Hi,

I have had an unbelievable frustrating experience with SWTOR Customer Service where so many things are either confusing, not working as intended, or just downright perplexing and I have not received the answers I am looking for.

My prime concern was registration through Steam never appeared on my SWTOR account as an option to stop the recurring charges, and given that, I have not been able to find out where recurring charges will apply for over two weeks now or more. This is extremely stressful when all I am trying to do is enjoy a new game.

The response I got varied as follows:

First, to contact Steam directly. Upon doing that, Steam offers no support whatsoever for Old Republic and redirects to EA website. Then on EA, there isn't adequate support/info on a subscription through Steam. Raised another ticket with CS in-game only to be informed of the same process and/or check the main SWTOR website, as if their guess is as good as mine which is not right for a CS response. SWTOR website has no info on it whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, recurring charges can be billed indefinitely with no recourse for me.

There's also the other issues like simple gameplay questions (about GSF for example and the controls) which are responded to me by CS in the form of "check the forum because if we tell you the proper control it would be a spoiler." ***????? I am asking for clarity on a basic control/function and it is being referred to as a spoiler.

Look, good job on you guys for making an extremely enjoyable game for people. But when really poor CS creeps in and spoils the entire experience (especially those of us who can't afford more than one subscription and are worried about recurring charges) then it becomes a pain more than anything.

I'd like to raise a complaint on where to take this and have SWTOR really look into it as it's not fair, and I feel as though I've wasted most of my playing time being stressed over issues like these which should be steamlined and clear.

It seems this Steam thing is a new thing; if you guys haven't fully figured it out, then please don't let the customers bear the grunt of it. (And suffer immensely)

Thanks.

I have one question on the subscription: Did you subscribe through Steam or through the SWTOR website? As far as I know, Steam doesn't offer *recurring* subscription options for SWTOR - you have to renew the subscription yourself.

If you have a recurring subscription (the 30, 90 or 180 day options from the SWTOR website), then you can cancel the recurring part in the My SWTOR page on the website. Select "Subscription" in the left-hand side and scroll way far down, all the way to the bottom.

However, the email you receive from *SWTOR* when you buy a fixed-duration manual-renew subscription (time cards, the 60-day option on the website, or a Steam version of any length) will still talk about your subscription as if it's a automatic-renewal subscription. Before you say it, yes, that is stupid.

Yes I subscribed through Steam so hopefully my problem is solved then. Let's wait for an official response though.

I appreciate the reply and sorry for a lengthy post earlier; I mean after a couple weeks it just got way too frustrating to continue bearing.

To any official SWTOR CS: please clarify how to raise a complaint for future issues.

Yes I subscribed through Steam so hopefully my problem is solved then. Let's wait for an official response though.

 

I appreciate the reply and sorry for a lengthy post earlier; I mean after a couple weeks it just got way too frustrating to continue bearing.

 

To any official SWTOR CS: please clarify how to raise a complaint for future issues.

You will not find any official CS presence on the forums, just 1 or 2 "community managers" who generally post the patch notes, notices of unscheduled downtime, and so on, and occasionally dip into some of the more active conversations regarding issues that catch light on the General Discussion forum. Outside of that, the entire forum is user-driven.

For billing issues, the only option pre-COVID was a call to EA's tech support line so that they could go through a live Q and A to verify the subscriber's identity, but that service was temporarily withdrawn earlier this year, and I am not sure if it is back up yet. However, the numbers here are, as far as I know, still the valid ones to call, if they work:

USA: 1 (855) 345-2186 (Support available from 14.00 UTC - 23.00 UTC)

UK: +44 (0) 208 1969 890 (Support available from 14.00 UTC - 23.00 UTC)

France: +33 (0) 4 81 68 10 51 (Support available from 09.00 UTC - 18.00 UTC)

Germany: + 49 (0) 221 8282 9212 (Support available from 09.00 UTC - 18.00 UTC)

As SteveTheCynic mentioned, Steam typically does not do recurring subscriptions. However, SWToR seems to be an exception to that, as per the SWToR Subscriptions page on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1333220/STAR_WARS_The_Old_Republic___Subscriptions/

They list the option to buy a one-at-a-time 60 day time card for the game, or 30/60/90/180 day subscriptions.

As my SWToR recurring sub is managed through the swtor.com site, with no Steam involvement, I cannot speak from experience about exactly how that would work. However, my guess is that it will be a recurring charge to the card linked to your Steam account, which will show up at some point a few minutes/hours/days later on your account.

The fact that you can post here indicates that your subscription is working as intended, so if there is nothing in your Steam purchase history linked to the subscription purchase with a "stop this recurring charge" option, then it may actually be that Steam just handles the initial transaction and passes the details to EA. EA then creates the actual recurring sub in the same way the rest of us pay.

In that case, if you login to your SWToR user account at

https://account.swtor.com/user/login?destination=user%2Faccount

then go to the "Subscription" item in the left menu, scroll past the same purchase options that Steam shows (60 day time card, 30/60/90/180 day recurring subs) to the bottom of the page, you would see your next billing date, information to help you ID which card will be billed, and a link for entry of physically supplied game time codes. A bit further down still is an option to cancel your subscription.

It would in my opinion make more sense for the subscriptino to be handled this way - Steam doesn't do recurring subs, and the hassle is then passed off to EA who do run that kind of scheme. But just because it makes sense to me doesn't mean that is the way it works.

Sorry,... but i have to chime in here...

There's also the other issues like simple gameplay questions (about GSF for example and the controls) which are responded to me by CS in the form of "check the forum because if we tell you the proper control it would be a spoiler." ***????? I am asking for clarity on a basic control/function and it is being referred to as a spoiler.

.

this right here sums up the problem of SWTOR.

There are just a handful of old nightmare level players left in the game and absolutley no new blood is seen on the horizon, because of how easy the game was made. And this is the reason why the game gets easier and easier every year.

Because people are more likley to contact customer support, and demand to get told how the game works, instead of doing something on one's own initiative. Reading the tutorial, looking up guides.

They flood the customer support with some real ******** level requests. And BW collapses under the pressure and...

What an attitude...contact CS to learn

basic control/function

.

Is this real?

You will not find any official CS presence on the forums, just 1 or 2 "community managers" who generally post the patch notes, notices of unscheduled downtime, and so on, and occasionally dip into some of the more active conversations regarding issues that catch light on the General Discussion forum. Outside of that, the entire forum is user-driven.

For billing issues, the only option pre-COVID was a call to EA's tech support line so that they could go through a live Q and A to verify the subscriber's identity, but that service was temporarily withdrawn earlier this year, and I am not sure if it is back up yet. However, the numbers here are, as far as I know, still the valid ones to call, if they work:

USA: 1 (855) 345-2186 (Support available from 14.00 UTC - 23.00 UTC)

UK: +44 (0) 208 1969 890 (Support available from 14.00 UTC - 23.00 UTC)

France: +33 (0) 4 81 68 10 51 (Support available from 09.00 UTC - 18.00 UTC)

Germany: + 49 (0) 221 8282 9212 (Support available from 09.00 UTC - 18.00 UTC)

 

As SteveTheCynic mentioned, Steam typically does not do recurring subscriptions. However, SWToR seems to be an exception to that, as per the SWToR Subscriptions page on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1333220/STAR_WARS_The_Old_Republic___Subscriptions/

 

They list the option to buy a one-at-a-time 60 day time card for the game, or 30/60/90/180 day subscriptions.

As my SWToR recurring sub is managed through the swtor.com site, with no Steam involvement, I cannot speak from experience about exactly how that would work. However, my guess is that it will be a recurring charge to the card linked to your Steam account, which will show up at some point a few minutes/hours/days later on your account.

 

The fact that you can post here indicates that your subscription is working as intended, so if there is nothing in your Steam purchase history linked to the subscription purchase with a "stop this recurring charge" option, then it may actually be that Steam just handles the initial transaction and passes the details to EA. EA then creates the actual recurring sub in the same way the rest of us pay.

In that case, if you login to your SWToR user account at

https://account.swtor.com/user/login?destination=user%2Faccount

then go to the "Subscription" item in the left menu, scroll past the same purchase options that Steam shows (60 day time card, 30/60/90/180 day recurring subs) to the bottom of the page, you would see your next billing date, information to help you ID which card will be billed, and a link for entry of physically supplied game time codes. A bit further down still is an option to cancel your subscription.

 

It would in my opinion make more sense for the subscriptino to be handled this way - Steam doesn't do recurring subs, and the hassle is then passed off to EA who do run that kind of scheme. But just because it makes sense to me doesn't mean that is the way it works.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your detailed response. You are awesome. Thanks

Sorry,... but i have to chime in here...

 

 

 

this right here sums up the problem of SWTOR.

 

There are just a handful of old nightmare level players left in the game and absolutley no new blood is seen on the horizon, because of how easy the game was made. And this is the reason why the game gets easier and easier every year.

 

Because people are more likley to contact customer support, and demand to get told how the game works, instead of doing something on one's own initiative. Reading the tutorial, looking up guides.

 

They flood the customer support with some real ******** level requests. And BW collapses under the pressure and...

 

What an attitude...contact CS to learn .

 

Is this real?

We do try our level best to get answers and God knows how many questions I've asked on chat/googled for the sake of learning on my own.

But when we come to a roadblock, yes it makes sense to ask CS support for those who have genuinely tried earlier to do it on their own.

So don't go posting things like that and assuming you know everything.

We do try our level best to get answers and God knows how many questions I've asked on chat/googled for the sake of learning on my own.

 

But when we come to a roadblock, yes it makes sense to ask CS support for those who have genuinely tried earlier to do it on their own.

 

So don't go posting things like that and assuming you know everything.

It's not about knowing everything, just asking your gameplay questions at the right place.

No CS in any MMO that I know of is helping with gameplay questions. They either tell you to ask other players or send you to their game's forums. They are not meant to explain how the game works and often don't actually know that themselves in the first place. Keep in mind that those people working in CS don't necessarily play the game themselves and only have a databank of standard solutions for the usual bugs and issues players really can't solve themselves, harassment, quests getting stuck, item or character recovery ect.

Otherwise the ticket system most likely would end up being flodded with request about where to find this or that, how to do that quest, tactics for bosses and so on, so it usually is excluded from what CS does. I'm not able to look it up in-game right now for checking if it's still there but I remember there being an info/warning given when opening the ticket system, that CS is not helping with 'how to play the game' issues and to come here to the forums for questions about that.

So the place to ask these questions is a guild if you have one, the general chat on your server or this forum and its serveral sub forums. I can't speak for all servers of course, but at least on TH questions made of full sentences usually are answered well enough. There might be trolls here and there but there also are enough players that answer correctly.