Nice Bait and Switch, now fix it

Rylana · April 2014

So, went to the store and bought the game. Paid my sixty bucks fair and square with US currency.

Got home, installed it, and went to register using the included game time code.

Slammed immediately with a demand to enter credit card information.

Um no, this was not listed as a requirement on the box, and while I have no problem paying later for a subscription based game, that is up to me to decide after the 30 days are over, not now.

I filed a support ticket for phone support over 2 hours ago. I am plenty angry and demand what I paid real money for.

To make matters worse, one of the payment options "game time cards" arent even available in the US right now.

I dont have a credit card, Zenimax, fix it. And id better be in game tonight.

Ragnar_Lodbrok · April 2014

First mmo I take it?

Chomag · April 2014

Put in your card info and cancel sub right after. You can still play the free month. Viola!

Filodendron · April 2014

Put in your card info and cancel sub right after.

He doesn't have one and i don't think it's specified anywhere you need one in order to play the game.

edit: Actually it says "Valid payment method or paid game time card for subscription and persistent internet connection required"

So if someone wants to pay with time cards i don't see why they shouldn't be able to play without credit card information. (which btw a payment is issued instantly)

Rylana · April 2014

Filodendron wrote: »

Put in your card info and cancel sub right after.

He doesn't have one and i don't think it's specified anywhere you need one in order to play the game.

Correct

Daverios · April 2014

this was not listed as a requirement on the box

Actually it does. See where it says 30 days included, subscription and valid payment method are required'

Use paypal. If you did not set it up prior to deciding to purchase a su scrption based game well you just learned a valuable lesson I guess.

GossiTheDog · April 2014

It's mentioned on the website, I don't know about box. Unless they immediately change the entire game accounting for this person, it isn't going to happen. Return box to company who retailed you it for a refund.

(For record they only bill after 30 days).

Edit: checked box, it says subscription and payment required to play.

Bansheedragon · April 2014

Try taking a look at these threads on the subject.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/67461/bank-account-being-charged/p1
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/78460/official-statement-on-payment-methods/p1

Goibot · April 2014

I agree with the OP. This is a bait and switch. Even one of their VP's stated that no subscription would be required to play the included (not free) 30 days.

I believe one of the suits changed the policy just before launch and changed the TOS to reflect the decision. And decided to do the authorizations at full charge instead of the common $1 or .01

The result of this shady decision has been a tremendous burden on their CS and has created a lot of disgruntled gamers. You will reap (or not in this case) what you sow.

Arsenic_Touch · April 2014

Contact support, they'll bypass the issue for you, assuming you can even get a hold of a CS rep. They'll do one of two things. Add your activation code to your account or give you a 1 day code that you can enter under the prepaid section in place of your subscription, which will allow you to add your activation key yourself.

I know it's a bad system and the largest mmo on the market doesn't do it. That's the issue people on this board and even some zenimax employees posting here seem to miss.

Harkrider · April 2014

Daverios wrote: »

this was not listed as a requirement on the box

Actually it does. See where it says 30 days included, subscription and valid payment method are required'

Use paypal. If you did not set it up prior to deciding to purchase a su scrption based game well you just learned a valuable lesson I guess.

As sneaky as it may seem, this is actually true.

Subscription and valid payment method are required in order to redeem your included 30 days. You won't be charged when you set up a sub model (although you will receive a temporary authorization hold), but you must be able to show presence of funds for your selected sub model.

GossiTheDog · April 2014

Goibot wrote: »

I agree with the OP. This is a bait and switch. Even one of their VP's stated that no subscription would be required to play the included (not free) 30 days.

I believe one of the suits changed the policy just before launch and changed the TOS to reflect the decision. And decided to do the authorizations at full charge instead of the common $1 or .01

The result of this shady decision has been a tremendous burden on their CS and has created a lot of disgruntled gamers. You will reap (or not in this case) what you sow.

This is wrong. They started preorders a while ago, it stated about subscription for 30 days then. The box was also constructed a while ago.

Kemono · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

To make matters worse, one of the payment options "game time cards" arent even available in the US right now.

Time cards are avaible WORLDWIDE -at online keyshops

Rylana wrote: »

I dont have a credit card, Zenimax, fix it. And id better be in game tonight.

Then borrow one from your family or friend. Or buy one of prepaid debit card, they sell them everywhere
After autorization you can cancel the sub and nothing more will be charged from that card

Bansheedragon · April 2014

Daverios wrote: »

this was not listed as a requirement on the box

Actually it does. See where it says 30 days included, subscription and valid payment method are required'

Use paypal. If you did not set it up prior to deciding to purchase a subscription based game well you just learned a valuable lesson I guess.

Reading what it on the box this is what is says.

30 days unlimited game play included with purchase. Valid Payment method or paid game time card for subscription and persistent Internet connection required

Now please point out to me where in that text it specifically says you need to set up a subscription to get access to the 30 days you already paid for?

I will repeat what I said in the official announcement thread on this issue.

Bansheedragon wrote: »

What people are angry about is this.

1. That there is no mention of them doing it much less that they actually put a full month subscription on hold for varying amounts of time.
2. They will deny you access to the free 30 days that you already paid for unless you commit to a sub plan and pay their exorbitant authorization charge.
3. People who dont have a CC or other methods of paying for a sub, or dont have money available at them time of adding their game code will not be able to play for the free 30 days until they have money.
4. There are little to no communication from ZOS, and what little information we do get are vague at best and only serves to strengthen peoples suspicions and anger.

Some people live from paycheck to paycheck, and will have budgeted for the monthly subs from the time the free 30 days ends, but not before that time which is the reason many dont have the money to pay for it right now.
And it dont help that the game time cards they offer as an option was not even available when the game launched.

What they should do is allow people to play for the 30 days and then just suspend the account after that time until such a time that people pay for additional gametime.
I frankly dont see why they need to have people set up a sub before the 30 days are up, its completely unnecessary to do.
Anyone who wants to play beyond the 30 days will choose to pay for additional gametime, they do not need to be forced to do so.

Harkrider · April 2014

Bansheedragon wrote: »

What people are angry about is this.

1. That there is no mention of them doing it much less that they actually put a full month subscription on hold for varying amounts of time.
2. They will deny you access to the free 30 days that you already paid for unless you commit to a sub plan and pay their exorbitant authorization charge.
3. People who dont have a CC or other methods of paying for a sub, or dont have money available at them time of adding their game code will not be able to play for the free 30 days until they have money.
4. There are little to no communication from ZOS, and what little information we do get are vague at best and only serves to strengthen peoples suspicions and anger.

Some people live from paycheck to paycheck, and will have budgeted for the monthly subs from the time the free 30 days ends, but not before that time which is the reason many dont have the money to pay for it right now.
And it dont help that the game time cards they offer as an option was not even available when the game launched.

The authorization 'charge' is nothing more than a presence of funds verification and the hold should be released shortly afterwards.

Edit: Trying to fix broken quote. xD

Bansheedragon · April 2014

Kemono wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

To make matters worse, one of the payment options "game time cards" arent even available in the US right now.

Time cards are avaible WORLDWIDE -at online keyshops

Rylana wrote: »

I dont have a credit card, Zenimax, fix it. And id better be in game tonight.

Then borrow one from your family or friend. Or buy one of prepaid debit card, they sell them everywhere
After autorization you can cancel the sub and nothing more will be charged from that card

This argument is probably the stupidest I have seen on this issue.
So because he dont have a CC he should borrow one from others?
You make it sound as if borrowing other peoples CC is as natural as borrowing their car or bike.
And what if these people are not willing or able to help him with that, then what?

As for game time card, why should he pay for an additional 60 days of game play just to be allowed to play for the 30 days he already paid for?

he may find out that he dont want to continue to play before the 30 days are up, which means he would have wasted money on 60 days of gametime for nothing.

Rylana · April 2014

Filed my support ticket over 3 hours ago as of this post, still no CSR has contacted me.

This is stupid.

Noth · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Filed my support ticket over 3 hours ago as of this post, still no CSR has contacted me.

This is stupid.

You do realize they are getting thousands of ticket every hour right? This is an issue easily solved by an outside source (set up a payment then cancel it), that it would probably quite a ways down the line of priority

Rylana · April 2014

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Filed my support ticket over 3 hours ago as of this post, still no CSR has contacted me.

This is stupid.

You do realize they are getting thousands of ticket every hour right? This is an issue easily solved by an outside source (set up a payment then cancel it), that it would probably quite a ways down the line of priority

Yo, as said in OP, I dont have a credit card. Easily is subjective. For me this is impossible.

Bansheedragon · April 2014

Harkrider wrote: »

Bansheedragon wrote: »

What people are angry about is this.

1. That there is no mention of them doing it much less that they actually put a full month subscription on hold for varying amounts of time.
2. They will deny you access to the free 30 days that you already paid for unless you commit to a sub plan and pay their exorbitant authorization charge.
3. People who dont have a CC or other methods of paying for a sub, or dont have money available at them time of adding their game code will not be able to play for the free 30 days until they have money.
4. There are little to no communication from ZOS, and what little information we do get are vague at best and only serves to strengthen peoples suspicions and anger.

Some people live from paycheck to paycheck, and will have budgeted for the monthly subs from the time the free 30 days ends, but not before that time which is the reason many dont have the money to pay for it right now.
And it dont help that the game time cards they offer as an option was not even available when the game launched.

The authorization 'charge' is nothing more than a presence of funds verification and the hold should be released shortly afterwards.

Edit: Trying to fix broken quote. xD

The issue people are having are not with the charge in and of itself, its the amount people are angry about.
In all my years on online shopping and gaming I have never seen anyone use the full amount for such an authorization charge, it has always been $1.

As for being released, "should" is the operative word here, yet despite that there are still people who have the money on hold, after 2 weeks.
Some banks dont release the money before after 3-4 week unless they get a call from t he seller specifically telling them they can do it before that time.

This in turn can prevent people from being able to pay bills or even have their cards overcharged, which cost them extra money.

Inupis · April 2014

30 days unlimited game play included with purchase. Valid Payment method or paid game time card for subscription and persistent Internet connection required

Valid Payment method or paid game time card is listed as a requirement. I am failing to understand why reading comprehension is a problem here.

felixgamingx1 · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

So, went to the store and bought the game. Paid my sixty bucks fair and square with US currency.

Got home, installed it, and went to register using the included game time code.

Slammed immediately with a demand to enter credit card information.

Um no, this was not listed as a requirement on the box, and while I have no problem paying later for a subscription based game, that is up to me to decide after the 30 days are over, not now.

I filed a support ticket for phone support over 2 hours ago. I am plenty angry and demand what I paid real money for.

To make matters worse, one of the payment options "game time cards" arent even available in the US right now.

I dont have a credit card, Zenimax, fix it. And id better be in game tonight.

Another victim

Harkrider · April 2014

Bansheedragon wrote: »

Harkrider wrote: »

Bansheedragon wrote: »

What people are angry about is this.

1. That there is no mention of them doing it much less that they actually put a full month subscription on hold for varying amounts of time.
2. They will deny you access to the free 30 days that you already paid for unless you commit to a sub plan and pay their exorbitant authorization charge.
3. People who dont have a CC or other methods of paying for a sub, or dont have money available at them time of adding their game code will not be able to play for the free 30 days until they have money.
4. There are little to no communication from ZOS, and what little information we do get are vague at best and only serves to strengthen peoples suspicions and anger.

Some people live from paycheck to paycheck, and will have budgeted for the monthly subs from the time the free 30 days ends, but not before that time which is the reason many dont have the money to pay for it right now.
And it dont help that the game time cards they offer as an option was not even available when the game launched.

The authorization 'charge' is nothing more than a presence of funds verification and the hold should be released shortly afterwards.

Edit: Trying to fix broken quote. xD

The issue people are having are not with the charge in and of itself, its the amount people are angry about.
In all my years on online shopping and gaming I have never seen anyone use the full amount for such an authorization charge, it has always been $1.

As for being released, "should" is the operative word here, yet despite that there are still people who have the money on hold, after 2 weeks.
Some banks dont release the money before after 3-4 week unless they get a call from t he seller specifically telling them they can do it before that time.

This in turn can prevent people from being able to pay bills or even have their cards overcharged, which cost them extra money.

You're correct, I hadn't given any thought to the amount of the authorization hold.

That does seem quite bizarre now that I think about it. Thank you.

Noth · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Filed my support ticket over 3 hours ago as of this post, still no CSR has contacted me.

This is stupid.

You do realize they are getting thousands of ticket every hour right? This is an issue easily solved by an outside source (set up a payment then cancel it), that it would probably quite a ways down the line of priority

Yo, as said in OP, I dont have a credit card. Easily is subjective. For me this is impossible.

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Rylana · April 2014

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

Noth · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Rylana · April 2014

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Your entire post is a bald faced lie. None of them charged up front while also offering 30 days game time in a boxed edition.

You always got your time up front, THEN had to sub to continue.

Harkrider · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Your entire post is a bald faced lie. None of them charged up front while also offering 30 days game time in a boxed edition.

You always got your time up front, THEN had to sub to continue.

Please don't edit that.

Noth · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Your entire post is a bald faced lie. None of them charged up front while also offering 30 days game time in a boxed edition.

You always got your time up front, THEN had to sub to continue.

Funny because none of them would let me play until I setup a sub. Several of them might be different now, but on their release you had to have a sub.

Besides that, you have been given a way to solve this issue yourself (that won't cost you anything). It's now on you.

Rylana · April 2014

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Your entire post is a bald faced lie. None of them charged up front while also offering 30 days game time in a boxed edition.

You always got your time up front, THEN had to sub to continue.

Funny because none of them would let me play until I setup a sub. Several of them might be different now, but on their release you had to have a sub.

Besides that, you have been given a way to solve this issue yourself. It's now on you.

Paypal requires a credit card to set up.

Noth · April 2014

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

Rylana wrote: »

Noth wrote: »

That doesn't change the fact that it is easily fixable from outside sources. This is something pretty much every single subscription MMO does. You could even set up a paypal account (you don't need a credit card there) and use that to set up a sub and then cancel it.

Actually most MMO companies do NOT do this. Ive played over 10 games over the last 15 years, and this is the very first time ive been gated from included time by a "required" immediate transaction.

I've played pretty much everysingle one over the years and the only one that did not do this was FFXIVARR. WoW, it did it. SWTOR, it did it. TERA, it did it. WAR, it did it. DAOC, it did it. EvE, it did it. Shadowbane, it did it. Everquest 2, it did it. Lineage 2, it did it. I can continue to list more.

Your entire post is a bald faced lie. None of them charged up front while also offering 30 days game time in a boxed edition.

You always got your time up front, THEN had to sub to continue.

Funny because none of them would let me play until I setup a sub. Several of them might be different now, but on their release you had to have a sub.

Besides that, you have been given a way to solve this issue yourself. It's now on you.

Paypal requires a credit card to set up.

never gave a credit card with mine just set it up with a bank account.