GREE and Customer Support

[The_Legend_Shall_Live_On]

...They found my forum post and got upset, saying I should not have reported out their interim report to me...and they were really upset that people assumed that Gree had agreed to the terms listed in the notes and were now submitting tickets. ...
AK

Sounds to me like they inundated with request tickets because some people may have misinterpreted your original and subsequent posts to mean, "All resolved. Every send in your ticket(s) for gems compensation for your troubles," or something of that nature.

While I see others' points about Gree's transparency (or their lacking), I read this thread and understood it completely and only as minutes and information, not that anything has been reconciled. Because others jumped to conclusion, it assisted in causing an upset and again, a set-back.

Kind of sucks; let me know if there's any help you need on the matter, AK.

[VileDoom]

Line up sheep with your wallets open, the wolf is hungry once again and Friday is just around the corner.

[RandomUser]

I can't say I'm surprised, but I am disappointed. It's hard to believe a company as big as GREE has such poor customer relations. Smart companies spend millions of dollars every year listening closely to their customers wants and concerns. Ak-Manin represents a large group of concerned customers, co-ordinates a conference call with the higher-ups at GREE to address these concerns, and then they panic and shut the dialogue down. Their flimsy excuse is they don't want to cater to the top guilds because that might imply favoritism? They haven't opened a dialogue with ANY customers, as far as I can tell, so really, what they seem be saying is. We'll treat you all the same - like what comes out of a dog when it squats.

Abominable customer service. Thanks for listening, GREE.

[Rastlin]

I regret to say that Gree said in an email that they feared that having conference call with 8 of the guild leaders might convey to all players that they were showing favoritism. I countered that I had posted the guild leader agreement and that it seemed to have almost universal appeal.

They found my forum post and got upset, saying I should not have reported out their interim report to me...and they were really upset that people assumed that Gree had agreed to the terms listed in the notes and were now submitting tickets.

I have twice tried since to re-engage them in discussions, but so far they have not responded to me.

I will continue to try and get them to the table to talk, but my sense is they are overwhelmed and wary now. I think we need this pow wow as much as they do.

AK

I am not surprised. I had a feeling the newest update was to get everyone to forget about all of this, and instead say, "Ohhh shinny new thing!"

[Rastlin]

Smart companies spend millions of dollars every year listening closely to their customers wants and concerns. .

Yes companies are spending millions on CRM programs, and upset at the time they take to implement (after the programs are in place, their next biggest hurdle is they have is figuring out how to get the customer to want give them information). GREE has it easy with the forum, and having customers wanting even begging to be heard.

[itsaklayton]

It is all a feint to take the forum away from talk of boycotting gem purchases by all players regardless of level. I say boycott.

[Kjctnorris]

I can't say I'm surprised, but I am disappointed. It's hard to believe a company as big as GREE has such poor customer relations. Smart companies spend millions of dollars every year listening closely to their customers wants and concerns. Ak-Manin represents a large group of concerned customers, co-ordinates a conference call with the higher-ups at GREE to address these concerns, and then they panic and shut the dialogue down. Their flimsy excuse is they don't want to cater to the top guilds because that might imply favoritism? They haven't opened a dialogue with ANY customers, as far as I can tell, so really, what they seem be saying is. We'll treat you all the same - like what comes out of a dog when it squats.

Abominable customer service. Thanks for listening, GREE.

The number of players who have the willpower and desire to go through with the boycott will likely not be significant enough. GREE is banking on that.

[Rastlin]

The number of players who have the willpower and desire to go through with the boycott will likely not be significant enough. GREE is banking on that.

You are correct. GREE knows that FUN, RK, and TBC, along with the Top10 will never boycott as they will lose their rankings due to the guilds in Top25 and Top50 never hearing about it.

[VileDoom]

You are correct. GREE knows that FUN, RK, and TBC, along with the Top10 will never boycott as they will lose their rankings due to the guilds in Top25 and Top50 never hearing about it.

Cutting off your finger is a much better idea than just removing the splinter.

[mee notyou]

I regret to say that Gree said in an email that they feared that having conference call with 8 of the guild leaders might convey to all players that they were showing favoritism. I countered that I had posted the guild leader agreement and that it seemed to have almost universal appeal.

They found my forum post and got upset, saying I should not have reported out their interim report to me...and they were really upset that people assumed that Gree had agreed to the terms listed in the notes and were now submitting tickets.

I have twice tried since to re-engage them in discussions, but so far they have not responded to me.

I will continue to try and get them to the table to talk, but my sense is they are overwhelmed and wary now. I think we need this pow wow as much as they do.

AK

Am I the only one who finds it funny that they hadn't seen this forum post, that has been on their site, controlled by their moderators, for about a week.

[michealdee]

I can not receive gems after purchasing them. I get a message saying that i need to download them but how?

All:

There are many threads running and much discussion about issues and concerns in game. The1NOnly formed a chat room on Kakao for Guild Leaders and Officers, and again, most of the discussions revolved around the same frustrations. Action plans were discussed, but we decided to first attempt face to face discussions with Gree.

I got the main issues and concerns from the guild leaders in that chat room, and received permission from the guilds there to speak on their behalf.

I spoke with the head of Customer Support at Gree on Wednesday April 24. We went over the top issues raised by the guild leaders, and he was sincere and truly interested in helping us. We agreed during that call to have a conference call with some of the guild leaders, the customer support team, and the lead developers for KA.

I followed up our phone call by emailing him my working notes. By Thursday some of the issues raised were dealt with, and some over the following weekend. Gree sent me an email with an interim report of the status of the issues raised.

I also suggested that Gree form a Customer Focus Group of players to meet with them every other month. This will insure they are aware of our concerns before anger and frustrations reach a fever pitch.

On Friday, April 26th, the folks that volunteered to be on the conference call met. We wanted to get our position agreed on before we met with Gree. Those notes follow:

NOTES FROM 26 April 2013 Guild Leaders Meeting

Participants:
Lord Bell ODK
Awesome FUN
Bryan FK
AK -- DW
Tiki RK
Slick TBC
Nic BKG

Requests:
1. Remove hacker guilds.

2. Remove hackers
GREE RESPONSE: Our teams are working on requests 1 & 2. We now have a policy specialist dedicated to maintaining fair game play for all players. This is important for us because we want our players to enjoy the game.

3. 4 weeks notice of date of wars
GREE RESPONSE: I’ve asked the developers to update the app with the timer to countdown to the start of the war. The time will vary but I believe they are committed to provide as much notice as possible.
4. Break between events
GREE RESPONSE: I’ve shared this feedback with our developers. From your perspective how much time would you recommend between events?

Guild Leaders discussed and agreed on 3 days between events.

5. Take break to resolve programming errors lots of bugs
GREE RESPONSE: Our teams are working on this regularly. We are going to review the best method to resolve bugs.

6. Faster/better response to tickets
GREE response: We definitely had an increase in the time to respond to tickets. It is due to the growth in popularity of our games. That said, we know the current response time is unacceptable. We’ve made significant improvements and will continue to do so until we are at industry leading responses. My team is 100% committed to this.

Guild Leaders Discussed, and agreed to the following:
1. Players need way to escalate ticket if not happy or if emergency.
2. Feedback to person submitting ticket if resolution is going to take awhile
3. General post about response times if backlogged. Set player expectations about when to expect fix.
4. Dedicated staff member on hand during wars to deal with emergency issues reported.

7. Limit wars to 3 days
GREE Response: I’ve shared this feedback with our developers.
8. Restitution to guilds who did not make top 10 due to hacker guilds.
GREE Response: We are going to need to review this further.
9. Members unbanned
GREE Response: I believe this was addressed. Please correct me if I am wrong.
10. Gems:
a. Bonuses not received
GREE Response: Our team is going through email requests to address any missed bonuses. We do recommend sending us an email if the player hasn’t already done so.

Guild Leader Discussions:
AK offered to collect names and player IDs and send as well.
Slick asked if he could have email address of head of customer support.
AK said she would ask if she could share email with group. If yes, she will provide.

b. Bonus purchase plan -
GREE Response: Can you please elaborate on this?
Guild leaders discussed and resolved on the following:

a. want it by determined by volume purchased, not dollar amount
b. want it by itunes ID not kingdom, so that player gets credit for all purchases towards the bonus
c. Players want ability to transfer gems by themselves between accounts/games/kingdoms.
d. want tiering same as previously.
e. no enrollment needed. Bonus should be automatic as soon as volume is achieved.

c. Gem bugs – Guild Leaders discussed:
1. . BUG. Player refills energy with gems. Gets 3 strikes versus 4 stikes. Agreed that each player who used gems should get 1,500 gems as restitution. Since this was a universal complain of everyone using gems, easiest and most fair if GREE gives same restitution to each player who filed complaint if they used gems during the battle.
2. Striking players who were not on-line. This resulted in loss of energy, and loss of gems at same time, plus no gain of CP. Guild leaders agreed to 200 gems per complaint.


3. Purchased Gems won’t download
GREE Response – Along with other developers we are working with Apple on this issue. This issue is one of our top priorities.
Ak-Manin noted that she is now able to download gems, so this may be fixed.


d. Recommended Improvements:
1. Confirm button on any actions that involve gem spends, like vault upgrade or accelerating building.
2. Separate gold and gems on purchase page. Gems at top, gold at bottom. This will prevent accidental purchase of gold when gems were intended.
3. Customer focus group with guild reps…every 2 months. Will insure continued relief value for player group, and better feedback to developers.

[Kjctnorris]

Cutting off your finger is a much better idea than just removing the splinter.

I doubt Raistlin disagrees with what you are getting at, but do you think many will follow through? Lets say FUN went through with the boycott, other guilds will be tripping all over each other to do what they had to do to take that top spot. GREE knows it, we all know it.

I've resigned to playing free again. There's a lack of action on hackers because it forces players who play by the rules to spend more money in order to keep pace.

While it's easy to say players will quit if this continues, GREE is banking on the fact that most of those players have invested too much that they feel they can't just walk away and will continue to spend more. Once another lull hits, they'll release more units, hackers will hack them, and the cycle will continue.

I'd love to be proven wrong on all this and I'll gladly be the first one to come back here and eat crow (cannibalism?). I just don't see that happening though. So, I'll just enjoy the game as I originally played it, as a casual free player.

Good luck to all of you who choose otherwise.

[Crusader Shout]

Overall, our guild has been happy with Gree, though timing can be improved.

Eventually there is a response, though sometimes it just takes too long, though I can imagine the myriad of issues.

One big concern is the lack of communication on dates, and the intensity of the game. We don't have many members leaving to join other guilds, but since the last war we have lost quite a few members that just got fed up with the intensity of the game.

The five day was way too long. The wars occur too frequently. Building walls is a big job.

There should be the ability for guild leaders to reward good guild members.

The game is improving, and the recent update was a big step forward - checking units easily.

Thanks Gree for listening!

Shout (Guild Leader) - The Crusaders
www.the.crusaders.info
"Where the Strong Play for Fun"

[Jean marc]

As the leader of the Paladin Warriors, I would like to thank you in the name of the members of my guild for all your effort in getting this game going forward. Gree did give me my missing gems that I bought, however some members of my guild are still experiencing trouble buying gems, they do not received them.

What you and the leader of the other top team are doing is really appreciated from every one. I will pass all the info to my guild members this should boost their moral, knowing that something is being done.

Sorry for the translation English is not my primary language, but I think you get what I mean.

Jean-Marc

[lisawarrior]

well I for one are happy that the uk government at least, is investigating companies like gree for over the top in app purchases. After the customer support I have had from them, I am only too happy to help. The game is full of bugs, but what come back do you have when things go wrong? Nothing at all. Who do you go to when Gree refuse to answer tickets? Stuff boycotting gems, its a start, but not everyone will sadly, so it will not work. People in the uk need to write to their mps and complain, so that people do not continue to get ripped off. For goodness sake, 12 year olds are playing this game, and who is protecting them from being addicted to a game and wasting a ton of money on the chance of winning one unit. its crazy!! At least playing fruit machines there is a chance of getting more out than you put in. Albeit a small one, yet you have to be licensed and regulated to let people gamble. not on Apple. Mark my words, companies like gree better enjoy it while it lasts. Regulations will stop them charging silly amounts of money for nothing in the end. Yes I have bought gems myself, but there have been bugs that left me disadvantaged, yet gree dont give a rats behind. They just keep collecting, and people keep paying. The game is playable free. the egos will keep lining grees pocket though.

By the way, I have 232 greek boxes. Will they be recycled??