http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-tech-support-en&t=177923&s=new&tmp=1#new
Quote:
Hacked/stolen accounts and the way Blizzard handles this issue
Dear Blizzard,
Last Sunday my friend came to the conclusion his account was hacked - stolen - due the already know Trojan from the adbanner at : http://wow.allakhazam.com/.
So he tried to contact you guys in every possible way to ensure that his account get secured before some hacker or buyer logs on to do damage to his character and all the items and gear he obtained in the +1500 hours he invested in this game. So we messaged a GM ingame, we requested a lockdown of the account and we got this reply : " you have to contact us by phone instead of ingame.... ". Well, for your information, our friend tried and apparently customer support is closed during the weekends. So we messaged a GM ingame again and this time another GM reported he was not allowed to discuss account information. We got the impression the GM locked down the account though.
So a day passes by and its Monday morning. Guess what? Our friends character is roaming around in AH and is actually selling stuff! The entire guild spammed over the character and in the end we get a reply from the individual behind the monitor : "I buys this account". Apparently the character has been sold within 24 hours by the hacker. Our friend directly called customersupport that morning. He got someone from support on the phone who literally said he couldnt do anything about it. Unbelievable! We urged our friend to call again and demand an explanation for this unorganized mess. He got the same guy on the phone telling him this time that he has to report that his account has been hacked by sending a mail to another emailaddress. When our friend asked why this customersupport dude didnt tell him that in the first place, he was met with the answer that this guy didnt understood the seriousness of this problem.
Later that day our friend called again to gain more information about what Blizzard was going to do about this and the same guy told him that they prolonged the time the database saves all transactions, so that he will get every item and gold back when the account is restored to him. Furthermore he was informed that they did not lockdown his account because they want to investigate the actions of the character. In the meantime we contacted a GM again and requested a lockdown of the account. This time our request was fullfilled by this understanding GM and the account is frozen. And now our friend waits and waits, and days passes by, without any confirmation or any form of contact by Blizzard.
With over 4 million customers making use of the product Blizzard sells, I find it unacceptable that customers like us do not get the proper service we are entitled to. Its not the fact that Blizzard cannot immediately take action towards hackers or individuals using hacked accounts, but its the fact that GM's and customersupport does not inform the customers correct and send them from one supportdesk to another. The fact that Blizzard US extended their customersupportlines over the weekend to deal with this issue is good. What does Blizzard Europe do to meet the customers who are facing the same problem? Not even a single post at your frontpage to direct the customers to the proper department to handle this matter.
Where is Blizzard to prevent that hackers can do whatever they want with stolen characters, selling items to other players who are unaware of the fact that it is sold by thiefs? Incompetent GM's who dont take their work seriously and don't offer the support customers request. The GM's did not inform us clear and sound about what we could do and what Blizzard could do about this unfortunate situation. Incompetent is what it's called.
The GM's did NOT refer to : http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889p.
The first 2 GM's were not able to lock down the account from their position, but they are able to do so when someone violates the code of conduct. So it seems a report of accound hacking and a request to lockdown an account is not as important to your GM's compared to violations of code of conduct. I may assume that GM's should have the knowledge or at least the right procedures written down to handle these kind of situations properly. If not, than take a good look in your organization and educate the employee responsible for managing and informing GM's. A bunch of amateurs compared to other companies which make millions a month.
This whole issue is treated very poorly. Lack of information, lack of support, lack of understanding apparently. While customers invest literally hundreds even thousands of hours in the game-experience you offer, your crew fails to understand the seriousness of this matter. At this very moment hundreds of your customers are left in the dark waiting and waiting for you to take care of business and some insurance that every hour and effort they invested in their characters wont go down the drain.
Just another customer,
Magallian - Sunstrider
Dear Blizzard,
Last Sunday my friend came to the conclusion his account was hacked - stolen - due the already know Trojan from the adbanner at : http://wow.allakhazam.com/.
So he tried to contact you guys in every possible way to ensure that his account get secured before some hacker or buyer logs on to do damage to his character and all the items and gear he obtained in the +1500 hours he invested in this game. So we messaged a GM ingame, we requested a lockdown of the account and we got this reply : " you have to contact us by phone instead of ingame.... ". Well, for your information, our friend tried and apparently customer support is closed during the weekends. So we messaged a GM ingame again and this time another GM reported he was not allowed to discuss account information. We got the impression the GM locked down the account though.
So a day passes by and its Monday morning. Guess what? Our friends character is roaming around in AH and is actually selling stuff! The entire guild spammed over the character and in the end we get a reply from the individual behind the monitor : "I buys this account". Apparently the character has been sold within 24 hours by the hacker. Our friend directly called customersupport that morning. He got someone from support on the phone who literally said he couldnt do anything about it. Unbelievable! We urged our friend to call again and demand an explanation for this unorganized mess. He got the same guy on the phone telling him this time that he has to report that his account has been hacked by sending a mail to another emailaddress. When our friend asked why this customersupport dude didnt tell him that in the first place, he was met with the answer that this guy didnt understood the seriousness of this problem.
Later that day our friend called again to gain more information about what Blizzard was going to do about this and the same guy told him that they prolonged the time the database saves all transactions, so that he will get every item and gold back when the account is restored to him. Furthermore he was informed that they did not lockdown his account because they want to investigate the actions of the character. In the meantime we contacted a GM again and requested a lockdown of the account. This time our request was fullfilled by this understanding GM and the account is frozen. And now our friend waits and waits, and days passes by, without any confirmation or any form of contact by Blizzard.
With over 4 million customers making use of the product Blizzard sells, I find it unacceptable that customers like us do not get the proper service we are entitled to. Its not the fact that Blizzard cannot immediately take action towards hackers or individuals using hacked accounts, but its the fact that GM's and customersupport does not inform the customers correct and send them from one supportdesk to another. The fact that Blizzard US extended their customersupportlines over the weekend to deal with this issue is good. What does Blizzard Europe do to meet the customers who are facing the same problem? Not even a single post at your frontpage to direct the customers to the proper department to handle this matter.
Where is Blizzard to prevent that hackers can do whatever they want with stolen characters, selling items to other players who are unaware of the fact that it is sold by thiefs? Incompetent GM's who dont take their work seriously and don't offer the support customers request. The GM's did not inform us clear and sound about what we could do and what Blizzard could do about this unfortunate situation. Incompetent is what it's called.
The GM's did NOT refer to : http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889p.
Quote:
When an account is reported or its security appears to have been compromised, the World of Warcraft Customer Support Staff will disable access to the account while we conduct an investigation.
The first 2 GM's were not able to lock down the account from their position, but they are able to do so when someone violates the code of conduct. So it seems a report of accound hacking and a request to lockdown an account is not as important to your GM's compared to violations of code of conduct. I may assume that GM's should have the knowledge or at least the right procedures written down to handle these kind of situations properly. If not, than take a good look in your organization and educate the employee responsible for managing and informing GM's. A bunch of amateurs compared to other companies which make millions a month.
This whole issue is treated very poorly. Lack of information, lack of support, lack of understanding apparently. While customers invest literally hundreds even thousands of hours in the game-experience you offer, your crew fails to understand the seriousness of this matter. At this very moment hundreds of your customers are left in the dark waiting and waiting for you to take care of business and some insurance that every hour and effort they invested in their characters wont go down the drain.
Just another customer,
Magallian - Sunstrider
Edited, Thu Oct 13 04:07:13 2005 by Magallian
