Stolen Character - Where is CS?

Discussion in 'Player Support' started by Pwnography, May 21, 2015.

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  1. Arwyn-RoV Augur

    The other solution would be to implement a 2factor auth feature. I described it in another post on these very boards and on reddit. http://redd.it/37ibft
    Sasenach and Elricvonclief like this.
  2. Aghinem Augur

    Roshen did say in another thread that their team would investigate any legitimate stolen accounts that were involved in hacking; hacking by definition is forced entry - not account sharing.

    I don't think DBG would want to be part of a class action suit as SOE has been 4 times already over security breaches without promptly informing their customers. California commerce laws are very clear that any digital breaches of security require the company to contact any & all customers involved. So, if you truly believe you are a victim of a said breach, you could add this arrow to your quiver.
    Motherlee likes this.
  3. Rila Journeyman

    I really thought DBG might do the right thing here, but it appears they have chosen otherwise. This level of customer service is pretty horrible and definitely will be on my mind if I ever consider starting up another DBG game in the future. Unfortunately though, relatively few people are aware of this atrocious customer service policy and will continue to support DBG when they might not otherwise... I mean, why would someone want to invest time in a game with this company when they will just kick you to the curb if there is a hack?

    I wonder if posting this issue to a well-known gaming forum or gaming news site might be what it takes to wake DBG's customer service department up. I really doubt DBG wants to be publicly known as a company who doesn't care about their customers, especially when there are so many other gaming options out there. However, if that's the game that DBG wants to play with its customers / former customers, then maybe they need to be exposed :(

    ... Or, DBG could just do the right thing, investigate the matter, and restore faith with its loyal consumer base that they are willing to build and maintain good will within their community.
    Motherlee, Elricvonclief and Glace like this.
  4. Harmonae Journeyman

    Hello DBG,

    First, don't know Pwnz. I have absolutely no personal stake in the outcome of his petition.

    I hope you will reconsider your policy of not restoring characters that are sent to FV and stripped if for no other reason than because it's a business mistake. When this happens to a character that someone has put years into, it affects not only them, but their friends and their guild. Retirements (voluntary or involuntarily) can snowball; play groups and guilds can collapse in their wake. I'm not saying that will happen here, but it can.

    We understand we're not going to get as much customer service as we used to, but sometimes it's needed. Please provide it in circumstances like this; I really believe it's less expensive to you than the loss of accounts that tend to happen in their wake.

    If nothing else, charge for the service. Make it painful enough that people won't exploit its availability. If nothing else, restore the toon naked. What happened to Pwnz is a nightmare scenario for many of us. I worry about this happening to someone in my guild. As a raiding guild recruitment officer, I can tell you it's not easy to replace people these days, especially when one departure leads to several others. This is a game built on relationships between players; more than just the account owner suffers when this happens.

    Thanks for reading, if you still read the forums - it's getting difficult for us to tell.
  5. Dre. Altoholic

    I suspect it's not a matter of not knowing how to restore, because that functionality has been around forever. But look at DBG's CS track record and you can tell they are seriously understaffed.

    They are really shooting themselves in the foot leaving the FV transfer thing in place. The opportunity for abuse seems to exceed any discernible benefit. Who cares if a special ruleset server is low pop, srsly.
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  6. Ferry-Tunare Augur

    Our guild recently went through this with one of our members. The nice thing about being an end-game raider in EQ means that there is nothing to do and there is a surplus of max AA characters laying around. We offered chars of various classes to the person who lost their char but it just wasn't the same to them. I don't blame them as it would not be the same to me either.

    I was dismayed by the lack of concern displayed by Daybreak and I cannot express into words how much many of us now despise them as a result of their apathy. If given the opportunity, many in my guild now go out of their way to ensure no one they care about or can influence gets involved with Daybreak.
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  7. Darsh Journeyman

    They can restore characters. I took a break from EQ and during that time SOE purged low lvl characters that were not play in a certain number of days. When I cam back my Baz mule was gone, I ask to have it restored on the fact they didn't warn me via e-mail that my character would be deleted. They took a few day but did restore my mule with all the items on him. DB just doesn't want to restore his character.
  8. Aergon New Member

    DBG answer to this petition is disrecpectful, what a shame.

    Say that to a fellow client by years without even investigate what happen say bad things about this company, very disappointing.

    DGB Client support is worse than trash.

    Seeing it we all know what expect when something happens to any of us.
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  9. Elricvonclief Augur



    Aergon, I agree. It is scary to anyone who has invested this many hours in an endgame toon.

    The frustrating thing is they could do like Arwyn suggested. Charge $35 or $50 for the recovery of the toon. I'm sure almost any long time player would pay that to get back their character.
    Sasenach and arbre like this.
  10. Sarkaukar Augur

    Wait, it cost funds that have been converted to SC to transfer a toon from one server to another first, correct?

    Was the SC paid for by the OP cc# (the purchaser would need to know the security code) or a different card, which may or may not still be on file? At least the last 2 CC# can be seen on the purchase. If it was not his card then it had to be done with a prepaid, cause a stolen card should not work due to address differences. But... if it was done with a stolen card then the OP's acct itself may become banned if a chargeback happens.

    I do hope the OP has done a thorough scan of system with more than one antivirus program, as well as changed all his passwords, not just online passwords but also system passwords.

    As of right now, the OP has stated he is not sure how the alleged perp obtained his log in info. The system may very well still be infected.

    Many may be concerned about the toon itself and how DBG handles these types of issues, the toon should be the least of the OP worries. If innocent, he does not know when the information was obtained, how, or how much info was lifted.

    I am sure I may have missed a few things, and it may be obvious what the OP should have done since this occurred but it does not hurt to reiterate the urgency to cover all the bases.
  11. Smellyogres New Member

    I came back to the game in Feb 2014 after a long break, I saw the handwriting on the wall with the last expansion. SOE had began distancing themselves from this game when the last round of nerfs and a lackluster expansion. It is truly sad because many would love to come back the the game and play but the customer support for the game is totally gone now it seems. I left in disgust after the last expansion and see no reason to come back now. It is really sad because I was one of those people that DB could have lured back with a modicum of customer support and interest in keeping an 16 year old game with a loyal customer base happy. I'm sorry I will never be back.
  12. FawnTemplar Augur


    Come on Pwnz, do what you do best and argue with them! I am sure there is some way to break them down. In fact, their policy is talking about accidental deletion, not malicious and intentional deletion so really they can't even fall back on that particular policy.
    Elricvonclief likes this.
  13. Pwnography Augur

    Thank you for all your support. I've pleaded with them via petition and messaged Roshen yet again. I'm hoping they will reconsider. I was hacked, phished, or somehow password-guessed. I honestly have no idea. All I know is within hours of the fradulent activity and getting emails about SC purchases I didn't do - I had petitioned with all the information to try to help them catch whoever did this and restore my character. I hate to slap this label on anything, but I am unfortunately a victim here. I've been a loyal Everquest player for a decade and a half, and I've never asked for anything. I always thought customer support would be there if I needed them. They haven't been. The answer I received was they wouldn't help with stolen items -no mention of my deleted character. I'm kind of disgusted right now.

    I feel that I did my duty - I reported it as soon as I woke up and saw the emails about suspicious SC purchases. They took a week and a half to even reply - they didn't take time to find who did this, to stop the items from propogating, et cetera. We don't even have an option to opt out of FV transfers permanently - its almost as if they're encouraging people to steal accounts. There won't be any help to the victim or ramifications to the perpetrator. i ccan't even call someone or live chat like I used to.

    I hope Daybreak staff reads this and decides that maybe our loyalty and dedication means something. That maybe, just maybe, they will help when we need it most. I'm horribly saddened if this is how I depart this game. Please just take the time to go through your logs, recover my character, punish the person and show the community we can still have a little faith in the Everquest team. Roshen hasn't responded to my PM from a couple days ago. This might up being a farewell more than a good news story that Daybreak cares. We'll see. I'm just horribly frustrated.
    Motherlee, Elricvonclief and Hobitses like this.
  14. guado Augur

    Did they use Station Cash that was pre existing or did they purchase Station Cash with the card on file? If it's the latter, that's fraud to the highest degree ... and Daybreak does absolutely nothing? Is that even legal? Certainly not good business practice..... Perhaps tweet or PM Smedly with your ticket number. I know it's annoying to have to fit stuff into 140 characters, but anything at this point is worth trying.

    I'm not saying you have a legal case against Daybreak whatsoever, but the one who took your stuff should be scared out of their minds ... committing fraud, a felony and all..
    Motherlee, Elricvonclief and Hobitses like this.
  15. Roxxors Lorekeeper

    Best thing to do is make it known in public places that this is their CS stance and watch the effect that will have on people considering playing Landmark or EQN...

    I know that if this policy doesn't change I won't be playing any new BDG games that come out in the future, and I was kinda looking forward to EQN too. :(
    Elricvonclief and Glace like this.
  16. Roxxanna Augur

    Maybe we should all start letting them know our displeasure with this situation and start sending pms ourselves, AT THE VERY LEAST RESTORE THE DELETED CHARACTER!
  17. Pwnography Augur

    The TSR that responded again was probably the most impolite customer service rep I've ever dealt with. After my long plea to get my character back, explaining the importance, my petition within hours of being hacked, and so forth... the response I recieved said security was on me, then a link to the 'situations where CS will not intervene' link that says they won't do anything for deleted characters.

    Never in my life have I been so disgusted with a company. I had some of the highest hopes that Daybreak was going to be a breath of fresh air. My posthistory shows me defending them again and again. Turns out, they gut our ability to call or live chat and refuse to help the victims of hacking, phishing, et cetera and throw away the fifteen years of loyalty I've shown and put into this game. These changes weren't made until recently - I remember when those changes came earlier this year. All i see worse service than we've ever seen before. I'm not even sure I can call it service - maybe a callous lack thereod. I can't even begin to explain how disgusted I feel with Daybreak. Ill keep trying to find a way to get through to them that it just isn't alright to casually discard players who are victims of hacking after they've put years, if not decades into their character.

    Whatever the future of Everquest is, its going downhill. Bravo, Daybreak. You've managed to take my favorite hobby and over a year /played on my account and throw me in the trash. More than disappointment, I feel disrespected at this point. Ill update here if anything changes into a good news story, but this may be my farewell. I'd rather not be associated with a company that treats its customers this way. I didn't even get a 'I'm sorry, but...' - just a link and a screw you. Thanks Daybreak.
    Motherlee likes this.
  18. Mayfaire Augur

    I have been coming back to this thread over and over, almost holding my breath in the hopes that you would get good news, Pwnz. My heart is broken for you, and a bit terrified for the rest of us.

    When you play these toons long enough, they become a bit like family, don't they? Or like a beloved pet or a good friend.

    I don't know what else to say, other than I'm really sorry for the loss of your friend. It is tragic that the only people who could help you refuse to do so. Tragic and shameful. I wish you the best, and better treatment than you have received here.
  19. arbre Lorekeeper

    I am very disappointed in DBG's current No-Customer-Service policy. If someone like Pwnz can lose their character this way, any of us can.

    The idea of losing a character I have worked on and played with for almost 15 years is upsetting. That there is no authenticator available to help secure my account is ridiculous. I am rethinking my commitment to this game. While I wait to see if this continues in an unsatisfactory fashion, I am switching to a month to month sub. I do not want to pay another full year in advance for an unsecured product with such a lack of commitment to clients. And I will remove my credit card info, since it is obviously not secure.

    If DBG is so financially strapped that it cannot provide proper customer service to EverQuest, it's time to shut its doors. I love this game, but not enough to know I will be treated so poorly if the worst happens. If this sort of behavior on DBG's part continues, they will lose me and many others.
    Imrahil, Motherlee, Phrovo1 and 2 others like this.
  20. Sasenach Journeyman

    Wow, this is just disheartening. I'm sorry Pwnz. I immediately changed my password when I read your post, but I can't help but think this can happen to us all, and the lack of support you've received thus far from Daybreak is shameful, to say the least.
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