Slashdot Mirror
Square Enix Facing Class Action Suit Over FFXI "Hidden Fees"
A class action lawsuit has been initiated against Square Enix over the fees they charge for subscription-based MMO Final Fantasy XI. The court filing alleges "deceptive advertising, unfair practices, and fraudulent concealment" of information about the game's pricing model, essentially saying Square Enix doesn't clearly advertise that there is a monthly fee, and that failure to pay can result in late fees and account termination. The plaintiff is seeking a settlement in excess of $5,000,000 and including "all persons who purchased or played the online games four years prior to the filing of this lawsuit."
monthy charges make sense but late fees!? it's an MMO not a utility so it's not like they can't suspend your service if you don't pay.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
The complaints are:
1. Licensing of the online games software disguised as a sale
2. Monthly fees ("fees") to play online games
3. Penalties for late payment fees
4. Interest charges for late payment fees
5. Charges while the online game account is suspended
6. Termination of the right to use the online game for late payment of the fees
7. User restrictions and conditions related to the online games
8. Termination of game data for late payment of the fees
Lets see...
1) Normal for mmos
2) Normal for mmos
3) Sounds like a credit card company
4) Sounds like a credit card company
5) Sounds like a scam company
6) Hello, if you don't pay for something, are you shocked that they cut it off?
7) Their game, their rules
8) Their game, their rules
All in all, this set of complaints seems to boil down to: "your billing department is confusing."
Signatures are the new names.
I've played this game since NA release and I've always known there is a monthly fee. I've never felt that it was hidden from me either.
It's clearly stated that if your account is inactive for 3 months, your character is deleted. This is a stupid argument... It clearly states
when signing up for the initial content ID that it costs $12.95 per month and you have to agree TWICE to purchase it. Every single content
ID after that you have to AGREE and then CONFIRM that you will be billed an extra $1 per month. This person's pissed because he didn't
want to pay for a game he was playing and then got penalized for basically stealing from the company providing the services.
I am not willing to pay for a game that I must pay in perpituity to play. I will pay for a game ONCE. Only Once.
MMOs are scams in this respect. You don't have a single player mode. You can't NOT play the game on line. (I would have Bought WoW had there been a way to either:
1. Play a single player RPG not on line.
2. Play on Servers that are not owned by Blizzard on independant networks/LAN.
They just released a Wii Channel game called Final Fantasy IV The After Years. It is 800 Wii Points, but what they don't tell you is that that is for "part 1". Parts 2-X (however many) are additionally 300 points and 800 for the final piece. They don't tell you that up front. Anyone who knows anything about FF knows XI is an online, MMO. That's why it is the one I avoided.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
You bought it before you went to the save point. Now you'll have to lose several days of your life to restore from an earlier copy. You've played these games enough -- you should know better than to buy something new from the store where the stats aren't on the screen before saving. Jeez, hasn't gaming taught you anything???
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I played FFXI for 3 years on and off. The lawsuit is probably about the horrible way they do billing if you cancel and resubscribe.
Billing (at least for me) was always on the first of the month.
If you canceled on the 20th of January, and decide to resubscribe the 23rd of March you wouldn't actually be billed until the 1st of April at which point they charge you for a full month of March and for the month of April despite only using it for 8 days of March.
In other words they don't prorate. It's a really archaic way of handling a MMO subscription. I'm not sure if this is listed in the ToS if it's not then there might be grounds for a lawsuit. $5M is still way to excessive for what should be in small claims court for $30
All I have to say is just be glad your game was not shut down. Be glad you have lived out other games. Yet I am sorry for those that suffer.
The lawsuit is dumb. I am sure the lawyers of square enix where smart enough to put all that crap into their terms and conditions.
They are basically maintaining a traditional subscription model, while most other MMO's now a days use a pre-pay subscription model.
Which perhaps i
Now I am sure those people that filed the claim don't agree with that, but if they had read the terms/eula/whatever they could have found out. Instead of of course ripping the plastic off the box the second they came home, feverishly clicked 'next' in the installer to get playing.
Not condemning that practice, heck I do that myself, but don't start complaining at the end that the terms of payment are different then you hoped.
This may also be an aspect of the really odd way in which the billing system is set up, in which it is actively confusing as to how you cancel your subscription. Some people have made the mistake, in the past, of thinking that by canceling their character IDs, they cancel billing (under the reasoning that if you're being charged for individual characters already). In reality, billing is halted by canceling payments associated with the player's ID of the game itself.
This is further compounded by the fact that, as far as I know, the only way to modify your account at all is through the client itself.
Don't be silly. Did you REALLY think you were going to get a complete installation of a AAA franchise game for $8?
Super Famicom games such as Final Fantasy IV and Super NES games such as Final Fantasy II (U) ordinarily cost $8 on Wii Shop Channel.
you losers, playing your endless online games. Go get a life.
I've played FFXI for about 5 years and am currently involved in a conflict with S-E. It relates to the following point: 5. Charges while the online game account is suspended This is relevant for those people whose account got hacked as well. My character got hacked, it did some things that S-E charges money for (a so-called world transfer, $25) and I got it returned after about a month. But to this date however, S-E has never refunded me the charges that weren't made by me, even though they said they would "after an internal investigation". Well, this "internal investigation" has gone on for *three months* now. There's a helpdesk I can call but they all say I'll get my refund "after the investigation has completed". I think this investigation thing is bullshit and that S-E basically has no mechanism in place to refund customers because that would cost *them* money after all. After having been a customer for 5 years (they made about $600 off me in playing fees alone), this feels like a kick in the nuts. F*ck S-E, I'll never do business with them again.
square enix is a tokyo-based company , correct?