My Struggle With MA Support

[AA Omega]

Hello EntropiaForum!

First off, I'd like to start with saying that I am very upset, but I'll try to keep this as civil as possible.

About a month ago, on June 30, I sent MindArk support a support ticket. I had given an innacurate birthdate when starting my account. I understood that normal policy was that they did not alter account info for any reason, and I expected to wait a few days for a usual support drone response "We are sorry to inform you, you are SoL, Kind Regards, blah blah", but I figured I may as well give it a shot, what did I have to lose?

I will leave out my initial ticket, as it contains personal information.

Fairly quickly, (I was happy with the time it took to respond, it seems to have improved since last time I had a support issue. Good job to MA there) I got back a response, it read:

Hi,

Unfortunately, we can not update the birth date on your account. What we recommend, in your case, is that you create a new account and transfer all your items and skills into the new account. As soon as you are done, you can request to terminate this account, since you are only allowed to own one active account.

Kind regards,
Entropia Universe Support

I was a little upset, but it was to be expected. I wasn't about to give up though, I've put a lot of time into my avatar and wasn't about to give everything up. I sent back:

Hello,

As I mentioned, I have been a participant in the Entropia Universe for 3 years now. In this time, I have built a reputation I am very proud of in the entropian community. I have made many many friends. I have a society I enjoy very much and am very proud to be a part of.

It would be fair to say that I am very attached to my avatar, Omega Omega Recrium. Starting a new avatar would mean losing my reputation, my friends list, my society, all social aspects of the game I would have to restart from scratch. This is out of the question for me. On top of this, I would lose teleports, attributes, 10% of skills, ESI costs of chipping out, etc.

If it comes down to having to start completely over, I don't think I would take that option. I am not going to start over so I can start investing with a feeling of security. Surely there is some way you can change the birth date given the circumstances?

Loyal Customer,
****** (Edited out, RL name)
Omega Omega Recrium

Again, fairly quickly, they gave me back:

Hi,

We understand your point of view and, if it was possible, we would change your birth date. However, for security reasons, the system will not allow us to update it.

Creating a new avatar is the best way we can recommend for you to continue enjoying the Entropia Universe experience preventing any future problems. This because should you have any issues that require to verify your id we would be unable to assist you.

Thank you for understanding.

Kind regards,
Entropia Universe Support

Now notice, this is the second time they have recommended I transfer over to a new account. They made it clear that the system will not allow them to change info, so logically, I asked to be put in contact with someone who did have that power:

Hello,

Thanks for clearing up that you are unable to change it. If you at support aren't able to change it, you must at least be able to put me in contact with somebody who can? Maybe somebody higher up in the support department, or somebody else? Surely there is somebody able to do this.

It would be a great deal of help if you could move my support case on up to that person, or at least give me contact information?

Thank you for all the help,

******* (Edited again, RL name)
Omega Omega Recrium

Here they responded, again fairly quickly, with a slightly more personalized response, which pretty much says "You read the importance of giving accurate account information in the EULA when starting, you still registered with innacurate info, and as we have said it is not possible to change anything, Kind Regards"

I was a bit upset now, they didn't answer my question at all, just repeated themselves, I sent:

Hello,

I understand it is not possible for the support department to change my birth date. But there must be someone who can. How do I get in contact with them?

Thank-you,
****** (RL Name)

Under an hour later, they gave me this crap:

Hi ******,

According to the established rules, we at MindArk PE AB can not update the birth date once the account has been created.

Unfortunately we have no further information about this matter and can not add anymore to the subject. We will therefore close this case. We have informed the design team about your feelings on this matter and your remarks will be included in the general evaluation.

Kind regards,
Entropia Universe Support

...And just like they said - they closed the case. They couldn't even put me in contact with someone who could help. WTF MA?!

All this happened in about 3 days time.

This is where I remembered reading when the new head of the support department, Lina Larsson, posted on EF about taking up the position, and gave an e-mail to reach her at and instructions on how to do so. So I found the thread, and sent her an e-mail.

I don't have this e-mail anymore, but essentially it roughly explained the situation at hand, gave her the support ticket #, and asked her to look over it. This was sent on July 1.

I waited about 1-2 weeks for a reply, but nothing came. So I started to transfer everything over to a new account I made. I made a name very similar to my old one, and moved PED and items over. I have been, since that was finished, trying to meet up with FL members before requesting the old account be deleted. I figured starting over could be an ok experience, and although I wasn't happy about it (I was still pissed, and would much rather have my old account's info made accurate), I had already been sitting around for 2 or more weeks doing nothing all day, so I got bored, and figured I would never get a response and it was a dead cause.

On July 28, I finally got a response, much to my surprise. An e-mail notification showed up telling me my support case had been modified. So I ran over, without high hopes, to see what Lina had said (Finally person-to-person support!). To my surprise, she told me something could be done after all!

Here is what I recieved:

Dear ******,

I have received your email and I can see that you have been giving (I assume this means "given")incorrect information in this support case. Probably since it is a question we do not receive so often but now the support team has now been better informed of the policy. You have my apologies for the confusion.

It is possible to update your date of birth. To do this you follow the steps here on this page as for changing the account holder name: http://www.planetcalypso.com/suppor...ccount-maintenance/i-registered-my-account-w/

There is some paperwork to do but I think it is worth it so that you have accurate info on your account.

I wish you a nice day.

Yours sincerely,

Lina Larsson
Customer Support Director
Entropia Universe Support

At first I was very excited! Woohoo, I'm getting my ava back, right? Then I realised something. The past month has been wasted transferring avatar gear and friends, waiting for support replies, etc.

The skills I chipped out (granted, I was never uber), cost me near 300 PED TT of ESIs (at ~900%), a 10% skill loss, other decays, some auction fees, etc....

So I read through her notice again, and realised just how pissed off I was about this.

Here:

I have received your email and I can see that you have been giving (Again, I assume this means "given")incorrect information in this support case. Probably since it is a question we do not receive so often but now the support team has now been better informed of the policy. You have my apologies for the confusion.

WHAT?!?!? You're kidding? I am very happy with how helpful Lina's response was, but an APOLOGY? For a month of wasted efforts (and now moving everything back), all the expenses (quite a large portion of my account value), all because the support department didn't know about MindArk's policy on this?!? And not only did they not know - they repeatedly told me the wrong information, which I then followed their advice, and undertook all of the expenses entailing that. I was willing to accept these expenses, as registering the account information inaccurately was initially my fault.

But I think this repeated uselessness of MA support, the innacurate answers, the faulty suggestions, the lack of knowledge of the policies that is their JOB to work with... I just have no words to describe how big a demonstration of incompetence this is.

To top it off - Lina waited 4 weeks to get back to me and tell me that I was given, and was acting based upon, faulty information.

I haven't yet responded, I think I will wait to cool off before expressing just how I feel in words.

Sorry to go on, I guess the point of this all is - I believe some serious compensation is in order to cover what it cost me to follow their bad instructions. This wasn't just not being helpful on MA's side as usual, but actual faulty information that put a big gaping hole in my time and PED card.

What do you guys think?

Cheers!
~Omega


Also, on a bit of a side note, I know many have had to start over for innacurate info before, this is a link I personally didn't know about that may help many, it was in Lina's response to me:

http://www.planetcalypso.com/suppor...ccount-maintenance/i-registered-my-account-w/

 

[Legion]

wall of text

I understand your situation, but also it's vacation times in sweden at the moment so that is probably the long responce time.

 

[Chery Lady]

wow lol, this was crazy ;DD
have nothing more to say lmao!

 

[AA Omega]

Hehe, sorry about the super-long text

Every "support sucks" thread I have read, the general consensus has been "Show us the back-and-forth so we know u r fur realz", so there it is

Cheers, and thanks for the replies,
~Omega

EDIT:

I understand your situation, but also it's vacation times in sweden at the moment so that is probably the long responce time.

I knew that at the time, I remember marco mentioning them leaving on the 18th of June, I assumed that Lina Larsson may be gone as well, which is why i waited a couple of weeks before beginning the transfer

 

[Cani Ostro]

Why does only head of support know such things?

On the other side of things, I wonder if its ok that personal data what is stored is not fully displayed on your account side.

Think in Germany some "Datenschutzbeauftragter" would be pretty upset about this handling with personal information.

I will request MA Support to submit all personal data that is stored for my avatar, see what happens.

 

[HardWrath]

If what you say is true, cases like this are why we need an advisory board of people elected by EU participants. I could have told you on the spot that it’s possible to change that information, many people could have told you that.

With that advisory board both you and MindArk would not be in such a precarious situation.

 

[AA Omega]

I will request MA Support to submit all personal data that is stored for my avatar, see what happens.

Good idea mate,
Turns out all that is needed to verify the change of information on the form they gave me (see the link above) is a photocopy of a government issued ID and a utility bill sent to the adress listed in your account info to verify it is you, as well as the gold card serial # if you have a gold card.

A lot simpler than originally implied, eh?

I've uploaded both of these required scans to my computer, but I'm not sure how I'm going to reply yet.

If what you say is true, cases like this are why we need an advisory board of people elected by EU participants. I could have told you on the spot that it’s possible to change that information, many people could have told you that.

With that advisory board both you and MindArk would not be in such a precarious situation.

Everyone I talked to ingame told me that most likely support would not be able to help and I would ultimately have to start over. MA should really work on informing their employees and their customers of their policies, methinks.

As for the advisory board, don't want to get involved in that, already being discussed very thoroughly in the proper thread.

Cheers,
Omega

 

[Borr]

Support should always be able to give out information about escalating an issue. Lina, more work for you!

 

[dj.]

Wow, well done for not giving up!

Although, its a bit of a mess now

I hope you get this resolved sooner rather than later

 

[Johned]

What a mess, hopefully you can get it all sorted out. Isn't it strange suppport suggests making the second avatar which is against the eula.

 

[AA Omega]

What a mess, hopefully you can get it all sorted out. Isn't it strange suppport suggests making the second avatar which is against the eula.

Thanks mate,

They did say that after making the second one, I should transfer everything over and have the old one deleted. I know thats been done in the past, so who knows. But then, everything about this crap hand dealt is a bit strange imo.

Cheers!
~Omega

 

[Mercury]

If only there were some sort of committee...

 

[AA Omega]

If only there were some sort of committee...

Thats for another thread mate

Really dont want this to turn into a comitee/govt argument like every other thread circulating atm

 

[Mercury]

Thats for another thread mate

Really dont want this to turn into a comitee/govt argument like every other thread circulating atm

lol I know m8 but I'm posting it in all threads where it could have helped IF it existed.

 

[Deleted member 23278]

hmm i have always found support to very good..

I had made 2 errors on my information and 1 was the date of birth.. they asked me to send ID so i did and they changed without any problems atall with very quick responses as they always have done.. sorry that you had problems

 

[jjmatrix]

...I knew that at the time, I remember marco mentioning them leaving on the 18th of June, I assumed that Lina Larsson may be gone as well, which is why i waited a couple of weeks before beginning the transfer...

I have another suggestion about how to handle this kind of an issue: it's a feature that every e-mail system has, and it's called "Out of the office"!!

You enable the option, and the system sends an automatic reply:"Hi... I'm currently in vacation etc... and I'll respond to your e-mail upon my return on this date".

Very unprofessional if you ask me; being on vacation is NEVER an excuse for not answering e-mails.

 

[Johned]

I have another suggestion about how to handle this kind of an issue: it's a feature that every e-mail system has, and it's called "Out of the office"!!

You enable the option, and the system sends an automatic reply:"Hi... I'm currently in vacation etc... and I'll respond to your e-mail upon my return on this date".

Very unprofessional if you ask me; being on vacation is NEVER an excuse for not answering e-mails.

I got an out of office email from an FPC employee just yesterday when I sent them a message. It inlcuded an alternative way to contact someone if it was an emergency.

I am not sure why hers was not set, but I have had problems with mine in the past where it was set and did not work as it should have. Sometimes technology happens

 

[jenny ferr]

I will request MA Support to submit all personal data that is stored for my avatar, see what happens.

you will get all the data they have as it's a law in Sweden you can request all info about you as a person once a year for free from any company/authority so if they dont, pm me and I find you the official form you could need. (I assume this is also so for foreign people, at least within "rl" EU)

 

[jjmatrix]

...Sometimes technology happens

Agreed; that's why we have IT departments, and that's why we test things before hand. Where I work, people get fired (whomever was at fault) for not leaving things in order before leaving for vacation.

For a company making millions of dollars it's not acceptable; again, it's unprofessional.

It might not seem like a big issue for many, but in reality it is; with today's technology... "if there's a will, there's a way". Unfortunately, in today's business world, only companies engaged in a competing market sees things that way; producing/selling comparable products leave one thing to make a difference: customer service.

 

[Beki]

lol I know m8 but I'm posting it in all threads where it could have helped IF it existed.

The mythical committee could not have got anywhere any faster using the routine support channels. Why on earth would anyone pass over responsibility for dealing with support for their own personal problems to a bloody committee anyway? Unless you are suggesting the committee has direct access to the support management then this is just plainly not true.

apologies for the off topic slant

 

[AA Omega]

The mythical committee could not have got anywhere any faster using the routine support channels. Why on earth would anyone pass over responsibility for dealing with support for their own personal problems to a bloody committee anyway? Unless you are suggesting the committee has direct access to the support management then this is just plainly not true.

apologies for the off topic slant

As much as I agree with this statement - I ask again that we please not let this fall to a committee argument.

Whether or not a committee would have helped is 100% irrellevant to the support issues that have happened for the past month.

Thanks,
Omega

 

[Brooklyn]

Hehe, sorry about the super-long text

I knew that at the time, I remember marco mentioning them leaving on the 18th of June, I assumed that Lina Larsson may be gone as well, which is why i waited a couple of weeks before beginning the transfer

Legion forgot to tell you we in Sweden oficilly get and normally take 4-6week vacations highest in Europe...

If I remember correctly the support team is in Mexico

​

It sounds to me as if the birthday thing is quite rare and with hundreds, if not thousand of support cases filed each day from arroound the world... there is a and has to be a fixed protocol... that is difficult to get around... that is similar in most companies... try dealing with Mircosoft... or a web provider.

It's always good to go out of the line of command when dealing with a specific and very unique issue... as the lower levels are not geared, nor should they be, to handling such requests...

While you have solved you problem and MA has set up new protocal to deal with the issue... you have now created a nightmare for Lina as every numbnut on this forum will make her their complaint department...

 

[AA Omega]

While you have solved you problem and MA has set up new protocal to deal with the issue... you have now created a nightmare for Lina as every numbnut on this forum will make her their complaint department...

Good - maybe it'll teach her to look at her inbox more than once monthly? If I'm forced to learn an expensive lesson than she should too methinks

As for setting up new protocol to deal with the issue - she made it sound (at least in my interpretation) as though this was already an option, just the support department wasn't even aware of one of MindArk's own policies before answering my support ticket. This is very troubling to me.

Not to mention the massive expenses and time i put into following their innacurate advice, which was then left to be followed blindly for a month, I feel I deserve compensation, and an apology, at the very least.

Thanks for your input,
Omega

 

[Fishface]

Well I'm used to MA support not being exactly helpful, but geez, don't shoot me in the foot. How much did they end up costing you?

 

[AA Omega]

Well I'm used to MA support not being exactly helpful, but geez, don't shoot me in the foot. How much did they end up costing you?

~300 PED TT of ESIs (bought at 800-900%), 10% of all skills loaded onto those ESIs, some auction fees. Quite a bit thats for sure. Which is why I'm so upset here. I'm certainly not a high-value account, and this adds up to a decent portion of my total worth, but several hundred USD lost to a screw-up by a so-called "professional" company is enough to piss off most here I'd think.

Cheers,
Omega

 

[Brooklyn]

Not to mention the massive expenses and time i put into following their innacurate advice, which was then left to be followed blindly for a month, I feel I deserve compensation, and an apology, at the very least.

Omega

So how much did it really cost you?

Should have got your birthday right the first time and how much did fixing your error cost MA in time attention and expenses... probably a wash or loss on MA part....

On second thought

They should charge a 500 ped fee... for fixing these kind of client fuck-ups...

I'll write a support case... don't want the committee.... taking up hours of filtering...

 

[MoFo]

Its just too bad you are having to go though all this, MA need too work on things like this to help people if they have info problems. If they can help people who have problems with there ava names i'm sure they should be able too do something bout a Birth date. They need to pull there finger out and change what they are doing or they will lose some of there members.

I'm sure MA don't want to lose members because that means they will be losing money.

 

[SuperKanjo]

At first it was you're own mistake, you are clearly informed when you sign up that you need to fill in the correct info. So don't blame MA for the mistake you made first.

Second, the response from MA isn't really satisfying. You didn't just gave up and you even send an email to the chief of the support dept. It took a while before you got an answer but you could have expected that, as you said earlier that you were pleasantly suprised by the quick response on the first support cases you filed.

Why did you start to chip out already when you didn't got an response to you're email at that point? Sure, it took long for them to respond but if i would have been in you're situation i would have send the same email after 2 weeks no response, and the week after again, and again ......... Might even would have picked up the phone if it was really important to me.

Again the communications weren't really smooth from MA's side but the initial mistake was done by you.

 

[MoFo]

At first it was you're own mistake, you are clearly informed when you sign up that you need to fill in the correct info. So don't blame MA for the mistake you made first.

People make mistakes every day its the way of life but still this is a small mistake and he asked for the help to fix it. Yes not all mistakes can be fixed but something as small as this should be able to be fixed as soon as someone ask's for it to be.

 

[AA Omega]

People make mistakes every day its the way of life but still this is a small mistake and he asked for the help to fix it. Yes not all mistakes can be fixed but something as small as this should be able to be fixed as soon as someone ask's for it to be.

Thanks Kelly for pointing this out. The difficulty of fixing my account information is near 0. 30 seconds of someone in an office's time.

I am glad that they have the form that needs to be filled out though - and require proof that you really are who you say you are - for account security. I understand that I was the one who gave innacurate info when creating my account. But really, MA blew this way past what it should have been with their own lack of knowledge for their own policies, and this incompetence ended up costing me a pretty penny, and a month of my time.