Mythic Entertainment has confirmed that a billing error is responsible for earlier reports on the official WAR forums that users were being charged multiple times for their subscriptions, with some players reporting that they were charged as much as $500! Mythic has posted an announcement on the WAR Herald assuring players who have experienced this error that the erroneous charges should be reversed within the next 24-36 hours.
(http://images.mmorpg.com/images/newsImages/152010//warbilling1.jpg)
Link to inital thread: http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=p2psupport&thread.id=15916&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
Pretty funny would be major pissed if it was me, just one thing after another with WAR.
Yikes!
I wonder how Mythic Entertainment plans on dealing with all of the resulting "Overdraft" fees their customers are going to have to pay for. :-\
Quote from: nCogNeato on April 09, 2010, 04:17:35 PM
Yikes!
I wonder how Mythic Entertainment plans on dealing with all of the resulting "Overdraft" fees their customers are going to have to pay for. :-\
My guess? "Sorry guys! 1 Month free game time!"
* Please begin by contacting your financial institution and explain to them that you were incorrectly charged multiple times and, as a result, over drafted. Most financial institutions will reverse these charges
* If your financial institution is unable to remove these charges, you may contact our billing department by calling 650-628-1001 during our hours of operation, which are 10:00 AM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT, 7 days a week. Please have the phone and fax number of your financial institution ready when you call.
Quote from: Maibs on April 09, 2010, 06:45:47 PM
* Please begin by contacting your financial institution and explain to them that you were incorrectly charged multiple times and, as a result, over drafted. Most financial institutions will reverse these charges
* If your financial institution is unable to remove these charges, you may contact our billing department by calling 650-628-1001 during our hours of operation, which are 10:00 AM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT, 7 days a week. Please have the phone and fax number of your financial institution ready when you call.
That's good. At least they're taking responsibility enough to intervene with the banks personally.
+5 karma points for Mythic Entertainment.
Executive Producer's Letter - An Apology
Jeff Hickman | From the Dev Team | 04/21/2010 @ 10:02:19 EST
Hello everyone,
Two weeks ago, a serious event occurred which resulted in the unintended billing of some of our customers. For this and any difficulties the event caused, we are truly sorry and today we wish to explain what happened, and to make a renewed commitment to your trust and security. We have taken this very seriously. In our 15 year history, trust has been the foundation of our relationship with the gaming community and we intend to rebuild that trust.
Between March 18 and April 7, our payment gateway, experienced a processing flaw that was beyond the scope of our control. Instead of being submitted for processing once, some transactions were submitted multiple times, resulting in some people being charged multiple times. On April 8, we determined what had happened and acted with urgency to arrange for bulk reversal of all erroneous charges. The majority of players saw the refund within 2-3 business days. Some banks did not post refunds until a few days later, a delay that was contingent on the banking institution. We worked quickly to inform affected players of the situation and understand the frustration this waiting period may have caused.
As a result of this event, we significantly increased customer service staffing who have been working with all impacted subscribers to waive any overdraft fees. The majority of the banks have waived these fees as they recognize the unusual nature of this event. In the rare cases that the banks have not reversed the charges, EA is covering the fee.
Once the corrective action was completed, we turned our attention to analyzing the problem in more detail. We determined the root cause, developed a definitive fix and implemented monitoring precautions that will allow us to prevent similar situations from reoccurring. These steps have been in place since April 13 with no further issues.
To be clear, at no point during this event was there a security breach or was subscriber account information compromised.
As of today, we believe we have resolved the issue. However, we remain committed to assisting anyone who has been financially affected in ways we are not aware. For any players still in need of assistance, please contact our Billing Support department by calling 650-628-1001 from 10:00 AM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT, 7 days a week. For those outside of the U.S. who do not wish to make an international call, please create an in-game appeal; for instructions on how to file an appeal click here.
Over the past 15 years we have always strived to do what's best for our players. We are truly sorry, and want to work to make things right and restore our relationship. We hope you will accept this small token of our appreciation for your continued commitment to our games:
For starters all players will earn 100% bonus experience and renown when killing enemies and monsters for two weeks. As well, during this time we'll be hard at work designing and implementing a special vendor. This vendor will only accept special tokens that will be sent to the mailbox of players effected by the billing error, using these two tokens each of your characters will be able to receive two of the following items:
* Bottomless Chaos Black Dye
* Bottomless Skull White Dye
* Imperial Griffon Mount (Order)
* Enslaved Manticore Mount (Destruction)
* WAR Tract – earn a free level
* Choose from any of these pets – Order: Imperial Hunting Hound or Dwarf Keg Handler; Destruction: Warlord's Fell Hound or the Goblin Bar-Back.
* Change your appearance with any of these illusion items: Skaven Skin Cloak (skaven), Kossar's Helm (bear), or the Signet of the Cursed Company (skeleton)
Please accept this gesture as a step towards rebuilding our relationship. From all of us at Mythic, we thank you for your time, your commitment, and your trust that helps us to make great games year after year.
Thank you,
Jeff Hickman
Studio Executive Producer, Mythic Entertainment
Community Team Edit - Clarified that only players effected by the billing error would receive token rewards.
Quote from: Maibs on April 22, 2010, 06:13:01 PM
Community Team Edit - Clarified that only players effected by the billing error would receive token rewards.
The hardcore players (... which is everyone playing an MMO ;)) are not going to like this.
Advantageous gameplay bonuses for a select few is surely going to piss off the players that don't get it, despite the fact they didn't have to suffer the billing fiasco.
Quote from: nCogNeato on April 22, 2010, 07:12:28 PM
Quote from: Maibs on April 22, 2010, 06:13:01 PM
Community Team Edit - Clarified that only players effected by the billing error would receive token rewards.
The hardcore players (... which is everyone playing an MMO ;)) are not going to like this.
Advantageous gameplay bonuses for a select few is surely going to piss off the players that don't get it, despite the fact they didn't have to suffer the billing fiasco.
The funny thing is, two of the rewards * Imperial Griffon Mount (Order)* Enslaved Manticore Mount (Destruction) are rewards from other reward programes, from collecters edition and from refer friends to the game who subscribe.
Actually quite surprised at the reaction from the WAR/Mythic community, seems to be a fair about of praise/support from people that were wrongly billed, and from people who werent.
If the community is happy, Mythic must be doing it right.
Mazel tov!