Subscription Plan

Remember to setup your subscription plan by Sunday or you will not be playing on Monday.

I was expecting a better discount for more months... But this will have to do...

I signed up, but I thought the first 30 days were included with the game purchase?  If that's the case, it doesn't seem very appropriate that they would keep you from playing beyond Sunday.  

There are 30 days included in the purchase, yes. No idea why they force you to put the credit card info first...

They want you to unlock the free 30 days by setting up the account.  According to them, you shouldn't be charged until the end of the free 30 days, but they do make a credit check on your credit card for the full amount of your chosen subscription.

This check should go away after 24 - 72 hours, depending on your bank.

But you need to set up all the payment info (billing address and credit card or game card) before they give you access to the 30 days you already paid for when you got the game.

What Booie stated - and this is common practice... you have to set-up the account to get the free 30 days.  If after 20 days you decide you don't want to play anymore - you just cancel it - take out your card ifo so it isn't on file and after the free 30 days is over - you can't log in uless you renew your account and pay. 

Sub based games have been doing this since I can remember - which was back in EQ days - not a new thing, but if you have never played a sub based game I can see where it might be confusing.

Please, forgive me for my lack of knowledge, this is my first subbed game MMO that's not Free-To-Play...

All of this is well and good except for one thing! They should not authorize your account for the full amount! Even an actual charge of a penny would be acceptable to me and prove my information was valid and not expired or stolen or whatever!

This is very inconvenient for most folks and many of us want to take advantage of the small discount offered for a 6 month subscription. I suggest and what I will be doing myself, is to "set up" a monthly payment today/tomorrow and then go into the account before it bills next month and make the change to the 6 month plan.

I'm lucky to have a little money left in my account this month but if I didn't I would be concerned with bank fees for insufficient funds.

just my 2cp worth

Tuz

That's what I did Taz. It's just easier that way. It's not unheard of though for companies to put a hold on the full amount, if you use a credit (not debit) card at Shell gas stations for example, they put an authorization of $70 on your card, even if you only buy $20 worth of gas. Once the $20 clears, they release the remaining $50.

What's in your wallet?

Yes - this isn't exactly ESO's doing - some credit card companies and debit cards - will put holds on the amount when the company verifies that it is a good card?  The actual charge doesn't occur - it is a "hold"...  My credit card company doesn't do that although if I used my debit card - which is a different company, which can act like a charge card, they will do it.  It is the way the financial institute who issued the card you are using handles such transactions.   I used my CC and no charge has appeared.

So I go to play today and I can't because I need to activate my account with a credit card. Ok, thats fine...I log in to the account page at 8am and there is over a 2 hour queue to access the page! I can't even log in to give them my money lol!!

For some reason I thought when I purchased the game I had selected a sub method already.  At least that's what I'm used to doing and mistakenly assumed I had done with ESO...I now wait in this queue...Oh well.

Yeah, they do have trouble planning the load on their web servers.   But this is probably connected to how many waited until the last minute to sign up.

I tried to access the account page Friday and there was no option to set up payment.

Are we talking about Obamacare webpage?  I'm confused... :P

Seems silly for the payment page to be down on the eve of the game.

thx for reminder...

Does anyone know where someone living in the USA can buy an ESO game card?  Gamestop doesn't carry them.  Amazon.com doesn't carry them either.

I haven't seen any places selling ESO cards yet.

Argh, I'm in the payment queue too.

ESO's account and billing service, unlike every other recurring subscription game I've ever played, has apparently never heard of people with foreign bank accounts (ie. a bank account with a foreign billing address that differs from the residential address). In ESO, payment method is locked to the customer's country of residence.

So I had to get one of those prepaid Vanilla mastercard thingies from the supermarket, and it's got a 24-hour activation hold, charges an activation fee, and charges interest that scales up according to the length of time since card activation. Annoying.

Last thing I saw about game cards was that amazon is two weeks away, but Walmart should have them.

Don't know if you can use a pre-paid credit card.

Don't know if you can use a pre-paid credit card.

You can, but the fees and conditions make it an expensive option, so unless you have no other choice it's probably not a good one.

Tyrra, your mistake was getting a pre-paid mastercard.  Just personal opinion but it will almost always be more expensive to get a pre-paid MasterCard or Visa from an unknown banking institution than a pre-paid Amex (American Express).  

Not in actual value but in terms, limitations, and fees.

I was unable to delete the payment information I used to purchase the digital edition of the client. Thus far, I haven't found any way to remove payment information from my account because I do not want it stored on their server where it runs the risk of being stolen. I also object to having to pay additional money to receive that 30-days of game time that I thought I was purchasing along with the client. That's coercive, deceptive and manipulative and the kind of thing that does not inspire my confidence in the company;s involved. They are so obviously about money, what guarantee do I have that they are providing adequate protection for my payment data? If far larger companies like Amazon, Citibank and Chase can have their servers hacked, why should I think that the companies running ESO are any different.

If anyone has discovered how to remove their payment information from their ESO account, I'd like to know about it so I can remove my payment info, too.

Pre-authorizing the account might not be a problem with a credit card (because you can always dispute the charge), but with a debit card (which will still look like a credit card to the ESO company) money is actually being taken out of your bank account when they request the payment. Try getting that back--Hah! Hah!

The type of practice is so wrong, that I have no desire to be involved with a company that thinks so poorly about it's product that it has to try to trick and trap people into paying for it. Compare the interface, the movement--almost anything except the large scale wars--to GuildWars2; not even close. Maybe there's a reason their payment procedures are the way they are--they suspect that players may be leaving in droves after a short time. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like most aspects of this game nearly as well as the similar things in GW2.

The payment problem is compounded by there not being any physical cards in the stores in my town (and it sounds like others have had the same experience with respect to lack of physical game time card that they can purchase in their locales, too), so it means that if you want to play, you have to put credit card payment info in their database one way or the other, even if it's only to buy game  time code on-line. And since there doesn't seem to be any way to remove that information, any one who wants to play tomorrow will more or less be forced to give a coercive and deceptive company their payment information--and who knows what they might do with it?? That doesn't sound like a very safe thing to do. Consequently, I'm not playing until the physical game cards are available--and maybe not even then.

P.S. I think Tyrra was actually smart to use a pre-paid card for exactly the reasons I've given above--let the ESO payment company try to charge that, LOL.

Here's a flash: You can't call them on the phone to try to resolve any issues, you have to submit a request and leave your phone number and they will call you (at least when I checked at 12:17 AM PST). That's the last straw--I' m not having anything further to do with this company or this game. Everything they are doing spells SCAM in capital letters--even if they don't mean it to. Total incompetency--or at least insensibility and greed-- when it comes to billing. Good luck to those of you who gave them your credit card info--I truly hope you don't get ripped-off, but I'm not taking a chance. I've taken screen shots of every page involving my account and their billing procedures because I may need them in court and for my consumer affairs complaint. I recommend that you all do the same.

(Jonathan): Tyrra, your mistake was getting a pre-paid mastercard.  Just personal opinion but it will almost always be more expensive to get a pre-paid MasterCard or Visa from an unknown banking institution than a pre-paid Amex (American Express). 

Good to know, thanks! The supermarket that I got the prepaid Mastercard from only stocked Mastercard and VISA, so AMEX wasn't an option there (and I had the same problem with the local drugstore when I checked). If I hadn't been so "OH NOES I CAN'T PLAY, HALP!" I would have checked other retailers. The pre-paid Mastercard charges an activation fee, interest charges that increase with time, and to add insult to injury, it loses out in the conversion from Canadian dollars to US dollars. That's a good plan for the next billing cycle though - I'll definitely check that one out.

First - I set up everything on Friday and there was no queue -no issues, no problems - sorry for those that had one.  Next, I still haven't had it charged to my account with the CC that I use.  So I am at a real loss why people are having issues.  And - although just my opinion - the game is worth it.

I guess I'll be offline until I get my package. I ordered Imperial Edition Physical from Amazon and they keep pushing back the ship date.

Getting a bit edgy

I've used a debit card via SOE's games for years.  Subbed on EQ2 for 5 yrs with it. Even through their big hack that shut down alll their games across the board.  Just keep an eye (online) on your bank accounts.  If you see a questionable charge, contact your bank.  Just like any other questionable charge.

If you have a questionable charge, get your bank to issue you a new number.  Just to be safe. Takes about a 15 min visit to your bank.

Your personal data is already out...there residing in some bank or govt database waiting to be hacked. At this point , its about active managment of risk.  ESO isn't doing anything different than any other sub game.

» Edited on: 2014-04-07 11:58:12

» Edited on: 2014-04-07 12:05:21