#0 - Aug. 31, 2007, 9:52 p.m.
So, here's the deal. Imagine you have been playing wow, you go out for a few hours, and come home to find an email from Blizz saying you are banned. There is no clear explanation given. You appeal it, and AA sends back a canned response without even reading it. You write back again, and once again AA sends back another canned response, screwing you over. Hi, you're banned, thanks for the appeal we're still right, cya. This is just terrible customer service. And apparently AA has no phone number to reach and there's no one else to talk to? So me, a person who has been playing 3 years strong even since closed beta, gets screwed over out the blue for no clear reason. I have a 70 paladin with top of the line raid gear and season 2 gear, gladiator status and an armored nether drake mount. That was a lot of hard work and now I can't even log into my account.
Take a look at this [Removed] this is essentially the same story that has happened to me and many others. This is very shady, what is going on Blizzard? How can you do this to people?
Here are my order of emails:
Q u o t e:
From: [email protected]
Sent: Wed 8/22/07 10:25 PM
* * * NOTICE OF ACCOUNT CLOSURE REVIEW * * *
Account Name: ****
Realm: Gorefiend
Character Name: Andonisus
Offense: Unauthorized access to another account with malicious intent.
It has been brought to our attention that items and/or money have been sent from a compromised account to the character mentioned above. As a result, the account listed above is being temporarily suspended pending further investigation.
Q u o t e:
From: [email protected]
Sent: Wed 8/22/07 10:57 PM
****Notice of Account Closure****
Hello,
Account Name: ****
Offense: Unauthorized Account Access Policy
Details: Unauthorized Access to Another World of Warcraft Account
The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft by the Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. Please review the World of Warcraft Unauthorized Account Access Policy at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889p. Access to another World of Warcraft account which is not registered in your name constitutes unauthorized access to another World of Warcraft account, whether or not you had permission from the registered user. As such, this World of Warcraft account has now been closed by the Account Administration staff based on review of the above account infraction incurred. This action has been taken in accordance with the Terms of Use (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html) and our game policies (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01712p). The recurring subscription on the account has been disabled to prevent further charges.
I was not even home when then happened. The ban is extremely vague, and the reasons are inconsistent. First, it says I received some gold/items from a compromised account, on the character Andonsisus on Gorefiend. That's funny, because I retired that character in July and was playing a completely different realm since then. Anyway, so the second email now says I accessed another WoW account that was not my own. Nope, not true, I was only playing on my account. But does it not seem odd to anyone that the two emails give completely different reasons? And there are no specifics given to back up this claim. It looks like Blizz just decided to give me a ridiculous ban, then ban me for something else, and give me no chance to refute it.
So I reply back with:
Q u o t e:
To: [email protected]
Sent: 8/22/2007 8:57:57 PM
Subject: RE: Notice: World of Warcraft - Account Closure
Hello,
My account name is ****. I have recently received an email saying my
account was "banned/closed". Please provide me all the information
available regarding this matter.
After waiting a week Blizz responds with:
Q u o t e:
From: [email protected]
Sent: Wed 8/29/07 8:15 AM
Greetings Kyle,
Thank you for your follow-up email. We have reinvestigated our extensive in-game logs as well as all the pertinent data involved in the closure of this account and have determined that the original closure was indeed merited.
We ask that you please take the time to review our Unauthorized Account Access Policy at: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889p. It is clearly stated that any players who have accessed an account reported as compromised and are not the registered user of said account, or who have knowingly or unknowingly received items/gold from a compromised account may receive an account penalty up to and including closure.
As such, we regret to inform you that the account closure decision is final and the account status permanent. The World of Warcraft account will not be re-opened or re-activated under any circumstance.
Now I'm pissed off. They did not re-investigate anything, and they STILL have NOT provided with me any clear explanation or any details to back up their ban. I reply with:
Q u o t e:
To: [email protected]
Sent: 8/29/2007 9:06:42 AM
Subject: RE: Notice: World of Warcraft - Account Closure
No, this is unacceptable. I asked for the evidence detailing this account closure. You have simply repeated the false positive. I have never logged onto an account that was not my own registered account, and I have not received any items from anyone. I scanned my computer and found no keyloggers, but I don't rule that out and perhaps my account was compromised. I want to know when this happened, the character in question, the items in question, the server it happened on, and the IP of the one on my account. Because when this ban happened, I WAS NOT HOME and the character 'Andonisus' had not been played by me in a long time. I have been erroneously charged and after I asked for details, you still have given me no substance. I have been banned for a false reason, and after asking for details so I can prove myself innocent, Blizzard just restates its original charge without any proof. This is terrible customer service. Good day.
Blizz gets my email, copy + paste, delete, good day Kyle.
Q u o t e:
From: [email protected]
Sent: Fri 8/31/07 8:07 AM
Greetings,
Thank you for your follow-up email. We have reinvestigated our extensive in-game logs as well as all the pertinent data involved in the closure of this account and have determined that the original closure was indeed merited.
We ask that you please take the time to review our Unauthorized Account Access Policy at: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889p. It is clearly stated that any players who have accessed an account reported as compromised and are not the registered user of said account, or who have knowingly or unknowingly received items/gold from a compromised account may receive an account penalty up to and including closure.
As such, we regret to inform you that the account closure decision is final and the account status permanent. The World of Warcraft account will not be re-opened or re-activated under any circumstance.
This is completely ridiculous. The ban is never really clear to me, it's very vague and the first two reasons aren't even consistent. I believe, if anything, perhaps someone accessed my account while I was not home, sent or received some gold, and that's how I got banned. But I didn't discover any keyloggers, and the armory still shows my gear in tact, so I'm ruling that out. I don't know what to do now. I just want my account restored to me.
Think about it this way, even if you were banned for a legitimate reason, wouldn't you at least want to know the details? At least then you could get some closure and come to accept it. But I didn't do anything wrong, and if there was any wrongdoing, it wasn't me. So, a long term customer like me does not deserve the ridiculous cut and paste responses and "just another wallet" treatment. This is my last hope, if this post does not get me any help, I am quitting WoW for good. I'm not going to give Blizzard more money just so this crap can happen again.
