First of all, let me say that this is obviously only my opinion, so if I generalize anything please pardon me.

Before getting to the criticism itself, I'd like to praise the CS team for their speed and cordiality. Also, I know that many people had positive outcomes when dealing with the CS, but that's not my case. Aside from that, what bothered me the most is not the fact that I didn't receive any help, but that people in the same situation as me did.

Let me locate you around my problem first: I quit the game and forgot to get important things from my mail (legacy items that I used to swap between faction mirrors), so it all got deleted. It IS MY FAULT, I know that and accept it. I accepted it even when they said that "the system was working as intended and there was nothing they could do". It is fine.

It was fine, that is, until recently I saw a reddit post (not sure if I should link it here because I don't want to prejudice the person that was helped) from a customer praising the CS for returning his mail items that got deleted when he quit the game. In that same page (redditors will probably remember it) there were a few people that agreed with the OP saying they also had the same problem and were helped, while several people (me included) had their request denied.

I was polite and explained everything in my ticket (item per item), while the reddit's OP didn't even know in which toon his items were or how many items there were (he reported that the CSR spent more than a hour online helping him find everything). They didn't ask me "what was missing" or "where was it", they simply said they couldn't return any deleted mail items.

So here is my criticism: the lack of a pattern/uniformity in the way CS deals with the customers can lead to gigantic injustices. I felt really isolated/less important than others. I really felt like they didn't give a crap about me or my problem.

I know a couple friends that had completely different answers for the same problem from different CSR. There was one that had his request denied via phone, called again 5 minutes later and someone else solved the problem for him. This kind of situation only leads to ticket spams/CS overload.

That said, please understand that I am not creating this topic to ask my items back or to complain about it, but rather to highlight that it is absolutely unfair to be abandoned to the good will of the CSR based on how his day has been or what's his mood at the moment.

With that in mind, I decided to write this topic in hope that it could get on the hands of the CS team so other customers don't suffer from the same issue, although I do suspect that I'll just be ignored. Sorry about the long text.

TL.DR. there are people in the same situation that were helped by CS while others weren't.

While I agree that there should be uniformity in how CS addresses issues, perhaps the players who were helped were more clear in what they needed than you were? Maybe they asked nicer? I don't know what you wrote vs what they did, nor do I know what kind of a history you have with this game...so it's hard to comment other than "yeah, they should have a consistent policy".

Thanks for replying tux. I was VERY polite and explained everything (item per item), while the reddit's OP didn't even know in which toon his items were or how many items there were (he reported that the CSR spent more than a hour online helping him finding everything). Thing is they didn't ask me "what was missing" or "where was it", they simply said they couldn't return any deleted mail items.

Any idea if there was a drastic difference in the time of subscription lapse? Have any server merges occurred during your time away from the game?

We both quit on a similar timing to go to "greener pastures" (that turned out not so green...), so iirc there wasn't more than a month of difference between us. TBH they didn't say they couldn't get my items back because X time had passed, they just said they couldn't give deleted mail items back at all.

We both quit on a similar timing to go to "greener pastures" (that turned out not so green...), so iirc there weren't more than a month of difference between us. TBH they didn't say they couldn't get my items back because X time had passed, they just said they couldn't give deleted mail items back at all.

Maybe try calling one more time and seeing if maybe you just caught a particular CS rep on an off-day?

Maybe try calling one more time and seeing if maybe you just caught a particular CS rep on an off-day?

Is there a limit for tickets or something like that? I'm afraid to be punished to be honest because I already sent 3 tickets about it (2 before I saw the reddit post and one after).

Is there a limit for tickets or something like that? I'm afraid to be punished to be honest because I already sent 3 tickets about it (2 before I saw the reddit post and one after).

I don't think there is; if such a limit exists I am unaware of it at least.

it is absolutely unfair to be abandoned to the good will of the CSR based on how his day has been or what's his mood at the moment.

Yeah, that really is unacceptable.

Once or twice, I've submitted a ticked that I thought was a long shot...I didn't really expect it could be fulfilled, but I figured I might as well ask. So, when they said they couldn't do anything about it, I wasn't really disappointed.

But hearing stuff like that, I have to wonder...maybe they could have done something, maybe they have done something for other people with the same issue, but they just didn't feel like it this time.

@ the OP:

I absolutely agree that uniformity is needed in dealing with CS issues.

Last year I was called away from the game unexpectedly due to a death in the family, and like you, I also had items in my mail that were lost. (full set of PVP armor in white legacy Gree gear, fully augmented, etc. that was shared between my sniper and gunslinger) After I returned and realized that my PVP set was gone, I attempted to get help from CS, to no avail. Having spent all my commendations buying that set, I was left with no commendations and no PVP gear, which ultimately led to me leaving SWTOR. (Until strongholds were introduced, and now 12x EXP)

To this day I'm still pissed about it, and after 12x EXP is complete, I'll probably leave again because I really don't feel like grinding another set from scratch. I realize that this was an oversight on my part, but the lack of help from CS is infuriating. They sure as hell manage to keep my worthless 1st and 2nd anniversary firworks in my mail, why delete other things? Why not just move unclaimed mail items to a persons inventory after a certain period of time? Ugh.

While I understand the sentiment and I can see the frustration, it's important to think about just what you're asking for and what you're likely to get in reality.

While it's far from my normal duties, I'm occasionally called on to handle customer issues. There are a set of official limits for how much work and what sorts of work I'm supposed to do for free. However, I'm not a jerk and at the end of the day, I'd rather be working on a service that people like and use. Some requests come in when I'm busy with other things, or when I'm feeling sick, or after a parade of similar requests. They often get by-the-book treatment.

Sometimes I get requests when I'm bored or when I'm waiting for some other processing to complete, or when I'm just in a particularly good mood. Even if they're asking for more than I'm technically supposed to give, sometimes I'll help them out, just because I'm a human who actually enjoys helping people.

We have gotten comments about people who felt that some customers got better service than them. What do you think the result of the subsequent discussion was? Do you think the accountants/managers said "Okay, start giving everyone the same service you would if you were bored and in a great mood."?

If you do, you're wrong.

If you want consistent customer service, its going to standardize on the level required by the ToS, not the super-friendly level you want it to be. Also, it's a morale hit for the helpful CS reps when they get told to stop being nice and follow these rules over here to the letter.

So, yeah, CS is a bit of a lottery. Welcome to real life. If you want to push for consistent service, its going to be consistently strict. You're simply not spending enough money to expect CS reps to spend an hour fixing your problem.

While I understand the sentiment and I can see the frustration, it's important to think about just what you're asking for and what you're likely to get in reality.

 

While it's far from my normal duties, I'm occasionally called on to handle customer issues. There are a set of official limits for how much work and what sorts of work I'm supposed to do for free. However, I'm not a jerk and at the end of the day, I'd rather be working on a service that people like and use. Some requests come in when I'm busy with other things, or when I'm feeling sick, or after a parade of similar requests. They often get by-the-book treatment.

 

Sometimes I get requests when I'm bored or when I'm waiting for some other processing to complete, or when I'm just in a particularly good mood. Even if they're asking for more than I'm technically supposed to give, sometimes I'll help them out, just because I'm a human who actually enjoys helping people.

 

We have gotten comments about people who felt that some customers got better service than them. What do you think the result of the subsequent discussion was? Do you think the accountants/managers said "Okay, start giving everyone the same service you would if you were bored and in a great mood."?

 

If you do, you're wrong.

 

If you want consistent customer service, its going to standardize on the level required by the ToS, not the super-friendly level you want it to be. Also, it's a morale hit for the helpful CS reps when they get told to stop being nice and follow these rules over here to the letter.

 

So, yeah, CS is a bit of a lottery. Welcome to real life. If you want to push for consistent service, its going to be consistently strict. You're simply not spending enough money to expect CS reps to spend an hour fixing your problem.

And yet they spent a hour for someone else. It's not about real life, it's about professionalism. If it needs to be strict to be uniform, so be it, honestly. In my opinion it is a thousand times worse to give preferential treatment based on your mood, mainly when other customers discover that happened. Not only that but it is also counter productive since it leads to repetitive requests from the same people.

As an example, I'm not angry as a customer because I didn't get what I want, but because someone else got it under the same conditions. IMHO the sense of injustice is the worst. Am I just less important than the other person and should accept he got 'lucky'?

And yet they spent a hour for someone else. It's not about real life, it's about professionalism. If it needs to be strict to be uniform, so be it, honestly. In my opinion it is a thousand times worse to give preferential treatment based on your mood, mainly when other customers discover that happened. Not only that but it is also counter productive since it leads to repetitive requests from the same people.

 

As an example, I'm not angry as a customer because I didn't get what I want, but because someone else got it under the same conditions. IMHO the sense of injustice is the worst. Am I just less important than the other person and should accept he got 'lucky'?

Because the conditions aren't always the same. Your perception might lead you to believe they are, but they aren't.

Because the conditions aren't always the same. Your perception might lead you to believe they are, but they aren't.

Ah, I agree with you on that. I wondered a few times what would be different in my situation, but in this case shouldn't they give a reason instead of saying that the system is working as intended and items deleted in the mail cannot be returned? The response literally says "As this feature is intended and working correctly, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to restore anything that was lost in this way".

Because the conditions aren't always the same. Your perception might lead you to believe they are, but they aren't.

Does not matter at all...if the rule exists, it exists for everyone. We're all paying the same price. Some of us may be supporting the game even more through CC purchases (I'm one of them) but that doesn't matter. If you don't do it for one, don't do it for anyone.

Does not matter at all...if the rule exists, it exists for everyone. We're all paying the same price. Some of us may be supporting the game even more through CC purchases (I'm one of them) but that doesn't matter. If you don't do it for one, don't do it for anyone.

It's not a matter of it existing the same for everyone, because it does. There are a lot of factors beyond just having a rule stating it should be like this. Until you know the actual process involved in what is being done none of us can state one way or the other whether what happened is the same or not. As someone who deals with these types of questions on an hourly, sometimes every couple of minutes when things break, basis, I can say that even when it appears to be the same, it isn't. It also depends on the person on the other end, what is their skill level? How long have they been doing the job? How well do they know what can and can't be done? CS can just wave a magic wand and fix everything, right?

You also have to consider that policies change over time.

It's possible that those redditors who were given help with this problem caused BioWare to realize they did not have the resources available to handle the volume of requests for this type of Customer Service and enacted an internal policy that limits a CS Rep's ability to help you today in ways they were able to assist others in the past.

Just keep being polite and persistent in your requests for help and you may get your items back eventually.

That said, I seem to recall seeing something in Collections that looked like it might allow me to retrieve copies of the CE items and other promotional items that I was awarded for whatever reason at launch. I'm not sure what specific items you are trying to recover, but some of them are available in Collections today.

Does not matter at all...if the rule exists, it exists for everyone. We're all paying the same price. Some of us may be supporting the game even more through CC purchases (I'm one of them) but that doesn't matter. If you don't do it for one, don't do it for anyone.

It does matter because their records don't go back forever, at some point they aren't going to be able to confirm the items that were lost and be able to restore them. While the outcomes might not look even, it is still even treatment to help anyone they can confirm the lost items on, and not help anyone who they can't confirm lost items.

As an example, I'm not angry as a customer because I didn't get what I want, but because someone else got it under the same conditions. IMHO the sense of injustice is the worst. Am I just less important than the other person and should accept he got 'lucky'?

In my opinion, you're thinking about this the wrong way, even if its a very common way to think about it. Namely: You're thinking only of yourself (and I don't necessarily mean for that to be an insult).

You're upset that someone got treatment you didn't get, and you can't find a logical reason for that. Well, that's a pretty normal thing in life. I've had restaurants give me free desserts or free drinks for no real reason at all. I've also seen other people get free drinks and desserts when I got nothing. Was I not attractive enough? Did I not suck up to the server?

Or did the server just make a decision to be nice to someone --possibly for no reason at all.

Instead of focusing on your point of view, think of this from the CS reps point of view. The "correct" and "required" answer is that items lost via mail expiration aren't recovered. A rep doing their job would tell you exactly what you were told. But reps are humans. Some humans like being nice, but its hard/impossible to be super-nice all the time. Maybe the rep was also a pet-collector. Maybe the rep had been talking with a hot guy earlier. Maybe the rep simply had some time and a desire to make someone happy. If you've never performed a random act of kindness for a stranger, you might give it a try, if only to experience the feeling.

What you're asking is that CS reps never perform those random acts of kindness. You're asking for them to be cold, uncaring, and follow only the strict guidelines.

And you're asking for that because someone was nice to someone else and it wasn't you.

I'm really trying not to sound critical here. You're entitled to that desire. It's logical. It's reasonable. It's consistent. And its not the way I want the world to ever work.

Instead of focusing on your point of view, think of this from the CS reps point of view.

I think that's exactly backwards. The essence of customer service is trying to see things from the customer's point of view; the essence of bad customer service is, wanting the customer to see things from the CS rep's point of view. If you're in customer service, and you want people to see things from your point of view - you're simply in the wrong line of work.

You're entitled to that desire. It's logical. It's reasonable. It's consistent.

I agree with that.

I think that's exactly backwards. The essence of customer service is trying to see things from the customer's point of view; the essence of bad customer service is, wanting the customer to see things from the CS rep's point of view. If you're in customer service, and you want people to see things from your point of view - you're simply in the wrong line of work.

These two things are not mutually exclusive. Seeing something from another's point of view helps you understand the other person and their behavior. It's perfectly possible for both sides to do this. You are correct that the CS rep should be doing this in order to ensure that the customer's needs are addressed. That said, the OP stated that he doesn't understand the behavior of CS rep. In order to understand that, he needs to put himself in another's shoes.

I work closely with my company's customer service group and what Malastare is saying is 100% correct.

That said, the OP stated that he doesn't understand the behavior of CS rep.

That's not correct. The OP never said "I don't get why this happened" or "I want to know why" - and rightly so. He stuck very closely to just saying "This wasn't fair" - again, I think, rightly so.

If the two situations are different somehow, or policies have changed, or the rep just had a bad day - the onus shouldn't be on the customer to speculate over what might have happened; that's on customer service to bring forward. Just leaving the customer to think "Well, there must have been some good reason..." doesn't cut it. To be fair, maybe in this case an explanation is forthcoming...