7 years gone in a moment

Onyx_Werewolf_Gnome

Goregrinder wrote: »

I love that reference, Brad's ex is definitely out of her mind.

Who is Brad & what happened with his ex? Is he a character in the game?

OP This is so sad I hope this thread stays visible & they give you some kind of decent resolution

Alurria

@ZOS_GinaBruno I would hope someone is taking a look at this situation for this player and saying how can we help him. I would hope that Zos has the heart and compassion to care that someone has devoted 7 years to playing this game because they liked it that much and that the PEOPLE at Zos can place themselves in his shoes and help him out.

Oh and Brad Pitt is an American Actor if you ever saw the movie 'Fight Club'

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

They normally keep copies of all our characters (even deleted ones), so who knows the reasoning behind it. We can only speculate.

SilverBride

NylAR wrote: »

How exactly did they fry it? I'm not entirely understanding what happened to you. They must have backup systems in place, how is this even a thing?

I'm wondering the same thing. What exactly happened?

Was your character deleted? Were all your achievements wiped? Were your skills reset?

Please elaborate.

xeNNNNN

Wolfenbelle wrote: »

How terrible, Yormula. Something like what you experienced should NEVER happen. Surely ZOS backs up its systems, right? Or am I being too naive? But if they did back up their systems nightly, it should be fairly simple for them to restore your entire character.

I agree with you completely that the problem is very poor customer service. The "support" methods they use are pathetic and worse.

I have not been in this game quite as long as you since I started during pre-launch in March 2014, but through the years I'm sure we both have seen numerous instances where ZOS could have improved the overall game performance and their customer service. But they haven't done either, which, to be honest, is quite shocking.

They would have restore options yes. Alternatively if that isn't available they could do this person the kindness of creating a brand new template for their person with all the gear and achievements that they lost. There would probably be one or two things missing because the OP probably wouldnt be able to remember everything they had but it should be most of it.

I remember when I first started the game 2014/15 I was so happy when I got my first purple motiff they were worth millions and I wanted to learn it but I couldn't because I didn't have rank 9 clothing, so I wanted to put it in my bank but I accidently put it in my motiff into a guild bank and then someone took it within seconds. I was pretty upset so I went to support, made my case and they just gave me a new one. No fuss, no hassle. Just a smile emoticon and the motiff it was extremely kind of them. As originally I was wondering if there was any way for them to just restore it for me, I didn't expect them to just give me another one.

So they could absolutely do it and they would have data logged for the character on that account - or at least they should.

Rex-Umbra

Such a terrible and Sad story you deserve justice from ZOS. Do you at least have all your account wide cosmetics?

tc91101

Anyone inside the US could file a small claim at your local courthouse for almost nothing I think it cost something like $50. Don't even need an attorney. The local sheriff wouldn't be able to serve in person though. They might serve by mail. It might be enough to make them help you. Some states have a pretty high limit. Delaware caps it out at 25,000. Some states are really low though like Rhode Island at 2,500. Of course if you lived in Rhode Island you could always move across the border to Delaware and then file a $25,000 claim, lol. I doubt they would even show up which means you would get a default judgment. The harder part would be collecting. I read an article once where someone got a default judgement against a worldwide bank and then they went into one of the branches with a sheriff and started taken computers to satisfy the judgment. After a few minutes someone at the bank finally settled the judgement in cash. Another tactic is if you live somewhat close to one of their offices you could just go in there and throw a tantrum. Sometimes that's effective at getting some customer service. If you are outside the US then you're pretty much SOL if they decide to ignore you.

As far as the account goes, I doubt at this point they have something to go back to. The only thing they could do is maybe manually give you back whatever you said you had but it would be very tedious work with zero evidence from their standpoint given a bunch of what was lost was things like achievements. I was hacked in another game once and that's sort of what they did. They just gave me some items I said were gone.

Yormula

SilverBride wrote: »

... What exactly happened? ...

In short: support logs onto the main character, corrupts it and the account somehow (could only make guesses as to the exact mechanics), locks the character (or the character gets locked automatically by what is normally their anti-exploit feature).

Result: primary character locked and inaccessible, preview shows signs of corruption. Secondary characters are accessible, yet the account in general got damaged (no incoming whispers, etc), and craft bag contents just vanished.

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

... account wide cosmetics?

One should never doubt the power and integrity of the Crown Store! I did not perform an audit, yet at a glance the collectibles remain untouched, both purchased and unlocked.

Carcharodontosaurus

tc91101 wrote: »

Anyone inside the US could file a small claim at your local courthouse for almost nothing I think it cost something like $50. Don't even need an attorney. The local sheriff wouldn't be able to serve in person though. They might serve by mail. It might be enough to make them help you. Some states have a pretty high limit. Delaware caps it out at 25,000. Some states are really low though like Rhode Island at 2,500. Of course if you lived in Rhode Island you could always move across the border to Delaware and then file a $25,000 claim, lol. I doubt they would even show up which means you would get a default judgment. The harder part would be collecting. I read an article once where someone got a default judgement against a worldwide bank and then they went into one of the branches with a sheriff and started taken computers to satisfy the judgment. After a few minutes someone at the bank finally settled the judgement in cash. Another tactic is if you live somewhat close to one of their offices you could just go in there and throw a tantrum. Sometimes that's effective at getting some customer service. If you are outside the US then you're pretty much SOL if they decide to ignore you.

As far as the account goes, I doubt at this point they have something to go back to. The only thing they could do is maybe manually give you back whatever you said you had but it would be very tedious work with zero evidence from their standpoint given a bunch of what was lost was things like achievements. I was hacked in another game once and that's sort of what they did. They just gave me some items I said were gone.

Doesn't everyone agree to binding arbitration when we sign the TOS? Personally, I'd try to tag ZOS on social media, with screenshots of your ineffective e-mails/details as needed. Nothing these companies hate more than bad PR.

Jaimeh

Oh my gosh, that's a nightmare, why couldn't they restore it... It sounds like you already spend a lot of time going back-and-forth with support, but I hope you don't give up, and get as much of your character's progression back as possible. For long time players, it's like you said, an emotional attachment to our characters, so it's just terrible that they can't fix something like this

Moloch1514

Everyone only tagged Gina....maybe @ZOS_SarahHecker can help?

tc91101

Carcharodontosaurus wrote: »

tc91101 wrote: »

Anyone inside the US could file a small claim at your local courthouse for almost nothing I think it cost something like $50. Don't even need an attorney. The local sheriff wouldn't be able to serve in person though. They might serve by mail. It might be enough to make them help you. Some states have a pretty high limit. Delaware caps it out at 25,000. Some states are really low though like Rhode Island at 2,500. Of course if you lived in Rhode Island you could always move across the border to Delaware and then file a $25,000 claim, lol. I doubt they would even show up which means you would get a default judgment. The harder part would be collecting. I read an article once where someone got a default judgement against a worldwide bank and then they went into one of the branches with a sheriff and started taken computers to satisfy the judgment. After a few minutes someone at the bank finally settled the judgement in cash. Another tactic is if you live somewhat close to one of their offices you could just go in there and throw a tantrum. Sometimes that's effective at getting some customer service. If you are outside the US then you're pretty much SOL if they decide to ignore you.

As far as the account goes, I doubt at this point they have something to go back to. The only thing they could do is maybe manually give you back whatever you said you had but it would be very tedious work with zero evidence from their standpoint given a bunch of what was lost was things like achievements. I was hacked in another game once and that's sort of what they did. They just gave me some items I said were gone.

Doesn't everyone agree to binding arbitration when we sign the TOS? Personally, I'd try to tag ZOS on social media, with screenshots of your ineffective e-mails/details as needed. Nothing these companies hate more than bad PR.

Maybe but you would still be a squeaky wheel. The point in filing a small claim against a large business or making noise by any other means really is to stir them up enough that they actually listen to your complaint. They could always still ignore you if they so choose but it's just another path to try if you are desperate enough.

iksde

Yormula wrote: »

Automated responses taking weeks and missing the point, tickets getting closed without replying, tickets set to “read answer provided” without replying and hence auto-closing, support asking to resubmit data as they cannot access ticket history – that’s the spirit that brought us the iconic canvas bag. That stuff was and sadly is systemic, just look around these very forums, and resulted in a nonsensical lose-lose situation: players less content than prior to addressing support, finding answers elsewhere while waiting on auto-responses or remaining with a unsolved issue and a series of replies perceived at best as condescending, and the company actually spending funds to make the customer less content.

I had same in case regarding of some report for names of my characters...wwith some I understood and I took my warn penalty....
but for some and later I still took even dont know form where, what report on chracters I was not loggining in for monthes, years - other server - and some I was playing for years and dudennly gor report for those without even explaining why - only copy paste of 1 rule for bad names with additional it might be unintentionally to be bad as it was - I tried ,to argue with it - nothing, withing few tickets for over month - only spam of copy paste same reposne with this 1 rule and sentence this nickname could be non intentional yet still got report without even chance to argue with it, to explain

for to nickcnames I got "apology" these turned out to not be bad for report yet it still stayed with warn for these and unability to name characters again with these names which turned out to be fine...

looks like not that bad case as Your dear OP but at the end it resulted in this time account supsned for 1 week - not able to play and now I dont even know if I have even a single chance more for next "warn" if again reported for something I might not even know or maybe instant ban right now as it looked in last tickets like that.....like next reports on my account which might look at first sight to blame might end instantly ban for me and then I would need toa rgue again for what, why etc which for sure knowing this support - will be just screaming in the wind

Soraka

Wow that's scary. Hope it works out.

Sirvaleen

Really sorry for what happened to OP.

If his backup isn't restored somehow, it's going to frighten a lot of players once that story spreads. Just saying... better fix it heh ?

RevJJ

Sirvaleen wrote: »

Really sorry for what happened to OP.

If his backup isn't restored somehow, it's going to frighten a lot of players once that story spreads. Just saying... better fix it heh ?

Yeah, who knows what the effect would be if a big gaming website picks up a story like this...

amm7sb14_ESO

danno8 wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

HedgehogFeet wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

I love that reference, Brad's ex is definitely out of her mind.

Who is Brad & what happened with his ex?

OP This is so sad I hope this thread stays visible & they give you some kind of decent resolution

[snip]

Yea, that's what I was gonna say.

So anyways, to OP, if I understand correctly:

You submitted some sort of bug report, over 9 months got no resolution, and through the process, the character ended up being wiped and now you've lost the character, crafting mats, and the only compensation they are offering you is a clean slate level 50 character with some skill points?

Yea, that definitely sounds f'd up entirely. I agree with others saying that ZOS needs to step up and go above and beyond to fix this.

Ninrod86

Just get a lawyer and sue them. Stop wasting time in forums/reddit etc.

The law > Tos.

SilverBride

Yormula wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

... What exactly happened? ...

In short: support logs onto the main character, corrupts it and the account somehow (could only make guesses as to the exact mechanics), locks the character (or the character gets locked automatically by what is normally their anti-exploit feature).

Result: primary character locked and inaccessible, preview shows signs of corruption. Secondary characters are accessible, yet the account in general got damaged (no incoming whispers, etc), and craft bag contents just vanished.

Rex-Umbra wrote: »

... account wide cosmetics?

One should never doubt the power and integrity of the Crown Store! I did not perform an audit, yet at a glance the collectibles remain untouched, both purchased and unlocked.

Thanks for explaining, that is even worse than I was imagining. So sorry that happened to you. They absolutely need to make this right.

Chips_Ahoy

It is sad that you have to put your situation in the forum so that you finally get an answer.

of course they are going to excuse themselves with the covid, blah blah blah.

MasterSpatula

I wish I could say this shocked me. I wish I could say this even surprised me.

Not the fact that they deleted your character. Mistakes happen. The fact that they didn't or couldn't immediately restore it, though, even if they had to revert it a few days or weeks?

But if they wouldn't restore you from a backup, that's irredeemably bad. And if they couldn't restore you from a backup, that might actually be worse. These are choices, active, willful, and intentional. Whether the choice was the CS person just not doing it, not giving the CS person the authority to do it, or not creating the infrastructure to make it possible, these are all choices, and it is absolutely beyond forgiveness for anyone who would make these choices ever to be allowed anywhere near a position with the power to make these choices.

Again, I really wish this surprised me. It should surprise me. It's deeply, horrifically cynical not to be surprised by this. But after seven years of tickets that got a response of, "Sorry, we can't do that," where any other MMO I've played a GM would be able to go in on the spot and manually progress the quest, award the achievement or drop, or otherwise live up to the absolute and utter minimum obligation of Customer Service, I can't be surprised.

OP's situation is highly extreme, but it's part of a pattern, a pattern that should never have been engaged in even once.

Abigail

Absolutely not suggesting any nefarious activity by the OP, but I'd suggest there are two sides to this tale of woe; that it would be advisable to hear ZOS's before too readily casting aspersions.

Starlight_Whisper

SirAndy wrote: »

Maybe they still have a copy of your character on the PTS?

That's a good point. I hope they can find a solution.

Sarannah

Ninrod86 wrote: »

Just get a lawyer and sue them. Stop wasting time in forums/reddit etc.

The law > Tos.

That won't work. Even if a judge would rule in his favor, and that is a big if. The judge would only obligate ZOS to fix the issue, or to compensate the player. And since ZOS already offered compensation in the form of a fully skilled level 50, which he refused, there is nothing to be done. Atleast this way.

Any gaming company keeps years of back-ups, the problem is customer service messed up and tried to fix the issue themselves. When they can't. Customer service somehow corrupted his account's data in the database, and does not have the power to restore these database items from a backup. They do however have small amounts of power, like creating a new character, which they offered. Customer service should have elevated this issue, to someone with the power to adjust the database using the backups.

Which is the only way for the OP to really get this fixed: to try and get this issue elevated to someone with the power to adjust the database using the backups. Which is why I told the OP to add a date where he was certain the account was fine. That way ZOS can grab a backup near that date, and copy the correct data from the backup to the current live. (Ofcourse it won't be that easy, due to patches and updates that happened in the meanwhile, but the issue can be resolved. I'd be worried if ZOS announced they didn't keep backups, or if the back-ups couldn't be used to restore any lost data.)

To me the nature of this issue seems severe enough, for ZOS to spend some time in fixing it.

Berdusk

My experience with Bethesda indicates that, most likely, this thread will be locked and the OP will be forum-banned. I recognize that ZOS is not exactly Bethesda, but that is what I expect will happen here.

A resolution to the OP's problem seems unlikely, even though that's the only thing people who start threads like this really want to begin with. Large corporations generally just run over their customers in situations like this because they can get away with it. And they do.

Starlight_Whisper

Berdusk wrote: »

My experience with Bethesda indicates that, most likely, this thread will be locked and the OP will be forum-banned. I recognize that ZOS is not exactly Bethesda, but that is what I expect will happen here.

A resolution to the OP's problem seems unlikely, even though that's the only thing people who start threads like this really want to begin with. Large corporations generally just run over their customers in situations like this because they can get away with it. And they do.

I would happy as another customer to hear a good ending to this story. I want to believe zos will do better

Lady_Lindel

So sad for OP. But seriously, does anyone really believe that this company cares about its player base. It is a business, not your friend. With the announcement of Redfall they showed what they really think of all Elder Scrolls fans. And don't buy the garbage that these are different companies.

gronkdamage

Ninrod86 wrote: »

Just get a lawyer and sue them. Stop wasting time in forums/reddit etc.
The law > Tos.

Hahaha.... The law... Might want to read the EULA there skippy. Sorry, but that was funny.

Pauwer

The customer service is not very good in this game. They never actually reply to what you ask. It will drive u crazy if u try to talk with them. Maybe they are bots too.

oldbobdude

Abigail wrote: »

Absolutely not suggesting any nefarious activity by the OP, but I'd suggest there are two sides to this tale of woe; that it would be advisable to hear ZOS's before too readily casting aspersions.

Yes, that would be fair. My experience reading the forum tells me they will decline to comment on any specifics. I could certainly be wrong of course.