Warhammer Online Users Repeatedly Overbilled 216
TheSpoom writes "A screw-up in EA's Warhammer Online billing system has resulted in many players being charged upwards of 22 times for a one-month subscription, filling bank accounts with overdraft fees and the Warhammer forums with very angry players, who are discussing the issue quite vocally. EA has said that refunds are in progress and that '[they] anticipate that once the charges have been reversed, any fees that have been incurred should be refunded as well.' They haven't specifically promised to refund overdraft charges, only to ask customers' banks to refund them once the actual charges are refunded. They seem to be assuming banks will have no problem with this."
Re:Great Business Plan (Score:5, Insightful)
Banks (Score:4, Insightful)
ask customers' banks to refund them once the actual charges are refunded
Yes because banks are so courteous to their customers [meejahor.com].
Re:Lawsuit (Score:2, Insightful)
you forget the 4th one :
4) are the damages enough to realistically sue them and spend thousands of dollars in legal fees ?
No.
Re:Where's my computerized credit card? (Score:5, Insightful)
Meanwhile, the cash is held in suspense until the dispute is resolved, meaning you'll still be left with no cash and a rash of bank charges if the sum held in suspense prevented you from having sufficient funds for clearing items.
No thanks.
Debit cards are bad, bad juju if you give someone else the authority to initiate charges against them.
Banks Refunding Fees (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great Business Plan (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering one subscriber in the linked discussion thread [warhammeronline.com] got charged 13 times for his ~$77.94 6-month subscription (which wasn't even up for renewal for another five months), for a total of $1,013.22 in charges—yeah, this sort of thing will fly under everybody's radar.
Many players probably use debit cards tied to their personal checking accounts; I'm sure they'd notice multiple charges. Even more so if they live paycheck to paycheck.
Even though EA/Mythic are allegedly working with their payment processing vendor(s) to reverse all the extraneous charges, they're still putting the onus on the customer to check with their respective financial institutions to ensure that any fees incurred are voided or reversed. I'm sure that is going to give said customers the warm fuzzies about continuing their patronage.
Total clusterfuck on the part of EA/Mythic. Heads should roll, and liberally.
Title correction (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Tip for those wanting fee refunds (Score:5, Insightful)
My point is, we can all complain that banks are evil machines not caring about people, but we're part of the problem because we treat them like machines.
Woah woah, wait... let me get this straight. I *choose* to patronize a bank, enriching them through my custom. Now you're telling me, that's not enough? That I essentially have to bribe them for good fucking service?
I'm sorry, buddy, but that's pure, complete bullshit. I am their fucking client. It's their job to please *me*, not the other way around. Now, do these employees deserve to be treated with kindness, dignity, and respect? Yes, of course, just like every other human being out there. But I am not, and should not, be obligated to buy fucking flowers for the local bank branch manager just so that I get decent service. Hell, the very fact that you believe that's necessary speaks to their rank arrogance. It's utterly absurd.
Re:Great Business Plan (Score:4, Insightful)
Shitty API still falls under incompetence, does it not?
Re:Great Business Plan (Score:4, Insightful)
This is EA afterall.
Oh, so you're saying it was malice? (j/k standard disclaimers apply)
It's both. Malicious incompentence, two words that describe much of the industry.
Re:Banks (Score:2, Insightful)
To be fair, I've never found Barclays in the UK to be too bad to me.
Yeah, but we have actual regulation of banks here, unlike in the US.
Re:Lawsuit (Score:3, Insightful)
The real WTF is right here. Why on Earth did you give a third party the ability to withdraw funds from your bank account? What did you think would happen?
Re:Banks (Score:1, Insightful)
And if the bank *doesn't* refund the overcharge fees?
Over this past year (2009) I've noticed a lot of corporations choosing to do the *wrong* thing rather than the right thing for their customers. Like when I returned a broken DVR to Sears and they never refunded the money. What recourse does a teeny-tiny customer really have against a billion-dollar machine?
And if you reply "sue them in court" then you're truly naive. Government has ALSO shown a tendency to act like a corporation (screw the customer).
If they're that good (Score:3, Insightful)
If they're that good, then mention the company's NAME! Seriously, we're quick to jump on and tell about BAD companies, I would love to hear which ones are considered good in case they're available in my area.
Re:Where's my computerized credit card? (Score:3, Insightful)
More FUD. Go read the laws on the books. The US Government does not distinguish between Credit Cards and other EFT Transfers. It's all under the same law. The dispute process you are referring to is something set forth by Visa, not the Federal Government. The Federal Gov't just dictates what the financial institutions can and cannot do.