Unable to Purchase Gems [merged]

#1 - April 27, 2014, 7:07 p.m.

Just a note to let you know I’m merging about half a dozen posts to gather all the reports of players having trouble buying gems in the Gem Store. This means you may see some repeated comments within the thread, but making a merged thread allows us to give you one single, update so you know the status of this issue and it will make this issue and its upcoming resolution more visible.

In a nutshell, and I’ll post this at the bottom of the thread as well, we’ve been able to determine that our billing system provider has had an issue that has prevented some players from making a Gem Store purchase. Quite honestly, it was pretty hard to find what was going on, which is why for a few days we were not able to confirm exactly what was causing the issue, and we did wonder if the problems were unique to individual players. At this time, the provider is actively working on a fix and we hope to have this all ironed out very soon. I’d suggest that you do not need to submit a ticket, but you may if you wish to do so.

I will update you as soon as I have more information. In the meantime, please accept our apologies and our sincere thanks for your (attempted) support of our game through Gem Store. We hope you’ll make that purchase as soon as the problem is worked out.

Thanks!

#6 - April 27, 2014, 8:45 p.m.

I am sorry you guys had trouble making a gem purchase, but really appreciate that your posted. Your experience could help others, where they’ll know if they wait a bit, the purchase will probably process. Also, hitting “buy” multiple times can result in multiple purchases. Now, of course we will refund those as quickly as possible (as long as the gems aren’t spent ) but it’s best to avoid the hassle for you by simply clicking once and then waiting a bit to see if the purchase goes through.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

#9 - May 1, 2014, 12:09 p.m.

WeirdScience — we are investigating this.
aesur — are you having this exact problem? (Are you able to purchase at all, after time, even with an error message?)
Mordachai — did your situation mirror WS’s exactly? But you found it did work eventually, it seems. Would that mean that even while you got an error message, the purchase eventually processed?

Can anyone recall the exact error message? We have folks looking into this, so the more details, the better. Thank you for your reports and any additional info you can give!

#17 - May 13, 2014, 7:28 p.m.

We’re sorry this is happening. If you submit a ticket, I feel sure an agent will be able to help you resolve this.

And thanks for your support of our game!

#24 - July 3, 2014, 2:20 p.m.

I wonder, did you submit a ticket on this? We’d like to follow up. If you can give me the ticket number, that would help a lot.

#28 - July 7, 2014, 6:33 p.m.

I’m going to ask the team who works on the Gem Store to take a look at this.

Thanks for the reports, and we’re sorry for this inconvenience!

#32 - Aug. 5, 2014, 3:40 p.m.

At this point, we’re still working to get this corrected, and we’re sorry if you end up getting more gems then you intended to purchase.

If this happens to you, submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. This is a Payments or Billing Issue, and I know that the team tries to react very quickly to such tickets. They will remove the unwanted gems and issue a credit as quickly as possible, so don’t hesitate to content the team if you want that service.

(I need to say again: Please do not file a charge-back. We will take care of you, but if you file a charge-back we are contractually required to close the account, and we don’t want to do that any more than you want us to!)

#35 - Aug. 18, 2014, 12:53 p.m.

Two bits of information:

• We have a very brief period this weekend when the Gem Store was offline for maintenance. Everything is back to normal now.
• If you’re having difficulties purchasing with something other than PayPal, you should submit a ticket so that we can look at your situation individually.
• If you have trouble with a gem card, you should submit a ticket so the team can examine the matter and see what is to be seen about the card and the redemption process.

#37 - Aug. 21, 2014, 3:01 p.m.

NerdoHero.8043:

i can’t buy gem with credit card, came out with a message “unfortunately an error occurred, please try again later” i tried ton of time…stil the same

I’m so sorry. Have you submitted a ticket? I feel sure that our Payments Team can help you!

#44 - Aug. 22, 2014, 6:39 p.m.

So sorry, the issue with delayed fulfillment for PayPal purchases is still with us.

If you find you don’t have your purchase within 24 hours, definitely consider submitting a ticket so we can examine the issue.

If you’re CC is being blocked, then submitting a ticket right away is perfectly fine. We’ll be happy to try to help you.

#47 - Aug. 22, 2014, 9:24 p.m.

I am so sorry you both are having this issue! I see that these posts were made earlier — are you ok now? Alternately, did you submit a ticket so Support could help you?

#51 - Aug. 22, 2014, 11:02 p.m.

I am sorry you are having this issue. I am going to gather these reports (mostly from today) and pass them along to the developers so they can make sure things are working ok. Sometimes these issues are individual — a credit card issuer has issues, PayPal is slow to fulfill the order — but sometimes player reports point to a genuine issue.

Let me pass this along, and thank you for your continued efforts! Can you update this thread if you find you’re able to purchase? Thanks!

#52 - Aug. 22, 2014, 11:07 p.m.

absolutelyalice.7950:

I am also having this problem still! I did submit a support ticket and it got boosted, but nothing yet.

Thanks for letting me know. How did you try to purchase? Credit card? PayPal? Are you still having the issue?

I want you all to be assured I’m escalating these reports to relevant GW2 team members to let them know about them.

#53 - Aug. 22, 2014, 11:09 p.m.

I am escalating these reports to the teams who work most closely with our Gem Store.

Now, if you’re experiencing a delay with PayPal, that’s a known issue that we are still trying to get resolved. If you’re having difficulty with not being able to purchase through PayPal at all (even after waiting several hours to see the order arrive), or if you are not able to purchase through a CC that you know is valid and good to go, that’s a different matter.

I will post if I learn more about this, but in the meantime, thank you for your reports and for your patience!

#73 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:29 p.m.

I got a very detailed response from the team that manages our Gem Store, and they have not been able to identify a systemic issue. I think the best thing for you to do is to submit an individual ticket so that the team can look at your personal situation and help you make the purchase(s) you desire.

Please submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. Provide as much information as possible in the web form, because that will create a ticket within the support system. You are not required to provide all the information but may leave fields blank when you cannot accurately complete them. The team should be able to help you.

#74 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:31 p.m.

As you’re probably aware, there were some external incidents late last week, and they may have caused some of these problems. And yet, I’m seeing that these posts are as recent as this morning. Therefore, having received a very detailed response from the team that manages our Gem Store where they looked into the matter and were not able to identify a systemic issue, I think the best thing for you to do is to submit an individual ticket so that the team can look at your personal situation and help you make the purchase(s) you desire.

Please submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. Provide as much information as possible in the web form, because that will create a ticket within the support system. You are not required to provide all the information but may leave fields blank when you cannot accurately complete them. The team should be able to help you.

I should add that according to the team, there haven’t been issues with people getting the “try again” message and getting charged for the purchase. So if you get the “try again” message, you can be confident that you do need to resubmit the purchase and that you will not be double-charged (and double gemmed ).

Remember, by some odd chance you do get more gems than you intended, set them aside (don’t spend them) and submit a ticket. The Payments Team will ensure you get a refund after they’ve retrieved the gems that processed in error.

#75 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:39 p.m.

I am glad that you submitted a ticket, because the team that manages the Gem Store doesn’t feel there is a system-wide issue. Therefore, anyone who is experiencing this issue should submit at ticket and an agent will look at it as soon as possible and figure out how to help.

Thanks.

#75 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:40 p.m.

As I posted in another thread, I got a very detailed response from the team that manages our Gem Store, and they have not been able to identify a systemic issue. I think the best thing for you to do is to submit an individual ticket so that the team can look at your personal situation and help you make the purchase(s) you desire.

Please submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. Provide as much information as possible in the web form, because that will create a ticket within the support system. You are not required to provide all the information but may leave fields blank when you cannot accurately complete them. The team should be able to help you.

#76 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:41 p.m.

As posted in another thread, I got a very detailed response from the team that manages our Gem Store, and they have not been able to identify a systemic issue. I think the best thing for you to do is to submit an individual ticket so that the team can look at your personal situation and help you make the purchase(s) you desire.

Please submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. Provide as much information as possible in the web form, because that will create a ticket within the support system. You are not required to provide all the information but may leave fields blank when you cannot accurately complete them. The team should be able to help you.

#78 - Aug. 24, 2014, 1:48 p.m.

If you have not submitted a ticket about this situation, and if you have verified today that it’s still ongoing, please submit a ticket so our team can help you. We’re so sorry for the inconvenience you’re having!

#85 - Aug. 25, 2014, 2:17 p.m.

Update: Noon – 25 August 2014

Thanks to previous reports of this issue, we’ve been able to determine that our billing system provider has had a processing problem that has prevented some players from making a Gem Store purchase. Quite honestly, it was pretty hard to find what was going on, which is why for a few days we were not able to confirm exactly what was causing the issue, and we did wonder if the problems were unique to individual players. At this time, the provider is actively working on a fix and we hope to have this all ironed out very soon. I’d suggest that you do not need to submit a ticket, but you may do so if you wish.

I will update you as soon as I have more information. In the meantime, please accept our apologies and our sincere thanks for your (attempted) support of our game through Gem Store. We hope you’ll make that purchase as soon as the problem is worked out.

Thanks!

#93 - Aug. 26, 2014, 2:08 p.m.

Ok, here’s what I learned: The Second Anniversary 10-Day Sale presents different items on different days. But that doesn’t mean they’re offered for one day only. That means that one item may be introduced on Tuesday, a different item may come out on Thursday, but both items will be available through the conclusion of the sale. (You can check the Gem Store to see that things like Character Slots are still on sale, and were not offered only on a single day.)

The 10-day sale began on August 22, so doing the math means it will end on August 31st. So if you have had difficulties using your credit card or paying through PayPal, you should be able to make the purchase now or as soon as your CC is enabled by Support. From what I have learned, our billing provider is working on a fix that should address this for the few folks who are continuing to have issues.

#95 - Aug. 26, 2014, 1:21 p.m.

Let me ask about the promotions for you. I really don’t have a clear idea of how they’re configured and whether they could be extended. But to give you the into I do have, generally we are not able to extend sales events, for technical reasons. I certainly will aks, though!

#102 - Aug. 27, 2014, 2:43 p.m.

runeblade.7514:

3rd day of not being able to buy gems.

Well rats! Our provider did put through a change and according to records, they believe they corrected the issue for everyone affected by the bug. Therefore, I think what you’re running into is an individual issue, so I encourage you to submit a ticket to allow an agent to help you.

#104 - Aug. 27, 2014, 5:39 p.m.

Sorry to hear this, Eight O Eight. I’d like to review your tickets. Could you please provide those numbers?

#107 - Aug. 27, 2014, 10:15 p.m.

Eight O Eight.8257:

I don’t have those ticket numbers any longer.

Edit: I was able to dig into some recovered deleted emails and found this: Request #744128

Thanks, that allowed me to look into this. The last I see is that one of our top agents looked into this extensively and was baffled. You sent us an image (screenshot) of the error message, which is something that PayPal requested. In mid-July, our agent asked if you had contacted PayPal to ask them for their input on this problem.

Trust me: I’m not trying to pass the buck here, but it seems — from reviewing the ticket — that we’re sort of stymied, and that the next point of contact should be PayPal. They appear to have told us there’s no issue, but if you can’t purchase, using their system, I have to say I’d be submitting a support ticket to them to find out what gives.

If I’m misunderstanding any of this, please forgive me. It’s late, and I might not have read correctly. But the basic question is: Have you contacted PayPal? If so, what did they say? Think we could get a copy of that ticket correspondence?

#108 - Aug. 27, 2014, 10:17 p.m.

WhiteWolf.2374:

Gaile Gray.6029:

runeblade.7514:

3rd day of not being able to buy gems.

Well rats! Our provider did put through a change and according to records, they believe they corrected the issue for everyone affected by the bug. Therefore, I think what you’re running into is an individual issue, so I encourage you to submit a ticket to allow an agent to help you.

Just wanted to let you know that I’m able to purchase gems with my CC.
The Providers change did work for me Thanks Gaile and your tech team for the help

Awesome, WhiteWolf. And thanks for your continued support. (Yeah, I remember you, as I remember a lot of the other people in this thread, and we appreciate all of you so much!)

#113 - Aug. 28, 2014, 6:28 p.m.

Eight O Eight. Goodness, you’ve been so good about following up, I’m SO sorry you’re having these issues. This sounds like a very odd case, and it’s good to pursue those. I will share your comments and the one ticket number with our team to see if we can do more to help!

#114 - Aug. 28, 2014, 6:35 p.m.

runeblade.7514:

Day 5, I hope I get it resolved before the sale is over.

I looked up your ticket and it was routed to our provider. They should be able to resolve this soon. Feel free to post in the Tickets for Review Thread if you don’t hear by tomorrow Noon Pacific time.

#122 - Aug. 29, 2014, 6:47 p.m.

Zolarie.8293:

runeblade.7514:

Zolarie.8293:

I just ran into this issue myself. I tried to purchase gems twice but it failed. Then I came here and found this thread. I went to submit a ticket and tried one more time so that I could copy the exact text from the error message. The purchase went through.

The only difference was that I tried not checking the “agreement” check box when I hit confirm. After it errored out and made me check the box, then I checked it and hit confirm. It might have been a fluke, it might have been a weird work around. You might try it.

I unchecked the agreement box, and then it would not let me hit confirm. After checking it again, I still get an error message.

Guess mine was just a fluke then. It was worth trying. Good luck.

Hey, I agree. Trying that work-around can’t hurt, might help!

I’m sorry it didn’t work for you, runeblade.

The team will continue to work on the tickets to try to get these sorted.

#124 - Aug. 30, 2014, 12:01 a.m.

runeblade.7514:

I’m scared. Support is taking too long, and I know that ANet wouldn’t extend the sales date just for me if they couldn’t fix the problem in time.

I understand your concern. And it seems you had an access issues (perhaps a compromise?) very recently, so that further complicates the issue. We’re aware of the sale end, and the team will do what they can to help you.

#126 - Aug. 30, 2014, 12:17 a.m.

Xviax.8256:

Why won’t you take my money!

SRSLY! Folks want to give us money. Their purchases support our game. We want folks to support our game! It’s a win/win situation, and I’m so, SO sorry that some of our players are having issues making Gem Store purchases!

But hey, I just looked at your account and I don’t see a ticket about this from you. (Last I see is a password reset on August 8th.)

Are you having issues on another account? Have you forgotten to submit a ticket? Or are you just sympathizing with those who are trying to buy gems, but cannot?

#150 - Sept. 5, 2014, 12:57 p.m.

Aethgar and BN — Could I please get your ticket numbers? We want to follow up. Thanks!

#154 - Sept. 5, 2014, 5:15 p.m.

We saw there were four (just four) orders that remained backed up. Those cleared about 20 minutes ago.

Could you kindly check to see if your order has arrived?

#156 - Sept. 5, 2014, 7:27 p.m.

wwwes.1398:

Mine did, thank you!!

I am so glad to hear that, thanks for the update!

As for anyone else having issues:

• If you have placed a credit card order and do not receive the transmittal of gems within a few minutes, you are welcome to submit a ticket.
• If you placed a PayPal order, those can occasionally run a bit longer, but you’re always invited to submit a ticket if you believe the delay is lengthy. (Personally I would wait a few hours, but it’s up to you.)

#163 - Sept. 8, 2014, 1:27 p.m.

I am sorry that you are having issues! I really believe that this requires a careful, individual investigation by a support agent. So please submit a ticket by clicking “Support” at the top of this page and then clicking the “Submit a request” option. Provide as much information as possible in the web form, which will create a ticket within the support system. If you do not know some of the information requested, leave the field blank. However, there are two drop-down areas that require an answer so be sure to choose from those fields so the ticket is properly submitted. Once you’ve done that, the CS Team should be able to help you.