Holding support's hand - how to help support help you

[mxz]

Recently I've seen a few threads frustrated with support. I get it, because I've been there. Heck, I am there. So I thought I'd make a thread to try to help anyone who:
-Bought gold that wasn't credited (this thread will function to update my 2+ week struggle, and document some of my tactics in getting this resolved)
-Reported a cheater that roams CC long after your report
-Wasn't credited with an item they were entitled

First, some background facts. This isn't exclusive to Gree, but all support, really. Mostly FYI.

Support gets many many tickets each day
They don't have time to investigate everything, nor fully
Most personnel aren't experts in the games, from what I can tell. What's obvious to us isn't necessarily obvious to them
They default to the player being legit (innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt)
They assume you are lying to them (because people lie, and want free stuff)
Understand what they are assessed on (when they come up for raises). They are likely reviewed on quantifiable things such as number of tickets closed and time taken to close tickets. I'm not suggesting they disregard tickets just to meet metrics - but realize the more vague your ticket is, the more time they will have to spend on it (which hurts them when they get their reviews)



To put together a proper case you need facts. But, because support errs on the side of caution - you need to build a convincing story supported by the facts that show why, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you're right.

Reporting cheaters: follow this thread (http://www.funzio.com/forum/showthread.php?26691-How-to-report-a-cheater-if-you-think-you-found-one). Instead of necroing, I'd like to add the "hold support's hand" flavor that it lacks. Additionally, to help support's investigation, you should add up the cost of the suspicious items ($ or RP) and compare those numbers to the IPH/fights/robs (as appropriate). State why the suspicious items are highly unlikely to have come via normal gameplay. For cash glitchers, remember that vaults of cash are 120*IPH, so you can calculate how many vaults of cash they would have had to purchase - support can check that against their records. Also include how many hours/days/months it would have taken that player to accumulate that much cash at their current IPH.


For missing gold (and this is conjecture, as my current attempts have failed to get them to provide me this information, I won't speculate as to why..): ask for the entirety of purchases made from that date forth. Support doesn't have time to do the calculations - but if you can convince them to send you a log of each transaction you can then calculate the expected balances and show there is a hole with an amount of gold missing. Say they show you have x gold, then show a purchase of two vaults, but the balance is stuck at x + 1,500 gold (instead of x + 3,000) - you should have a strong case. It would be nice if there was a way to see this so you didn't have to fight with them to get them to send it...but you need to work within the system.

As always, be polite. Remember that you can help them do their job by doing your reports better.

-mxz

[Dipstik]

Oh boy, it's going to be one of those nights...

Does anyone have popcorn?

[fuzzy]

MXZ you are wrong.

Support just sucks.

There auto replies suck.

If they would read what we said the first time in our emails and then actually look into the problems they would just see the problems instead of sending these stupid auto replies.

I have 5 tickets open up with them and all I get is auto replies.

Support sucks and I understand CJ is not support but he could surely at least read them and let us know what is up.

[dudeman]

An easier approach would just be to not send tickets at all. Regardless of how detailed and polite you are in the way you present your issue, a satisfactory resolution depends entirely upon having the ticket assigned to a support agent with a reading comprehension ability above an elementary school level.

Lately there appears to be not more than one or two people on the support team who possess a minimum of one half of a brain, so realize the moment you hit that "send" button that you are more than likely going to be disappointed.

[mxz]

An easier approach would just be to not send tickets at all. Regardless of how detailed and polite you are in the way you present your issue, a satisfactory resolution depends entirely upon having the ticket assigned to a support agent with a reading comprehension ability above an elementary school level.

Lately there appears to be not more than one or two people on the support team who possess a minimum of one half of a brain, so realize the moment you hit that "send" button that you are more than likely going to be disappointed.This is an astute observation. I won't lie, I've tried it. The problem is, it requires you to (essentially) spam support until you get the person (or persons) for that particular game who provides value.

It's unfortunate, and frustrating - and seemingly futile...but I still think Santa can summon miracles. Maybe that's short sighted, but I truly believe if we get better at sending tickets we'll start getting better responses. If 95% of the emails I got every day were whiny, I'd probably stop reading them and respond with something that didn't make any sense, either.

[teo]

Please put more pictures on your face and lecture us from your tower of wannabe internet knowledge


This is ironic.

I was just thinking about writing something about the exact same lines as mxz. Then I thought the better of it because last time I wrote something about support snide comments followed quickly and a waste of time was the result. Among those who had snide comments for me was, tada, mxz

How peculiarly ironic it is that it is mxz who takes up the very topic I was considering and what does he gets for it? Snide comments!

Karma?

I guess I should say 'thank you' to mxz for saving me for getting a helping of snide comments this time around by bringing it upon himself instead of me bringing it upon myself.

It is interesting how we all 'know better' about something and feel really right about it and it never works out that way. I am not excluding myself from that observation.

[mxz]

I was just thinking about writing something about the exact same lines as mxz. Then I thought the better of it because last time I wrote something about support snide comments followed quickly and a waste of time was the result. Among those who had snide comments for me was, tada, mxzThe thing we need to realize is that its not always their fault. We have to do our best to present the information we used to draw a conclusion in an easily understood and efficient manner. It's too easy to blame support for something that isn't entirely their fault.

[Pudgy Pumpkin]

I generally have very good luck in dealing with support. I've had a fair amount of interaction and they've always seemed to be responsive and fairly timely.

[Dipstik]

Yeah, they're great as long as you're not asking them to deal with that one issue that they've apparently decided it's easier not to talk about.

[BigMoney]

Yeah, they're great as long as you're not asking them to deal with that one issue that they've apparently decided it's easier not to talk about.

Cheaters? I honestly have no idea what you're alluding to, this is just my best guess, seeing as cheaters are rampant.

[Dipstik]

omg b&! ibtl!

[teo]

The thing we need to realize is that its not always their fault. We have to do our best to present the information we used to draw a conclusion in an easily understood and efficient manner. It's too easy to blame support for something that isn't entirely their fault.

I completely agree; the more we help them getting to their work in the most efficient manner the more we stand a chance of getting more support tickets resolved. No doubt about it; there is a fixed allocation of company resources for support. Tickets should be short, concise and easily verified, factual and non emotional. Cordial is a good thing too.

[BigMoney]

I can't really "help support help me" when all my tickets go unanswered, save for the "request received" email.

[mxz]

I can't really "help support help me" when all my tickets go unanswered, save for the "request received" email.What are you tickets like? "I want 10 gold"? Something like that isn't very helpful. For the most part, if you provide enough information in a clear, legible and logical way - you shouldn't have too many issues.

[BigMoney]

What are you tickets like? "I want 10 gold"? Something like that isn't very helpful. For the most part, if you provide enough information in a clear, legible and logical way - you shouldn't have too many issues.

Yeah, that's precisely what my tickets are like, completely devoid of screenshots and in-depth explanations, but merely support tickets begging for free gold. Thanks for the helpful topic, mxz, I can now see the error in my ways!

[the_brein]

I can't really "help support help me" when all my tickets go unanswered, save for the "request received" email.

I've been waiting for a response from support for over a week. No answer, just the generic email. I bought a bank truck of gold and didn't get the gold. This was a week ago. Still nothing. Funny thing is... I would have already bought more gold if this hadn't happened. Or if they resolved this in a timely manner.

[mxz]

I've been waiting for a response from support for over a week. No answer, just the generic email. I bought a bank truck of gold and didn't get the gold. This was a week ago. Still nothing. Funny thing is... I would have already bought more gold if this hadn't happened. Or if they resolved this in a timely manner.From my understanding this was a fairly common problem so they're probably wading through a bunch of tickets on it.

[dudeman]

From my understanding this was a fairly common problem so they're probably wading through a bunch of tickets on it.

I would have guessed they might find it easier and more time efficient to ignore all such "missing gold" tickets until a follow up email with proof of purchase is sent.

[Appraiserchris]

To MXZ I agree to an extent "yes" it would help by doing this process you are suggesting, but most players that are catching it are the ones being defeated that are spending allot of money, and when I go to a 5 star restaurant I want top notch service, I don't want a waiter to come and ask would you like more water than fill the glass half full, or spend 500 dollars on a bottle of chilled wine and then go and leave it on the table and not ice, I hope you understand where I am coming from. While one plays fair and spends 100's some 1000's of dollars, why would they want to even work, when they are paying for a service.

And yes for the players that don't spend only , well they usually think everyone is cheating even the players who are spending 1000's.


This is an astute observation. I won't lie, I've tried it. The problem is, it requires you to (essentially) spam support until you get the person (or persons) for that particular game who provides value.

It's unfortunate, and frustrating - and seemingly futile...but I still think Santa can summon miracles. Maybe that's short sighted, but I truly believe if we get better at sending tickets we'll start getting better responses. If 95% of the emails I got every day were whiny, I'd probably stop reading them and respond with something that didn't make any sense, either.

[honeybadger]

I wanted to believe this MXZ but honestly have way too many examples of gross incompentence. Sending a ticket quite frankly seems to have the same impact as not sending a ticket. It's my opinion that not sending a ticket leads to less frustration. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and chalk it up to lesson learned.

I've given up reporting hackers. They're completely integrated into and influencing the game. I also disagree that it's my responsibility to report them.

When you say they err on the side of caution I have to agree however that is not a trait I hold in high regard. It typically means putting little to no effort into fixing things and making it right. It's something lazy people do and make no mistake the way tickets are handled is lazy.

Suggesting we spoonfeed support while handing over our money for the privelege is backwards logic.

[mxz]

Don't get me wrong - I agree with you. I don't think it should be our responsibility, either. But I also don't like seeing people complain about a cheater not getting removed when all they did was write a ticket that says "He's a cheater" with a screenshot of their profile page. We could talk about their priorities when they find a cheater as to whether to ban or not...but should probably take that offline (posting guidelines).

After a 20 day standoff I finally got my missing vault. So I'm pleased to report in just under 3 weeks they fixed that issue.

[Dipstik]

Hey Mxz... You still tangled up in spaghetti? What gives?

PS. Don't mind baroness... it's open now :)

[mxz]

Hey Mxz... You still tangled up in spaghetti? What gives?Talk to B...getting rejected has me on the edge of ragequit. :)

You know how long I have to wait until I can request again?

[Dipstik]

I was raiding, and I don't think hew knew about the delay before asking again. It's open now.