When I heard about the cute new Cenarion Hatchling pet that Blizzard released a couple of days ago, I was one of the first ones in line to get it. Not only do 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Japanese tsunami relief effort, but it’s also a darn cute little fellow (who happens to share a model with a rare Hippogryph Hatchling from the first TCG set.)

It was a pretty mindless set of actions of my part — Head to the Blizzard Store, click on the front page promo for the new pet, enter my password and authenticator info, verify payment via usual means — and, voilà, one cute new bundle of cuteness arrives on my account details page. With one slight problem. I go to attach it to my account, and get the following message (paraphrased): Region Code must match target account.

Ick. I had bought an EU Hatchling. My account is US.

I sighed and was annoyed at myself for not realizing that by default because of my location, Blizzard had automatically rerouted my Blizzard Store request to the EU store. And, in fact, for most customers living in Germany, this is indeed what they would want. But not me. Really, I had no one to blame but myself. The fact that the pet’s cost was listed in Euros should have tipped me off, but I suppose I’ve gotten so used to converting my currency that I didn’t even think about it.

I took a moment, momentarily considered contacting Blizzard support, but instead opted to shrug it off — it’s for a good cause, so I don’t really care about donating an extra 10€. In any other situation, I probably would have demanded my money back, but this was a special case.

I went back to the Blizzard Store, changed my region, and bought the pet again, this time in US dollars. Redeemed it onto my account just fine, retrieved my new bundle of joy in-game, and went on my merry way, vowing to learn my lesson.

The next morning, as I completed my wake-up ritual of checking my e-mail, Blizzard had sent me a little surprise, from the EU store. Continue Reading