31 replies to this topic

[orcrist86]

I live in Arizona too, and always use PayPal, never have any issues, but I mostly but mech packages. In still sitting on about 9k mc from my founder package. Waiting for a clan hero to spend it on.

[Kilo 40]

Just use cash.

[Escef]

Kilo 40, on 18 January 2015 - 05:17 AM, said:

Just use cash.

Your computer's cup holder doubles as a place to insert the money.

[Mad Strike]

joelmuzz, on 17 January 2015 - 07:29 PM, said:

Its common with all F2P/micro transaction games.
They get a high rate of chargebacks due to kids sneaking parents cardcard, plus people getting angry over nerfs to their purchases or non responsive tech support leaving their purchase unplayable and claiming chargeback on "item not as described" grounds.
The result is that some banks systems declare the "fraud" rate too high and block the F2P games transactions.

Damm i didn't know that , i mean have you seen that stuff happening in other game ?

[Jonny Slam]

I pointed out in the first post that it's a recent issue, I was able to use credit cards as late as October.

Will just use Karma Koin for the foreseeable future, glad the Karma Koin was added late last year.

Did I mention my gorgeous Kingcrabs!?

[Tarl Cabot]

strikebrch, on 18 January 2015 - 07:50 AM, said:

Quote

View Postjoelmuzz, on 17 January 2015 - 09:29 PM, said:
Its common with all F2P/micro transaction games.
They get a high rate of chargebacks due to kids sneaking parents cardcard, plus people getting angry over nerfs to their purchases or non responsive tech support leaving their purchase unplayable and claiming chargeback on "item not as described" grounds.
The result is that some banks systems declare the "fraud" rate too high and block the F2P games transactions.

Damm i didn't know that , i mean have you seen that stuff happening in other game ?

It is not just that, if a company does not have in place the ability to prevent possible fraudulent activity, that company can actually be fined. SOE's Everquest had that happen to them several years ago, such as when stolen cc info was being used to open and purchase accounts to farm plat and transfer that around so it can be purchased by actual cash from other players, unhappy players, etc that caused lots of chargebacks, which then the major ccc would lose money. Visa/MC/Amex/Discover charges a fee of the issuing bank/cu/ccc as well as a fee from each merchant who accepts the cards. And the fee (percentage of purchase) is different from each corporation, with Discover being the highest, iirc.

So now if specific information does not match up, the player's real time transaction may say pending (purchases go through a two-step process), that is the confirmation/approval that card is a valid card then the next step is the settlement process. If during the settlement process the additional information from the debit/credit card issuer does not match up, the transaction is not settled/completed by the merchant but voided out.

It is between the approval and the settlement that users are at a lost with online transactions, be it with SOE, PGI, etc. After the purchased item/time/subscription do not show the player checks and see the transaction (approval) on their account. It is due to the purchase not being settled immediately cause there is a discrepancy somewhere with the additional info, or some other issue.

So there are items in place, from both the merchant and the bank that is setup to protect the user's form of payment. At times it can be frustrating cause the user is not aware if it is the merchant processing end, the bank's or both. And that protection is constantly changing, such as the OP ability to use the card in Oct but now it will not without jumping through several hoops.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 18 January 2015 - 08:05 PM.

[Jonny Slam]

Very interesting about everquest.

In this instance it was not one of those situations you described where there was a settlement process or delay for that, In fact as I said before, the CC company was very clear, they would not process the charge because the system refused PGI transactions.

While I am happy that Karma Koin was a available (if distant drive away) solution, It's easy to see why PGI pushed so hard to get it available, no doubt PGI was aware of issues similar to what I encountered and the Karma Koin is a stop-gap on the way to having PGI transactions returned to a higher rating.

I will point out that I am still waiting to hear back from PGI, and if not for the Karma Koin option PGI would have missed out on a decent sized transaction, due to it's problems and the lack of timely response. It's rather silly for a international game such as this to not have support help all weekend, especially considering the player population spikes over the weekends and the international player base makes for different time-zones.

Fingers crossed that PGI, pulls it's thumb out and gets things sorted sooner rather then later.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Jonny Slam, on 19 January 2015 - 02:16 AM, said:

Very interesting about everquest.

In this instance it was not one of those situations you described where there was a settlement process or delay for that, In fact as I said before, the CC company was very clear, they would not process the charge because the system refused PGI transactions.

While I am happy that Karma Koin was a available (if distant drive away) solution, It's easy to see why PGI pushed so hard to get it available, no doubt PGI was aware of issues similar to what I encountered and the Karma Koin is a stop-gap on the way to having PGI transactions returned to a higher rating.

I will point out that I am still waiting to hear back from PGI, and if not for the Karma Koin option PGI would have missed out on a decent sized transaction, due to it's problems and the lack of timely response. It's rather silly for a international game such as this to not have support help all weekend, especially considering the player population spikes over the weekends and the international player base makes for different time-zones.

Fingers crossed that PGI, pulls it's thumb out and gets things sorted sooner rather then later.

i have never heard such an excuse from a card company before, im not sure if that is an acceptable reason, if your telling the card company yes you made that purchase and you want it...then they should process it.

Other than that...find a new card company.

[Jonny Slam]

They as a credit card issuer have the right to limit or deny transactions they deem could be fraudulent, I as the card holder have the right to choose to use that card or another If I so wish.

My credit card company was nothing but polite, helpful and easy to reach (still haven't heard from PGI), and I would rather have a company that is careful about fraud then one that was not.

My take away from this, is that PGI has some issues (and F2P as a whole) that are impacting revenue and player purchasing, but for the time being Karma Koin is a acceptable stop-gap until Russ and Co. can get their house in order and emerge past financial industry scrutiny.

I posted all this not to bash PGI, or to whine, but to inquire and inform the player base of the possible problems and how best to deal with them. Several reply's have come close to blind white-knighting, which is ironic considering I drove over a hour each way to buy 25k in MC, AFTER the problem started. I don't really know a better show of support for PGI than that.

[Scyther]

I second the guy who uses PayPal. I set up a PayPal account, give THEM my credit card info, and then use PayPal when I am online.

- I'm not giving unknown, far-off companies my CC info (well, only one, PayPal, and they are huge, known, and secure)
- It's easier to remember my PayPal login than dig out my CC
- If I have a problem with a service, both PayPal and my CC company are now involved, that's a lot of clout.
- PayPal transactions often go through faster than CC ones (in my experience).

It's worth looking at if you want to save a drive next time.

(PayPal should be paying me for that plug, sheesh)

[0bsidion]

Yeah I ran into that this weekend, I was trying to buy the King Crab that was on sale, but they kept declining the gift card I got for Christmas, so I ended up paying for it with my debt card. It was rather annoying but oh well.

[Marvyn Dodgers]

I hear your issue has been resolved so I am hoping all is well and am moving the thread to leave room for current discussions/issues in GD.