DDI annoyance: a solution to forced/unavoidable continuing billing

[elecgraystone]

They were doing database maintenance around 9AM Pacific - you guys probably got hit by that and they didn't have a useful error message.

LOL If only. It was on three different computers over the span of a day. Unless they have been doing maintenance for 20+ hours, something is messed up with it.

I wasn't sure if I even wanted to join, but WOTC made that choice easy. If I can't make it through the sign up without errors, I'm not expecting anything great from them in the future.

 

[noffham]

I can't even get in to try signing up. Tells me it can't find my ID/password and won't let me register again. But it will send me a new temp password when I tell it I've forgotten it. (A desperate attempt to get into the site some how).

Not encouraging at all.

 

[Graf]

It appears to work in IE. I only got the errors when using firefox.

I registered with FF, and I use the compendium as a standalone app with Iron (i.e. Google Chrome without the privacy issues).

 

[James McMurray]

I think it says a lot for the quality of Dragon and Dungeon so far that I bought a subscription. Hurdles I had to jump:

- the autorenewal. I dug all over the place to find out how to opt out of that program

- It didn't work the first several times I tried it, giving highly descriptive error messages like "ERROR_SYSTEMINTERNAL"

- When I tried to sign in I couldn't remember my password because their website only lets you stay signed in for two weeks.

- After I got a replacement password their system for changing it again wouldn't let me.

- The customer service rep I told about my password problems explained to me the exact steps I'd just told him I'd taken and said if I'd done everything right the system would work fine. It wasn't until after I said I'd already done it right that he checked, saw there was a problem, and got it fixed. I've worked in customer service, and people are definitely stupid. But you can't start off from a position of "let me lead you along like a baby." You have to work your way there.

I'm happy that's out of the way now, and looking forward to more online issues. It's really a quality product (the webzine side anyway). It's ashame its packaged alongside the crap of the rest of DDI, and given to you in a framework that was apparently coded by monkeys.

 

[On Puget Sound]

When I went to cancel auto-renew, I basically had to fill out a customer service ticket (they had a drop down menu which included "stop auto-renew" as a choice, so that part wasn't hard). I then got an automated response that my ticket had been received, and then the next day got another response that my issue had been excalated to a supervisor, and that someone would get back to me. Two days after that now, and still no confirmation that my auto-pay has been canceled.

1. Why is auto-renew REQUIRED in order to make a purchase?

2. If it is required, why does opting back out of it require human intervention, rather than a click on a button marked "cancel auto renew"?

3. If human intervention is required, is it really something the basic custserv techs can't handle, that requires senior-level help?

(I'm also sending this post to WOTC; I'll let you know if I hear back).

 

[tomBitonti]

I say handled poorly because the things people were promised haven't been forthcoming, and having my credit card info openly floating around the 'net isn't something that makes me feel safe and secured. Would you consider a business to be handling things poorly if they left your personal documents where someone might take them, without taking all the necessary precautions?

My understanding is that taking all reasonable steps to secure confidential information is mandated by engineering standards, if not by law. "reasonable" is according to the state of practice in the domain, and "confidential" includes stuff like financial information, identity information, and medical data.

 

[Fast Learner]

2. If it is required, why does opting back out of it require human intervention, rather than a click on a button marked "cancel auto renew"?

Not sure why you had to do that. Did you follow the link on the first page? You just delete your credit card from their system, and poof, no auto-renew. Worked like a charm for me.

 

[RigaMortus2]

So that without warning, they can keep renewing your subscription every year, while making it a hassle to unsubscribe. Pretty old and unfortunately common ploy.

I actually prefer this. If I had to remember to re-subscribe on my own, I'd keep forgetting. Also, if they sent emails monthly to "remind" me to go re-subscribe, I would find that highly annoying. If I don't want the service any more, I just go in and cancel it once, rather than going in on a monthly basis and re-subscribing. Anyway, thats just my preferance.

However, if what people say is true, that there is currently no way to cancel or they are making it hard to figure out how to cancel, that is a BAD THING(TM)!

 

[Crashy75]

Well, I'm glad I didn't subscribe!

 

[James McMurray]

I actually prefer this. If I had to remember to re-subscribe on my own, I'd keep forgetting. Also, if they sent emails monthly to "remind" me to go re-subscribe, I would find that highly annoying. If I don't want the service any more, I just go in and cancel it once, rather than going in on a monthly basis and re-subscribing. Anyway, thats just my preferance.

This is best done by putting a checkbox on the order page that says "do you want autorenewal?" It's impossible to tell how much, but I guarantee that their enforced optin for autorenewal has cost them business. that's just not how reputable internet companies work these days.