Lets start this tale with the cold hard fact that no other company on the planet makes it harder for its customers to pay for their services than SOE... that however is a thread for another day.
And I think a little more background is in order: Due to the fact that I tried numerous times to pay for my subscription with my credit card only to have it fail repeatedly on SOE's wonderful website I had to find another source.
I live in Germany, this means trying to find a 30 or 90 day card is as hard as trying to find a EQ2 box product on the shelves of a computer store (including the US Military base I live next to). Indeed trying to find a virgin at the playboy mansion would probably be easier.
So I turned online to find a source of game cards and found the company "Playyet" the webfront for MMOServices Inc.
And up to now they have filled my need for 30 day cards only charging a few cents more than SOE does.
Everything was fine until this weekend when the card I ordered arrived (they only send a image of the code and not the whole card) and I entered it into my account...
Instead of the normal message that 30 days of play time had been added to my account, I received the message that "SOE thanked me for my purchase and that 500 station cash had been added to my account."
Of course I went *** and checked... sure enough my account was still due to run out and no new 30 day cards were listed.
So being a dumbass I ordered another... and the same thing happened.
So now I had received 10 dollars worth of Station cash for 30 dollars.
I contacted PlayYet and experienced an epic run around with them, including them telling me that they had "accidentally" sent me two 2,500 station cash cards.
So I contact SOE Chat support (which is pretty damn good IMO) and have the following conversation with them
Hi, my name is TSR Stephanie B.. Please allow me a few moments to read your question.
TSR Stephanie B.: I am sorry but the questions are not showing up in our new chat windows. In the mean time can you please let me know how can I help you today?
s1203372 soe: One sec I copy and pasted my question to word let me get it
s1203372 soe: On the 23rd I redeemed twocards worth 500 station cash each. The company I purchased the cards from are stating that the cards were in fact ones for 2,500 station cash. I asked at the official forums and TSR-DanielH told me that you would be able to provide me with some sort of proof in this regard. Either a receipt or invoice or some other form of record that I could use to prove to the company from whom I purchased the two cards would be enough to settle the matter with them or in case they refuse to refund me the difference in price to take the matter up with Paypal.
s1203372 soe: That's my problem in a nutshell
TSR Stephanie B.: what do the cards say on them?
s1203372 soe: One second I’ll upload the images.
File attachment upload has started.
The file code one.jpg (25.76KB) was received.
File attachment upload has started.
The file code two.jpg (23.46KB) was received.
s1203372 soe: They were ordered over the internet, those are the two cards I received, when I entered them into my account they credited me with 500 station cash each.
s1203372 soe: My station cash wallet now has a total of 1,100 station cash
TSR Stephanie B.: the first one 2EVR4F89H9NZ7CGNHP4G is a game card for Sentinel's Fate retail code which give 500 SC and access to Everquest 2 expansions up to Sentinel's Fate.
and the code 2EVX369C4BRX5MT7D9NA same thing. It is an expansion key
s1203372 soe: So they basically sent me two expansion keys for SF?
TSR Stephanie B.: That is what those key are, expansion keys
s1203372 soe: Is there any way I could receive a payment history for those two cards per email?
TSR Stephanie B.: no You did not purchase them from us directly we do not have payment info on them
s1203372 soe: You must have the info that I redeemed them, that would be enough
TSR Stephanie B.: I can only say that you redeemed them on this account. that is all the proof i can give.
s1203372 soe: Would there be any way to remove the cards from my account? I could then return them to the company I purchased them from?
TSR Stephanie B.: no they are one time use only. once used that is it.
s1203372 soe: All I need is written proof that the cards were redeemed and that the codes were not what I ordered. That would be enough.
s1203372 soe: An email would be enough for me to persue this matter with the company I ordered them from.
TSR Stephanie B.: Like I said all I can say it you redeemed the expansion keys on this account I can send a follow up of this chat to you
s1203372 soe: That would be fine. So for the record, the two cards are in fact Sentinel's Fate Expansion codes and not Station cash codes.
TSR Stephanie B.: yes they are sentinel's fate expansion codes
s1203372 soe: So for the 30 dollars I paid I received 10 dollars worth of Station Cash, and nothing else?
TSR Stephanie B.: Since you already owned the Expansion when you added the two codes, the 500 station cash for each code is all you will receive.
s1203372 soe: OK understood. Could you can send me a transcript to my email account? That would be great. I thank you for your time, and I don't want to hold up the line any longer.
TSR Stephanie B.: sure.
TSR Stephanie B.: Thank you for visiting our Sony Online Entertainment customer support chat. Take care and have a nice day!
s1203372 soe: You too!
TSR Stephanie B.: Thank you.
's1203372 soe' disconnected ('Concluded by Agent').
So I contact PlayYet again... (remember at this point I had already sent and received around 30 emails with them including ones telling me that I owed them money for the two "2500 Station Cash Cards" I had received. meaning that they hadn't even bothered to check what they had sent me. In one of the emails they even told me the SOE station cash website that I sent them a link to had the wrong prices on it
) I also offered to pay them the 10 dollars the 1000 station cash was worth. No Dice.
Hello,
So I talked to Sony Online Entertainment last night. Below is a copy of the Chat Transcript. I will sum it up for you one last time.
I ordered 2 30 day cards. Someone at your company sent me two Sentinel’s Fate cards instead. Because I already own the Expansion pack all I received for the two cards is Station cash worth 10 dollars.
So I paid over 30 dollars for 10 dollars worth of station cash. That is your problem, not mine. I want you to accept your mistake and send me the two 30 day codes I ordered. I will not reimburse you for your mistake. You can find out who made the mistake at your end and get the money from them if you want.
You have today to do so. If, by the end of today you do not accept your mistake and refuse to send me the two codes I ordered, I will report Playyet to Paypal.
I’m not going to discuss this any further with you. I’ve already lost enough time and had enough frustration on this. So you have the choice, send me what you owe me or get reported.
I await your reply,
I received an email back telling me that I was SOL, so I reported them to PayPal. I also promised them I'd spread the word that their service sucked. Which led me to make this thread.
So the moral of this story is if you are forced by SOE to purchase time cards to play... stay the hell away from PlayYet. There is more than one company out there that offers this type of service, and I'm willing to bet they have better service than some chinenglish speaking person sitting in a sweatshop call center.
