108014-customer-service

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Hi! In the beginning of July I set out on a journey through Carbine's Customer Services and my experience was so horrific that I would like to share it with all of you. Now before I tell this story I would like to point out that I have nearly 10 years of experience as a Customer Service Agent and never in my professional life have I witnessed something so shallow as the customer service that is provided on behalf of Carbine and Wildstar.
 
Please note that some of the information in the monologue/dialogue has been left out to protect the identity of myself and the customer service agents.
 
Everything started 2nd of July when I logged onto Wildstar only to find myself standing in a part of Illium that I rarely venture to. Slightly confused I made my way over to the bank only to find out that my bank was empty. A moment of clarity occurred and the reason for my empty bank became painfully obvious: My account had been compromised and I had been robbed of nearly everything I had. They had cleared out my bank, my bags, my tradeskill bag and even our Guild Bank. I looked through the Guild Log in disbelief as comments from fellow guild members were rushing through the Guild Chat.
 
I realized that my account was still compromised so I logged out and changed the password to my Wildstar account and my mail accounts. Once the account had been secured I submitted the following ticket to Customer Services:
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July 02, 16:26Hi, it appears that my account has been hacked. My currency is all gone, my bags, bank and guild bank has been emptied out. Needless to say, I am beyond embarrassed about this whole thing and I need some serious assistance quick. I would like all of the items restored, both my own and my guild's.As a future precaution I have changed my account password and I am looking into your authenticators.Please get in touch soon.
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Wow, it would be funny, if it wouldn't be that sad...
 
"The devs are listening!" is what I heard and read many many times when I followed this game during development and after release. I thought that this phrase would also be true for their customer support, but I was so wrong. For me, the customer "support" is the worst I have ever experienced in any game and is totally useless most of the time. As in your case, if I have a specific problem, no one ever seems to read my text properly. I have also submitted more than 500 bugs ingame... I wonder who will ever really read them.	
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			Oh don't tell me you never had co-workers in your years as CS that were more than a little helpless and you felt sorry for any customer that dropped in their lap?	
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Oh don't tell me you never had co-workers in your years as CS that were more than a little helpless and you felt sorry for any customer that dropped in their lap?
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f33dback,
 
I completely agree with your point and I'd like to bump this thread as I've also had to deal with the HORRIBLE customer support by this company.
 
I recently lost three expensive fabkits and asked for a simple item restoration (they were accidently deleted off my plot, TL;DR version I didn't know trying to rearrange them would do that) .
 
So after being very specific about what I lost, this is what I got:
 
Greetings, XXXXX!
There are a few things we can try to correct your UI issue.
You can check to see if there is an issue with the Addons. To get here, hit [ESC] and select Addons on the left side of the Options screen. This will show you a list of addons that are currently running. By default this list is sorted by status. Any UI elements that have experienced errors will be listed at the top.
A red dot indicates that an error has caused the addon to shut down. A yellow dot indicates it is running but has experienced an error. If you see any addons in those states, hit the Reload UI button on the bottom right of the screen to reload the UI.
If you see a white dot next to the Addon this would indicate the Addon is not enabled, or off. If the Addon you are having trouble with is in this state, select the addon and click ""Change load rules"" at the bottom of the window. In the new window that appears select ""Load Addon"" and close the window. Once you have changed the rule for the addon click on ""Reload UI"".
If the above does not correct the issue, you can try to reset the settings of your game entirely by deleting the settings folder for WildStar. This can be found by typing ""%appdata%"" in an explore window. When the list of folders is provided, open the NCSOFT folder then delete the ""WildStar"" folder listed here. Once this is done, the next time you log into WildStar all the default settings will be restored.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.
Cheers,
ClarckWildStar Support Team
  *
Obviously this had jack #$@*cake to do with my issue.  I pressed again for help and this is what I got.
 
Think of the way housing plugs currently work like building on your property in real life. If you renovate your property (change your housing plug), you are going to lose the property improvements that you have invested in because of the remodels you decided to do afterwards.
We've taken your feedback about how this works, and in the words of the Devs (who we swear do read the forums!), we're working on a solution to improve the overall remodel system so housing fanatics can switch more freely between options they have purchased.
If you've got additional feedback on this or other issues, the best place to get your feedback heard by the Devs is on the forums. There is one called “General Discussion,” which I've linked for you below:
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/forum/102-general-discussion/
Regards,
JCWildStar Support Team
*
In case no one knew, we're playing a video game.  This isn't real life, and it's not a real house. It's like they don't give two craps about us.  I once again tried to get help.  Got nothing. A simple item restoration.  It's mind boggling. 
Wildstar CS:  	
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As an experiment, i asked them a question.  What's the deal with Eldan Timber.
 
The first response was basically "Huh?"
 
The second included the sentence "We are not able to provide details on how the game will work."  Apparently their customer service is not yet aware that Wildstar launched a bit ago?  They also directed me to post suggestions on the forum, as they cannot distinguish between a question and a suggestion.
 
So I tossed in a SECOND ticket, with a bit more snark, and got a REAL response that wasn't obvious copy-paste!  AMAZING!  He complained that the support team doesn't know whys, and to /bug things, and THEN gave the real response that it was a QA known issue.  Which might even be true.
 
 
So yeah.  People answering support tickets are doing so without any ability to affect the game at all.  You're talking to a guy in a cubicle somewhere who probably has never PLAYED Wildstar.	
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*sigh* having worked in CS for quite some time, I just have to say it, and I apologise for being that guy... but you honestly post this as if CS was at fault for your lack of security?
 
You got your account hacked, not CS. The importance of using 2-step was made quite clear. While I absolutely sympathize with you OP, most other MMO's would simply hit your account with a perma-ban and move on. I won't actually defend NCSoft's CS, because on the whole it is on par with most east asian CS setups (I.E. nothing to call home about). But the policies for account security, account compromization, and item restoration are laid out fairly explicitly in the ToS and in media hosted on various W* sites.
 
And as much as I hate supporting NCSoft's laughable CS.... What did you honestly expect? I worked as CS for a few firms back in the day, lets use an example from X home-insurance.
 
You call me after your basement floods. I give you the pleasant yip-yap and send an adjuster out to investigate. Turns out your policy doesn't cover floods, and the source of the problem was indeed a flood event (and not a burst pipe or similar situation). I regretfully inform you that your policy doesn't cover your damages, and you should seek assistance elsewhere. as much as I want to help, policy is what it is.
 
In your situation, you weren't perma-banned, you were at least able to recieve some level of item restoration (even though it wasn't everything you lost) and you got back in the game fairly quickly (a few days it seems). 
TBH I wish the CS response in FFXI and SWTOR was that awesome. When a close friend got their XI account hacked, CS said sorry, but you are SOL, and perma banned the compromised account. SWTOR did the same thing a while back (when it was still solely sub based). 
 
I know it bites, but you got your account still, and you got some of your plat/ items back. Learn from it and move on. with 2-step your account should be fine from now on. Best of luck in game and I hope this doesn't shake your stride too much.
 
Best,
Naz	
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			You got hacked. You should have known better. Be thankful you can still play, they gave you some of the crap back that was lost due to your negligence and you even got some game time back from it. I think they gave enough and more.	
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Wow, it would be funny, if it wouldn't be that sad...
 
"The devs are listening!" is what I heard and read many many times when I followed this game during development and after release. I thought that this phrase would also be true for their customer support, but I was so wrong. For me, the customer "support" is the worst I have ever experienced in any game and is totally useless most of the time. As in your case, if I have a specific problem, no one ever seems to read my text properly. I have also submitted more than 500 bugs ingame... I wonder who will ever really read them.
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I don't feel like this game will survive people's need to feel like their concerns are cared about.  Even if this game is fun to play, who of us here wants to go through another Sony/SWG experience again? 
 
Hate on WoW all you want, but at least if something happens you know they'll take care of you on this fundamental level.
 
I recently listened to the new music for WoD on mmo-champ. It's inspiring and I felt the call of warcraft.
 
Wildstar better do something in the next few months if they expect me to stay.  If credd wasn't in this game, I probably wouldn't continue my sub.  Virtual currency sure, real money - nope.	
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f33dback,
 
I completely agree with your point and I'd like to bump this thread as I've also had to deal with the HORRIBLE customer support by this company.
 
I recently lost three expensive fabkits and asked for a simple item restoration (they were accidently deleted off my plot, TL;DR version I didn't know trying to rearrange them would do that) .
 
So after being very specific about what I lost, this is what I got:
 
Greetings, XXXXX!
There are a few things we can try to correct your UI issue.
You can check to see if there is an issue with the Addons. To get here, hit [ESC] and select Addons on the left side of the Options screen. This will show you a list of addons that are currently running. By default this list is sorted by status. Any UI elements that have experienced errors will be listed at the top.
A red dot indicates that an error has caused the addon to shut down. A yellow dot indicates it is running but has experienced an error. If you see any addons in those states, hit the Reload UI button on the bottom right of the screen to reload the UI.
If you see a white dot next to the Addon this would indicate the Addon is not enabled, or off. If the Addon you are having trouble with is in this state, select the addon and click ""Change load rules"" at the bottom of the window. In the new window that appears select ""Load Addon"" and close the window. Once you have changed the rule for the addon click on ""Reload UI"".
If the above does not correct the issue, you can try to reset the settings of your game entirely by deleting the settings folder for WildStar. This can be found by typing ""%appdata%"" in an explore window. When the list of folders is provided, open the NCSOFT folder then delete the ""WildStar"" folder listed here. Once this is done, the next time you log into WildStar all the default settings will be restored.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.
Cheers,
Clarck
WildStar Support Team
  *
Obviously this had jack #$@*cake to do with my issue.  I pressed again for help and this is what I got.
 
Think of the way housing plugs currently work like building on your property in real life. If you renovate your property (change your housing plug), you are going to lose the property improvements that you have invested in because of the remodels you decided to do afterwards.
We've taken your feedback about how this works, and in the words of the Devs (who we swear do read the forums!), we're working on a solution to improve the overall remodel system so housing fanatics can switch more freely between options they have purchased.
If you've got additional feedback on this or other issues, the best place to get your feedback heard by the Devs is on the forums. There is one called “General Discussion,” which I've linked for you below:
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/forum/102-general-discussion/
Regards,
JC
WildStar Support Team
*
In case no one knew, we're playing a video game.  This isn't real life, and it's not a real house. It's like they don't give two craps about us.  I once again tried to get help.  Got nothing. A simple item restoration.  It's mind boggling. 
Wildstar CS:  
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I have lost many gold / BG rating from bugs before there was an actual "CS" my previous attempt to contact the CS ended up with this damn agent lopp bot,
followed by a mail asking how I liked the CS (WOW, RLY?)
 
this time, someone, not a bot reply to me for the last bug I had here is the discussion:
 
Me:
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A crafting quest just stole my bound pants !I need it back !
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followed by this ingame:
http://imgur.com/H4Lmy1g
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			First I would like to see the unedited version of your tickets because I would be willing to bet my left nut they wasn't that nice.  Generally customer service tries more when you are nice to them.  Even if you were that nice it still wont change how I feel about it though, you got hacked, you didn't have 2 step, that was your fault.  Any items lost is your fault, NC Soft, Blizzard, Arenanet, Carbine, Bioware, EA, nor Sony should not feel obligated to replace your missing items that you lost through your own fault.  Sorry you lost your items but there are no doovers in life, you leave your keys in your car and someone steals it, you should not get it back because obviously you didn't want it in the first place.  Same with video game property, you didn't secure it, customer service was nice because I would have told you something like I am right now.  You got a month of free game time, plus some items back and some money.  You should be happy. 	
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I laughed.
 
Im sorry.
 
I picture a CS just being sarcastic and twisted and it was hilarious.
 
They sent you 12 white pants of the crafted item you asked for.
 
hahaha
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You know, I read through that and honestly, I have no idea what you are complaining about. First of all, who doesn't understand the value of an authenticator? It's basically common sense and if you didn't do it, you have only yourself to blame.
 
You got some items back, and you got free game time despite YOUR error. I have a lot of trouble feeling empathy for anyone who doesn't use the FREE and EASY to use authenticator. 
 
You are like that person who spills coffee on themselves and then gets mad that it is hot.	
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This to me doesnt sound like you 'lost' them. You even get a warning that it will be destroyed if you want something else on that plot, its not like the Fabkits go back to your inventory if you replace them
 
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followed by this ingame:
http://imgur.com/H4Lmy1g
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{| class="blockquote"
 
followed by this ingame:
http://imgur.com/H4Lmy1g
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Back in the days of Aion, people were getting their accounts hacked, those hackers were farming gold etc, and the accounts were getting permanently closed for being used for rmt.
 
That's assuming they were active. There were many cases of accounts that were unsubbed, inactive, and the people were still getting emails for having their account being hacked and banned for rmt.
 
But hey that's NCSoft for you!	
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Have you seen the" warning" text? It asks if you want to replace the fabkit and that items will be returned to your crate.  Someone that has never really been interested in housing (read: me) I had no idea that trying to move an Elite Fabkit (the only reason I use ingame housing is to make money off 50/50 circles) would blow it to hell.
 
IMO a warning should be a warning and not have vague wording.  Think about it.  You can move a bed or a piece of furniture, wouldn't you intuitively think you could rearrange everything else?  "Doing this action will perm. delete this fabkit" is a lot clearer than what I got.  
 
Bottom line anyway is that I asked for a simple item restoration and they won't do it.  It boggles my mind.  I've seen friends get so drunk they delete their raiding characters only to get them returned a day or two later in other MMOs.  Is it so unreasonable to expect a non epic item restoration?
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Have you seen the" warning" text? It asks if you want to replace the fabkit and that items will be returned to your crate.  Someone that has never really been interested in housing (read: me) I had no idea that trying to move an Elite Fabkit (the only reason I use ingame housing is to make money off 50/50 circles) would blow it to hell.
 
IMO a warning should be a warning and not have vague wording.  Think about it.  You can move a bed or a piece of furniture, wouldn't you intuitively think you could rearrange everything else?  "Doing this action will perm. delete this fabkit" is a lot clearer than what I got.  
 
Bottom line anyway is that I asked for a simple item restoration and they won't do it.  It boggles my mind.  I've seen friends get so drunk they delete their raiding characters only to get them returned a day or two later in other MMOs.  Is it so unreasonable to expect a non epic item restoration?
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I am very unhappy with Carbine right now but...
 
As far as I understand it because all of these items are basically RNG off of a base, they cannot recover the actual identical item you lost.
 
It's some BS if you ask me and whoever came up with that item design is bad and should be embarrassed... but it is what it is and CS cannot change it.
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And yet, as I told him I don't care about the pant, I just wish "something", because the game already stole me so much, I don't feel like getting another pant to get it stolen later on...
With the 9 white pants I just felt like... mhe ok, bye
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And yet, as I told him I don't care about the pant, I just wish "something", because the game already stole me so much, I don't feel like getting another pant to get it stolen later on...
With the 9 white pants I just felt like... mhe ok, bye
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I wish there was some kind of logical reasoning behind Carbine's decision to roll with this terrible publisher.  Did no one else want to buy their game? >.>
 
I'm afraid once I get to 50 the compounding issues of endgame and every other WS issue (bugs, 100+ hour attunement, busted pvp, etc) are going to whack me upside the head like a massive swinging cosmic *cupcake* and I'll faceplant into oblivion.
 
How is it possible that GM's don't have GM tools? Is that a factor of a rush to release? I don't know about you but I'd give my support team tools and design a system so they could operate to take care of my base.
 
The authenticator being necessary, is one of the worst pos I've ever seen.  Not being able to type your damn numbers, along with the random DC's, along with having to do it all, then the game says someone else is already logged in then having to do it again? Horry crap.
 
I think I did that 8 times once in the course of 3 hours.  	
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			yep that's about the same response I got from them ,,,,lost my credd when my computer crashed after I had just put it in my inventory they said to come and read the forms,,, no word about my credd or what to do about it my gone	
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The game didn't really steal the item though, it just didn't differentiate between what you intended to give to the quest giver and what you wanted to keep.  I'm paranoid about that kind of thing, had it happen in another game so I don't keep crafted items in my inventory if I'm doing those dailies.  You couldn't give them specifics on what was actually lost(the runes) so they couldn't restore those to you.  They did what they could, give you enough pants to hopefully let RNG smile on you.  When you took them from the mail, did their quality change?
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