'No active subscription' error

[Mollerina]

Because you still get 30 days free

 

 

 

I'm not a legal expert but it's clear as day on the box and it's at the top of the page and I'm pretty sure it's in the FAQs.

 

 

 

This is the same thing you're giving your credit card to hold your service. They're not going to charge you until your 30 days are up but they need that card to keep moving. It's just a part of their setup. They could remove the option to use game time cards and then everyone would be happy...except the people that don't have credit cards because they wouldn't be able to play at all.

 

 

 

It's nothing like that at all.

 

Oh wow... you are just stupid... I can't even waste my time responding to everything you're wrong about.

[Mollerina]

lol what a waste of time. It's clearly stated on the box. It's been explained here. You're not required to give them more money nor will they charge you more money until the 30 days are up. You are required to have a valid credit card or a game time card though. If you don't have a credit card then you might have to pay money for a game time card but that's not Bioware's fault.

 

Ummmm.... Yeah it kinda is Bioware's fault actually....

[Mollerina]

Did someone say Lawsuit?

[DariuszPol]

Why the hell people need to add credit card / paypal or something else in order to play ? As far as I know key add them 30 days so AFTER 30 days they should be in need to renew subscription OR NOT.

 

As always - Bioware epic fail.

[Anomalis]

This isn't a standard practice in my experience with MMO's. I've been able to play my promised time with the game without having to sign up previously. I shouldn't have to give you my credit card to play time that I already have.

[DariuszPol]

In other words they lied and this is just a robery.

[MilesTheFox]

Contrary to what your post says, Reid, this is the VERY FIRST MMO where I've had to enter payment info OF ANY KIND before the free month that was included in the game was up.

 

Bullcrap.

[_Strimell]

You people need to calm down, really.

You are all entitled to 30-days free gameplay.

 

They simply want your credit card details, so that they are able to withdraw money after the initial free gameplay time has passed. They are not withdrawing anything as of yet, except from the validation amount, which will be refunded to you after a few days.

 

if you do not have a credit card, then sadly, you do have to buy a gametime card, for whatever the cost is. I can see why you are all upset about this subject. This does however not change the fact, that they have been saying this all along, it is mentioned in the FAQ, and your Account Settings.

 

I urge you to consider getting a credit card. It cannot be that expensive. It sure isn't where I live.

 

Regards,

Strimell.

Edited December 23, 2011 by _Strimell

[Mollerina]

You people need to calm down, really.

You are all entitled to 30-days free gameplay.

 

They simply want your credit card details, so that they are able to withdraw money after the initial free gameplay time has passed. They are not withdrawing anything as of yet, except from the validation amount, which will be refunded to you after a few days.

 

if you do not have a credit card, then sadly, you do have to buy a gametime card, for whatever the cost is. I can see why you are all upset about this subject. This does however not change the fact, that they have been saying this all along, it is mentioned in the FAQ, and your Account Settings.

 

I urge you to consider getting a credit card. It cannot be that expensive. It sure isn't where I live.

 

Regards,

Strimell.

 

No... You don't get it... We already paid... we should not have to give additional payment or payment information for possible payment at a later time, before our 30 days are up. Period! There is no discussion after that fact. Don't try and sugar coat it Bioware!

[_Strimell]

No... You don't get it... We already paid... we should not have to give additional payment or payment information for possible payment at a later time, before our 30 days are up. Period! There is no discussion after that fact. Don't try and sugar coat it Bioware!

That is an opinion you have, along with others.

That is nowhere near a fact.

 

The fact is, Bioware has said this all along.

You are the ones who haven't paid attention.

 

Discussion is indeed present.

[Galmok]

When I bought WoW, I got 30 days free play, no subscription necessary.

When I bought Warhammer Online, I got 30 days free play, no subscription necessary.

When I bought LOTRO, I got 30 days free play, no subscription necessary.

When I bought Conan, I got 30 days free play, no subscription necessary.

When I bought SW:TOR, I MUST subscribe, entering CC details, making the 30 days playtime not free at all.

 

I honestly feel scammed, but as players in WoW said years ago, EA is the root of all evil in the game community. They obviously were correct.

 

I also checked to see how I could make a lawsuit about this, but it would cost me too much time and money (although I'd get my money back when I won).

 

In the end, after suffering days of downtime due to crappy webservers and backend, I subscribed with CC, unsubscribed AND deleted my CC details from their database. I'll probably ask them to hand me all information they have on me and if my credit card details are among them, they haven't really deleted that information. They MUST comply with this.

 

Horrible, horrible business descision. I for one will not recommend this game to my friends or even mention I play it. Sure, it may hurt my own playtime in the game, but maybe I wont be playing this game after the remaining "free" playtime is up anyway. This whole issue has next to ruined my will to play SW:TOR... I hate dishonesty.

[Zanzoba]

well its time for my inner troll to come out. Ive been dealing with customer support for the last 2 days and im not very impressed. i noticed with you email them they send you a ticket number. well once i replied to one of these emails with my dxdiag, client log and my most recent launcher Ive been getting 3 of these emails giving me new ticket numbers. if this is what i think it is they keep bumping my ticket not wanting to deal with it. So if you would please fix these issues. im just trying to play the game and i hate forums.

 

thanks and have a nice day.

[LostEchos]

i cant even see any servers listed when i logg in now please help me i want to paly and i payed alot of money

[pischto]

I also checked to see how I could make a lawsuit about this, but it would cost me too much time and money (although I'd get my money back when I won).

 

Americans...

[Mollerina]

Americans...

 

Non-Americans always say that. Makes you look stupid.

[pischto]

Non-Americans always say that. Makes you look stupid.

 

Nope it does not. What's with Americans trying to sue everything and everybody? That makes them look stupid.

Edited December 23, 2011 by pischto

[_Strimell]

- Snip - Edited December 23, 2011 by _Strimell

[Red_Plague]

Dear EA & Bioware,

 

Today I FINALLY managed to subscribe. Though yesterday it took me more than 10 hours with ZERO result, trying to do the same thing.

 

First of all, I would like to thank all those people here who managed to subscribe, but stood up for those who can't. It's a real pleasure to see that there are still reasonable people on this planet who care.

 

 

And to all those who said "It's a standard practice": It's NOT.

Besides, you could've thought about those wo can't afford extra payments right away (like kids, who only get money from their parents, students who have a low-paid part-time job and those, who has already spent the money on christmas and New Year's gifts). BTW many people in my country just don't need or don't use credit cards and the game time cards are NOT sold in our stores. How's that for an argument.

 

 

Then I would like to ask you (the developer guys) WHY your website kept assuring me that Pay Pal is unavalaible in my country (Russia)? When it definitely IS avalaible since this AUTUMN. You could have at least let us(Russians) pay with our electronic payment system - Webmoney(through wish I have purchased this game), just like Blizzard did.

 

 

P.S. I WAS billed after the subscription. First time about 2 bucks even though my account was NOT subscribed after that. And another 2 bucks when I finally managed to subscribe by re-doing it for several times.

I wrote about it to the support TWICE but only had one reply from a BOT, which didn't help at all, because of it's stupidity.

[Chinane]

While i can basically understand your desire to have everyone have a subscription (even if i can't morally justify that), the fact that it is REQUIRED is communicated poorly.

 

Cost me a day of my free game time to find out that the fact that i could not play on 19th was not that my account was not allowed for head start, but the missing subsciption.

[Carousel_t]

Thank you for explaining. I wish, however, situation like the one we faced yesterday, won't happen again. You have to improve your website servers capacity. This isn't some hardly known MMO, it's Star Wars based game, IT WILL get a lot of attention and immensive ammounts of heat when servers are down for maintance - bank on it.

 

I already subscribed with my credit card and am happy to be playing at least another two months ^_^

[Keydyn]

No dude you are all wrong and i repeat DEAD WRONg on that one. It states "Valid Credit Card or Paid game Card (if Available) <--- this is clearly saying that it is not needed to play in the beginning. The 30 days within itself once the game is paid for is just enough. I have been playing MMOs for a very long time and no other company has asked for this information until the 30 days are upon me.

 

I don't know what MMO's you've played, but every and I mean every MMO i've played has required me to provide my credit card information prior to having access to the intial free 30 days. and I've played quit a bit of MMO's. Everquest, Everquest 2, Starwars Galaxies, Planetside, Vanguard, Dungeons and Dragons online, World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Rift, Startrek Online, and now Starwars The Old Republic. yes the first 30days are free, but to access those free days you are required to have a valid subscription, which in the case of SWTOR requires that you either use a credit card to initiate a subscription, or you purchase a game card and use the code on the game card to start the subscription. for those asking about a refund for game cards, I've never used a game card but I would think no you wont get a refund after having used the code on the card. If you really don't have a credit card, or you can't purchase or don't want to purchase a game card. go to your bank and request a prepaid visa card, or go to Walmart or a similar type of store and ask if they sell prepaid visa cards. you can use those type of cards in place of a real credit card. also, if your bank has atm/debit cards that you can use like a credit card to draw off your checking account. those cards work also. IF this is your first MMO, I'm sorry for all the people that were uninformed, but you really should of asked more questions. many of us with more experience in the MMO community would of gladly answered questions about MMO's. for those of you who have decided to push past the obstacles and join the community, we welcome you. and Merry Christmas to all of ya'll, or happy holidays for those that don't celebrate Christmas.

[Keydyn]

Read your own words here dude, and without the Bioware colored glasses on.

 

Everyone buying the game PAID for a 30 day subscription which is INCLUDED in the base purchase price of the package.

 

Even the fine print is different enough from the Netflix verbage you cited in other post to not be a relevant comparison. They tell you up front you are going to enter your payment info so they can bill you at the end of the "trial" period. Note that they specifically refer to it as a "trial" period with an explicit roll over to paid unless you cancel.

 

You seem to be the only person defending Bioware's approach to this. One has to wonder why you are so passionate about their defense.

 

He is not the only one siding with BW on this. Experienced MMO players know this is standard, your lack of experience drew you to false assumptions. We are sorry you feel you were lied to, but you really weren't.

[Gileq]

Well, Both Age of Conan and Dungeons and Dragons online (lasts pay for play for me) DO NOT.

I' entered my pay data AFTER 30 days. Until then, i was played with no problem.

 

For me, in 15 years of playing online, i never see that dirty trick. Lucky me?

[Garylisk]

This is utter nonsense, and I added my credit card just to come here and say it because it will not allow you to post on the forums without an active subscription.

 

Here's the deal, to everyone who is saying "Oh this is just standard, every MMO does this" here's a list of MMOs that DON'T.

 

Removed since apparently they do. It's just a sad world.

 

BioWare, this is trite. Seriously.

 

1. Some people do not have credit cards and want to use prepaid time cards. You are now forcing them to buy a prepaid game time card in addition to the game itself in order to play. This is completely unacceptable, that's why I put it at number one.

2. Some people do not know if they want to sub yet. The 30 days of free gameplay you get on MMOs is, rightfully so, viewed by many players as a trial period. If they like the game, of course they will sub. If they don't like the game, they won't. That's how it goes. Forcing them to enter a credit card to play just increases the chance that they will, for whatever reason, be it A.D.D. or just stress and forgetfulness, forget to remove the card, and then when you charge them for something they have no intention of using, they will be absolutely livid!

3. Some people do not like to have recurring subscriptions for things, but want to use their credit card for one-time payments, sometimes due to poor money management skills or just plain being poor and needing to have more control over their money. I even have done this before in WoW where you could go to the Blizzard Store, buy 30 days of time digitally, and then enter the code you get into your account. There's no sub active, but you have active game time.

 

Let me talk logic to you, now. What could be the reason, we'll say the light side reason, to want someone to enter the credit card for a product before they use a supposedly free trial? It's to ensure they pay if they want to continue to use it. It's like those video rental kiosks where you rent DVDs. You have to put your credit card in, because if you keep the DVD longer, they will want to charge you for that.

 

However, in an online game, where you are in control of whether a play can or can not log in, this reason doesn't fly. Once someone's time is up, you can freeze their account, and they won't be able to play anymore. That's how all MMOs work, and I am not blowing smoke up your butt, unlike some others around here who say the opposite, swearing that every MMO does things the other way.

 

It's the dark side, plain and simple. BioWare, don't give into the real dark side. Stop this nonsense. It's poor customer service, you're going to lose customers, which are what makes an MMO viable. Furthermore, it'll probably be the more intelligent and sensible of your customers that you lose. It's like weeding out the good genes from the gene pool... Not a wise idea.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Garylisk

[Keydyn]

I did step 5 but then I never got my free 30 days,Its going to bill me next month.....

 

umm yeah thats kind of how it works. you play your 30 days free, then you get charged for the next 30 days. hence getting charged next month. you don't play the game for 30days and then pay for those 30days you just played. you pay and then play. its kind of like going to a fast food resturaunt, you pay them, they give you the food.