Reported bug with Shadowy Supplier in ESO PS4 and Zenimax waved me off like a piece of trash

djether

I recently got the passive Dark Brotherhood skill "Shadowy Supplier". Upon visiting the merchant in the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary and requesting equipment, it reported that I received a gold Inferno Staff of Mother's Sorrow. I already have this staff (sharpened) but having a second one to sell or give to a guildie would have been fantastic. When I checked my inventory, all that had happened was that the staff I already had became unequipped.

Video evidence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWPuCvT4KtI

After a series of emails with Zenimax, they told me that there is nothing they can do. I am showing solid evidence of a bug in the system and they are ignoring me and refusing me to get the staff which I was/am owed.

Here is the thread in chronological order. I have removed PII data.

Submitted via Customer Support in game by me:
My Shadowy Supplier supposedly gave me a gold inferno staff but I see nothing new in my inventory. Could you please check?

Response from ESO Team:
Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team. My name is Grr, and I'd be happy to continue assisting you today. Before looking into the account , please let us know which staff are you missing that the shadowy supplier supposedly gave you and what day did you receive the item, so we can track down the items.


Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Warm Regards,
Ger
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Response from me:
Ger,

It looked like a gold Inferno Staff of a Mother’s Sorrow. The text was cut off some. I’ve actually had this staff, sharpened for some time. But another one to sell would have been great. I am in the process of uploading a video of the transaction to youtube right now. This happened just before I filed this ticket FYI.

Follow up response by me:
Here is the video:

<same video as above but the one above has been trimmed to remove my email address during the in game report phase>

All it seemed to do was un-equip the one I already had which was on my back bar.

Response from ESO Team:
Hey there!

Thank you for taking the time to contact The Elder Scrolls Online team. My name is Julie and I'd be happy to help you out today!

Thanks so much for providing the video! I can clearly see how you received what does seem to be a Gold Inferno Staff of Mother's Sorrow, however it did not appear in your inventory and it did not get recorded by our systems either. For this reason, I will be escalating your ticket to an Advanced Team for further review so we can figure out what happened to this Staff. Someone from this team will be with you shortly!

Thank you for your continued interest and support!
Warm Regards,
Julie
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Last response from ESO Team:
Greetings, <removed>!

Thank you for contacting us back. My name is Tuesday.

I am sorry; but after looking into this further, there is no record in our system of an Inferno Staff of Mother's Sorrow on this account. Because of this, I cannot grant you this item.

Thank you for understanding, and have a great day!


Kind regards,

Tuesday
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

djether

And regarding their last response.. I would just like to note that I did in fact already have the staff, so telling me that there is no record of it on this account is just further proof of their complete buffoonery.

bebynnag

the shadowy supplier does not rewarrd gold weapons

it awards set pieces (from DB sets) which occasionally automatically replaces whatever you had equipped

bebynnag

ps. this is a known bug - and i saw reference to a fix in a patch note somewhere
regarding the responses you received - it is rather confusing they appear to be adding to the confusion rather than clarifying it

djether

MORE EMAILS

From Me:
Please escalate this further up. You obviously have no idea what you’re reporting to me. I have shown solid evidence of a bug in your software and you are waving me (a paying customer) off like I am a piece of garbage. This is unacceptable.

From Me:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/349644/reported-bug-with-shadowy-supplier-in-eso-ps4-and-zenimax-waved-me-off-like-a-piece-of-trash/p1?new=1

And this is going up on every ESO forum I can find. You guys need to fix your stuff and stop treating your players like dirt. Show some decency.

From ESO Team
Greetings <removed>!

Thank you for the update. My name is Ben, and I'd be happy to continue assisting you today.

I'm sorry to hear about the confusion regarding your reward from the Shadowy Supplier! I can imagine how aggravating this situation would be. Looking over your account history, it appears that the Shadowy Supplier provided you with a blue Sithis' Axe with the training trait, not a legendary Inferno Staff, and this was likely a UI error that displayed your equipped weapon instead of the weapon that you were receiving in the moment. Looking over your video, it does appear that the new blue Sithis' Axe was granted in your inventory at the time.

Many UI errors can be resolved moving forward by deleting the local save data on your console.

Please be aware that deleting the save data will only reset your Options settings, and that no character data will be affected.

To delete save data on PlayStation 4

1.From the PlayStation Dynamic Menu, navigate to Settings.
2.Go to Application Saved Data.
3.In Application Saved Data, select The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited.
4.Press the [Options] button of the controller on the ESO Save Data.
5.Select Delete.

Additionally, we will pass along this ticket to the relevant teams so that this UI glitch can be investigated further.

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Warm Regards,
Ben
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

From Me:
So.. I would like a sharpened, legendary staff of Mother’s Sorrow (Bing on Equip) just as the video depicts me receiving.

If you cannot assist with this virtual, cyber, in-game transaction… please escalate this ticket.

Is this so much to ask?

Once again,

I want what was apparently given to me in game. This is not my bug. This is your bug.

It’s out there and people see it. Evidently this bug has been around since the Dark Brotherhood DLC came out and yet your programmers have made next to no effort to fix it. Having on worked on 3 AAA titles myself for EA Sports, I have the bar set pretty high for customer satisfaction.

Will you do what is right? I will continue to escalate. Your real names are tied to these ticket numbers. Make no mistake.

Regards
<removed>

From ESO Team
Hello again,

Thank you for the update!

We apologize again for the confusion resulting from this UI error, but the Shadowy Supplier does not provide Mother's Sorrow weapons, which come from the Deshaan area. The Shadowy Supplier provides Sithis weapons or other Dark Brotherhood set items (not already improved to legendary), and it appears that the correct item was granted and was in your inventory as intended. I wish that we could be of further assistance in this situation, but you received the proper reward in this case, and we cannot grant a weapon that was never generated by the system.

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Warm Regards,
Ben
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

fFrom Me:
Stop apologizing. Instead make things right. Apologies are empty without action.

I have video evidence which is available to the public that I was to receive a legendary inferno staff of The Mother’s Sorrow. I dd not receive this item. I am owed this item.

Your UI errors are not my UI errors.

Asking me to erase my saved game files to fix YOUR blunders is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD!

Do what’s right. I will continue to escalate. Monday is a brand new day.

If I was your PM, I would give the lot of you your final warning, pending termination. This may happen some time.

From ESO Team
Greetings!

Please send us the video, we will be happy to review. it. If you have any questions about how you can share a video with our team for review, please let us know. Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Warm Regards,
Zachariah
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

From Me

<linked video from above>
FYI I have sent this video multiple times.

From ESO Team
Greetings!

We will review the information provided and respond when we are able to. Please be patient during our investigation. Thank you for your cooperation.

From Me

Then I get an email with a survey link asking about their quality of service. I responded:

This is still unresolved.

From ESO Team:
Hello!

Thank you for reaching out to support regarding your issue. The Shadowy Supplier only supplies items in the Sithis' Touch set. You received on 06/04 a Axe in this set. As you can see in your video (found here: <video fro above>) when you review your inventory, you now have a blue Sithis' Axe equipped. What has occurred is that your received reward was equipped.

No other items can be provided to you.

From Me:
The video shows that I received a legendary Inferno Staff of a Mother’s Sorrow. Not a Sithis Axe.

I have done some research and it appears that this bug has been around since the release of the Dark Brotherhood DLC. I’ve worked on game engines and been a UI developer. I do not understand what the hold up is on fixing this.

I am not going to give up on pushing the ESO team to make right by giving me the item that was displayed upon me selecting the Equipment option in the Shadowy Supplier dialog. What is so difficult about doing the right thing and sending me this intangible piece of equipment that I am owed, which the video shows? Obviously I am never going to use this passive ability again.

Please make things right by A) Fixing this bug and providing me with the legendary staff shown upon me making my selection.

Thanks
<removed>

I called their support and left a voicemail. I will keep everyone posted.

Mystrius_Archaion

You are very mistaken.

1) You never get gold items from the Dark Brotherhood Shadowy Supplier.

2) You never get any item from the set "Mother's Sorrow" from the Dark Brotherhood Shadowy Supplier.

3) The item you get is always from the set "Sithis' Touch".

4) The item you get is always blue quality.


What you saw was likely your gold weapon being unequipped and instead showing it just looted in the loot history. That I have seen before as a different unrelated bug due to lag when I had been crafting an item. It continued to do this every time I logged in showing that loot history, even when no such item was in my inventory, until the support people removed some odd recurring effect from my character that acted like a buff.

I find it dubious that you happened to be recording right when this happened, as if you had multiple versions of that staff and were able to reproduce the bug or you are always recording while playing(not ideal for performance and can cause hiccups that may show bugs that may or may not be truly happening).


Anyway, the point is you are either very mistaken in what actually happened or lying by trying to get a free weapon you don't want to work for.

Koolio

To me it looks like it just equipped the reward on your back bar. Especially since you have 2 swords on one bar and now a 1 hand on the other. With the sets you're using it doesn't look like you would make that kinda mistake. Just a UI error. Sucks that it mislead you but doesn't look like you acquired another mothers sorrow staff.

djether

Update

From ESO Team:
Response By (Ronald) (06/05/2017 05:09 PM)
Hello!

Thank you for getting back to me. The bug is that your item from the Shadowy Supplier is equipped rather than placed directly into your inventory. As you can see from the video, your have two melee weapons (of the Mother's Sorrow) equipped and a Sithis Axe. Why do you have three one-handed items equipped? Did you not have the Mother's Sorrow Inferno staff equipped? This is a known bug in our game which our development team has been working on resolving.

What the video specifically shows is that a gold quality Inferno Staff of the Mother's Sorrow went into your inventory. it was not received from the Shadowy Supplier. It is the very weapon you already had equipped and now (as seen in the video) sits locked and in your inventory ready for use.

The Shadowy Supplier does not provide any items except those from the Sithis item set. We do not have the ability to grant you another Inferno Staff of Mother's Sorrow.

RJ S.
The Elder Scrolls Online Support

I spoke with Ronald on the phone and he was pretty much a jerk to me. It 20 minutes to cause him to realize that the item being shown at the bottom of the screen is not the item I was getting. He argued this. He continually tried to end the call with "Are there any other questions?". There were no apologies, no signs of remorse. He was defensive and rude to me during the entire call.

Sigtric

LOL @ thinking you deserve a legendary because of a UI bug. Get real.

AzraelKrieg

This is the biggest QQ thread I have ever seen

djether

Sigtric wrote: »

LOL @ thinking you deserve a legendary because of a UI bug. Get real.

This bug showed me getting a legendary staff. So, yes. I do.

Sigtric

djether wrote: »

Sigtric wrote: »

LOL @ thinking you deserve a legendary because of a UI bug. Get real.

This bug showed me getting a legendary staff. So, yes. I do.

No, you don't. You're not entitled to anything other than what is in the Supplier's loot table. That particular set doesn't drop there, and certainly not in legendary. At best, if you didn't receive a Sithis item, they should be giving you one of those, in blue.

djether

Mystrius_Archaion wrote: »

You are very mistaken.

1) You never get gold items from the Dark Brotherhood Shadowy Supplier.

2) You never get any item from the set "Mother's Sorrow" from the Dark Brotherhood Shadowy Supplier.

3) The item you get is always from the set "Sithis' Touch".

4) The item you get is always blue quality.


What you saw was likely your gold weapon being unequipped and instead showing it just looted in the loot history. That I have seen before as a different unrelated bug due to lag when I had been crafting an item. It continued to do this every time I logged in showing that loot history, even when no such item was in my inventory, until the support people removed some odd recurring effect from my character that acted like a buff.

I find it dubious that you happened to be recording right when this happened, as if you had multiple versions of that staff and were able to reproduce the bug or you are always recording while playing(not ideal for performance and can cause hiccups that may show bugs that may or may not be truly happening).


Anyway, the point is you are either very mistaken in what actually happened or lying by trying to get a free weapon you don't want to work for.

PS4 automatically lets you send video clips of the last 15 minutes. Not sure if you realized this. It is always recording. Also - if you look at the video you will see that I already had this weapon. It is locked in my inventory. I think you need to pay attention before commenting.

johnnified

Mystrius_Archaion wrote: »

You are very mistaken.

I find it dubious that you happened to be recording right when this happened, as if you had multiple versions of that staff and were able to reproduce the bug or you are always recording while playing(not ideal for performance and can cause hiccups that may show bugs that may or may not be truly happening).


Anyway, the point is you are either very mistaken in what actually happened or lying by trying to get a free weapon you don't want to work for.

I'm on PC (not PS4 Like he is), and I have my recording software ... recording 80% of the time. Especially when I am doing things in Craglorn with the new particle and glitch effects happening around spellscar in the game.
Also because planned on uploading a start-to-finish video of a character doing everything in the game... (irrelevant to my point).

Ilsabet

If I explained what was going on and how the loot tracker displaying the wrong item while the actually granted item automatically replaced it as your equipped weapon was the known bug, and the customer still insisted that I owed them a duplicate of their original weapon and was being belligerent about demanding to get their way, I'd probably get a bit defensive too.

You can argue that they need to get on the stick and fix their auto-equipping bug and their loot tracker bug. You can't argue that you were granted a duplicate of your original weapon when that's not what was granted.

djether

Ilsabet wrote: »

If I explained what was going on and how the loot tracker displaying the wrong item while the actually granted item automatically replaced it as your equipped weapon was the known bug, and the customer still insisted that I owed them a duplicate of their original weapon and was being belligerent about demanding to get their way, I'd probably get a bit defensive too.

You can argue that they need to get on the stick and fix their auto-equipping bug and their loot tracker bug. You can't argue that you were granted a duplicate of your original weapon when that's not what was granted.

I did not enjoy any of this. What got me is that the one support rep, Julie, made it sound like they were going to fix things. All I got after that was BS after BS.

As far as my frustration... I think this situation would frustrate most people. And it's not like I don't have other things to do. I'm just a person of principle and I believe that they should have honored my request since this is their buggy code. Not mine.

I also had no idea that this was a known bug until recently. I wouldn't have gotten the passive.

Darlgon

@djether

Ok.. let me get this straight.

You are complaining because:
A vendor that only sells SIthis equipment sold you a Sithis Axe.
You wanted a weapon that was ONLY DROPPED IN DUNGEONS and NOT AVAILABLE FROM THE VENDOR.
Yet, somehow you think you selected that kind of weapon.

The transaction moved the new weapon to a weapon slot and moved the weapon you had to your
The move made the UI on your screen show you looted it, when actually it was just the movement into your supply bags.

The video shows NOTHING about you selecting a weapon. The mechanic of the Shadowy Supplier appears to be, he gives you a random item, that auto equips.

And you blame ZoS customer support and have wasted their time with this .. fiasco?

I.. have no further words.


BTW.. YES, my mother DID drop me on my head. I have the scar on my head, under my hair, to prove it.

Kram8ion

Gold weapon?
Nope

Sigtric

djether wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

If I explained what was going on and how the loot tracker displaying the wrong item while the actually granted item automatically replaced it as your equipped weapon was the known bug, and the customer still insisted that I owed them a duplicate of their original weapon and was being belligerent about demanding to get their way, I'd probably get a bit defensive too.

You can argue that they need to get on the stick and fix their auto-equipping bug and their loot tracker bug. You can't argue that you were granted a duplicate of your original weapon when that's not what was granted.

I did not enjoy any of this. What got me is that the one support rep, Julie, made it sound like they were going to fix things. All I got after that was BS after BS.

As far as my frustration... I think this situation would frustrate most people. And it's not like I don't have other things to do. I'm just a person of principle and I believe that they should have honored my request since this is their buggy code. Not mine.

I also had no idea that this was a known bug until recently. I wouldn't have gotten the passive.

Bugs suck, and this one is no doubt annoying, but that still doesn't mean you're entitled to something that is not in that loot table. Your request is wrong. If you did not get a Sithis item then that's what the real problem is on your end. Anything more is just trying to take advantage of them.

djether

@Darlgon

I'm sorry. What? I had no idea what this vendor did. That's why I got it. The rest of what you typed... I'm not even sure how to respond. It was pretty garbled. Funny pic of Walter White.

djether

Sigtric wrote: »

djether wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

If I explained what was going on and how the loot tracker displaying the wrong item while the actually granted item automatically replaced it as your equipped weapon was the known bug, and the customer still insisted that I owed them a duplicate of their original weapon and was being belligerent about demanding to get their way, I'd probably get a bit defensive too.

You can argue that they need to get on the stick and fix their auto-equipping bug and their loot tracker bug. You can't argue that you were granted a duplicate of your original weapon when that's not what was granted.

I did not enjoy any of this. What got me is that the one support rep, Julie, made it sound like they were going to fix things. All I got after that was BS after BS.

As far as my frustration... I think this situation would frustrate most people. And it's not like I don't have other things to do. I'm just a person of principle and I believe that they should have honored my request since this is their buggy code. Not mine.

I also had no idea that this was a known bug until recently. I wouldn't have gotten the passive.

Bugs suck, and this one is no doubt annoying, but that still doesn't mean you're entitled to something that is not in that loot table. Your request is wrong. If you did not get a Sithis item then that's what the real problem is on your end. Anything more is just trying to take advantage of them.

I keep repeating this. I had no idea what this vendor offered. None. So... why would I be shocked and excited to get an item when I have no idea what the vendor is meant to give?

Mystrius_Archaion

djether wrote: »

I spoke with Ronald on the phone and he was pretty much a jerk to me. It 20 minutes to cause him to realize that the item being shown at the bottom of the screen is not the item I was getting. He argued this. He continually tried to end the call with "Are there any other questions?". There were no apologies, no signs of remorse. He was defensive and rude to me during the entire call.

1) The ZOS employee was right. You were wrong.

2) Of course he was "short" with you and you considered him rude.
For one, they don't do phone support unless you've been a jerk and escalated up the chain from base rep to higher levels of support.
Two, people always view somebody as rude when that somebody has to repeat themselves over and over and over and over and over and over, or repeat what others have already also said, until the truly rude person(you) actually registers the answer and realizes "I was pretty foolish not seeing the obvious" and then we all wish the "could have had a V8" advertisement could pop you right in the forehead for emphasis. Oh right, that's called a "/facepalm".



The point is....
You really really really escalated something out of control that you could have easily figured out by doing a simple inventory check on what you had equipped and where what you did have equipped went.

You had a new Sithis Touch weapon where the gold weapon had been, and the gold weapon was still in your inventory. It was the only gold weapon of that type you had.
And you assumed that an online game, or any game, would never ever have a visual bug and should be taken as gospel truth.

Thank you for wasting customer support time.
/signed, "fed up customer support rep for another company"

djether

The gist of my whole "QQ" session as someone called it was to show that ZOS just doesn't give a *** about their *** code, or the impact it has on their paying customers. It's like dealing with the DMV.

Adernath

@djether

I can feel your frustration, but it was explained to you several times from the staff (in a polite manner btw.) that you experienced an UI bug and what you actually received. So get over it, accept that bugs can occur and move on.

Sigtric

djether wrote: »

Sigtric wrote: »

djether wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

If I explained what was going on and how the loot tracker displaying the wrong item while the actually granted item automatically replaced it as your equipped weapon was the known bug, and the customer still insisted that I owed them a duplicate of their original weapon and was being belligerent about demanding to get their way, I'd probably get a bit defensive too.

You can argue that they need to get on the stick and fix their auto-equipping bug and their loot tracker bug. You can't argue that you were granted a duplicate of your original weapon when that's not what was granted.

I did not enjoy any of this. What got me is that the one support rep, Julie, made it sound like they were going to fix things. All I got after that was BS after BS.

As far as my frustration... I think this situation would frustrate most people. And it's not like I don't have other things to do. I'm just a person of principle and I believe that they should have honored my request since this is their buggy code. Not mine.

I also had no idea that this was a known bug until recently. I wouldn't have gotten the passive.

Bugs suck, and this one is no doubt annoying, but that still doesn't mean you're entitled to something that is not in that loot table. Your request is wrong. If you did not get a Sithis item then that's what the real problem is on your end. Anything more is just trying to take advantage of them.

I keep repeating this. I had no idea what this vendor offered. None. So... why would I be shocked and excited to get an item when I have no idea what the vendor is meant to give?

You have no idea, that's fine. That's also not ZOS fault. You can keep repeating it. You're the only one here who doesn't understand what's going on. You are entitled to NOTHING more than what that NPC normally hands out.

Mystrius_Archaion

johnnified wrote: »

Mystrius_Archaion wrote: »

You are very mistaken.

I find it dubious that you happened to be recording right when this happened, as if you had multiple versions of that staff and were able to reproduce the bug or you are always recording while playing(not ideal for performance and can cause hiccups that may show bugs that may or may not be truly happening).


Anyway, the point is you are either very mistaken in what actually happened or lying by trying to get a free weapon you don't want to work for.

I'm on PC (not PS4 Like he is), and I have my recording software ... recording 80% of the time. Especially when I am doing things in Craglorn with the new particle and glitch effects happening around spellscar in the game.
Also because planned on uploading a start-to-finish video of a character doing everything in the game... (irrelevant to my point).

Yeah, I was just curious how this came about, and it is pretty dubious somebody asking for a gold weapon they should have received from a vendor(too easy) that is documented online to only give items of a specific type and quality.
I was just trying to draw attention to the whole "does this make sense to you?". /CaptainObvious

I wish I could record some things because I have seen some hilarious things, especially pointless deaths from trying to jump up a cliff to avoid going in lava and ending up launching into the middle of the lake and lava finishing off what health I had left.

djether

Adernath wrote: »

@djether

I can feel your frustration, but it was explained to you several times from the staff (in a polite manner btw.) that you experienced an UI bug and what you actually received. So get over it, accept that bugs can occur and move on.

Bugs are typically fixed. Based on my research after the fact, this one has been here since the launch of the DB DLC. That's a little ridiculous to me.

bubbygink

Reading this thread actually gives me a more positive view of the ZoS support team. Seems like they spent a lot of time looking through your video and explaining exactly what happened with the bug. They respondend numerous times and they even spoke with you on the phone - for apparently 20 minutes! Wow, good job ZoS. It ridiculous to think you should be entitled to the item because it showed up in visual bug...

Darlgon

djether wrote: »

The gist of my whole "QQ" session as someone called it was to show that ZOS just doesn't give a *** about their *** code, or the impact it has on their paying customers. It's like dealing with the DMV.

Its NOT THEIR CODE. Its YOU appear to not know what that vendor can sell. You, as a paying customer are expecting a candy shop to sell diamonds... and complaining that they didnt.

Sigtric

djether wrote: »

Adernath wrote: »

@djether

I can feel your frustration, but it was explained to you several times from the staff (in a polite manner btw.) that you experienced an UI bug and what you actually received. So get over it, accept that bugs can occur and move on.

Bugs are typically fixed. Based on my research after the fact, this one has been here since the launch of the DB DLC. That's a little ridiculous to me.

Your request is a little ridiculous to me.

I should get a free legendary BSW sharpened inferno staff because of it too.

djether

Darlgon wrote: »

djether wrote: »

The gist of my whole "QQ" session as someone called it was to show that ZOS just doesn't give a *** about their *** code, or the impact it has on their paying customers. It's like dealing with the DMV.

Its NOT THEIR CODE. Its YOU appear to not know what that vendor can sell. You, as a paying customer are expecting a candy shop to sell diamonds... and complaining that they didnt.

No. It really is a confirmed bug. It is their code. Not sure how that is not obvious. Your analogy is really out of context.