EA Support questions

[Ravahan]

So, I'm having an awful lot of trouble getting some support from the company I'm paying my subscription to.

Here's the problem. One of my renter's vendors poofed, leaving behind a sign like they do when you call them down out of the house to stock them, except that his vendor is not visible anywhere on my screen. It can also not be accessed by the house sign, either in the vendors menu or in the claim inventory menu. The only thing to suggest that its still there at all is the sign... The guy had several mil of items on it easily, so this is a problem.

Now, I paged a GM at 2:13am CST. By server down, I still had gotten no response... So I logged back in around 5:00. Around 6:00, I finally got a CANNED response telling me to check a KB article I'd already looked at, filled with information I specifically said was not the case in my page. GM Orcus (I think that's right?) is either incredibly over worked or a ****ing slacker. So now I've re-paged, but I'm sort of execting I might not get much of anything done because I kinda forgot to re-type what was the problem and instead kind of told them what I just said about the article and to "Get out here and do your job".... *sighs*

My next thought was to call EA. After digging around the EA.com site for quite a while and finding no number, I had the brilliant idea to check uo.com where I found the 800 number and called it. There's a message that says that the EA support office is closed, but not when its open.

Does anyone know the hours of the EA phone support or have any ideas on how I could fix this? I tried changing the foundation style, which helps a lot of stuff, and maintenece has come and gone... Unless they changed what happens when a vendor runs out of funds, that's not it because I've had that happen before (either that or I have a really bad memory). Not to mention that the guy made several 100k yesterday by my estimation of what all moved.

Guys, hire some more GMs. Seriously. 4 hours and counting on a Sunday night/Monday morning is rediculous. I'd expect this on Friday, maybe....

EDIT: RESOLVED with no help from EA support

 

[Harlequin]

I suspect the phone support folks would likely tell you to page the in-game GM again. They can deal with tech and account issues, but may not have a GM account in UO to assist you in tracking down the vendor.

Explain in your new page that you have already checked that kb article before the GM's reply and it did not resolve the issue. You just need help to track down the hidden vendor.

 

[Ravahan]

Okay, now I'm kind of panicing. I just went up to look, and the sign is gone.

This vendor just absolutley poofed. Its gone. Its not got a claimable inventory and there's no evidence it was ever there. Its just been there a couple of days, too....

Just got another canned response telling me to submit to QA.

Thanks, Harley. I made my third page a bit more helpful.

 

[Petra Fyde]

silly idea maybe, but have you checked the moving crate?

I'm assuming the vendor owner has checked for a claimable inventory? Because you, the house owner, won't be able to claim it for 7 days, he'll need to look for it himself.

 

[Ravahan]

silly idea maybe, but have you checked the moving crate?

I'm assuming the vendor owner has checked for a claimable inventory? Because you, the house owner, won't be able to claim it for 7 days, he'll need to look for it himself.

As the owner, I can see how long they have before it hits my crate. For instance, there's a ring vendor that has 5 hours remaining to claim right now on my sign... So I can actually see that and try to get in touch with whomever. Also, a fallen vendor will show in the moving crate as a tiny little man until his stuff goes off the sign.

I'd not looked in the crate and that's a good idea, doing that now... No dice...

Anyone know their hours??? I realize they might not be able to do anything, but I'd like to pancake if nothing else.

 

[Harlequin]

Another wild idea to try.

Also, have the renter say "<vendor name> collect" and see if there's any response. Not sure if the command still works though...

 

[Ravahan]

Another wild idea to try.

Also, have the renter say "<vendor name> collect" and see if there's any response. Not sure if the command still works though...

I was about to respond that I've not been able to get in touch with this guy when an idea struck me. IS there a way to immediately terminate a rental contract and totally bipass the house sign? If so, what would happen?

I've had people cancel on me before, of course, but the vendor's clothes at least always end up in my crate and I always have that notification for one full week. For this reason I've assumed that this would happen every time, since so far it has. I know that I can enter an agreement to terminate a contract if the renter is there and willing.... But again, I think the stuff goes to the sign even if its empty if I recall correctly. Its there as a failsafe against people scamming with vendor houses (and its a good thing, because its hard enough to get people to rent from you).

EDIT: Thanks to some testing I did with a guildie, I've discovered exactly the train of events needed to make this happen. First, must call the vendor to you OUTSIDE the house. If you do not do this, there will be no sign. Next, you have to use the "dismiss vendor" option (which I didn't know was around) while the vendor's inventory is empty and its holding no gold. This will cause its clothes to drop on the ground in a backpack (which would normally go into the house sign) and a red sign to be placed where it normally stands saying "Reserved for Vendor [name]".

So I could've not wasted 5 1/2 hours of my day if the guy would've been kind enough to leave a post or IM about dismissing his vendor. I guess he just sold most of the stuff of value he had and decided not to bother farming to restock.

 

[Petra Fyde]

From here: http://www.uoherald.com/guide/trade_4.php

Dismissing vendors: Another option, available only to the tenant, is to dismiss the vendor. If the tenant dismisses a vendor early (before the contract expires), the contract will be terminated with no refund of the rental fees. Tenants will be able to terminate a rental contract in this fashion at anytime.

 

[Devil_Woman]

Anyone know their hours??? I realize they might not be able to do anything, but I'd like to pancake if nothing else.

Just for future reference, I believe their hours would be normal business hours, likely 8 or 9 am to 5 pm, on the west coast.

 

[Harlequin]

EDIT: Thanks to some testing I did with a guildie, I've discovered exactly the train of events needed to make this happen. First, must call the vendor to you OUTSIDE the house. If you do not do this, there will be no sign. Next, you have to use the "dismiss vendor" option (which I didn't know was around) while the vendor's inventory is empty and its holding no gold. This will cause its clothes to drop on the ground in a backpack (which would normally go into the house sign) and a red sign to be placed where it normally stands saying "Reserved for Vendor [name]".

So I could've not wasted 5 1/2 hours of my day if the guy would've been kind enough to leave a post or IM about dismissing his vendor. I guess he just sold most of the stuff of value he had and decided not to bother farming to restock.

Glad you found out what happened

Info has been filed in my aging neural net for future reference.