Locked out of account, unable to access TGEA license downloads
by Chris Harrington alt · in Site Feedback · 02/03/2009 (10:23 pm) · 3 replies
Hi,
The other day I purchased and partially downloaded the latest version of TGEA. Specifically, I created an account during the purchase process and was redirected after purchase to my logged in account with product download page, where I downloaded the 1.8 PC version.
I received no email response or auto email from the purchase or account creation.
After some time, my session timed out and when attempting to log back in, a error message was shown on the login page to the effect "Account not authorized".
I used the contact form (Company -> Contact Us) to ask for support. I received no reply, so I tried again after a couple of days and finally received a reply. The support person mentioned that they had not received the first contact so it might have been a server issue.
The support reply directed me to a button on the login page that would resend the authorization email. I replied that no such button appears to me on Mac OS X 10.5.6 Safari, Windows XP SP3 IE (latest) or Firefox (latest). I was then informed that support was unable to manually authorize and that my name had been put on a list and that this list had been forwarded to the web team, who were the only people who could manually authorize accounts. As of today(two days later) I am still waiting, more than one week since my purchase.
Please, someone immediately authorize my account which uses the following email address, spaces added to avoid spam:
(--issue solved, address removed for privacy--)
Please also contact me at the email address associated with my current alternate login account from which I am making this claim.
Please reconsider your user support policy, particularly the priority thereof, for paying customers. Irrespective of personnel changes, deadlines, concurrent technical troubles, or the specific nature of a given customer claim, payment and product delivery support issues should always be the number one priority for a commercial operation.
Thank you for your understanding.
Chris Harrington.
The other day I purchased and partially downloaded the latest version of TGEA. Specifically, I created an account during the purchase process and was redirected after purchase to my logged in account with product download page, where I downloaded the 1.8 PC version.
I received no email response or auto email from the purchase or account creation.
After some time, my session timed out and when attempting to log back in, a error message was shown on the login page to the effect "Account not authorized".
I used the contact form (Company -> Contact Us) to ask for support. I received no reply, so I tried again after a couple of days and finally received a reply. The support person mentioned that they had not received the first contact so it might have been a server issue.
The support reply directed me to a button on the login page that would resend the authorization email. I replied that no such button appears to me on Mac OS X 10.5.6 Safari, Windows XP SP3 IE (latest) or Firefox (latest). I was then informed that support was unable to manually authorize and that my name had been put on a list and that this list had been forwarded to the web team, who were the only people who could manually authorize accounts. As of today(two days later) I am still waiting, more than one week since my purchase.
Please, someone immediately authorize my account which uses the following email address, spaces added to avoid spam:
(--issue solved, address removed for privacy--)
Please also contact me at the email address associated with my current alternate login account from which I am making this claim.
Please reconsider your user support policy, particularly the priority thereof, for paying customers. Irrespective of personnel changes, deadlines, concurrent technical troubles, or the specific nature of a given customer claim, payment and product delivery support issues should always be the number one priority for a commercial operation.
Thank you for your understanding.
Chris Harrington.
#2
Obviously I would suggest, again, that you reevaluate your process for this type of scenario when you get a chance, and I would suggest that such cases be bumped up in priority and further that it may be pertinent to find a way to provide more transparency to customers so you don't have to invoke the limits of your authority as a reason for delays. That tells me nothing more than that while you care, your superiors perhaps don't (for whatever reason), which doesn't encourage me in general regarding the culture at Garage Games.
Anyway, water under the bridge. Moving forward, now it is time to learn the engine!
Thanks again.
Chris.
02/04/2009 (4:47 pm)
Thanks for the effort David, and thanks for the follow up where you noted that my account had been activated. I just verified that to be the case.Obviously I would suggest, again, that you reevaluate your process for this type of scenario when you get a chance, and I would suggest that such cases be bumped up in priority and further that it may be pertinent to find a way to provide more transparency to customers so you don't have to invoke the limits of your authority as a reason for delays. That tells me nothing more than that while you care, your superiors perhaps don't (for whatever reason), which doesn't encourage me in general regarding the culture at Garage Games.
Anyway, water under the bridge. Moving forward, now it is time to learn the engine!
Thanks again.
Chris.
#3
Just want to add a suggestion regarding the "transparency" bit. It is common for software developers/vendors to open the support ticket system to end users. So, for instance, instead of bothering you, the "contact us" form on your site would direct the form post info to your ticket tracking system automatically depending on my choice in the drop down menu for automatic ticket generation, and I would be kept informed of the status of the ticket automatically by your system. Better systems would provide a list of open tickets on the user account screen. This would also be a very streamlined way to buy paid support: just add a payment step to the process for certain types of requests.
Everything out in the open, no reason for the customer to fret.
Just an idea. If you are using a CMS for this site (seems that way) then often easier to implement than it sounds.
Chris.
02/04/2009 (4:54 pm)
David,Just want to add a suggestion regarding the "transparency" bit. It is common for software developers/vendors to open the support ticket system to end users. So, for instance, instead of bothering you, the "contact us" form on your site would direct the form post info to your ticket tracking system automatically depending on my choice in the drop down menu for automatic ticket generation, and I would be kept informed of the status of the ticket automatically by your system. Better systems would provide a list of open tickets on the user account screen. This would also be a very streamlined way to buy paid support: just add a payment step to the process for certain types of requests.
Everything out in the open, no reason for the customer to fret.
Just an idea. If you are using a CMS for this site (seems that way) then often easier to implement than it sounds.
Chris.
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
I am sorry that you are disgruntled, and I certainly understand. I'm doing everything that I can, which in this case was to create an ticket with the webteam to work on account authorizations.