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."

Comments

late fees?

[Lehk228]

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.

From TFA:

[Myji Humoz]

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."

Re:From TFA:

[Morlark]

Yeah, I was going to say something similar, but you've pretty much nailed it. FFXI may have some dumb policies, but they're up-front about it. Some of the complaints this lawsuit makes are just plain stupid though. What a waste of the court system's time.

Re:From TFA:

[mabhatter654]

That's the first I've heard of such credit-card like terms.

Blizzard is very cool with the subscriptions. I used to buy the cards for the longest time and they counted exactly 30 days every time. When you enter a new key card you get the whole 30 more days from whatever day you enter it....

I've had to turn off the subscription fees (and not play the game) a few times as well, and they just stop it and start it when you pay... they don't do stupid crap like late fees or interest on a pay-per-time account.

These people deserve to be sued. You don't have a contract to keep paying on a timed account. If you don't pay you "quit" by default.. what a way to keep customers.

Re:From TFA:

[mabhatter654]

it's not reasonable for the industry. When you sign up for any other MMORG it's pretty much pay-as-you-go... if you stop paying them , you stop going. Nice and simple. They're adding late fees and paying for the time you missed (if they disconnect you for a month you STILL pay for it!) in order to KEEP playing your account and not have your account deleted.. that's not something anybody signing up for an MMORG would expect.

I paid for Wow with cards for a long time and had 3 month gaps because I had other things to do with my money that month and they never charged a "fee" to turn the game back on, or to pay for the months I didn't play. I paid money and played my days... if they want me back they'll keep the tiny amount of space my character takes online to be ready for my bucks when I pay.

Re:From TFA:

[binkzz]

To be honest, Your debunks 1 & 2 don't hold any merit for me.

Just because others do it didn't get me any slack in kindergarten, I don't see why it should for companies.

3 & 4 sound horrible, but not particularly illegal. They would convince me not to play the game, even though I pretty much always pay on time.

5 is outrageous I think.

6. Sounds reasonable

7. I don't know what the the restrictions and conditions are. That it's their game, doesn't mean they can legally put in any condition or restriction they would like.

8. Is more interesting in my opinion, because I don't believe the character should (legally) be or remain property of the MMOG.

Re:From TFA:

[mabhatter654]

but it's the idea of paying "late" fees and interest fees for "missing" payments after they stop you from paying that will draw the courts ire.

Say you stop playing and max out the card so the account doesn't clear. In most games like WoW, they run the card a few days early and if it doesn't clear before your time runs out you're cut off until you fix the payment info. After all, you don't sign a lease or contract for a full year of subscription payments (most MMORGs are always Pre-paid, you pay up FIRST then play).. most MMORGs are "pay as you go" with no strings beyond you continuing to put the money in.

Late fees and interest only apply to thing you sign some kind of official contract, like to Gyms or the Columbia Record Club and they continue to provide services when you are "late". You can't put those kinds of things in a pre-paid month-to-month EULA "click-thru" agreement. The company is offering month-to-month pre-paid play... there's no expectation given they'll do something after you stop playing, so they should get their money up front like everybody else.

The question in court is how the "contract" was presented... I'd venture it was presented like any other pre-paid MMORG account until they started deducting extra fees from players beyond the monthly fees and pointed to the fine print. That's something nobody else running MMORGs does, why would people expect to look for it if it's not on the "front page" before you click OK to sign up? Seems like pretty important non-standard terms somebody should know about, hum? Courts aren't friendly to "contracts" that take a $15 per month pre-payment from a million people then start tacking on 100%+ fees in the "fine print" and taking it electronically without prior notice... it's about who has the upper hand and the company controls the account, the user access and the payment application... just because you "clicked OK".

Re:From TFA:

[evilkasper]

Wasn't really in fine print, found it pretty easy. http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/rule/index.html Check the Member agreement article 5a and 5c discusses fees in addition to subscription fee if you miss a payment. I'm not a lawyer, but its in the contract and if you give them access to your account/ credit card then you've agreed to their terms. If you can't be bothered to read the terms of use and user agreement then I have no sympathy, it was very easy to find once I decided to look for it. If you don't like it play any other of the 100's of MMO's that bill normally.

Some insight.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Some insight.

[Nazlfrag]

Your cheque is waiting at the returns counter where you purchased the game. Also, the boxed game comes with the first month of gameplay free, so you could have played it for a little while at least. If you've never registered the game online you can ebay it. This class action lawsuit is a farce.

Re:Some insight.

[TriezGamer]

Bullshit. They will delete your characters for inactivity (happened to me 3 times), but they leave your PlayOnline ID intact, and that's what the game is registered to. While you might have to start over, you are not required to buy a new copy of the game as long as you remember your POL ID and password.

I know this from personal experience, having bounced back and forth between FFXI and several other games ever since FFXI's launch, and having been inactive for over a year in a stretch. If you were required to buy a new copy of the game, it's because you were perma-banned for a TOS violation.

I would say they have more of a case with FFIV+

[nebaz]

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.

Oh people...

[girlintraining]

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???

Horrible billing

[Squarewav]

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