Badgeking Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 This thread serves no purpose sadly. Only way Reid will ever see it is if you can condense it to 140 characters and throw it on his Titter account. Well, I have tweeted a link to this thread for him to read. There is no way anybody could condense how awful customer service is and how poorly Bioware and EA are dealing with it and to demand some actions. The best way to get his attention to this thread would be to tweet him this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guen Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Agreed. While luckily I have not encountered any super game breaking bugs (other than the obvious fps problems), I have encountered and reported dozens of minor and semi-major bugs, received a canned response to all of them, yet none of them appear in the "known issues" list. Things ranging from glowing green for hours after being healed by a companion to the more major bug of not being able to summon a companion on certain planets without logging in and out constantly. Or the bug where I have high enough crew skill to learn new recipes but my skill trainer won't actually train me. These and dozens more. I realize these aren't high priority (compared to broken class quests etc.), but the fact that they aren't even on a list of known issues makes me think those things aren't even on their radar. Anyways, not only does their customer service team need work, but the community manager/managers need to make more frequent appearances (it seems like we get one response once in awhile but still all it says is, yeah the game is being worked on so don't worry). They seem to have plenty of time to Tweet. It would go a long way with the community if they would communicate on the forums a little more, and with a little more depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarlathe Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Trust me, there are VPs on fire right now on what is going on and people working their asses off trying to get it right. You can't just throw another 1,000 heads on the phones, working tickets etc to fix this. It will be fixed and 6 months from now this will no longer be an issue. You're 100% right. If Bioware doesn't get their crap together, and fast, there won't be a game in 6 months. Honestly, how long do you think people a going to "hold on" and "wait for them"? In this day and age if you aren't up to snuff at launch, then you're sunk already and are just waiting for the burial. Why should they wait when they can go down the street to any number of MMO's that are doing it right, right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmybob Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Completely agreed, 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetsnazos Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 This game has the worst support I've ever seen, and I've played Korean MMO's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dosvor Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 You're 100% right. If Bioware doesn't get their crap together, and fast, there won't be a game in 6 months. Honestly, how long do you think people a going to "hold on" and "wait for them"? In this day and age if you aren't up to snuff at launch, then you're sunk already and are just waiting for the burial. Why should they wait when they can go down the street to any number of MMO's that are doing it right, right now? Its also the what is out there? To each his own, but everyone wants something new, wow has had their day, and people will survive this.. No matter what people say they are here and will be here or they wouldn't waste time on these boards. If they didn't want to play it they would be long gone. Mark these posts in your bookmarks and when search is available a majority of the people hating and wanting to quit will still be here. My board post bookmark list is miles long.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrotmikelima Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Typically I try not to fall in with people complaining about something. But on this point I have to agree. Nothing will drive the Customer away faster then a sense of being brushed off when a concern is made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarlathe Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Its also the what is out there? To each his own, but everyone wants something new, wow has had their day, and people will survive this.. No matter what people say they are here and will be here or they wouldn't waste time on these boards. If they didn't want to play it they would be long gone. Mark these posts in your bookmarks and when search is available a majority of the people hating and wanting to quit will still be here. My board post bookmark list is miles long.. That's really.....sad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dosvor Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Crtl D is very easy to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jxspyder Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 The ERROR 9000 has caused me to unsub as well. It has been going on for days now. I haven't been able to get on longer than 5 minutes to play. There are over 80+ pages now from people experiencing the problem, 40+ on ERROR 1003, and about the same for the "horrid FPS" post..and I have yet to see ONE response from customer service to indicate that they are still working on the problem etc..just the initial first post asking everyone to post information as to when they are experiencing it. This is unacceptable. As other people have stated, it isn't about patience, it is about expecting customer service for a product we spent good money on. A response here and there goes a long way to placating angry people...they like to be acknowledged and to know that something ANYTHING is being done past the initial post. No it wouldn't. If a response is all that is needed to placate you, then you have an obvious one, that you just mentioned, indicating they are fully aware of it, and are working to fix it. Or are they supposed to present a response to each person with step by step updates? I can understand being upset because it's taking a while, I really can. But to claim there is no information from Bioware, so much that we don't even know if they're aware of the issue, much less working on it....as you are implying above....is outright ignorant at best, and utterly fallacious at worst. I have never understood fanboys who in MMO's state its to be expected, have patience, it just came out..would they say the same thing for a vehicle they just purchased, a meal, how about a new TV..I think not. A game should be in decent working order upon release. I don't care how much money it costs to produce one and they need to get it out there to make money, if you can't make a decent working product THEN DON'T release it. We are paying for a working product WITH customer service. My mechanic doesn't inform me of each bolt he works on while fixing my brakes. My chef doesn't come out and inform me each time he adds a spice. Nor did Best Buy call me up when I sent my tv in for repair. And fixing these issues are significantly more difficult than swapping out a screen on my tv. Nor do they happen overnight. Hence the patience bit. Yes, a few bugs here and there are acceptable and new ones will crop up..but not being able to play a game and stay logged on without constantly getting booted off every minute or so is unacceptable. I have been playing MMO's since the 90's and have never seen such rotten customer service on a game. Especially when it involves people getting booted off the game, LAG, inability to log on etc..in every other game I have played if it was a sizable problem (and I am thinking over 100+ pages of people getting all these errors is) every other game I have played would have had a fix and emergency patch by now. At the very least they would have acknowledged the issue further than just the original post asking for information days ago. Odd, I've been playing MMO's since the 90's as well. I've seen people have these issues with every single one that's been released, though thankfully, and knock on wood, it's only happened to me once. Not one of them has had the issue resolved overnight, nor even in a matter of days. And as they've already aknowledged that it's an issue, and that they are working on it...what else do you need? A step by step breakdown of each step they're taking to fix it? Hourly updates? At this point in time I am thinking that BIOWARE gets a good chuckle at customers expense every time they see the forum titled "Customer Service"..because surely it must be an inside joke that we as customers just don't get. Or a groan when reading posts from people who seem to think that fixes occur in minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmons Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Or a groan when reading posts from people who seem to think that fixes occur in minutes. It is better when you dont sell something broken... If you do explain and reply to your costumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sol_ Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 It amazes me how terrible the customer service is when they spouted all that bull about having staggered release and ignoring some countries so they could have the best quality support. Then all the times they pushed back release because they didn't want to release a flawed game. HAHA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariasha Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I work for a company that is well-known locally for their customer service. We receive one of the highest ratings for customer service in our industry. It's amazing what a simple acknowledgement will do for your customers' opinion of you. A "we're having high volume right now, but we'll get to you as soon as we're able!" and then respond in a warm and authentic fashion, and you would see these issues disappear. Outsourcing is the absolute worst idea and I can't believe that Bioware is doing it. Your CSRs should be where your customers are. When I called, I received someone who was most certainly from the US, so I guess I should consider myself lucky. I see that Bioware is hiring some CSR types though (in Galway). That's good. But I shouldn't have told you all that. THEY should have told us that. "Hey, we know people are frustrated with customer service right now. We needed to see what type of load we were going to have and we know what we need now. So here, we're hiring. If you're interested and qualified, we'd love to see you apply. But for now, know that this particular issue will be rectified as soon as we possibly can, and we are listening to your concerns." Acknowledgement, BW. That's what we need. Acknowledgement that we exist, that you know we are here, and that you are trying your best to help us as soon as you can. Any basic customer service expert would tell you this. All of us probably have or do work in some sort of customer service job. We understand that you get busy and you can't help anyone immediately. But there is no reason for blatant ignoring of customers, nor failing to own the situation when you get a ticket and resolving their issue. If it's a big enough deal for them to have put in a ticket, then it is worth you resolving it to the best of your ability. I said when I started this game that Customer Service would be the thing would either be the key to TOR's success or the cause of its failure, and I still do not think I'm wrong. I'm okay with bugs, with unimplemented features, with various issues with the game because I understand that it comes with the territory. But getting your Customer Service issue fixed should be your number one priority or those things will not matter. Other than that, I love the game. I'm having a blast and loving just about everything I've encountered in game. I just hope I never need to submit a ticket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetsnazos Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 It amazes me how terrible the customer service is when they spouted all that bull about having staggered release and ignoring some countries so they could have the best quality support. Then all the times they pushed back release because they didn't want to release a flawed game. HAHA I'm telling you, Korean MMO's have better service. No one replies in this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sol_ Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm telling you, Korean MMO's have better service. No one replies in this game. WoW was better, they copied enough off WoW, why not copy their great customer service. Can you even talk to a GM in game in tor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discosoc Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm going to agree with this. As a lot of people are aware, i am very active on these forums helping people with a LOT of technical support problems. However, since i am active, i rarely see actual CS reps giving advice. There are one or two really good reps, but they hardly ever post here. Then there are the 2-3 reps that i personally have had direct discussions with support managers about for giving completely false and incorrect information to players, giving them false hope. These players then come back and cause all kinds of arguments in threads. So in summary.. +1 for the OP. That's probably why you don't see a bunch of CS reps active on the forums right now. No information is better than bad information, like it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetsnazos Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 WoW was better, they copied enough off WoW, why not copy their great customer service. Can you even talk to a GM in game in tor? nope there is no way to talk to a GM in TOR. In EQ1 I could talk to GM's in game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetflair Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 If one looks like EGA was handled I think its pretty apparent that attitude has been to minimize hassle on the company side. And if you look security solutions I'd argue they are more to protect company than customers too. I don't live in english speaking country and I'd need to call foreign numbers with costs to reset my security question that doesn't change. This is bit problematic for me because costs, time and also I don't have absolutely good english to pronounce all information on phone. And this is the best case if person on the other side is genuine english speaking person. If there is some indian phone support like Dell it will be painfull process to call with foreign gn language to another person who speaks bad english too. Never had this kind of issues with WoW. Never had to call them and few problems I had could be handled by their web site. With this game I've already gotten warning being sarcastic when creating a thread. And they seem to have more will to close threads than address issues in them. I like the game, but I wish somebody else would handle the customer care and forums. I don't like the way services are set in this game. Seems that its uphill battle for customers that have some problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jxspyder Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 It is better when you dont sell something broken... If you do explain and reply to your costumer. Maybe take the time to read those explanations? You know, just because they're not calling you personally to clear each fix, or sending you a personal email to explain in detail exactly what is happening, doesn't mean that your answers aren't right here to be read. Like your character deletion bit. Which had an answer two posts above yours, explaining exactly the issue, and what steps they were taking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gertona Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 nope there is no way to talk to a GM in TOR. In EQ1 I could talk to GM's in game This is incorrect! It is rare, but i have talked to a GM because of a loot issue just 2 days ago. However, that doesn't mean CS is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badgeking Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Well now that the patch has been released, maybe they will have a little more free time to communicate what is being done about the lack of customer service. To the people telling saying that there is no way they are going to tell us every little thing they do. We know that! However, an update from time to time would be nice. Something like "We are still unsure what is causing X issue, but we are still actively looking for a fix". Some of these issues that have multiple threads or a lot of forums posts are still not listed in the known issues list and nobody from customer service has posted that they know about it. We do not want something like "Well, today one person changed a line of code to try and fix this and I ate a cheeseburger for lunch". We just want an update from time to time that they have no idea what is wrong, or that they feel like they are getting closer to a fix. It really is not that much to ask for. Communicating to paying customers is what keeps them happy. Providing customer support that does not envole getting the run around, or that provides no support at all is what makes customers mad and what causes them to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerda Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Great post. The customer service is a complete joke from both BW/SWTOR and EA/ORIGIN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerda Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 nope there is no way to talk to a GM in TOR. In EQ1 I could talk to GM's in game It is very rare and they wont pick up any of the real problem issues you report that you could really do with talking to a human being about. I've got about five issues left open and nearly all others (that are now closed) I've had a standard droid response. I was contacted once by a GM once but on that occassion it wasn't really necessary and a standard response would have sufficed. So instead he/she contacted me in game to say hello and then goodbye thanking me for my report. Sod's law really. So there are some staff out there but as has been joked many times before it might as well be some tiny call centre in India somewhere for all the use it has proven so far LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badgeking Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Why was this thread moved out of the Customer Support forum? We are wanting some customer support, it should have stayed there. No message or anything that says why it was moved. STOP HIDING IN THE SHADOWS AND TALK TO THE COMMUNITY!!!! Without us, you have no game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeKingdoms Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Agree with OP -- this is extremely frustrating and something I am NOT willing to overlook when considering my sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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