Are life time subscribers bothered with this issue? Considering it seems people can buy zen, be fine buy again and get flagged? Little redundant. Glad I had over 8000 zen saved up for the monthly thing lol.
And where the hell would it say if the master keys would become account bound? I was about to buy the 10pk.... I see no warnings so I guess I'm not flagged?
And where the hell would it say if the master keys would become account bound? I was about to buy the 10pk.... I see no warnings so I guess I'm not flagged?
That's my question exactly! Because I bought ZEN via Steam; then purchased a Master Key Pack... but, I didn't see any warnings about the keys being bound to me.
Like many others, I purchased ZEN through my Steam wallet to buy master keys, which were then bound to my account. I never received any information about the probation thing but waited two weeks anyway, so that I could trade the keys on the exchange after they were unbound.
Even after 14 days, that never happened, so I contacted Arc / PWE and told them to reverse the transaction, as the goods I purchased were not fit for purpose / falsely advertised. They told me to obtain a refund through Steam, who asked me to provide screenshots of the issue.
I successfully had the amount refunded, and then Arc reacted immediately by banning my account. Yet they were the ones telling me to cancel my purchase / obtain refund through Steam. I have lodged a support ticket, but it's going nowhere since PWE want their money back before they unban my account.
First of what you explain doesn't work, I get the warning no matter what I do.
Second the C-store/bound to account is not my problem its the dilithium exchange that won't let me sell Zen. So im stuck for the next 12 days grinding 8000 dilithium a days, for my new space ship...
"I'm not big on telepaths myself. I'm not big on guns either. But if everyone else has them, I want to make sure I can get my hands on the biggest one I can."
Does anyone have a screencap of what the warning looks like? I purchased through STEAM and I seem to have purchased items while I was on probation. Is this like a "fine-print/easy to miss" message? Is it a pop-up message in game with a BIG warning message like when you try to craft something?
Thanks!
There is no warning. The game does not say you'll be on probation if you buy zen using Steam. I did not know there was a fraud probation until the game told me in fine print on the dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab. I did not know purchased items were account bound until I read it here. Again, The dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab(I buy dilithium with zen) is the only way I know for sure I am on probation and when it will take me off. If I can buy dilithium, then I am off probation.
There is no warning. The game does not say you'll be on probation if you buy zen using Steam. I did not know there was a fraud probation until the game told me in fine print on the dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab. I did not know purchased items were account bound until I read it here. Again, The dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab(I buy dilithium with zen) is the only way I know for sure I am on probation and when it will take me off. If I can buy dilithium, then I am off probation.
Pretty much this. Cryptic downright lies to you about this 'probation' system.
Long story short: Do not use Steam to buy Zen. PWE HATES IT as Steam takes some of the money.
Pretty much this. Cryptic downright lies to you about this 'probation' system.
Long story short: Do not use Steam to buy Zen. PWE HATES IT as Steam takes some of the money.
Period.
That is ENTIRELY what this is all about.
PWE does not lie about it. They do not make it obvious. I've decided to purchase my zen from this forum site using the Charge link on main page. Hopefully I will not have anymore fraud probation concern.
Amazing. 29 Pages to this thread and the one thing I took out of it was. Cryptic/PWE hates Steam. And if you follow CS recommendations to request refund from Steam, you get your account banned. You do any kind of purchase through Steam, you will have your Zen placed on near indefinate probation as I have seen many posts showing players have waited up to 20 days and still havent had their probation removed. I am very disappointed with Cryptic/PWE with this. I dont use Steam for purchases, but I only use Paypal. I played this game since it went to Alpha test (yes before Closed Beta) and have a Lifetime Sub. I am worried that if I use my Paypal to purchase zen I would also have my zen locked and account on probation.
The worst thing about all of this? Its been over 3 months since this issue went live and still NO resolution???? Wow. that is impressive. I think that if they dont fix this soon, they may end up having to close up shop like they did with City of Heros/Villans or like Sony did with Star Wars Galaxies, which would really suck since this is the only MMO I play. I can only hope they pull their heads out of their Collective Arses and fix the issue.
Regardless of their ToS, what they are doing is considered a crime since they are allowing players to purchase product which is advertised as something specific, and even when there is a significant player purchase history, the customer is penalized. Because of Cryptic/PWE's issue with Steam is adversely affecting the players time within the game that they have paid to use specific products in the game, they are penalized. If Cryptic has an issue with Steam, they need to resolve it like a company and stop punishing players that use steam. It is a legal issue by doing this. To use players as a bargaining tool is not okay. Just because you put in your ToS that things can be changed without warning does NOT allow a company to use customers as a bargaining tool.
I hope this gets resolved soon. I only hope that they at least make a real statement as I have also noticed almost NO real response from the Devs regarding this issue. I mean come one! You can see it in 29 pages that the biggest problem is from players using Steam to purchase Zen. Over 90% of the problems are directly related to Steam purchases. Cryptic/PWE please fix this before you permanently ruin your player base.
There is no warning when you buy the zen via steam. There is a warning when you go to spend it in the store. Its a bunch of red text and would be hard to miss except for someone just clicking every dialog box they find without paying attention to even colors.
That being said its still a bunch of bull because you have already bought the zen. When you click buy with insufficient zen it kicks you strait to steam wallet, no warning. Only when you have the req zen you see the warning. It seems to be flagging a lot of people buying through steam wallet. Steam has their own fairly extensive fraud protection system. My steam account is being paid through paypal which also has its own very extensive fraud protection system.
Also what happened to you, wizzlesticks, in a post above me is just pure **** I couldn't even imagine how pissed I would be if that happened to me.
Also what happened to you, wizzlesticks, in a post above me is just pure **** I couldn't even imagine how pissed I would be if that happened to me.
I told Arc Games / PWE that I would be prepared to repay them another $10 to get my account back. They said okay, go to Steam and make a $10 purchase, but they've had it clearly explained to them that's impossible because I can't sign in to STO to make an in-game purchase. I even called their billing department and offered to give them credit card details over the phone.
I told them I have been completely reasonable, and have even come to the table prepared to repay any amount they consider owing to them. Funny thing is, they can't provide any instructions on how I might go about doing this, because it seems their systems don't even allow it.
Like many others, I purchased ZEN through my Steam wallet to buy master keys, which were then bound to my account. I never received any information about the probation thing but waited two weeks anyway, so that I could trade the keys on the exchange after they were unbound.
Even after 14 days, that never happened, so I contacted Arc / PWE and told them to reverse the transaction, as the goods I purchased were not fit for purpose / falsely advertised. They told me to obtain a refund through Steam, who asked me to provide screenshots of the issue.
I successfully had the amount refunded, and then Arc reacted immediately by banning my account. Yet they were the ones telling me to cancel my purchase / obtain refund through Steam. I have lodged a support ticket, but it's going nowhere since PWE want their money back before they unban my account.
I had a similar situation. My account was threatened so I closed my ticket. PWE wouldn't give me any refund and neither would steam so I filed a complaint with the BBB. I got a refund of my Zen but PWE's response was that the refund was out of good will NOT because they owed me that much.
I just purchased zen to buy keys to open boxes and sell stuff and i missed the window that popped up saying my account was on this probationary period... I'm a lifetime subscriber and have purchased zen many many times int he past so why the heck did this happen??? This is so annoying you should have some way for us to register our cards or something so this TRIBBLE dont happen.. I purchased it the same way i always have via steam... never had this happen before until today...
disappointing...
and on a side note i've had this game since it came out why am i only able to post replies to threads and not start new ones??
I ended up switching to buying Zen through ARC. Since doing that, I haven't had any more problems with the probation system (knocks on wood).
This happened to me twice this month...and I bought $200 worth of zen through ARC. I'm not sure what their game is, but they don't know how to treat their customers.
I urge each of you to submit a ticket to Customer Support. Please include all of the information about the different times you have been on probation, your purchases that triggered it, etc. They can then gather all of the information and we can investigate. Reporting it in this thread doesn't get your account/info added to the investigation.
Thanks!
This happened to me earlier today. Spent $50 on zen so i could buy dilithium to purchase fleet gear for my ship, and now the zen I bought is locked to my account for the second time this month. I submitted a ticket immediately, and no response...
In the past couple of months I've spent at least $200 not including my Gold subscription, but yet I feel like I'm being treated like a criminal for spending money on the game. I really enjoy playing as you can see by the number of hours I've spent playing, but I would also like to get what I paid for.
Well at least they didn't tell you it's a reporting bug. Seriously it sucks. When I buy zen, which has become increasingly rare since Delta Rising came out I use paypal. I know some people don't have that option but if you do I advise you to use it.
I believe you hit the nail on the head. When people spend money an instant gratification is needed to condition you to spend more money. I've been playing League of Legends for a few years now, and probably spent around $5,000 + ...and I will continue to do so because I get to use what I bought, the way I want, immediately. In the case of STO I'm regretting having spent money, and by being placed on probation, I'm being conditioned to feel spending money is bad thing because its now associated with risk/dissatisfaction.
I've been getting this since they started this new system. I'm a lifetime subscriber, been playing the game since launch and I have a long purchase history. So their logic and implementation of this new fraud prevention system is complete garbage.
I haven't tried buying Zen through ARC, only Steam Wallet, but I wonder if the probation bs carries over to ARC as well. Maybe ARC is trying to force out Steam.
Judging from the fact that 90%+ of the complaints I've seen about the system have come from people buying through Steam instead of the ARC website or client, I'd say that's the exact reason for the system.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
The problem is with Cryptic deciding to use Arc over the way it was before. Me I prefer Steam but used to alway buy Zen direct through the website due to many resons I have stopped funding the game as I am not pleased with the current state and my wallet stays closed until I am pleased to buy zen again if that happens depends on the future of the game and my will to continue playing.
While I reccomend security there seems to be many bugs in this probation system which makes me not want to risk buying zen in the future guess I will just use the limited dil as I do at the moment
NO TO ARC
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Great, I just bought 50 Lockbox keys under the impression the warning gave me that the "Bound to account" thing would be lifted eventually.... lovely.... I just wasted around £50 worth of keys.....
Now see that's unfortunate,,,, since I've been back in the game I have not had a single problem buying anything but I never used steam and the funny thing is arc will link up to paypal, but theres like 3 compianies all fighting for money. 4 even you got Arc Steam Cryptic PWE, I dont even know whos in charge for STO really. And that's why people are getting the run around.
I tell you what though whenever I don't get a product recieved, I'm going to my bank about it. Or paypal, least they will help.
I dislike the probation stuff, it really is quite obnoxious.. about the only suggestion I can really give is, when you buy Zen, check your dil exchange Sell screen, don't buy anything from the C-store until you can sell Dilithium.
That ensures that you're not on the probation TRIBBLE, and your stuff wont be bound to account when purchased.
I bought a Guardian cruiser last weeksih, apparently that must have lit me up for a probation. Today I tried to get some Zen to trade in for a Dilithium top up to finish upgrading components on one of my toons' ship & I noticed that I couldn't sell any of it.
Over the threeish years I've played this game I've CERTAINLY not been unwilling to buy Zen. Lifetime holder for about five months now.. ect ect. Not happy, Jan.
I could understand this being a thing for shiny new accounts but shouldn't holding a LTS take us off the list? If we're that dedicated to the game I kinda think we'd know if we'd been TRIBBLE or anything.
"I'm a science officer. It's my job to have a better idea."
Well I haven't purchased Zen from Arc for a several months. I like the look of the new ships so I tried today, and it seems they don't want to take my money?
I've tried 2 card which have successfully purchased Zen from this site previously, and now they fail saying there was a problem charging my card. I am aware there are plenty of funds in both cards.
So it would seem that Arc and Cryptic don't want us to pay them anymore?
For the second time this year I've shut down the game in frustration and am debating whether to come back or not. First was the Anniversary missions problems and lag (sever for an AU player) and now this.
C'mon guys, this is ridiculous. You're the ones loosing here.
Corsorolin.
Subscribed For: 4 years 6 months 10 days / Subscribed Status: Active.
Well I haven't purchased Zen from Arc for a several months. I like the look of the new ships so I tried today, and it seems they don't want to take my money?
......
Seems like this has resolved itself overnight. Thanks.
Corsorolin.
Subscribed For: 4 years 6 months 10 days / Subscribed Status: Active.
PWE HATES PEOPLE WHO USE STEAM to buy Zen. This is why they trigger the 'fraud prevention system'. ALWAYS. This is because Steam keeps a lot of that money and doesn't give it to PWE.
Comments
That's my question exactly! Because I bought ZEN via Steam; then purchased a Master Key Pack... but, I didn't see any warnings about the keys being bound to me.
Even after 14 days, that never happened, so I contacted Arc / PWE and told them to reverse the transaction, as the goods I purchased were not fit for purpose / falsely advertised. They told me to obtain a refund through Steam, who asked me to provide screenshots of the issue.
I successfully had the amount refunded, and then Arc reacted immediately by banning my account. Yet they were the ones telling me to cancel my purchase / obtain refund through Steam. I have lodged a support ticket, but it's going nowhere since PWE want their money back before they unban my account.
Except that he failed to mention that it doesn't actually work 100% of the time, if at all, as Thexan posted previously.
There is no warning. The game does not say you'll be on probation if you buy zen using Steam. I did not know there was a fraud probation until the game told me in fine print on the dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab. I did not know purchased items were account bound until I read it here. Again, The dilithium exchange window, dilithium purchase tab(I buy dilithium with zen) is the only way I know for sure I am on probation and when it will take me off. If I can buy dilithium, then I am off probation.
Pretty much this. Cryptic downright lies to you about this 'probation' system.
Long story short: Do not use Steam to buy Zen. PWE HATES IT as Steam takes some of the money.
Period.
That is ENTIRELY what this is all about.
Razira's Primus Database Page
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
PWE does not lie about it. They do not make it obvious. I've decided to purchase my zen from this forum site using the Charge link on main page. Hopefully I will not have anymore fraud probation concern.
The worst thing about all of this? Its been over 3 months since this issue went live and still NO resolution???? Wow. that is impressive. I think that if they dont fix this soon, they may end up having to close up shop like they did with City of Heros/Villans or like Sony did with Star Wars Galaxies, which would really suck since this is the only MMO I play. I can only hope they pull their heads out of their Collective Arses and fix the issue.
Regardless of their ToS, what they are doing is considered a crime since they are allowing players to purchase product which is advertised as something specific, and even when there is a significant player purchase history, the customer is penalized. Because of Cryptic/PWE's issue with Steam is adversely affecting the players time within the game that they have paid to use specific products in the game, they are penalized. If Cryptic has an issue with Steam, they need to resolve it like a company and stop punishing players that use steam. It is a legal issue by doing this. To use players as a bargaining tool is not okay. Just because you put in your ToS that things can be changed without warning does NOT allow a company to use customers as a bargaining tool.
I hope this gets resolved soon. I only hope that they at least make a real statement as I have also noticed almost NO real response from the Devs regarding this issue. I mean come one! You can see it in 29 pages that the biggest problem is from players using Steam to purchase Zen. Over 90% of the problems are directly related to Steam purchases. Cryptic/PWE please fix this before you permanently ruin your player base.
By the way, FIX MY JOIN DATE please.
That being said its still a bunch of bull because you have already bought the zen. When you click buy with insufficient zen it kicks you strait to steam wallet, no warning. Only when you have the req zen you see the warning. It seems to be flagging a lot of people buying through steam wallet. Steam has their own fairly extensive fraud protection system. My steam account is being paid through paypal which also has its own very extensive fraud protection system.
Also what happened to you, wizzlesticks, in a post above me is just pure **** I couldn't even imagine how pissed I would be if that happened to me.
I told Arc Games / PWE that I would be prepared to repay them another $10 to get my account back. They said okay, go to Steam and make a $10 purchase, but they've had it clearly explained to them that's impossible because I can't sign in to STO to make an in-game purchase. I even called their billing department and offered to give them credit card details over the phone.
I told them I have been completely reasonable, and have even come to the table prepared to repay any amount they consider owing to them. Funny thing is, they can't provide any instructions on how I might go about doing this, because it seems their systems don't even allow it.
I had a similar situation. My account was threatened so I closed my ticket. PWE wouldn't give me any refund and neither would steam so I filed a complaint with the BBB. I got a refund of my Zen but PWE's response was that the refund was out of good will NOT because they owed me that much.
disappointing...
and on a side note i've had this game since it came out why am i only able to post replies to threads and not start new ones??
This happened to me twice this month...and I bought $200 worth of zen through ARC. I'm not sure what their game is, but they don't know how to treat their customers.
This happened to me earlier today. Spent $50 on zen so i could buy dilithium to purchase fleet gear for my ship, and now the zen I bought is locked to my account for the second time this month. I submitted a ticket immediately, and no response...
In the past couple of months I've spent at least $200 not including my Gold subscription, but yet I feel like I'm being treated like a criminal for spending money on the game. I really enjoy playing as you can see by the number of hours I've spent playing, but I would also like to get what I paid for.
I believe you hit the nail on the head. When people spend money an instant gratification is needed to condition you to spend more money. I've been playing League of Legends for a few years now, and probably spent around $5,000 + ...and I will continue to do so because I get to use what I bought, the way I want, immediately. In the case of STO I'm regretting having spent money, and by being placed on probation, I'm being conditioned to feel spending money is bad thing because its now associated with risk/dissatisfaction.
I haven't tried buying Zen through ARC, only Steam Wallet, but I wonder if the probation bs carries over to ARC as well. Maybe ARC is trying to force out Steam.
Judging from the fact that 90%+ of the complaints I've seen about the system have come from people buying through Steam instead of the ARC website or client, I'd say that's the exact reason for the system.
While I reccomend security there seems to be many bugs in this probation system which makes me not want to risk buying zen in the future guess I will just use the limited dil as I do at the moment
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I tell you what though whenever I don't get a product recieved, I'm going to my bank about it. Or paypal, least they will help.
That ensures that you're not on the probation TRIBBLE, and your stuff wont be bound to account when purchased.
I don't use STEAM.
Just putting that out there as further evidence that it does seem to be a STEAM related issue.
I do use Steam.
I bought a Guardian cruiser last weeksih, apparently that must have lit me up for a probation. Today I tried to get some Zen to trade in for a Dilithium top up to finish upgrading components on one of my toons' ship & I noticed that I couldn't sell any of it.
Over the threeish years I've played this game I've CERTAINLY not been unwilling to buy Zen. Lifetime holder for about five months now.. ect ect. Not happy, Jan.
I could understand this being a thing for shiny new accounts but shouldn't holding a LTS take us off the list? If we're that dedicated to the game I kinda think we'd know if we'd been TRIBBLE or anything.
This was too true not to repost
I've tried 2 card which have successfully purchased Zen from this site previously, and now they fail saying there was a problem charging my card. I am aware there are plenty of funds in both cards.
So it would seem that Arc and Cryptic don't want us to pay them anymore?
For the second time this year I've shut down the game in frustration and am debating whether to come back or not. First was the Anniversary missions problems and lag (sever for an AU player) and now this.
C'mon guys, this is ridiculous. You're the ones loosing here.
Corsorolin.
Subscribed For: 4 years 6 months 10 days / Subscribed Status: Active.
......
Seems like this has resolved itself overnight. Thanks.
Corsorolin.
Subscribed For: 4 years 6 months 10 days / Subscribed Status: Active.
NEVER USE STEAM.
PWE HATES PEOPLE WHO USE STEAM to buy Zen. This is why they trigger the 'fraud prevention system'. ALWAYS. This is because Steam keeps a lot of that money and doesn't give it to PWE.
Nothing more needs to be said.
Razira's Primus Database Page
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!