Support NeoGAF

[Diablohead]

I remember that when I signed up for FFXI long ago when it was fairly new in the UK I had to make like several passwords, note down numbers and all that kind of shit, in the end when I came to closing my account all the passwords and numbers I wrote down never worked so I had to phone them, maybe it's different now but it such a stupid method. This was before the 360 version came out.

 

[Cynar]

I remember that when I signed up for FFXI long ago when it was fairly new in the UK I had to make like several passwords, note down numbers and all that kind of shit, in the end when I came to closing my account all the passwords and numbers I wrote down never worked so I had to phone them, maybe it's different now but it such a stupid method. This was before the 360 version came out.

yup same, it was a huge hassle to cancel when the game first came out on pc. So much stuff you had to do through that bullshit playonline service.

 

[Amneisac]

I do think it's bullshit they way they do their billing. They have set billing cycles for each month. So they bill from the first day of the month to the last day of the month. This means, if you renew your account on June 30, you're going to get charged FULL PRICE for June and July all at once.

I learned that one the hard way, but it's in the ToS so what can you do.

 

[gamergirly]

For a second I thought some nut had dragged them to court for the whole FF14 thing at the Sony conference. :lol

:lol

 

[vandalvideo]

Great, now idiots are suing because they didn't read the box or the EULA carefully enough.

 

[Drkirby]

Well, that right there doesn't really get me excited for FF14!
They better have a non shitty way for paying!
Ex:
No fucking PlayOnline bullshit, I think I heard they're dropping this, great move SE!
Second, There's no need for cancellation at all, just do it like this!
Goes to Sqaure's site, chose system put in CC number and other info,chose between these options

1. 1 month sub $14.99
2. 3 month sub $45.99
3. 6 month sub $89.99 with some kind of item pack with a few hard to find healing items or something. Mark sure they're non salable or tradable.


If it runs out, just put your info in again and start playing, I'm not sure if this is the way FF11 is, I've never played it, but I'm definitely getting 14 this time, on PS3 so I hope this is it, hell you could do this from the PS3 to!

Not sure what to think about these fees, pretty fucking shitty on SE's part!

Uh...

1 * 14.99 = 44.97

Why would you pay more for 3 months?

 

[Ponn]

Great, now idiots are suing because they didn't read the box or the EULA carefully enough.

Yes, because everyone who plays MMO's and expects them to work the same sits there and reads every bit of the EULA's. *rolleyes*

I can totally understand this lawsuit and as much as I love Square Enix I hope they lose this one and do something about their atrocious payment system for FFXI and make sure they do it different for FFIV. I got trapped by their stupid late fees and interest when I first quit FFXI on PC and removed playonline. I thought I had cancelled it and they had an old expired CC on file but nooooooo for one reason or another they didn't accept my cancellation and kept trying to charge me and then stacked on late fees and interest with no other recourse to contact them since they only used stupid ass playonline at that point.

I couldn't believe it then and can't now. Late fees and interest on a MMO? I mean seriously, how fucking blatant ripoff can you be. I have netflix or gamefly and they don't charge me late fees if a monthly payment doesn't go through or if I cancel and they don't get it, they just stop sending you shit. Every other MMO out there if they don't get paid for the month, you don't play, end of story, no late fee bullshit. Stupidest shit I ever heard then and now.

 

[Adam Prime]

First thought after reading the thread title, "That is what they get for using a Tecmo IP."

:lol :lol :lol Good one!

 

[vandalvideo]

Yes, because everyone who plays MMO's and expects them to work the same sits there and reads every bit of the EULA's. *rolleyes*

I can totally understand this lawsuit and as much as I love Square Enix I hope they lose this one and do something about their atrocious payment system for FFXI and make sure they do it different for FFIV. I got trapped by their stupid late fees and interest when I first quit FFXI on PC and removed playonline. I thought I had cancelled it and they had an old expired CC on file but nooooooo for one reason or another they didn't accept my cancellation and kept trying to charge me and then stacked on late fees and interest with no other recourse to contact them since they only used stupid ass playonline at that point.

I couldn't believe it then and can't now. Late fees and interest on a MMO? I mean seriously, how fucking blatant ripoff can you be. I have netflix or gamefly and they don't charge me late fees if a monthly payment doesn't go through or if I cancel and they don't get it, they just stop sending you shit. Every other MMO out there if they don't get paid for the month, you don't play, end of story, no late fee bullshit. Stupidest shit I ever heard then and now.

Not reading the EULA is hardly an excuse. It is there for a reason; to inform the consumer. People suing because they were too lazy to read the licensing agreement deserve to get shafted in the court systems.

 

[Kunan]

For a second I thought some nut had dragged them to court for the whole FF14 thing at the Sony conference. :lol

Me too. I came for the lulz :lol

Edit: Although it is pretty bullshitty that if a monthly payment doesn't go through, they actually delete your account and require you to buy a new copy of the game instead of just unsubscribing you.

Wow. Harsh is an understatement.

 

[neoism]

Uh...

1 * 14.99 = 44.97

Why would you pay more for 3 months?

Square tax:lol :lol :lol

 

[Carlisle]

For a second I thought some nut had dragged them to court for the whole FF14 thing at the Sony conference. :lol

Ditto :lol

 

[Reallink]

I played FFXI for 4 years and followed the forums pretty religiously, and I've never heard anyone complaining of late fees or interest on it. I'm pretty sure they just put a stop on your account when you fail to pay. There are a lot of things about the billing that are just nonsensical, and they clearly didn't know what they were doing when they started it. For instance, they bill you for 2 months when you restart your account, or don't bill you for the first month then bill you twice the second month--I'm not sure what exactly they do, it's incredibly convoluted (probably intentionally). I don't think there are any sort of official late fees or interest though. They may let your account play for like a week without payment, then stop it, then charge a whole month for that one week if you ever reactivate it. I don't know they do that, but it would be the most likely explanation.

 

[polyh3dron]

For a second I thought some nut had dragged them to court for the whole FF14 thing at the Sony conference. :lol

Ok so I'm not the only one. Square Shot Themselves In The Foot part 2, come on already!

 

[Ironballs]

Square tax:lol :lol :lol

:lol

 

[Tenkei]

Not reading the EULA is hardly an excuse. It is there for a reason; to inform the consumer. People suing because they were too lazy to read the licensing agreement deserve to get shafted in the court systems.

I believe there was a recent court ruling stating that a EULA is not enforceable if it is not presented to the user BEFORE the user purchases the software, or if the user is not given an option to receive a refund if he or she disagrees with the EULA.

Edit: I hope that SE loses this case solely because of the lack of pro-rating the monthly subscription fee. It's complete bullshit that you're forced to pay for a full month if you start your subscription halfway through their billing cycle.

 

[Marty Chinn]

A bit of a bump but I only found out about this today after someone has sent me the link at Gamespot which says there is an update. In it is supposedly an update on what she's sueing for.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6214710.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;2

What's interesting to me is I know this person. I used to work with her and she used to be a game developer. She's not sueing over the core fees as she was aware of that from what it sounds like. She was pretty hardcore into the game and not just someone who bought it and played it during the 30 day trial. I think she'll lose but I'm fascinated that I know the person.

 

[Gattsu25]

A bit of a bump but I only found out about this today after someone has sent me the link at Gamespot which says there is an update. In it is supposedly an update on what she's sueing for.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6214710.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;2

What's interesting to me is I know this person. I used to work with her and she used to be a game developer. She's not sueing over the core fees as she was aware of that from what it sounds like. She was pretty hardcore into the game and not just someone who bought it and played it during the 30 day trial. I think she'll lose but I'm fascinated that I know the person.

So she's suing because her character was deleted after years of inactivity?

Wasn't that the norm in MMOs when FFXI came out?

 

[SovanJedi]

For a second I thought some nut had dragged them to court for the whole FF14 thing at the Sony conference. :lol

That would have been hilarious/despicable if that were the case. I thought that as well!

...and so did everyone else judging by the other posts.


...and also I'm late. Take me out back and shoot me.

 

[near]

S-E suck, hope she wins the case.

 

[Johann]

So she's suing because her character was deleted after years of inactivity?

Wasn't that the norm in MMOs when FFXI came out?

It's commonly believed that your FFXI characters will be deleted after three months due to storage issues. However, it appears more to be a lack of guarantee for preserving that character after that grace period. I had some of my characters alive after a year of inactivity while my friends lost their characters after smaller periods of inactivity. In a worse case scenario, you could probably call Playonline and request for the character back if it is still there.

Many MMOs changed this policy after Blizzard preserved WoW accounts since they believed WoW players would eventually relapse. I don't know what the policy is for FFXI today.

 

[EDarkness]

It's commonly believed that your FFXI characters will be deleted after three months due to storage issues. However, it appears more to be a lack of guarantee for preserving that character after that grace period. I had some of my characters alive after a year of inactivity while my friends lost their characters after smaller periods of inactivity. In a worse case scenario, you could probably call Playonline and request for the character back if it is still there.

Many MMOs changed this policy after Blizzard preserved WoW accounts since they believed WoW players would eventually relapse. I don't know what the policy is for FFXI today.

I'm not sure what the policy is, but deleting characters is what caused me not to go back to that game. It's a pain to start over from the beginning and their process for returning to the game is ass backwards and doesn't make it easy. I'd start my account up today if my characters were still there.

 

[Crystalkoen]

I'm not sure what the policy is, but deleting characters is what caused me not to go back to that game. It's a pain to start over from the beginning and their process for returning to the game is ass backwards and doesn't make it easy. I'd start my account up today if my characters were still there.

I checked about 2 months ago, and I my FFXI character still shows up on the ContentID page if I decided I wanted to renew it. I haven't had an active FF account (or ContentID) in close to 3 years, so if you quit relatively recently, your character(s) should still be alive and well.