Comments About EI Billing Post

[AA0]

They are operating, but operating Savage Eden without a secure payment form as well, hence illegally, but nobody seems to care.

[Firestar]

I've never posted before. but just to let everyone know, I had called pay by touch. got a refund for the 12.95 in July and a refund for 2 $0.99 charges. Account was canceled. Lo and behold I check my online statement today, and they charged me another 2 $0.99. I ended up canceling my debit card with the bank. I should get a new one, but not maybe for 10 days. So... just a warning, even if you think your account with them is cancelled, they may still charge you. keep checking your statements.

[RuneDragoon]

Originally Posted by Amerelium

We should tell the players...

I've been thinking about it. But I'll go do it now and screenshot it, word has to get out.

[Nayuaka]

I called and got my 30 dollars refunded. Although the woman said that I was calling the wrong number that that I wanted the I-pay service insted of Pay-by-Touch. Eh, who knows. She helped me anyway after saying lots of people had been calling in at that number.

[RuneDragoon]

While trying to find the ei interactive main site to make sure I was going to the right savage eden, I discovered two things. 1 - their main site if I try to go to it only shows up as 'under construction' graphic. 2 - I'm posting this link that was second in line after ei's site on google, when I get into this other game's forum, its perfect. http://outofthemouth.blogspot.com/20...-to-steal.html

edit: Hm, have to have an approved game account to post on savage eden... crud. But it appears immortals is open albeit with forum maitenance.

[medweasel]

Has anyone thought of contacting the Better Business Bureau about EI? I mean, if they're still an active company and still do business then it's every consumers right to be warned about their practices. I would contact BBB and put in a complaint about EI. Is this an okay option for those people who have had problems with EI? I don't want to give wrong advice, what do you'll DEV's think about this option?

[agak]

Click Here if this e-mail does not display correctly

I find it amusing i got this e-mail and i never played savage eden, seems when EI left they also took our email addresses :P

** ATTENTION ALL GAMERS **THERE IS GREAT NEWS FROM SAVAGE EDEN
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and be automatically eligible to
WIN a brand new I-Pod MP3 Playerin the Savage Eden Screenshot Contest
Other great Prizes are also available

This offer from Savage Eden gets even better...! If you sign up NOW, you can play Savage Eden for the next month for just $3.95, and that's a 60% discount over standard pricing.
How much better could this offer be, a 60% discount and the chance to enter our screenshot contest, which is available exclusively to new accounts holders and WIN a brand new I-Pod MP3 Player or other great prizes.
Hurry and sign up TODAY, as this great offer is available for a limited time only, so DON'T MISS OUT....

Savage Eden Full Update ~ Dmitron Expansion Launch
... Now Online ...
NEW CONTENT >>> Dmitron and Dmitron Dungeon ... 270 new items ... 60 new quests ... 100 new monsters ... Players can now find fellow guild members on their maps ... Mouel now drops level 280-290 armor along with his other drops ... Two new 2007 loading screens ... New Launcher (Blog) screen ... New “Party” window ...
NEW SKILLS (175, 200, and 275) >>> BULKAN: Stamina Up - Improves stamina permanently ... Burning Crash – Destroys the enemy by repeatedly hitting it your slayer ... Flying Crash – Jump attack that damages your enemy from a long range ... HUMAN: Electric Shot – An attack that uses the energy of the atmosphere ... Process Skill – Makes more powerful equipment ... Auto Mine – Powerful attack using a Mine ... KAILIPTON: Poison – Continually attack all mobs in an area ... Hell-Mastery – Increases damage of “Helldown” ... Helldown – Attack with powerful energy to concentrate the spirit ... AIDIA: summon Squad – Summon a party member to the area ... Life Expansion – Increase the vitality of a party member ... Summon Flower – Summons different flowers to aid the Aidia ... HYBRIDER: Heavy Mastery, Bash, and Iron Skin now work properly ... Hide - Hide from aggressive enemies for a brief time period ... Shadowslash – Attacks an enemy quickly ... Divine Stone – Uses a divine stone as a supplement weapon ... Stone Increase – Increase the number of targets and the range of “Divine Stone” ... Time Charge - Prolongs the duration of “Divine Stone” ... Stone Burst – Inflicts damage to the surrounding area with a fixed possibility when using “Time Charge” ... Reflection – Increase defense at a given time and inflicts damage to the surrounding area ... Adrenalin – Increases the rate of critical hits ...

[Dragula]

I would think that when I subbed (aug 23..mere days before billing/new subs were disabled) that enough time had passed to ensure that PBT would *not* still have a hand in it. I would have thought wrong. I just got off the phone with them, and sure enough they had a charge for aug 23 which I immediately canceled and requested a refund for.

My confusion lies in the fact that you have had the company since july, but that billing still went directly to them as of aug 23. Clearly you had control of the billing impliments, as you turned them off almost immediately after i subbed.

If you had held out hopes that there would be a smooth transition of ownership and that EI would happily and immediately turned over any payments beyond a certain date (assumed july) you clearly weren't talking to the same people that we were. There is nothing smooth about that company other than talk.

I find it unfortunate that I was billed to them while the company was in your ownership, and that I was forced (due to no other alternative) to manually get involved with a billing issue that is really not my problem. As a customer, I pay for a service through the impliments provided to me and I expect those services in good faith. While it is not your fault that EI turned out to be less than forthcomming with the required support related to billing, I can understand your being less than free to comment relating this issue, as in court, it could be argued that you supplied the billing page and we paid through it (in my case reactivated a sub through it) after july, even though the money and credit for payment did not get to you.

It is my sincere hope that you pursue some legal recourse for the inconvenience that I and a great many others suffered, and the loss of income which of course you suffered, due to this fiasco.

[C`gan]

Talking to Pay By Touch all accounts have been canceled through their office. Also, the 866 number is incorrect, but with the credit card number they can find your account and handle any questions.

The correct number to call is: 866-609-4729 (iPay)
(This was given to my BY PayByTouch)

They returned 54.75 towards the subscription, 2-10 days to release the funds on the card.

[Istaria CS]

If you receive spam, you may forward the email to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at: spam@uce.gov

For more information about the Federal Trade Commission, please see this web site: http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

There is a button on the left called "File a Complaint".

Horizons CS

[Lunhilde]

I love this community. (nods sagely) .. Yup, to err on the side of caution, that's it. I love this community.

[C`gan]

Second monthly gifted account is now BILLING!

[Dhalin]

I just called PBT, and they told me that I was billed late August, and then Refunded, and Cancelled, so everything is OK.

The rep on the line (I could barely hear her) seemed to know exactly what the deal was and said everything was OK.

Hopefully other people can report the same... I'll certainly be watching my bank statements, that's for sure...

[rizo/nawkia]

i had put in a year sub a few months before ei bought the game, then i havnt been billed since or that i know of, do i just put in the new info now or do i still need to call the pay by touch thing to cancel my account( i doubt they have it since i subbed before ei bought it)

[Spartikus]

Just an FYI, the $.99 cent charges people are seeing on their CCs are not Horizons charges by EI they are (illegal?) charges made on your CC by EI for a "subscription" to their gaming news service (spam?) which you did not sign up for or agree to. Moreover, those charges are outside of the federal consumer protection laws since all recurring CC service fees must have a clearly documented "opt out" or cancellation system made available to the subscribers of the service. Also concider the fact that cardholder permission was never obtained for this new "subscription" service and you have a pretty good case for wire fraud as per the federal trade regulations of the United States.

I strongly urge all persons to make sure they contact PBT and cancel those subs and revoke all permission to charge those CCs. If it were my CC personally I'd report the card number as "stolen" to my CC company and explain the situation that the particular vendor in question has repeatedly run illegal charges against CCs they failed to reviece permission for.

Not to kick folks when they are down but just a friendly reminder.. This was all brought up when AE changed to Tulga and again when Tulga went to EII. Many people laughed and jeered that it was normal business practice and so forth. This is what happens when apparantly fraudulent vendors are allowed to run with impunity and are not called out for their actions.

Virtrium is 100% on the right track. They are going through a legitimate billing provider and requiring subscribers to re-enter billing info and agree to the payment schedule put forward when they choose their sub. THAT is the way to legally run a billing system.

Good on you Virtrium.

[LaughingOtter]

Originally Posted by medweasel

Has anyone thought of contacting the Better Business Bureau about EI?

Several people have contacted the Tennessee BBB and filed complaints, but EI simply refused to answer them. If a company doesn't respond, the BBB can't do anything. It's not a governmental or law enforcement organization.

EI's BBB record is here. To quote a portion:

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to a pattern of complaints and has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints.

The Montana Attorney General's Consumer Protection office fielded several complaints about EI, since the company operated its data center in Butte. You might want to give them a call & see about adding your complaint to the existing investigation.

NOTE: I'm not a lawyer or a representative of Virtrium or anyone else. I'm a player making suggestions to other players in the hopes that enough people will file complaints to support a prosecution.

[AA0]

Filing similar complaints with legal officials gets a "We'll put this in a file" response. I'd imagine they won't touch it unless the file gets very large.

[Spartikus]

Yes that is absolutely true AAO. I followed the EI legal pursuits very closely and in the end 2 different branches of US government deemed the issue "Not worth the ivestment to pursue". It was very dissappointing but each time a new case gets opened it leaves a mark. You never know which mark will be the straw that breaks the camels back

[LaughingOtter]

Originally Posted by AA0

Filing similar complaints with legal officials gets a "We'll put this in a file" response. I'd imagine they won't touch it unless the file gets very large.

Which is exactly why people who have valid complaints need to act.

[Theros Ironfeld]

Originally Posted by Spartikus

Yes that is absolutely true AAO. I followed the EI legal pursuits very closely and in the end 2 different branches of US government deemed the issue "Not worth the ivestment to pursue". It was very dissappointing but each time a new case gets opened it leaves a mark. You never know which mark will be the straw that breaks the camels back

I attempted to bring these guys to justice some time ago involving the AFP here and U.S federal agencies
even to the point of attempting extradition to Australia to face charges here
all to no avail
the final ruling was as Spart says ( see elsewhere for the full story )
most dissappointing
maybe now you people will realise why i am so miffed about so much