Support & Favoritism

[Dem]

What can I say, support really do suck shit.
They play favoritism at every opportunity that suits them.
We've all heard of people accidentally TT'ing items and them getting the item returned to their inventory, 99% of the time the item was some high-level piece of equipment.
Just so you know, there's obviously a point at which the value of the item lost flags Support to reply with something along the lines of "tough shit, it's your own fault, u TT'd it, u lost it".
Course, if the item is actually worth a fair bit, then for some reason Support reply back with "your mistake has been rectified, the item has been returned to your inventory".

Find below my Support Case [edited: removed threat to MA Support Staff]

Case 74263 History
2006-03-26 [name removed]

Dear Support,

Just now (16:46 UTC) in Twin Peaks auction room I have accidentally TT'd my Alertness Chip, value 0.71, instead of the inserter tool.

Please can you help me to regain this chip.
I had intended to put it onto the auction, and was in a rush to logout, as soon as I clicked accept I realised the horrible mistake.

Regads,

[name removed]

2006-04-07 MindArk Support:
Dear participant,
First of all, we are sorry for the late reply. The workload on support is very high at the moment.
Unfortunately we cannot follow up on your request and replace this item.
Regards,
PE Support

Why can't they "follow up" my request?
I bet if it had been a FoeRipper or Mod FAP they would have managed to "follow up".
Without them supplying any reason for their inability to "follow up" on my request, I can only assume it's because the item I lost isn't worth their time and effort. Either that or they really don't know WTF they are doing, which is equally believable.

It reinforces my belief that my decision to leave the game was the right one.
Thanx Support, you *(&£*)(&^$)_%$ [insert a string of expletives here]

 

[J 'M' N]

I must admit I would have expected more of a reason as to why they couldnt do it.

 

[Euroman]

From what I remember, they put the items in your storage at 0TT value, since you already got the peds from the TT value (At least this is how it was done the few times I know of)

But what do you want with a 0TT value chip.


Know it's kinda shitty - But be happy it was only allertness, and not a full dodge chip or something else like that.


And yes, there is a huge difference between TTing a mod fap by accident and TTing a allertness chip.
Hate me, flame me - But that's how it is.

 

[J 'M' N]

From what I remember, they put the items in your storage at 0TT value, since you already got the peds from the TT value (At least this is how it was done the few times I know of)

If thats the case I guess it makes sence. Still would have been nice to tell him that or replace the GSI I guess.

 

[Tigerman]

How obvious is it that a 5k USD item is spent resources on retreiving, while a 10 USD item isnt, seriously?
Do good customer get treated better than the "occational shopper" in other buisnesses? YES, THEY DO.
If i accidentally TT my outbacko, thats a totally insignificant thing compared to someone TTing for exampel an improved mkII, isnt it?

And no, not all that have done such things have gotten them back...

 

[wanda]

They play favoritism at every opportunity that suits them.

MA? Favouritism? surely not

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=249864&postcount=12

I think its maybe not returnable due to its nature of being an item that can be filled to any level - of course they could check their logs though.

 

[Clifton]

Maybe if you had been a little nicer in your message to them, they would have been more willing to help you out.

 

[kygon]

Maybe if you had been a little nicer in your message to them, they would have been more willing to help you out.

maybe if you had not sold u and just deposted 10k they would have helped.

 

[F1r3]

stupid actually, people who use imk2 or mod/imp fap constantly profit off of mindark
or at least lose much less :f

 

[WedgeGold]

Maybe if you had been a little nicer in your message to them, they would have been more willing to help you out.

Actually, I found the message submitted to Support quite pleasant. The Opinion stated on here about it was a bit rough.


I wonder what the Bribe... I mean... Deposit limit on issues like this.

I think with a response like this, they need to be consistent. No more Item Recovery AT ALL from TT!

 

[SIBUK]

There is another thing to point out remember here and that is this was a chip with skills on it. Maybe if the chip had been an empty generic skill chip they might have been able to give you a new one, maybe they just arnt capable (or willing) to make skills out of thin air. It simply might not be possible to make a skill chip with skills on it :S

 

[wanda]

There is another thing to point out remember here and that is this was a chip with skills on it. Maybe if the chip had been an empty generic skill chip they might have been able to give you a new one, maybe they just arnt capable (or willing) to make skills out of thin air. It simply might not be possible to make a skill chip with skills on it :S

thats what i think the problem is too. I remember having issues with skills in the past and them telling me to knob off, other items they have sorted out.

 

[Dem]

There is another thing to point out remember here and that is this was a chip with skills on it. Maybe if the chip had been an empty generic skill chip they might have been able to give you a new one, maybe they just arnt capable (or willing) to make skills out of thin air. It simply might not be possible to make a skill chip with skills on it :S

Nice thought, but as a qualified programmer I can confidently say it is possible... willingness however is a different matter.

Anyhow, I am not going to pursue this matter with MA (still in dispute over mag subscription), as I don't fancy risking my current PED balance before I have completed the withdrawal process.

I just wondered how other people felt about support and favoritism, hence this thread. & from the various PM's I have got, it would appear Support are inconsistant at best, which raises some serious questions.

 

[Noggin]

Bit harsh definitely, especially seeing as that type of mistake is so easy to make.

I suppose their workload is so high because everyone has to raise at least 2 support cases to get anything done lately. If they concentrated a bit more on sorting the bugs instead of giving us (buggy) features we don't need maybe their workload would be somewhat lighter?

In cases where genuine mistakes are made it would be nice if they'd cooperate. Even if they said "we'll do it in a few days time" that would be a bit easier to take.

I'm pretty sure MA can re-create any item if they need to, but who's to say how much effort goes into it. Obviously their systems haven't been developed with such things in mind.

I still marvel at the way MA generally treat the players, and how much people put up with it. 9 times out of 10 there's a bunch of people who actually defend their scant remarks.

Every time MA support come back with an unsatisfactory answer to a support case, ask yourself this: "If I were running this business, how would I deal with my problem?"

In this case, I'm pretty sure I'd say "Sorry, skill chips are extremely difficult to re-create, and we're sorry for your loss. Unfortunately we cannot retrieve this item for you. We have placed 2 Generic Skill Implants in your storage which should hopefully go some way to making up for it."

Can't help? Offer an alternative -- or at least something which means you don't lose all your money. You can't argue with that, and I doubt it takes much effort. It's all about being reasonable, which I find MA support, or for that matter MA in general rarely are.

As for this 'favouritism' thing, I'm not sure that's the case. I think it's more about consistency. They have policies and procedures for certain things, but anything else is completely inconsistent. I very much doubt that when MA answer support questions they don't necessarily look at how "important" you are to them before answering them. This in itself would take effort and we all know how much they dislike doing things if they don't have to!

 

[spod]

I wonder what the Bribe... I mean... Deposit limit on issues like this.

all I know is once you have deposited over $5k, support are very polite about telling you there is nothing they can do about it

 

[NetStalker]

Noggin, all tho I find your ideas intriguing about giving a couple of GSI's back, I begin to wonder if that type of precedent would not be abused.

Example;

Geez, i have put my alertness chip in auction for three straight 7 day cycles, no one bought it. hmmmmmm if i TT it then at least i will get 2 GSI's back if I whine enough to support, and the going rate for them is pretty good.

So, my point is that whether its TT food, or MOD fap, because of the varying value of all items, its tough to come up with an answer that fits all problems in this case.

I am of the belief that if you screwed up then you screwed up.

My solution would be that all items that were not normally tt food anyway, when they were tt'd they would go to the loot pool in the next 24 hours.

that way at least someone gets a chance back at getting a mod fap that some poor sap lost.

just some thoughts.

 

[Noggin]

Noggin, all tho I find your ideas intriguing about giving a couple of GSI's back, I begin to wonder if that type of precedent would not be abused.

Example;

Geez, i have put my alertness chip in auction for three straight 7 day cycles, no one bought it. hmmmmmm if i TT it then at least i will get 2 GSI's back if I whine enough to support, and the going rate for them is pretty good.

So, my point is that whether its TT food, or MOD fap, because of the varying value of all items, its tough to come up with an answer that fits all problems in this case.

I am of the belief that if you screwed up then you screwed up.

My solution would be that all items that were not normally tt food anyway, when they were tt'd they would go to the loot pool in the next 24 hours.

that way at least someone gets a chance back at getting a mod fap that some poor sap lost.

just some thoughts.

Hehe yeah interesting idea about the stuff going into the loot pool!

My example was merely for this case -- I think most support matters have to be judged case by case. Even if MA were seen to be even a little more helpful (1 GSI?), people would be more forgiving.

The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of their favouritism and inconsitencies could be cleared up by being a bit more helpful in general. People don't mind inconsistency as much if they're treated fairly. You can never please all the people all of the time, but MA seem to be pleasing very few, especially when it comes to support.

If you raise your support case with a 'tude, and demand things, I can see that MA wouldn't be so helpful. Most people are polite, and get very little help in general. Given the fact that people probably wouldn't bring the subject up in public so much if there was a bit more professionalism, I think you wouldn't see this "favouritism" argument crop up so often.

I think as a community we ask very little from MA, but they deliver even less.

 

[Starfinder]

Ive TT'ed an ML35 and a Fap50.. both returned with 0 PED TT value..
But the point here is that prehaps they find it "silly" to return a chip since its whats on the chip that matters.. Who knows exactly how it works.. Prehaps person X's skills are better than person Y's... who knows.. anywho..

My items were returned.. but then again.. sometimes it helps to have MA ppl on ones messenger list..

 

[Tigerman]

stupid actually, people who use imk2 or mod/imp fap constantly profit off of mindark
or at least lose much less :f

Actually 100% WRONG.
If anyone profit, its not off MA, but off other players. If you deposit 10k USD to buy armor and weapons, then thats income to MA. If those 10k USD turn into 15k USD.. well, its only moving money from the ones that lose to those who profit...

 

[Dorsai]

Support and Favoritism.

As I work in a customer facing job, I can say that I do exibit favoritism.

If a person who has not spent any money with the company I work for comes in, with demands that I "rectify" a problem, they have a small (zero) chance of success.

If a person who I know does spend money with my company comes in, and politly asks for help, I help.

After all, there is nothing in my contract that says I have to help.
All I have to do is my job, and giving company money away is not in my job description.

Keeping good customers return business is expected.
Losing the business of a person who has no history of spending money with my employer costs nothing, as they have no history of giving us their money to start with.

A new customer is up to me to convert to a repeat customer.

Not all new contacts can be converted into a customer, and not all customers can be converted in to repeat customers.

It's all about %'s.

If your conversion rate is an ok %, you are doing it right.

my

Forget the reeason I am posting.

 

[Xen]

Actually 100% WRONG.
If anyone profit, its not off MA, but off other players. If you deposit 10k USD to buy armor and weapons, then thats income to MA. If those 10k USD turn into 15k USD.. well, its only moving money from the ones that lose to those who profit...

Actually, if you deposit $10k USD, or any amount, to buy anything from someone else, that money just goes from you to someone else, not to MA. If it is left in the game and not withdrawn, MA might collect interest on it, and it increases the money in game that MA is able to boast about, but that's it, and only if it's not withdrawn.

As for people hunting with imp mk II's, maybe mod mercs, etc., it depends on how the system works. If MA has it set up so that everyone is supposed to get say 80% return <pause for laughter>... then those hunters are taking money from MA. If there is just a general loot pool based on money taken in from hunting, then those hunters are just taking a much larger share of that loot pool money and other hunters are losing more than they would if not for those hunters.

 

[Mikah]

I don't see why people are surprised by this, what did you expect, for them to give you the chip back... ? C'mon, we know better and should be more careful when tting something, especially something that has alot of value.


You have to drag the item into the trade terminal, then click accept, and then confirm, how can you fail to see this and just TT the item without coming to realize that it was a chip?

Maybe it's because I avoid at all costs to TT stuff or perhaps i'm too cautious, but MA's response is the kind of response they give to hundreds of players out there, it's no surprise. Next time, be more careful what you TT, regardless of how tired you are, TTing something it's not just one click away, you always have a chance to repent at the last moment.

Regarding favoritism, I won't comment on it, since I don't know what goes on behind closed doors.

 

[MistyDawn]

C'mon, we know better and should be more careful when tting something, especially something that has alot of value.


You have to drag the item into the trade terminal, then click accept, and then confirm, how can you fail to see this and just TT the item without coming to realize that it was a chip?

When you're tired and on the telephone it is kinda easy to tt things by mistake. I was slightly distracted and as peds were low I was selective in what got repaired, been in and out of Trade Terminal and Repair Terminal trying to work out what needed repairing most and how much peds for ammo I would be left with.
Cut to the end.....I bought some ammo then chucked items (Neme/Vigi, FAP-50 and Merc) into what I thought was repair window, clicked once was hovering the mouse over Confirm when realised what I was doing

but as for a chip, dunno, it wasn't me

 

[Morg]

Actually, if you deposit $10k USD, or any amount, to buy anything from someone else, that money just goes from you to someone else, not to MA.

I havent deposited in awhile (not sure what recent % they take), but last I counted 3.5% of $10,000 is quite a bit of profit....for doing nothing.

Not to mention the $ made off the interest as it sits in an interst bearing account until it is withdrawn from the game.

edit: the add in the % they take when you withdraw.... = quite a bit of $ going to MA.

 

[MistyDawn]

I havent deposited in awhile (not sure what recent % they take), but last I counted 3.5% of $10,000 is quite a bit of profit....for doing nothing.

This 3.5% doesn't go into MA's pocket, when you use a merchant account the card processor charges you a fee, whoever you are, even major supermarkets. Stores factor this cost into the retail price but MA is slightly different so they just deduct it at time of deposit.

The more you process the lower the fee but MA also have their own admin cost which will be taken from this.