What Happened

OK, as you might have heard me yabbering, while taking screenies with the UI down, I then put the UI back up, and the UI refused to come back up, my character locked up, it was generally unpleasant, and at the end of it all, Corso’s Customization #2 went POOF.

My Ticket

So I put in a ticket in-game as follows:

1/21/2012.  I had hidden my ui using alt Z to take some screenshots.  While it was hidden, my character locked up and could not move.  I tried control u twice and the UI finally came back but I was standing in front of Corso and he suddenly changed back to the default.  His customization kit was not on him or in my inventory.  It was Corso customization 2.  It’s possible that it might have been deleted by my clicking while the UI was down.

It would be great if I could have that customization kit back.

Customer Service Response

The response 3 days later was as follows:

01/24/2012 – SWTOR CSR: Greetings Njessi,

I am Protocol Droid [redacted], Human-Cyborg Relations.

I have recieved your transmission requesting an item restoration.

Unfortunately, your ticket did not contain enough information for us to process your request. Please submit a new ticket, and include the following information:

– Afflicted character name
– Server
– Item name/Currency type and amount
– How the item/currency was lost

Please use the word “[redacted]” in the subject line of your email in order to allow us to track your request.
Please note that currently our item restoration policy is that you are eligible for 3 restorations within a rolling 6 month period.  This request will use one of your allotted restorations.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.  If you require further assistance with this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Galactic Support is our specialty.

Sincerely,

Protocol Droid [redacted], aka [redacted] Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

My Response to Their Response

By that time I was seriously pissed off.  And I emailed them back.  I had to transcribe the previous interchange from screenshots (it wouldn’t allow copy of in-game ticket text, and I had not received an e-mail), which already had me hopping mad, but I wanted a “history” in the email.  After recounting the history of the ticket, I wrote the following:

This response is unacceptable for the following reasons:

(1) The requested information was included in the initial request.

-The initial request was sent from the character in question using the in-game ticket system, so the character name and server should be obvious.

-The original request described in detail what the item was (Corso Customization kit 2)

-The original request described in detail how the item was lost. (Issues with locking up after the UI was hidden)

Granted the information was not in the exact format above, but it was all there for anyone who bothered to read.

(2) This item was deleted due to a bug.  Not due to anything on my end.  It is beyond ridiculous to limit me to 3 restorations and count against that limit a loss that was your fault.

(3) The ticket was submitted in-game and answered in-game, yet the clarification was requested via email (with no email address provided).  This proves cumbersome to even the most dedicated player.

Nonetheless, I will answer your questions in the format you requested:

And then I did.  Mostly it was quoting the original ticket since I had already given all the information.  (And, quite honestly, if they don’t have my name and server from the ticket that I submitted in-game, there’s some serious problem with their ticket system.)

Why I’m Mad

OK, end of long tale of woe.  Can you tell I was mad?  I spent 3 days waiting for a response to what I assumed was a fairly simple problem, and when I got the response, I was told that I hadn’t given information that I most definitely had and that I would be effectively penalized for their bug (which is a dumb policy right after launch when of COURSE there are bugs).  Not to mention transcribing stuff from screenies makes me vaguely stabby.

I am totally aware that it took me more time and effort to write angry emails (and this post) than to simply earn the 12.5k, hop in my ship, and buy a new customization from the Taris or Balmorra vendor.  And I certainly do not want an easily-obtainable item to count against my 3 restorations that I might actually need for something important.  But it’s the principle.

Resolution (or Lack Thereof)

As of today, I have an open ticket in the system which was opened on 1/24.  So that’s 2 weeks ago? I went and bought a new customization kit, and I should technically close the ticket but I want to see just what happens with it.  If anything.

A Comparison

Now, let me tell you about the time I got hacked in WoW. YES I WENT THERE.  I’M COMPARING SWTOR TO WORLD OF WARCRAFT.  Ahem.  As I was saying, I got hacked.  It was a mess. I don’t know where all my characters were dragged off to.  I couldn’t even TELL you what they owned.  Yet in less than a week, the WoW CSR’s restored everything down to the last little miniscule item, to the last little level 5 alt.  There was, as I recall, one enchant missing, and that was IT.  Everything else back, and I do mean everything.

I can see that it was partially my fault for not having an authenticator, but never was I told that I was limited to X numbers of restorations and after that I was shit out of luck.  I knew a ton of people who got hacked.  They all got their stuff back.

I will admit that WoW was probably too lenient.  If you looted something and then later decided it should go to another player, often a CSR would fix it for you (this was before trading BoP’s was implemented).  People who deleted their characters ON PURPOSE and then 6 months later decided they wanted them back (true story) put in tickets and got those characters restored.  OK, that was a little ridiculous.  But giving back items without a limit or a fuss when they were deleted by an evildoer, bug, glitch, or outage is just good business policy.  Your customer is happy and life goes on.

So What Am I Going To Do About It?

Maybe they think nobody is going to unsubscribe over shitty customer service.  I know I’m not going to right now.  I truly enjoy playing the game.  But if something serious is wrong, not just an easily replaceable customization kit missing, and I get crappy customer service that doesn’t put an actually important thing right, then yes, I’d quit.  Because unlike a lot of the kids out there, I don’t have TIME to re-grind stuff.

Edit 2/10.  I received a response to the ticket.