Is Blizzard a little bit TOO hard on it's Subscribers?

[ash2dust]

Hi There,

Was curious what your opinions would be on this.


I recently tried to get the annual pass, for the free mount and Diablo 3 service. It kept saying I was not eligible, so I put in a ticket to Blizzard, asking why this was.

i basically got a reply that my "Blizzard Rep/Rating" was "poor", due to bans/suspensions, and poor payments.

I have an active Credit Card linked to my battle net account, and money gets deducted of there every month.. So i asked for a bit of clarification.

See, I have a bit of a unique situation. I have been playing since the EU launch of WoW, and even though I started of playing in Europe, my job requires me to be on the move a lot, between Asia and Europe. And my evening time pass when i am in some random city again is playing Wow. I tend to get suspended a lot for that, also, especially when i am in Asia, I get banned for botting ( especially when my alts spend an hour at a stretch leveling up their professions - Once got banned for botting/gold selling when I was in Hong Kong and spend 30 minutes leveling up mining with a level 15 toon)


I have called them multiple times, stating that I do travel a lot for work, an if they would please keep that in mind when my account gets flagged.

but for the last two years this has been happening a lot, and it is not the easiest thing to call their support lines when you are on the road a lot.

It's frustrating, as WoW was supposed to be my "relax" time, and 50% of the time I cannot play.

Also, this seems to be somehow linked to the annual pass eligibility as well, so I cannot benefit from the annual pass advantages..

Anybody else have issues like that? Is Blizzard being too hard, or should i just accept that this will be the case, and they won't be able to give a little consideration to special situations?

Ciao
a2d

[Vyce223]

Well, you seem to be in a interesting position there. Your acct being suspended but not really due to your fault (your side of the story -_-). If you truly have not commited anything that got you a poor rep. Then give them a call over at billing you can get ALOT more done on the phone then a ticket to a GM in-game.

[Elethiem]

The title should be - Is Blizzard a bit hard on me?

Most of the stories that involve Blizzard banning people for botting etc usually involve the op lying about it since Blizzard look at what programs are operating and how they interact with the game.

If you get banned while traveling all the time, why not subscribe to a tunnel service?

[Peyj]

Yikes, this is a tough one. It's certainly very unfair.

I know you mentioned that you've spoken to Blizzard before, but have you phoned them specifically about the annual pass issue?

Also, are you running with an authenticator? I know when I moved house twice this year, both times I had to go through the reset password, etc, but I think because I have an authenticator, it sort of bypasses the 'red flag' of changing locations. I could be wrong..

[Ben Evans]

I do a lot of travel too, but only around North American, so I don't have issues like yours. Since you didn't do anything illegal, you should call them to explain this.

[LeonardNimoy]

This is just to keep people from exploiting them. Sadly, there will be people who actually are not violating it such as yourself. But people take precautions for a reason; it's like not scolding someone when they misbehave because you feel it was an accident, but punish the next person even though they have the same reason or scenario.

[ash2dust]

Well of course there is no way for me to prove if my story is true or not... Only thing I agree with is the "suspicious" activity due to me logging in from a lot of different countries. ( Which I have btw talked to them about it, on the phone to Blizzard Support.) One person advised me to change my country in my account settings everytime I travelled... Ah well that did not work too well either. The support team normally does unsuspend me couple of hours after I call them, as I seem to be automatically flagged, and after manual/human review, they do tell me that the system can be a bit sensitive at times. Anyways, was more just curious if anyone else had similar issues/stories, and as for proof.. I am just too old to be messing around with "botting" etc.

[Stilt-Man]

To answer the initial question: No, I don't think they're being too hard on their subscribers. Presuming your story is legit, you're clearly doing nothing wrong... unfortunately, it doesn't look that way on their side. Blizzard is just trying to take care of its community.

Out of curiosity, do you have an authenticator? I was in a similar situation before, but when I called them, they told me they made a note of my traveling, and recommended I get an authenticator. I didn't have any issues at all afterward.

I hope you're able to get things straightened out -- it's frustrating, to be sure.

[Zom]

Sorry but I tend to be critical when only presented with one side of the story. Are you saying Blizzard are keeping such close tabs on people that they know when random joe schmoe #7091482 logs on from some other country?

Or is it that, people see you mining and report you, Blizzard checks your location, sees that you're in Hong Kong and goes "BAM, banned muthafucka".

[ImpTaimer]

Blizzard sees logins on the same account in different locations as a possible compromised account.

Do you use the mobile or the real authenticator. They trust their little doodad more than they do the mobile apps, because it's possible to emulate the phone version.

I suggest getting the little keychain if you don't.

The mere fact that you travel so much will cause them to be paranoid. It means you are at a high risk of getting your account compromised, even if you don't think so. They don't want to lose their money because some guy bought a bunch of stuff with your credit card.

[personn5]

Also, are you running with an authenticator? I know when I moved house twice this year, both times I had to go through the reset password, etc, but I think because I have an authenticator, it sort of bypasses the 'red flag' of changing locations. I could be wrong..

Still happened to me when I had an authenticator, Driving 10 minutes across town and I'd still have to change my password from connecting at a friends house.

[Aqua]

Similar position here though I hadn't begun travelling until they introduced the Authenticator, which stops them from flagging my account without me expressly saying "Hey dudes, I can't get into my account at all, help." The Keychain version I have works great and even when going to the states when I had it, there was no issue, (I did write in asking if there would be, they said as long as authenticator was there, no not at all)

But that is really unfair, I'd keep calling them someone can unflag your account they're just shoving you through protocol and are reluctant to make exceptions.

[Alvito]

To save on some of the trouble of dealing with ppl breaking contracts if they are banned or quit they aren't letting ppl sign up that have had issues in the past. While it might suck for you not being able to get D3 for free but they are protecting you as well as themselves by doing this.

[Twiddly]

call them up and explain to them calmly why your account is in asia sometimes.

[Nemefem]

I agree with everyone else here; get an authenticator. I moved to Australia a few years ago to study and every time I went home (twice per year) I'd have to reset my password. Once they sent me the authenticator, all was well.

[insmek]

It's not uncommon for companies to flag customers who call into customer support a lot. Sprint did it a few years back, and actually went so far as to terminate accounts simply because people were calling in so often. As a consumer, it sucks, but I can understand why companies do it.

It sucks that you can't get the Annual Pass though. I can see why they aren't allowing you to get it--accounts with multiple "problems" probably seem less likely to follow through with a year commitment--but it doesn't make it suck any less. Hopefully you can get in touch with a GM who can help!

[ash2dust]

Thank you for all your replies. I do have an authenticator, but it is the iphone app... not the keychain. Anyways, I will give them another call, and see what they say.

I do appreciate all your replies!

---------- Post added 2011-11-21 at 03:04 AM ----------

yeah, The D3/Mount was my main reason for doing the annual pass ( As Mentioned, my CC is on file and the money does get deducted every month without issues), but if I can't, i can't. Will see what the support team says when I call them.