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Dirtiest move ever - by Zenimax Online

MRizk21
MRizk21
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This post was updated by M.Rizk21 to include the points that we discovered from this discussion from our own findings, or from what the administrators and support staff said. I still decided to leave the original topic so that anyone would understand one day what was this discussion about.
Hello ESO team, and players,

I just wanted to tell you ESO team that you made me sick today. I am really sick of that dirty d**k move you just did to everyone who got the game from retailers.

Let me tell you guys the whole story, as we all knows, once you buy any of the two ESO models whether you buy the Basic one, or the Imperial one in both cases you get 30 days of free game time.

That means once you order the game you should never pay a cent before the 4th of May 2014, that's at least what everyone of us expected, specially those who were former World of Warcraft players as we are used to the idea of subscription based games.

Today Zenimax Online did the dirtiest, d**k move forcing all those who bought the game from retailers to pay one month game subscription in advance in order to redeem your game code, otherwise you are simply not allowed to continue playing the game or even enjoy the 30 days game time WHICH WE PAID FOR!

By paying the subscription now Zenimax is simply keeping you tied to a 60 days of game time not respecting your schedules, or the fact you already paid that much on their very expensive game (this get even worse when you live in Europe).

Zenimax did not really respect us at all, they are trying to get the max out of you before you even start the game play. They want to guarantee they have got their money for the next two months already. They want you to invest more on a newly launched game that you still are not sure whether it will keep alive for how long, yes I know that about 5 million players Beta tested the game which shows a high level of interest, still that guarantees me nothing. Guild Wars 2 was also so popular, what happened now? It died, it simply died.

In the end, Zenimax you have done the dirtiest move any game company could do on this entire world, you have lost my trust for now, and maybe forever. Just after this move I feel less happy playing your game because I feel I was tricked into a dirty cheap move.

Update 1:
Apparently Zenimax does not charge you for the following 30 days before your current 30 days are all used up.

Still it is a not a good move to ask for 15$ pre-authorization fee. $1 or $0.01 would have done it. Those with no credit cards, PayPal will have to get a Game Time Card though which means they will be CHARGED IMMEDIATELY.

Zenimax has clearly stated in their Terms and Conditions that no one with a valid payment method would get charged for the game before they use all their 30 days of free game time. Although Zenimax lists Game time card as a valid payment method they still did not respect their own terms and conditions asking those who use a game time card to pay for additional 30 days IMMEDIATELY.

Not only this but Zenimax did not respect my forum rights, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom tried to edit my post, I am not sure what he/she did, or if he/she changed anything. All I know that their forum system showed that my post was edited by @ZOS_JessicaFolsom at 2:04 AM.

In the end, was my point invalid in the first place? partially yes, mostly no. Zenimax does charge those with game time cards immediately or else they are not allowed to join the game. Charging one month fees for pre-authorization could get few people in financial issues specially those who might go overdraft on their bank accounts.

I still believe Zenimax should not ask for a pre-authorization in the first place, because some people in that world we live in got no credit cards at all, or even PayPal accounts. Some people would just got to a retailer nearby and get the game to find out they cannot play the promised 30 days of free game time before they go and get a game time card.

In some cases retailers nearby won't even have game time cards for the game ready yet, and it has happened with few on this forums from Asia who had their nearby retailers telling them that game cards won't reach before a week or two which means he will not be able to enjoy the game before a week or two.

Zenimax if you want ESO to success, follow Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Entertainment has been in business for long, and they are the best when it comes to subscription based games. They offer the easiest types of payments that are available to EVERYONE.
  • Distrobomb
    Distrobomb
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    Were you not going to play it for two months? Can you just go in and cancel the second month after you have entered your code? Sounds kind of fishy.
    I survived the great ESO launch disaster 2014 B)
  • MightyMido
    I agree a 100% I had the same sh*t happening to me and I don't know what I am more mad about, the fact that I almost got ripped off buying the EU edition or me having then to buy forced 30 days of subscription (why the F include the price of 30 days with the game then?) and above all of that I won't be able to play half of my sub time!
    D**k move indeed.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    Distrobomb wrote: »
    Were you not going to play it for two months? Can you just go in and cancel the second month after you have entered your code? Sounds kind of fishy.

    I think it is up to me if I want to play for one more month or not. Maybe I wouldn't really like the game much as I expected in the first 30 days deciding to leave it.

    But the true story is that I got finals in May at my college to study for, so I might or might not play in May depending on my free time.

    And again even if I was so confident I was going to play next month, I think I paid enough this month pre ordering the game, I would have felt better paying for a subscription when it's due, not a month advance!
  • Mememe
    Mememe
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    I would hazard a guess that when the op calms down. The money deos not really leave the bank account. The actual balance does not change. The available balance will be showing less as a pre auth and it should go up again in the next day or so.

    I will however say, I understand why people are angry and confused. I've NEVER, EVER seen a sub MMO do this. Ever.
  • ZOS_JessicaFolsom
    ZOS_JessicaFolsom
    Community Manager
    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.
    Jessica Folsom
    Lead Community Manager - ZeniMax Online Studios
    Facebook | Twitter | Twitch | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube | Support
    Staff Post
  • Mememe
    Mememe
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    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.

    I'm happy as I can afford it and I knew this is what had happened before even seeing all these people post about it.

    However especially when people are paying for a top sub...you need to warn people you pre auth as it freezes funds and I've never, ever seen a game do that. So I would feed it back because it is going to cause a lot of grief.

    Most people see low balance=money taken. As it is frozen from funds.
    Edited by Mememe on April 4, 2014 12:01AM
  • SuperiorSpiderman
    So to clarify, we have to subscribe in order to get our "free" 30 days?
  • Soloeus
    Soloeus
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    Right-Wing Worldview:

    The market is always right, they have the right to change terms of service, including how to handle promotions, and you have the choice to buy or not buy and nobody put a gun to your head. This is your fault because you did poor research, and should have been smarter. I guess you learned your lesson.

    Question:

    Why did you expect not to enter subscription information at the time you attempt to redeem your code?

    Within; Without.
  • cranberryblossom
    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.
  • Rhoric
    Rhoric
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    So to clarify, we have to subscribe in order to get our "free" 30 days?

    Any sub based game you have to enter your subscription plan before you get the 30 days free.

  • Midgardian
    Midgardian
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    Rhoric wrote: »
    So to clarify, we have to subscribe in order to get our "free" 30 days?

    Any sub based game you have to enter your subscription plan before you get the 30 days free.

    Any sub based anything. Amazon Prime is the same way. When you sign up for the free 6 months of Prime Student, you have to enter your information. It's so, when the free period ends, they can start charging you.
  • ZOS_JessicaFolsom
    ZOS_JessicaFolsom
    Community Manager
    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Jessica Folsom
    Lead Community Manager - ZeniMax Online Studios
    Facebook | Twitter | Twitch | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube | Support
    Staff Post
  • ironvosneb18_ESO
    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.

    There is a problem with this logic though.
    This only works for people who can active subscription trough direct payment to ZO by using paypal with a verified CC.
    I however do not have a CC and use a paypal that's verified by bank account.
    This is sufficient pretty much everywhere except here.
    For me my only alternative to activating the 30 free days is by already buying and activating a gametime card, which is not refundable in any way in case i do decide that after the 30 free days are up that i wish to leave the game.
  • Laerrus
    Laerrus
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    My Wife and I prefer to use pre-paid game cards for all of our MMOs (The credit cards are reserved for very specific purposes).

    Even if I entered a game time code from a game card that I bought from Gamestop, would we still have to share our credit card information?

    Edit: There is another very good reason why I ask this. If this means that players cannot continue the included 30 days free playtime without registering a credit card, you folks are going to never hear the end of it from very angry gamers. This could very well generate bad publicity and turn potential clientele away, not something a fledgling MMO needs in its first days online.
    Edited by Laerrus on April 4, 2014 12:21AM
  • bytestream
    bytestream
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    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.

    My brother just used Paypal as a payment method and he got charged. It would have been the same with me but GMG messed up our order and only sent 4 instead of 6 codes for our two copies.

    The fact that we even have to enter our payment details is already stupid, but charing up front so we can receive the free 30 days is plane and simple ***. Get your act together and fix your system.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Well, if I knew this I would have used my credit card directly, but now I used my PayPal which is tied to my credit card that's because PayPal always makes the process more smooth for my bank. Anyways I have been charged of course as I used PayPal.
  • Mememe
    Mememe
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    bytestream wrote: »
    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.

    My brother just used Paypal as a payment method and he got charged. It would have been the same with me but GMG messed up our order and only sent 4 instead of 6 codes for our two copies.

    The fact that we even have to enter our payment details is already stupid, but charing up front so we can receive the free 30 days is plane and simple ***. Get your act together and fix your system.

    Check as it should read cancelled when you go into the paypal account.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    Rhoric wrote: »
    So to clarify, we have to subscribe in order to get our "free" 30 days?

    Any sub based game you have to enter your subscription plan before you get the 30 days free.

    I am really sorry. I am WoW player till this moment and they never authorized any payment of my account before my free 30 days where all used.
  • Kortak
    Kortak
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    All, you do not have to pay anything until after your 30 days is up. We ask that you enter a credit card, but it is only authorized. No charge is made. If you do see that a charge has been erroneously made before your included 30 days of gametime are up and have confirmed with your bank that this is the case, please let us know and we'll happily correct the error.

    You dont get it. WHAT IF YOU DONT WANT TO PAY WITH CC but use game cards.

    You have to advance a gamecard now (a game card code). thats adding another 30 days.

    I DECIDE during the free 30 days if im going to play another month..or 3..or 6



  • cranberryblossom
    MRizk21 wrote: »
    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Well, if I knew this I would have used my credit card directly, but now I used my PayPal which is tied to my credit card that's because PayPal always makes the process more smooth for my bank. Anyways I have been charged of course as I used PayPal.

    I used paypal as well, direct authorized to my bank account, it dropped off after 20 minutes.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    Midgardian wrote: »
    Rhoric wrote: »
    So to clarify, we have to subscribe in order to get our "free" 30 days?

    Any sub based game you have to enter your subscription plan before you get the 30 days free.

    Any sub based anything. Amazon Prime is the same way. When you sign up for the free 6 months of Prime Student, you have to enter your information. It's so, when the free period ends, they can start charging you.

    Well, I would understand that since they offered you totally free 6 months for one month payment. That's not the case in ESO, you bought that game and was promised that, that and that.
  • Kortak
    Kortak
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    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Which is a dumb experience.. there are people who pay other then CC

  • Kortak
    Kortak
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    Soloeus wrote: »
    Right-Wing Worldview:

    The market is always right, they have the right to change terms of service, including how to handle promotions, and you have the choice to buy or not buy and nobody put a gun to your head. This is your fault because you did poor research, and should have been smarter. I guess you learned your lesson.

    Question:

    Why did you expect not to enter subscription information at the time you attempt to redeem your code?

    Because you can pay also with gamecards..DOH.. i dont have another gamecard now so cant take that subscription plan



  • cranberryblossom
    Kortak wrote: »
    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Which is a dumb experience.. there are people who pay other then CC

    @Kortak I didn't use a CC, I was using Paypal attatched to my bank account.

  • Xbloody_m3ssx
    I would have to agree, i wont have the spare cash to buy a game card and i do not wish to use my credit card. i'm in between jobs right now and have a lot of expenses to take care of. I bought the game thinking i would be able to play 30 days as advertised in the meantime while i get my situation taken care of. I feel stupid for dropping 80 dollars on this game i probably wont even be able to play unless i use a credit card. I only use credit cards for one time expenses and in general do not give it out for any subscription based plan.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    MRizk21 wrote: »
    To be fair, I authorized my account and the 14.99 was a authorization hold, it cleared off my account in about 20 minutes, no harm no foul.

    Thanks for the update, @cranberryblossom. This is the expectation, and what everyone should experience.

    Well, if I knew this I would have used my credit card directly, but now I used my PayPal which is tied to my credit card that's because PayPal always makes the process more smooth for my bank. Anyways I have been charged of course as I used PayPal.

    I used paypal as well, direct authorized to my bank account, it dropped off after 20 minutes.

    I just got another SMS from my bank now showing that the money is back to my account. Still I do not understand why such hassle from the start.

    Why do they even need to check if I have enough money for next month sub or not, it's up to me if I want to continue playing or not. I would have understood a 1 dollar authorization as with major sites including Apple iTunes.
  • MRizk21
    MRizk21
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    I would have to agree, i wont have the spare cash to buy a game card and i do not wish to use my credit card. i'm in between jobs right now and have a lot of expenses to take care of. I bought the game thinking i would be able to play 30 days as advertised in the meantime while i get my situation taken care of. I feel stupid for dropping 80 dollars on this game i probably wont even be able to play unless i use a credit card. I only use credit cards for one time expenses and in general do not give it out for any subscription based plan.

    Now that's a case Zenimax Online should have respected, but...
    Edited by MRizk21 on April 4, 2014 12:24AM
  • Signex
    Signex
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    For me it's not about that they're not charging right now, i can only use iDEAL, but i don't have any funds left so now i can't set up my subscription.
    So yeah there goes my 2 weeks off....
  • Laerrus
    Laerrus
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    Soloeus wrote: »
    Right-Wing Worldview:

    Can we not bring politics into this discussion, thank you.
  • Maotti
    Maotti
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    details

    Payment Method

    PayPal: ***************

    You have selected the 30-Day Subscription

    Game Time Remaining

    You have 29 days of game time remaining.

    Billing Date

    You will be billed on May 4, 2014 for kr.99.00


    So, am i authorized now?
    PC EU
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