Open Letter to Mythic Entertainment, Mark JacobsFollow

For several months I have written Customer Support, Complaints, Dispute, Grab Bag, and various other emails. No response. I finally got a response from the Head of Billing think that this could not be Customer Support. Read on to see how I was wrong.

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Mythic. I received my letter back, unopened, marked return to sender. I had hoped that by addressing someone in management that I would find that the company, Mythic Entertainment, was really a good company with decent customer support. Sadly, this is apparently the culture.

I called Mythic last night. Spoke to a relatively nice customer support representative. He IM’d the “Head of Customer Support” (who I find out later is the Head of Billing) and he refused to speak to me regarding this matter.

October 23, 2004

Mark Jacobs
Mythic Entertainment
Fairfax, VA 22030

Dear Mr. Jacobs,
I would first like to congratulate you on a most excellent game. I have searched for other comparable games but there are not many that even approach the complexity, graphics, interface and playability of Dark Ages of Camelot.
This started as a minor problem to be worked via your Customer Support staff. However, it dealing with this issue it has become apparent that you have a few issues which you may wish to address. I believe these issues are a potential detriment to your business growth.
I won’t bore you with the details, they are on file. I will reduce my many months of trying to resolve this situation in to a simple capture below. I will highlight my concerns following this and recommend some possible corrections.
However, I do not have the gaming expertise of someone like yourself so I’m not presuming to tell you how to specifically run your business. Feel free to skip over this recount and go directly to the issues. However, this will give you an insight in to the day-to-day operation of your organization which you have worked so hard to build.
I have an account with a your business. I actually have three accounts with this business. These accounts allow me access to virtual content with which I interact. I’ll not get in to the psychology of why this is something a person would pay for, I’ll just say, I enjoy my time in this virtual content.
I access my account with a user identifier and a password. The account ownership is determined by my “secret word” – my pin number if you will.
One day I asked to make some adjustments to my account. I am asked to verify who I am by providing my “pin number” or “secret word”. Well, I finally figured out two of the three account access codes but was unable to really “guess” the final one.
I am told at this point, “There is nothing we can do. Have a nice day.”
“Wait! Hold up! There has to be a way to change this word, this “pin number”, right?” Every other business in the world has a method (secure method) for you to change your access codes and ownership verifiers.
“Nope, sorry, nothing we can do. You don’t technically own this account.” I’m now thinking, oh my gosh! I hope my bank never pulls this stunt!
Now before you start thinking, great another kid trying to hijack someone’s account and he wants us to help him, here’s some facts.
The account ids are all sequential XXXXXXX1, XXXXXXX2, XXXXXXX3. The passwords are also sequential. The passwords have NEVER been changed since the accounts were opened. They are all paid for by the same credit card and they all have the same mailing and email address. After pointing this out to your customer support person I was getting no help.
Most folks tell me “Forget it! I have accounts that have been passed down through 5 people and don’t have a clue what the secret word is”. Great for them, but if I don’t own the account it’s not mine to access. Just the way I am.
“OK“, I say trying to remain very calm, “Let me speak to a manager or someone else. You are telling me exactly what you should but I feel there might be another option here and I’d like to speak to someone else.”
“Sorry”, comes the terse reply, “that would not be a good use of my managers time.” Have a nice day.” Would not be a good use of his time!? The Manager of Customer support or someone who is a position of authority in Customer Support and it would be a waste of his/her time to speak to a customer? If it’s a waste of their time, whose time do I request?
Several emails later, I received canned responses about EULAs, process, etc. Never once did I get a personal response.
I left the game and closed my three accounts.

I have searched for other games to match the content and playability of Dark Ages of Camelot. I’ve not found one yet.
However, I have found several games with exceptional customer service. This feeling of being valued as a customer is enough to move me on to elsewhere.
When I returned I vowed to myself I would not get in to this again. But, I find I need my characters on the other account. I even thought of dropping the whole thing and started the characters again on a new account – but I can’t. I have software that sits idle because the CD key is tied to an account which I’m unable to control. I bought and paid for it but I don’t “own it”.
So, I emailed a rather polite request to the Head of Customer Support to review this matter and get back to me. I realize it’s not normal policy. I would like to have had someone look at the situation and work to a solution that does not compromise your security process but allows me to verify my account ownership.
Auto replies, party line, silence. Mostly silence actually. It’s taken me weeks of requesting status for them to shoot back terse, canned replies. The last email came from the Head of Billing. Maybe he’s your interim Customer Support guy? [Editorial note: I have recently found out that indeed the Head of Billing is the Head of Customer Support – maybe they’ve moved the “real” customer support to game they intend to support?]
I have a simple request. Work with me to identify an alternative solution to verify this account is my account.

Opportunities/Observations:
• There should be a vehicle for a customer to interact directly with a person in authority in Customer Support to address and resolve their issues. (Complaints email is suppose to work that way but I’ve received canned responses and have yet to get a response from someone in authority in the Customer Support Department)
• A first line customer support staff member should never tell a paying customer that “it would not be a good use of my manager’s time to discuss this with you”.
• Every other business in the world has a methodology that is secure, easy to use, and effective for changing access codes. While the security of the “secret word” is quite excellent it’s something akin to locking the vault with a single key and hope you never, ever lose that key. It just makes good business sense to make this easier on the paying customer and yet maintain the level of security with which you are comfortable.
I am respectfully requesting that you investigate this matter and provide me some feedback. What do I ask? Here’s what I am requesting:
1. Is there a mechanism to speak directly to someone in a position of authority in Customer Support? What is this mechanism?
2. Is it your policy and business practice that first line customer support staff will deny access to management to resolve issues?
3. A review of my particular situation to see if there is a reasonable compromise that may be reached to verify account ownership and yet maintain your security at a level with which you are comfortable. If you have no mechanism in place to conduct such a review, say so.
4. A review of your secret word process and procedure. Don’t just say “It’s always worked, don’t change it.” How many businesses are successful if they take the attitude, “It’s always worked fine in the past, don’t change a thing.”
I am, quite frankly, a bit tired of the whole affair. I like DAOC. I like the New Frontiers. I believe Catacombs will also be an excellent product. But if I can’t feel that a company wants my business it’s very hard for me to continue doing business with them.
However, I work in business every day. I am a consultant. I help organizations define effective process. It’s my nature to point out perceived weaknesses. Do with my observations what you will.
Respectfully and sincerely,
Timothy A. Ladd, Sr.

Heh maybe I should send the letter to you and you could "ninja deliver" it for me :)

troll.

i can tell you from personal experiance with Mythic CS that to verify your account you only need your CD Key, and your e-mail address, then CS will send you an e-mail with your password in it. they will not provide that over the phone, and the e-mail took me less then 30min to recieve.

that is most likely due to the slow nature of yahoo mail.

you do not have your Cd key, you do not own the account, its that simple. you lost it, well then im sorry, but there is no way to get that back. the same is true with every major corp. around the world that has CD keys.. think M$, think Adobe, think Sony... all of them do the same thing.

This may be true for a password. However, they will not divulge your secret word for anything. Without your secret word you cannot prove ownership of your account...period. You cannot transfer characters from an account without your secret word. And if there is a dispute about ownership it's the secret word that is the ultimate trump card -- although you can't ever change it if you forget it.

I don't know about using the CD key to get your secret word. If anyone has direct experience I'd love to hear it.