Customer Service completely ignores my question in their replies

[AlCiao]

I am extremely frustrated with Customer Service right now, as I contacted them in-game about a potential bug, and their reply, each time, ignored the question and gave a reply that had nothing to do with my question. I'm more frustrated with their terrible service more than the actual in-game issue now.

 

I've filed tickets multiple times in the past about various issues, and the answers have always been satisfactory before. This is my one bad experience with them.

 

Here follows the exchange. Am I not being clear about what I'm asking? I'm redacting the CS rep's name so as not to call anyone out, but it's the same name all three times and so I assume the same person. Please excuse any typos, as I had to type this out by hand, as copy&paste wasn't available.

 

First, I wrote:

 

 

"On my character Gabian-fortt, I skipped KotFE and KotET to Iokath and the Traitor story arc. In the Nathema Conspiracy quest, on the imperial listening post, a hologram shows the character Zera mentioning that the Outlander murdered Senya (in KotET).

 

Gabian-fortt is a Republic character. Aren't Republic characters supposed to default to the lightside choices, i.e. saving both Senya and Arcann?"

 

 

The first reply from CS:

 

 

"Hello AlCiao,

 

My name is [redacted] from Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM Customer Service and I have reviewed your ticket concerning issue with the default choices.

 

I know it can be quite inconvenient when we are facing issue with default choices. I will surely look into this for you.

 

I reviewed your ticket and I would like to inform you that when you start Jedi under siege the default choices of the game are taken and we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken and if you feel that this aspect of the game could work differently, we strongly recommend posting your feedback on our "Suggestion Box" forum, located here: http://www.swtor.com/community.com/forumdisplay.php?f=349

 

Our Development team actively monitor our forum and are constantly looking for feedback from our players. The thoughts and opinions of our community play a key role in helping them to improve the Star Wars: The Old Republic experience and to shape new features and content.

 

It was a pleasure assisting you today. I hope that you are enjoying SWTOR,

 

Also, Do stay safe in these hard times

 

Should you require assistance with any other issues in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us once again.

 

Best Regards,

[redacted]

Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM: Customer Service"

 

 

As you can see, that does not answer my question whatsoever. I followed up with this:

 

 

"The answer to my last ticket did not address the situation at all. It mentions Jedi Under Siege, which I have NOT started on my character, Gabian-fortt.

 

I understand that default choices cannot be changed, but I want to know if the default choice for Republic characters is in fact supposed to be sparing Senya. As my character Gabian-fortt is a Republic character, and on the Imperial Listening Post mission (prior to Nathema Conspiracy), the hologram of the character Zera mentions that Gabian-fortt killed Senya.

 

Gabian-fortt skipped KotFE and KotET, but has NOT started Jedi Under Siege. Is the default choice for Republic players in fact to kill Senya? Or is this a bug on my character?"

 

 

The Customer Service reply, with the same rep as before:

 

 

"Hello AlCiao,

 

My name is [redacted] from Star WarsTM: The Old Republic: Customer Service and I have reviewed your ticket concerning issue with decisions in the game.

 

I know it can be quite inconvenient when we are facing issue with the decisions in the game, I will surely look into this for you.

 

I reviewed your ticket and as I informed you that when you skip KOTFE and KOTET the decisions are taken as per default choices and upon checking the details I found that your character trusted the judgement of Senya and allowed her to escape into hyperspace with Arcann. You can check the decisions with your companion in companion tab.

 

Please accept my sincerest apologies if this is not the most ideal resolution you were hoping for at the moment but we're really trying to keep the game alive during the pandemic. We're currently low on staff and that may cause some delays but we're really motivated and trying our best to provide the best gaming experience possible. Your understanding and support and this point is much needed and will be much appreciated. Finally I hope you stay safe and I genuinely hope you keep on enjoying this game.

 

It was a pleasure assisting you today. I hope that you are enjoying SWTOR,

 

Also, Do stay safe in these hard times

 

Should you require assistance with any other issue in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us once again.

 

Best Regards,

[redacted]

Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM: Customer Service"

 

 

I'm just aghast at this point. I know they're short-staffed, and I know they might not be able to fix the problem, but they're not even answering my question! Am I really being that unclear about it? I tried once more:

 

 

"Thank you for replying. I understand you're short-staffed. However, i'm frustrated because you are not answering my question. I know that default choices cannot be changed, that is not what I'm asking.

 

In KotET Chapter 1, on Voss, the player has the option to kill Senya or not.

 

For characters that skip KotFE and KotET to jump to the Forgotten World on Iokath and the subsequent Traitor story-arc (which consists of three flashpoints), default choices are assumed.

 

My question is, for a Republic character that jumps to Iokath (thereby skipping KotFE and KotET), what is the default choice for killing Senya or not in Chapter 1 of KotET on Voss?

 

I thought the DEFAULT choice for a REPUBLIC character is that Senya was spared, NOT killed. However, on my Jedi character Gabian-fortt, in the Nathema Conspiracy quest (at the Abandoned/Imperial Listening Post for the prologue section before actually beginning the flashpoint), there is a hologram of the Zakuul Knight Zera claiming that my character kILLED Senya.

 

So I'm assuming this is a bug or a glitch. Is it a bug, or is it not? And if it is a bug, can it be fixed for my character? Thank you."

 

 

And the response, from the same rep:

 

 

"Hello AlCiao,

 

My name is [redacted] from Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM Customer Service and I have reviewed your ticket concerning the decisions in the game.

 

I know it can be quite inconvenient when we are facing issue with the decisions in the game, I will surely look into this for you.

 

I reviewed your ticket and as I informed you that when you KOTFE and KOTET the decisions are taken as per default choices and upon checking the details I found that your character trusted the judgement of Senya and allowed her to escape into hyperspace with Arcann. You can check the decisions with your companion in companion tab and the default choices are based on the decision you have taken before skipping KOTFE and KOTET and we [sic] default choices are not fixed ad [sic] I suggested you to please try to get Companion back from companion terminal

 

[same boilerplate ending paragraphs as the previous reply]

 

Best Regards,

[redacted]

Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM Customer Service"

 

 

I am completely bamboozled at this point. He keeps insisting on talking about the default decision for KotFE Chapter 16, when that's not even what I'm talking about.

 

I know I can summon Senya from companion terminal, that's not my issue. I want to know what the story impact is, and whether this is a bug.

 

Am I really being so unclear?

 

Ugh! Like I said I'm way more frustrated by Customer Service at this point than the actual ingame issue!!!!

 

What can I do now? It seems like the same guy takes my tickets, and he is absolutely not listening to what I'm asking. I feel extremely petty trying to persist in this any further, but he's completely missing my issue.

[Damask_Rose]

I feel your pain.

 

I had a similar problem. I had a light side warrior that I played all the way through KotFE, KotET and Iokath. He romanced Koth and stuck to the light side from start to finish in order to keep Koth as happy as can be. Upon starting JUS his story flag reverted to the dark side default choice and Koth was now dead. His bio shows all of the light side choices I made. Happy Koth, happy Koth, Happy Koth. Boom you killed Koth for stealing the Gravestone.

 

I ended up going around in circles with CS like you did. He kept going on about how I can't change my choices, completely ignoring my description of the obvious bug. I wasn't asking to reverse a decision I regretted, I was asking if they could fix a flag that broke and ruined my character's story. My CS rep. got hostile after my third attempt to clarify the issue and threatened to ban me from making any future reports. His laughable comment about there being no companion bugs is in my signature.

Edited May 16, 2020 by Damask_Rose

[OwenBrooks]

What are you hoping to achieve from contacting CS in regards to a "potential" bug ? , they do not deal with bugs except to forward to QA as per https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=795072 and https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=877258 QA do not normally reply to individual bugs reports unless chasing further information

 

Intent is a "potential" Bug is reported using /bug so it goes to QA directly, CS do not deal with the bug itself or see these tickets

 

So they have been provided the following response which they have been provided , and that is pretty much all they can provide.

 

I would like to inform you that when you start " insert boosted location" the default choices of the game are taken and we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken

 

anything past that is not the remit of CS and needs to be forwarded to QA if considered a bug, and as mentioned QA do not normally respond to players and only reachout for more info.

 

CS can assist fixing known bugs with solutions provided to them from the studio, and are within their remit or advise it is a listed known bug and will be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Edited May 16, 2020 by OwenBrooks

[AlCiao]

What are you hoping to achieve from contacting CS in regards to a "potential" bug ? , they do not deal with bugs except to forward to QA as per https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=795072 and https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=877258 QA do not normally reply to individual bugs reports unless chasing further information

 

Intent is a "potential" Bug is reported using /bug so it goes to QA directly, CS do not deal with the bug itself or see these tickets

 

So they have been provided the following response which they have been provided , and that is pretty much all they can provide.

 

 

 

anything past that is not the remit of CS and needs to be forwarded to QA if considered a bug, and as mentioned QA do not normally respond to players and only reachout for more info.

 

CS can assist fixing known bugs with solutions provided to them from the studio, and are within their remit or advise it is a listed known bug and will be fixed in an upcoming patch.

 

But IS it a bug? That's what I'm asking them, which they aren't answering, and that's the frustrating part.

 

(And if it is, can they change the flag for that character?)

 

And if it's beyond their remit to tell me, why not just TELL me that, instead of just answering a question I didn't even ask?

Edited May 16, 2020 by AlCiao

[OwenBrooks]

But IS it a bug? That's what I'm asking them, which they aren't answering, and that's the frustrating part.

 

(And if it is, can they change the flag for that character?)

 

And if it's beyond their remit to tell me, why not just TELL me that, instead of just answering a question I didn't even ask?

 

they are not trained to determine if something is a bug or not, that is for QA to determine

 

they already told you in the very first response they cannot change the flag - "we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken"

 

guess he wanted to try and help answer your question

Edited May 16, 2020 by OwenBrooks

[AlCiao]

they are not trained to determine if something is a bug or not, that is for QA to determine

 

they already told you in the very first response they cannot change the flag - "we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken"

 

guess he wanted to try and help answer your question

 

If he couldn't tell me whether something's not a bug, why not tell me that he cannot tell me?

 

I wasn't certain whether to trust his "change or revert decisions" line since he was sidestepping my main question entirely, and also the fact that this was not a decision I'd made at all, but a question about what the default was supposed to be.

[OwenBrooks]

If he couldn't tell me whether something's not a bug, why not tell me that he cannot tell me?

 

I wasn't certain whether to trust his "change or revert decisions" line since he was sidestepping my main question entirely, and also the fact that this was not a decision I'd made at all, but a question about what the default was supposed to be.

 

The ticket queue is running at 10 days at present and they are trying to answer 100s of tickets a day given he responded with as much information as he did is surprising in itself in my view, and whilst they can make mistakes, not that it is a reason in itself, and could they answer things better at times, sure, but then they are human too.

 

Noting you asked about story path decisions when a character is boosted, the answer they have on file for that was provided to you by what i can see, liking or not liking the response doesn't change the response

 

the default choices of the game are taken and we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken and if you feel that this aspect of the game could work differently, we strongly recommend posting your feedback on our "Suggestion Box" forum

 

and You can check the decisions with your companion in companion tab.

 

Checking the default decisions made isn't something they are tasked to do, they are not devs or QA and can say hmm that is not what was meant to happen in that line of code,

 

CS deal with item or vendor issues requiring restoration, issues where your character is stuck and unable to progress for any reason, etc. all per the stickies, if you think its wrong /bug it per the stickies but then its a patch issue for fixing

[SteveTheCynic]

I feel your pain.

 

I had a similar problem. I had a light side warrior that I played all the way through KotFE, KotET and Iokath. He romanced Koth and stuck to the light side from start to finish in order to keep Koth as happy as can be. Upon starting JUS his story flag reverted to the dark side default choice and Koth was now dead. His bio shows all of the light side choices I made. Happy Koth, happy Koth, Happy Koth. Boom you killed Koth for stealing the Gravestone.

Did you finish Umbara/Copero/Nathema as well as Iokath? If not, that could be why. The system of "save points" is not well understood, and it's bogus, but it is what it is and we have to live with it. The best way to do that is, sadly, to play through the content if you plan anything non-default for your characters.

 

It's not what it should be, absolutely for sure, and I'm in no way defending it.

[Tsillah]

Typical CS stuff and I don't mean just BioWare or EA. It's common practice that they have people just scan for keywords or have an algorithm do it and then reply with standard responses based on those keyword matches.

 

If you want someone to really look at your issue you need to insist AND be lucky someone pays attention. The odds of both of those happening is not very high. Their CS is based on high turn over and deflection. So they meet targets for CS without actually helping the customer. The process is more important than you and me.

 

The only time I felt I was getting any serious help from their CS is when I called for some issues with their German CS team, because I happen to speak German as well. Those guys are amazing. They actually help you and explain stuff to you. Of course you can't call them with issues like this.

 

It's frustrating but we're still here playing the game, so as long as people don't leave in droves because of bad CS experiences, this will continue like this and they can show great CS performance numbers to their bosses.

[xordevoreaux]

Years ago, I was actually impressed with SWTOR customer service. They were on top of things.

Then, apparently, customer service got outsourced overseas.

 

One, I immediately had an accent barrier to overcome to even begin to understand what the person on the other end of the phone was saying.

 

Two, I had no trust that this person for whom English may or may not have been his first language had any honest understanding of the game, much less my problem with it.

 

Three, as you say, the results now coming back from customer service don't even begin to reflect the problem, which means these people who basically didn't understand the problem to begin with simply pull a cookie cutter response from their pile of cookie cutter responses and ship it.

 

Four, even if you do manage to escalate your problem to another tier of help, which doesn't always happen, doing so doesn't always, if ever, result in anything different.

 

I have had some weird and/or unfortunate issues, both in-game and with biling, over the years, and I can tell you the 5 phone calls I made to customer service last year over the SAME SINGLE PROBLEM did not occur in years past. One phone call, one problem solved.

 

Not any more.

Edited May 16, 2020 by xordevoreaux

[AlCiao]

The ticket queue is running at 10 days at present and they are trying to answer 100s of tickets a day given he responded with as much information as he did is surprising in itself in my view, and whilst they can make mistakes, not that it is a reason in itself, and could they answer things better at times, sure, but then they are human too.

 

Noting you asked about story path decisions when a character is boosted, the answer they have on file for that was provided to you by what i can see, liking or not liking the response doesn't change the response

 

the default choices of the game are taken and we don't have an option to change or revert the decisions that have been taken and if you feel that this aspect of the game could work differently, we strongly recommend posting your feedback on our "Suggestion Box" forum

 

and You can check the decisions with your companion in companion tab.

 

Checking the default decisions made isn't something they are tasked to do, they are not devs or QA and can say hmm that is not what was meant to happen in that line of code,

 

CS deal with item or vendor issues requiring restoration, issues where your character is stuck and unable to progress for any reason, etc. all per the stickies, if you think its wrong /bug it per the stickies but then its a patch issue for fixing

 

Now it seems like you're also missing my issue. No one else in this thread is missing it.

 

I get they're busy. That's why I'm not escalating it any further and venting on here, because it's way too petty to keep escalating, and pointless anyway.

 

But they provided an answer to a situation in KotFE Chapter 16 (trusting Senya's judgment) when I was asking about KotET Chapter 1 (killing Senya or not). The decision to kill Senya or not is not at all reflected in my character's companions tab, it stops at trusting Senya's judgment (KotFE Ch 16) and says nothing forward about her.

 

And again, if it's not within their remit to answer my question, why not TELL me it's not within their remit, instead of going around in circles with me?

Edited May 16, 2020 by AlCiao

[RameiArashi]

Iokath isn't a saving point. You have to do Nathma conspiracy. Then if it doesn't keep your choices its a bug.

 

Some they can deal with/ For example: several times they fixed HK-55 for me. If you have Jedi Under Siege active and then do his quest he doesn't actualky come back as a usable companion. If you do HK-55 alert before strarting JUS or after completing it his quest works properly

 

I had one character I had not played in a long time have all naked companions. They restored their armor. Even though i could have just put them in armor from collection. I did do that with weapons because I forgot to ask about weapons.

 

It of course depends who is working at the time. Some of them don't have a clue.

\

[AlCiao]

Iokath isn't a saving point. You have to do Nathma conspiracy. Then if it doesn't keep your choices its a bug.

 

Some they can deal with/ For example: several times they fixed HK-55 for me. If you have Jedi Under Siege active and then do his quest he doesn't actualky come back as a usable companion. If you do HK-55 alert before strarting JUS or after completing it his quest works properly

 

I had one character I had not played in a long time have all naked companions. They restored their armor. Even though i could have just put them in armor from collection. I did do that with weapons because I forgot to ask about weapons.

 

It of course depends who is working at the time. Some of them don't have a clue.

\

 

Yeah, I know Iokath isn't a saving point, but you have to do it in order to start the three flashpoints that end with Nathema Conspiracy.

 

Point is, this toon jumped ahead, and I was under the impression that the default choice for a pub toon is all light side, and so Senya should be not be said to be dead by the Zakuul Knight Zera in the holo.

 

He hasn't started JUS, if he had, the Nathema Conspiracy storyline wouldn't be available but would've been auto-completed.

[Ylliarus]

If I were you I would wait until the current global crisis has settled down a bit before you swamp CS with questions that aren't that important at the moment. I am not only saying this to defend BWs CS team, but also to give you a better chance at having your question answered. The problem you're facing is not game-breaking and the question whether it's a bug or not can wait. I'd suggest you table this issue for yourself until things have returned to a more normal situation in regard to the coronavirus.

 

The default choices are meant to he default choices to skip through content and get to more recent story. While most of the time Republic characters will have LS default choices made for them and Imperial DS default choices, this is not a 100%, always true rule. Some decisions will be based on other things, albeit what exactly I am not sure.

 

If you do not agree with the default choices, honestly, you should just play the story and make the choices yourself. We don't have a system yet where we can choose the default choices that story skipping makes and until we do, the story skipping is meant for those who aren't that bothered by what default choices are made for that character. If you do care, well, then you should play the story to make the choices that you want to have on that character. Perhaps we'll have a Dragon Age-tapestry style feature in the future for when we skip story content.

[Damask_Rose]

Did you finish Umbara/Copero/Nathema as well as Iokath? If not, that could be why. The system of "save points" is not well understood, and it's bogus, but it is what it is and we have to live with it. The best way to do that is, sadly, to play through the content if you plan anything non-default for your characters.

 

It's not what it should be, absolutely for sure, and I'm in no way defending it.

 

I did. All content was completed before I started JUS with him. My consolation is that Koth can be pulled from the companion locator terminal so I didn't lose my lvl 50 companion. I'm just irritated that the game now thinks Koth is dead and I'll have to start another character through that slog to play through his Onslaught romance scene and any future content Koth might have. That, and I'm irritated that the bug hasn't been acknowledged, so God knows if it will ever be fixed.

 

I'm just so tired of being afraid to do newer stories due to all of the story flag bugs. I seem to get hit with all of them even years after it's been released. I was getting ready to start taking my older characters through FE/ET until I got slapped with this bug, now I'm too afraid to screw them up too.

[AlCiao]

If I were you I would wait until the current global crisis has settled down a bit before you swamp CS with questions that aren't that important at the moment. I am not only saying this to defend BWs CS team, but also to give you a better chance at having your question answered. The problem you're facing is not game-breaking and the question whether it's a bug or not can wait. I'd suggest you table this issue for yourself until things have returned to a more normal situation in regard to the coronavirus.

 

That is partly why I'm not following up with them any further, yes.

 

The default choices are meant to he default choices to skip through content and get to more recent story. While most of the time Republic characters will have LS default choices made for them and Imperial DS default choices, this is not a 100%, always true rule. Some decisions will be based on other things, albeit what exactly I am not sure.

 

If you do not agree with the default choices, honestly, you should just play the story and make the choices yourself. We don't have a system yet where we can choose the default choices that story skipping makes and until we do, the story skipping is meant for those who aren't that bothered by what default choices are made for that character. If you do care, well, then you should play the story to make the choices that you want to have on that character. Perhaps we'll have a Dragon Age-tapestry style feature in the future for when we skip story content.

 

Wow, am I really being this unclear?

 

I'm not arguing against the default choices.

 

I'm trying to find out what the default choice is.

 

Well it's kind of your fault. You are a paying customer, you feel mistreated yet you keep giving them your money. Your behavior only tells them they can keep treating you this way and you'll still give them the money they want. It's akin to battered woman syndrome.

You're not a victim, you're a volunteer.

 

Aside from this being the first time I've had a bad experience with CS, you're saying I should quit a game I love over one relatively minor issue?

 

Also, I know you didn't mean it this way, but comparing this to battered woman syndrome is extraordinarily insensitive to actual victims of domestic abuse.

[DarkTergon]

 

Also, I know you didn't mean it this way, but comparing this to battered woman syndrome is extraordinarily insensitive to actual victims of domestic abuse.

 

Chances are that's excatly what he meant, it's an insult to anyone who has ever gone through that. As for your original point, as a Rep PLayer, you are supposed to automatically select the light side option. So chances are it is a bug, somewhere along the lines, the toggle flag got messed up. The CS in this game used to be really great, but as xor mentioned here, and other have said in other posts, it seems they outsourced CS, and now it's gone downhill faster than a freewheeler on the hills of san fransico. If you really want an answer, or have someone listen, I rcommend messaging eric, out of all the community managers, he's the only one that's ever bothered replying to a message I sent, and actually helped with an issue I had, and gave some very sage advice.I've no idea if he caan revert it, or fix it, but at least he might be able to get the dev team to look aat it, so it doesn't happen to tohers

[akdonkey]

Do like us Alt-A-Holic's do and Make a new character.... I have 61 on Starforge.....

[jedimasterjac]

Chances are that's excatly what he meant, it's an insult to anyone who has ever gone through that. As for your original point, as a Rep PLayer, you are supposed to automatically select the light side option. So chances are it is a bug, somewhere along the lines, the toggle flag got messed up. The CS in this game used to be really great, but as xor mentioned here, and other have said in other posts, it seems they outsourced CS, and now it's gone downhill faster than a freewheeler on the hills of san fransico. If you really want an answer, or have someone listen, I rcommend messaging eric, out of all the community managers, he's the only one that's ever bothered replying to a message I sent, and actually helped with an issue I had, and gave some very sage advice.I've no idea if he caan revert it, or fix it, but at least he might be able to get the dev team to look aat it, so it doesn't happen to tohers

 

People are so weird when they act like they're being "abused" because a games company... selected a default option they disliked, and the customer service team can't change it?

[DarkTergon]

People are so weird when they act like they're being "abused" because a games company... selected a default option they disliked, and the customer service team can't change it?

 

think you missed the point, it wasn't the default option, the default is supposed to save senya/arcann.

His complaint is that the game ticked the wrong option, so it said he killed her. But customer service wouldn't answer if it was a bug, etc.