Board Thread:Frustrations and venting/@comment-11482499-20131230130842

Just sharing. No comments from me needed:

My email to Mobage
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Hi Chad/Mobage,

It has been over a day, the raid event has ended, and the blog still has not been further updated on the issue of the connection problems, failure to collect rewards from bosses, and what will be done to compensate affected players.

Rather than wait for the blog update, since it looks like it will take a while, I have taken some time to evaluate how much damages I incurred during the period of the connection outage. I would appreciate if Mobage could compensate me fairly for what I (and other players) had lost during that problematic period.

The losses I have incurred, and am asking to be reasonably compensated for, is as follows:

· 900 battle cubes

· Megatron [6] robot card

· Thrust [3] robot, alt and weapon pack

The items above is my best estimate on the losses I incurred due to the connection issues with the game on Sunday. I have estimated this as accurately as I could, based on the following factors:

· Help request not working. Due to this bug, I had to expend significantly more battle cubes to take down bosses myself. I estimate this alone cost me between 300-400 additional battle cubes spent during the several hours I played. Battle cubes cost money to replace

· Boss rewards not given.

o Because I was not awarded the rubies and gold medals I should have been, I was not able to obtain the Megatron [6] bot card from the second Teletraan 1 maze (see attached screenshot). As it stands, even without receiving the rewards I should have, I ended up being only 259 chips shy of being able to obtain him. I am sure if I had been awarded the appropriate amount of rubies and medals, I would definitely have managed to obtain the Megatron [6] bot card from Teletraan 1.

o Similarly, because I was not awarded the Chronogon medals I should have been, I ended this event just 558 Chronogon medals shy of the 4000 medals needed to obtain a Thrust [3] Robot, Alt and Weapon pack. Again, I am sure that if I had been awarded the boss rewards I had earned, I would surely be able to do so.

o Because I had not been awarded the above powerful cards during the raid (especially the Megatron [6] bot card), my deck during the event was not as powerful as it should have been had the connection outage not occurred. A more powerful deck would have to expend fewer battle cubes to obtain the same score that I did. As a result, I calculate I had to spend an additional 500 battle cubes that I would not have had to spend, had I been properly awarded the two cards above during the event.

I have laid out my reasoning above and I hope you will consider it reasonable to compensate me for the losses I have incurred as a result of Mobage's connection issues on Sunday. I am simply asking for compensation for what I actually lost, and am not seeking additional compensation for the huge frustration I experienced on Sunday even though what was supposed to be a great gaming experience was ruined.

I am happy to discuss this further with you as I am prepared to be very reasonable. However, I should caution that, because I have incurred great losses (as listed above) and experienced huge frustration over the weekend, I would probably be outraged if any compensation package sent to me falls far short of my request above, which I consider to be reasonable and based on a very thorough tracking of my own resource usage.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.

Mobage's (ridiculous) reply
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Hello there,

The connection issues you had affected all players and has since been resolved. The game team has decided not to compensate for this issue. I apologize, but please accept 25 battle cubes for the trouble.

Thank you for contacting Mobage support.

My reply to them
Hi Mobage,

This is laughably and outrageously unacceptable, even borderline criminal! I have said so in my previous email, that anything significantly less than my reasonable requests would be outrageous. The pittance of 25 battle cubes is precisely that.

Mobage has no right to "decide not to compensate for this issue". It is basically admitting fault but in the same breath refusing to pay for the consequences, leaving players to absorb their own losses themselves. This is absolutely irresponsible. That the connection issues affected all players is not a good excuse not to compensate. Clearly, Mobage does not care enough about its customers - even paying customers - to bother with the tedious work of compensation. Not compensating also conveniently enriches Mobage's coffers as many players will be paying real money to replace the resources wasted during the connection outages. This is highly exploitative and unethical.

So this is my final, non-negotiable demand. Since a fair compensation is not given, I expect a Google Play refund for the

Mobacoin I purchased specifically for this event, whose order numbers  are [xxx] and [yyy]. Note that it must be a Google Play refund, I will not accept a refund of Mobacoins as it is not cash, and Mobage does not deserve to keep the money I have paid to it. Feel free to take back the Mobacoins purchased, and the Megatron [6] I purchased with the coins - at this point it is unlikely I will ever wish to transact with Mobage again unless it improves its service significantly.

If the refund is not made in the next 48 hours, I will be disputing the charges on my credit card, since the product/services rendered for the money I paid were not as advertised. A reasonable expectation upon purchasing a virtual good is that I would have proper access and reliable use of the product, but for a significant number of hours, due to the connection issue, I was essentially deprived of the proper use of my paid product. Therefore, if adequate compensation is not made, a refund is in order. I believe this is a reasonable stand, and would probably be supported in court if it comes to that. If denied a refund, I would also not rule out writing to the Better Business Bureau about Mobage's atrocious attitude towards customers, and discussing with other players - especially paying players that contribute a significant portion of the revenue - on the possibility of a class-action since many others are also unhappy with Mobage's cavalier attitude on taking responsibility for its own mistakes.

I believe I have been reasonable and willing to engage in dialogue thus far. Yet the responses I have received are woefully inadequate. Mobage must take responsibility for its actions and mistakes.

(Separately, and this is a minor point - Mobage should have the guts to post that it's not compensating players on the TFL blog, especially since you have promised an update on this issue. If you believe it is the right decision, you should not be afraid to endure the consequences of that decision).

I look forward to a speedy response and resolution on this issue, so that I need not escalate this issue further. Thank you.

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Over 48 hours, and no response from them yet.

And so it continues... 