A brief synopsis of my Arenanet support experience

#1 - Nov. 12, 2012, 2:35 p.m.

I am a paying customer who has no marks or warnings against his account and recently found out that my account has been locked due to others trying to access it illegally. Now were the process to reverse this lock quick or simple I would not have a problem but this is not the case. So far I am being asked to play detective and find a serial code that I did not receive as I purchased digital deluxe. To further compound the issue this matter is resolved via the regular ticket system and as such it is part of a que. So to recap I am a paying customer and am now significantly inconvenienced not due to my own incompetence or noncompliance but because a system that is in place to protect users, can be exploited quite easily simply by knowing their email address. I find this to be unacceptable and i’m surprised that this system was actually proposed, brought to meetings and given approval without anyone in any of those steps realizing that this system is easily exploited. Between this and all of the people I know being banned due to false positives in their system, I am disappointed. This treatment of customers is unprofessional and causes me to lose a great deal of respect for Arenanet.

#2 - Nov. 12, 2012, 3:22 p.m.

Omne.4603:
I am a paying customer who has no marks or warnings against his account and recently found out that my account has been locked due to others trying to access it illegally. Now were the process to reverse this lock quick or simple I would not have a problem but this is not the case. So far I am being asked to play detective and find a serial code that I did not receive as I purchased digital deluxe. To further compound the issue this matter is resolved via the regular ticket system and as such it is part of a que. So to recap I am a paying customer and am now significantly inconvenienced not due to my own incompetence or noncompliance but because a system that is in place to protect users, can be exploited quite easily simply by knowing their email address. I find this to be unacceptable and i’m surprised that this system was actually proposed, brought to meetings and given approval without anyone in any of those steps realizing that this system is easily exploited. Between this and all of the people I know being banned due to false positives in their system, I am disappointed. This treatment of customers is unprofessional and causes me to lose a great deal of respect for Arenanet.

First, it’s important that you know your account was not compromised through us. Somewhere in your personal security you had an exploitable element that allowed someone to steal possession of your account. Usually this happens through the use of shared credentials, but it can come through other sources. For more information, please see Mike O’Brien’s article on account security.

In the meantime, you should also be aware that once an account has been compromised, it must be viewed very carefully, as a protection for the real account owner. Every day we get dozens of requests to “return my account to my possession” from people who do not own the account!

I sympathize that it’ takes a little time to get an account back into the game, but the security is worthwhile and necessary and we ask for your patience.