive the warning about a C-Store purchase being bound-to-account and do not wish to have bound items, cancel your purchase and try again the next day. The probation status is removed from your account once the financial transaction is confirmed, which can take up to 10 days. Any purchase you make after the probation status is cleared will not have the bound-to-account status added, and can be traded freely. Purchased items that become bound-to-account will permanently remain account bound, so you need to make this choice before purchasing.
Current and past users that have an established purchase history with us are less likely to have this ever trigger on their accounts so the majority of you should not see any difference when you purchase Zen and items.
Thank you for your continued support!
Aaron "Adamanteus" Biedma
Product Manager
Star Trek Online"
I sent a copy of this into my ticket as an update and got this response:
"Hello,
Thank you for getting back to us.
We appreciate your feedback. We regularly compile this information and forward it to the developers for their consideration.
All feedback should be presented on the appropriate forums. Although you may not receive a custom response from a developer, rest assured that they are reading your posts.
We appreciate your patience and continued patronage."
To me... I'm FINE with a security system actually. It's a good thing with so many companies being TRIBBLE... but I told them in my update that "surprising" us with it was the problem--assuming that's what's going on. They need to COMMUNICATE with us. So moderators, developers... if you are reading this... pay attention to that.