PlayOnline Sucks
July 2, 2009So – after being excited for a good two weeks about being able to play FFXI again – I come across this as I try to change my credit card info… I checked and re-checked and made sure I did not enter any incorrect information.
And then… after retrying for a few times… this.
Then after retrying a couple more times over an hour or two… this.
I decided to go to Square Enix’s web support chat thing. After waiting for 8 minutes it said “The next agent will be with your shortly…” (not the exact words) but of course… the agent didn’t come until 20-30 minutes after that. Then I was told that the server was busy, which is the same exact thing the error told me. He told me to try again every 30 minutes – which I have already been doing for the past 2-3 hours. Apparently so many users are trying to reactivate their accounts or change their billing information that the server is extremely congested. Really now? (Continuing on with SE’s Customer Service, my friend had to wait 20-30 minutes on the phone for an agent to address his own billing problem which he already mentioned through e-mail 2 weeks ago with no reply back)
I looked up this problem on google and it seems that A LOT of people have had this problem and many have been trying for days to get in. A lot of new players lost interest in the game and got upset that they paid 20 bucks for a game they can’t even register in. Others who have tried contacting Square Enix have gotten the same reply that the servers are busy, while others were told to contact their credit card company. However, those who did contact their credit card companies reported no problems with their company and concluded that the fault lies with Square Enix. I actually used this same credit card to reactivate my friend’s account – so there should have been no problem using it. And other people were able to “randomly” get in after a couple of tries. Either way, I’m angry I can’t play right now ):
In conclusion, Play Online sucks and SE’s customer service sucks and if I can’t play my account soon I will rage into oblivion. OBLIVION.
Who the heck likes logging into PlayOnline to just get into FFXI anyway?
P.S. This is a rant.
You think that’s bad, there are a lot of people who are getting “banned” because of SE’s screw ups, and have to go through a lot of headache to get their characters reinstated.
Good luck to you man.
Ouch. I’ve read about those before where people are finding banned accounts because of overdue payments or randomly finding out that they have to pay x amount of fees for reasons unknown. My friend had to pay $4.43 to reactivate his playonline ID. $4.43? That’s such an obscure number to begin with – and nothing in PlayOnline costs that amount. He’s convinced SE just wants money now lol.
SE is getting sued over “unfair business practices” and I have a funny feeling it has to do with some obscure “late payment” crap. I had to pay like a 2.17 late payment. Uh…for what? I deactivated my account for a reason.
Lol yeah, I don’t get how they’re coming up with these ridiculous numbers. The service online I’m sure has degenerated over the years as well. All in all though I still like FFXI. I’m very excited for FFXIV for the sheer enjoyment of what FFXI used to have. Exploration and Adventure. Now everybody just looks things up on ffxiclopedia.org. It was so much more fun finding things out with your friends for the first time etc.
Side note: The Chinese banhammer on RMTs sure helped FFXI lol
I’ve got a friend who’s been having this issue too — he quit playing last summer and we were SO excited he’d be back…and then POL refused to take his credit card :< Hopefully they do something about it soon :(
Woah, okay so I switched from a visa credit card to using a mastercard debit card and it worked. Tell him to try and use diff. credit cards and keep retrying every 30 minutes. I guess POL has a problem with Visa? I hope your friend gets to reactivate soon! :)
They really should fix it. I mean… square enix refusing to take money? That’s like… the world ending in a pit of fire.
P.S. I too quit last summer – what a coincidence. :O
I deactivated my account because I got hacked and moved to a different server. I wasn’t going to continue paying for a service I wasn’t and couldn’t use at the time. About a month before my server transfer was up, I reactivated it and had to pay that ridiculous “late payment” crap.
Now I’ve forgotten to pay bills in the past, but they charge you late fees like that because they actually keep your service running, as a courtesy. But when you miss a payment with SE, the just cut the service off. No courtesy 3 days or whatever for you to get enough money in the account, nothing. So I really don’t understand what this whole “late fee” garbage is.
Glad to hear your account works and you’re able to enter the world of Vana’diel again. Good luck!
Does that mean you’ve stopped playing? ):
Its july 3rd 2009 and I still cannot update my credit card information from june 30th. I understand there was server maintenance at that time. But its july 3rd now, i still owe july payment on my new credit card. Support line and web chat said server is congested try again in 30 mins. I been trying for 9 hours and still cant get in on july 2nd. I also tried again today.
This sucks. My card works fine.
Yeah, I really think it’s random :| The only advice I could give you is to try different cards. I was able to change my information back to the visa card just now. You should try again. Good luck!
Apparently they’re doing another maintenance – hopefully fixing the problem? Keep an eye out for updates on that.
Not sure if this is late. But I’m seeming to have the same issue. And I’m a returning player, my card isn’t frozen or anything. On top of that they charged me 1.00 for what though? Giving my credit card number?
Heck i wouldn’t be surprised if there getting in trouble for theft, sure feels like it.
Perhaps they should just fix there stuff, stop mass banning people over a single issue that includes multiple other innocent people. And get with the game, it’s starting to look like SoE(Sony Online Entertainment). Showing it’s ugly side sooner or later. Does anyone know how long this has been happening?
Yeah, I think they’re a bit anal when it comes to payment options. I mean, just look at their ridiculous “start of the month” payment system that inevitably gets them more money from players who start at the middle-end of a month etc.
There shouldn’t be a problem with changing your credit card info at this time I think – it’s 7 days past the beginning of the month and they finished yet another maintenance on it. Did you try using any other credit cards? The only info you’ll get out of customer service is to retry every 30 minutes if it still doesn’t work. It’s not very helpful but it’s worth a shot to try.
This particular UCS problem has been occurring over the years I think – because I’ve seen posts from 2 years ago or so on forums complaining about this when I was trying to find a solution through google.
Either way, good luck to you and hope you get to venture in Vana’diel again :)
P.S. Which server are you on?
So as a similar story, my boyfriend and I had been SO exited to play FFXI again. We wanted a game to play together besides WoW and this was it. We were at the mall, I purchased the game for XBOX 360 and PC. (Yay!) Well, we get home, and to the registration process, he enters in my credit card information first. Goes through, first try. I however, have been trying to get in for a day now!!!! It is now day two of the rigmarole that is registration. Still can’t get in. Disappointed to the max. Wanting to destroy something or someone. It declines my payment. “Well, call the bank.” REALLY???? Call the bank? I’m pretty sure I have more than $30.00 in there and what the hell should it matter anyway? I’m on my free month!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!! I keep trying every 30 minutes just to get the same thing. I…am…pissed. Don’t know what else to do besides bitch and cry and plot revenge on SE/
>.<;; I'm sorry. Did you try using other credit cards? This payment system is really wack and some people have been able to get in while others not. It's so random…
But, good luck on getting back in!
this game is up to balls i only got it yday, but from wat i herd this playonline thing is giving probs for a very long time… n its the 12 august n i cant register..is it advisable to return the game?
I would advise that you keep trying. FFXI is a great game, they just chose a horrible system to host it on.
i have been trying and trying and its the 12th of december it keeps saying the same thing incorrect address and then cannot use this card i check my balance online and it charges me a dollar each time it fails wth i better get my seven bucks back
haha i just reealized i wrote december haha oops i meant to say september
i just got off the phone with a rep he told me to try different abriviations of my billing adress and still no luck ive just about given up at this point
I’m having the same problem as well! I was playing the game on my husband’s account but since we couldn’t play at the same time we wanted to get me my own account. SO we did and we tried using the same credit card my husband used to his account and it said “you cannot use the payment method” or something of that nature.
so we figured “hey lets just get another card. so we did and we tried all day yesterday and the day before and now today and it says UCS-60257! credit card information not correct or whatever! or server is busy! I wanna play this game again! gah! if anyone figures out exactly why tell me please!
ok so im having the same problem too it worked fine at the begging until i got the credit card problem then i didnt have the card around so i exited it now im trying to get on it again and its not working
does anybody have any idea what to do its doing pol -1403 and its really starting to irritate me and it wont tell me wat the problem is it just says some problems occurred….. grrr