You state that you didn't immediately resub? So you were unsubscribed at the time of the merger? If you were unsubbed at the time of the mergers then I think it is only fair that a person that was subscribed at the time of the merger gets priority over someone that was unsubscribed.
Has anyone ever tried to ticket to get a name unlocked that they lost in merger that has since become inactive?
I tried it twice and failed. Basically got an automated response both times saying there's nothing they can do about it. I was subscribed at the time, playing on the destination server and 3 of my characters were forced to name change. In a nutshell, someone's level 50 main who has long since quit the game > your active characters, forcing you to change names.
I wanted to know what parameters they used to determine who gets the name, but they wouldn't disclose it.
suggestion: call customer service. explain you were considering renewing your subscription but after this you are not even sure if you want to keep their software installed. be fair but firm.
Vote with your wallet if you don't like something. Otherwise just keep your mouth shut.
Again... calling Customer Service, when they clearly and admittedly unsubscribed, and asking for a name another character has, and then threatening to delete the game if you don't get your way?
You think a) anyone you talk to at CS is going to treat you with respect after an ultimatum, and b) that BS like that is the way to treat people, especially when he legitimately admitted that he wasn't subbed and didn't log in forever?
Hint: the customer is NOT always right, and threatening people gets you laughed at, either to your face or after you hang up. When I was working as a manager in retail, I had a dude threaten me if I didn't give him something for free. I promptly laughed at him in his face, listened to him threaten me again, called the cops, and had him drug out of the store. And it was a big electronics chain, not some little local place.
People like you are why Customer Service is swamped for the rest of us who have legitimate needs on the CS end.
Sheesh.
Wow I sure ruffled someone's fur. There is a difference between threatening a person and expressing a disappointment with the service rendered. I did quantify "to be fair but firm". Never once did I say to "threaten" anyone. I can see the OP's side of this. The characters made no move. Had a new destination server been chosen then yeah, I can see losing all claims to character names.
FYI I've worked retail for the past 12 years myself. And I'm currently employed by one of the largest. The "people like me" are the type of customer who just wants to be treated fairly.
Vote with your wallet if you don't like something. Otherwise just keep your mouth shut.
Vote with your wallet if you don't like something. Otherwise just keep your mouth shut.
You can attempt to take the high road, but issuing a "firm" ultimatum is a threat to do something if you don't get your way. I'm not talking about threatening violence. It's a threat to do something "unless I get my way." It's not a Customer Service issue, but you're enticing him to make it one.
The second problem is that you are completely hypothesizing that the name isn't in use by an active player. You or the OP don't know that.
The world doesn't have to bow to the whim of "people like you" just because you want your way.
No, that is not "exactly what happened to him." What happened to him was an unfortunate side-effect of merging servers; two characters cannot have the same name. BioWare already adjudicated that situation based on whatever parameters they thought best. What you want is to be able to strip other people of their character names simply because you feel entitled to them.
I stand corrected. Not exactly. The OP stated they made no move. They stayed on the same server. So if anything he has the most "rights" to the names. Bioware decided instead to instead give the desired name to a paying customer. I can't blame them that just makes business sense. But I don't think that the OP making a customer service call to find out if the names are on an active account, is out of line. If not then Bioware could certainly satisfy a customer and maybe gain a subscriber.
Vote with your wallet if you don't like something. Otherwise just keep your mouth shut.
Bioware love to make things confusing.
Noone stayed on the same server. We all moved. On the last merge (the forced one) Bioware moved us all onto brand new servers. They copied the names of some servers and used those for the new ones. Therefore leading some to believe they were 'here first' when for the last merge we all were moved. A developer briefly explained it way back when iirc.
Let me go see if I can find the link. I vaguely remember posting in that very thread on the official forums.
Last edited by mmoc3d23c7f243; 2013-02-07 at 08:05 AM.
Fair towards all other players.... I'm playing since release and had to rename some of my toons twice. Not what I would have wanted but for the trade of to have much more people to interact with a small price.
If they had started with only 9 server and you'd had to wait for few hours to login I'm sure you would have been the first person to comment how "lame" it is not to have many more servers to avoid this....
Vote with your wallet if you don't like something. Otherwise just keep your mouth shut.