Banned for herbing?

[benprt]

Quick basic info about my account: I have 3 80s (Druid, Lock, Paladin). The druid's professions are herbalism and jewelcrafting. The lock's only profession at this moment is inscription. I have NEVER...EVER purchased an in-game item for real world currency. I also have an authenticator linked to my account. I have also NEVER let anyone use my account other than myself.

So yesterday I spent a few hours in Scholazar Basin farming herbs on my druid. Someone in my guild asked me to tank a heroic so I sent all of my herbs to my lock (the inscriptionist) because I mill them and make inks for Darkmoon Cards. Just before the 2nd boss pull, my entire game closes. I immediately open the game back up and after trying to log in I get a message saying that I had been banned. So a guildie tells me to check my email and see if they gave a reason.

The email explained that I had been banned for exchanging in-game items for real-world currency, which I have NEVER done. I have never given or received a large sum of gold from a character not on my own account. Also a side note, I don't have more than 10k spread across all of my toons, so it's not like i'm "wow rich". I've just been farming recently so that I can obtain a couple BoE items from Icecrown.

So after waiting for 2 hours on hold with Blizzard I finally reached support. They said that their only option was to put in a request for account review. So this process took about 12 hours and I received another e-mail last night that said the exact same thing that my previous banning e-mail said. It repeated that I was banned for exchanging in-game items for real world currency.

So my questions are:

1. Is there anything that I can do to get my account back? I have 3 80s all geared for Icecrown Citadel, I have been a member for quite some time and have put a ton of my money into this (new laptop, 2 gaming mouses, etc...). Are there any terms of use that i've actually violated by farming my own mats/gold?

2. Sp if we aren't supposed to buy gold, and we aren't suppose to use our gathering professions to make our own gold, then how are we suppose to buy in-game items that cost 12-15k?

3. I always hear about people having 50k+ gold on their account. How is this amount achieved without farming? I know that you can "play" the auction house, but that couldn't possibly be the only way blizzard wants you to make gold. There are gathering professions in the game for a reason, so why am I banned for using mine?

Please someone shed some light of this situation for me, as I am running out of patience and options. Thanks

[Eats Compost]

It sounds to me like they've made a HUGE error on their end and mistakenly banned you. I'm not sure what you could do apart from trying customer support some more.

[Gog]

Yeah good luck with that one, maybe write them a complaint email and ask for evidence of the so-called rl transaction.

[Verato]

A friend of mine had this happen too, he called tech support and they apologized, saying that his calling was basically enough for them to knwo you're not a goldseller/buyer.
So keep trying is my advice, till you hit a support guy who actually helps.

[Deleted]

Its important to keep your cool (not start yelling at the telephone operator). But keep calling them untill they give a final decision.

Keep in mind though that Blizzard reserves the right to ban you for any reason they see fit, without having to explain themselves. So it could be that someone made a big mistake and just won't admit it.

scribe noob

inscription is actually a very profitable profession if you use it correctly and not bad in pve. so do us all a favor and try not to post something so stupid next time.

[Dundebuns]

If they fail to reopen your account (I do suggest you try through Blizz channels one more time) and you live in the UK, you could take them to small claims court, with the want of getting your account re-opened or get reimbursed by Blizzard for the sum you have spent on that accounts subscription over its lifetime. You have a compelling case, and Blizzard wouldn't show up anyway.

[Deleted]

inscription is actually a very profitable profession if you use it correctly and not bad in pve. so do us all a favor and try not to post something so stupid next time.

I'm fairly sure he meant it's scribe and not inscriptionist.
Pot, meet kettle.

[rhorle]

If they fail to reopen your account (I do suggest you try through Blizz channels one more time) and you live in the UK, you could take them to small claims court, with the want of getting your account re-opened or get reimbursed by Blizzard for the sum you have spent on that accounts subscription over its lifetime. You have a compelling case, and Blizzard wouldn't show up anyway.

You would lose if they did, and the court can not force blizzard into a decision if they never show. Blizzard has the right to do what they want to your account. You pay them for access, not for ownership over your account. Blizzard also has the right to terminate your access at any time for any reason and that is legally binding. So no court that follows the law would be able to force blizzard to reopen a closed account.

[jtstormrage]

scribe noob

I WISH people like this would get warned or banned. Posts like this totally discredit this website. Unfortunately, there are too many.

[Apoc11]

Sry to hear what happened man just gotta call and see whats up is all.


To everyone else, I'm not sure if anyone ever reads the ToS at any point in time.(when your bored and waiting on servers to come up, its a time waster)

From it though: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

8.Account Suspension/Deletion.
BLIZZARD MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU. For purposes of explanation and not limitation, most account suspensions, terminations and/or deletions are the result of violations of this Terms of Use or the EULA.

Remember you accept this ToS everytime a new major patch or change to it is out.

[Risura]

I'm fairly sure he meant it's scribe and not inscriptionist.
Pot, meet kettle.

Pretty sure both can be classed as the correct term due to the amount that they are used in that context.

[Deleted]

Pretty sure both can be classed as the correct term due to the amount that they are used in that context.

So if I say a word enough in a context, it starts tree something else?

[Cardiff]

You would lose if they did, and the court can not force blizzard into a decision if they never show. Blizzard has the right to do what they want to your account. You pay them for access, not for ownership over your account. Blizzard also has the right to terminate your access at any time for any reason and that is legally binding. So no court that follows the law would be able to force blizzard to reopen a closed account.

You OBVIOUSLY don't work in anything related to a UK law environment and your advice is WRONG. If Blizzard don't show they automatically lose and would have a severe time settling ANY other case which was later tried in the UK. Even they are not that foolish, what it would do is ensure that they minutely look at why the OP was banned and undoubtedly they would undo this ban UNLESS they had absolute proof he's been gold selling(. EDIT:-) or buying

[Cardiff]

Sry to hear what happened man just gotta call and see whats up is all.


To everyone else, I'm not sure if anyone ever reads the ToS at any point in time.(when your bored and waiting on servers to come up, its a time waster)

From it though: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

Remember you accept this ToS everytime a new major patch or change to it is out.

Tescos has a sign in their car parks saying "we accept no responsibility for your car or the belongings therin" however UK law says otherwise Because Blizzard choose to slap something into a TOS does NOT mean they are above the law, PLEASE quit the "anecdotal" advice

[Deleted]

This reminds me of a guildmember of us. He got banned for "offering powerleveling and selling gold for real life currencies". He talked to blizzard support. He had to wait 2 months ("investigation" they call it) before logging back in.

[Ecwfrk]

Try posting on the Customer Service forums. Be polite, explain your situation, and ask very nicely if someone from their department could look into for you.

Like most people who do phone support, the phone reps deal with 100s of morons everyday who scream at them for things that are usually caused by user error. Thus the phone reps tend to be a bit short in the compassion and understanding department. The people who work the forums tend to deal with such things less often and are usually more willing to help if you're polite and convincing enough.

Just be aware, they still might not be able to do anything even if they want to. It depends on how bad whatever got you flagged looks. Just like in the real world, sometimes the innocent get wrongly convicted.

[Kelth]

You said, you bought some BoEs. Do you know the seller? Perhaps he sold items for real world currency, too.

[Soulbender]

Both times i called support, they were nice and helpful, i didnt wait long, and the one time i was banned, they lifted it instantly.

I'm very much doubting you spent two hours waiting on phone and then they didnt do a thing. What did the blizzard tech told you?

Only case i could see for you, is you bought items from someone who was flagged as a hacker. Anything you haven't told us? :)

[Ecwfrk]

You would lose if they did

Actually, they probably wouldn't. The UK doesn't allow the "You don't buy software, you license it" stuff that our laws allow. They can put it in the EULA all they want, but it's not valid unless it's backed by law and in the UK, it isn't.
So if they render your software useless by denying you access to the server (banning you), you can sue them to be reimbursed for the cost of the software itself. Which means you can get $130 (or whatever vanilla+BC+WotLK totals up to in the UK) back.

But you are right that the courts couldn't force Blizz to reinstate the account. Nor could you get reimbursed for the monthly fees or the value of your time invested into the game or anything else. Just that $130 you paid the store for the software itself.

[benprt]

Both times i called support, they were nice and helpful, i didnt wait long, and the one time i was banned, they lifted it instantly.

I'm very much doubting you spent two hours waiting on phone and then they didnt do a thing. What did the blizzard tech told you?

Only case i could see for you, is you bought items from someone who was flagged as a hacker. Anything you haven't told us?

I have a record of the call on my phone (used a cell phone to make the call). The call started at 11:35. The call ended a 1:53. The conversation I had with Tech Support lasted less than 5 minutes because I was in my car when he actually picked up the call and was off the phone before I reached my destination (which is a few miles down the road).

Also, I have no bought the items. I was farming herbs and milling them into inks to sell so that I could make gold to buy the items from a seller or AH. Nothing had been bought as of yet.

As for what the blizzard tech responded, he basically said that it was out of his hands. He put in a request for the account to be reviewed and told me that I would be notified via e-mail. I, of course, was polite during the entire conversation because I know that acting like an ogre doesn't get you anything.