Sai-Ular Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 First let me just say that this is not a negative rant about the game, F2P, nerfing or "lack of". It is about respecting the players. The story goes... Like many, I have been playing since beta and subscribed as soon as I could. I had an account set up long before the game went live. I began playing and enjoyed SWTOR immensely right from the start. It seemed to get better and better the more I played. Every new patch, every new race, every new planet and every new story quest I explored and immersed myself in. I found a great guild with terrific people and found a whole new level of gameplay. Life was great. I wanted my RL friends to enjoy what I found special about SWTOR so during the last "Refer A Friend" campaign I convinced a friend to join us in the battle for the fate of the galaxy. I followed the rules as instructed and sent him the RAF link. He clicked, connected, downloaded, subscribed and played. I expected the modest rewards that I was promised. A few in game items and a small Cartel Coin monthly allotment. Alas, it didn't happen... After a month of waiting on a help ticket I was unceremoniously kicked to the curb, so to speak. The ticket was closed without an explanation. I called customer support and spoke to someone who advised me that the developers in Austin, etc. had ordered them to close the tickets of this outstanding fiasco. Obviously I wasn't the only one to have problems with this RAF venture. He said that all the tickets that were going to be fixed already were and all others would be dropped. In essence, they were washing their hands of the issue and damned be the ones who didn't get resolved. So as a result... I am canceling my subscription. So why say it here in forums? Why not just go quietly into that goodnight? It's because I can't stand around after being a devoted SWTOR member and be discarded like trash by the developers and corporations. They were already getting my money and after all, it is a business. I understand that but it went beyond money. Many people had this problem and instead of doing what's right they chose to ignore and belittle their actions. So finally... With sadness, I am leaving. Good luck to all. Enjoy SWTOR, I hope to return someday when things have changed. I know they probably wont but I am an optimist despite these events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorstram Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Dude, you have a legitimate gripe. I hope you're reimbursed your in-game items and all back coins to the time that your friend first started. Hope you come back somewhat soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHboy Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Holds open the door* Did you refer a friend ONLY for the items, or did you refer him so you two could play together? Cause only ONE reason out of these is a reason to quit playing and flame threads. Just saying, play the game to enjoy teh game, not for the fluff and freebies it MAY offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeRepublic Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Something doesn't compute... You love the game, for you it was getting better and better with each patch/expansion, you loved your guild, the game was the best thing since sliced bread. Then, one alleged "mishap" with Bioware (in quotes because we don't know all the details and are hearing just your side) and you're saying sayonara SWTOR and cancelling your sub? Not that it's not your right to cancel whenever it strikes your fancy, but the in proportion to how much you say you've been enjoying the game, it seems a bit, well, overly dramatic a reaction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpactHound Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) Thank you for posting a thorough chain of events. Hopefully when enough unique threads about this add up on the front page, they'll either take fixing their Referral program seriously or stop advertising it. When someone I know went through a recent referral issue with Warcraft, a GM not only talked to him live after two ticket responses, he logged in-game with the returning player, used administrative access to delete the existing account and recreate it, migrating existing character data from one to the other, to make sure the automatic parts of the referral worked and chatted about gaming in general the whole time. It was very impressive from the customer service POV. A Blizzard hater in vent commented that "of course they did it, they'll do anything to hang onto a sub." Well, that's why WoW has millions of subs and TOR is bleeding the thousands it has. Edited September 17, 2013 by ImpactHound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorstram Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Holds open the door* Did you refer a friend ONLY for the items, or did you refer him so you two could play together? Cause only ONE reason out of these is a reason to quit playing and flame threads. Just saying, play the game to enjoy teh game, not for the fluff and freebies it MAY offer. No. Just No. If they advertise refer a friend, and have a list of benefits that come from referring a friend, then you should get the items if you take advantage of it. Now i know they're having problems with execution on this, but there is no reason they shouldn't be advising those folks who took advantage of this program of the fact that #1) There is a problem; and #2) That they're working on it, and that once it's fixed the items and all monthly CC stipends tied to it in arrears will be paid in full. That is making it right for the customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpactHound Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 No. Just No. If they advertise refer a friend, and have a list of benefits that come from referring a friend, then you should get the items if you take advantage of it. Now i know they're having problems with execution on this, but there is no reason they shouldn't be advising those folks who took advantage of this program of the fact that #1) There is a problem; and #2) That they're working on it, and that once it's fixed the items and all monthly CC stipends tied to it in arrears will be paid in full. That is making it right for the customer. Not to mention the fanboys "Holding open the door" attitude isn't a problem either. Sure, so long paying customer, I'll keep the game afloat by buying $40 dyes in a few months! $10 augment kits coming soon for my convenience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunafox Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) So they're willing to loose a paying customer, over some pixel gifts. I can't say I'm shocked tbh. You'd think they were passing out gold. *snort* Edited September 17, 2013 by Lunafox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudenfusz Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Holds open the door* Did you refer a friend ONLY for the items, or did you refer him so you two could play together? Cause only ONE reason out of these is a reason to quit playing and flame threads. Just saying, play the game to enjoy teh game, not for the fluff and freebies it MAY offer. I think you miss the point, OP seems sad about the treatment he as a customer gets from BioWare, so he leaves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorstram Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Not to mention the fanboys "Holding open the door" attitude isn't a problem either. Sure, so long paying customer, I'll keep the game afloat by buying $40 dyes in a few months! $10 augment kits coming soon for my convenience! In a previous position I was a customer service trainer at a bank. Good customer service isn't just rolling over and giving the customer what they want. Sometimes it's as simple an apology, acknowledging their problem, and telling them that they are trying to fix it. You may not be able to give them something tangible at the moment, but the customer will know that they're not forgotten. It takes only one customer service breakdown to ruin the reputation of a product for up to 10 people. Negative word of mouth travels twice as fast as positive. That's 10 possible subs this game will never obtain because of this fiasco. All they had to do was tell him that they were closing his ticket, but they were working on it, and it would be made right at some point. That's all he was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmortalLowlife Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Yea I've got 2 patnaz playing now & I only did it for the free stuff. We are rarely on at the same time to group up anyway tho. But it does burn that my ticket got ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorstram Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Yea I've got 2 patnaz playing now & I only did it for the free stuff. We are rarely on at the same time to group up anyway tho. But it does burn that my ticket got ignored. Call customer service and don't let up. Make sure that your situation is heard, and that they need to honor their advertisement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) Honestly, we don't know what the exact circumstances are, however, it's inexcusable to let customers hanging like that. This is the kind of thing that's going to keep the game from ever keeping a large loyal fanbase. It's almost like they are trying to piss off subscribers, sometimes. I think everyone who has had this experience should really keep hammering them for it, keep opening tickets, unsub if you feel you need to make the point. Edited September 17, 2013 by chuixupu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpactHound Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 In a previous position I was a customer service trainer at a bank. Good customer service isn't just rolling over and giving the customer what they want. Sometimes it's as simple an apology, acknowledging their problem, and telling them that they are trying to fix it. You may not be able to give them something tangible at the moment, but the customer will know that they're not forgotten. I agree. I have to turn down a lot of compensation to angry seniors personally. I was pretty amused when I walked into a Jimmy John's recently and one of their americana signs on the wall said "The customer is usually right." Considering what's at stake in a referral though, they should have a team of 4 offline reps just looking at tickets, if they're a new account signed up that's even remotely connected to the case in question, just mail them the referral rewards with no fuss and give an upfront stipend of coins because they can't get the backend to do it automatically.. I can't imagine many people trying to fraud the system, the new sub data can't be that sprawling that someone can't go in and try to do some personalized resolutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockaday Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Thank you for posting a thorough chain of events. Hopefully when enough unique threads about this add up on the front page, they'll either take fixing their Referral program seriously or stop advertising it. When someone I know went through a recent referral issue with Warcraft, a GM not only talked to him live after two ticket responses, he logged in-game with the returning player, used administrative access to delete the existing account and recreate it, migrating existing character data from one to the other, to make sure the automatic parts of the referral worked and chatted about gaming in general the whole time. It was very impressive from the customer service POV. A Blizzard hater in vent commented that "of course they did it, they'll do anything to hang onto a sub." Well, that's why WoW has millions of subs and TOR is bleeding the thousands it has. Have you seen blizzard's numbers lately? they're lul worthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudenfusz Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Have you seen blizzard's numbers lately? they're lul worthy. They still have millions of players, and when the next expension comes along it will go up again (it is pretty late in this expension and the numbers always go down at the end of expension there). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) Honestly, we don't know what the exact circumstances are, however, it's inexcusable to let customers hanging like that. This is the kind of thing that's going to keep the game from ever keeping a large loyal fanbase. It's almost like they are trying to piss off subscribers, sometimes. I think everyone who has had this experience should really keep hammering them for it, keep opening tickets, unsub if you feel you need to make the point. Two comments regarding this: 1) there have been a apparently a lot of people having issues with this..and so that backs-up the CS people reviewing and responding. You don't want an autobot on this.. you need an actual review and response 2) as to why a lot of people are having problems this time around with Refer A Friend.... I think it comes down mostly to people and their friends not following the terms and conditions of the program. A key one.. that was reported last month by a forum member is -----> if the friend does NOT opt in for email from Bioware during their account creation.. then game over.. your friend hosed you. Why? Because it's one of the terms and conditions. Also.. even in the old Refer A Friend program back in the subscription only days... if you did not follow the process for referral and your friend for acceptance.. then game over. FOLLOW the program Ts&Cs precisely (YOU AND YOUR FRIEND). Edited September 17, 2013 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpactHound Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Have you seen blizzard's numbers lately? they're lul worthy. I don't get the humor you seem to in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 I don't get the humor you seem to in them. 1) steepest population decline in MMOs today http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png 2) WoW subscription declines are directly responsible for (ie: 90% of) the overall decline in MMO sub numbers. http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/TotalSubs.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Two comments regarding this: 1) there have been a apparently a lot of people having issues with this..and so that backs-up the CS people reviewing and responding. You don't want an autobot on this.. you need an actual review and response 2) as to why a lot of people are having problems this time around with Refer A Friend.... I think it comes down mostly to people and their friends not following the terms and conditions of the program. A key one.. that was reported last month by a forum member is -----> if the friend does NOT opt in for email from Bioware during their account creation.. then game over.. your friend hosed you. Why? Because it's one of the terms and conditions. Also.. even in the old Refer A Friend program back in the subscription only days... if you did not follow the process for referral and your friend for acceptance.. then game over. FOLLOW the program Ts&Cs precisely (YOU AND YOUR FRIEND). That's why I said we don't know what the real situation is behind this, and what really transpired between these people and their friends. But, my point is, you don't just leave people hanging, it should be made very clear what the problem is, not just have tickets closed. It seems like there are issues beyond the friends not meeting the proper requirements happening, or at least bugs in the system. I know I'd like to use the RaF thing soon, but I'm holding off until I can see that there are no problems with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpactHound Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 1) steepest population decline in MMOs today http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png 2) WoW subscription declines are directly responsible for (ie: 90% of) the overall decline in MMO sub numbers. http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/TotalSubs.png Thanks for chiming in, not only have I seen that old chart, you did nothing to contribute to the question. Another quality BDF post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) That's why I said we don't know what the real situation is behind this, and what really transpired between these people and their friends. But, my point is, you don't just leave people hanging, it should be made very clear what the problem is, not just have tickets closed. It seems like there are issues beyond the friends not meeting the proper requirements happening, or at least bugs in the system. Like you said.. we don't know the specifics. That said.. plenty of people have had a response back on this issue (sometimes good, sometimes bad). The delay in response is because of the large number of tickets on the issue having to be processed I am sure. I know I'd like to use the RaF thing soon, but I'm holding off until I can see that there are no problems with it. People have reported using it, some multiple times, successfully since the relaunch. Example, just today: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=6762406&postcount=27 Honestly.. I really think the issues boil down to three: 1) Friend DID NOT opt in for email 2) Friend did not create account using the referral you sent. 3) Friend already had an account. Any of those 3 will kill a referral award. I have seen no evidence that anything else is causing referral awards to be lost. The slow response times is due to the number of tickets to review I am sure... and they probably go to a specific help desk. Responses of "ticket closed" I take those with a grain of salt.. as that probably came with an explanation of the review as well.. and people conveniently forget to tell us that part. Edited September 17, 2013 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUXs Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 1) steepest population decline in MMOs today http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png 2) WoW subscription declines are directly responsible for (ie: 90% of) the overall decline in MMO sub numbers. http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/TotalSubs.png What the hell? Derailing much Andryah? 100% off topic...typical. OP...don't quit, don't give up. Open another ticket and another and another. Send PMs to Eric, Courtney, Amber, the bug Droids...You have a right to have your issue resolved. This is pathetic of them to do this to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) Thanks for chiming in, not only have I seen that old chart, you did nothing to contribute to the question. Another quality BDF post. 1) Charts are recently refreshed. 2) You asked an off topic question, I responded with an answer. Please feel free to return us to topic now. k thanx. Edited September 17, 2013 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captpickles Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 godz this game makes me sad sometimes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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