Sony's Wonderful Support!

[Mawlcisum]

Disclaimer: I would like to apologize in advance for my rant. I just finished a conversation with a CSR at Sony. If you do not wish to read a rant, do not continue any further. However, should you choose to continue, I am not responsible for any damages incurred before, during, or after the reading of this post.

Warning: This is a long post!

So, Sony says they've reactivated accounts for 30 days to celebrate their 5 year anniversary. Sounds like a time for me to see how the server is doing. Maybe catch up with long lost friends, experience a pick-up raid or two, and definately packet collect for the furthering of EQEmu.

I can no longer remember the password to my account. I have not used it in over a year, and it's long since faded from my memory. So I decided to do what I've done before, contact customer support to recover it.

As similar to most people, my e-mail address has changed since my original registration, my credit card has expired, and the information used to register my account almost 4 years ago is no longer current. So I am aware that Sony's use of ancient data is going to slow the recovery process. But I am in luck, I do still have all my owned expansions, with their CD keys, I know my accounts full history, and I still have the same birthdate! So there is a shred of hope.

So I e-mail Sony first. I get the automated after-hours response. I wait a week for an actual response. Nothing. I decided to talk to live support. The link keeps saying they are experiencing high traffic volume and to try back later. After 3 hours, I finally get through. In the meantime I had sent a password recovery e-mail to Sony which included my original account key (specifically asked for in the form.)

After an hour of hearing how they're busy, someone will be with me in a moment, yadda yadda, I get put on the line with CSR Ron C. He promptly greets me with the standard CSR hotkey response basically saying, "Now that you've waited, wait a little longer while I read what you're here to bitch about."

5 minutes later . . . He responds. He asks me for the following;

1. My Sony Station Account Name
2. My birthdate.
3. My zip code.
4. My full name.
5. My e-mail address.
6. The first 4 and last 4 digits of the credit card used during the original registration.

I give him, of course, everything I knew except the last one. Why? Because that card EXPIRED in 2003, right when I quit. What did I do with it? What most people do with old credit cards, shred them to pieces, burn them, eat them, then flush them. I did everyone of those except the first one.

He then tells me how he cannot reactivate the account, or issue a password without the original billing information. I know this is to prevent people from buying/selling/stealing accounts. However, due to natural circumstances, I no longer possess this information. He refuses to reactivate my account or issue the password, and asks me if there is anything else he can help me with. I ask him how I was able to restore my password before using only my personal information (excluding my credit card information) and all of my CD keys, and why is it no longer possible. He informed me that it was never possible and that is not a method of retrieval. The only possible way to gain access is to have the first four and last four digits of the credit card use in the original registration of the account.

He again asks if there is anything else he can help me with. I ask him where I direct my complaints. After a 3 minute wait, he spits out an e-mail address that I could type in under 5 seconds. Before he can respond, I quickly end the session and come here to rant and try to get an honest opinion. Am I right to be furious about Sony's foolish policy?

This is the main reason why I am. I understand that if an account is sold/bought, the seller will share any information with the buyer about the account EXCEPT the credit card number. It would logically be foolish to do that.

That being said, if I had the original e-mail address used in my initial registration, they would send a new password to that address and voila. I do see that the e-mail would be sent to the original address but does Sony ever think about what they're doing? E-mail address change often, like for example when someone changes ISPs (which I did 3 times). Also, if the person does have that e-mail address, and they did sell their account, they could a) steal it back or b) forward the password to the new owner. If they steal it back, one potential EQ customer will be angry, and that account will gain a bad name if the person knows how to locate a server's message board. If they forward the address, the person logs on and plays.

How does this hurt Sony? One person quits, and another begins. They still have to pay monthly fees to play. More people would be willing to get into EverQuest, especially after 5 years now, if they can pick-up in a spot that won't render them useless unless they put in 100+ days play time on a new character. It seems to me that Sony would just be upset that they aren't getting a cut on the profit made from the account sale. Still, they are losing money by making account retrevial so difficult. But that's my own personal opinion.

Maybe they should do what they've always done when someone is making money off of their game, turn around and sell their legal version of it. You know, like the EQ Atlas they made, they could capitalize with Sony's Player Auctions!

End rant. I'm glad I quit, and I'd take EQEmu over EQLive anyday.