NCsoft and CoH, a real bad experience.

Umbrood · July 2005

Went to their site to actually buy the game when I stumbled upon a free trial thingy, thought I might as well do that first.

Bad misstake.

Went trough all that signup work only to be sent an expired key, after some research I am told, here btw, that the trial is over.

What company who claims to be serious do something like that?

What bugs me the most is all personal info they have probably allready sold, ( judging from their bussiness practice ).

I do not really know if CoH is good or not and now I will never know, cause not only am I reluctant to give my VISA to someone like that, how will they treat me in other regards? I could use gamecards but that would not change my disstrust for them.

Sad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.

bverji · July 2005

While I don't like the direction that COH has taken and think your fortunate to not have done the free trial because the game is going through huge changes (so it wouldn't of been a test of you would of liked the new game) I'd say NCsoft is the most respectable MMOG company I have done buisiness with. That being said they aren't perfect I am sure this instance was simply an over sight.

Umbrood · July 2005

Judging from others over at CoH forums here I am not alone though, seems the thing have been brought up on official forums to, wich kinda makes me think it was not an oversight.

Regardless of the reason I do think they will be hard pressed to convince me to become a customer in any of their games tough.

Razorback · July 2005

Like too many MMO's CoH (for me at least) had its best days in the first 3 months. Things were pretty open and loose and lots of fun was had. Then the inevitable nerf bat came down with the usual force and the fun went on holiday to a small greek island near Lesbos.

I agree that NCSoft is one of the better of the gaming companies around right now and I cant comment on your experience. All I can say is I had a lot of fun with CoH, but it gets old faster than WoW (which is hard to believe), so your not missing much....imho

Zuran · July 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood

Went to their site to actually buy the game when I stumbled upon a free trial thingy, thought I might as well do that first.
Bad misstake.
Went trough all that signup work only to be sent an expired key, after some research I am told, here btw, that the trial is over.
What company who claims to be serious do something like that?
What bugs me the most is all personal info they have probably allready sold, ( judging from their bussiness practice ).
I do not really know if CoH is good or not and now I will never know, cause not only am I reluctant to give my VISA to someone like that, how will they treat me in other regards? I could use gamecards but that would not change my disstrust for them.
Sad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.

NCSoft is a pretty respectable company in the MMORPG market. I doubt they would sell and of your personal info.

ianubisi · July 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood

Sad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.

Did you bother to contact the company to let them know your experience?

Anofalye · July 2005

It is ''an honest mistake''. Dont be afraid.

Group uberness belonging to Hamidon hunter is unacceptable, anyone saying otherwise is abusing a lame feature in a game, doing an unworthy action any clown can do and waste time not enjoying the game.

The designers at Cryptic made the same mistake SoE did, just less bad then SoE did it. WoW do the same mistake as well, and so on the list is very long. Folks could argue that if everyone does it, it is no mistake. But I remember images of african deer running in the middle of alligators, the fact every deer does that stupid run dont make it any less a mistake.

But well, Cryptic does this mistake to much less extend then competitor. They nerf soloing endlessly...anyway, I am out of CoH and dont plan going back, maybe will try CoV...maybe not.

DDO is what keep my interest for now. Raiding wont even be possible in DDO, acceptable. Althought raiding could be a distinct activity and have no link whatsoever to grouping or soloing in anyway unless trivial, and that would be even better. No raiding or no need to raid are both equally acceptable to me.

Umbrood · July 2005

Originally posted by ianubisi

Originally posted by Umbrood

Sad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.

Did you bother to contact the company to let them know your experience?

No I did not, this happened just now, and I am told the trial is down from others who this happened to.

If they cant be bothered to pull down that trial page even though it is no longer available I am not gonna bother trying to contact them about it, and from what I feel that would be yet another exercise in vain.

To bad really if Ncsoft is indeed one the few good companies left as I am hearing here.

Rarely do you get a second chance for a first impression.

Scorpes · July 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood

Went to their site to actually buy the game when I stumbled upon a free trial thingy, thought I might as well do that first.
Bad misstake.
Went trough all that signup work only to be sent an expired key, after some research I am told, here btw, that the trial is over.
What company who claims to be serious do something like that?
What bugs me the most is all personal info they have probably allready sold, ( judging from their bussiness practice ).
I do not really know if CoH is good or not and now I will never know, cause not only am I reluctant to give my VISA to someone like that, how will they treat me in other regards? I could use gamecards but that would not change my disstrust for them.
Sad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.

You know, it is also your responsibility to look at what date the trial is active. The registration process should have been restricted once the trial service is up to date. Fault lies with both parties involved. As for NCsoft being company to stay away from on account of one little incident such as this is ridiculous. Sounds like a temper tantrum because you didnt get to play for "free"

spookytooth · July 2005

so many of these companies do things that are really shitty.....but forgetting to update their webpage isnt even a blip on the radar.

sounds like a whole lotta nothin'

ianubisi · July 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood
Originally posted by ianubisi Originally posted by UmbroodSad excuse for a company, stay away is my advice.Did you bother to contact the company to let them know your experience?No I did not, this happened just now, and I am told the trial is down from others who this happened to.
If they cant be bothered to pull down that trial page even though it is no longer available I am not gonna bother trying to contact them about it, and from what I feel that would be yet another exercise in vain.
To bad really if Ncsoft is indeed one the few good companies left as I am hearing here.
Rarely do you get a second chance for a first impression.

Before you cry foul I highly suggest you give the company a chance to rectify its troubles. If they tell you to get stuffed then feel free to come here and elsewhere and abuse them for their cold shoulder. Lacking that you are coming off as a spoiled consumer who is throwing a fit because the free goodies ran out.

bverji · July 2005

yea spooky I have to agree with you...with all the crap I have gone through with MMOG producers an oversight like not updating their page is nothing...like I said it was an oversight.

Umbrood · July 2005

Originally posted by Scorpes

You know, it is also your responsibility to look at what date the trial is active. The registration process should have been restricted once the trial service is up to date. Fault lies with both parties involved. As for NCsoft being company to stay away from on account of one little incident such as this is ridiculous. Sounds like a temper tantrum because you didnt get to play for "free"

Of course its a tantrum, I am, or at least was, mad as hell.

Furthermore I did not go there to look for a free trial, i went there to buy the thing.

And there was no date mentioned anywere obviously or I would have stopped all that filling out forms and whatnot. Regardless, why even look for one when the offer is there right now?

Ridiculous to you maybe, but I for one do not like to give out all my personal info for no reason at all, including adress and phonenumber. If you are so casious you look for expire dates when there is little to no chance there being one then how can you be ok with that?

Especially if it bums out, my first impression is of course that the info is going to be used for something and they never had any other intentions other then to get hold of it.

Lanmoragon · July 2005

I have been subscribing to NC Soft games for about a year now, and can safely say that I have never recieved any influx of spam mail or that such from giving my information to them. It is most likely just a little slip up, somebody forgot to take the link down or something.

I know you might not like having given your info away for nothing. Contact customer service and tell them about it; have never had a problem with NC Soft customer service.

Umbrood · July 2005

Originally posted by ianubisi

Before you cry foul I highly suggest you give the company a chance to rectify its troubles. If they tell you to get stuffed then feel free to come here and elsewhere and abuse them for their cold shoulder. Lacking that you are coming off as a spoiled consumer who is throwing a fit because the free goodies ran out.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/450/loadthread/44543/setstart/1/loadclass/143

And they didnt run out, they never arrived.

And I wasnt even looking for a free ride when I came there, who in their right mind would turn it down though if they were going to play in any case?

And who on earth bothers to try to contact any of these companies for an answer to anything, it is all but impossible even if you are a paying customer. Especially after an incident like this were I wouldnt expect them to piss on me if I were on fire.

But, to prove my point I did indeed send them a letter, a nice one at that, odds of me getting a reply?

ianubisi · July 2005

Originally posted by Umbrood
And who on earth bothers to try to contact any of these companies for an answer to anything, it is all but impossible even if you are a paying customer. Especially after an incident like this were I wouldnt expect them to piss on me if I were on fire.

Many, many people try to seek a resolution to their problems in cooperation with the other party before they start abusing the other party for their sins. That's the responsible thing to do.

Now, if they do "piss on [you as] if [you] were on fire" then you have ample reason to lash them heavily. Even better, you'll have evidence in the form of an email to justify your anger. Even a lack of response is justifiable, though in this particular case I suggest you are expressing anger over a paltry offense.

Here's the thing about people in conflict: give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves. You really can't lose by trying to seek redress. The worst they can do is tell you to get stuffed, and then you'll have a stick to beat them with (and rightfully so). They may ignore you, which is certainly possible and represents a lost opportunity on their part. They may also help you in some way, which would make you quite happy (I would hope). And what's lost on your part? The 30 seconds it takes to type the email? You've spent more time bitching about it here.

Umbrood · July 2005

Originally posted by ianubisi

Here's the thing about people in conflict: give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves.

Well put, and a proverb I generally try to live by, and I usually have the patience and cool to see it happen.

But with MMO companies I have come to believe in another proverb:

"The line must be drawn here, this far, no further"

So, I vote with my wallet, the only way really that matters to make my voice heard.

As Fierce as the MMO industry is right now I have yet to see any AD that says, "great cutomer service".

Is it because people in general do not care or that they do not care? This of course not only in respect to NCsoft and this incident but in general.

I have purchased and played 9 MMO's this far and in only 2 cases, namely Anarchy Online and Everquest2 did I feel like I was treated like a real customer, much like I would expect to be treated if I went out and purchased a TV or Computer.

In most regards customer service, or customer care, is abysmal.

Well Ncsoft will not be the publisher of my 10th.

hornplayer · July 2005

I can understand your reluctance to do business with a company that you feel has misrepresented themselves to you. And I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong to choose not to do business with them. That is certainly your right, as it is your money.

However, I am of the opinion that a slip up that can be explained pretty easily is not always a deal breaker. It is very simple to update a website, and to cut a link. However, the bureaucracy of a company makes this process much more difficult. And generally the person whose responsibility it finally is to make the change is getting paid about 7 dollars an hour and doesn't really care about what happens with the company.

That being said, I will agree with you that customer service has gone the way of the dodo. However, this is not only true of the MMORPG market. This seems to be the trend of business in general of late. Were I you, I would probably give NCsoft a try. Heck, they already have your personal information. Admittedly, you would also be giving them your credit card number, but fortunately, banks seem to be one of the few companies who still believe in standing up for their customers, so the risk is only but so great.

All in all, like I said earlier, it's your choice. However, I feel that it's difficult to let something minor like what is basically an expired link be a deal breaking occurence for me.

Hibame · July 2005

From my point of view it seems to me like you never really wanted to play the game you just wanted another object to bitch about. You have had several people tell you that plaync is one of the better companies in the mmo market but yet you seem persistent to anything other then bitch your fucking mouth. If you want something to change you must act. Plaync is one of the few companies that listen closely to the community that they have because they have a lot of unique games that dont appeal to the masses like world of warcraft and such but still have enough players to make a good profit. I just went to the site, and I am guessing the reason that they didnt remove it is because it was a news post. Which might I add isnt even on the first page of the news archives anymore so you had to do some digging to get it. Another thing is that the free keys did arrive and I know this because I got one in my e-mail 6 hours after I requested one (this was not recent mind you). So in my eyes youre just a lazy consumer who demands everything be given to them upfront and if anything displeases you the company is immediately evil and should never sell games again.

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NCsoft and CoH, a real bad experience.

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NCsoft and CoH, a real bad experience.

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