I'm goin crazy...

[Spellbound]

Because of the bug ridden, antiquated, torturous billing system!!! Again it has caused me to pull my hair in frustration this last week. I really don't want to quit the game, but that cursed site seems intent on forcing me to reconsider supporting UO. Can the Dark Lady, or anyone make improvements to help our player base, please?

On this Wednesday, I logged into my 3 EA Mythic accounts and tried to update the expiration date on my credit card of 16+ years. Followed Petra Fyde's link to Account Management and was able to find the hidden Manage Accounts button as instructed. Clicked on Edit of my current card and updated the expiration date. Did the same with 2 more EA Mythic accounts and thought, that wasn't too bad. But after talking with a friend who was having problems with her card being accepted, I realized I had not updated the CSC number of my credit card. So back I went to look for the spot to input that nugget of information. What a nightmare!

Only way to get to that illusive gump was by dumb luck. Why can't that be on the same page as the edit expiration date? Also had to cancel the old card totally to input the same card with the new ED and CSC. Proceeded to repeat the process for the second set of EA Mythic accounts without issue (at this time). Tried to do the same with the 3rd EA Mythic account and the card was not accepted. Something about my card not unique to this user. I beg to differ, this card has been unique to me since 1985, except for the dates and CSC. Tried waiting a day and re-inputting the info still would not work: and ended up putting in a totally different credit card on the 3rd account. All is well right? WRONG!

Tonight I check my email and find donotreply(at)mythic(dot)ea(dot)com had sent an End Of Subscription Notice because the credit card on file was declined (on the second account with original card). Ummm? ARGH... Again?!? Why didn't it accept the changes I made on that devilish site? There were no declined charges from my card's bank. Locked out of the game on one account and thinking just like June 2014:

http://stratics.com/community/threads/credit-was-declined-account-inaccessible.317694/

So back to the site to reopen an unjustly closed account. Time to calm down with some meditation.
Ommmmm, UO needs an improved billing system, ommmmmm, UO needs an improved billing system, OMMMMMMM!

 

[Schatzi]

I feel your pain...I had the same thing happen to me. I don't understand why it is
So difficult to renew, update or open an account for UO.
I got so fed up I just said screw it and left the account closed. I double checked my balance, my expiration
Date, etc.
No reason for my card to be declined. It is no wonder more people do not come back, EA makes
it virtually impossible for people to give them money.

 

[Spellbound]

Believe it or not, another UO account from the second EA Mythic account just sent an End Of Subscription Notice and had a credit card on file declined. Going bald and crazy!

 

[Scribbles]

A lot of the time with credit cards or debit cards it is your banks settings. Banks for obvious reasons have become less trusting of sites that are not well known. I would call them up and tell them you have had problems with a certain company being able to process your card.

Im not saying that UO isnt the problem, just stating that sometimes it can be your credit/debit company.

 

[azmodanb]

i stick with game time codes in the six month variety

 

[Piotr]

Why not use Game Time Codes? It is easy to apply and much cheaper - if you buy 6 month Time Cards.

 

[Faenwen]

i use game time codes too.... for europeans its way cheaper that way!

with creditcard:
€ 13,99* Ultima Online: 1 Monat Abonnement
€ 39,99* Ultima Online: 3 Monate Abonnement
€ 67,99* Ultima Online: 6 Monate Abonnement

with gametimecode:
€ 11,50* Ultima Online: 1 Monat Abonnement
€ 29,99* Ultima Online: 3 Monate Abonnement
€ 45,99* Ultima Online: 6 Monate Abonnement

no idea why it is that way but thats how it is in europa!

but i understand why folks sometimes need to do it with creditcards, some just want to be sure the account is payed and they don't want to worry about ... when do i have to pay again!
they said the new accountmanagement is better for customers...
might be its more secure...
but everything else is just nuts
at the old system i got a mail 7 days before my account went inaktive, and I was able to look and check how long an account was inaktive so i knew ... its time to reaktivate it! for someone like me with a few accounts just to hold houses great... now... *mumbles*.. well no idea if its the same when you pay with credit card.

lets hope they improve it!

ohh... forgot... don't give up uo even when the accountmanagement is s..., UO is worth it to get bald *winks*

 

[Blood Ghoul]

Hmmm.. I just had to update my credit card exp date (and agreed that was not easy) but didn't even think about changing the security code. Guess I will wait and see if my account gets closed or not. And.. I have to agree if make no sense how difficult it is to manage your account. Someone needs to really update the payment/account management system.. It's horrible

BG

 

[TheDrAJ]

I always delete the old Credit Card and reenter all the new information.

 

[Ludes]

I always delete the old Credit Card and reenter all the new information.

Every six years I have to do this as well... seems like deleting and re-entering is easier at least for me.

 

[Spellbound]

Still waiting for information from UO Support personnel as to why this issue occurred and how to resolve it. I am hesitant to purchase game time codes from Origin because of past experiences. Are there still limits on how many items can be purchased at one time? Having too many accounts for the store's limit could be problematic. Also being sold an invalid/already used code is still fresh in my memory. That was a big headache!

Hmmm.. I just had to update my credit card exp date (and agreed that was not easy) but didn't even think about changing the security code. Guess I will wait and see if my account gets closed or not. And.. I have to agree if make no sense how difficult it is to manage your account. Someone needs to really update the payment/account management system.. It's horrible

BG

That may have been my problem, trying to add a new CSC. I'll never know if they don't reply. Back to meditating and trying for GM in patience skill.

 

[Kojak]

and you thought fire and brimstone were the only things awaiting you in hell ... hehe

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

and you thought fire and brimstone were the only things awaiting you in hell ... hehe

You forgot the Origin Store! LOL

 

[Spellbound]

OMG, another account with credit card declined notice! They really must want me to quit paying and playing. Why can't I get this resolved?

 

[Spellbound]

So disgusted, another account has been closed for no reason except the purported credit card declined. I am ready to give up the game.

 

[Dodger]

Think of the billing system as a solo attempt at a peerless boss, you attempt it knowing you will fail but next time it will be better, instead of researching the boss' stats look at hints on here from people that play, just realise that no boss no matter how tough can be overcome with persistence, a valid credit card, willpower, lotsa emails to messana, and dumb luck, when you get to pay for the privilege of playing rejoice in the fact you are now and elite player and no matter how many times you get res killed in fel or die in champ spawns you have overcome the hardest most vicious and relentless beast in uo.

 

[Shelra]

@Dodger But to wit end? Sorry for your issues Spellbound.

 

[bigspivey]

So....A few days ago i went to log in. Blam! Your account blah blah blah. Went and checked my E-Mail and sure enough e-mails telling me my debit card has been declined. Same number, but the date had expired. I freak out a bit and head over to the land of account management. I log-in, click the renew button thing, and then find the button that lets you edit your debit info. Click it, it hangs for about 30 secs, and then get a error message. AHHHHHHHHHH. Really starting to freak now, with all the house and boat issues. I keep my cool and go surf the web. After an hour searching, I come across this way of updating debit card info and I would have never guessed to do this.

Go to the Origin Store and click on the 1 month game time code. Put in shopping cart and head to check out. You will have to log in to the origin store. Once logged-in, continue checking out, but do not buy it. You will have the option to review your purchase and change any info. Bingo, I was able to update my debit card info. Updated info and canceled the order. Logged back into Mythic and was able to activate accounts. My debit card info was updated.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

I had my credit card refuse odd charges, especially when the charge is like in California and I live in Michigan. But they usually call me. They actually saved my butt once with some odd charges from another state I didn't make. Might check with them.

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

And no one finds it funny that every time a thread like this pops up, the devs that read this site every day are amazingly silent.

 

[Captn Norrington]

And no one finds it funny that every time a thread like this pops up, the devs that read this site every day are amazingly silent.

I somewhat gave up on hoping the devs read stuff after Mesanna said she had never seen the Gypsy Wagon Request thread on Uhall....it has been posted since 2012 and has been bumped many, many times.

 

[Kariny]

I've had to deal with the account billing system three times in the past year. Gave up and got 6 month gametime codes.
Only thing I can imagine is that EA isn't going to fix it for one reason. If player subscriptions drop enough they can close UO as they have done with other games recently.

Just my two cents.

 

[Dodger]

I somewhat gave up on hoping the devs read stuff after Mesanna said she had never seen the Gypsy Wagon Request thread on Uhall....it has been posted since 2012 and has been bumped many, many times.

Have you considered she may be part gypsy and finds the concept racist?

 

[Captn Norrington]

Hmm....I had never considered that. Could be possible.

 

[Spiritless]

And no one finds it funny that every time a thread like this pops up, the devs that read this site every day are amazingly silent.

No but I find it funny when people assume the UO devs are responsible for anything and everything from poor GM responses to the billing system.

Most likely, all they can do is pass the feedback on to corporate/the web developers/whichever team handles the concept of Origin accounts and that's about the limit of their involvement.

 

[Schatzi]

Spell, try emailing Mesanna tomorrow...do not think anyone is around today.
And I hope none of those are the grandfathered ones.

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

No but I find it funny when people assume the UO devs are responsible for anything and everything from poor GM responses to the billing system.

Most likely, all they can do is pass the feedback on to corporate/the web developers/whichever team handles the concept of Origin accounts and that's about the limit of their involvement.

And I find it funny that anyone can try to defend that kind of nonsense. You know, the whole "ITS NOT MY JOB SO I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE" nonsense. Do you work at EA or Broadsword? How on earth can you stand up for that kind of business model? Seriously. It IS my job at my job. From making multi million dollar decisions to sweeping the customer area if it needs to be done. And this needs to be done.

 

[The Zog historian]

And I find it funny that anyone can try to defend that kind of nonsense. You know, the whole "ITS NOT MY JOB SO I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE" nonsense. Do you work at EA or Broadsword? How on earth can you stand up for that kind of business model? Seriously. It IS my job at my job. From making multi million dollar decisions to sweeping the customer area if it needs to be done. And this needs to be done.

Even if we could believe someone of your track record, such a business organization is absurd for the simple reason of division of labor. While someone like Mesanna might be able to intervene with a billing issue, it's ridiculous to think that those like Kyronix or Bleak should spend their time on the account management page when they have other things to specialize in.

If you want to argue that valuable time is worth spending on janitorial services, then perhaps you should stick to sweeping floors.

 

[Ludes]

I've had charges "Declined" simply because the recipient was on my banks.."list" whatever that's supposed to mean.. But it usually gets cleared up with a phone call..
Just my two cents..

p.s. The UO Store was on my banks "list"..

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

Even if we could believe someone of your track record, such a business organization is absurd for the simple reason of division of labor. While someone like Mesanna might be able to intervene with a billing issue, it's ridiculous to think that those like Kyronix or Bleak should spend their time on the account management page when they have other things to specialize in.

If you want to argue that valuable time is worth spending on janitorial services, then perhaps you should stick to sweeping floors.

The fact you would prioritize pixel crack over billing issues tells me you have no business making any kind of decision at your job at all. They don't have anything to do more important than ensuring that the customers are billed easily and successfully. Take a business class.

 

[Flagg]

I'm amazed and humbled by how they STILL haven't sorted this out.

I'm sure hundreds of people have turned away from UO due to the utter insanity taking place the moment returning vet tries to activate his account.

 

[The Zog historian]

After all these days, this is the best you can come up with? Oh, wait, after all look who we're dealing with.

The fact you would prioritize pixel crack over billing issues

True to your style, "prioritize pixel crack" isn't even the topic, notwithstanding the "pixel crack" as you want to dismiss it is the primary business.

You might actually want to stick to what the rest of us were talking about if you wish to be taken seriously, namely that the website is out of the Devs' hands. They aren't the programmers there. Their comparative advantage is in game programming, not a billing system.

tells me you have no business making any kind of decision at your job at all. They don't have anything to do more important than ensuring that the customers are billed easily and successfully.

The fact that you cannot comprehend the point about comparative advantage speaks volumes about the kind of "business decisions" you supposedly make, even if we could believe someone of your track record.

Take a business class.

Coming from you? That's laughable.

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

Coming from you? That's laughable.

Since you know me, and I have zero idea who you are and don't care, I'll just assume I kill you? That's usually why people hate me. It's a game noob. Get over it.

 

[The Zog historian]

Since you know me, and I have zero idea who you are and don't care, I'll just assume I kill you? That's usually why people hate me. It's a game noob. Get over it.

What a typical non-response response, which is to say, perfectly expected from you. So you blast people that you don't know, got caught in your inability to comprehend delegation of authority and comparative advantage, and then all you can say is: "It's a game noob."

Where'd you get that excuse from...your daddy? Perhaps you should just stay quiet now if you can't handle critical replies. But hey, I can kill you 1v1, I just choose to gank you...though I don't take as many supposed screenshots as you do, let alone claim ganks as 1v1s.

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

HAHAH Since you're big on pictures, I know that character is on Sonoma. So you must be one of those 500 screenshots I've got of waka dead. There's a good deal of the good ones in the Sonoma pvp thread, I'm sure you're aware. Feel free to browse those images for yours. I doubt you're in there, I'm sure you're too scard to go to fel. Let alone fight me. haha

 

[The Zog historian]

HAHAH Since you're big on pictures, I know that character is on Sonoma. So you must be one of those 500 screenshots I've got of waka dead. There's a good deal of the good ones in the Sonoma pvp thread, I'm sure you're aware. Feel free to browse those images for yours. I doubt you're in there, I'm sure you're too scard to go to fel. Let alone fight me. haha

As a matter of fact, I'm not in any of them. Of course, if I were too "scrd to go to fel" (how's that supposed business education working for you?), I'd never encounter any of your numerous corpses.

You've been demonstrated unable to comprehend delegation of authority and comparative advantage, and after saying "It's a game noob," now all you can say is "haha." As I said, perhaps you should just stay quiet now if you can't handle critical replies.

 

[Spiritless]

And I find it funny that anyone can try to defend that kind of nonsense. You know, the whole "ITS NOT MY JOB SO I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE" nonsense. Do you work at EA or Broadsword? How on earth can you stand up for that kind of business model? Seriously. It IS my job at my job. From making multi million dollar decisions to sweeping the customer area if it needs to be done. And this needs to be done.

It's blatantly obvious to anyone who is even remotely aware of how organizations operate that you have absolutely no clue of what you're talking about if you think producers, designers and game developers should be responsible for things like account management systems or customer service.

You can't expect a game designer or even developer to take it upon themselves to create a new system from scratch one day on their own whim. Firstly, it isn't their area of responsibility not simply because it's "not their job," but because other professionals whose area of expertise are web development or customer support are employed to do these things who have suitable training, qualifications and experience. Secondly, on the latter point, they may not even have the skill set required to create a new system even if they wanted to. Designers and producers are often non-coders and while the actual developers know about coding games they may not be familiar with web languages or, at best, dabbled in them. Web development is an entirely separate discipline to what they have trained for and are experienced professionally in.

Ultimately, these are the reasons I stated that the limit of their involvement is likely to pass the feedback on and nothing more. That is because it is highly likely these areas are handled by separate departments with their own management structure who oversee these areas. This is even more likely to be the case now that the game development aspect has been sort of outsourced to "Broadsword" whilst the other things fall under the realm of EA corporate.

So, no I'm not being an apologist for EA. That's pretty laughable in itself being directed at me of all people. I just understand how companies a little larger than Mom & Pop organizations work and you obviously don't. So, I'll end on a point I often make around here when someone seems hell bent on making themselves look silly: it's best not to try and talk or lecture people about things you obviously have very little understanding about yourself.

 

[Viquire]

I don't think any of our Devs could do a thing about Origin.com even if they wanted to. Its a completely different contract, is directly under EA and serves a bajillion titles. A couple of years ago, I think around the fifteenth ani is right, Messana made a note out loud that she would really like to see the store available in the game.

Now, that also is a contractual thing, and the desire may be hindered by the fact that we are now managed and developed under a licensing contract to Broadsword, as opposed to being run by a wholly owned subsidiary of EA. Solutions to these problems require entirely too much legalese for my paygrade of "passionate volunteer", but the idea still intrigues me.

 

[Balinor of Pk?]

You can't expect a game designer or even developer to take it upon themselves to create a new system from scratch one day on their own whim.

So I guess you've never heard of companies like Valve Software? You know, the company that owns Steam. The one that UO would like to be on? From top to bottom, everyone is responsible for ideas. And also for ensuring the best product goes out the door. You might think that no one believes this way, but most everyone that works at a successful company that I know, believes that it's every persons responsibility to care enough about their job to either proactively fix issues with their products, or bring issues to the attention of people that can. To believe any other way, is strange. If you work at a company that thinks it's ok for you to bury your head in the sand when you know there's a problem, and that your idea of "working" is ignoring a serious issue... you'd be fired at a lot of other companies for that. Just because that's ok at your company and Broadsword DOES NOT mean that is how companies work best. You should rethink your career if you think that it's ok to ignore serious issues and not be proactive to fix them. No matter the department.

 

[The Zog historian]

Firstly, it isn't their area of responsibility not simply because it's "not their job," but because other professionals whose area of expertise are web development or customer support are employed to do these things who have suitable training, qualifications and experience. Secondly, on the latter point, they may not even have the skill set required to create a new system even if they wanted to. Designers and producers are often non-coders and while the actual developers know about coding games they may not be familiar with web languages or, at best, dabbled in them. Web development is an entirely separate discipline to what they have trained for and are experienced professionally in.

Yup. Like I said, for all his "business decision" claims, he never even got to Management 101 with its concept of delegating work, or Econ 101 with its concept of comparative advantage. I'm not being an apologist for EA, either. Heaven knows my track record is otherwise, but there's nonetheless reality to deal with about programmers' expertise.

So I guess you've never heard of companies like Valve Software? You know, the company that owns Steam. The one that UO would like to be on? From top to bottom, everyone is responsible for ideas. And also for ensuring the best product goes out the door.

You're still completely full of it. Even in your example, any given individual at Valve is not going to be responsible for "everything," which is what you're claiming. A game developer is not going to work on a billing system as well, except at perhaps a very small company hardly anyone's heard of.

You might think that no one believes this way,

Translation: "I'm going to create a straw man."

but most everyone that works at a successful company that I know,

Ohhhh, so now you're backtracking from claims of million-dollar "experience" to simply a company you "know." How much more laughable can you get?

believes that it's every persons responsibility to care enough about their job to either proactively fix issues with their products, or bring issues to the attention of people that can. To believe any other way, is strange.

You're erroneously (and that's being charitable in my choice of adjective) claiming that "There's something wrong here" means a person must share in the labor.

If you work at a company that thinks it's ok for you to bury your head in the sand when you know there's a problem,

Of course, nobody ever said such a thing, so stop putting words into others' mouths.

and that your idea of "working" is ignoring a serious issue... you'd be fired at a lot of other companies for that.

Actually, people would get fired for attempting to take over jobs that they're unqualified for, e.g. a game developer that says "This billing system sucks!" and dives into something he knows nothing about.

Just because that's ok at your company and Broadsword DOES NOT mean that is how companies work best.

Your attempt at a logical point is so worthless, demonstrated that you admitted it doesn't work for Broadsword: "Just because that's ok at your company and Broadsword..." Whoops!

You should rethink your career if you think that it's ok to ignore serious issues and not be proactive to fix them. No matter the department.

You're the one who needs to take your own advice about "You should rethink your career," such as sticking to sweeping floors instead of these million-dollar decisions you tried bragging about.

Ah well, it's to be expected when there's no script you can write to save you here with logical arguments.