OK, this is interesting. I still haven't received my stipen for May or June (I never received extra on April). I have a life time account which I pre-ordered along with my collectors edition. My friend, who purchased a life-time at the same time, has been getting his stipen. The only difference? He purchased a regular copy of STO, not the collectors edition.
Is it possible that our "Collectors Edition" is what is blocking us from our stipen?
I preordered STO in 2009, registered the Collectors Edition in Jan 2010. It's the only registration key I've ever had. My May stipend was late, I filed a ticket, and got it about a week later. My date reverted to the correct date for the June and July stipends.
So, possibly it's a contributor, maybe if there are other editions registered as well (?) but it does not seem to affect ALL CE holders.
Although this has not affected me, I find it incomprehensible that this issue still exists for so many people.
(side note-may or may not have anything to do with it) Believe it or not, I had never used the dilithium exchange until August 2012. I started tracking all my Zen transactions back in Dec 2012, because I thought things didn't look right with my balance after doing a couple of transactions.
After looking through the transaction logs and realizing that there was no entry - anywhere - for the stipends, I started tracking my balance along with all other transactions. This game is already such a job with the grinding and such, I'm completely frustrated that I have to add accounting to list.
Aliella Hawklight, Divine Oracle Devoted Cleric "Whenever a time arises where clarity is desired, it is always wise to reflect on the sage within." ― Sereda Aleta Dailey
DaiMon Moogie, U.S.S. Acquisition
Rule of Acquisition #57: Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them. STO LTS since launch; NW player since 2014; ARC user - only when I have to put in codes for free stuff
Yeah F2P guys got LoR...since the season 7 launch lifers get screwed. I got the memo. Brandon I KNOW you don't work on issues you are just the face we see. Our liason if you will....
To add insult to injury I had to file a bug report because my toon cannot now pick up rewards from the battlefield space or ground. That means I did STFS and could not collect the rewards. Sorry if this sounds suspicious but the timing is as bad as it looks.....
So to recap....
No Zen
Missing mail
Missing "Bound" Purple Doffs [AWOL]
Missing Items from my account
Nukura Rep says no projects available [can't grind there]
Now my rewards cannot be picked up... [NO BORG NEURAL PROCESSORS] which means no Omega reputation can be completed.
Oh yes the Zen store won't let me buy any Zen either...
Oh yeah I have a mystery ship showing up in my inventory named STEVE but when I click on it it disappears.
Is Cryptic being run by the "White House"? That is the only other incompetent body capable of having so much go so wrong so quickly and not give any updates or say I'm sorry or anything.
What happened to the good old days when all I had to worry about was getting ganked on the respawn in Kerrat by a bunch of cowardly klingons?
i subbmitted about 4 tickets about not receiving stipend for nearly a year. They tried telling me it was approved and that it was corrected and that i did get my monthly stipend. So they are basically calling me a liar. Well thankyou very friggin much perfectworld, im not a friggin liar, you go thru my account crunch the numbers, work out what YOU have actually given me, and what I have actually brought, to which you will see it does not add up. And then you close the ticket, well thanks for shafting me for the past year:mad:
I believe God created the universe, because he knew we wanted to explore. So, he made us a playground...
i subbmitted about 4 tickets about not receiving stipend for nearly a year. They tried telling me it was approved and that it was corrected and that i did get my monthly stipend. So they are basically calling me a liar. Well thankyou very friggin much perfectworld, im not a friggin liar, you go thru my account crunch the numbers, work out what YOU have actually given me, and what I have actually brought, to which you will see it does not add up. And then you close the ticket, well thanks for shafting me for the past year:mad:
I am in a similar situation. PWE is not responding to my tickets. I have been unable to find a resolution to my issues. PWE does not seem to be interested in fixing the multitude of issues plaguing customers. We are dealing with real money and value exchanging or not exchanging hands. I have been advised that this is turning into a legal matter of the class action variety.
PWE knows the right thing to do and makes more than enough money to fix this issue for it's customers. They CHOOSE not to correct it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Help rebuild the Romulan Star Empire to glory. Click the banner to join today.
I baught the Leagcy pack... so I spent a lot of money AGAIN
and in reward I'm not getting the zen from my lifetime sub? which costed a lot of money too??
I just got my final reply from PWE regarding this issue, apparently it's working as intended and I got my zen (could have fooled me) and the ticket is now closed. It looked like a form letter so I rather imagine some other people received the same curt response.
So, possibly it's a contributor, maybe if there are other editions registered as well (?) but it does not seem to affect ALL CE holders.
Well if it helps to identify the problem, this is what I have listed in my "Activated Features" section:
Star Trek Online Public Test Shard
Star Trek Online - Preorder
Star Trek Online - Digital Collectors Edition
Star Trek Online - Collector's Edition
Star Trek Online Lifetime Subscription
I just got my final reply from PWE regarding this issue, apparently it's working as intended and I got my zen (could have fooled me) and the ticket is now closed. It looked like a form letter so I rather imagine some other people received the same curt response.
Curt is not the word I'm looking for...
I think i got the same form letter like you. No real response to my question, only auto generated standart text.
Okay, PWE don't want me any more as an customer of there games? No problem, your wish is my order.
I just got my final reply from PWE regarding this issue, apparently it's working as intended and I got my zen (could have fooled me) and the ticket is now closed. It looked like a form letter so I rather imagine some other people received the same curt response.
Curt is not the word I'm looking for...
I would replace the r myself....
I also got my final reply today which even though they admitted that they made a mistake and were awarding me the Zen, they weren't going to.
Ticket forcibly closed and told not to make another one because they basically don't care.
I find this kind of response seriously out of order and I will be making representations about this. I have a legitimate complaint and so to not answer it and tell me to FO is out of line considering how calm and polite I consider it was despite being spoon fed lie after lie.
I want to be able to make a complaint about this service because this has been brushed under the carpet. I wonder if community champion Branflakes will be able to facilitate this as CS certainly weren't able to respond in a helpful manner even though I very politely asked to have the matter elevated in whatever complaints procedure they have as a company.
I shall be informing other players of this in game and outside it. This is an outrage, it really is.
Still waiting for that stipend....
Ah well lets see if I will get this months, maybe I'm wrong and I did get it in may... (which I don't think btw since I remember having wondered about my balance back then, and a fleet member explained to me that I will get the next one in june...)
So if I don't get it in July something is definitely wrong...
You received the same form letter that I did. I too am a lifetime subscriber and a 1268 day vet at that. I've never paid much attention to the whole zen thing until recently and now I'm wondering if this has happened before. More importantly to PWE's bottom line, I'm not confident enough to actually buy any zen at this point.
I know somewhere is a gm sitting on his fat butt stuffing his face with food laughing at the "Whiny Lifers". They either have ignored us or simply do not care and think they are untouchable. In the TOS it says that we cannot hold them responsible for thier product. That may be the case in a civil court.... but it is a whole different matter in a Criminal court. In a court of law it would be quite easy to prove that they being PWE/Cryptic have indeed comitted Fraud by Theft of Services.
Now should it come to a criminal court thier legal team will scramble to say zen has no monetary value... but they forget the $300.00 we shelled out to get the lifetime service. That specifically stated a monthly stipend a "Quid Pro Quo" [This For That]. They also forget that they can and will be held liable for the actions of the employees which are felonious in nature. The Attorney General of the United States would love to find an excuse to shut down a Chinese owned company defrauding US Citizens under the guise of Anti-Terrorism laws. Then the President could say you have a worse rating than him and that is hard to do.
Under Star Fleet General Order 6 a Star Trek Captain would rather lose his ship and crew than to loose some evil on the universe. I think the time for Auto-Self Destruct has started countdown commencing....
Oh and Vucans never bluff.... Your Move PWE/Cryptic.
I don't know that general incompetence qualifies as criminal intent. I'm much more inclined to believe that they don't know what they're doing than that they're doing it wrong on purpose.
There needs to be some transparency in the stipend system where customers can see what they're supposed to get and when without resorting to contacting customer service every time something doesn't look right.
PWE : "You received a double stipend"
Customer : "No, I didn't"
PWE : "Yes, you did. Trust us"
Went more like this for me.
PWE : "You received a double stipend"
Customer : "No, I didn't"
PWE : "Yes, you did. Here's the proof!"
Customer: "Wait a minute, you proved my point. See. Give me my stipend."
PWE: "Oh er um.... Go away there was no problem, ever. I'm not listening allalalalaalala"
Copied and pasted the entire transcript to the BBB for them to look at.
Agreed. However, I'm convinced PWE has no intention of adding anything that provides any transparency or accountability. It's simply easier for them to keep the advantage in their favor in case of any issues.
PWE : "You received a double stipend"
Customer : "No, I didn't"
PWE : "Yes, you did. Trust us"
Case closed.
Were we to have a proper purchase and account history, we would have at least some documentation to help our position. Right now, we have nothing and that's the way PWE wants to keep it.
Thought about putting a petition on the White House page and linking it here hee hee jk.
There needs to be a consolidated ledger for review.
PvE Jem'Hadar motto:Participation Ribbonsare life.
*If you're a monthly gold subscriber, it comes in on or around 30-days past the day when your bank last hard posted the subscription charge (moved from pending to posted). This can happen at anytime during the day. Lifetime subscribers (who have been subscribed for at least 30-days), will get it on or around the day of the month when your bank hard posted the original lifetime subscription charge (moved from pending to posted).
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
So basically, your Stipend is paid to you in arrears. You subscribe for a month and then get it. Like going to work and getting paid the following month. This makes sense.
However, Billing seem to have a different story. They seem to be presenting the idea that you get paid your stipend when you subscribe. So they are counting the month in which you subscribe as the month you get your stipend. (This would also explain the issue with some double payments.)
My last payment went out of my account in March to cover the next three months of subscription. Now if what Branflakes says is correct my payment in March covers April, May and June, which would explain the missing month of stipend.
So Billing have two problems, some people have received it twice and they aren't properly accounting for the arrears payments they should be making with regard to the stipend.
This is not including the additional month of time I should have got for adding the collectors addition to my account, which would mean that I should receive a final payment in July when my subscription ends.
It's all academic now since the BBB are looking into it for me. But I suspect that this is the cause. If I am wrong about this, please someone correct me. (Particularly Branflakes, because I know you are watching this thread. )
EDIT: 5 minutes after mailing this to CS, I got 500 Zen in my account. FULL OF WIN!
You can complain to the BBB all you want, it won't make any difference to Cryptic or PWE. Cryptic has outright lied to us since STO's release and has been anything but apologetic about it. If it were an honest error, it was still on their part and any normal and ethical company would have written it off. As it stands Cryptic and PWE are penny-pinching, miserly, and mean and will do anything short of actual homicide (I think) to increase their profit margins.
I have no problems with the concept of "all the traffic will bear" but without the second part of that addage "... but don't make the mark anemic" it only sheds uncomfortable light on the utter lack of business (or indeed personal) ethics of both the company and its employees.
And yet they wonder why people get up in arms about minor annoyances that crop up in their events. The reason is that the events don't seem so altruistic when all they actually serve to do is to throw the company's ethics and disdain for their customers into sharp relief.
I really do think some kind of journal or record is needed so that players can verify for themselves that they are getting the Zen they should be getting. I have an LTS, and I got an email telling me about the new Scimitar ships, and I said to myself 'last time I logged in, I seem to remember that I had 4000 and something Zen. That was several weeks ago, so I may be able to get the bundle pack from my stipend.' I just logged in, and I had 4200 Zen. I have no way of determining whether it is, in fact, the case I have not had a stipend or two I should have had (and, if so, it actually raises the possibility of missing past stipends without realising it), or whether it's due to me misremembering when I last logged in, so I'm not actually due any more stipends, or misremembering how much Zen I had when I last logged in, or something else entirely. Frankly, I have no real desire to go through the palaver of finding out, so, instead of this being me getting enticed back to the game by the Scimitar ships, and maybe generating some revenue by being enticed into Z-Store purchases, this is me actually getting driven away from the game again straight away by the headache of trying to work out whether I'm actually missing Zen or not.
OK I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I am now 31 days past my last stipend payment, but my balance is unchanged.
Ticket logged. I signed up for LTS last month, and got the first stipend the following day. I know exactly how much Zen I started with. They cannot say they "overpaid" me in prior months, since before last month I was FTP.
I should not have to watch them like a hawk to get what I paid for. I play this game for fun, not to deal with BS support issues. Not a happy camper. :mad:
OK I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I am now 31 days past my last stipend payment, but my balance is unchanged.
Ticket logged. I signed up for LTS last month, and got the first stipend the following day. I know exactly how much Zen I started with. They cannot say they "overpaid" me in prior months, since before last month I was FTP.
I should not have to watch them like a hawk to get what I paid for. I play this game for fun, not to deal with BS support issues. Not a happy camper. :mad:
I think that using Ockham's Razor that the simplest answer is the correct answer, they found a way to shave some money from an accounting error and simply decided to not give out our stipends for a few months in the hope that we would just buy the zen. It probably started out as an "honest" error and instead of taking responsibility, they took advantage. PWE doesn't understand the concepts of honesty and accountability when it isn't in their favor and since they hold all the cards and all of the power, they get to decide right and wrong with their own skewed ideas of business ethics.
By the way, you have to watch all game companies like a hawk, they will take full advantage every single time, PWE is not unique, they are just the least competent at stealing money without getting caught in the act.
I think that using Ockham's Razor that the simplest answer is the correct answer, they found a way to shave some money from an accounting error and simply decided to not give out our stipends for a few months in the hope that we would just buy the zen. It probably started out as an "honest" error and instead of taking responsibility, they took advantage. PWE doesn't understand the concepts of honesty and accountability when it isn't in their favor and since they hold all the cards and all of the power, they get to decide right and wrong with their own skewed ideas of business ethics.
By the way, you have to watch all game companies like a hawk, they will take full advantage every single time, PWE is not unique, they are just the least competent at stealing money without getting caught in the act.
Which means they knowingly are engaged in criminal behavior which can and should be prosecuted in a court of law. I cannot believe thier legal team is allowing this behavior to continue considering thier precarious position. I am wondering if they are Pakleds calling the shots over there or if they simply believe because they are in a foriegn country they are untouchable. Well they are in the wrong... we have waited long enough action is required.
No subscription fee: Play without a monthly fee forever!
The Liberated Borg character species: Play as an escaped member of the Hivemind.
The Captain's Table - A special area restricted to lifetime subscribers and longtime STO veterans.
Exclusive costume option - An insignia available only to lifetime subscribers. Just visit a tailor in-game to add it to your current captain.
"Career Officer" title - Show off that you're committed to Starfleet, the KDF, or the Romulan Republic for the duration.
Forum goodies - Change the color of your username and show off a special title.
(NEW!) Instant access to all Veteran Rewards!**NOTE**
No mention of monthly stipends
This is what is written under the STO lifetime offer now. It is my position they are trying to run off the lifers that have the zen stipend or just out and out not give it to them even thopugh the contract was for the stipend.
Which means they knowingly are engaged in criminal behavior which can and should be prosecuted in a court of law. I cannot believe thier legal team is allowing this behavior to continue considering thier precarious position. I am wondering if they are Pakleds calling the shots over there or if they simply believe because they are in a foriegn country they are untouchable. Well they are in the wrong... we have waited long enough action is required.
Like I said before, it's not just them. There is no oversight in the industry whatsoever in the US and filing charges would just appear to be petty to any of the attorney general's offices but if they actually received enough complaints, the states would have to act upon them. The TOS cannot possibly be bulletproof and nobody has even tested EULAs in a court of law though everyone seems to think they can't stand up to scrutiny. Game companies are currently working in a legal vacuum which gives them license to pretty much do whatever they want to.
They aren't Pakleds, they're Ferengi, they just aren't really all that competent at TRIBBLE over their customers, but it doesn't mean they aren't going to try.
No subscription fee: Play without a monthly fee forever!
The Liberated Borg character species: Play as an escaped member of the Hivemind.
The Captain's Table - A special area restricted to lifetime subscribers and longtime STO veterans.
Exclusive costume option - An insignia available only to lifetime subscribers. Just visit a tailor in-game to add it to your current captain.
"Career Officer" title - Show off that you're committed to Starfleet, the KDF, or the Romulan Republic for the duration.
Forum goodies - Change the color of your username and show off a special title.
(NEW!) Instant access to all Veteran Rewards!**NOTE**
No mention of monthly stipends
This is what is written under the STO lifetime offer now. It is my position they are trying to run off the lifers that have the zen stipend or just out and out not give it to them even thopugh the contract was for the stipend.
The stipend is still listed on there, so I'm going by Hanlon's Razor, and attributing this to incompetence, not malice.
I agree that it probably started out as incompetence but I do question if it has turned into malice. I have tried repeatedly to get proof that my stipends being paid out is accurate but all I get is the old "working as intended" TRIBBLE. Incompetence doesn't excuse the fact that the stipends are still being held back and we lifetimers have even less of a record than those that pay monthly. Prior experience with both PWE and Cryptic has shown us all that they have no problems lying directly to us as it's convenient for them to do so. They have been anything but honest with their customers at least since STO's release and since the old forums are now dead and buried, I don't think we even have a way to look those up anymore.
I am tired of being treated with this level of disdain by the people I paid for my game and for my LTS and I feel that we are all deserving of far more respect as the people that pay the bills in their little California hideaway.
Comments
I preordered STO in 2009, registered the Collectors Edition in Jan 2010. It's the only registration key I've ever had. My May stipend was late, I filed a ticket, and got it about a week later. My date reverted to the correct date for the June and July stipends.
So, possibly it's a contributor, maybe if there are other editions registered as well (?) but it does not seem to affect ALL CE holders.
Although this has not affected me, I find it incomprehensible that this issue still exists for so many people.
(side note-may or may not have anything to do with it) Believe it or not, I had never used the dilithium exchange until August 2012. I started tracking all my Zen transactions back in Dec 2012, because I thought things didn't look right with my balance after doing a couple of transactions.
After looking through the transaction logs and realizing that there was no entry - anywhere - for the stipends, I started tracking my balance along with all other transactions. This game is already such a job with the grinding and such, I'm completely frustrated that I have to add accounting to list.
Aliella Hawklight, Divine Oracle Devoted Cleric
"Whenever a time arises where clarity is desired, it is always wise to reflect on the sage within."
― Sereda Aleta Dailey
DaiMon Moogie, U.S.S. Acquisition
Rule of Acquisition #57: Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.
STO LTS since launch; NW player since 2014; ARC user - only when I have to put in codes for free stuff
To add insult to injury I had to file a bug report because my toon cannot now pick up rewards from the battlefield space or ground. That means I did STFS and could not collect the rewards. Sorry if this sounds suspicious but the timing is as bad as it looks.....
So to recap....
No Zen
Missing mail
Missing "Bound" Purple Doffs [AWOL]
Missing Items from my account
Nukura Rep says no projects available [can't grind there]
Now my rewards cannot be picked up... [NO BORG NEURAL PROCESSORS] which means no Omega reputation can be completed.
Oh yes the Zen store won't let me buy any Zen either...
Oh yeah I have a mystery ship showing up in my inventory named STEVE but when I click on it it disappears.
Is Cryptic being run by the "White House"? That is the only other incompetent body capable of having so much go so wrong so quickly and not give any updates or say I'm sorry or anything.
What happened to the good old days when all I had to worry about was getting ganked on the respawn in Kerrat by a bunch of cowardly klingons?
I am in a similar situation. PWE is not responding to my tickets. I have been unable to find a resolution to my issues. PWE does not seem to be interested in fixing the multitude of issues plaguing customers. We are dealing with real money and value exchanging or not exchanging hands. I have been advised that this is turning into a legal matter of the class action variety.
PWE knows the right thing to do and makes more than enough money to fix this issue for it's customers. They CHOOSE not to correct it.
Help rebuild the Romulan Star Empire to glory. Click the banner to join today.
and in reward I'm not getting the zen from my lifetime sub? which costed a lot of money too??
WTF?
Curt is not the word I'm looking for...
Well if it helps to identify the problem, this is what I have listed in my "Activated Features" section:
Star Trek Online Public Test Shard
Star Trek Online - Preorder
Star Trek Online - Digital Collectors Edition
Star Trek Online - Collector's Edition
Star Trek Online Lifetime Subscription
I think i got the same form letter like you. No real response to my question, only auto generated standart text.
Okay, PWE don't want me any more as an customer of there games? No problem, your wish is my order.
I would replace the r myself....
I also got my final reply today which even though they admitted that they made a mistake and were awarding me the Zen, they weren't going to.
Ticket forcibly closed and told not to make another one because they basically don't care.
I find this kind of response seriously out of order and I will be making representations about this. I have a legitimate complaint and so to not answer it and tell me to FO is out of line considering how calm and polite I consider it was despite being spoon fed lie after lie.
I want to be able to make a complaint about this service because this has been brushed under the carpet. I wonder if community champion Branflakes will be able to facilitate this as CS certainly weren't able to respond in a helpful manner even though I very politely asked to have the matter elevated in whatever complaints procedure they have as a company.
I shall be informing other players of this in game and outside it. This is an outrage, it really is.
Ah well lets see if I will get this months, maybe I'm wrong and I did get it in may... (which I don't think btw since I remember having wondered about my balance back then, and a fleet member explained to me that I will get the next one in june...)
So if I don't get it in July something is definitely wrong...
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Perfect World Entertainment Community Rules and Policies . ~BranFlakes
Exactly.
You received the same form letter that I did. I too am a lifetime subscriber and a 1268 day vet at that. I've never paid much attention to the whole zen thing until recently and now I'm wondering if this has happened before. More importantly to PWE's bottom line, I'm not confident enough to actually buy any zen at this point.
Now should it come to a criminal court thier legal team will scramble to say zen has no monetary value... but they forget the $300.00 we shelled out to get the lifetime service. That specifically stated a monthly stipend a "Quid Pro Quo" [This For That]. They also forget that they can and will be held liable for the actions of the employees which are felonious in nature. The Attorney General of the United States would love to find an excuse to shut down a Chinese owned company defrauding US Citizens under the guise of Anti-Terrorism laws. Then the President could say you have a worse rating than him and that is hard to do.
Under Star Fleet General Order 6 a Star Trek Captain would rather lose his ship and crew than to loose some evil on the universe. I think the time for Auto-Self Destruct has started countdown commencing....
Oh and Vucans never bluff.... Your Move PWE/Cryptic.
There needs to be some transparency in the stipend system where customers can see what they're supposed to get and when without resorting to contacting customer service every time something doesn't look right.
Went more like this for me.
PWE : "You received a double stipend"
Customer : "No, I didn't"
PWE : "Yes, you did. Here's the proof!"
Customer: "Wait a minute, you proved my point. See. Give me my stipend."
PWE: "Oh er um.... Go away there was no problem, ever. I'm not listening allalalalaalala"
Copied and pasted the entire transcript to the BBB for them to look at.
At least these posts are getting read even if nothing is done about it....
Thought about putting a petition on the White House page and linking it here hee hee jk.
There needs to be a consolidated ledger for review.
So basically, your Stipend is paid to you in arrears. You subscribe for a month and then get it. Like going to work and getting paid the following month. This makes sense.
However, Billing seem to have a different story. They seem to be presenting the idea that you get paid your stipend when you subscribe. So they are counting the month in which you subscribe as the month you get your stipend. (This would also explain the issue with some double payments.)
My last payment went out of my account in March to cover the next three months of subscription. Now if what Branflakes says is correct my payment in March covers April, May and June, which would explain the missing month of stipend.
So Billing have two problems, some people have received it twice and they aren't properly accounting for the arrears payments they should be making with regard to the stipend.
This is not including the additional month of time I should have got for adding the collectors addition to my account, which would mean that I should receive a final payment in July when my subscription ends.
It's all academic now since the BBB are looking into it for me. But I suspect that this is the cause. If I am wrong about this, please someone correct me. (Particularly Branflakes, because I know you are watching this thread.
EDIT: 5 minutes after mailing this to CS, I got 500 Zen in my account. FULL OF WIN!
OK, so we have to complain to the BBB to get this resolved and tell CS that we're doing it? Sheesh.
I have no problems with the concept of "all the traffic will bear" but without the second part of that addage "... but don't make the mark anemic" it only sheds uncomfortable light on the utter lack of business (or indeed personal) ethics of both the company and its employees.
And yet they wonder why people get up in arms about minor annoyances that crop up in their events. The reason is that the events don't seem so altruistic when all they actually serve to do is to throw the company's ethics and disdain for their customers into sharp relief.
Ticket logged. I signed up for LTS last month, and got the first stipend the following day. I know exactly how much Zen I started with. They cannot say they "overpaid" me in prior months, since before last month I was FTP.
I should not have to watch them like a hawk to get what I paid for. I play this game for fun, not to deal with BS support issues. Not a happy camper. :mad:
I think that using Ockham's Razor that the simplest answer is the correct answer, they found a way to shave some money from an accounting error and simply decided to not give out our stipends for a few months in the hope that we would just buy the zen. It probably started out as an "honest" error and instead of taking responsibility, they took advantage. PWE doesn't understand the concepts of honesty and accountability when it isn't in their favor and since they hold all the cards and all of the power, they get to decide right and wrong with their own skewed ideas of business ethics.
By the way, you have to watch all game companies like a hawk, they will take full advantage every single time, PWE is not unique, they are just the least competent at stealing money without getting caught in the act.
Which means they knowingly are engaged in criminal behavior which can and should be prosecuted in a court of law. I cannot believe thier legal team is allowing this behavior to continue considering thier precarious position. I am wondering if they are Pakleds calling the shots over there or if they simply believe because they are in a foriegn country they are untouchable. Well they are in the wrong... we have waited long enough action is required.
The Liberated Borg character species: Play as an escaped member of the Hivemind.
The Captain's Table - A special area restricted to lifetime subscribers and longtime STO veterans.
Exclusive costume option - An insignia available only to lifetime subscribers. Just visit a tailor in-game to add it to your current captain.
"Career Officer" title - Show off that you're committed to Starfleet, the KDF, or the Romulan Republic for the duration.
Forum goodies - Change the color of your username and show off a special title.
(NEW!) Instant access to all Veteran Rewards!**NOTE**
No mention of monthly stipends
This is what is written under the STO lifetime offer now. It is my position they are trying to run off the lifers that have the zen stipend or just out and out not give it to them even thopugh the contract was for the stipend.
Like I said before, it's not just them. There is no oversight in the industry whatsoever in the US and filing charges would just appear to be petty to any of the attorney general's offices but if they actually received enough complaints, the states would have to act upon them. The TOS cannot possibly be bulletproof and nobody has even tested EULAs in a court of law though everyone seems to think they can't stand up to scrutiny. Game companies are currently working in a legal vacuum which gives them license to pretty much do whatever they want to.
They aren't Pakleds, they're Ferengi, they just aren't really all that competent at TRIBBLE over their customers, but it doesn't mean they aren't going to try.
Actually, if you consult the F2P Feature Matrix:
http://sto.perfectworld.com/about/freetoplay/features-matrix
The stipend is still listed on there, so I'm going by Hanlon's Razor, and attributing this to incompetence, not malice.
I agree that it probably started out as incompetence but I do question if it has turned into malice. I have tried repeatedly to get proof that my stipends being paid out is accurate but all I get is the old "working as intended" TRIBBLE. Incompetence doesn't excuse the fact that the stipends are still being held back and we lifetimers have even less of a record than those that pay monthly. Prior experience with both PWE and Cryptic has shown us all that they have no problems lying directly to us as it's convenient for them to do so. They have been anything but honest with their customers at least since STO's release and since the old forums are now dead and buried, I don't think we even have a way to look those up anymore.
I am tired of being treated with this level of disdain by the people I paid for my game and for my LTS and I feel that we are all deserving of far more respect as the people that pay the bills in their little California hideaway.