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Customer service, denied!
Read on if you care too, it's a long rant;
Well I have been in the I.T. industry a long time. I even feel for CS reps stage 1 because let's face it, they get the blunt of all problems. So let me tell you my story and you will know why I am not to impressed in the steps Trion is taking in dealing with their customers; not to mention sad coding of their database and interfaces.
Let's start from the beginning...
It all started here in the forums actually, being bored, looking for something new and seeing the negative and positive but being open on the game I decided to get it, then because of work, I decided I just couldn't dedicate the time atm. Well as it turns out a friend gave me a full copy with an offer to pay the year out, I explained to him my time will be limited as I am coding myself and have really no time for much atm. Long story short, he convinces me it's ok and just to try it out when I can.
Ok, so eh it looks cool, basically I get the game free for a year, so why not. Now, being it was late or whatever, usually I am right in key with my keystrokes, but as many of you coders know, sometimes your mind goes into coding mode and you slip something out instead of what was meant to be typed.
So I was there on the sign up section of trions website to make my account and get the game registered. I entered my email and continued, I had this prompt to "verify my email" but alas the system allowed me to continue on anyways without the prompt, as odd as I thought that was, I thought nothing of it at the time.
So I follow threw with CC info the works, and get ready to play. I attempt to login to find out indeed my account doesn't exists after a few attempts in the login I made. Hmmm, thinking I then decided ok, maybe the system just "lost me' wouldn't be the first time in bad database coding... how wrong I was....
I put in the information and the system accepts it, I get to the point where you put in your key and a nice prompt comes up "key already in use"... ok so umm what just happened? First thing being a coder (and a database coder at that is) someone forgot to add safety features and checksums to the interface. Well wouldn't you know it, I call that one on the noise, the system indeed had taken my info but in an email with the extension .coim
Yeah , you are reading that right .coim.. now I am no rocket scientist but infact that the second box verification (after testing this with a fake account) didn't error me out when I made the emails different nor did the database spit out a bad email address etc makes me wonder who is coding over there and in turn makes me wonder how secure my information will actually be and how stable the servers are.
Sorry Trion if your reading this, but beyond the fact that you took away access to your CS reps to actually do anything other then to verify information or activate some code is pretty useless. The rest of the team sits behind shuttered emails and no phone access to deal with issues they unsubtly caused. I see in fact that this out stretch to the community might be good on the face but behind the scenes when it comes to dealing with real issues, you burry your issues behind the corporate red tape of talk to this guy then that guy then that guy then maybe a guy that has an actual ability to do something about it.
But I take it in stride to be honest , my only issue is now my CC is in limbo in their system and I have no doubt it will be charged. When I dealt with the CS rep, he was really nice, told me the way it was and being again I have been on that side and now far beyond it, I felt his pain and frustration.
So for me, the only real thing upsetting me atm is my CC info is lost in the system atm, I am sure someday this will be fixed, but the real killer is , who coded this nightmare? Seriously , standard checksums like this are a given for there are stupid people like me that accidental put crap in the wrong spots or ops! a key on the keyboard, even me a coder, doing this crap for years knows I need it lol.
People rave about the interaction with this company and while I found the CS rep very nice, he was unable to do anything and it had to be escalated to the guys in Texas. Which again, being in this industry I know what that means, lost in the fold till someone "feels" like dealing with it. Basically if they didn't rip controls out of the CS reps hands, they could be done already and had this all fixed.
In the end I am not impressed by just registering the game, the game itself might be different but if this registration is so messed up, I have to wonder who they hired to do the game as well.
PS. Before Trion gets their panties in a bunch, your cs rep didn't tell me anything other then he doesn't have access to do a,b,c.. i put the rest together as again "been there done that", how about hiring a coder out to fix your database and interface structure. That's a keen idea indeed, sad thou launch day is tomorrow, wonder how many more will OPS! and then be stuck in limbo with info sitting in no mans land being ready to be charged.
Ok now you can all rant at me how I know nothing about CS or coding, alas this is just something maybe just maybe someone with some pull at Trion will see and say "that's really happening?" ... yea it really is.
edit: Moral of this story.... "don't screw up on your rejistration"
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Comments
I read it all, but I don't understand what happened. The system allowed you to create an account name with your email address as ????.coim, because the registration page didn't properly enforce the confirmation of the email address? If so, then the silly question is, why aren't you able to log in using ????.coim as your user name?
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That's the killer you can't, you can rejister with the .coim IE 4 characters, you can log back into the account and the only thing that comes up is "resend your verification email" talking with the rep, it seems your "not suppose too" be able to go past the email till you verify your account. So how I did that the first time stumps even him. Top that off again I was able to continue rejistration without even knowing the error. Then when you rejister you got two boxes, the email and verify email, I did a test and you can make those different , system doesn't even error them out. So ya, bad coding indeed.
So eh I am not playing atm, not like I had the time, my issue wouldn't be so big to me "IF" I didn't have my CC info already submited under this mistaken email account. As I told the CS rep, my worry now is , this email he sent to the guys in texas, will as most emails do, get lost in the fold if someone doesn't know what to do, (because in most cases if a system is not in place most guys don't know what to do and hold onto the email till they have a meeting etc) that my info could be charged prior to this fix. Now mind you that's a month down the road and I hope it isn't that bad there, but so far the signs haven't been good.
My whole shock in the matter beyond my cc is the poor coding on the interface with no checksum's , that's pretty sad sense it really is basic interface structures now adays.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Thats true with many other sites they all also mantain login even when you have not verified your account (battlenet, aoc, ea etc), only very few i remember actually you logged you off and forced you to log back in once you verified your email.
Indeed, but most will not allow you to register an invalid email extension like .coim.
REALITY CHECK
Yeah thats true he OP should make a post about it in official forums. Devs do frequent there.
I'm a web developer of 15 years myself, and honestly if that happened i'm surprised at Trion, because everything else they have done has been great. But they have also shown fantastic CS in general, especially on Facebook. I'd follow up some more man, because I seriously doubt that they won't sort it out for you.
You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks
~ WC
I am suprised as well , really being my main point here, if it again wasn't for my CC being on the bogus rejistration I really wouldn't care and wait out the issue. Sadly no reply yet after a few days and calling daily. So eh, I see this as one of those things where it will get lost in the fold.
I had to repeat my statement to the cs rep a few times till he actually understood what had happened then was as shocked as I was that it "could" actually happen. With the game opening live tomorow it will undoubtly rear it's ugly head yet again to then probably yet push my ticket even further into the pit of nothingness.
I even got another email from the same cs rep today (after talking with him again), which I told him, "You relize the last ticket response I got from you went to closed status right?" he responded "Did it? Hmm well I had to esculate this is the only way to do it.."
So in that, I can tell already that the CS system they have in place is not complete nor well thought out, if a ticket goes to closed status with only esculations going to email directs, the "issue que" looks great! So to the bosses everything is fine and dandee! Even their auto response times on their telecommunication system repeats "Your que wait time is 1 min" no matter when you call or how long you wait, As I waited 20min in a "your que time is 1min". So whomever is covering their own butt over there will soon loose the job once an upper gets wind of whats going down in the lower chain of command per say.
Sad really, but eh , shall see, I will follow up daily to see if any progress is made...
Again moral of the story : Don't screw up your rejistration!
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
I had a similar issues with Runes of Magic when it first came out, the registration process was terrible. Leaves a bad impression on users, especially older adults like myself who aren't so excited by the game to blindly put up with whatever nonsense is thrown my way. Issues like these can and do drive off the mature "paying" crowd. If the registration process is jacked up, what else is jacked up? If customer service can't fix my minor type "o" then who can and will? How many hands will touch my sensitive data?
Part of me says, meh, just a bug, the other part says its a bug that is customer facing, registry, invoicing, and collections should be gone through with a fine tooth comb, and this type of bug should have been uncovered on day one and resolved.
I totally understand your frustration. You should play League of Legends instead ...
lol you summed it up well TecDragon, thats about it in a nutshell , how many will touch it before it's all said and done, IE CC info. As far as League of Legends goes, yeah I do
EDIT: oh forgot to add, going to other spots to post this is a nill point, if I can't get this resolved threw their customer support vi emails and the phone calls i have been making, then they have a bigger issue then just this.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Well sense I have not recieved any followup after a few calls and emails so far, I fig ok, why not, do what you guys suggested and post on the offical forums with the bogas account info... oh wait, thats right, I can't ! hehe the authenticate account thing keeps coming up.. ok well lets use the other account ... oh wait, I can't .....
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I am boned , hhee, well I have a light side look at this because again, I wasn't all into the idea of playing the game as posted in the original post, but more about the CC then anything. I just find it odd that if you have a problem your only recourse is to goto a cs person that has no actual authority to do anything.
Sad, I think I won't see a resolution here for months, just a gut feeling, with launch and I am sure a ton more issues. when and if it does get resolved (worse comes to worse cancel my card in 25 more days) and contact the retailer to get a refund and be done with it. Can't say I am impressed with any customer service so far thou or a means to get it resolved.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
update:
Well there might be help after all, turns out a dev here "rather remain nameless" might be able to help out , if that is the case kudos. As myself, I rather not be identified for what I work on, but it is good at least someone understands how this should be looked into asap. Sad I had to post here to get that information to the right people, but eh, devs learn one way or another, glad this possibly might work out.
I will follow up later with results and thank you trion employee, we shall see what becomes of the results.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
*sigh....
8 email exchanges, 16 phone calls and still not fixed. One thing gets fixed , another goes wrong. Funny in my OP statement, I mentioned that indeed my information would get lost in the fold, no one "knows" what to do and the CS they have in place is a failed system.
I get allot of people have no issues here and many have had good interactions, but I am really failing to see it here. How hard can it be to delete one and activate another? Obviously so hard that no one knows how to do it. Again as a developer myself, it just strikes me how crazy this really is as the issue is such a simple one. Yet, in the eyes of CS and those in charge , it's a dire "how do we fix this" situation.
CS reps are nice and pleasant I will give them that and they are trying, but they "pass the buck" so much , my last call today was.... "ok thnx let me guess you got to escalate it again..." response " yes sorry, there is nothing we can do at this level"...
So for the multiple times I have now have been dealing with this, I get the hand off to some anonymous person who does one thing, sends another automated email that has nothing to do with my problem and basically sums it up as "try it now".
Got me guys, but for me, it has been nothing but a bad experience. At this point I even put in my last email to get my money back if that would be easier for them to do. :P
Eh, this is my last post if things don't change, you can take it as a failed attempt at playing rift and horrible organization by the developers and or management that choose how to organize the CS department. I for one am done if it's not fixed by today, just go to my bank and deal with the cancel card nightmare, then go to the retailer where my buddy got it, explain the situation and see what comes of that.
Sorry Trion, but your CS is fail in a large way and worse part is, it failed worse from the developer who designed your account management system and then failed by the CEO not having over-sight checks to make sure everything was in place.
The game might be really good, but if one can't even pay for it, I say, fail in epic proportions, eh, I might get in and this might actually be resolved by tomorrow. I highly doubt it at this point even more then before. If I do , I will let people here know, if not, well don't worry I won't post anymore about it, because I won't care.
To everyone: just remind your friends etc to register the right information the first time, i am sure the game is great (sounds like it is) but at this point , I care not in anyway, I am just going to make sure my cc is secure.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
I'm a software engineer as well. There are lot of TLDs and suffixes and the list grows constantly. That's why nobody codes for them anymore - it would take too much time and would be too error prone in the case of a change.
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/netwerk/dns/effective_tld_names.dat?raw=1
A good example is ".aero".
I would have done a delayed DNS validation on the back end. Basically, this would query the email address's domain for an MX record. If either the initial query failed or there wasn't an MX record I would have rejected the address. The problem here, of course, is that this can't be done on the client site as it would be too easy to circumvent. By doing it on the server you're requiring a separate form submit - this breaks the flow of the "rejistration" process.
So now we're back to good old pattern matching - which as I already stated is hard to maintain because of the constant influx of TLDs and suffixes. The only real full proof and performant way is to make sure there's at least one "." and the suffix has at least one character.
The regex would be something like w+@w+.w+ but even this wouldn't account for addresses like a@b.co.uk which is perfectly valid.
There's a lot to consider.
Life of an MMORPG "addict"
For 7 years, proving that if you quote "fuck" you won't get banned.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Final Followup:
It got fixed finally, so alas not a bad ending, but a long one to sort out.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
glad everything got cleared up.
Not sure if this will help with your .coim issue, but you are also misspelling "REGISTER" repeatedly.
Trammies need to stop polluting the MMORPG landscape. They already have enough games in which to emote hugs and sell garbage by the banks.
so how long did this whole process take? from the time you first posted to when you said it was fixed was a little over 24 hours. not bad for something as screwed up as you want us to believe. i agree the process should be simplified, the CS should have more power to correct things but if this only took @ 24 hours to rectify it seems a bit silly to even post about. let's hope the thousands of other people with issues dont clog up these boards.
If you were the first person for this to happen through, I wouldn't be surprised it took "this long".
uh yeah thus the reason i said @ 24 which means around 24 hours. if you want to get specific then ill correct my post to say 29 hours and 27 minutes.
24h is not bad seeing as it's launch day... the issue could be solved in 1h though, and i guess could have taken longer if the OP was not so persistent.
It's actually not a complicated issue, but the necessary separation between the frontline people and the second level people makes it take longer than you'd expect it to. You don't want changing account information to be easy, especially if there's credit card information involved. A best practices (and possibly regulations) prevents your frontline people from having that kind of access.
It's not technically tricky, it's the process that's tricky because mmorpg accounts have become a hot target for scammers. The social engineering attack is still one of the most effective ways to get account information. i.e. "Oops, I entered my email address wrong, can you guys change it?". If you listen to what the OP is saying, it would be obvious that this isn't one of those cases, but those time consuming checks are in place just in case it is.
The issue shouldn't have progressed to this point to begin with though. If the email address isn't verified, then entering the game code and credit card information should not have been possible. Charging the credit card should not have happened until that method of communication was confirmed as working. I don't know if it would make the OP feel any better, but they've probably saved future customers the aggravation of going through what they did.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
lol... i bet you forgot that Feb only has 28 days
It's uh... kind of a minor point now that your issue is resolved and all, but you are using the term checksum incorrectly. Checksums have nothing to do with the error. For something as short as an email address (and a function as infrequently used as account registration), they would just perform a straightforward comparison of both strings. There's no reason to compute a checksum for each of the fields and compare those values.
i do have to add, even though the OP seems like a good guy with a legit issue, this thread has a misleading title. he was not denied, only delayed, but a title with 'deny' really shows a possible attempt to bash the company/game. the title is kinda 'troll-baitish', but the post itself not so much.
in all honesty though, i would have ripped my hair out if that happened to me, and not over any fanboism over the game, but just because online paper-work already drives me nuts WITHOUT idiotic mistakes and lack of user friendliness. i usally want to break my moniter anytime i have to re-sign in to youtube, becuase i have three old accounts, and all of them have VERY similar passwords and account names...
anyway. glad you got it cleared up OP. the game is fun if you like the same old, same old mmo design. if not, don't expect much.