Am I justified in being mad about my recent Blizzard CS experience?

[Diaxx]

Over the last few days I have had, in my opinion, some of the worst customer service ever. Normally, I am right behind Blizzard, always buying their games, etc. But after this experience I see them in a new, less desirable light.

This all started about 2 years and 7 months ago. I decided to cancel my current account, RAF with my brother/friends (since this would be much cheaper than transferring/faction changing my old characters.) At this point I had spent 3 years and probably more than $800 on this account, and planned to just leave it innactive until I had more money to transfer them over to the new account in the future. The money came to me over the holidays, so I decided it was time to rekindle some old memories and transfer them over.

I can't remember the email that it was on so I give Account and Billing a call. Everything went great, proved it was my account and they attached it to my battle.net with my new WoW account and d3 and SC2. Everything is fine until I log into the account on the website and go to transfer and see there is literally nothing on the account. There is one level 6 warlock that I didn't make. Obviously very worried, I went and checked the transfers tab, and sure enough my three level 80s had been transferred to a different bnet account.

Now realizing that someone must have gotten access to the account and stole it, I called Blizzard Account and Billing back. I spoke with a rep talked through the process, said he saw the problem, and then told me to put in a ticket and they would fix it right up. I go and put in the ticket saying something like, "I just recovered the account and all the characters are missing, I was told to put in a ticket to get it fixed."

Here is where the trouble starts. I wait a few hours, and then get some type of automated response stating that they couldn't see any missing characters. Really Blizzard? It is average for customers to subscribe for over 3 years and only have one level 6 warlock?? Whatever, I'll just chalk it up to chance and be more specific. I put in a response specify the account and that all of my characters were gone.

I wait a few more hours and get another response, looks automated, and basically says that they can't confirm it wasn't me who transfered the characters. Well Blizzard, considering that randomly the account starts logging in from a new IP, and then a different credit card is used to transfer my characters to a dummy account - I think it is pretty obvious it wasn't me. That doesn't make any sense anyways, why would you accuse a customer of stealing their own characters? I am the owner of the account, I just proved it a few hours ago, and I am telling you that my characters are gone (which they clearly are) so why are you arguing with me?

I put in another ticket and get the same response. I go on the forums and make a thread and get a response saying that it has been "too long" to verify that they are stolen. What does that even mean? How do you need to verify it? I, the customer who bought the game, spent the money, leveled the characters am telling you that I did not authorize that transfer, and that the other battle.net is NOT ME.

By this point I am angry. I have played WoW for about 6 years now and have had nothing but positive customer support to this point. I decide to call again, since the tickets aren't getting me anywhere. I call and talk to a rep for about an hour. We start off by going through the usual, contact info, account info and then explaining my problem in extreme detail. After all of this he try tries to give me the same canned response about "verifying it was stolen" blah, blah - same stuff they told me before which makes no sense. I refuse to hangup until I get a real reason why this isn't done yet, and so I start asking him stuff Blizzard knows about it to make sure it matches what I know. He keeps trying to tell me that the reason Blizzard won't give the characters back is because there was no "malicious" activities done by the thief. So I sit there telling this rep that stealing someones account/characters IS malicious And against Blizzard ToS And probably against the law considering he is pretending to be me? I argue the point for a while, and it becomes painfully obvious how he was wrong, he kept beating around the bush and would never directly say, "stealing isn't malicious" like he kept implying.

At this point he realizes that telling me stealing accounts ISN'T malicious isn't going to get me to hang up. He asks to put me on hold, and I wait for a few minutes. He comes back, sighs and tells me something along the lines that a big reason they won't do anything is the fact that the thief bought all the expansions, a new account, and gametime with a not stolen credit card (heavily implying he meant they didn't want chargebacks for the few hundred dollars). What...? Literally speechless, the call ends.

I was just told that Blizzard wasn't going to punish this person (who impersonated being me, and stole my characters) or return my characters because this thief payed them a good amount of money. I put in another ticket. They didn't answer this ticket for over a day so I called in again, still unable to grasp the insanity that the last rep told me.

I talk to this new guy on the phone (the fourth call in 3 days). We go through the usual, I explain, and then I told him what I was told during the last call. I then, having added it all up, relayed that I have spent exactly $2420 on their game over the last 6 years - telling me I won't get my chars back because this thief spent money doesn't even nearly add up to what I have spent. He agrees that my position is correct, and offers to help refine my ticket to exactly what they need to recover the characters. After spending 10 minutes writing the ticket with him, we end the call.

I wait another 12 hours, having the ticket I wrote with the agent sent it, and I get back the exact same canned responses as before. "We can't verify that they were stolen." My support ticket was then forced closed so I can't reply anymore.

I know it isn't the customer support agents fault, or the account and billing peoples fault, since they are most likely just following a script or something.

So after 3 years, over $850, I won't be getting my first character back because Blizzard is too money hungry to take a small loss. Absolutely insane, this single incident has ruined 6 years of loyalty in 3 days. All that money and time wasted.

tldr; Characters get stolen off account, Blizzard won't return them because the thief payed a lot to do it.
------------------

So, am I right to be mad?

I understand that it was my responsibility to keep the account safe (and I take account safety seriously, have an authentication and everything), but this response was just atrocious. Blizzard straight up admitting to letting things against their own ToS (and possibly the law) go simply because the perpetrator gave them enough money.

This is probably mirrored in the botting crisis, Blizzard rarely bans botters since they are one of the biggest buyers of account time.

Pretty corrupt if you ask me.

Note: I tried to be as unbiased as possible, and to include the entire story - but due to the length and my current anger I might have been unclear in some parts but will try to do my best to answer questions.

Edit: Cleared up parts of the story to be more coherent.

[Xeraxis]

So, am I right to be mad?

I understand that it was my responsibility to keep the account safe (and I take account safety seriously, have an authentication and everything), but this response was just atrocious. Blizzard straight up admitting to letting things against their own ToS (and possibly the law) go simply because the perpetrator gave them enough money.

This is probably mirrored in the botting crisis, Blizzard rarely bans botters since they are one of the biggest buyers of account time.

Pretty corrupt if you ask me.

Note: I tried to be as unbiased as possible, and to include the entire story - but due to the length and my current anger I might have been unclear in some parts but will try to do my best to answer questions.

Somehow I just don't feel this is the entire story. For instance why did you use an email other than the one on your then current account.

[Jeina]

Every time I read a story like this, it turns out that it's just someone trying to get back the characters he sold.

And I have serious doubts about the legitimacy of your "phone conversation" with Blizzard.

[Layuth]

My opinion is that you are into some shady dealings and crying foul because you can't pull a fast one. I may be wrong but I do not think so.

[Xeraxis]

Every time I read a story like this, it turns out that it's just someone trying to get back the characters he sold.

Yeah in all honesty that is what it looks like. I guess people try these sob stories here hoping that they can get enough players behind their cause to change Blizzard's mind about their decision.

[Deleted]

This is a "He said. She said" story without hearing the other side. If you truly believe Blizzard is breaking the law as you imply several times, an attorney will surely get that sorted.

[bals]

I have been reporting players for abusing cascade in halfhill. I use the the customer support > create ticket instead of the right click > report player because it's really difficult to report these players when they hop out of their farms, cast one spell, run back in.
this is the response I got the other day:

" It's my personal goal to ensure that you feel like the valued customer you truly are, so hopefully this info proved helpful to you, my friend. Thank you for taking the time to read my response, %Character:Name%, and again, thank you for your patience with the wait tonight. Take care and be safe in your travels! <3"

The first gm was actually helpful but since then I keep reporting players and keep getting more and more automated 'don't give a shit' responses

so blizzard CS is really shit as of late.

[cFortyfive]

Every time I read a story like this, it turns out that it's just someone trying to get back the characters he sold.

Well to what extent would this matter if he can prove that he is the owner of the account that those characters were transferred off ?

so blizzard CS is really shit as of late.

I agree considering my latest experience. Everyone was really polite and all but I'd expect not to have to explain an issue 5 times in a row during a "ticket conversation".

[Jeina]

Well to what extent would this matter if he can prove that he is the owner of the account that those characters were transferred off ?



I agree considering my latest experience. Everyone was really polite and all but I'd expect not to have to explain an issue 5 times in a row during a "ticket conversation".

Because by selling his characters/account, he has violated the Terms of Use and is no longer entitled to anything on that account.

And his story *might* have been slightly believable before he added in that bullshit about Blizzard telling him that they weren't doing anything because of how much money the "other guy" spent.

[dusselldorf]

Smells fishy. You have an authenticator. You can't just hack people's accounts and transfer their characters. What I think happened? I think you decided to quit playing. You sold your account. You got pissed at whomever you sold it to/decided to restart, and now you want to weasel your way back. That makes a lot more sense than what you posted.

[cFortyfive]

Because by selling his characters/account, he has violated the Terms of Use and is no longer entitled to anything on that account.

And his story *might* have been slightly believable before he added in that bullshit about Blizzard telling him that they weren't doing anything because of how much money the "other guy" spent.

Of course he is entitled to the contents of his account unless they banned him for selling his account in the first place which obviously or at least according to the story didn't happen.

[Gandrake]

>Ask for moral compass on the internet
The internet is where you go to be wrong about everything. If there was a wrong way to commit rape, the internet would let you know.

funny story:

Don't right click a hozen peace pipe when you try to auction it

blizzard won't give it back

[Deleted]

Good stories! Nice read regardless of it being true or not.

Assuming the story is as the OP sells it, I'd say... just imagine that it's been way too long and your characters were auto-deleted by the system. Myself, I haven't logged on for over a year now. I have no idea if my chars still exist, but if they don't I don't think it'd be very costly to just level them up again... could even be fun going through the low levels again.

Also, if these virtual characters are of such relevance and importance to the OP... get a lawyer, sue Blizzard, get a court order for them to release the identity of the thief and go after him for identity theft. Oh, and record any and all official conversations with customer support, you'll be glad you did. Having that "we can't give you back your characters because he payed so much for them" on tape would work wonders on court (and the media).

[tratra]

I hate it when people respond on a post with a sherlock holmes answer... "Oh i think u sold it and then u trying to get it back" or whatever.

Guys seriously atm u can't really know what happened and how it happened. And let me tell you that if you had an acc like me inactive since vanilla it would most likely been hacked or wiped of the databases. Also blizzard reserves all the rights to your accounts so you can't do pretty much OR CAN YOU?

The answer is yes. My friend one of the solutions that will get your characters restored is to hire an attorney that is specialized in wow matters. Yes they do exist and usually they are post students that charge up to 50$ per case of getting your accounts unbanned, characters back etc. If you want one pm me I happen to know one that will pretty much review your case and send an email to blizzard that will prolly force them to refund your characters. (Did it with my permanent banned account and got it back, language barrier reasons)

Also Ill have to agree that 99% of my tickers had an automated bot response, and yes it feels like my sub money were going nowhere. That's why i unsubed and pretty much quit this game.

Peace out guys.

[dusselldorf]

I hate it when people respond on a post with a sherlock holmes answer... "Oh i think u sold it and then u trying to get it back" or whatever.

Guys seriously atm u can't really know what happened and how it happened.

You're right. We can't know. The same way we can't know if a poster claiming to be superman is telling the truth or not. The same way we can't know that something that is walking like a duck, quacking like a duck, and flapping its wings like a duck, is really a duck. I'm sorry you *hate* that some of us are saying the post looks like a duck. They do have some good pills for that now I hear. :-)

[Liliannan]

I have been reporting players for abusing cascade in halfhill. I use the the customer support > create ticket instead of the right click > report player because it's really difficult to report these players when they hop out of their farms, cast one spell, run back in.
this is the response I got the other day:


The first gm was actually helpful but since then I keep reporting players and keep getting more and more automated 'don't give a shit' responses

so blizzard CS is really shit as of late.

I don't understand what is wrong with this response from Blizzard - it's perfectly fine. PVPing in Halfhill is not against the TOS.

To the OP, it seems like there is more behind this story than is being let on. I've worked in customer service for 12 years (though not with Blizzard) and can say many people in these jobs try to help you to the best that they can that is within their job rights. If you believe you are being improperly serviced, then ask to speak with a manager the next time you call. Also - being aggressive towards employees doesn't help either (not saying that you were, but it happens). They can only do so much - they are just doing their jobs. If you were the one doing shady business, that is not their fault.

[Diaxx]

Somehow I just don't feel this is the entire story. For instance why did you use an email other than the one on your then current account.

Honestly, I don't remember. I think it was a combination of me not knowing you could log into two accounts on the same bnet at once (bnet was new at this time) and the fact that i was switching all my accounts from my gaming email to my professoinal email at the time.

[Deleted]

And let me tell you that if you had an acc like me inactive since vanilla it would most likely been hacked or wiped of the databases. Also blizzard reserves all the rights to your accounts so you can't do pretty much OR CAN YOU?

The answer is yes. My friend one of the solutions that will get your characters restored is to hire an attorney that is specialized in wow matters. Yes they do exist and usually they are post students that charge up to 50$ per case of getting your accounts unbanned, characters back etc. If you want one pm me I happen to know one that will pretty much review your case and send an email to blizzard that will prolly force them to refund your characters. (Did it with my permanent banned account and got it back, language barrier reasons)

Accounts do not get deleted. Ever.

And besides it's inhouse legal team, Activision's inhouse legal team, Blizzard go to SONNENSCHEIN NATH & ROSENTHAL LLP when they are angry, one of the better and more expensive adresses in the country. I'm sure your 50$ per case hack will scare the living shit out of those.

[Xeraxis]

Good stories! Nice read regardless of it being true or not.

Assuming the story is as the OP sells it, I'd say... just imagine that it's been way too long and your characters were auto-deleted by the system. Myself, I haven't logged on for over a year now. I have no idea if my chars still exist, but if they don't I don't think it'd be very costly to just level them up again... could even be fun going through the low levels again.

Also, if these virtual characters are of such relevance and importance to the OP... get a lawyer, sue Blizzard, get a court order for them to release the identity of the thief and go after him for identity theft. Oh, and record any and all official conversations with customer support, you'll be glad you did. Having that "we can't give you back your characters because he payed so much for them" on tape would work wonders on court (and the media).

Blizzard owns your characters good luck suing them for doing something to the account and characters they own. But hey if you want to waste your money and time go ahead.

[Diaxx]

I don't understand what is wrong with this response from Blizzard - it's perfectly fine. PVPing in Halfhill is not against the TOS.

To the OP, it seems like there is more behind this story than is being let on. I've worked in customer service for 12 years (though not with Blizzard) and can say many people in these jobs try to help you to the best that they can that is within their job rights. If you believe you are being improperly serviced, then ask to speak with a manager the next time you call. Also - being aggressive towards employees doesn't help either (not saying that you were, but it happens). They can only do so much - they are just doing their jobs. If you were the one doing shady business, that is not their fault.

I totally understand where you are comming from, I have had some experience working customer service and I was respectful to everyone I talked with. This is as much as I know, if they have some super secret info besides the "he spent a bunch of money", then I don't know it.