Square Enix sued for "deceiving" patrons |
Ó
Esther Long from San Francisco is the named plaintiff, and she alleges that Square Enix "lied about or concealed its monthly fees, penalties for late payments, interest, restrictions, and other things that should have been fully disclosed at points of purchase."
She is seeking for damages amounting to more than US$ 5 million for their supposed unfair business practices, false advertising and unjust enrichment.
Here's what the court filing said:
The deceptive advertising, unfair and undisclosed business practices, and concealment concern, among others:
i. Licensing of the online games software disguised as a sale;
ii. Monthly fees ("fees") to play the online games;
iii. Penalties for late payment of the fees;
iv. Interest charges for late payment of the fees;
v. Charges while the online game account is suspended;
vi. Termination of the right to use the online games for late payment of the fees;
vii. User restrictions and conditions related to the online games;
viii. Termination of game data for payment of the fees.
That's quite an accusation, dear. You better have evidence to back you up. How about you guys, did you ever feel "deceived" by Squeenix?
- EA, Madden to face lawsuit from retired NFL players
- Apple sued over iPhone's access to iTunes and App Store, iPhone camera chips
Via Courthouse News
49 Jumps PlayStation celebrates 15th birthday
36 Jumps PSP homebrew - MHUSPEED v3
22 Jumps PSP homebrew - MacroFire v3.0.12
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
Accessories
Add-ons
Applications
Artwork
Batteries
Cheats
Deals
Emulators
Events
Featured Articles
Firmware
Flash Applications
Flash games
Game Demos
Games
Hacks & Exploits
Homebrew Applications
Homebrew Demos
Homebrew Development
Homebrew Emulators
Homebrew Games
Homebrew Themes
How-To
Humor
Imports
Interviews
Magazines
Mods
MY QJ
News
Off Topic
On Shelves This Week
Opinions & Analysis
Podcasts
Previews
PSP Go
PSP Minis
PSP Slim & Lite
QJ How-To Series
QuickJump QuickGuide
QuickJump QuickPeek
Reviews
Rumors
Scans
Screenshots
Site News
Titles
UMD Movies
Videos
Weekend Warrior
Wi-Fi
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
Comments [refresh]
How do you not know that you have to pay for playing the mmo.
she is so going to lose.
Now every MMO box is going to have half the cover stating the charges thanks to this *****. WARNING, CONTENTS HOT!! And your *****ing Super Sized meal IS making you fat!!!
The only paid for MMO that I've bought that does not have monthly fees is Guild Wars. The rest that I know of have monthly fees, how is it not obvious that this has monthly fees then?
What are the penalties the article is mentioning? If it is only an inactivated account then that they should sue activision blizzard aswell.
oh yeah. screw blizzard. freaking deleted my lv 89 amazon from d2 cause i didnt play for 3 months. *****s.
Now this may scare some people away from Final Fantasy 14.
lvl 89 amazon, sorry mister 'hard out' guy heh :)
v. Charges while the online game account is suspended;
other than that shes dumb for not knowing you get charged monthly.
This case is going to be dismissed for the simple fact that she ignored the Terms of Service, End User License Agreement, etc. before playing the game. I'm sure they're in the instruction manual, which she was fully capable of reading before spending money to actually be able to play the game.
I played ffxi for quite a while, but when i was done, theres no "cancel account" button, i had to call customer service and tell them to stop billing me THREE times. a year later i wanted to play again but that was thwarted since the only way to recover my character was through long and impossible to remember codes and ids. its ridiculous, way worse than any other mmo.
It sounds like an intense credit card company, let's sue some of those too
I hope the ***** wins. ("bad" word used to describe an "evil vagina" behind the asterisks, rhymes with punt.)
Sheer entertainment value of the reaction from everybody when the ***** does win. (derogatory word usually means "female dog".)
And to see the look on the lawyers faces when they thought they had an open and shut case.
Hell I'm laughing now just imagining it.
she may have a case for SOME of these claims, if it was not already spelled out. And if I had "Penalties for late payment of the fees" and "Charges while the online game account is suspended", I would be pissed off too.
All companies should know you can't do anything with even the slightest risk of upsetting people in America without big warning labels all over them, give it a few more years and all games will probably have a first level where you have to guide your character through the disclaimers before you can start the game.
5 million!? How the hell does somebody get the impression they deserve 5 million dollars for being inconvenienced? I can get if the unfair charges caused her to miss house payments and lose her home (which I doubt), but that still wouldn't be worth 5 mil.
I today's economy, it's a smart move, but that's seriously extreme, especially if her bill only came to like $200 max. If anything, that $5 mill should be split up between all users of the MMO, then everyone will be over their misfortune and everyone gets a fair share instead of just this one single ***** claiming it all as if she was the only one to be screwed over.
(Though, I stay away from MMOs because not only do I prefer console games over online games, but I'm not going to pay a ton of fees for playing these games when I can very easily play my 360 games or even PSP games for a fraction of that price with either right-to-the-point 1-time charge for a period-of-time live play, or freeplay, like PSP.)
Every time they tell us a release date! It's ALWAYS false! :(
People are still playing FFXI?
All I can say is, it's about time somebody stood up to Squeenix, in the wake of their shutting down the Crimson Echoes project the week before their release after a five year development cycle that they must have known about all along. http://savecrimsonechoes.com/
yea, cause Square-Enix is an evil corporation who only want to screw over it's customers. There couldn't possibly be a reason for them to shut down a game, there just bastards.
I payed for that Bull***** FFXI and went on vacation then tried to play it again when i got back and my guy was delete AND i could not use the CD key anymore ?? WTF
I call them up asking what was going on and they said Because i did not play for 30days the account got deleted,
I was like OK that's fine But why can't i make a New one?
There gay ass responses
"once a account is delete you may not use the CD key anymore and must RE-BUY the game to get a New CD key"
Yea so they *****ed me over for like 70$ and i only got to play the game for 4 hours.
what thell is going on with the video game indestry, they getting greedy al of sudden?
man thay desearve to get there ass sued off
I only put some 30-40 hours into it and didn't even scratch the surface of the game when it came out. I heard that it really doesn't get any good until you reach level 50. If you have to grind your way, wait for friends to get online to actually do anything constructive or wait for an hour, etc, etc, etc, for about 500 hours before the game is any fun, this is the reason why I quit it, because it was boring as hell.
All I did to quit the game? Take my credit card off file and the account closed.
The only thing with Square is that they permanently delete your account after 30 days of not being used.
Alright, here's a story.
Around August/September of '07, I tried a free trial of FFXI. barely played the damn thing. I uninstalled it and forgot about it.
Fast forward to last year around September and I am shopping for a birthday gift. I go to the register and they tell me my debit card was denied. What?? I always have money in the bank. I go to the ATM nearby and get a statement. I have negative money. Okay.
I call the bank to see what the charges were on my account. One is a 40 something dollar charge from Square Enix. Huh?
I call up the bank's customer service to go deeper into the matter. They say I have this charge from a month ago. If I recall, that day was a Holiday and playonline's customer service line was not open. I call the next day to find out what's going on. They tell me I am billed for 11 accounts activated around the same time from August. I tell them that is impossible. Long story short, they basically tell me there is nothing I can do. I'm not letting this happen so I call the bank back up and dispute the charge.
Within the next few weeks I am constantly talking to the bank and Playonline customer service. It culminates in me getting ahold of Playonline customer service and they tell me my account was banned for third party device use. Everything has been extremely fishy at this point. How convenient that my account is banned when I start calling about this crap. The customer service gives me the run around and I demand to speak with their supervisor/manager multiple times. They refuse to put him on, but finally relent.
It gets even stranger after that. They constantly give me the run around, and I continue to counter every point they make about what could have happened. They backpeddle continuously about what they say. I have my suspicions but say nothing. I threaten legal action and they get a little bit hot under the collar. I finish my business with these cretins and if you don't get it, let me spell it out for you.
I think certain individuals in Square Enix are scamming customers. Why do I think this? The dispute over the charge was won. I got my money back. I haven't heard from them since.
I have since changed my credit/debit cards and they will no longer see a dime from me.
Square Enix's playonline is a bunch of thieving, petty snake-oil sellers. Listen to this plea. I beg you not to do business with these idiots.
It's an MMO...about Final Fantasy.
Honestly, what the ***** (rhymes with tuck) do you expect?
For FFXIV we wont be using it if we get it on the PS3 right? Though I'll probably just want to play the demo. No paying thank you.
After reading that, I hope the woman wins. I was looking forward to playing FF14, but seeing how PlayOnline really is, nope. Even if she wins and averts their petty business schemes, I still won't play. I guess I'll just wait for The Agency.
@freya: i doubt they will even do a "demo" you'll have a trial of the game, which will require your credit/debit card and if you do not cancel they will charge it.
personally i played FFXI for like 6 years, from day 1 of NA release on pc and ps2 also. i have had multiple copies of the game, quit numerous times and went back. one thing the "late fees" they charge you double month to reactivate your account if a charge is denied (technically making you late)
also when you first start up your game, you get a free trial period, after that period expires you are already into your next billing period, but they do not bill you, until the start of the next billing period which ends up hitting you for basically 1 1/2 - 2 months. so 12.95 is true, but thats not what they hit you with when you first start up or if your account is suspended due to declined funds.
loved the game, just too much of a time sink. got all my money back for the years of playing though, sold my character way back when. say hi to Psylink on lakshmi for me
though, it might not be easily found/mentioned *odds are hidden in the TOS* the actual number of things she has a valid point over, and the fact her asking ammount is insane. she will prob lose, or gain very little is anything... sadly thats how businesses are now a days, go look at ATT +\ their still the worst
The first part is a good idea.
The second part makes no sense.
People like you say crap like this then you're the first ones freaking out when your monthly access costs more because of taxes and fees that were added in without informing you.
Either is a total retard or works for Square Enix and is doing the scamming.
PlayOnline wont be part of FF14 they are kicking them out
So you uninstalled it. Did you cancel your account with them when you uninstalled it?
If I throw my phone in the garbage, the phone company will still charge me since I'm on a monthly plan - the same with my internet.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all with you if you cancelled your account, and they still went ahead and charged it. What does sound interesting is that there were 11 activated accounts. Perhaps your account got hacked and somebody was on it. I don't think we can ever know that.
HOWEVER, you still could have avoided the mess had you cancelled. (Please re-read my fourth sentence before you spout something stupid.)
This sounds like a woman who doesn't know much about gaming and I'm sure she wasn't damaged to deserve a $5 million dollar lawsuit. The thing is, they probably jack it up high so S-E will settle out of court for something more reasonable, I'd say anything below that. That's how these things go. If S-E takes her to court, they'll win, she better hope for a settlement.
for the most part she'll get something. but if they go through court, she's going to get owned more so than what she receives from SE.
I don't think you understand what he's saying, it's called a joke.
playing games by yourself? The good old days when Final Fantasy games had badass stories and no need for internet access and you could play with no fees other than when you buy the game in the first place. Those were the good old days, I guess they're replacing awesome storytelling with MMO n' think nobody's gonna tell the difference.
Poorly worded reference to the grandma that poured scalding hot coffee in her lap and successfully sued mcd's for a million dollar.
It's right on the back of the god damn box lol. I'm looking at my FF11 box for 360 right now, says "additional requirement: monthly fee". Not sure about the PS2/PC versions, I'd assume they have it too. This is dumb
Some of her claims are pretty common and legit I think, everybody I know gets charged after supposedly "canceling" their FF11 accounts, usually 2 or 3 months afterwards. Which is ridic, but does not entitle you to 5 million. Most of her claims are garbage tho. "User restrictions and conditions related to the online games"? Kidding me...
I do agree with everything weapon33 said below tho, FF11 by far has the worst system for canceling/restarting an account, and PlayOnline is one of the most painful and aggravating applications I have ever used. The hoops these jerks make you jump thru to play their game, or stop playing it, are insane
It's a class action. It's not 5 millions for one person, but, according to the article, for 100 000.
so that's, what, equivalent to 50$ per person. This is completely justified. People who think this is over the top should read the article again...unless I'm mistaken on what "class action" means...
This is what made FFXI unique compared to other MMOs. It did have awesome storytelling complete with great cutscenes.
I came to the same conclusion as you. Now to add to that, I'm pretty sure her lawyer had read the terms and conditions before even filing. Lawyers pretty much cover all the fine prints before making any argument and officially filing the sue. Also is $50 that she is asking for :) so it's justified.
After FF changed its way by going to MMO I stopped playing it completely - Yeah Darkotic948 I know what you are saying.
Hey billy, do you know how you get past the DMCA boss on the first level? I tried to use the fair use policies attack, but for some reason I still couldn't use my cloning attack.
And the sad thing is, everytime I destroy his RIAA henchmen, another 2 takes the dead one's spot.
for once i liked Square Enix but now i wish their ***es get sued all over!
@ Freya - Normally i'd say of course we wont... but after get headache that is the Metal Gear Online registration and login, I'm not so sure we wouldn't still have to deal with SE's bass ackwards(yeah, I said it. Big Whoop. Wannafightaboud it?) login process. I know you still have to go through it on the xbox for FFXI.
I couldn't stand the grind you had to do to get to anything interesting in that game. I tried playing two or three different times; Last of which was a few months ago. Personally... I like how their leveling system works in a way. You level it as you use it. But nothing was worth the headache of dealing with Play Online for billing and account management. I can go onto PlayNC right now, reactivate my City of Heroes account and pick right back up where i left off with all of my characters entirely intact. Guild Wars? I can just install and log in two years from now and all of my characters will be just as I left them. FFXI? Power supply dies, don't have money for another right away, when you come back.. account closed for inactivity. All your work gone and nobody at SE could care less.
Honestly.. I really hope they get their act together and stop their awful habits. I went to use a trial key and still needed to go through a length process registering a credit card. Instead of them just canceling your service when you stop paying, they out and charge interest on top of late fee's? Then charging people after their accounts are supposedly canceled.
This stuff has happened to way too many people to just overlook as an accident. I really want to give FFXIV a go when it's released, but past experiences really give me doubts. After reading comments here, i'm obviously not the only one.
Never played 11 and won't 14, its a game and paying monthly is not for me.
The most you're supposed to get charged is one month.
What people have tried to do, is JUST AS the cycle ends, they cancel it on the last day, hoping to make use of all that they paid for, only to get 1 full month's charge for no play. Why? Because they had already passed the cycle, and they didn't know it. Their INTERNAL cycle is not something they tell you. Nor is it something you need to know anyway.
I signed up, played for about 6 months, and then cancelled it well before the cycle ended... no fuss.
re: Willow...
The reason it is a "Class Action" lawsuit is because there is more than one alleged "victim." However, SHE is the only claimed plaintiff... meaning, yes... all 5 mill will be for her and her alone.
Oh, this is by NO MEANS justified. As said before the closest thing is her being charged while suspended, but the fact still remains, all her claims about them being deceptive have no merit.
A) She could've done her research BEFORE buying the game.
B) There are markings on the box, like "requires additional monthly fees" at the TIME of purchase.
C) There's the whole TERMS of service she's supposed to read after buying it.
Just like everyone else has said.
Going to one of her claims:
"i. Licensing of the online games software disguised as a sale;"
NO game OR software is actually sold to you, every one of them is licensed to you for your use. If it was "sold" to you, you would obtain "Intellectual Property" rights, that would also allow you to (legally) disassemble the software and modify it in any way you see fit.
The sad fact is, that's true with hardware too.
But since most people view it as "sale"... she's only fighting the technicality of it, meaning if she wants to merit that battle, she'll have to sue EVERY industry whose basis of "sale" are the same.
square enix will win.
i agree, screw paying more than once to play a game.
the woman will win, and i sure hope FF goes back to being a great single player game (perhaps online/lan as a feature, and not with stupid fees)
For one, D2 is a free online service, so blizzard has the right to do something like that.
That's not the deal breaker though. When you buy FFXI, you're not paying for software, you're paying for a playonline account. Each box has a code to create a playonline account.
When you for example deactivate all paid services (FFXI, tetra master), you have to login every 3 months to playonline. If you don't, SE will deactivate your playonline account and you'll need to pay 30 bucks for a new copy of FFXI, just to get a new code to create a new account.