Customer what?

I am a fangurl. Not a fangirl... an actual honest to goodness fangurl. I know this. I admit it freely. I make sure that everyone knows that my opinion is severely biased.

That being said, however, I can point out when SOE drops the ball. There are things I find disappointing in game here and there. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the Arasai... I thought they could have made them something other than carbon copies of Fae. I'm not entirely overjoyed at the heavy emphasis on questing in RoK. It isn't that I don't like to quest, but I'd prefer to have other options of advancement that are just as viable, and currently there aren't. I'm not loving the lag issues.

None of these things are really deal breakers for me, though. They're annoyances but I can deal with them, because all of the amazing things they've done with the game are offsetting these problems for me. I can wait it out til they get things fine tuned.

My problem isn't with the game.

My problem is with customer service. I try to give CS the benefit of the doubt. I really do. It's a hard, thankless job. You deal with so many people a day that it's ridiculous and when you go home you want NO ONE to even look at you let alone talk to you.

I get it.

I can even see how it applies to email if I squint and hop on one foot and sorta tilt my head to the left. Really. I try hard to sympathize with how crappy a job it is to be a CS rep for any company let alone a company like SOE that supports several different games. Also, let's face it. Gamers aren't always the easiest of people with whom to get along. We just aren't. We're picky, we're demanding, we have major OCD issues, and we want things a certain way. Most of us are also smart enough that we can't really be placated with nice words and soothing tones of voice. We want results. And by gods we want them NOW.

All the same...

My current dealings with CS at SOE are leaving a less than pleasant feeling in the air. As a matter of fact there is a distinct aroma of brimstone and some rather noticeable puffs of smoke around my apartment. I'm irate. Not even mildly annoyed. Flat out irritated in bad ways. At this point I am no longer inclined to be understanding. I am, however, going to use my nice words.

The issue is my displayed account age when I type /played in game. It's a small and rather insignificant thing. It really only affects my vet rewards. However, since I've been playing this game since beta... It matters to me.

I sent my original ticket in... about a month ago now. I politely explained the issue, suggested that perhaps it had something to do with me hopping servers at some point, and asked what could be done to correct the problem.

I got the "we've received the petition email" and then... nothing. I think to myself, no big, my problem isn't major and they have people with actual problems that are severely affecting their game play.

I pulled my ticket back up to check it out and see if they'd done anything at all with it, as I haven't had the follow up email that tells me they've looked at it or responded or anything at all... It's marked solved. I beg your pardon, but my problem is not solved. A few deep breaths and I go ahead and read the responses. In game support can't deal with your problem, okay makes sense. CS dude says there is nothing I can do without first confirming your identity. Well alright... And there's a list. A long frelling list at that. They want the last four digits of the original credit card I used to activate the account, the account registration key off the dvd's, my station name, my real name, my email address, and the answer to my security question.

None of this is really all that bad... Except that they went in and closed the ticket without ever having followed up. There's this tin can response and boom closed and done.

I don't think so.

So now I'm a little irked. I start a new ticket referencing the old one. I restate my problem, add in the fact that I now have a further problem with the way that things were handled. I don't appreciate being blown off, even if my problem isn't a major deal, without the least bit of acknowledgement that you'd looked at my ticket. That's just rude.

I provide the requested information with two exceptions. The original credit card and the security question. I explained that I couldn't give them the original credit card number used to activate the account because I wasn't still using that card for the account and I couldn't remember which of my cards I had used to start it up or if I still even HAD said card. So that was out of the question. The security question... Well, great. I'd be happy to answer it. What is the question? I don't remember what I chose as the security question. I didn't write it down. It's there if I need to change something. Are you honestly suggesting that I go tracking this down to give you the answer when you can pull it up and ask me the question? Please. Get real. Ask me the question and I'll answer it. But since you can't be bothered to at least notify me that you've seen my ticket and answered me, requiring further information I won't run around doing your job for you.

This time I got a response within a day. Imagine that.

Unfortunately, the response was less than encouraging and really did nothing to help the downward spiral my opinion of CS was taking.

I got the same response about in game support not being able to help. Again, understandable and no issue. The problem was the response from the CS person.

Thanks for contacting us and just so you know, your bank has to keep your credit card information for 5-7 years, so ask them for it. Also, we need your registration key. Let us know if you need any more help.

....

Yeah. Fortunately, my first response to this was lost to the world of automatically generated emails to which one cannot respond. Oh, but would you look at that? Go back to my ticket and not only is it open, but so is the one before it. Interesting. I can add a comment.

I added a comment. Given my state of mind at the time, I was as polite as I could manage to be. I didn't swear. I didn't yell. But I did point out that there was clearly a lack of reading at all or a lack of comprehension of what was being read.

I let the CSR know that if he had read my petition which was quoted below for his convenience he would see that I couldn't give him the credit card information he wanted because I didn't know which card I had used and I wouldn't be giving him four years worth of credit card information in the hopes that one of them was correct and that the original hadn't been long since cancelled.

I also pointed out that in the petition below, which was once again quoted for his reading pleasure, I had given said registration key from the dvd case of my original collector's edition version of EQ2.

I further went on to explain, again, what my issue was since we obviously had either not read that or fully comprehended what the problem was. Which is quite simply that my account was activated on Nov 11, 2004 and my first character, who is my main and is still played and has never been rerolled EVER, was created on this date. However, her /played shows her creation date as June somethingorother, 2006. Which is a dramatically different date. This is what I want corrected.

I do admit to a rather high level of snarkiness at this point. I know this because I then went on to request that my petition be thoroughly read before responding to it again, and that if comprehension was an issue, rather than deal with the patronizing tone used with teenagers who don't know what they're doing that I be given the contact information of someone who could read and comprehend my request and with whom I could converse accordingly.

* twitch *

At this point I do feel a bit bad for breaking out the claws. But for crying out loud. If it's right in front of you and the information is there, why on earth would you ask for it again? And to tell me that my bank has to hold the card information is absolutely ludicrous if the reason I can't provide it is that I don't know which card I used or if I even still HAVE that card.

I think my biggest problem with all of this is the way it's being handled. I don't mind so much that they aren't really firing on all cylinders when responding. I understand they deal with a lot of issues in a day and sort of run on autopilot a lot of the time. I also understand that there are procedures.

However I do have a problem with my original ticket being marked solved when I was never notified that someone had responded to it. If you're going to do an email based customer service deal... Send freaking emails to people to let them know you're dealing with them and not ignoring them. I'm not going to sit around and refresh my ticket every 10 minutes while I wait for you to do your job.

Likewise, take an extra two minutes to slowly read through and pay attention to what was said. Please. I know you have a lot on your plate, but it's called CUSTOMER service. And the last time I checked, I am in fact, a customer. As such, I expect service.

It hasn't been delivered. The original issue was never addressed nor has the issue of their shoddy and sloppy handling of the original ticket been addressed as of now.

Customer service is a major sticking point for members of the EQ2 community and I'm sure other SOE games. I've defended them all along by saying that they have a hard job and a lot of people with whom they have to deal. I still say this. It is a hard job. Here's the thing though. And you really can't avoid this, as it's the bottom line. Customer service is very often the ONLY contact some customers have with the company. Not everyone is a giant geek who mortgages their soul to go to Fan Faire and meet developers and producers in person.

Only. Contact. With. The. Customer.

And you're failing miserably. Customer service, not just at SOE but anywhere, has a vital job. In a lot of cases experiences with customer service can make or break whether or not a company keeps someone's business. No one can afford to have sloppy customer service.