Hello everyone,
Two weeks ago, a serious event occurred which resulted in the unintended billing of some of our customers. For this and any difficulties the event caused, we are truly sorry and today we wish to explain what happened, and to make a renewed commitment to your trust and security. We have taken this very seriously. In our 15 year history, trust has been the foundation of our relationship with the gaming community and we intend to rebuild that trust.
Between March 18 and April 7, our payment gateway experienced a processing flaw that was beyond the scope of our control. Instead of being submitted for processing once, some transactions were submitted multiple times, resulting in some people being charged multiple times. On April 8, we determined what had happened and acted with urgency to arrange for bulk reversal of all erroneous charges. The majority of players saw the refund within 2-3 business days. Some banks did not post refunds until a few days later, a delay that was contingent on the banking institution. We worked quickly to inform affected players of the situation and understand the frustration this waiting period may have caused.
As a result of this event, we significantly increased customer service staffing who have been working with all impacted subscribers to waive any overdraft fees. The majority of the banks have waived these fees as they recognize the unusual nature of this event. In the rare cases that the banks have not reversed the charges, EA is covering the fee.
Once the corrective action was completed, we turned our attention to analyzing the problem in more detail. We determined the root cause, developed a definitive fix and implemented monitoring precautions that will allow us to prevent similar situations from reoccurring. These steps have been in place since April 13 with no further issues.
To be clear, at no point during this event was there a security breach or was subscriber account information compromised.
As of today, we believe we have resolved the issue. However, we remain committed to assisting anyone who has been financially affected in ways we are not aware. For any players still in need of assistance, please contact our Billing Support department by calling 650-628-1001 from 10:00 AM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT, 7 days a week. For those outside of the U.S. who do not wish to make an international call, please create an in-game appeal; for instructions on how to file an appeal click here.
Over the past 15 years we have always strived to do what's best for our players. We are truly sorry, and want to work to make things right and restore our relationship. We hope you will accept this small token of our appreciation for your continued commitment to our games:
For starters all players will earn 100% bonus experience, bounty and realm points when killing enemies and monsters for two weeks. As well, during this time we'll be hard at work designing and implementing a special NPC. This NPC will allow each of your characters to select two of the following items:
- Bottomless Black Dye
- Bottomless Crimson Dye (Albion), Hunter Green Dye (Hibernia), and Royal Blue Dye (Midgard)
- A selection of rare mounts: The Fire Steed, Clockwork Steed, and Storm Steed
- Choose from any of these pets - Clockwork Cat, a Mini-Dragon, and a pet of your realm.
- Vegas Round Table Trophy
- The Old Dragon Head Trophies of Smoldering Golestandt (Albion), Frozen Gjalpinulva (Midgard), and Glimmering Culldurach (Hibernia)
Please accept this gesture as a step towards rebuilding our relationship. From all of us at Mythic, we thank you for your time, your commitment, and your trust that helps us to make great games year after year.
Thank you,
Jeff Hickman
Studio Executive Producer, Mythic Entertainment
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