Well this has certainly made me rethink about using Steam or any other service. The fact that a false flag or completely unintentional action could result in this is just disgusting.
I used Steam wallet only once, but from now on I never will. The only time I ever used it was for DC Universe Online as part of a promotion. But because I bought through Steam instead of SOE, my purchase of currency didn't actually count towards the promotion DCAU was having (was supposed to get bonus currency). The situation was eventually rectified and myself and others that paid through Steam did get our bonus currency.
Is PWE treating legit customers like criminals now? False flag reports seem to be popping up everywhere. This will not bode well for your company financially and will discourage people from further investing their money into your products. This system needs to be re-evaluated. I get that your trying to protect your products and consumers from fraud, but as always, this system is just another potentially good idea that has been horribly implemented.
I just took some time and researched this as well as talked to our customer service and billing departments.
We did not pass information of this kind over to Steam in this case. In fact, it was the other way around. Steam appears to have seen some sort of trigger that indicated potential fraudulent activity and banned your account. They then passed that information to our system that caused a temporary ban of your PWE account. Our CS team reviewed that ban and your PWE ban was actually manually removed by us on 11/3...so good news on that front.
What this means though is that Steam support is, in fact, your only recourse. Unfortunately, we do not have any influence or contact with anyone that can remove Steam account bans. So, you're going to need to work with Steam support.
Hopefully they can take a deeper look and fix the issue for you. I wish you luck for a quick resolution!
Thank you for looking into this on your end! +1 for pwe and I haven't said that often.
I have a personal rule when it comes to stores, as in physical location stores, when it comes to being treated as if I am a thief upon entering the store. I don't enter it a second time. Many of you will guess what store I mean HAHA. If I am to be treated as if I am a thief on entering this store in this game, then guess what? I won't enter it a second time - well another time after being treated such because I have bought Zen many times in the past so I should already be established. Just saying. If you want my money, don't treat me like a thief.
I just took some time and researched this as well as talked to our customer service and billing departments.
We did not pass information of this kind over to Steam in this case. In fact, it was the other way around. Steam appears to have seen some sort of trigger that indicated potential fraudulent activity and banned your account. They then passed that information to our system that caused a temporary ban of your PWE account. Our CS team reviewed that ban and your PWE ban was actually manually removed by us on 11/3...so good news on that front.
What this means though is that Steam support is, in fact, your only recourse. Unfortunately, we do not have any influence or contact with anyone that can remove Steam account bans. So, you're going to need to work with Steam support.
Hopefully they can take a deeper look and fix the issue for you. I wish you luck for a quick resolution!
I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. I have my fingers crossed that Steam realises that they stuffed up and the restore your account. My wife tells me off for keeping receipts and you are living proof of why we should.
Please keep us up to date and here's to a speedy and successful resolution.
Let me first say that I am sad to see that this happened to you.
But, Steam bans have nothing to do with PWE bans. PWE has no influence on when Steam decides to ban a Steam account. We don't ask them to do so and our bans or policies in no way transfer information like that to Steam.
So, it seems that Steam saw something in the account history that caused them to respond like that. I think the only recourse is to continue contacting Steam to get them to lift the ban.
I just took some time and researched this as well as talked to our customer service and billing departments.
We did not pass information of this kind over to Steam in this case. In fact, it was the other way around. Steam appears to have seen some sort of trigger that indicated potential fraudulent activity and banned your account. They then passed that information to our system that caused a temporary ban of your PWE account. Our CS team reviewed that ban and your PWE ban was actually manually removed by us on 11/3...so good news on that front.
What this means though is that Steam support is, in fact, your only recourse. Unfortunately, we do not have any influence or contact with anyone that can remove Steam account bans. So, you're going to need to work with Steam support.
Hopefully they can take a deeper look and fix the issue for you. I wish you luck for a quick resolution!
New Dev, I like you already. Of late there has been a trend of the Devs not engaging with the player base. You stepping in and looking in to this issue is EXACTLY the sort of thing that promotes players and Devs working towards a common goal. Already your engagement with the player base has been very visible. I hope the other players won't mind me speaking on their behalf but thank you very much. It is greatly appreciated.
When I put funds into my steam account, I just purchase the steam wallet cards from retailers, I do not use any credit card for adding funds to that account, and I still got flagged and put on probation...not sure if I've been cleared yet but.......going to make me think about making any purchases from here on out...and I am a LTS...that usually spends money in this game!!!
I can understand the pain of going through this type of issue, I had to deal with a similar issue in the past being accused of something I didnt do. It took me 2 days to get it cleared up and back on game. My experiance has really made me back off on money spending as I seen how easily it can be taken away. I've spent a lot of money on PWE games and spent way too much time playing them, and when it gets taken away when you are innocent, its disheartening. Then to not get told the exact reasons why they did what they did makes you not comfortable even playing the game the way you used to. I literally tip toed around on game for weeks because I was affraid I was doing something wrong just by playing the way I always do. I was scared to sell stuff on exchange, I was scared to do DOFF missions, I was scared to do a lot of things because I wasn't sure what I did wrong that raised the suspision. I am glad that one of the CS I emailed did finally escalate my issue up higher and get it resolved. It really sucks when something like this happens as it makes you step back a bit and become leary of spending money. I have spent money since this has happened to me but if it had not happened I know I would have spent a lot more. My spending trends on my bank account statements can show that
I have become a worried player, I haven't even joined a fleet and I feel scared to. What if someone in that fleet does bad stuff on the game and because im in same fleet I get accused or become guilty by association. So like always, I play by myself or with my girlfriend who is also fleetless. She is a worried player now also. Specially after pulling bank statements for past 3 years and adding up how much we have spent on PWE games. Eye opening! lol.
Stuff like this sucks I'm sorry you have to deal with this and hope that you get a speedy resolution. I'm glad at least from PWE's end its been cleared up and you are able to play again.
I think if you are honest and truely aren't doing bad things or fraudulent stuff then in the end things will be ok, its just getting someone to actually investigate it that can be tough.
I'm even worried about posting this and sharing my experiance and feelings.
This is extremely serious - I hope both Steam and Cryptic work out what happened and promptly before anyone else has this happen to them. I had already decided to cease spending on STO but this suggests I may have to be wary of spending on Steam until such time as the matter is resolved.
EDIT: Just noticed PWEAdamanteus' notice above which explains the situation Cryptic's end which is great news and at least sheds some light on this. We might get used to such prompt and relevant information from Cryptic, thank you!
So for those of us that were put on probation, are we going to get a notification that our probation is over..or are we going to roll the dice and hope all is fine and dandy??
OP that is one terrible cockup and you have my sympathies, it always sucks deeply when this sort of thing happens to anyone, and please keep us informed on how your dealings with Steam pan out.
I hope it gets sorted for you asap.
@ pweadamanteus: Superb, +1 from me, have a great many cookies. Your proactiveness (if that is a word) is a breath of fresh air, and as much as this particular situation sucks I know it would be of some consolation to me (were it me) that someone took the time to look into the issue and advise on action.
Bravo
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
Let me first say that I am sad to see that this happened to you.
But, Steam bans have nothing to do with PWE bans. PWE has no influence on when Steam decides to ban a Steam account. We don't ask them to do so and our bans or policies in no way transfer information like that to Steam.
So, it seems that Steam saw something in the account history that caused them to respond like that. I think the only recourse is to continue contacting Steam to get them to lift the ban.
I buy Zen through Steam on a regular basis, this kind of sours my opinion of Steam Support. It's alarming how quickly and drastically they took action that appears to be a 'false positive.'
On another note, props to pweadamanteus for taking initiative and trying to help this player. That's awesome man, glad to see PWE would intervene to try and help.
I hope Steam Support gets this fixed, losing your entire Steam account is rather drastic.
Ultimate Game Cards don't work any more either. That was one of my easiest ways to buy zen. Walgreens about 5 minutes away from where I live. I wonder if Cryptic is even worried stuff like this is happening. Its like the whole place is going down and its everyman for himself and forget everything else.
Few seconds pass.........Puts on Opening Theme Music for Final Fantasy......ah..yes. everything is better now.
Another moral never ever deal with prepaid credit cards. Fraudsters love that stuff... and using them at all opens you to this type of junk.
My suggestion stick with something like paypal... yes they get fraudsters trying to mess with things to.
I have always found them to be much easier to deal with however. They tend to be regulated more believe it or not. In general they are easier to deal with then cards bought at some retail store which opens up an entire other avenue for the jerks in the world to mess with the system.
Open a paypal link you bank account use a super strong password... and change it every month.
I have never had an issue, using paypal for pretty much anything I have ever done online.
I have opened up responses in a few other threads askign for info from anyone affected by this that is not a Steam user.
You can find these thread at the following links, and if you would like to submit your info there for me to compile with other reports, I can see what I can do to help assist.
Just for the record, but Steam hates prepaid credit cards. However they don't hate paypal. So you can avoid aaaaall of this song and dance by connecting a prepaid card to your paypal and then using your paypal account to buy stuff from steam.
That said, I really wish you the best- my suggestion is to phone their customer support. It's far easier for them to ignore an email than it is an angry/upset customer on the phone.
Get their fax address if they have one, and send them a copy of all your receipts to prove the cards are, in fact yours, and you did, in fact, authorize the relevant payments. Send then a photograph of the cards if necessary.
Something else I've run into when using prepaid, but a lot of cards recently require an extra step to be authorized to make online purchases.
It's possible that you did not activate the card for online purchases and then made a purchase through Steam. When they got the message or whatever that said your card wasn't authorized for online purchases... total fubar.
A lot of times these cards need to be activated for online purchases on their site, otherwise they only work for 'in person' purchases, or if the online payment processor doesn't... check... at the payment initialization step.
Thanks to the dev's who have taken this upon themselves to look into this matter...I am actually a little apprehensive to log into the game right now...because I am a Steam user..and have been put on probation.....hope they can figure out what the heck is going on. I have always been a clean and honest player in this game...never taken advantage of any exploits...have never ripped anybody off...have never tried to cheat the game in any way, I am a LTS, that does spend real money to support this game and company, and feel my integrity is being compromised by what is going on...if pwe/ark want people to only use them as a venue to purchase items for this game through them...just tell us now, and we can make the proper choices that we have to make. I don't want to lose the games that I have on my
steam account because of this matter!!!
.
Blitzsth...I've posted a few times on this thread several times already, and forgot to say...I am sorry for what you are going through. For all of us, I hope this gets resolved....and for you I hope you get your account with steam back. This probation TRIBBLE is just that...TRIBBLE!!! and if one party sends a red flag we know that it's like a snowball rolling down hill....hope to see you in game!!!
May I take this opportunity to say I'm glad to see you here. Regardless of how this ends, it pleases me, to no end, to see Cryptic take a more responsive role in the community. Kudos for that!
Yeah I like seeing the DEVs talking. Funny thing is that this used to be what Cryptic was known for. The DEVs for Cryptic's other game City of Heroes/Villains talked to the players ALL the time. I miss those days.
Dr. Miranda Jones: I understand, Mr. Spock. The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
Mr. Spock: And the ways our differences combine, to create meaning and beauty.
Comments
I used Steam wallet only once, but from now on I never will. The only time I ever used it was for DC Universe Online as part of a promotion. But because I bought through Steam instead of SOE, my purchase of currency didn't actually count towards the promotion DCAU was having (was supposed to get bonus currency). The situation was eventually rectified and myself and others that paid through Steam did get our bonus currency.
Is PWE treating legit customers like criminals now? False flag reports seem to be popping up everywhere. This will not bode well for your company financially and will discourage people from further investing their money into your products. This system needs to be re-evaluated. I get that your trying to protect your products and consumers from fraud, but as always, this system is just another potentially good idea that has been horribly implemented.
Thank you for looking into this on your end! +1 for pwe and I haven't said that often.
Wow. Good show on your part!
I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. I have my fingers crossed that Steam realises that they stuffed up and the restore your account. My wife tells me off for keeping receipts and you are living proof of why we should.
Please keep us up to date and here's to a speedy and successful resolution.
Now, on to these two posts...
New Dev, I like you already. Of late there has been a trend of the Devs not engaging with the player base. You stepping in and looking in to this issue is EXACTLY the sort of thing that promotes players and Devs working towards a common goal. Already your engagement with the player base has been very visible. I hope the other players won't mind me speaking on their behalf but thank you very much. It is greatly appreciated.
I can understand the pain of going through this type of issue, I had to deal with a similar issue in the past being accused of something I didnt do. It took me 2 days to get it cleared up and back on game. My experiance has really made me back off on money spending as I seen how easily it can be taken away. I've spent a lot of money on PWE games and spent way too much time playing them, and when it gets taken away when you are innocent, its disheartening. Then to not get told the exact reasons why they did what they did makes you not comfortable even playing the game the way you used to. I literally tip toed around on game for weeks because I was affraid I was doing something wrong just by playing the way I always do. I was scared to sell stuff on exchange, I was scared to do DOFF missions, I was scared to do a lot of things because I wasn't sure what I did wrong that raised the suspision. I am glad that one of the CS I emailed did finally escalate my issue up higher and get it resolved. It really sucks when something like this happens as it makes you step back a bit and become leary of spending money. I have spent money since this has happened to me but if it had not happened I know I would have spent a lot more. My spending trends on my bank account statements can show that
I have become a worried player, I haven't even joined a fleet and I feel scared to. What if someone in that fleet does bad stuff on the game and because im in same fleet I get accused or become guilty by association. So like always, I play by myself or with my girlfriend who is also fleetless. She is a worried player now also. Specially after pulling bank statements for past 3 years and adding up how much we have spent on PWE games. Eye opening! lol.
Stuff like this sucks
I think if you are honest and truely aren't doing bad things or fraudulent stuff then in the end things will be ok, its just getting someone to actually investigate it that can be tough.
I'm even worried about posting this and sharing my experiance and feelings.
EDIT: Just noticed PWEAdamanteus' notice above which explains the situation Cryptic's end which is great news and at least sheds some light on this. We might get used to such prompt and relevant information from Cryptic, thank you!
I hope it gets sorted for you asap.
@ pweadamanteus: Superb, +1 from me, have a great many cookies. Your proactiveness (if that is a word) is a breath of fresh air, and as much as this particular situation sucks I know it would be of some consolation to me (were it me) that someone took the time to look into the issue and advise on action.
Bravo
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
I haven't seen this much positive, useful interaction since Heretic and the Doffing system when it was new
Thanks for your interaction, communication and actually doing some footwork for the customer. Very cool, indeed.
+1 this !!!!!!!
I buy Zen through Steam on a regular basis, this kind of sours my opinion of Steam Support. It's alarming how quickly and drastically they took action that appears to be a 'false positive.'
On another note, props to pweadamanteus for taking initiative and trying to help this player. That's awesome man, glad to see PWE would intervene to try and help.
I hope Steam Support gets this fixed, losing your entire Steam account is rather drastic.
Few seconds pass.........Puts on Opening Theme Music for Final Fantasy......ah..yes. everything is better now.
My suggestion stick with something like paypal... yes they get fraudsters trying to mess with things to.
I have always found them to be much easier to deal with however. They tend to be regulated more believe it or not. In general they are easier to deal with then cards bought at some retail store which opens up an entire other avenue for the jerks in the world to mess with the system.
Open a paypal link you bank account use a super strong password... and change it every month.
I have never had an issue, using paypal for pretty much anything I have ever done online.
You can find these thread at the following links, and if you would like to submit your info there for me to compile with other reports, I can see what I can do to help assist.
Thanks for your patience everyone!
~CaptainSmirk
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1285161
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=20522271#post20522271
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1282281
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1283371
Congrats, man. That was a really good way to handle things. Two thumbs way up.
Even though it ain't over yet....hopefully 'twill be resolved amicably
Two devs in one thread?...uncanny!
That said, I really wish you the best- my suggestion is to phone their customer support. It's far easier for them to ignore an email than it is an angry/upset customer on the phone.
Get their fax address if they have one, and send them a copy of all your receipts to prove the cards are, in fact yours, and you did, in fact, authorize the relevant payments. Send then a photograph of the cards if necessary.
Something else I've run into when using prepaid, but a lot of cards recently require an extra step to be authorized to make online purchases.
It's possible that you did not activate the card for online purchases and then made a purchase through Steam. When they got the message or whatever that said your card wasn't authorized for online purchases... total fubar.
A lot of times these cards need to be activated for online purchases on their site, otherwise they only work for 'in person' purchases, or if the online payment processor doesn't... check... at the payment initialization step.
That's something else for you to look into.
steam account because of this matter!!!
.
Things like that make me feel better about playing. ^_^
Wait, that was supposed to be the other way around! PWE is supposed to suck, and STEAM rules! Mirror Universe indeed! :P
pweadamanteus' first real performance was exemplary!
P.S. Scary thought, indeed, that you can lose all your STEAM games like that on a whim.
Yeah I like seeing the DEVs talking. Funny thing is that this used to be what Cryptic was known for. The DEVs for Cryptic's other game City of Heroes/Villains talked to the players ALL the time. I miss those days.
Mr. Spock: And the ways our differences combine, to create meaning and beauty.
-Star Trek: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968)
Now THATS is what I call support. Bravo! I'm seriously impressed by your actions