So with this new month starting I have received this email from funcom:

-----------------------------------------

Dear --------,

Thank you for purchasing The Secret World. We very much hope that you are enjoying your adventures and are ready for many more.

We need to inform you that your Paypal payment for game time on account --------- requires you to complete preapproval in order for the payment to be successfully processed.

Your access to the game will stop on 2012-08-02.

Please note that we have some very nice launch offers on game time available right now. Some of these offers even include free Funcom Bonus Points which can be used until the 31st of September for purchases from the in-game store.

CLICK HERE to go to your account page

We are thankful for the excellent reactions the game is receiving from our users and very much look forward to sharing more adventures with you. We look forward to seeing you in-game!

Best regards,
Funcom 

-----------------------------------------

Which, even if I am not a native english speaker, clearly states that I WON'T be charged and WON'T be able to play unless I complete the paypal preapproval thing... which I have not... so yeah basically getting into the topic, 3 hours after this email I get a payment completion notice from paypal saying that I have paid 14.99 EUR to Funcom...

Then after trying to contact the customer support here is what I get:

-----------------------------------------

Greetings,

Sorry, we are not refunding monthly subscriptions that has already been processed through PayPal. I can canceled your account so you will no longer be charged. 

Thanks for contacting Funcom Support.

Regards,

GM -----
Senior Customer Service Representative

Funcom Customer Service

*

insert here a list of 6 links to all their game websites...

*

-----------------------------------------

I cannot provide the email I sent them through their website form since I am unable to find the ticket using their website now... I was kindly asking for explainations and obviously for an immediate refund.

Also, again, I am not a native english speaker but two things were strange to me:

"Senior Customer Service Representative" this

"I can canceled your account so you will no longer be charged." and this... they don't even bother checking if people can write properly and use the proper tense ? meh...

-----------------------------------------

So what do you guys say, paypal dispute ? :/

Originally posted by OldManFunk
I generally try to avoid disputes when possible. It's better if you call and talk to someone on the phone. Email is impersonal and you're much more likely to get a canned response from someone with no authority to actually help you with difficult circumstances like these.

And also I just emailed them back asking if opening a dispute with paypal will get my account banned and I got this:

"Unfortunately PayPal disputes will indeed result in a suspension of the account it was disputed on. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but this is indeed the policy. This type of suspension will not be able to be lifted under any circumstances."

My Funcom account is like ... 89.00 EUR Bloodline Champions account + TSW 49.00 EUR + AoC (with several months of sub) and they just suspend... this crap is either a big bad joke or a scam... anyone fine with this policy going on ? Oo

I do hope you haven't fallen for a scam email, I am also 100% wary when I get anything that asks me to CLICK HERE and has so many grammatical errors.

Originally posted by AwDiddums

I do hope you haven't fallen for a scam email, I am also 100% wary when I get anything that asks me to CLICK HERE and has so many grammatical errors.

 

 

Well they knew my account ID + the linked email address but yeah could have been scam... I didn't use the link provided to log into my account management though ! xD

"CLICK HERE to go to your account page"

what is the link directed too? looks like a scam email to me.

Originally posted by Otashi

So with this new month starting I have received this email from funcom:

-----------------------------------------

Dear --------,

Thank you for purchasing The Secret World. We very much hope that you are enjoying your adventures and are ready for many more.

We need to inform you that your Paypal payment for game time on account --------- requires you to complete preapproval in order for the payment to be successfully processed.

Your access to the game will stop on 2012-08-02.

Please note that we have some very nice launch offers on game time available right now. Some of these offers even include free Funcom Bonus Points which can be used until the 31st of September for purchases from the in-game store.

CLICK HERE to go to your account page

We are thankful for the excellent reactions the game is receiving from our users and very much look forward to sharing more adventures with you. We look forward to seeing you in-game!

Best regards,
Funcom 

-----------------------------------------

Which, even if I am not a native english speaker, clearly states that I WON'T be charged and WON'T be able to play unless I complete the paypal preapproval thing... which I have not... so yeah basically getting into the topic, 3 hours after this email I get a payment completion notice from paypal saying that I have paid 14.99 EUR to Funcom...

Then after trying to contact the customer support here is what I get:

-----------------------------------------

 

Greetings,

Sorry, we are not refunding monthly subscriptions that has already been processed through PayPal. I can canceled your account so you will no longer be charged. 

Thanks for contacting Funcom Support.

Regards,

GM -----
Senior Customer Service Representative

Funcom Customer Service

*

insert here a list of 6 links to all their game websites...

*

-----------------------------------------

I cannot provide the email I sent them through their website form since I am unable to find the ticket using their website now... I was kindly asking for explainations and obviously for an immediate refund.

Also, again, I am not a native english speaker but two things were strange to me:

"Senior Customer Service Representative" this

"I can canceled your account so you will no longer be charged." and this... they don't even bother checking if people can write properly and use the proper tense ? meh...

-----------------------------------------

So what do you guys say, paypal dispute ? :/

Similar thing happened to me. For some reason while I was playing for three weeks my Paypal payment was still 'pending'. One day I found I couldn't log in, contacted Funcom and they said they'd been unable to process my paypal payment (funny since I buy and sell on ebay all the time and have no problems with it). They asked for a different payment method but I'd had a good three weeks of the game though, got bored with it and decided i'd got off lightly.

It's Funcom's problem, not Paypal. I'd enter a dispute if i were you to try and get the money back.

Did you cancel your account before the payment was due?

I also think its a Paypay problem, not Funcom's, because they should not allow recurring payments without preapproval. These billing systems are automatic.

So what have we learned? If you do not intend to pay for a subscription, cancel it before the next due date. Hardly a revelation.

Originally posted by thexrated

Did you cancel your account before the payment was due?

I also think its a Paypay problem, not Funcom's, because they should not allow recurring payments without preapproval. These billing systems are automatic.

So what have we learned? If you do not intend to pay for a subscription, cancel it before the next due date. Hardly a revelation.

 

Funcoms system for payment sucks. I had cancelled my sub on AoC two weeks before renewal. When the renewal date came up, I was charged. I even had the cancellation email.

Th best way to make sure you have canceled is to remove your CC or PayPal info from there site.

Paying via paypal does require you to set up a pre-approved payment plan which I assume means they can bill you without asking for approval.  I bought the game via paypal and as soon as the payment was approved on TSW account page I logged into paypal and stopped the pre-approval for payment in the paypal options.

Did not like this.

It took an act of congress to get my paypal account to work so, I have to wonder about all this. It took 3 steps to get it done.  And then I got an email from paypal signed I signed up for a recurring plan.   You had to accept it,  if not then your paypal account is hacked.  You just did not enter you paypal stuff and hope they did not charge you.

What funcom did was let me choose the paypal account then I signed into payapl via there site,  was sent to paypal again I had to sign in and verify my account,  then I had to agree to the payment type.  I got 2 emails from paypal One  saying I paid funcom, the other saying that I agreed to set up a recurring payment.  So something about this entire thread don't sound right at all.

And yes if you dispute your paypal or any credit card it is an automatic ban it is funcom's policy to ban anybody doing a dispute.

This is the email I got from paypal, you should have it in your inbox or junk mail. Sorry you cant mave my user name or the transid.  But it is there,

Hello **********,

You've signed up for preapproved payments plan with Funcom SARL .

To view the details, log in on the PayPal homepage, go to your Profile, and click Preapproved Payments. Then click Funcom SARL *****-**-********.

Thanks,
PayPal

Funcom have not succeded with making their account page logical. I can fully understand that people believe they have canceled their subscription. I, for instance, thougth I had a running subscription.

I had canceled it directly after I first entered the retail key, but later I changed that. At least I thougth so...

Thumped in my Retail Key prior to launch. Did not setup at payment plan.. Not going to either. I seemed to get tired and bored half way through Savage coast. Just seemed dull and repetative. SWTOR had the same effect also.

Just thought i'd add my bit :)

The problem many companies have with PayPal payments is that they have virtually no control over it. This means that especially for aubscriptions they are almost as in the datk as you are. except you can login to your PayPal account and check the status of any PayPal subscripyons / automatic payments you have setup.

Originally posted by Elijarh

Thumped in my Retail Key prior to launch. Did not setup at payment plan.. Not going to either. I seemed to get tired and bored half way through Savage coast. Just seemed dull and repetative. SWTOR had the same effect also.

Just thought i'd add my bit :)

 

And to be useful for this thread, did you have any problem with not setting up a plan?

Same problem - I deleted my payment method from their site and repeatedly checked to verify it was cancelled. All I saw was "upgrade to premium membership", leading me to understand they would not be charging me again. Then I get hit for 14.99. 

I tried to work with their customer service, which was like talking to an unpleasant brick wall. I am disputing the charge.

I feel like this company stole from me.

Originally posted by saxifr

Same problem - I deleted my payment method from their site and repeatedly checked to verify it was cancelled. All I saw was "upgrade to premium membership", leading me to understand they would not be charging me again. Then I get hit for 14.99. 

 

I tried to work with their customer service, which was like talking to an unpleasant brick wall. I am disputing the charge.

 

I feel like this company stole from me.

These MMOs have shady billing/cancellation practices which results in basically free money for them - see every other title's shenanigans.  Because they get away with it.