Bank Account Being Charged?

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

Gunner59 wrote: »

Ok I was able to get some funds in my bank and went to do the subscription thing and low and behold they already had my CC info from the preorder I bought. The CC had already been verified so why on earth should it be verified again, tying up my funds? I mean they did say you had to subscribe to verify the account is valid, right?

Makes no sense at all. They way I see it they are forcing you to buy 2 months regardless, either you buy a two month game card (which you cant get yet!) or you subscribe and can't unsubscribe because the thirty day limit is passed as soon as you are approved.

Either way they get their initial two months from everyone but at the cost of alienating a lot of customers.

No you're not buying a second month, it is simply a flawed authorization unfortunately.

natalia76 wrote: »

those who say WOW did this to are wrong, back in Vanilla at release there was no charge at all, you just put in your codes and played for your 30 days and then you payed, I know this for a fact cause my card didnt even work for wow until few months later lol, had to buy a game time card, what i did after my 30 days where out.

Between vanilla and cata I had a bunch of accounts and know for a fact that they required you to fill out your CC info and "set up a subscription" before getting your 30 days. You can even google this and probably get some results. They're not doing this any more, but I'm extremely sure they did before. At one point there were even fake CC codes going around that could be authorized with for people without CC's or people who didn't want to use their CC, lol.

Moon449 wrote: »

I'm not subbing till we have some real confirmation of what's going on here. Not only is the full amount for authorization a bad idea, the terms of use state that you must cancel your sub atleast thrity days prior to it expiring or you will be charged for the month after:

If You have subscribed for an automatic subscription renewal, You agree that Bethesda may continue charging You on an automatic recurring basis for Your current subscription preferences unless You cancel Your subscription at least thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the subscription.

No it's not saying that you will be charged the month after. They have probably put it there for legal reasons. Steam ToS says they can shut down the service any time they want, and WoW ToS say they can terminate your account at any given time, without any reason given, with no refund. This does not mean that they'll do it, but that it's there to protect the company. Or do you also read those aforementioned ToS-clauses like "We WILL terminate your account ......."?

I highly doubt that they would take money from those cancelling their subscriptions before the subscription wants to be renewed. There's no way they'd do that in this kind of franchise. However, this authorization needs to be fixed. They have already stated that you are not required to purchase any extra game-time in addition to the free month. So the authorization should be nonexistent or 1€.

Ojustaboo wrote: »

I just signed up for my recurring monthly payment via paypal.

My comments are as follows.

The text on the order page comes across as a wall of text, while it's not that big, it's big enough to be hard on the eyes.

It did say it would be authorised but returned (or words to that effect) but should have been in bold sentence by its self to stand out in my opinion.

That said,

it directed me to my paypal account where it clearly said £8.99 was the amount being taken out, I went ahead and was returned to Zenimax account page.

Straight away I logged into my Paypal account and was presented with the message

6 Apr 2014 Authorisation To Zenimax Online Studio Cancelled The seller cancelled this payment, and the money has been returned to your account. Details Authorisation To Zenimax Online Studio -£8.99 GBP

So mine took less than 20 secs to be cancelled.

It's odd how some only get charged £1, some like me get charged the full amount, some like me have it cancelled instantly yet others still have it outstanding the following day.

Maybe they've altered things or maybe it depends on the bank etc.

Anyway, I'm at my PC today and am about to go off and have fun playing.

Yeah, that's because it seems this authorization is mostly affecting users from the US, since they will have it pending on their accounts for a longer period of time, whereas EU seems to get the authorization done instantly, or an hour or so max. I don't know why the authorization amounts differ though.

My guess is that they need it to authorize the full amount because in a normal case it would (if there was no existing time on the account) However it's a flawed solution and needs to get a fix so everyone gets the 1€ pre-auth. I think they're working on this and hopefully it'll be solved soon.

typsis · April 2014

histidin wrote: »

they doesn't help at all ..

Response By Email (Alexandre) (04/06/2014 04:31 AM)
Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team

We really apologize for all inconvenience and we are more than happy to help you with this issue.

All players are required to set up and choose a subscription plan starting on Sunday, April 6th. Those players not eligible for Early Access will be asked to register their game code and set up a payment method or redeem a game-time card on their account starting on Thursday, April 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The 30 days of free game time are granted to all players who fill out their billing information and select a subscription plan.
For credit cards, debit cards and PayPal there is no charge made until after your included 30 days of game time has expired. For these payment methods, there is an authorization check performed to ensure the payment method is valid. You may see a temporary account authorization hold put on funds in your account while the verification completes. Usually this authorization hold lasts a short period of time before being removed. The duration of this hold can vary from bank to bank.

saying again...
i bought that game from their website with my legal credit card.
why they should check my CC twice? they already did it
they think we are stupid? or as i said before " covering that theft by saying we will check your CC is valid or not"
they are forcing us to pay another 30 days of game time before using our legal right of 30 days.
it is not a normal policy. even it is not a policy. that is something else....

RedKnight · April 2014

First ticket filled 2 days ago. No answer.
New one - 140406-016157
I have 2 IEs & while I don't really want to affect a retailer where I bought those I will have no choice but request a refund if we won't get our 30 days & included junk before locking. Funny, I do have some cash on my CC but not enough for 2 subs at once. Couple of bucks for verifying would be ok, full price- fail.

Absynthe · April 2014

deef85b16_ESO wrote: »

Whikke wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how to setup a non-recurring payment method, so I can continue my game after a few months, when I have time for it ?

Chose one of these:
Billed/Applied immediately

Webmoney
Ideal
PaySafeCard
Giropay
Gametime Cards

But be aware you will be charged immediately.

Erm, none of these even show up to select as a form of payment on the payment choice page after I select subscription.... Are they supposed to? All I saw was Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Paypal.

deef85b16_ESO · April 2014

ProsaicProse wrote: »

deef85b16_ESO wrote: »

Whikke wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how to setup a non-recurring payment method, so I can continue my game after a few months, when I have time for it ?

Chose one of these:
Billed/Applied immediately

Webmoney
Ideal
PaySafeCard
Giropay
Gametime Cards

But be aware you will be charged immediately.

Erm, none of these even show up to select as a form of payment on the payment choice page after I select subscription.... Are they supposed to? All I saw was Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Paypal.

This is what their support page says. >https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7708/free

Though I'm from the EU, guess you're from the US ?

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

typsis wrote: »

histidin wrote: »

they doesn't help at all ..

Response By Email (Alexandre) (04/06/2014 04:31 AM)
Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team

We really apologize for all inconvenience and we are more than happy to help you with this issue.

All players are required to set up and choose a subscription plan starting on Sunday, April 6th. Those players not eligible for Early Access will be asked to register their game code and set up a payment method or redeem a game-time card on their account starting on Thursday, April 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The 30 days of free game time are granted to all players who fill out their billing information and select a subscription plan.
For credit cards, debit cards and PayPal there is no charge made until after your included 30 days of game time has expired. For these payment methods, there is an authorization check performed to ensure the payment method is valid. You may see a temporary account authorization hold put on funds in your account while the verification completes. Usually this authorization hold lasts a short period of time before being removed. The duration of this hold can vary from bank to bank.

saying again...
i bought that game from their website with my legal credit card.
why they should check my CC twice? they already did it
they think we are stupid? or as i said before " covering that theft by saying we will check your CC is valid or not"
they are forcing us to pay another 30 days of game time before using our legal right of 30 days.
it is not a normal policy. even it is not a policy. that is something else....

Just to get your post straight, you're not actually buying another month if you cancel it before it renews. Yes, the authorization is annoying, but this should be clarified that in the end you'll still have the free month, for free. I hope it works out.

EDIT: It's not your legal right to get the free 30 days before authorizing afaik, since that requirement is stated upon purchase of the game.

Absynthe · April 2014

deef85b16_ESO wrote: »

This is what their support page says. >https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7708/free

Though I'm from the EU, guess you're from the US ?

Canada actually.

jaschacasadiob16_ESO · April 2014

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

Just to get your post straight, you're not actually buying another month if you cancel it before it renews.

We have been discussing this yesterday. As per ToS, even though you cancel it, they can charge you the next month since you did not cancel your subscription 30 days in advance.

That's why they are blamed of being shady. They made us all believe something, which is different from reality. And they kept hidinh important aspects of the agreement (well ppl should read the tos anyway).

deef85b16_ESO · April 2014

ProsaicProse wrote: »

deef85b16_ESO wrote: »

This is what their support page says. >https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7708/free

Though I'm from the EU, guess you're from the US ?

Canada actually.

Guess this explains the different payment options, because iDeal for instance is widely used here in the Netherlands but not known outside the EU.

adfb16_ESO · April 2014

Why not just give all those with free 30 days their 30 day access without requiring them to enter payment details and worry about payment when the 30 days is up? ... would have saved you a lot of bother and customers a lot of grief. If folk bought the game through ZM the account already knows what they bought, if bought through somewhere else, then entering a key should be sufficient. It's not rocket science, its also how its been done successfully by other games for years.

I subbed for 0.00 then immediately cancelled and not had any authorisation payment taken, so I guess it don't affect me anyway.

natalia76 · April 2014

the problem aint if it your legal right or not, but the ammoun they are charging is way to big, had it been like 0.20€ or so it would have been fine, or when they perfectly know that the game time cards wont be out unitl next week, the grace period should be up to next sunday atleast, due to the fact not all can play it now thanks to no game time card.
personaly I am just annoyed cause there was no way in knowing that they will charge me 13€ or so just to show that I got an card that works, and offcourse I cant cause I dont have that kind of money until wensday.

deef85b16_ESO · April 2014

jaschacasadiob16_ESO wrote: »

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

Just to get your post straight, you're not actually buying another month if you cancel it before it renews.

We have been discussing this yesterday. As per ToS, even though you cancel it, they can charge you the next month since you did not cancel your subscription 30 days in advance.

That's why they are blamed of being shady. They made us all believe something, which is different from reality. And they kept hidinh important aspects of the agreement (well ppl should read the tos anyway).

True, but someone in the German part of the forum wrote his lawyer, and he said that ZoS had to unlock the free 30 days no matter what without paying/setting up a subscription/entering CC details.. Even if it's in their ToS, the German/EU business rules overrule their ToS.

If that doesn't work out (free 30 day unlock) you are free to get a refund.

Absynthe · April 2014

@deef85b16_ESO Ahh that likely explains it, thanks.

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

jaschacasadiob16_ESO wrote: »

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

Just to get your post straight, you're not actually buying another month if you cancel it before it renews.

We have been discussing this yesterday. As per ToS, even though you cancel it, they can charge you the next month since you did not cancel your subscription 30 days in advance.

That's why they are blamed of being shady. They made us all believe something, which is different from reality. And they kept hidinh important aspects of the agreement (well ppl should read the tos anyway).

Sure it's an odd part of the agreement, but I doubt that they'll actually take money from people who've canceled their subscriptions. They have stated that they wont be charging people who want out, several times in fact. As per pretty much any ToS there will be stuff you don't like that's there to protect the company. If you have such a hard time having even a little bit of trust in a company this scale, with this franchise especially, you better remove your steam account as well with "your" games, and can't believe you played WoW when they WILL remove your account without reason nor refund.

But yes, after this kind of rage revolving around it currently, they'll probably have to take that part out and exchange it for something else. The authorization should be fixed as well. However, the first part especially might take a while, since it requires several meetings with lots of different higher-ups probably. Not something a CSR or whatever can do.

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

natalia76 wrote: »

the problem aint if it your legal right or not, but the ammoun they are charging is way to big, had it been like 0.20€ or so it would have been fine, or when they perfectly know that the game time cards wont be out unitl next week, the grace period should be up to next sunday atleast, due to the fact not all can play it now thanks to no game time card.
personaly I am just annoyed cause there was no way in knowing that they will charge me 13€ or so just to show that I got an card that works, and offcourse I cant cause I dont have that kind of money until wensday.

If you dont have sufficient funds, contact support, they're helping people there. Some people have even gotten days compensated for the days they've missed, however I guess you'd have to stay calm and polite for that to happen.

natalia76 · April 2014

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

natalia76 wrote: »

the problem aint if it your legal right or not, but the ammoun they are charging is way to big, had it been like 0.20€ or so it would have been fine, or when they perfectly know that the game time cards wont be out unitl next week, the grace period should be up to next sunday atleast, due to the fact not all can play it now thanks to no game time card.
personaly I am just annoyed cause there was no way in knowing that they will charge me 13€ or so just to show that I got an card that works, and offcourse I cant cause I dont have that kind of money until wensday.

If you dont have sufficient funds, contact support, they're helping people there. Some people have even gotten days compensated for the days they've missed, however I guess you'd have to stay calm and polite for that to happen.

I have contacted them and got a mail saying they will do something about it, but that was yesterday and have not heard anything about it after that, even though they said once they fix it they contact me. Maby cause it is sunday and no one is at work who knows.

typsis · April 2014

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

typsis wrote: »

histidin wrote: »

they doesn't help at all ..

Response By Email (Alexandre) (04/06/2014 04:31 AM)
Greetings!

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team

We really apologize for all inconvenience and we are more than happy to help you with this issue.

All players are required to set up and choose a subscription plan starting on Sunday, April 6th. Those players not eligible for Early Access will be asked to register their game code and set up a payment method or redeem a game-time card on their account starting on Thursday, April 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The 30 days of free game time are granted to all players who fill out their billing information and select a subscription plan.
For credit cards, debit cards and PayPal there is no charge made until after your included 30 days of game time has expired. For these payment methods, there is an authorization check performed to ensure the payment method is valid. You may see a temporary account authorization hold put on funds in your account while the verification completes. Usually this authorization hold lasts a short period of time before being removed. The duration of this hold can vary from bank to bank.

saying again...
i bought that game from their website with my legal credit card.
why they should check my CC twice? they already did it
they think we are stupid? or as i said before " covering that theft by saying we will check your CC is valid or not"
they are forcing us to pay another 30 days of game time before using our legal right of 30 days.
it is not a normal policy. even it is not a policy. that is something else....

Just to get your post straight, you're not actually buying another month if you cancel it before it renews. Yes, the authorization is annoying, but this should be clarified that in the end you'll still have the free month, for free. I hope it works out.

EDIT: It's not your legal right to get the free 30 days before authorizing afaik, since that requirement is stated upon purchase of the game.

that is not annoying only, that is not legal.
i bought that digital imperial edition with 30 days of game time. that is all i know.
checking my CC twice another stupid thing. i explained above why.
i am the customer.my right is " i will play my 30 days then i will decide to continue or not." they can ask my subscription exactly at this point for be able to continue the game. why they asking my credit cart availability/validity now? this is elegant or cunningly policy? even it is a policy you tihnk?

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

natalia76 wrote: »

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

natalia76 wrote: »

the problem aint if it your legal right or not, but the ammoun they are charging is way to big, had it been like 0.20€ or so it would have been fine, or when they perfectly know that the game time cards wont be out unitl next week, the grace period should be up to next sunday atleast, due to the fact not all can play it now thanks to no game time card.
personaly I am just annoyed cause there was no way in knowing that they will charge me 13€ or so just to show that I got an card that works, and offcourse I cant cause I dont have that kind of money until wensday.

If you dont have sufficient funds, contact support, they're helping people there. Some people have even gotten days compensated for the days they've missed, however I guess you'd have to stay calm and polite for that to happen.

I have contacted them and got a mail saying they will do something about it, but that was yesterday and have not heard anything about it after that, even though they said once they fix it they contact me. Maby cause it is sunday and no one is at work who knows.

Yeah, could be because it's sunday unfortunately. Have you tried phone support and referring to your previous ticket number? That might work, if phone support isn't available though it's probably because of the weekend. However if they don't know what you're talking about with the whole free 30 days thing, refer them to this thread as well, the first post specifically.

natalia76 · April 2014

I was thinking of calling them, but not sure I want to, I use a prepaid phone number, due to different reasons, and phoning whit that would be way to expencive. even if I would have them call me I still get charged lol, so I am gona lurk arround theese forums, giving mine oppinions here and there and hope for the best.

draguliaub17_ESO · April 2014

either way, this many people complaining something cant be right about it, and now my account is locked..... I PAID for 30days I WANT MY 30DAYS WITHOUT PAYING ANOTHER $15

adfb16_ESO · April 2014

SWTOR did the same thing, requiring subscription to activate the included game time, it annoyed the hell out of me at the time. It's a shady practice at best and it pisses off some customers, so quite what a company thinks it gains from such a practice I don't know.

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

natalia76 wrote: »

I was thinking of calling them, but not sure I want to, I use a prepaid phone number, due to different reasons, and phoning whit that would be way to expencive. even if I would have them call me I still get charged lol, so I am gona lurk arround theese forums, giving mine oppinions here and there and hope for the best.

I heard from someone that they're using local numbers, so you shouldn't be billed when getting called. Not sure how true it is though, so do as you wish. If you have you pay when someone is calling you, it's probably not much anyway, and support should go relatively fast once they get to you. (and you might reconsider changing phone company:P)

zombieclonk · April 2014

So, since im not using any of these valid Payment methods (usually buying Game-Cards) I cannot access the game until I got myself a Game-Card. Well played, Zenimax! I was hoping to play some TESO on this lovely sunday, since you promised us 30 days of free play time. I am sorry that my mindset of a casual citizen isnt on terms with your thoughts of a 30 days FREE access.
This is annoying.

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

adfb16_ESO wrote: »

SWTOR did the same thing, requiring subscription to activate the included game time, it annoyed the hell out of me at the time. It's a shady practice at best and it pisses off some customers, so quite what a company thinks it gains from such a practice I don't know.

SWTOR, DCuniverse, WoW, among others, all the way back to meridian 59 afaik. Either it's there for legal reasons, or just to verify that the customers card is valid (which probably has legal roots as well(i.e. not as simple as it sounds)).

Zeni only need to fix their authorization system, as it pre-auths for the full amount for a short period of time. While others did this for $1. I think they'll get it sorted once people start rolling into work again.

If I'd had to guess for reasons above that, I'd say that it's there to keep the majority of people continiously subbed. To remove the "wall" of subbing, once your free month goes out. So you're not sitting there having to CONSIDER doing it, because you're already subbed. In that case it's a marketing decision, one they must've taken because it has been successful in the past. However I believe it's more to it than that.

TtT · April 2014

So basically, if I want to pay with iDeal, I'm screwed? Or am I paying in advance for the 30 days following the included 30 days of game time?

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

zombieclonk wrote: »

So, since im not using any of these valid Payment methods (usually buying Game-Cards) I cannot access the game until I got myself a Game-Card. Well played, Zenimax! I was hoping to play some TESO on this lovely sunday, since you promised us 30 days of free play time. I am sorry that my mindset of a casual citizen isnt on terms with your thoughts of a 30 days FREE access.
This is annoying.

Someone said gamestop has them now. Or get a parent or similar to get the authorization done for you in the meantime. Since the money will only be pending for a short period of time.

Daviiid_ESO · April 2014

TtT wrote: »

So basically, if I want to pay with iDeal, I'm screwed? Or am I paying in advance for the 30 days following the included 30 days of game time?

iDeal is apparantly not a system capable of recurring payments, so in that case you're buying the time the same way you would a game-card; one time payment. Which results in you being billed for that month immediately.

Absynthe · April 2014

I wish I could even PAY with those alternate methods from Canada, since pre-paid VISA isn't good enough!

Iceman_mat · April 2014

Transaction Receipt
Name: ****

Card Number: ****

Total $0.00 CAD

Subscription Information

You have selected the following subscription plan:

30 Day Subscription
$14.99 CAD every 30 days

When your account runs out of Game Time, you will be automatically billed $14.99 for another 30 days of game time. We will charge your payment method ( Credit Card: **** ending in **** )

Additional Information

* This confirms that you authorize us to initiate recurring payment transactions for your subscription using the payment information and card or account listed above and that we may use this information to process payments for your 30 day subscription.

You may update or cancel your subscription at any time by logging into your Manage Subscription page in your Elder Scrolls Online account.

Still got charged 14.99, not 0, not 0.01.
I have pre-ordered (tried open betas) and can't join the game and when I did (after doing this) is still said "sorry bro no"

Now there is a queue for the website.

This is gonna kill their MMO out of the gate if this doesn't get fixed soon. That isn't defending or attacking them. That's fact.

They wanna charge money per month then this is unacceptable.

TtT · April 2014

Forss_Davidb16_ESO wrote: »

iDeal is apparantly not a system capable of recurring payments, so in that case you're buying the time the same way you would a game-card; one time payment. Which results in you being billed for that month immediately.

Indeed, it's not. But what month am I being billed for then? The upcoming month (i.e. my included 30 days) or the month thereafter? If it is the first, then my 30 days are apparently not included. If it is the second, then why are they forcing me to pay for another month if I want to decide if I want to continue playing only after I've had my included 30 days?