Sadly, this does not surprise me in the least and I sympathise with the OP.  On several online games I have had my personal accounts banned due to phishing and "other" in-game activity which I was not reponsible for. Reponses from support departments range from pro-formas to no response at all (*glares at Blizzard*). I run more system security than most but it makes no difference.

Game companies have a history of treating their subs apallingly. And the situation is not improving in a hurry. There is an "elitist" and "precious" attitude amongst large game companies. There are too many examples of this to mention and it almost covers the entire industry. It's time for companies like Funcom to drink a large glass or perspective. Out in the real world, if you purchase a product, you have entitlements and rights. Seems to me that gamers have neither of these.

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Originally posted by augustgrace
Reading some of these responses makes me wish that a meteor would strike the earth.  I can't see any purpose to continuing the species if we can't apply even the most basic level of deduction or common sense.
1- OP changes stories about logging in to fit his/her argument.  Not a sign of honesty.
2- OP states that rep didn't seem to understand English, but somehow fails to realize that this may have resulted in nothing more than a communication error.
3- Despite my pessimism I still have to think that at least one of you should be able to read dates.  The offer http://news.softpedia.com/news/Age-of-Conan-Offers-Special-Subscription-Deals-126814.shtml was BEFORE RotGS released.  If you read the link the article even states that there wan't even a release date at that time, November 12th, 2009.  By taking advantage of the 12 month offer you would recieve a copy of RotGS when it came out, which occurred in May 2010.  The OP states that he took advantage of an offer in December of 2010, well after both the expansion release and the offers duration.
4- Despite the offer being over with at the time the OP purchased a 12 month sub, AND the admitted language barrier, rather than behaving like an adult and admitting that he was mistaken, OP decided to do a charge back.
Since the offer wasn't valid at the time the OP purchased the 12 month sub and he failed to behave responsibly both in not taking appropriate steps to work with Funcom to resolve the problem, and in admitting he had misunderstood what was being offered, this is a case of buyer's remorse not bad customer service.
Unhappy that he had made a mistake the OP then punished the company wrongfully, committed fraud and  made a decision that any rationale adult should know would burn bridges.
 

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My bad, but the first link is talking about a promo 1 year 10 months ago... so around december 2010. http://www.massiveonlinegamer.com/forums/8-age-of-conan/512-funcoms-qcome-back-to-conanq-promotion

Also here is an official post on the AOC forums with the offer around that date (Scroll down a bit). So the OP is still not delusional :D

http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=161567&page=6

I do clearly remember the promo

Active for a 12 months subs and get frre copy of Godslayer.

and its normal practise if you chargeback the account gets cancelled.

I won't call the OP a liar, but I do think his case falls into the one-in-a-million category of a bad chain of events leading to a bad outcome, and that his case shouldn't be used as a story of "look at how this company conducts its business, you shouldn't give them your money they are scam artists."

Stories like this happen wtih every company, no exceptions.

Actually to me the chargeback  is not the issue.  The op was right to do it, and funcom within their rights to ban/suspend that account.  To me the real issue is the crappy service Funcom provided the op.  A lot of game sales depend on word of mouth... Word of mouth  for funcom  is not good, in fact has been bad since the epic fail of a launch for AoC. They began to balance that with the good work they did later to balance it(and yes I played AoC after the launch when things had settled out and liked it) but with reports of stuff like this it will fall back down.  Now someone will always buy their games, but will that amount of someones be enough to sustain a server load? Will they end up having a viable game called the Secret World, or will they just have to settle for whatever they make from presales and watch the game go belly up because no one trusts them enough to play it. I really like the look of TSW but i will be holding off to see what happens. my opinion.

Originally posted by Xeno326

Well you know what, I am adult enough to recognize a mistake when I see one. You claim I knew about the dates; which I didn't. Hell I didn't even know the product wasn't even available at the time of the promotion offer, even to this date until just now.

Nor did the representative make a mention about it in regards to why it was not even enabled on the account yet. I think they would of had access to that bit of information seeing they worked for Funcom, or in hindsight they were just as oblivious about the details to the expansion as I was.

So theres two wrongs there both concluding to a Lack of communication and obvious details such as this. Like I said when I was interested in the offer I had no knowledge about the development of the Expansion, in my mind from what I saw on the advertisement it was being promoted as available. I didn't see anything about the expansion would be enabled on the account eventually since it was still in development.

If that was the case I wouldn't of been so hasty to cancel the subscription, but I had no idea it was still in development.

Well damn my bad, I withdraw my accusation on this matter, but they should of at least been able to refund the subscription  and reinstate the account since I didn't use any time on it, I never logged back into the account once I found out the expansion wasn't enabled; while I was waiting for a response, that part of it should still be able to be corrected in the least.

Good eyes augustgrace, I guess we all learn a lesson today, companies don't promote products still in development unless you make it clear as day it won't be available on the account until such and such time.

First off the above quoted because clearly everyone missed it.

The new link that has been provided by someone is for AoC EU which extended the offer until December 20, 2010. 

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=210849&highlight=rise+godslayer+free

This link shows Famine from AoC stating that the offer including the free copy of RotGS was expired.  This was January 2010.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=208258&highlight=rise+godslayer+free

Another link regarding that promotion.  Offer expired December 1st, 2009.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=226170

August 2010 another 12 month offer comes out, Does NOT include RotGS.  Comes with helmet, potions, pet and other extras, but NOT RotGS.

First off to the OP-

You admitted you were wrong which was a pleasant surprise.  It is rare that someone is willing to admit they made a mistake.  Makes me feel like a dick for coming off too strong, my apologies.

To everyone else-

Contact an adult education program and ask if they have an adult reading/comphrehension course.  If they don't most libraries will offer this program which seems to be sorely needed by some people.

This marks the end of my involvment in this thread as I don't enjoy trying to help the hopeless.

Originally posted by WSIMike

Originally posted by Supersoups

 

The way he did charge back is a fradulent practice. So he deserved the ban. And seeing that you would do the same i think companies are justified in banning account of players like you.

"Players like me" eh?

You mean people who have never charged-back a single dime on a single MMO they've ever played? Of course, I've also never encountered a situation like wha the OP described, either.

You dont' know a thing about me soups.. So, how about you keep your presumptions about others to yourself, and stick to what you know, okay? Less likely to end up looking foolish that way.

What part of "Funcom didn't provide the product/service they were advertising" is lost on you, exactly? In *any* line of business - MMO or otherwise - when a company advertises something - very clearly, in black and white - and then fails to deliver on that product or service, they are in the wrong and a charge-back is 100% justified. In this case, as the OP understood it, that is exactly what happened. Thus, no... the way he did a charge-back is not a "fraudulent practice". It's common-sense.

That the customer rep he spoke to failed to inform him that the expansion hadn't released yet is not an "out" for FC. They should have been better prepared to handle it. If they'd simply said "Oh, RoTGS isn't out yet. Once it is, you will be given access to it", I'm sure the outcome would have been very different.

If you'd be happy to let a company who failed to deliver on what they advertised keep your money, leaving you empty handed.. then hey.. all the more power to ya. I'm sure those companies would love to do business with you. For those of us who actually value the idea of "getting what's advertised"... we'll hold the companies to their advertising and hold them accountable when they don't.

You said you would do the same, so yeah my assumption is based on what you wrote. I could care less what your personal beef is with Funcom but somethings are just plain wrong.

Well above all else what we learned and that is all that we can really ever desire from a company claiming this.

Originally posted by ElderRat

Actually to me the chargeback  is not the issue.  The op was right to do it, and funcom within their rights to ban/suspend that account.  To me the real issue is the crappy service Funcom provided the op.  A lot of game sales depend on word of mouth... Word of mouth  for funcom  is not good, in fact has been bad since the epic fail of a launch for AoC. They began to balance that with the good work they did later to balance it(and yes I played AoC after the launch when things had settled out and liked it) but with reports of stuff like this it will fall back down.  Now someone will always buy their games, but will that amount of someones be enough to sustain a server load? Will they end up having a viable game called the Secret World, or will they just have to settle for whatever they make from presales and watch the game go belly up because no one trusts them enough to play it. I really like the look of TSW but i will be holding off to see what happens. my opinion.

I understand this feeling, but the OP can only give 1/2 the story (sorry OP, but it is true). How one views one self and how we are viewed by others is often is not the same.

to all those who think that funcom was right for the ban, i hate to break it to you but they were wrong. what they did is filled under false advertisement. they claimed if you paid for 12 months you will get a free expansion pack. the original poster paid for the 12 months and did not get the expansion pack he was promised. because they failed they are in breach of contract for false advertisement, which if the original poster wanted to could have filled a lawsuit about. he did not he told his bank to ask for a refund(which he rightly deserved).

After reading every post in this thread... yes of every page, I'm surprised more people haven't harped on what I think is the biggest problem.  Why couldn't Funcom refund this guy's money if he did contact them the very next day and did not log back into the game?

How many people play MMO's?  Of these people, how many do you think have made a mistake or unintentionally subscribe to something?  If you did not take advantage of the subscription, why shouldn't you be entitled to a refund?  In the non cyber world, I do not shop anywhere that won't give me a refund if I haven't used the product.  Fortunately just about every major chain offers refunds.  The only things that shouldn't be refunded are prepared food (unless they got the order wrong or there was hair in the food, etc), and personal wear like underwear.

If the OP asked for a refund the next day without logging back into the game, IMO Funcom is in the wrong any way you slice or dice it.  Man Up Funcom!

The whole problem is Funcom themselves. They dont reply to people, think what they do is oh so great, whilest they dont even know what the players really want. They think they do, but really, they dont. They sit in their ivory tower looking down and only thinking of your cash.

i played the free game not impressed anyway.

Originally posted by Arkain

Most if not all MMO's will ban you if you do a charge back, thats just how it is.

Bingo. This really should be common sense. Whether OP is in the right or wrong, if one does a chargeback one is getting banned.

Anyways, OP you should be thankful. Why would you even consider going back to a company that lied and mislead you?

             It's nice to see the OP admit he may be wrong since discovering from another poster that RotGS wasn't released until summer 2010..so at that point it would have been activated on his account. Which is why he got the RotGS goodies but not the expansion itself..when he took advantage of the offer. His misunderstanding.

            BUT ...why did the Funcom rep overlook this fact. "Hey...Mr. OP...you WILL get the expansion when it releases in summer 2010."...Case closed.. Pretty crappy service from someone that should be better educated in their own product and promotions. ...and this coming from someone who has had nothing but good experiences with Funcom's Customer Service...even when it was my fug-up.

Wanted to bump with update - for anyone that was interested in hearing the results. Original post is edited with the new info at the top. Thanks for everyones support and assistance with this issue who took the time to help out with the incident.

Originally posted by Golelorn

Originally posted by Arkain

Most if not all MMO's will ban you if you do a charge back, thats just how it is.

Bingo. This really should be common sense. Whether OP is in the right or wrong, if one does a chargeback one is getting banned.

Anyways, OP you should be thankful. Why would you even consider going back to a company that lied and mislead you?

I never had an account on any service banned for any reason regarding cheating or in this case wanting a refund on a service. Regardless if I play the game or not is not the situation. It's the fact I had enabled a collectors edition on this account; which is property I paid for. It's my right to have access to it at any given time. On top of that getting banned for a misunderstanding on the Customer Rep's side isn't an issue I was going to let stand when I found out about what happened to the account.

I believe this is standard of their billing system.  I had an Anarchy Online account get banned for that very same reason.  I had resubbed not realizing I had a canceled CC tied to the account and was banned after the transaction didn't go through.

Originally posted by Xeno326

Originally posted by Beazt

I agree with other people here, ( And for the record, I have not played AoC since launch - So no, I'm not a fan boy )

If you weren't sure about the game, then you should have paid for 1 month, and leave it at that, - without chargeback.

 

Getting banned serves you just right imo.

 

And title is misleading, they don't ban for cancel of subs, they ban for chargebacks.

 

When all that is said, then I'd also have to say, that "F2P" is sh*t,, at least as it stands now, it is just accepted that comapnies slap a F2P tag on their games, then lock you from half the content, throw in an item shop, and ask you to pay a sub to access the rest of the game.

 

Hell no... I will never play a game like that.

Well you either fail at reading comprehension or read some of the situation and skipped the important details.

Let me summarize it for you.

Promo Free xpac with purchase of 12mo sub.

You can't trial a promo as you were suggesting above pay a month to test the waters. It has nothing to do with testing AoC for the first time, it was me acting on a promo offer.

2 After taking up the promo offer the product they were advertising was not included with my subscription. Contacted support, no assistance, and they refused to refund my sub to keep the money I already paid expecting I was going to sit there like a helpless idiot. I'm smarter than that and outplayed them on their tactics.

You're right the title should be different. They don't actually provide what they are advertising in their promo's, is what it should be and then cause you avoidable stress by being difficult and refusing to work with you as a customer and when you have no other options and get your money back from a charge cancellation, they ban you. That's what the title should be.

From what I can tell, you didn't outplay anyone...you over-reacted to an inept support rep.  If you would have asked the rep to speak to someone higher up the food chain, you probably could have resolved the issue day-one.  You kind of brought this upon yourself to some degree.

I'm no fan of Fun(Fail)com as I have been burned by both AO and AoC.  I also can relate to dealing with moronic support reps, so I feel your frustration.  Credit card chargebacks should only be used as a last resort.  As you have learned, it can end up screwing you in the end...it may even affect your credit score (which can be life altering).

Let me say it again, chargebacks should only be used as a last resort!

Glad you got it all sorted out in the end!  ;)