you guys need to see this.. holy crap i didnt know that.

mcrippins

Just checked my banking history and was never once charged for anything from Zenimax other than the game itself. Apparently the sky isn't falling where I live.

MamasGun

Originally posted by Jimmy562

Originally posted by archeageking

You guys keep saying its pre authorization thing, but to me its getting realllllly reallly shady. I mean which mmo charges you $14.99+ sales tax in the first free month?

 

Its getting really really shady. Who does that??????????????

Why does it matter when you get the money back? Or in the case of paypal, they cancel the payment when its been authorized so the money never leaves your account.

Because people -most people- work for their money. Now, I'm not saying everyone on this website works for a living- that's crazy thinking.  What I'm saying is it's already enough that people work and don't get their money in hand when they clock out. 

It's kinda messed up that a NEW MMO is putting a hold for the full amount  that should have been given when you purchased the box... you shouldn't have to have an extra 15 dollars in your account (which you will get back, but that's besides the point).

The consumer did their part- they made sure they had the money in their account needed for the box.  That's all some people can budget.  It's really messed up, and everyone saying, "It's not- get over it" are just trolling and would feel the exact same way if they were in the situation (though their pride and some poor choice on their parents behalf will never let them admit it).

I don't think those that haven't played an MMO before have started with ESO.  And if they did, it's not now... that will be when the console version releases.

Can we please leave the stupid "Here's a Wikipage on Account Holds" and "They didn't take it from me so your problem is moot" at the door? At it's best, it's not helpful, at it's worst, it's fail troll logic.

To those that are effected by this- I'm sorry.  It sucks.  I'd say put another forum post on ESO's forum page to let them know you, the one paying for shit, are not happy with what they're doing.  If you don't now, it's only going to get worse from here.  Do you really want ZO only taking advice from some of the idiots that have responded to this topic?

Best of luck, and I hope everyone of you gets what you're looking for.

P.S.- WildStar didn't do this.  I pre-ordered 2 copies and was only charged for the games- and the code to unlock my free month was sent instantly.  Same for all of the people I know that pre-ordered WildStar.  Just saying- not every MMO does this.

fyerwall

Originally posted by Teala

Originally posted by SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Creatorzim

Not at all. They hold the money. Meaning you cant use it. What game has ever done that? None have done this. There is a reason why people are outraged about this, people who have played tons of MMOs. None have ever done this, not a full charge like this one is doing.

Every MMO game I have played has done this.  But the charge is usually $1.  It is something they hold and it looks like a charge if it is a debit card.  From WoW to Rift to recently FFXIV has done this.  

And the issue was fixed within 24 hours, and people are still crying about the past?

That's weird, because I have been playing MMORPG's since before EQ, and I have never seen or heard of this pre-authorization.  Never had any money put on hold from my bank account to verify funds.  Never been charged before the free month was up.   Never had any money taken from my account if the game included the first month of game time free.   So I dunno where it is some of you are getting this info, but it is false.   

 

All MMOs have done this (and I have seen it as I have played at least 95% of them over the last 25 years ). The difference is it is usually a $1 auth that will hold for 1 business day.

It also depends on the bank you use and the billing company the game uses and if there is any form of draft protection on an account. My GF's bank will show the auth for several days where my bank doesn't show an auth hold on anything under $10 due to overdraft protection (my pay is direct deposit which gives me auto protection. I could have $0 in the bank and still spend money as it will just pull from my next sched deposit). ESO showed the auth hold on my GFs account from Sunday night to yesterday. I had no auth hold on my account. No money was withdrawn either.

Just because you may have never heard of or noticed an auth hold or your account does not mean it never happens. So the info is not false. You just might not be as observant.

ohioastro

The pre-authorization is usually invisible to the card holder.  At a gas station, for example, they might put in an order and then remove it after the actual gas bill has come in.  In rare cases the banks take some time to remove those charges, so they show up.  In my case, I never got anything that I noticed - which means that if they did apply a charge they removed it right afterwards.  I don't know about things like game cards - it's entirely possible that they operate via different rules.  But for credit cards the claims that this is some wild exception to the rule are simply not so.

Jadedangel1

Originally posted by SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Jadedangel1

I'm in North America, In NJ, and again, no, I have never had those charges.

If you played those MMOs I mentioned you have.

If you want to believe that then go right ahead. I know that it wasn't the case for me, but if it makes you feel better to think that so be it. 

For the record, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying that just because something was the case for you doesn't mean it's the same case for someone else. And you seem to ignore the points about the amount of the ESO holds, the fact the hold is on for so long, and that some are actually getting charged instead of just pre-auth not being the norm, to say that people just not understand how credit cards work. *sigh* it's one thing to be a an of the fan, bad quite another to ignore issues just because you are a an of the game.

SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Jadedangel1

If you want to believe that then go right ahead. I know that it wasn't the case for me, but if it makes you feel better to think that so be it. 

For the record, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying that just because something was the case for you doesn't mean it's the same case for someone else. And you seem to ignore the points about the amount of the ESO holds, the fact the hold is on for so long, and that some are actually getting charged instead of just pre-auth not being the norm, to say that people just not understand how credit cards work. *sigh* it's one thing to be a an of the fan, bad quite another to ignore issues just because you are a an of the game.

You are trying to twist the issue into something else.  I don't agree with it being $15 dollars.  My only point was it was and and is always done.  If a MMO company makes you put your CC in, there is a check to see if the CC is valid.  You might not see it all the time depend on where you view it from but it happens.

The only way you would get "charged" is if it is a debit card.  That charge is also reversed.  So you are adding to the QQ by what you think happened to other people.

Manasong

Originally posted by Teala

Originally posted by SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Teala

Right...I am calling BS on this.   First, if this was something that ever occurred with other games in the past, we'd have seen post like this one long before this.  ESO is the first game to do something like this that I can ever recall, which explains why this topic is only just now an issue.   If not, please go back through the post history of previous games and shows us where a game company even did anything with your credit card or debit card prior to your free month being up? 

Are you being serious?  WoW did it, Rift did it, FFXIV recently did it, Aion did it. All games have done it.  It is usually 1 dollar so no one cries about it.

Right...show us that these games did it.   I can just do what you just did and claim it as a fact.  Show us the post where this has happened in previous games.  Otherwise it is BS.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8518532198

There, 2 minutes searching for "world warcraft authorization fee", you can find more if you are not convinced, we don't need to give you more proof.

Authoziation fee for WoW is 1dollar. Authorization fee for ESO is 14.99, thats the only difference and everyone is going nuts over it (not saying anyone is right or wrong).

EDIT: If you can't afford the authorization hold CALL CUSTOMER SUPPORT. They said they will look into cases like this.

Jadedangel1

Originally posted by SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Jadedangel1

If you want to believe that then go right ahead. I know that it wasn't the case for me, but if it makes you feel better to think that so be it. 

For the record, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying that just because something was the case for you doesn't mean it's the same case for someone else. And you seem to ignore the points about the amount of the ESO holds, the fact the hold is on for so long, and that some are actually getting charged instead of just pre-auth not being the norm, to say that people just not understand how credit cards work. *sigh* it's one thing to be a an of the fan, bad quite another to ignore issues just because you are a an of the game.

You are trying to twist the issue into something else.  I don't agree with it being $15 dollars.  My only point was it was and and is always done.  If a MMO company makes you put your CC in, there is a check to see if the CC is valid.  You might not see it all the time depend on where you view it from but it happens.

The only way you would get "charged" is if it is a debit card.  That charge is also reversed.  So you are adding to the QQ by what you think happened to other people.

Twisting what? That is what the thread is about.

adding to QQ how? Never mind, don't even bother to answer that. It's obvious to me by that statement that you didn't even bother to read the actual complaint thread, and instead is just arguing blindly as a fan of the game. And again, I don't get charged all the time like that. If you do, fine. There's no point in me arguing with you over it, since there's no way to prove it to you. There's no point in going back and forth. So I'm done.

DocBrody

Originally posted by Celdryn
Sucks to see so many people having trouble with this. Oddly enough, I didn't get even a pre-auth on my account that I was aware. 

another astonishing similiarity to SWTOR. Reminds me of the lost cancel subscription button which was accidentially missing for a while..

SoMuchMass

Originally posted by Jadedangel1

adding to QQ how? Never mind, don't even bother to answer that. It's obvious to me by that statement that you didn't even bother to read the actual complaint thread, and instead is just arguing blindly as a fan of the game. And again, I don't get charged all the time like that. If you do, fine. There's no point in me arguing with you over it, since there's no way to prove it to you. There's no point in going back and forth. So I'm done.

If you want to use that argument, I can just say you are a hater of the game and are making things up.  No need for that.

FlyByKnight

I've seen companies bill 1 cent to a dollar for authorization.  I've never seen a full charge as an authorization before. Companies usually do the .01 to 1.00 so they have less chance of causing customers overdrafts or other issues on their respective accounts.

 

The terms of service for Elder Scrolls Online is some scumbag shit though. I'm gonna play through, but if I feel like I need to cancel and they try to bill me for the following month. I will do a charge back and never touch a Bethesda/Zenimax title again.

Tolmos

This doesn't appear to be happening with Paypal. That's the payment method I chose, and I do not see a $15 payment authorization charge on my account.

I do, however, see the $15 charge to our credit card for another account in the house. So I can confirm they are pre-charging and leaving it as a temp charge for the full first month.

I've been playing MMOs since 1997 and this is the first I've seen a full month sit there as a temp authorization during the first 30 days of a game (and I've played at over a dozen of the MMOs high on this site's hype list). I've seen, at most, a $0.01-$1.00 charge for a day or two and then it went away.

How weird. Kinda shady lol

Tolmos

Originally posted by FlyByKnight

I've seen companies bill 1 cent to a dollar for authorization.  I've never seen a full charge as an authorization before. Companies usually do the .01 to 1.00 so they have less chance of causing customers overdrafts or other issues on their respective accounts.

 

The terms of service for Elder Scrolls Online is some scumbag shit though. I'm gonna play through, but if I feel like I need to cancel and they try to bill me for the following month. I will do a charge back and never touch a Bethesda/Zenimax title again.

As an experiment, I might do the same. If they don't auto-bill me the $15 for next month, I'll resubscribe and go on my way content that they aren't some sleezy company after all.

Distopia

The official word on it from ZOS https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7830/session/L3RpbWUvMTM5NzA4Njg4NS9zaWQvckZsR3JvUmw%3D

Why is a subscription charge showing up on my billing statement before the end of the 30 day trial?

Updated 04/08/2014 02:46 PM          Published 04/03/2014 09:37 PM

For credit cards, debit cards and PayPal there is no charge made until after your included 30 days of game time has expired. For these payment methods, there is an authorization check performed to ensure the payment method is valid. You may see a temporary account authorization hold put on funds in your account while the verification completes. Usually this authorization hold lasts a short period of time before being removed. The duration of this hold can vary from bank to bank.

Please note – an Authorization Hold is not a charge to your account. It is a routine temporary hold to help protect our community from acts of fraud.

 Authorization Check is Immediate

• Visa Credit Card
• MasterCard Credit
• Paypal
• Prepaid Credit Cards
• (American Express CC & Amex Prepaid can take 3-7 days)
• Debit Cards

Players using Webmoney, ideal, PaySafeCard, or Giropay to set up their subscription plan will see the entire charge applied against their account immediately and the acquired game time will be activated after the initial 30 Days of free game time has run out.

Billed/Applied immediately

FlyByKnight

Originally posted by Tolmos

This doesn't appear to be happening with Paypal. That's the payment method I chose, and I do not see a $15 payment authorization charge on my account.

I do, however, see the $15 charge to our credit card for another account in the house. So I can confirm they are pre-charging and leaving it as a temp charge for the full first month.

I've been playing MMOs since 1997 and this is the first I've seen a full month sit there as a temp authorization during the first 30 days of a game (and I've played at over a dozen of the MMOs high on this site's hype list). I've seen, at most, a $0.01-$1.00 charge for a day or two and then it went away.

How weird. Kinda shady lol

I used Paypal and I can confirm they did in fact do this. Shady.