18 Comments

  1. You have no recourse in the US aside from making a public stink (which you’ve done quiet well thus far) as they are not in violation of any regulations, however if you live in Europe you can probably cause them a world of grief because EU privacy laws are pretty sticky for companies attempting to retain customer data for any length of time. Good luck.

  2. I posted a link to your article and asked the question about CC information, this is what I got from Yeti (customer service)

    This has been stated in the past and is correct. If you remove the credit card from your account, it does permanently deactivate the account. You can change it to a credit card, but manually removing the card from the account will deactivate the account.

    If this is an issue, we do recommend looking in to the use of Pre-Paid credit cards. Not only does this help protect you from any security risks on your computer while passing information over the internet, but it also allows you to easily restrict your subscription time. >

  3. I avoid or minimize the risks by doing the following:

    Using a prepaid game card or a CC that I use only for internet purchases. The cc has a very small limit ($500) and it’s through a credit union that provides excellent customer care.

  4. Using a pre-paid game card isn’t really a solution unless you do it from the beginning (otherwise later when you try to remove your CC info and use a prepaid card your account will be deactivated). However, most people won’t realize that it’s an issue until after they try to remove their info. Way to not serve your customers, Turbine.

  5. That’s a misleading title. They are just giving you a choice based on what they think works best on controlling proliferation of characters.

    I think the biggest problem I have with this blog is that you think you own the game after you purchase it.

    This isn’t a stand alone product. You have to rent space on their servers and in most rental situations you don’t own anything. Sure you own the box and the software that comes with it but you don’t own your character which exists on their server. If you could transfer all of your character informaton like completed quests, etc to your computer then I would agree with you that you own it. In this case you don’t.

  6. Ask your CC company to issue you a new card and number (they change the last four digits). While it doesn’t resolve the privacy issue, it prevents fraudulent charges.

    Then if/when you want to play again, update with the new number.

  7. I’m of the opinion that we do more than cause a stink. Maybe it’s time for the first ever video game BOYCOTT! If they can’t serve us the way we pay to be served, then we should cut their pay. They will either respond in our favor or find new jobs! It’s about time these companies that hide behind firewalls come to pay for the outrageous business decisions that they make. Maybe if you get a small list of users who threaten cancel their accounts at a prescribed time if Turbine does not oblige, then you can get the ball rolling on the MMORPG revolution, finally proving that the customer is always right! You don’t have to completely disrupt their service, simply enough to let them know that your voice matters. I think 50 accounts would do wonders.

  8. Also, mutantmagnet how is the title misleading? If a company refuses to allow a person to delete their billing information what does one call it? If we do own our privacy, why do they believe that they own the right to share in that ownership?

  9. WillE, they are allowing him to remove his CC info. The problem is that if they remove it they guarantee to delete all of his character information and not allow his version of the game to work.

    Deleting his character is their call to make but to threaten to prevent the versioin of the game he paid for to not work is extortion. Turbine should be slapped with a lawsuit just for that but Turbine didn’t say they own the CC info according to this article.

  10. Could this policy have something to do with the lifetime subscriptions? This is the first MMO, to my knowledge, to have a lifetime sub, and it sounds like the first to not allow CC information removal. Are these two things related?

  11. I have 2 Turbine accounts. One for DDO and other from LOTR. I cant even delete my info,or change it on either account. I beta tested LOTR have had it for 3 years havent played in a year. Its rediculous. Then to boot I notice on my bill Im actually paying SOE! Sony! Ugh. They make sure its real easy to upgrade but try and find out how to cancel. You call them then you start getting telemarketers you never heard from till after talking to them. Greedy @#$4 thats why I quit everquest Sony just pumped the expansions out,for 30 bucks a whack. If Sony has thier hands in it its doomed

  12. If they make it complicated enough to unsubscribe most say oh Ill get around to it next month… like i did a year ago. Then threaten to kill your account so you will keep paying for something you dont play. Actually there arent near as many people playing either game as are paying for them. Its really a cheap shot,its dishonest I will spread the word. Turbine will never get my money again or for that matter Blizzard,WOW is now owned by SONY too. They are monopolizing the industry like microsoft did! Ok Im on a rant, lol sorry When are they gonna have ENOUGH money??? Is there enough? lol

  13. They actually just billed me after not playing for over a year!! Some how my subscription just started back up and I didn’t have to put a code in or anything for my card. At this point I don’t care if they delete all my characters as long as they can’t just bill me $15 out of the blue!!! That should be criminal. Said something about “Pre-Ordering” or something. It’s BS!

  14. Edit to my post on July 31st.. SOE charge on my statement was actually for Free Realms that I had cancelled 6 months prior… Thats another story..

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