To one and all GOA whiners.

[old.Tohtori]

Let's take a reality check.

First off RightAboutNow:

Let's say they had 5 people working on the mails alone. They get(roughly) a 100 mails from pissed off customers. That leaves 20 mails to solve in a day. This is a positive/negative comment since they probably don't have the resources to have 5 people 24/7 just looking at mails and they probably get around 500 mails a day.

You do the math, if they don't solve your problem in 5 minutes it might, just -might- be because they have a truckload of angry mails inline to solve first.

Server problems:

No system is a 100% safe. Just take a look at the US powergrid problem a while back. Same thing in France, in Finland we had a citywide powerout as well. I don't think they sit at GOA, notice that the servers are down and then go "Oh well, i'll just finish this bun and coffee, go have a nooner with the missus and then think about that while 10.000 players are filling the mailbox again.

Subpage problems:

What can i say? When you get even a minor clitch in the system and then get it online again, people rush in like a bunch of squirrels on a tipped over peanut-truck. And pop goes the server...again. As said above, no system is 100% safe. Even Barrysworld has been known to be unavailable because there's too many users browsing it.

All in all:

GOA are doing work, like the rest of the working community, every day. They have patches to translate, subpages, RightNow mails and a whole lot of other stuff going on that we have no idea about. It's like building a house, you can't expect everything to go smoothly all the time, sometimes it rains, and you sure as heck can't expect the house to be complete in one afternoon.

Just cut 'em some slack, all i'm saying.

Now bring the flames.

 

[-Nxs-]

Lies.... they just sit there earing croisants... and pastries ... or whatever there called cant be assed to spell check.

 

[Damini]

A company should ensure it has the resources to do what it needs to do when it needs to do it, and if it doesn't, it should strive to correct this situation or at least publicly address it.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Originally posted by Damini
A company should ensure it has the resources to do what it needs to do when it needs to do it, and if it doesn't, it should strive to correct this situation or at least publicly address it.

Maybe they are doing just what they set out to do? Just that the community isn't satisfied. And i think they are working towards better customer service, server systems and such all the time.

 

[-Nxs-]

True but there has to be a compromise somewhere

It would be possible to solve all emails on the same day, it would also be possible to translate and patch up to the latest version within a few days, but do you as the customer really want to pay for that many staff ?

 

[svartmetall]

Originally posted by Damini
A company should ensure it has the resources to do what it needs to do when it needs to do it, and if it doesn't, it should strive to correct this situation or at least publicly address it.

Agreed. I work in customer support, and if I demonstrated the utter disdain for the customers that GOA do I'd be fired, and rightly so.

originally posted by old.TohtoriYou do the math, if they don't solve your problem in 5 minutes it might, just -might- be because they have a truckload of angry mails inline to solve first.

I have never had any reply, ever, from RightNever. How would you explain that, then? This is not an attack on you, BTW...but IMO, from my personal experience, GOA's "customer service" is a fucking disgrace.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Originally posted by svartmetall
I have never had any reply, ever, from RightNever. How would you explain that, then? This is not an attack on you, BTW...but IMO, from my personal experience, GOA's "customer service" is a fucking disgrace.

Nothing taken personally.

Have an example of the mail sent? Just wondering if you asked about the weather or if you asked something that could be found in a FAQ at camelot-europe.

 

[-Nxs-]

Every call i have logged with right now has been responded too, some within one day, some took around a month - but the urgent calls were addressed.

There is always two sides to a story, maybe you have just been unlucky

 

[svartmetall]

No, it was about a one-time drop that didn't drop; and another about an SI quest that wouldn't let me get to the next stage with the NPC in question.
Next time I have an in-game problem I won't even bother trying, as far as I'm concerned now GOA have no customer service facility at all.

 

[Cyradix]

All my requests to Rightnow have been solved within 24h.

I always try to make simple problem descriptions like :

Account name : xxxx
Server : yyyy
Char : zzzz

Problem : blablabla


Never had any problems with them.
Last week my Dark Places of the Soul quest was stuck because the mob wouldn't pop. They reset the quest step 5 hours after I logged the problem.

 

[Damini]

The problem with GOA is essentially public relations based. People will be willing to tolerate things a lot longer if they are simply informed that that is what they are going to have to do. People will be less aggrieved if they feel their grievances are being listened to.

Rightnow fails to address this as the grasp on the English language by some of the support staff means that they fail to comprehend what you are saying, which frustrates. Being sent a standard response to a question you didn't actually ask (but several keywords in your question correlate) frustrates. Having the servers go down, with no word of how long for or why, frustrates. The problems being voiced are, realistically, problems any company will face running a MMORPG to a greater or lesser extent. It's the interaction (or lack of therein) with the public that creates this sense of disillusionment and animosity within certain elements of the community who have been unlucky enough to encounter problems. The reasons you have cited for why they should be cut some slack are all very valid Toto, but the real crux of the matter is that you shouldn't the one making these statements.

At the end of the day, it's all very simple. Better communications between the company and the customer base would cut down 90% of all complaints, and would actually cut down on the amount of e-mails fired off and Rightnow's sent, thus freeing up more time and allowing faster responses, and so on and so forth.

 

[svartmetall]

Originally posted by Cyradix
All my requests to Rightnow have been solved within 24h.

I always try to make simple problem descriptions like :

Account name : xxxx
Server : yyyy
Char : zzzz

Problem : blablabla

Yep, exactly what I did, too.

 

[lakih]

I think the bad things about poor customer support really comes down to who opens your mail.
If the dude who just came back from lunch, where he inteded to give his wife a lovley crosiant and instead found the mailman giving her his, opens your mail, you cant really except a nice reply to "Hi, my char is stuck on a quest". I think he got other things on his mind (and it sure isnt pasteries).

IMO, hire Roo as thier PR manager

 

[Lumikki]

Never had a problem with GOA. I only have positive experinces with them, like when I lost my passwords, the new pass came within few hours

Then again I've never had much problems with DAoC so I can't say that much.

ps. Hugs to Zargar, I still have the dress in my bag

xx

 

[kahl]

on us support it only takes 5-15 mins to get a very long serious answer.

ive lost my sub info and sent a mail to goa and asked to get it back..
its two weeks ago now and still havent got any answers?

 

[Sabu]

What Damini said 100%.

I can´t play atm cause Ld -lag problems etc... i traced it and seems Goa problem.I´m not pissed about the problem, that things can happen, i´m pissed cause the lack of information. I really dunno what happens and i if someone is working on it.

 

[Sichama]

About Rightnow i have limited experience i used it only two times, the one time i had absolutely no input the second it took them 5 days to tell me they can't help , but by my limited experience i have decided not to bother again.

About Server Problems, admitedly its ok, servers are running and yes shit happens but again even planes crash occasionaly, i think server related problem occur in an acceptable rate.

Subpage problems are not acceptable, it is not that hard to keep them in good condition and avoid the problems they have, sure even here shit may happen, the rate that they happen is not acceptable though, and the time they need to fix them is absolutely not acceptable.

Yes you can't expect a house to be build in one afternoon, but you can surely build one by the time they introduce the next expension/patch in DAoC.

And their biggest failing, the one they have absolutely no excuse, the one that pisses me off most of all, the one that.... well you get the picture...is that they have absolutely no in game support.

Do you know that if a new account logs in Anarchy there is someone from the company that imediately contacts you and is willing to show you a bit of the game and answer any questions?

Do you know that there is allways someone you can contact in EQ to help you out, many here are familiar with UO's in game support which (untill the time i left, don't know how it is now) may not be the best but at least there is something, i can continue with other games but i think you get the picture again.

 

[Whoodoo_RD]

To date ive used rightnow about 5 times, in all cases a response came within 24 hours. So i have no complaint there at all.

From what I have seen though, many ppl treat rightnow as a flaming ground, much like BW. Like Toto said, imagine for example the recent server / router / ISP complaints, then think of some poor sod sitting at his PC reading 500 complaints in that hour. What do you do? Make a public appology giving a breif outline of the problem and assuring them you are on the case and wade back into the emails, or respond to every mail individually?

I too work in a customer related helpdesk system. We judge each job by its own merit. But the customers rate their job all at the top of the scale. If its a large scale problem, the only reply they will get is "We are working on it". If we delve into deep discussion about the problem with each of the customers phoning in, we loose valuable time trying to solve the problem, ergo more customers will be on the phone, more time wasted.

Lets be honest, the game goes down for what, 2 hours, yet GOA will have to spend probably 4 hours telling Rightnow ppl that the issue is solved, what a waste!

If you go to an Airport, and your plane is delayed due to technical problems, do you harass the engineers into telling you the ins and outs of aircraft mechanics? No.

If the power goes out in your neighbourhood, do you phone the electricity company demanding an explanation and the design schematics of the local grid? No.

If you do, all you are doing is wasting your breath askng questions that have answers with little meaning, as normally the service is resumed by the time you have got them.

GOA work 9 to 5 like most of us, yet Ill bet the majority of rightnow q's are asked out of hours, so come 9am, they probably face a mountain of disgrntled customers. But even so, only a small handful actually come here to whinge about it, the rest (majority) think about the situation, go make a cup of tea and do something else while they wait.

Lets face it, if the game is that bad, why are you lot still here complaining? Im sure theres plenty of other games out there to play, no one forces you.

As for the issue of in game support, well yes i agree there should be more, however how many ppl once again jump on the whinge wagin when GOA say "you can have it but ya gotta pay for it too"?

Admittedly I would like to see this, but im not sure some ppls pocketmoney will stretch that far.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Originally posted by Damini
The reasons you have cited for why they should be cut some slack are all very valid Toto, but the real crux of the matter is that you shouldn't the one making these statements.

Get the point. I shouldn't have to defend GOA, but infact they should defend these points themselves. Agreed.

It really is a double-edged sword(with spikes) since the customer service seems bias in a way. Some get support on the spot, some need no support at all, some don't get it at all.

On the point of "in game support" or the lack off...i always found that the Europe community is the best support there is. Have a epic problem? /who runemaster and ask someone. Any problem i had ingame was solved, because of the community. I think there's no need for ingame support, simply because the community isn't that selfish.

 

[Sichama]

Originally posted by Whoodoo_RD
I too work in a customer related helpdesk system. We judge each job by its own merit. But the customers rate their job all at the top of the scale. If its a large scale problem, the only reply they will get is "We are working on it". If we delve into deep discussion about the problem with each of the customers phoning in, we loose valuable time trying to solve the problem, ergo more customers will be on the phone, more time wasted.

Same here, and i agree with you 100%, but the truth is that when something happens to one of the machines i administer the user will 99.9% of the times ask me what happened, obviously i will not explain to them what's going on for all the reasons you said, but i don't ignore them either i will probably give them an answer in the lines of

-"Oh its nothing serious, i think, but don't worry we will have it solved as soon as possible..." etc, etc or in the extreme
-"Your PC died, im sorry we can't do anything about it but to replace the faulty part, it will be ready in so..so time"

That seems to calm them down they accept it, and they are happy, and thats all i need to be able to do my work in peace, if i totaly ignore them they will probably go to their manager, who will contact my manager, and than the big boss will notice and in no time ill have them all on me asking questions that i can't dodge as easily.

Originally posted by Whoodoo_RD
GOA work 9 to 5 like most of us...

Right and wrong employees in GoA might work 9 to 5...or in my case eight hour shifts...but GoA like the company i work in, work 24/7, and my position for example never stays empty so...neither should any CSR position in GoA.

Originally posted by Whoodoo_RD
Lets face it, if the game is that bad, why are you lot still here complaining? Im sure theres plenty of other games out there to play, no one forces you.

I never said the game is that bad, in fact DAoC is the best game available now for me, and that sadens me because they have a great product, they know it and that's why they don't need to try to support it or market it (in line with other threads).

So you see the game is so good that it practicaly sells itself, why spend money and resources to support it when the majority of customers (including me) will continue using it anyway. Its the truth but it pisses me of really.

Originally posted by Whoodoo_RD
As for the issue of in game support, well yes i agree there should be more, however how many ppl once again jump on the whinge wagin when GOA say "you can have it but ya gotta pay for it too"?

Firstly the option to chose was never given and...
Second by examining the /slash commands available for instance you will notice that in game support is supported by the game, USA servers have it, French servers have it (i think), i have no idea about German servers but English servers definately don't.
So you see in a sense it should have been provided as is, no extra cost should even be considered for something that should be provided anyway or/and is provided to others.

Phewww and now Tohtori

Originally posted by old.Tohtori
On the point of "in game support" or the lack off...i always found that the Europe community is the best support there is. Have a epic problem? /who runemaster and ask someone. Any problem i had ingame was solved, because of the community. I think there's no need for ingame support, simply because the community isn't that selfish.

Totaly agree and that is the main reason DAoC is as succesfull as it is in Europe i think...at least for me it stands true but,

a) Again it shouldn't be your's or mine or anyone's else job to do...

b) There are things that another player can't help with because it needs higher access in game...granted the majority of them are handled by Rightnow the problem is that even the fastest response from there isn't exactly rightnow...and other problems generaly don't get solved and some of them can potentialy cause you problems that may get your acount suspended or baned.

c) New players are not that familiar with the DAoC community and most shy from pestering other players for their problems, and spend their first months playing the best they can, surely in time they meet people that are friendly and help them around and have a great time, but the beggining can be frustrating at least that's how its been for me, lucky? maybe, or maybe not.

d) It would be nice from GoA to aknowledge the time and effort other players put in helping their fellow players, practicaly doing their job...hmmm somehow i don't think that its very possible to happen but oh well its not about recognition anyway so no big point afterall.

 

[Moody]

Well, some of you work in callcenters. Do YOU do your utmost best to help someone who starts the conversation with:

Hello there annoying frog and snail eating garlic breathers!! FFS you will solve my problem as MY problem is the most urgent of all problem cos its MY PROBLEM MMMKAAAYY!! All other mails and requests you get is from st00pids you must ignore to help MEEE!

Get the point.

Now, you have to admit we had during the life of DAOC Europe, very little server downtime. The fact the server crashed because of RR zergs was not only because a snail jumped out of someones plate and got in the server room, its also due to the game engine GOA have no control over. The servers are upgraded and its still laggy like hell in big zergs.

The other reasons the server went down was when some spoilt kids decided it was time to annoy the French a bit more

 

[old.Jable]

Originally posted by old.Tohtori

On the point of "in game support" or the lack off...i always found that the Europe community is the best support there is. Have a epic problem? /who runemaster and ask someone. Any problem i had ingame was solved, because of the community. I think there's no need for ingame support, simply because the community isn't that selfish.

It is true that the community is great when it comes to problems in game, but the community can't help with lost items, can't help with game stopping bugs, can't help you reseting epic items so you can complete quests and can't inform you why the fecking accounts server is down for the third day in a row.

 

[old.Jable]

Originally posted by Moody

Hello there annoying frog and snail eating garlic breathers!! FFS you will solve my problem as MY problem is the most urgent of all problem cos its MY PROBLEM MMMKAAAYY!! All other mails and requests you get is from st00pids you must ignore to help MEEE!

anyone who abuses the system by mailing stuff like that to them deserves to be strung up. but consider the customer with a few more braincells who just wants to present their problem in an easy-to-understand way, so they can get it fixed as quickly as possible.

now imagine not having to write a one-shot email, trying to second guess what words they might have problems translating and instead actually having a conversation with someone, either in game or via a chat program, or by phone, where you can make sure your problem is being correctly dealt with.

 

[Sichama]

No need to quote you Moody as double posting did the job

Hmm yes i will do my outmost best to help someone even if he is abnoxious...why? because its my job to do it...if i couldn't handle every situation professionaly than i should do something else for a living, in which i wouldn't need to come in contac't with people like that...hmmm now that i think of it if any idea springs in mind please tell me.

And about server stablity it is allready generaly accepted that they run ok, or at least as ok as it would be accepted.

 

[Arkian]

Originally posted by svartmetall
Agreed. I work in customer support, and if I demonstrated the utter disdain for the customers that GOA do I'd be fired, and rightly so.

svart, i've been in the network support industry for 7+ years and one thing is for sure m8, no matter how nice you are or try to help the majority of your customer base, there will be a proportion of your customers (sometimes even a large one) who think you and your company are clown shoes.

 

[zedmother]

GOA????

What is GOA?

 

[chretien]

Originally posted by svartmetall
No, it was about a one-time drop that didn't drop; and another about an SI quest that wouldn't let me get to the next stage with the NPC in question.
Next time I have an in-game problem I won't even bother trying, as far as I'm concerned now GOA have no customer service facility at all.

You said you've never had any kind of reply at all, not even the 'we have not heard from you in 48 hours so have closed this query' emails. To me that suggests you are doing something wrong - either sending to the wrong place or having the wrong email address inyour account profile.
I don't think anyone else has had absolutely zero response to multiple queries so either your on their email blacklist or there's something wrong withthe way you use the system.

 

[old.Jable]

Originally posted by chretien
You said you've never had any kind of reply at all, not even the 'we have not heard from you in 48 hours so have closed this query' emails. To me that suggests you are doing something wrong - either sending to the wrong place or having the wrong email address inyour account profile.
I don't think anyone else has had absolutely zero response to multiple queries so either your on their email blacklist or there's something wrong withthe way you use the system.

yep, in this case i would say there is a problem, the easiest way to sort it out is to give them a call and check whats up with your account on their end - oh wait a minute. theres no phone number and no way of contacting anyone without using the system you have already had problems with.

what a fecking bummer

 

[Moody]

Originally posted by Sichama
No need to quote you Moody as double posting did the job

Thanks for pointing that out, you can see that wasnt the whole story i was writing but I gave up after the lagmonster got me Deleted the doublepost

Just to summerize
The servers are running fine.
The patching takes just as long as the US only they started earlier so are ahead of europe
The customer service is fine, but admittedly, when something big happens it doesn't cope very well. Wether that is because of their fault or because of a sudden flood of requests. However, as a company aiming for profit (you wouldn't like to work without making money) they need to find a balance in their staff size. Too small and you can't cope, too big and 99% of the time, half your staff is eating out of their noses creating a too heavy personnel structure = too high cost