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

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. 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

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

Does anyone have popcorn?

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by teo

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

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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 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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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

omg b&! ibtl!

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Originally Posted by mxz

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.

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by BigMoney

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by mxz

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.

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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!