Customer Service? - Blue Tracker

#0 - May 31, 2010, 12:46 a.m.

GMs & Players,

I write you to complain about the disregard I experienced today when trying to contact one of the GMs on "Blackwater Raiders" server. My account was hacked. I informed a GM as well as the customer service team before logging off and continuing with my Sunday. Several hours later I logged in to find a reply to my petition. It was a GM responding to my call informing me that restoration of my account could take 8-9 days! I was obviously a little upset about this. (Let's face it - WoW players aren't the type to take a week off...)

I responded with a follow-up petition. Although I was annoyed, my letter was respectful. I informed the receiving GM that I thought this was unacceptable. I let him/her know that I was essentially barred from playing my characters as they were naked and poor. I also reminded the GM that I pay Blizzard for a service and that service was rendered incomplete due to the situation. I asked if I would receive compensation for the lost play time (almost 1/3 of my monthly fee.)

I expected an overly apologetic, but less-than-helpful reply. What is a GM to do, right? This I could have stomached. Instead, what I received was an arrogant, lecturing response which I found to be very insulting! In the reply, the GM claimed that Blizzard's Security team was flawless in its defense of my account and any fault could be blamed on my own actions. This is akin to complaining to a waiter about an over-cooked steak and him replying, "Our cooks are superb. It must be your tongue!"

The GM then went on to lecture me on the joys of playing alts. He actually described how much fun he has with his own alts and encouraged me to do the same. I couldn't help but feel like I was being told, "Too bad, so sad. Suck it up!" I am not a moron. I know how to play alts. That's not the point....

The final insult of the reply came when the GM informed me that Blizzard has 11 million players to serve and I would have to wait my turn. This seemed to be overly arrogant, condescending, and blatant proof of an incompenent system all at once. How could you blame the length of unprecedented down time for your services on your uncanny success? Again, it is akin to complaining about the hour it has taken to get your soda in a five star restaraunt and the manager saying, "We're busy....you'll have to wait your turn!"

A remider to Blizz: I am your customer and have been since 2005. As a customer who has recently returned from a one year hiatus, this is not favorable dialogue. I am not unreasonable. I understand you are a company of massive proportions and have a lot on your plate. I understand that things happen that are simply out of your control. However, when I complain about your services and ask if you will refund me for lost services, I don't want to be lectured or spoken down to. I don't want to have the finger pointed at me as you cry, "It's not OUR fault! We're REALLY busy!"

Will a free month of WoW make the down-time easier? Probably not, but at least we would know that you are trying to make it up to us and you respect our arrangement with you. At least we would have a reason to be loyal to you and continue to pay you each month for your service - regardless of its qaulity.

Think about it, Blizz........

Vrakthris

#17 - May 31, 2010, 1:42 a.m.

Q u o t e:

I responded with a follow-up petition. Although I was annoyed, my letter was respectful.

I'm sorry, Dramethi, I understand that this can be a very frustrating situation but your secondary petition basically said that the time it takes to investigate was not acceptable after our security measures failure. That you are not receiving the value or your subscription.

You essentially put the responsibility for your account on us.

The Game Master was very polite in their response and informed you that the security failures have not occurred on our end. That when a compromise takes place it is generally from the users end. This isn't to place blame but to make sure that you take the necessary steps to prevent further compromise. They included a link to help you secure your computer and account.

Q u o t e:

This is akin to complaining to a waiter about an over-cooked steak and him replying, "Our cooks are superb. It must be your tongue!"

No, not really. If you wish to stick with the restaurant analogy this is akin to you ordering a meal to go, someone walking up to you on your way home with that meal, grabbing your to go bag and running off. Since you are still in the parking lot and our staff understands how unfortunate such a situation is they are working to get that meal back or at least try to replace the items that you originally had ordered, as a courtesy.

Q u o t e:
The GM then went on to lecture me on the joys of playing alts. He actually described how much fun he has with his own alts and encouraged me to do the same. I couldn't help but feel like I was being told, "Too bad, so sad. Suck it up!" I am not a moron. I know how to play alts. That's not the point....

The Game Master then went on to encourage you to play alternate characters while you wait perhaps to turn a negative into a positive, they shared some personal experience with you to help emphasis it.

Q u o t e:

Again, it is akin to complaining about the hour it has taken to get your soda in a five star restaraunt and the manager saying, "We're busy....you'll have to wait your turn!"

I think it would be more akin to you visiting an amusement park and attempting to go on a specific ride that is fairly popular. There are a number of other patrons of the park who are also wanting to go on that ride, as much as we would like everyone to get on within moments of getting in line it isn't always possible. There also is the possibility that the ride could break down. Your entrance fee (subscription) pays for access to the amusement park, not for a particular ride (i.e. character or access to a specific realm). That doesn't mean we won't do everything we can as quickly as we can to repair what damage was caused when your account was compromised, Dramethi, but this takes time.

Perhaps the level of frustration you experienced has coloured how you read the original response, I can re-post it here if you wish.

Q u o t e:
Will a free month of WoW make the down-time easier? Probably not, but at least we would know that you are trying to make it up to us and you respect our arrangement with you. At least we would have a reason to be loyal to you and continue to pay you each month for your service - regardless of its qaulity.

I'm at a loss to understand what we are making up to you, Dramethi. Longer than normal wait times? We understand that this is a source of contention and we are sorry that we are unable to resolve this issue as quickly as we would like but please understand that we did not compromise or by negligence allow your account to be compromised. We also are more than willing to do everything we can to repair what damage we can as quickly as we can. The only thing we require is a bit of time as you are not the only person that has experienced something like this.

As the others have explained, if you wish to provide feedback regarding a response you have received you are welcome to write to [email protected]. This is not the proper venue to file a complaint.

If I can provide further clarification on something please let me know and I will do my best.

Vrakthris

#30 - May 31, 2010, 1:58 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Once again I would like for a real response but I am afraid I will just get more of the same.

A real response for what, Niteshocker? Additional methods to keep your account secure and to check your system?

We provided what advice we can but we are not your personal Geek Squad, we aren't in your house and able to run scans on your system or figure out what may have happened to cause the compromise. We can give you advice and recommendations for an additional level of protection such as the Authenticator but you seem to be asking for a good deal more.

Malkorix

#67 - May 31, 2010, 8:13 p.m.

Going to lock this thread, as I believe that the appropriate information has already been disseminated.

Thank you all for your participation!