Bad Customer Service

I've played this game since the beta in January 2009 and I've never been banned.

Mid last year I borrowed one of my alt- characters to a friend of mine for a few weeks to play with. I changed my password when he got his own account. Now, more than a year later Aventurine decides to ban my alt account because the friend I borrowed it to just got himself banned for talking shit and threatening people in the game.

Well, that has nothing to do with me. He hasn't been on my alt for over a year. Still I get my alt banned and lose it and everything that I was storing on it. Naturally I tried to dispute their decision and explain to them that I'm getting caught in the middle here, but all I get are rigid answers.

Hello,

Your account’s billing and personal information is related to one or more accounts that were banned for a serious Terms of Service violation.

We are not going to unblock your account under any circumstance. The decision is final and is not negotiable.

Regards,
Darkfall Support

And explaining the situation politely and to the best of my abilities yielded this:

Greetings,

As it was explained already, we are not going to unblock your account under any circumstance. The decision is final and is not negotiable.

Please bear in mind future inquiries into this matter will yield similar replies.

We extend our best regards,
Darkfall Support

Never let your friends log on your account in Darkfall. Because you will get permanently banned if your friend gets banned. Even if it's more than a year later.

I guess I am naive, but I really thought Customer Support was supposed to help out the players, rather than get them caught in the flac of rigid policies and final undisputable decisions.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Look at it from the bright side, atleast you didn't get banned for ledning out your account.

Something...something with well deserved.

Sounds like a great company, makes me look forward to DFUW and a change to not have to play with muppets

Originally posted by kbkid73
Seems your anger is misplaced. Shouldn't say bad customer service but rather bad friend. If they unbanned your account then what would stop every other banned account from spouting some weak sob story about how its not their fault..blah, blah, blah. It was YOUR account and YOU decided to lend it out but at no point did it stop being YOUR responsibility. If anything the responses from Customer Service appear to be quite professional and I for one would rather give money to a company that is willing to stand by its policies rather than cave-in to every whiney cry baby that got legitimately banned. Next time tell your friend to buy his own game and you won't have these problems. 

Well put.

first and foremost why would you even care this game is horrible and will be another letdown just like before , second judging by the responce above , why would you even want to play this game again with keyboard warrrios above posting nonsense. Third there is more to the story then what is being listed here. How can someone who hasnt touched your account in over a year get you banned for abusive language now? Game companies log chats and if your account isnt the one threatening people in game and its your friends own personal account why would they ban you? They ban accounts , not single toons so if he was doing anything wrong HIS account would be banned. You are not telling the entire story here or im missing something ...

edit- if you are saying that your alt account he is still using then yes its not customer service , its your friend you should be mad at . How does that company know you are just not making excuses not to get banned and really said it yourself and not your friend? Can you prove you were not the one online ? If he is threatening people of course most companies will ban the account doing so no questions asked

AV is really good in bann the bad apples. This shows how they worry about their customers who dont violate the ToS.

OP Account sharing is not permitted, simple as that.

AV does handle those type of situations very well..

Yeah, it's hard to believe because it's ridiculeous. But untill you stand in the same situation you don't believe how rigid customer support can be with their policies. Maybe it works with people who write them all sorts of complicated stories, but unfortunately normal and honest players get caught as well.

He got banned playing on his own account. The offense (ingame chat harassment) was so serious that they decided to ban every account that he has ever played on. That includes my alt account.

Again, I'd be surprised if account sharing is permitted in any form, most MMO's will ban you automatically for doing it. (except to immediate family members, and sometimes even then.

Originally posted by ZtyX

Yeah, it's hard to believe because it's ridiculeous. But untill you stand in the same situation you don't believe how rigid customer support can be with their policies. Maybe it works with people who write them all sorts of complicated stories, but unfortunately normal and honest players get caught as well.

He got banned playing on his own account. The offense (ingame chat harassment) was so serious that they decided to ban every account that he has ever played on. That includes my alt account.

Pardon me while I call "SHENANIGANS!" Its seems to me that you are being sparse with the full details of this story. If both accounts were banned then it was for good reason (no company is in the habit of arbitrarily banning accounts that bring them a monthly revenue).  I'd suggest you get a new friend a little higher up on the maturity scale.

Originally posted by Kyleran

Again, I'd be surprised if account sharing is permitted in any form, most MMO's will ban you automatically for doing it. (except to immediate family members, and sometimes even then.

 

It is against the TOS to share accounts.

The OP could get his main account banned for even admitting the fact, so my advice would be to take my licks and keep my trap shut

So many righteous people in here. I feel like throwing up.

You could argue that people are biased, but the people I've spoken to are disappointed with CS in this situation. Anyway, how wrong I was to look for some sympathy from strangers. It's clear to me that the majority of people don't care about anything except themselves or maybe their friends. In fact, they enjoy hearing stories about others having trouble with CS, as long as it's got nothing to do with them. I suppose it gives them an opportunity to vent their emotions towards cheaters and what not. It doesn't really matter who the person is, what the story is. You're immediately met with distrust and hostility. I can only hope that people like that will encounter something equal to the facepalm that I have to put up with from Aventurine support. I was naive to think that gamers would show some sort of solidarity towards each other.

im sorry but reading the OP post i cant help but chuckle at this..

"Hello,

Originally posted by Default101
Call me crazy, but I like a little cold-heartedeness from the admins. Keeps the cheaters and griefers on their toes. If a few innocents get sacrificed along the way...well that's the price of justice. Or something like that.

^ agreed.

On the up side, it's not like your alt account will carry over stats and items into Unholy Wars or anything.  Just start fresh, and tell your friend to buy his own next time!

Sorry OP.

Account sharing is against the TOS in basically EVERY MMO. When they banned your friend, I'm fairly sure that during the process, they noticed that he had other accounts with the same info, and banned those as well.

If you came here looking for sympathy, you are not going to get it. You broke the rules, you knew the risks, you paid the price. Plain and simple.

Originally posted by ZtyX   ... the people I've spoken to are disappointed with CS in this situation. ...

It is fair to say that at times Darkfall 1.0's customer service has let down its customer base, there are well known instances of completely unfair and inappropriate actions.  That is an area that also improved over time, however Aventurine would do well to implement one of the suggestions that they were given by players - Trial by Combat where a champion fights for the player to be given another chance, or Plea for Mercy, where if enough players sacrifice gold pleading for mercy for the player the player gets another chance.  

Aventurine can, and has, at times got things "horribly wrong", and those who have a good memory may well remember an incident where a customer serivce representative error eventually led to a staff member no longer being in that role.  These things happen, and Av has at times been "untidy" about fixing things.

I can and do sympathise with your plight, however in this instance, as we understand the facts to be, the issue is not with the customer service but rather with your friend who betrayed your trust so completely.  And for that betrayal, you really do have my genuine sympathy - friends should never do that to their friends.

Originally posted by ZtyX

Bad Customer Service

 

I've played this game since the beta in January 2009 and I've never been banned.

Mid last year I borrowed one of my alt- characters to a friend of mine for a few weeks to play with. I changed my password when he got his own account. Now, more than a year later Aventurine decides to ban my alt account because the friend I borrowed it to just got himself banned for talking shit and threatening people in the game.

Well, that has nothing to do with me. He hasn't been on my alt for over a year. Still I get my alt banned and lose it and everything that I was storing on it. Naturally I tried to dispute their decision and explain to them that I'm getting caught in the middle here, but all I get are rigid answers.

Hello,

Your account’s billing and personal information is related to one or more accounts that were banned for a serious Terms of Service violation.

We are not going to unblock your account under any circumstance. The decision is final and is not negotiable.

Regards,
Darkfall Support

And explaining the situation politely and to the best of my abilities yielded this:

Greetings,

As it was explained already, we are not going to unblock your account under any circumstance. The decision is final and is not negotiable.

Please bear in mind future inquiries into this matter will yield similar replies.

We extend our best regards,
Darkfall Support

 

Never let your friends log on your account in Darkfall. Because you will get permanently banned if your friend gets banned. Even if it's more than a year later.

I guess I am naive, but I really thought Customer Support was supposed to help out the players, rather than get them caught in the flac of rigid policies and final undisputable decisions.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Poor Celiah,

Unfortunately for you it is Aventurine's policy to ban any accounts "associated" with hacking.  This means if you let your friend log in to check something on your computer then he decides 6 months later hey fuck this game I'm gonna hack till I quit, your boned.

Fortunately for you its only a couple months till your accounts would have been wiped anyways.  So live and learn and punch your friend in the stomach next time you see him.