So subscribed for year, terminated auto-renewal - no SC cash?!

I still believe it's a bit phony to force people to be required to have their card details on SOE's servers. They've been compromised once, it'll happen again and I will support anyone who chooses to remove billing information (like I do) in order to keep themselves secure. SOE should grant the 500SC to people who are on longer plans and do not actually cancel. I mean, as long as SOE's getting the cash then it's no big deal.

I understand the intent is to give people an incentive to subscribe-and-forget, but that doesn't change the fact that the practice is counter to customer security.

I use mastercard prepaid cards for membership to the game, so at some point my first one will run out, if I switch it before the next billing cycle does that mean I still opt out for monthly 500c because I switched the cards up? :/

If you switch cards, it shouldn't effect the monthly station cash bonus

Gambles, on one of the pages (I believe the one the original poster linked) it says on the bottom that if you cancel or have something change with your payment method before the 30-days after you cancel/run-out you'll continue to receive the benefits un-interrupted. I too have gone down the pre-paid route before and if my subscription is scheduled to renew on say 12/1 and I don't get a new pre-paid card until the following week I'm still going to continue right where I left off (assuming the 30-days haven't passed).

I understand people having trust issues and worried about financial information and such, and I understand that the wording on multiple pages relating to SOE purchases are sketchy... but you need to use your brain and do a little critical thinking. If you do anything on the internet related to finances... it's stored somewhere. If you purchased a subscription and then canceled it, they have a record of the purchase (address, card number, e-mail, account name, etc.) somewhere so removing your credit info from your account really isn't going to make a lick of difference. SOE has my account info, my billing info, and probably my blood-type thanks to the Beta Opt sign-up... and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Best of luck on the field soldiers!

The benefits that section applies to are the membership benefits ( increased XP gain etc ) . The 500 Station Cash bonus isn't a membership benefit , it is an incentive to retain a recurring subscription with SOE .
So yes , as you say , the membership benefits continue for that if you resubscribe within 30 days of your last period .

Card data doesn't need to be in a place where it's front-facing. Even if the transaction is closed, that data is still removed from a number of other "points of access" which makes it more difficult to get it.

Just because you have two copies of your SSN with your mother's maiden name, one in the street, one on file with your financial institution, doesn't mean you should leave the ones in the street.

And again nowhere on that page does it link the 500SC with a recurring plan - just like the other pages the OP showed you.
It's all very well saying that 'other' pages might make this clear, but if those aren't on the path through to purchasing then they're pretty immaterial.
It would be like putting the T&Cs on a page somewhere not linking to the 'purchase' page and expecting players who buy things to have somehow found that page. If I am in-game and from the store click 'membership' there is no information given that the 500SC is a bonus for recurring payments: it is stated that you get 500SC every month.

I have escalated your concerns with the website to the appropriate departments and it's very likely the wording will change. I'm sorry that you feel it is currently misleading and I would be happy to process a refund for your subscription if you are unhappy with the way our recurring promo works. Unfortunately this is a billing issue and these are technical forums, if you want to proceed with the refund I will need you to submit a ticket and PM me the reference number. Because this is not a tech issue I am having this thread locked, and I advise you proceed with this issue through our ticketing system.

Quick lock the thread because it makes perfect sense.

On topic. I sincerely hope this guy gets his full refund of all 12 months or the station cash credited.
Sony clearly failed to state that its only if you keep a subscription to automatically review and thus are not providing people with what it currently states. 500SC each month purchased. 12 months purchased 6000 station cash. No where does it mention auto renewing.

Alex these forums are labeled "Account and Billing Support"

I have to say this stance is the wrong way to go, both from a customer service point of view and also for the company's own best interests. An active subscription should be an active subscription. If you pre-pay for an entire year, that's like auto-renewing up front for the entire year in the first place. SOE is getting 12 guaranteed months of auto-renew subscription out of that player - that's a best case scenario for the company right there compared to the average player for any F2P game ... so why should these players be penalized for it by losing out on 5000+ SC? It will just upset your most dedicated fans, and discouraging people from buying a year long subscription is not in the best interest of the business, either... especially if it is because of a company policy that seems to be hoping for people to forget to shut off their auto-renew for a month or two after they stop playing.

Welp, that's pretty ****** of them regardless if it says so or not.

well sorry the benefit from sub says 500 SC / month. Nothing about having to keep renew on.

10€ for ONLY 25% xp/resources boost is a plain RIPOFF!

This is totally illogical because he can just cancel his subscription on the 11th month, yet he's still recieved 11 months of SC.

Just give the man his SC that he's paid for!

Thanks for all the support. I am still waiting for a response to the support ticket I submitted yesterday, hopefully that will bring some resolution in my case. As VictoryTR says, its illogical, and as I and many people have also pointed out, the wording is totally misleading, so SOE really must step up and make it clear as soon as possible.

6000SC is 60$ - the price of the 12 months subscription is $120. Without the SC bonus, that's $10/m JUST for an XP boost and priority login (which lets face it will be worthless after the first month). Humm... doesn't seem at all good value now. $10/m for an XP boost? ouch!

I do wonder if there has been some miss-communication within SOE because I can only imagine that the $10/m was meant to include the 500 SC.

Anyway, I eagerly await a favourable response to my support ticket.

Well as I post, I got a response from support. Unfortunately the response was useless as it didn't seem to understand the actual issue being reported. It simply quoted the paragraph at the bottom of the web page I linked (which does not mention auto-renew)

Sigh. You just can't get the staff these days. :/ I will soldier on.

after all this they still have not updated the Mebership page to reflect that you only get it if you stay fully renewed regardless of how much you pay each month.

http://www.planetside2.com/shop?buy=membership

and there is a sticky that still has not been updated either. They are clearly putting it off to allow more people to fall into the trap.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/planetside-2-memberships.47099/

I really do think that the intention was to award 500 SC each month as a membership benefit, and not as a bonus for keeping subscription on auto-renew.

When the benefits were being discussed in beta, with the beta players, I don't remember seeing auto-renew mentioned there either, but I could be wrong as I only gave the thread a cursory look.

I can't see how anyone can think that paying $15 per month just for an XP boost, early access to something or other, and queue priority is good value for money, it only makes sense if the 500 SC each month is a benefit of membership and therefore not subject to the auto-renewal requirement.

It needs to be looked at certainly.

Personaly i thought the 500 were another extra for staying subbed.
Since the PS sub says 500 / month, i'd expect to get 500 if i subbed for a month.

And i would also think it would be logicial to get our SC right away since anyway we paid for it ...

Still awaiting a response to my query from support.

@j_smedley said something on twitter about the issue but it made no sense at all to me:

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/272810502214778880