Crown Store Gifting Update – October 2023

ZOS_Kraken · June 10

@NemoHell I have left you forums message about your ticket.

Neugeniko · June 20

Hi,
I'm going to get ahead of the curve here and ask you to look at my gifting support ticket 240612-006280. I have no time
for low quality of life business practices that the competition doesn't have. We have a guild hall to complete and a large guild to run.

Regards,
Neug

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_Kraken
@ZOS_Kevin

Kyernin · June 25

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_Kraken
@ZOS_Kevin

I have put in a few tickets to get my gifting turned back on. If you will not turn it back on at least take the crowns from my account and either refund them or gift my friend an alliance transfer.

This really should be just turned back on for everyone and then go after the bad actors if exploits are still happening!

i am happy to respond to CS directly with friends acct name.

jcaceresw · July 14

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno

Please re-review the following tickets. I have created them once again because the previous ones where closed "as duplicates" even when those tickets were more than a month apart from the first ticket asking to enable gifting on all of my ten accounts. Do consider at the bottom of a closed ticket it says to open another ticket if I want to continue reporting about the issue so I don't know why they all were closed as duplicates. The new tickets for each of my alternate accounts are:

240714-001849
240714-001869
240714-001893
240714-001902
240714-002065
240714-002193
240714-002204
240714-002214
240714-002231
240714-002247

Kallykat · July 16

My husband's account is still waiting too... I know he's not super active, but he also isn't a bot or scammer, and we have crowns sitting there from his last yearly subscription that we'd like to gift to my account. (I've had my eye on that Fargrave house, so it be great to get it resolved this week.) I wonder if it would be helpful for me to put in a ticket vouching for him, or would that just slow things down further?

TaSheen · July 16

Considering the state of ZOS CS.... that would probably be totally counterproductive.

@ZOS_Kevin ?

divnyi · August 1

Can my application be checked as well? 240723-004898

I'm also hit with this automated message, despite having 7500+ hours on this single account, being active on forums, and even did game videos in the past.

Whatever your criterias on this is, they aren't working.
There is one feeling you really don't want to provoke when people buy content in your game - regret. Going through this process, this is what I feel.

Sentano · August 1

I'm just disappointed and angry at the way this issue is being handled. It can't be that normal and decent players have to suffer because of such a system. I've said several times in the ticket that I don't understand this because I fulfil all the criteria mentioned and I keep getting the same answer. They don't want to tell me why they don't fulfil the requirement and I should try later. Should I now open a ticket every week or every day?

I've had the account for 8 years (700h) and have been playing an active phase every now and then with a break. I recently switched ESO+ to an annual subscription, the crowns are great for giving friends a birthday present or for a shared house so that the recipient can decorate it more beautifully. That's all gone, I'd really like my money back, the crowns are now absolutely useless. This is not customer support.

240529-004398
240515-004837

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_Kraken
@ZOS_Kevin

Maybe you are a better help or have a better connection. In any case, customer support is no help.

jcaceresw · August 2

Sentano wrote: »

the crowns are now absolutely useless

That's how I feel right now. For the FIFTH time I have been denied crown gifting on all my alternate accounts. So my crowns in them are just wasted money and want a refund. In the past, I only used my crowns to gift myself some items for my main account only (not to gift them to friends or selling them for gold). All of my alternate accounts have or had recent ESO+ subscriptions and been being played without breaks since more than two years (perhaps one or two days because of real life issues but that should not be like having a break for years). I can't reply back to the tickets because they consider the matter closed and opening new ones will be flagged as duplicates.

Once again, the tickets I had to create for my accounts are:

240714-001849
240714-001869
240714-001893
240714-001902
240714-002065
240714-002193
240714-002204
240714-002214
240714-002231
240714-002247

I don't want to stop supporting a game I enjoy a lot but I feel really mistreated. Should I consider their negative answer for the fifth time like the one I need to move on from this game? @ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_GinaBruno

Kallykat · August 3

I wish there was a way to link accounts for family or people who just have multiple accounts of their own. Then they could at least open gifting among linked accounts.

Vulkunne · August 12

Posting this for whatever its worth.

Recently, I had my own little issue with this policy and at that time was not aware this thread existed. When I was dealing with Support or Admins... no one told me about it either.

Posting here first could have saved everyone some time and energy.

Anyways, back to the story. So let me start by stating, in a humble and non-elitist way that I've been with ESO since I think July 2015, that's like 9 years. Over that time, have purchased way too much in Crowns. I have my main account which has had Gifting enabled for some time and I have an alternate account that's mainly used for storage and light questing. I have enough Crowns on this alternate account, (which were mistakenly added there by me, but I didn't say nothing about it) and some of these Crowns I used for my main account and some I did not use before the lockdown.

They lock everything down; I sent a ticket in and was immediately accused of violating TOS... ... even though I had not done so, like many of you also experienced, and so multiple tickets were sent, and it was a nightmare with no resolution. Ok so later on, Gifting was finally turned on for my main account. Great. I recently tried to use the Crowns in my alternate account and Gifting was denied for this account even after submitting a ticket. I also noticed the Gifting requirements seemed to change a little from what they originally were, which was interesting.

My problem with this, is I do not have the time to have two main accounts and jump thru a bunch of unnecessary hoops. I understand there are rules, but some rules don't come from the right place. Like I've never violated TOS, that I'm aware of, never had any issues like that, like I said I've been with the game for a very long time and poured money into the Crown Store like a gold road ok. Both accounts are for me, no one else uses them... that's an agreement we make when getting the account. For the life of this game, I do not understand why I cannot do Gifting on my Alternate account, especially seeing how I have Gifting active on my main account.

It just doesn't make sense. You allowed me to use the Crowns, which I paid for and then someone else abuses your Store, which was wrong, but you're no longer allowing me to use a product that I was using because of what someone else did? That seems kind of wrong and fraudulent to me. When I purchased the Crowns, I did not agree to not be able to use them later. Uh-uh. If my main account being in good standing and having Gifting active all this time is fine and ZOS having a strong, robust history as having a business relationship with me as your customer, and you're denying me access to a product that I purchased from you... only because it's on another account even though I'm the only one who uses it but still I have to jump thru all these hoops for an account I don't use like you want me to?

I'm sorry but it just doesn't make any sense. To start with, yes, I am a person with two accounts, but does it matter about whether or not you can trust the person, or can you not trust the account? Its like a slap in the face and your support did everything they could to stay silent and dodged every question I asked. Knowing that I was getting upset with you, you took weeks to respond to repeated inquiries instead of prioritizing my case which itself had already been opened for like three weeks, I think. Something is not right... and it's not me. I mean if you can trust me on one account but.. not two right? After 9 years and all those purchases? This is the level of service I'm treated to. I guess the other account is going to log itself in and violate TOS itself?

Right?

For all the trouble this has caused me and really not being treated very well, along with the strong possibility no one even bothered to read the case I presented for my ticket(s), (which has happened before) you guys get whatever you deserve... because that's what I got from your Support. And this has not been the first time either. My sympathizes to everyone else.

ZOS_CouchTato · August 12

@Vulkunne Please keep in mind that if the team is taking a while getting to your ticket, it is likely due to ticket volume or whether or not a ticket was escalated to a smaller, more specialized team. However if you would like for us to check in on your ticket(s), we are happy to do so for you if you can provide those ticket numbers for us.

Elsonso · August 12

Vulkunne wrote: »

My problem with this, is I do not have the time to have two main accounts and jump thru a bunch of unnecessary hoops. I understand there are rules, but some rules don't come from the right place. Like I've never violated TOS, that I'm aware of, never had any issues like that, like I said I've been with the game for a very long time and poured money into the Crown Store like a gold road ok. Both accounts are for me, no one else uses them... that's an agreement we make when getting the account. For the life of this game, I do not understand why I cannot do Gifting on my Alternate account, especially seeing how I have Gifting active on my main account.

I also have an alternate account. While my main account was granted Gifting access without asking, my alternate account had to go through the process. It was not easy.

I learned things. One thing I learned is that ZOS apparently has no way to tell if two accounts are being used by the same person, or they simply don't care. Like others, I merely assumed that using the same name, address, and billing information, along with using both accounts from the same physical computer and IP address, often within minutes of each other, would be something ZOS was aware of, or could easily see, and that it would matter. Apparently, not.

Pointing out that I already had an account with gifting access and that I was the same person on both accounts fell on deaf ears. I am sure they have reasons.

I almost gave up. Keep trying. I would suggest focusing on your positive contributions to the game and game community, inside and outside of the game, across everything. The end goal for all of this is simply to convince them that you are not a risk for committing fraud related to Gifting, and if your account will not speak for you, you have do that by providing examples of your past participation in the ESO community that they can reference and verify. Personally, I think that all of a person's previous participation in the ESO community, both in-game and outside of the game, are fair discussion points.

I don't know if this will help, but at least keep replying to the request with new information.

Vulkunne · August 12

ZOS_CouchTato wrote: »

@Vulkunne Please keep in mind that if the team is taking a while getting to your ticket, it is likely due to ticket volume or whether or not a ticket was escalated to a smaller, more specialized team. However, if you would like for us to check in on your ticket(s), we are happy to do so for you if you can provide those ticket numbers for us.

The problem is like I was saying when they first turned off Crown Gifting right? It was a nightmare. During that time, I had opened several tickets, in succession, and I just gave up and closed them. One was for like 3 weeks another sat for a month.

So, the problems from there and waiting and waiting and waiting for weeks with no response killed my confidence that there would ever be a response. Especially with I guess maybe the auto-reply? saying there had been a TOS violation.

No explanation, no guidance just either an automated message or a generic corporate 'no' response with no acknowledgement.

I'm not arguing whether you're right or wrong but all I'm saying is alot of this is coming from what happened then and seems to still be happening now to some extent. Another thing, last time no one responded. This time I get told basically 'no'. You know it's like what I took the time to say in there didn't even register.

Is it the person 'working' the ticket saying no, it could be like an intern... right? I've worked on an IT Support Desk before, so I know something about that job role. What assurance does anyone have that sensitive cases are really reviewed like they should be? Or is there like a 'fear' of unlocking the wrong account or giving too much information? Cuase I know what that is like as well which is why I moved on from 'that'.

Silence and no real communication being established is not helpful. Maybe if someone took a little more time with my ticket, we wouldn't be having this conversation, now. As it stands it is what it is, but I don't think it's right. And I'll stop there.

Sentano · August 14

Vulkunne wrote: »

ZOS_CouchTato wrote: »

@Vulkunne Please keep in mind that if the team is taking a while getting to your ticket, it is likely due to ticket volume or whether or not a ticket was escalated to a smaller, more specialized team. However, if you would like for us to check in on your ticket(s), we are happy to do so for you if you can provide those ticket numbers for us.

The problem is like I was saying when they first turned off Crown Gifting right? It was a nightmare. During that time, I had opened several tickets, in succession, and I just gave up and closed them. One was for like 3 weeks another sat for a month. So, the problems from there and waiting and waiting and waiting for weeks with no response killed my confidence that there would ever be a response. Especially with I guess maybe the auto-reply? saying there had been a TOS violation.

No explanation, no guidance just either an automated message or a generic corporate 'no' response with no acknowledgement.

I'm not arguing whether you're right or wrong but all I'm saying is alot of this is coming from what happened then and seems to still be happening now to some extent. Another thing, last time no one responded. This time I get told basically 'no'. You know it's like what I took the time to say in there didn't even register. Is it the person 'working' the ticket saying no, it could be like an intern... right? I've worked on an IT Support Desk before, so I know something about that job role. What assurance does anyone have that sensitive cases are really reviewed like they should be? Or is there like a 'fear' of unlocking the wrong account or giving too much information? Cuase I know what that is like as well which is why I moved on from 'that'.

Silence and no real communication being established is not helpful. Maybe if someone took a little more time with my ticket, we wouldn't be having this conversation, now. As it stands it is what it is, but I don't think it's right. And I'll stop there.

I feel the same way. They just tell you to try again at a later date, but not when that will be. That's not helpful in reducing the ticket volume. Similarly, it's not helpful to be told that you can't explain why you don't meet the criteria. Maybe you can never fulfill them? Without this information, it becomes an endless cycle.

I find the way this situation is handled extremely frustrating. My billing history doesn't even fit on one page when I provided it to support. But you only get a standard reply. Once the ticket was supposedly forwarded to a manager who gave the same standard answer as his colleagues, only in a longer version. But even after 13 pages in this post, nothing seems to change. Maybe one or two people are lucky enough to be seen by a moderator, but that really can't be the way, can it?

I fulfill the conditions that are obviously required.

jsharrad_ESO · August 19

I don't really play anymore but I have amassed many crowns over the years that I want to use to gift to my wife that does actually play. I'm bit disappointed that gifting was disabled but I can understand why. The blanket denial policy is an issue though. I shouldn't be lumped into the group of bad actors and denied sending stuff to one person who clearly has the same last name as me on her account and I can't get a straight answer on what the actual requirements are, so I'm just left with opening a new ticket every day until I somehow meet the mystery requirements.

taserface · August 21

Hello Zenimax Elder Scroll Customer service:

Your "constantly evolving" set of criteria for who will and will not get gifting enabled is quite the sham.
This thread alone is 13 pages long so far. There are at least three other threads that talk about the exact same thing.
If you're waiting until the thread gets past 25 pages before you spend more resources to address the issue, I have a feeling you're going to be spending more resources on the issue pretty soon.

If your hope is to give people a choice of wasting their money by not using crowns or spending it on things they don't want, you're doing a good job, but your customers are pretty unhappy about it. Some of them (example: jcaceresw) have TEN (10) separate accounts with Crowns on each one! If you won't serve that one customer, what hope do the rest of us have?!

If you can't get A.I. or a decent algorithm to sort out the fraudsters from honest customers, maybe you should just post really strict instructions on what to do the in order to qualify on how to enable gifting. The end result will probably close to the same, including the same amount of frustration. Honest customers will be willing to follow the rules, bad actors will either give up, or follow the same rules!

Honestly, I just want a direct, specific and unambiguous answer about what the definition of "consistent activity" and "in-game community" is in typed form, preferably in public, easy to find and access areas on your website(s).

jsharrad_ESO · August 21

taserface wrote: »

Hello Zenimax Elder Scroll Customer service:

Honestly, I just want a direct, specific and unambiguous answer about what the definition of "consistent activity" and "in-game community" is in typed form, preferably in public, easy to find and access areas on your website(s).

I have also asked for this and the response I get is:

"Eligibility is determined by an evolving list of factors and to preserve the integrity of the program we cannot delve into the specifics of what criteria we require to unlock gifting on accounts."

Elsonso · August 21

Hiding the criteria is a huge, massive, red flag. That it has gone on this long is, well, stunning.

ZOS_Kevin · August 21

Elsonso wrote: »

Hiding the criteria is a huge, massive, red flag. That it has gone on this long is, well, stunning.

Just wanted to follow up here. Obviously, our intent is not to create a red flag. The reason there is some hidden criteria is to avoid bad actors from working around them to continue negative behavior. We saw this very effect happen in real time when we had less criteria. This is all in an effort to avoid closing down gifting for everyone again.

However, we do understand this is frustrating and we are sharing that feedback with our various teams. Ideally, we won't have bad actors impacting the experience for everyone. However for the time being, this is how we have to operate to make sure gifting can remain open.

That being said, please make sure to continue to try with tickets. We will also go through the last few tickets submitted in this thread to see if they are eligible.

Sentano · August 21

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Hiding the criteria is a huge, massive, red flag. That it has gone on this long is, well, stunning.

Just wanted to follow up here. Obviously, our intent is not to create a red flag. The reason there is some hidden criteria is to avoid bad actors from working around them to continue negative behavior. We saw this very effect happen in real time when we had less criteria. This is all in an effort to avoid closing down gifting for everyone again.

However, we do understand this is frustrating and we are sharing that feedback with our various teams. Ideally, we won't have bad actors impacting the experience for everyone. However for the time being, this is how we have to operate to make sure gifting can remain open.

That being said, please make sure to continue to try with tickets. We will also go through the last few tickets submitted in this thread to see if they are eligible.

Seriously? We’re supposed to create a new ticket every day and deal with this mess because you can't get it together? Hey, corn costs real money! Money that everyone had to work for. Do something already or refund the money to those who want it. And stop using bad actors as an excuse for a system that doesn't work. With this action, all you'll achieve is frustrating honest players who will stop spending money on crowns, while the bad actors will just adapt and continue as before with a few extra hurdles!

jsharrad_ESO · August 25

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Hiding the criteria is a huge, massive, red flag. That it has gone on this long is, well, stunning.

Just wanted to follow up here. Obviously, our intent is not to create a red flag. The reason there is some hidden criteria is to avoid bad actors from working around them to continue negative behavior. We saw this very effect happen in real time when we had less criteria. This is all in an effort to avoid closing down gifting for everyone again.

However, we do understand this is frustrating and we are sharing that feedback with our various teams. Ideally, we won't have bad actors impacting the experience for everyone. However for the time being, this is how we have to operate to make sure gifting can remain open.

That being said, please make sure to continue to try with tickets. We will also go through the last few tickets submitted in this thread to see if they are eligible.

Hiding the eligibility requirements is ridiculous. Without knowing exactly what I need to do, all I can do is keep checking and it seems like the CS people are getting frustrated after 30 days of me checking in every day because they started denying me in bold. All I can do is keep trying though.

jsharrad_ESO · August 29

No luck so far.

240825-002161 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240826-002229 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240823-003221 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240819-004556 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240817-002732 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240816-002928 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240815-002553 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240814-002377 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240813-003108 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240812-002594 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240811-004026 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240810-002585 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240809-002526 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240808-004401 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240807-002228 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240806-002571 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240614-005210 • Gifting
Answer Provided

virtus753 · August 29

jsharrad_ESO wrote: »

No luck so far.

240825-002161 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240826-002229 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240823-003221 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240819-004556 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240817-002732 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240816-002928 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240815-002553 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240814-002377 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240813-003108 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240812-002594 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240811-004026 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240810-002585 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240809-002526 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240808-004401 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240807-002228 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240806-002571 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240614-005210 • Gifting
Answer Provided

Spamming Support daily is likely not going to accomplish what you are looking for.

@ZOS_Kevin Could you please clarify how we should “keep trying” with tickets? Just follow up with the same one? If it is closed to the point where it cannot be reopened, how long should we wait before trying again and expecting it not to be closed as a duplicate?

Four_Fingers · August 30

They should just disable gifting for everyone if they can't fairly apply the requirements.
Once denied it seems it takes an act of Molag Bal to get it back.
I gave up on my one account where they won't grant even though identical to all my other accounts that were granted.
Never even have got an in-game warning in 10 years on any of my accounts.

DragonRacer · August 30

Four_Fingers wrote: »

They should just disable gifting for everyone if they can't fairly apply the requirements.
Once denied it seems it takes an act of Molag Bal to get it back.
I gave up on my one account where they won't grant even though identical to all my other accounts that were granted.
Never even have got an in-game warning in 10 years on any of my accounts.

You may get your wish. On PS NA, I have now seen two of the typical gold-selling zone chat spammer type of accounts now openly soliciting to buy ESO accounts that have gifting access and giving a Discord ID to contact. Specifically specifying “gifting access”. The PSN profiles show Chinese as the chosen language selection.

Like, it is THAT blatant now. The bad actors are gonna ruin this for everyone again.

TaSheen · August 30

DragonRacer wrote: »

Four_Fingers wrote: »

They should just disable gifting for everyone if they can't fairly apply the requirements.
Once denied it seems it takes an act of Molag Bal to get it back.
I gave up on my one account where they won't grant even though identical to all my other accounts that were granted.
Never even have got an in-game warning in 10 years on any of my accounts.

You may get your wish. On PS NA, I have now seen two of the typical gold-selling zone chat spammer type of accounts now openly soliciting to buy ESO accounts that have gifting access and giving a Discord ID to contact. Specifically specifying “gifting access”. The PSN profiles show Chinese as the chosen language selection.

Like, it is THAT blatant now. The bad actors are gonna ruin this for everyone again.

I hope you reported them!

Sleepsin · August 30

The past week or so, someone has been spamming they WTB an account that has gifting enabled. ZOS really needs to step up and be transparent about the rules or disable gifting for everyone. ZOS is enabling an atmosphere of black market account selling.

jsharrad_ESO · August 30

virtus753 wrote: »

jsharrad_ESO wrote: »

No luck so far.

240825-002161 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240826-002229 • Gifting
Waiting on agent
240823-003221 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240819-004556 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240817-002732 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240816-002928 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240815-002553 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240814-002377 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240813-003108 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240812-002594 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240811-004026 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240810-002585 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240809-002526 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240808-004401 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240807-002228 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240806-002571 • Gifting
Ticket closed as duplicate
240614-005210 • Gifting
Answer Provided

Spamming Support daily is likely not going to accomplish what you are looking for.

@ZOS_Kevin Could you please clarify how we should “keep trying” with tickets? Just follow up with the same one? If it is closed to the point where it cannot be reopened, how long should we wait before trying again and expecting it not to be closed as a duplicate?

They take 2 weeks to a month to just answer a ticket when you just follow up on an already open one. Just look at the date between the first two tickets - the first 6 digits. Sometimes they answer them out of order, sometimes they close them as duplicates. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the methodology, so I just open a new one.

jsharrad_ESO · August 30

DragonRacer wrote: »

Four_Fingers wrote: »

They should just disable gifting for everyone if they can't fairly apply the requirements.
Once denied it seems it takes an act of Molag Bal to get it back.
I gave up on my one account where they won't grant even though identical to all my other accounts that were granted.
Never even have got an in-game warning in 10 years on any of my accounts.

You may get your wish. On PS NA, I have now seen two of the typical gold-selling zone chat spammer type of accounts now openly soliciting to buy ESO accounts that have gifting access and giving a Discord ID to contact. Specifically specifying “gifting access”. The PSN profiles show Chinese as the chosen language selection.

Like, it is THAT blatant now. The bad actors are gonna ruin this for everyone again.

I saw this on PC also the past couple of days.