Careless Banking?

[Shyrtandros]

While checking my debit account yesterday to see if my Tax Return has been deposited I noticed a charge from NCSOFT (City of Heroes and/or Aion)for 16.21.. I was puzzled by this because my NCSoft accounts have been deactivated. As expected my next step was I logged into my NCSOFT account and confirmed that I was correct and I have no recurring accounts. My next course of action was to dial up NCSOFT billing support and I was lucky enough to get 1 of the better customer service reps I've worked with in my life.

He agreed that my accounts where deactivated and I wasn't receiving charges from my accounts.. what he did find was that my Ex's AION account was recurring 16.21 EVERY month for the past TWO YEARS. (Yeah I missed the memo REALLY REALLY badly for 2 yrs.. I'm a tard)

I did explain to him that we cancelled these accounts and he said "Well yes sir they where cancelled however her account was reactivated the same day from a 3month plan to a month to month and wasn't changed since."

He did confirm that the accounts haven't been logged into or touched in over two years and said he could refund me 6 months maximum (25%) worth of unused game time charges.

Optimistic View: I'm getting roughly $100 back, the accounts now cancelled, payment informations been wiped from the account.

Negative (Realist? lol) View: I've got hammered for 2 years of game time that was confirmed as unused and proof of "intent" to cancel the subscription and somehow it was changed to a M2M.

So.. do I say "C'est la vie" and take it as a lesson in paying more attention to my banking and eat the charges (I never knew about) or press for a larger refund for unused game time.

If a standard billing rep can easily refund 6 charges if I pressed it maybe I can get more (or all?) from someone a little higher in the food chain?

[Nikachelle]

Your own negligence is no reason to retract money from a company. I understand your frustration, since you were in fact paying for her gaming pleasure despite being broken up, but the fact that you failed to notice this for two years is a bit ridiculous.

Just because it was confirmed unused doesn't mean anything. It was reactivated (I guess by her?) and despite her not using it, she still had the ability to play if she chose to. If anything, you should go after your ex for the money. It doesn't sound like the company did anything wrong and they already agreed to give you 6 months of subscriptions back in cash.

[Candiru]

I suppose it depends if she reactivated the account, or the company did by mistake to get more money out of you. Either way its one of the two parties fault and not yours imho.

[Nikachelle]

It might be fundamentally their fault for re-instating it (either of the other parties) but it is also ABSOLUTELY his fault for letting it continue past even a single month.

[Amirya]

I'm with Nika on this - the company was billing for a service provided - in this case, access to AION. You should be checking your account monthly to make sure there's no suspect or incorrect charges. Failure to do so isn't the service provider's fault, and they shouldn't be penalized for something they are not responsible for.

[Aergis]

Shit, Aion has been out for over two years? That makes me feel old.

[Fivelives]

I'm with Nika on this - the company was billing for a service provided - in this case, access to AION. You should be checking your account monthly to make sure there's no suspect or incorrect charges. Failure to do so isn't the service provider's fault, and they shouldn't be penalized for something they are not responsible for.

I had a similar problem with AOL, and was charged for a year's worth of service that I wasn't using. In my case, it was bundled with an old Gateway laptop that I bought (back in 2000) and it should've been free in the first place.

However, even though I was charged for a year's worth of service that was supposed to be free, I couldn't fight it either - because I didn't notice the charges on my bank statements. Count yourself lucky that NCSoft is willing to give you the refund, because they definitely don't have any obligations to do so.

[Jabari]

Wait ...

Do people seriously not check their banking accounts/statements at least once a month?

I think I take a quick glance every weekend to look for any "weirdness", then go over every monthly statement matching up the charges with all my receipts to make sure everything's correct.

(Yes, every receipt goes into a box when I get home, then checked on at statement-time, and only thrown away after verification. I've caught both double-charges and missed refunds this way.)

[Brekkie]

Shit, Aion has been out for over two years? That makes me feel old.

WoW-killer, AMIRITE?

[Levantine]

I liked the part where people actually thought that a Korean grind MMO would actually be a challenge to WoW in a western market. Olololololol. Don't get me wrong, I did like the game (couldn't play it because NCSoft fucked up their handling of oceanic markets to the point where we couldn't even log on without a tunnel), but olololololol.

[rodos]

Speaking of careless banking, last week I forgot what toon I was on and acidentally deposited a bunch of enchanting mats into the guild bank of my old guild that my alts are still in, rather than my private gbank.

Oh well, I consider it a small donation in return for leeching off their Bountiful Bags perk when I blow up hundreds of JC pieces from the ore shuffle.

[Barathorn]

Interesting case this. I can only tell you what you are entitled to if you are UK based however.

The 1st question is whether the account was a joint account or in your ex's name in anyway.

If the account was a joint account then take the money offered and run because they don't have to give you anything.

If the account is solely in your name, in this case irrespective of the amount of time passed [I think its up to 5 years for the Ombudsman UK to get involved] then you are legally allowed a complete refund because the seller is not permitted to open a contract or extract monies from your account without your direct permission.

In this case your permission was not given.

Hope that helps. Check your statements next time though.

Bara.

[Winkle]

Wait ...

Do people seriously not check their banking accounts/statements at least once a month?

I think I take a quick glance every weekend to look for any "weirdness", then go over every monthly statement matching up the charges with all my receipts to make sure everything's correct.

(Yes, every receipt goes into a box when I get home, then checked on at statement-time, and only thrown away after verification. I've caught both double-charges and missed refunds this way.)

That's the opposite of me, i barely check once a month....and receipts...forget about it.

[Skye1013]

I log into my online banking at least once a month... that doesn't necessarily mean I pay attention to all of the charges.

[Jabari]

I log into my online banking at least once a month... that doesn't necessarily mean I pay attention to all of the charges.

Which I think is ok, as long as you're looking closely enough at it to make sure there isn't anything weird there (i.e., you'd catch what started this thread in the first place).

Wife is an accountant, so I get to go through every single receipt. I can understand not wanting to do that, though it really doesn't take all THAT long. It's more of a pain to remember to put all the receipts in the box - I always seem to end up with a couple stragglers in my car or wherever. *laugh*