Just got finished having a talk with one of the CSR reps on SOE's website about how I was charged for DoN, but never ordered it. I had a bad experience once pre-ordering when I became victim to the pre-order bug where you get delevelled to 50. I haven't touched SOE's digital downloads since.

Here is how the dialog went down:

You have been connected to CSR Paul S..
CSR Paul S.: Hello Brad, Thank you for contacting Sony Online Entertainment. One moment please, while I read your question. Thank You!
e: Hi Paul S.
CSR Paul S.: How may I help you today Brad?
e: need to have my DoN purchase cancled
e: cause I never made it =)
CSR Paul S.: We appreciate your request for a refund for the Digital Expansion you purchased however, we are unable to process your request. Please view the policy that states these type of purchases are non-refundable.
e: but ... I ... never ... bought .... it.
e: you simply charged me for it
e: I have a box copy coming from amazon
e: I will never pre-order.
e: doing that delevelled my character to 50 once
e: haven't pre-ordered since.
CSR Paul S.: You need to contact amazon for that.
e: no
e: I want Amazon's copy
e: I don't want the copy from soe that I never ordered
The agent is sending you to https://store.station.sony.com/faq.jsp#Q2.
CSR Paul S.: Please visit this link to review the policy.
e: Hmm... lemme find a nice legal site to link to you that states you can't charge someone for sdomething they dint order
e: one sec pls.
e: are you understanding that SOE charged me for something that I never at any point in time agreed to purchase?
e: thats the issue here
CSR Paul S.: Can you please provide the station name to me?
e: <my station login>
CSR Paul S.: You have been charged for Dragons of Norrath(TM) Expansion - Digital Download
e: yes - yes I have.
CSR Paul S.: You must have downloaded it using your station name and password.
e: no - no I haven't
e: I haven't even logged in for 6 days.
e: you need to block out DoN access on my account
e: and reverse the charges
e: when I get my boxed copy - I'll enter a key to regain access.
CSR Paul S.: I am sorry, that is our company policy. We can not make exceptions to this policy.
e: I don't think you are getting this.
e: You placed an unfounded charge on my credit card that needs to be reversed.
CSR Paul S.: Well, that was ordered via digital download that is why your Credit Card has been charged.
e: Surely SOE has a poilcy in place to accomodate for such mistakes. I am certainly no lawyer, but if there are no policies to deal with this then SOE has engaged in some kind of Credit Card Fraud.
e: It was NOT ordered
e: thats the issue!
e: I've said it 5 times now
CSR Paul S.: I would like to help you with this issue, but I lack the ability to do so. I need to refer you to a more senior support representative so that you can be assisted further. One moment, let me transfer you.
e: thanks
CSR Paul S. has left the session.
Please wait while we find an agent from the SOE HELP EVERQUEST department to assist you.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You have been connected to CSR Chris R..
CSR Chris R.: Hello Brad, Thank you for contacting Sony Online Entertainment. One moment please, while I read your question. Thank You!
CSR Chris R.: Account name
e: Hi Chris R.
e: <my station login>
CSR Chris R.: One moment please.
e: ok
CSR Chris R.: I show it was preordered on 1/14/05
e: I'm telling you - I did not do that - I would Never do that.
e: One of the digital expansions delevelled my character to 50 for pre-ordering
e: haven't touched the digital copies since.
e: I have a box copy coming in the mail.
e: I see 2 options here:
e: 1) We talk about this for another 20 minutes and you agree to reverse the charges.
e: 2) You just decide to reverse the charges now and save the time.
CSR Chris R.: Unfortunately we have no refund policy . There is nothing we can do
e: That makes no sense - I never pre-ordered
e: its illegal for you to charge me
e: if your system is broken - thats not my problem.
e: so I see we are taking option 1
e: so be it.
CSR Chris R.: It is not illegal for us to charge you when I show it was ordered.
CSR Chris R.: Someone ordered it
e: thats not true
e: no one has access to my account but ME
e: and I did not do it!
e: something is wrong with your ordering system
CSR Chris R.: I am sorry but there is nothing we can do.
e: Yes there is.
e: You reverse the charges on my card
e: if the policy says you can't do it
e: work on changing the policy
CSR Chris R.: Unfortunately not
e: this is nuts
CSR Chris R.: We have no refund policy
e: wow - I see.
e: Thx for your time Chris R. - this will make an amusing post

This has got to be illegal on so many levels :lol:

Anyone else mystically get DoN pre-ordered for them?

Call your credit card company now, and inform them that an unauthorized charge in that amount was placed on your card, and that it should be removed from your account. You should follow that up with a letter to the credit card company at the address they give you for disputing purchases (probably on the back of your statement).

You may also report them to the BBB, although SOE's rating with them is only C, so that's not going to do much.

Absolutely agree - work this through the credit card company. Note that it takes a timely written notice to preserve your legal rights in this area.

There's a good chance that the CC company will remove the charges "pending their investigation," and will immediately reinstate them as soon as SOE claims that they, and not you, are correct. Use this time to put together your case: get your Amazon order history (with dates), any correspondence you may have on prior bad experiences with pre-ordering, and anything else you have. Be prepared to protest the charge multiple times. Insist (through the CC company) that SOE provide order details - when the order was placed, IP address it was placed from, and anything else you can think of. Do not access any of the DoN content until this is resolved, or at least until you get your box set and attempt to register it. Expect this all to take a while - perhaps a year. Do not allow the CC company to "put you in contact with the vendor for discussion." Keep everything in writing. Keep good records - who you talk to, when, what the results are. Be aware of the option of going to small claims court.

To be perfectly honest, I think you're going to lose this one, but if you fight like hell, you'll make them spend plenty more $$$ collecting than they'll actually get. Count it as a moral victory.

As you might guess, I've been down this road more than once, although not with SOE. Best advice I can give: don't let it get to you.

Good luck.

Fight the good fight, dont let the corporation walk all over you even if it is only for $50. That's what they count on.

I dont know about credit cards but i use my normal bank card (europe citizien) since sony works together with ubisoft. I had never a problem getting my money back when they took it. Run to bank, tell em that charge was not authorisated and they make a copy and give me my money back in a matter of 20 seconds..

To be perfectly honest, I think you're going to lose this one

Of course not. Report it as online fraud and ask for an immediate new card and pin number. I reported some online betting which appeared on my card and they did it without any further questions. Once that's done it will be between SOE and the credit card company, and the credit card company won't tolerate dumbnut customer service operatives.

I agree on talking to your credit card company for sure... do that, don't waste time. Ive cancelled payments i didnt make before... so its doable.

Also, change your account password. Not saying you gave it to anybody, but who knows, someone may have gotten ahold of it somehow...might prevent something like this in the future.

Very amusing post though :) I hope it gets worked out for you.

Thanks for all of your support and ideas. I am however far too much of a slacker to go through with corrective action. I'm just gonna give a buddy who has like 5 accounts the key when the amazon copy arrives. 30 bucks just ain't worth my time, and I have never been a sucker for principle.

I know this board gets some pretty high visibility from the player base and even from corporate SOE. I just wanted to (visibly) point out how obscene things still are for this specific part of SOE's scheme.

For opening up and being honest to the players about development issues... SOE been doing really well compared to their past. For customer support issues - in game and out - they are still way behind the popular MMORPG crowd.

Ironic indeed though that I now log on and sit here patching - never having had DoN checked on to download =)

Oh well - live and learn... even more ironic that you don't have to order DoN to download it since its on patcher options and not deeper in.

In more pleasant news - I'm still 70! woowoo :lol:

Maybe if/when SOE restructures they will more appropriately rename the Customer Support department to the Brick Wall/Thick Head department.

Do you still have to jump through eight thousand hoops to post on the official SOE boards? If not, maybe you should start a thread up there as well.

Do you still have to jump through eight thousand hoops to post on the official SOE boards? If not, maybe you should start a thread up there as well.

Why bother posting when it will just get the 1 star of death or totally deleted.

I talked to the store people... send an email to returns@soe.sony.com and request a refund as you clicked the pre-order/order button incorrectly - include the station name...

Hope this helps :)

Thanks Nanyea - I will give that a shot.

This happened to me for OoW. I never ordered it but it showed that I did. I will admit it is possible I clicked to YES to order it because they spam you with it every time you log in. That is wrong right there, you should not be asked so many times if you want to order. And it looks a lot like the EULA agreement box we are so used to clicking on so quickly. SOE is sneaky sneaky.

Clicking Yes does not order it, you have to choose payment etc. takes a minut.

I had something similar happen to me with Omens of War.

I bought the boxed version and when I got him I accidently ordered the online version when I went to try and activate it. It took 2 phone calls to their billing department but I really didn't have any trouble removing the charge for the online order. I had to give them the CD codes and all that but it worked out for me in the end with a minimum of trouble.

So that would be my suggestion. Call their billing department.