Bait and Switch plus illegal removal of paid contents by Machine Zone (Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire)
Going into the right direction but still not enough since they are not offering the same to the other players that were affected.
Mar 12, 17:53 PDT
Hello,
Thank you for your patience and getting back with us to share your concerns about the recent Astral Pack and free pack that we sent out. Keeping the game as balanced as possible is incredibly important for both players and us as well, so believe me when I say this wasn't a decision we made lightly. Ultimately in order to preserve the game, prevent the battlefield from becoming very one sided, and make sure that you would still have players out there you could battle, we did need to remove the extra Sigils that were never intended to be in the game.
While we cannot return all of the Sigils, we truly care about your experience, and would like to offer you a pack of your choosing that we will send to you, free of charge.
If this is a pack you have already purchased, please provide us with a timestamp or screenshot of your in-game receipt that we can use for reference. Alternatively, if there is a current pack in the game that you are interested in, please send us some screenshots of the Sales Pack contents, and we will arrange to send these items to you.
Thank you for being a valued member of our community and taking the time to keep an open discussion with us.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Best Regards,
Devin Mobius
Thank you for your patience and getting back with us to share your concerns about the recent Astral Pack and free pack that we sent out. Keeping the game as balanced as possible is incredibly important for both players and us as well, so believe me when I say this wasn't a decision we made lightly. Ultimately in order to preserve the game, prevent the battlefield from becoming very one sided, and make sure that you would still have players out there you could battle, we did need to remove the extra Sigils that were never intended to be in the game.
While we cannot return all of the Sigils, we truly care about your experience, and would like to offer you a pack of your choosing that we will send to you, free of charge.
If this is a pack you have already purchased, please provide us with a timestamp or screenshot of your in-game receipt that we can use for reference. Alternatively, if there is a current pack in the game that you are interested in, please send us some screenshots of the Sales Pack contents, and we will arrange to send these items to you.
Thank you for being a valued member of our community and taking the time to keep an open discussion with us.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Best Regards,
Devin Mobius
Support Team
________________________________________________
Mar 9, 11:53 PST
Response From their Lovely CS
Staff about how taking away 510,050 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2 and
replaced it with 70,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil lvl 2 is ok.
|
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mar 8, 2019, 11:17 PM
legal@mz.com, kdumont@machinezone.com,
support@epicaction-online.com, platinum@mz.com, Reilly Brennan
<rbrennan@us.square-enix.com>, schang@us.square-enix.com,
support@machinezone.com, dyang@us.square-enix.com, prsej@us.square-enix.com,
squareenix@fortyseven.com
Ms. Dumont and the team,
I just
received an in game email stating that you have made a mistake for
offering a Digital Online in game enhancement pack that contained 510,050
Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2, and offered those players a free pack
containing 35,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2.
Even
though we are going into the right direction of making right a wrong, it still
does not resolve or amend the fact that you took away 510,050 Leviathan
Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2 that you offered and people have purchased. I am very
sure that the second email of acknowledging or offering "Free Pack"
would not have come if you or your team did not know you broke the California
Consumer Protection laws along with several Federal Trade laws.
Just as
I stated before, you purchased a TV at San Carlos Best Buy for $ 999, and it
should have been $3999. After realizing they made a mistake, they came to your
house and confiscated the TV and offer you a free remote for that TV (No TV,
just a remote) because they made a mistake and feel bad. Would that make you
feel good knowing that Best Buy took the TV that you bought and paid for then
offered you a remote for the TV without the TV? Does this really solved the
problem of a - offered you a TV at the wrong price (in your case, a pack with
wrong contents were offered)? b - Does it give them a right to come to your
house and confiscate the TV (in your case, removed and reset the Leviathan
levels without getting express consent from the players)? c - Does offering you
a TV Remote for the TV that was taken away make you feel good (in your case,
offer a free pack with 35,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2)?
I
believe that in your mind, you are making things right; however, you failed to
understand that people bought those packs because it has 510,050 Leviathan
Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2. Not because it had 70,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil
Lvl 2 (Combing the first email and the content of what is in the "Free
Pack).
I
believe that your concession "Free pack" does not make up for the
fact that you baited us with 510,050 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2 then
switch us to 35,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2 follow by "free
Pack" containing another 35,000 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2. Based
on my poor math, I believe you are still shorting or cheating players of
440,050 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2.
It is
not the consumers fault for believing what you are selling is truth, just as
Best Buy selling you a TV that is $ 3,999 for $ 999.
Please
make it right by adding the missing 440,050 and give the players that did not
buy a chance to buy the packs as you have done in the past or contact those
players directly and offer them the money back (sending them a check for the
pack amount and additional compensation for making them go through hell to get
what they bought and paid for).
_________________________________________________________________________________
Mar 8, 2019, 2:37 PM
legal@mz.com,
kdumont@machinezone.com, support@epicaction-online.com, platinum@mz.com, Reilly
Brennan <rbrennan@us.square-enix.com>, schang@us.square-enix.com,
support@machinezone.com, dyang@us.square-enix.com, prsej@us.square-enix.com,
squareenix@fortyseven.com
Ms. Dumont,
I am not sure if you are aware but your
company has inadvertently broken the California
- California Business and Professions code - Articles 1, FALSE ADVERTISING IN GENERAL [17500 - 17509]
- California Civil Code, Title 1.5 CONSUMERS LEGAL REMEDIES ACT [1750 - 1784].
- California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Section 1770(a)
- California Civil Code 1770(a)(14), (16), and (17)
- California Civil Code 1780(b)(1) - If the affected player is a Senior Citizen (defined by Subdivision (f) and (g) of Section 1761)
- California Civil Code 3345 - If the affected player is a Senior Citizen (defined by Subdivision (f) and (g) of Section 1761)
- California Business and Professions code - Articles 1, FALSE ADVERTISING IN GENERAL [17500 - 17509]
- California Civil Code, Title 1.5 CONSUMERS LEGAL REMEDIES ACT [1750 - 1784].
- California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Section 1770(a)
- California Civil Code 1770(a)(14), (16), and (17)
- California Civil Code 1780(b)(1) - If the affected player is a Senior Citizen (defined by Subdivision (f) and (g) of Section 1761)
- California Civil Code 3345 - If the affected player is a Senior Citizen (defined by Subdivision (f) and (g) of Section 1761)
As a local California Customer (Less than 10 miles away
from your office), my rights were infringed by your deceptive ad and
removal of contents that I have paid for.
Your company offered a Digital Online in game enhancement
pack that contained 510,050 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2 and many
people opted to purchase those packs, and item were delivered to the players.
Few hours later, your team sent an email stating that it
was an error and that it should have only contained a lot less Leviathan
Empowerment Sigil (No numbers were given) and that players accounts were reset
to reflect what it should have been.
If the players known that the digital packs contained less
than 510,050 Leviathan Empowerment Sigil Lvl 2, they may not have purchased the
so called digital packs.
Many players including myself attempted to contact Google
Play or Amazon with no avail since their In App purchase agreement states “All
purchases are final” regardless if you removed them or not. Therefore, many
players have lost $ 99.99 for a digital pack that is no use to them.
I request that
1 – Restore all packs and stats that were removed
2 – Additional compensation (times and hassle to speak with
Google Play, Amazon, etc…) – Only for those players being affected
3 – Add the pack back into rotation for certain amount of
time so that all players will have the same opportunity.
We purchased the pack as advertised, Amazon / Google /
Apple delivered the right contents as stated in your advertising, and
then you arbitrarily say it's wrong and removed it while we are off
line and say oops.
I sincerely believe that you want to make it right. By
removing what players have purchased doesn’t make it right. (Example: You
bought a TV at San Carlos Best Buy for $ 999, and it should have been $ 3999.
Do they have the right to come to your house when you are away, and remove it
from your house because they made a mistake?) This is exactly what you
did.
Thank you.
Bruce, what was the final resolution on this? I had an extremely similar experience in June of this year on World War Rising. I was able to pass along concrete airtight evidence of MZ engaging in fraudulent illegal behaviors of going into player accounts and removing rightfully earned resources and also paid content.
ReplyDeleteSome of my purchases were through the Amazon Appstore and the rest were through Google Play. Amazon investigated my claim and refunded me in full for every purchase I made through them totaling $11,890. Google is giving me the run around. Paypal did also, as the transaction dates were from 6 - 8 months back. Google is actively still speaking with me. I still have another $3,389.26 in Google Play purchases that I am working to get back.
As MZ refuses to offer ANY sort of resolution and Google/PayPal also seem unwilling to assist, it looks like my only remaining option is legal action, which I intend to take. I am not willing to let MZ continue to commit fraud with impunity. I know many other players from my region in WWR that experienced the same fraud and theft MZ engages in reguarly. These actions they present as "accidents" are not accidents at all. They are MZ's business model. They know that platforms like Google will not hold them accountable and they are right. So, unfortunately, it looks like it's up to us as players to do that. I am extremely interested to hear about what ended up happening with you attempts with resolving the issue you wrote about here.
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