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Final Fantasy XI accounts compromised
With the highly anticipated June version update just around the corner, the last thing that Final Fantasy XI players want is something to distract them from the promise of wonderful things in the near future. But it's hard to ignore something as significant as a security breach, and that appears to be what has happened to the game. According to an official statement from Square-Enix, an external attack on their servers resulted in a potential compromise of some of the game's account information, although the statement was quick to point out that no payment information was violated. That alone would be bad, but the actions taken by Square-Enix to inform players have been a bit haphazard, including prolonged outages of the North American customer service department. Many players have had their passwords reset, in some cases resulting in their accounts being outright locked with no way to regain access. Players are encouraged to check their email and ensure that they can still log in to the game as before, and to contact customer service if they're unable to log in to Final Fantasy XI or the PlayOnline service.
AT&T apologizes to customer warned off emailing the CEO: 'This is not the way we want to treat customers'
AT&T's Executive Response Team certainly caused a little controversy yesterday after it warned reader Giorgio Galante that sending another email to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson would result in a cease and desist letter, but apparently it was all just a mistake -- Giorgio tells us that he's received a sincere apology from an AT&T senior VP, who took responsibility for the mixup. Apparently the cease and desist warning came about due to bad reading of AT&T internal policy -- Giorgio was told the rep who made the call is "not having the best of days today" -- and AT&T tells us it's reviewing its procedures to make sure it doesn't happen again. As for Giorgio, he says AT&T's rep sincerely listened to his concerns about the new data plan pricing schemes and that he's accepted the company's apology, but ultimately he's decided to switch over to Sprint and the EVO 4G anyway. That's to be expected, we suppose -- and we'd say next time Randall might do well to use up a few bytes of his 2GB limit and write back to a dissatisfied customer. Here's AT&T's official statement on the matter: We are apologizing to our customer. We're working with him today to address his questions and concerns. This is not the way we want to treat customers. From Facebook to significant customer service channels, AT&T strives to provide our customers with easy ways to have their questions addressed. Because of this incident, we are reviewing our entire process to ensure a situation like this does not happen again.
Anti-Aliased: The customers aren't always right, but they should be supported
The customer isn't always right. Trust me, I know, I use to work at GameStop. *shivers at the thought of pushing reserves* Sometimes, the customer is wrong -- dead wrong -- but that doesn't mean the customer shouldn't be supported and appreciated. Customer support is one of those areas of MMO games that often goes overlooked when it goes right, or put under a spotlight when it goes wrong. There is no middle ground with that department, and the many good people who put long hours into making sure your account properly works don't get enough thanks Well, let's fix that. Today I want to talk about two recent interactions I've had with customer support, but I also want to address a few issues that I have with the system as well.
Apple #4 in e-tailing survey
This a bit of good news for Apple -- despite the numerous complaints seen day to day against the company, Apple's online store came in fourth in overall customer satisfaction in a recent survey. ForSee Results tracked the shopping experience for 23,400 over the Internet during a two-week period in February. Apple came in behind Netflix, Amazon and Avon. Read the entire report here (registration required). Given the economy and the uncertainty of buying stuff online to begin with (I vastly prefer handling a product in a brick and mortar store before buying it), it's good to find out which companies are easy to work with online. I've also dealt with both Netflix and Amazon and have had nothing buy excellent service, in addition to the few times I've ordered from Apple online. [VIa Fortune/CNNMoney]
Getting a human representative at 1-800-MY-APPLE
Have you called the Apple 800 number lately? At the other end of the line, an insanely chipper robot will try to "help you" connect to the most appropriate department. Mr. Roboto is fiendishly positive, with an upbeat approach to getting you the help you need. The problem is that this robot isn't really very good at his job. He has a tendency to go off on long monologues about the glories of Apple online support options. Go on, give Apple a call and you'll see what I mean. You can bypass this robot. Here's how. After the robot answers, wait for him to get to his first break and say "Customer Service Representative." The robot will confirm that he'll soon place you in touch with a real human being. He'll then ask you to clarify what topic you're calling about. This is a trick. Do not respond with a topic. Apple will do practically anything to keep you from proceeding to a more expensive human service representative. They'd rather provide you with speech-synthesized rambles about the glories of particular online FAQs and help pages. They want to help you to "help yourself," i.e. keep costs down. So, say something strange. Something like "Gallupping Butterflies" or "Indigenous Bicycle Dinosaurs." Make sure that your topic cannot be understand by Mr. Roboto. Once you've stymied him, he'll finally forward you to a real customer service representative. Of course, the customer service rep may insist on asking you all sorts of questions about whether you are using a Mac or a "PC computer" before routing you on a few more times. Even if you're just calling about a simple Apple Gift Card. (Yes, the example is drawn from real life.) Still, your chances of making a solution happen quickly are often better when you deal with a real person-to-person encounter, and now you know how.
Billing issues hitting Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot
Even when everything's going just fine, monthly billing in an MMO brings up the problems of players feeling entitled to quite a bit of free content and getting rather annoyed if it's not forthcoming. It also raises questions of how badly you really want to play the game in question. Luckily for most games, the rebilling cycle for subscriptions is automatic and requires no conscious attention from fans... at least, unless something goes wrong. And unfortunately for Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot subscribers, something did indeed go wrong. Players are being billed more than once for their subscriptions. The customer service team at Mythic Entertainment was quick to explain that they were aware of the issue and working with their vendor to resolve it. Unfortunately, the official solution requires a call and a fair bit of time spent confirming and reversing the charges, rather than being a straight refund behind the scenes. As the game's studio is hosting several of Warhammer Online's blogging pundits, it could hardly have come at a worse time. Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players are advised to read the official statement and check the charges on your account very carefully.
iPad: Stand by me
TUAW readers have been writing in to tell us about the stands they have been purchasing to use with their iPads. Personally, I'm using a $6.99 Staples "Study Stand" (SKU 120147). Made of chrome with rubber tips, I have found the stand really sturdy and easy to use. I particularly like that I can attach the charging cable and still use the iPad in portrait orientation. I wrote about this stand in more detail on a couple of blog posts here on TUAW. Although my Staples seemed to have quite a few stands in-stock (they are located near the business card holders in my store), it hasn't been as easy for others to find. My friend Jeff Smykil over at Ars Technica tells me his Staples rep wasn't initially helpful. "They tried telling me that you got that stand at Office Depot--until I showed them the sticker with their logo on it," he wrote. He left, unfortunately, empty-handed. The SKU didn't show up online for me when I did a search on the Staples site, so it may be a discontinued item. Fortunately, readers are locating some good alternatives. Bob Schoenburg found this $6 stand at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Made of clear acrylic and, more importantly, foldable, Bob's stand is meant to be used as a folding easel. Bob writes, "Don't forget to use a 20% off coupon!" TUAW reader "gilmore783" tracked down a Fellowes study stand at Buy.com. Costing two dollars less than the Staples version, the Fellowes folding stand offers free shipping, for a total of just $4.99 shipped. The same stand (at least I think it is the same stand) sells for $7.99 plus shipping over at Amazon, where you can read thirty-odd reviews. According to write-ups, the Fellowes stand does fold completely flat unlike the Staples model, which does not. So do you have a stand? Tell us about it in the comments -- and don't forget to add a link to your picture! Update: Ordered my Fellowes stand from Buy.com, it came the *next* *day* and it's really great. Folds flat (unlike Staples stand), comes with extra rubber tips (unlike Staples stand), a few bucks cheaper and very nice. I still rather prefer the Staples one for my desktop but the Fellowes one is now my travel-stand. Update: Here's a video from TUAW reader "francisreal" showing how to make a credit-card/soapdish ipad stand:
Apple ranks third in BusinessWeek customer service survey
Apple has nailed down the number three spot on BusinessWeek's fourth annual customer service awards, falling in right behind LL Bean and insurance company USAA, and way above companies like Amazon and Dell. The awards were based on survey results from a few different places, and Apple scored an A+ in both Quality of Staff and Efficiency of Service thanks to its Genius Bars and helpful Specialists inside Apple Stores. Of course we've heard the occasional horror story, but in general, Apple Store employees are beyond helpful, which is probably why BusinessWeek says that 66% of those surveyed would "definitely recommend" Apple products, and 58% said they would "definitely repurchase" the next time they needed something. Apple's influence is also found elsewhere on the list -- USAA, number two on the list, has had a lot of success with its iPhone application, which has also helped the company out on customer service scoring as well. And while Starbucks can't necessarily thank Apple for a big boost in its business (it probably would have done fine anyway), it's not surprising that companies that score high in customer service tend to have the same goals in mind. Congrats to Apple for yet another survey-based award. [Via Macworld's Dan Moren, not "Warren" -- sorry Dan!]
Demon's Souls replacement guides ship next week
If you were among the unlucky number of gamers to suffer printing issues on the Demon's Souls strategy guide, we have some good news. Atlus has announced that the replacement guides will begin shipping this Monday, February 8. Late last year, after discovering that many Demon's Souls collector's edition guides had "unusual cover ink wear / fading" problems, Atlus opened a replacement program. Thankfully, the company didn't deprive gamers of their guides in the meantime, requiring that only the cover be sent as proof of the defect. It's a good thing too, because that game is effing hard. Seriously, look at that thing up there. You're supposed to kill that? With a sword? Hard!
AT&T data outage in San Francisco?
Reports are flying in -- using WiFi, we suspect -- that AT&T's having a bit of a data and SMS outage in San Francisco. Our own personal experiences confirm the data, although text messages are sending and receiving just fine. According to a tweet found by TechCrunch, customer service is saying it'll take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to fix -- sounds pretty extreme to us, and unfortunately we can't get ahold of anyone to corroborate. Let's put it to you, Bay Area readers, how's that iPhone working for ya? Update: Just got a statement from AT&T. "We are seeing a hardware issue in downtown San Francisco that is causing some degradation in service. GSM and EDGE voice and data services are still accessible. Our experts are aware and working to resolve as quickly as possible. Further resolution is expected this evening." We tried it ourselves and, yep, if you turn off 3G capabilities on your phone (if possible), data will work just fine. Update: Our 3G data seems to be working now, and you?
Blizzard Twitter contest winners still await prizes [Updated]
Followers of the official Warcraft Twitter will recall that Blizzard ran a contest some months back using the #Battlecry hashtag, encouraging players to tweet a message for either the Alliance or the Horde depending on the background of their Twitter page. It was a pretty cool promotion and was a great social media activity for fans, who proudly showed their World of Warcraft allegiances throughout the contest period. An interesting post came up on Pixelated Geek the other day, however, wondering about the results of that contest and if Blizzard had ever gotten around to giving prizes to winners. Or if they'd ever gotten around to contacting the winners at all. The writer notes that he himself was a winner, having received a tweet from @Warcraft requesting for further details, an e-mail he promptly responded to. He then notes sending several more e-mails to the noted address as well as to customer service but has not yet gotten a single reply to date, nearly two and a half months after the contest ended on August 24. The author also notes several other Twitter users who were asking the same question -- as it turns out, more than a few #Battlecry winners also hadn't received prizes nor responses from Blizzard. One follower asked, "any news for the winners of #battlecry? I haven't heard or received anything yet," while another mused, "Wondering when I will receive my prize from the #Battlecry contest." Still another asked, "has anyone got their Battlecry prize yet? I haven't received anything" just last November 6. One WoW.com reader even wrote us at the end of October confirming the same thing, that he had won but had not received any word from Blizzard, much less a prize. Update: We have received word from one of the winners that Blizzard sent them an email confirming their prize will be sent soon.
AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon goaded into customer service showdown
It doesn't matter who your carrier is, you're gonna have some complaints. But is the grass always greener somewhere else? To answer that question, the kids at Laptop Magazine have conducted a test of the customer service practices of the big four (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T) to ascertain each company's friendliness, knowledge, and timeliness. The publication placed customer service calls twice during a week (once at midday and once during rush hour), visited two stores per carrier in New York City, and tried to find solutions to its problems using each carrier's online knowledge base. Apparently, T-Mobile takes the prize for in-store assistance and web support, and Sprint, while not always able to answer questions, at least had taken steps to streamline the support process (and the fact that its employees were friendly didn't hurt). Apparently Verizon Wireless offered solid in-store support (albeit with grumpy employees), "quick and accurate phone support" and "solid" online help. AT&T, sadly, was the loser here -- Laptop says it left the store "shocked" that one representative couldn't figure out how to get email up and running on its Blackberry. Shocking! Hit the read link to see for yourself.
Meet the Champions Online lead GM team
Very infrequently do we get to see the people who are diligently working behind the customer service counter in our online games. They listen to all our requests (frivolous or not,) they free us from the shackles of bad environmental clipping, and they make sure we're having a fun time in our game of choice. They are the game masters, and Champions Online is taking the time to give them a whole interview on their website.The interview focuses on the three lead GMs of Champions Online (and soon to be Star Trek Online): Jim "Jaydeegee" Garner, Markus "Villarigor" Kraus, and Noel "Destra" Holmes. The three of them tackle some of the questions of customer service, including their day-to-day jobs, dealing with customers, reporting bugs, and how they take their time to enjoy the game. If you want the full story on their answers, check out the interview on the Champions Online main site.
Apple as "the world's most feminine brand"?
Fortune's Bridget Brennan has a bold statement: "Why doesn't Apple make remote controls? You ask: Why Apple? Because if any company could improve one of the world's most user-unfriendly electronic devices, it would be Apple. And then there's this: Apple just may be the world's most discreetly feminine brand." Oh man. We were with her right up until that last statement: remote controls are fairly user-unfriendly, and an Apple remote (other than, you know, the one already out there) would be a thing of beauty. But "the world's most discreetly feminine brand"? That opens up a whole can of nuts we probably don't want to open. But what the heck, snakes be damned, let's open it up. Brennan says that women drive the economy, by influencing 80% of all purchases, and 61% of all consumer electronics products. And she says Apple is doing great, because in a market that's "dude-driven" (her words, obviously), they've brought elegance and style to their products. She says that Apple products don't need manuals, and that Apple's face-to-face customer service is excellent. Which we mostly agree with (while even Apple fans have their issues with customer service, they do a relatively good job). But "feminine"? Do guys not like elegance and style in their products? Do they enjoy reading manuals, or using electronics that aren't user friendly? Apple is successful for these reasons, sure, but we don't quite see how that makes them "feminine." Brennan concludes by suggesting that "Apple's success [shows] when you make women happy, you make everybody happy." But we're pretty sure that, in Apple's case, it's actually the other way around.
T-Mobile provides support, good vibes to its iPhone-using clientele
Despite not being its official US carrier, T-Mobile still seems to wanna maintain an amicable relationship with all those who came over with an iPhone in tow. According to a report by The Consumerist, a recent update to the carrier's voicemail system caused some of the smartphones, including Apple's touchscreens, became unusable, with a volley of blank text messages dated from the future arriving instead. Those who contacted customer service were called later to acknowledge the issue and offered an one month service credit. Said the rep, "T-Mobile, though they do not offer the iPhone, and that they are committed to supporting users on their network who have them" -- not too surprising a stance, but a kind gesture for sure. The problem has since been fixed, and everyone lived happily ever after. [Via iLounge]
Xbox 360 repairs should always have the option of a 'coffin'
With all this talk of the Xbox 360's E74 error, and the continued presence of the RRoD, we are reminded of former Microsoft executive Peter Moore's request that we not focus on the Xbox's problems, but rather on the quality of the repair service. To that end, we've received conflicting reports about whether consumers are being offered the option of receiving a box -- which has come to be known as "the coffin" -- from the company, when dealing with Microsoft's customer service in India. When we took a quick sampling earlier this week using Twitter, answers were all over the map, so we followed up with Microsoft to get a clear and direct answer.Reports that the company now requires consumers to find their own packaging when sending in an Xbox 360 for repair are "inaccurate," a Microsoft spokesperson told us. The company has always given two options and "this policy is global, not region-specific." Customers have the choice of either printing an e-Label (and providing their own box) or receiving a coffin from the company (this should take about five business days). The representative did "confirm that the same policy applies to all scenarios, regardless of the repair." So, just to clear up any future confusion: There should always be the option of receiving a coffin when dealing with an Xbox 360 repair scenario.Reference -- Official Microsoft repair FAQReference -- Online console repair support
Broken Xbox 360? Be happy you don't live in Nome, Alaska
We almost all have Red Ring of Death stories at this point, but few compare to that of Kim Galleher in Nome, Alaska. The Seattle Times reports on the mother's month-long quest to get her 13-year-old son's Xbox 360's RRoD warranty honored by Microsoft. Turns out the main situation revolves around MS not sending a coffin because Galleher's address wasn't recognized -- it's speculated in the piece this is because the United States Postal Service delivers mail in the region to post-office boxes. Meanwhile, other attempts to circumvent the address glitch with Microsoft also failed. Although Galleher's circumstances are slightly out of standard parameters, the whole piece reads like one giant failure in customer service.One of the better parts in the story is Galleher wrote a letter to Xbox honcho Robbie Bach, stating that Microsoft ought to be "ashamed that a group of women at Victoria Secret can figure out how to send a bra to [her] via UPS and yet Microsoft can't figure out how to send an empty box."For fairness, we contacted the Nome, Alaska visitor's bureau to get a little more background about the mail situation in the town, located at the end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. The incredibly pleasant woman on the phone said she had the same problem when dealing with another computer warranty situation and the post-office box issue causes problems from time to time. As for Galleher, Microsoft contacted her directly through an advocate to inform her a "repaired console" should arrive by March 17.[Thanks, Matt S.]
Trion picks up ex-NCsoft employees for new MMO
The hiring of customer support personnel doesn't usually make the news, but when you consider Trion World Network's latest service side hires, it might be a different story. Of course we all know Trion as the studio in charge of the SCI FI channel's new MMO project. Some recent hires include ex-Blizzard developer and Carbine Studios founder Kevin Beardslee, and the tradition continues with Thor Biafore as Customer Support Manager, Jack Wood as In-game Support Manager, and Erik DeBill as Senior Platform Billing Lead.Wood and DeBill both come from NCsoft, with experience on more than a dozen MMOs between them, while Biafore previously served as the Global Director of Customer Service for Blizzard. Could Trion be competing with 38 Studios for the largest all-star cast? We'll just have to wait and see as both companies have yet to officially announce details on their current MMO projects.
The Daily Grind: Official or unofficial WAR forums?
With the recent announcement that Mythic would be bringing the Warhammer Online forums in-house, the topic of the pros and cons of official and unofficial forums have been brought out again. Ryan Shwayder argued very eloquently that developer interaction, ownership, and support for integrated features, and we've now heard from some of the forum managers who will be affected by Mythic's decision to put out their own forums. There are great points across the board, but this morning we thought we'd ask you - in specific relation to Warhammer Online - do you think that Mythic should (or should not) be opening forums at this (post-launch) stage? Perhaps you think they should limit them to only customer service and developer interaction and leave the more free-form discussions elsewhere? Or do you think that the fully-featured forums they're planning is absolutely the way to go - if only to (hopefully) have a moderated forum to discuss all things WAR on? How about those indie forums; what could they do to keep readers coming there? What balance of official and unofficial forums would you like to see for Warhammer Online?
Vanguard's past, present, and future with producer Thom Terrazas
It's been two years since the world of Telon opened its doors to a rocky launch and unstable future. The team of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes had much to overcome after launch with a whole plague of technical hurdles, incomplete content, and a dwindling player base.Yet, two years later, Vanguard managed to stay on its feet thanks to an aggressive development team and a steady schedule of tackling performance issues and bugs until they could open the doors for new content -- one of the few games to make it through with such a rough launch and begin to see a new growth years after opening.Massively was able to sit down with Vanguard producer Thom Terrazas and talk to him about where Vanguard's been, where it is now, and what the future looks like for the expanding fantasy title.
