Support issues

[rwenstrup]

I have attempted to contact administrative management on these issues ... but the link does not work ... so I've had to address the issues this way.

First, I have been unable to purchase a DLC product due to the site not recognizing my Visa ... which I use constantly without issue elsewhere. When I requested help the support desk said to use another computer ... and made no effort to fix the original problem. When I requested that they fix the problem they dumped me into the general questions file.

Second, I have been a member of Matrix since 2004. I have never received the anniversary coupon. Multiple attempts to get the coupon have resulted first in being told the procedure (which obviously has not worked) followed by ... wait for it ... being dumped in to the general questions file.

Is it really the desired outcome of Matrix Games to make it difficult to purchase products on their website and to treat long term customers in this manner ... and then make it impossible for them to discuss the interest in a confidential manner?

Please deal with these issues in a professional manner ... I have always paid for my purchases in the manner ...

[E]

ORIGINAL: rwenstrup
First, I have been unable to purchase a DLC product due to the site not recognizing my Visa ... which I use constantly without issue elsewhere. When I requested help the support desk said to use another computer ... and made no effort to fix the original problem. When I requested that they fix the problem they dumped me...

I had a not completely dissimilar problems (their server gave an error so they accused my browser, which worked just fine for a (then) recent prior purchase). I haven't bought anything here since that (perceived?) lack of support.

ORIGINAL: rwenstrup
Second, I have been a member of Matrix since 2004. I have never received the anniversary coupon.
Is it really the desired outcome of Matrix Games to make it difficult to purchase products on their website and to treat long term customers in this manner ...

I firmly believe the onus is on them to make it easy for us to spend money here.
(We shouldn't have to fight them... to give them our money!)

And yet I am oddly grateful to nuMatrix for this. They've save me a LOT of money on games I apparently did not need as badly as I thought I did!

[zakblood]

best way as always is to open a support ticket which will get replied to and you will be sorted asap, sorry for your issues, but imo it's the best and quickest and only course of action which will help you,...

[rwenstrup]

Zakblood ... please read my message ... I have tried multiple times to use the support mechanism ... it DOES NOT WORK!!!

To solve these problems will take that most difficult and avoided action ... thought ...

[zakblood]

what errors do you get when it fails?

as it works for me?





give it a title or use the link like i did.

give it the one shown for order / store issue etc.

priority high.

then on what game your having issues with it.

then put in as much detail as you can on the issue and click send, if you have a given error, screenshot it and attach it etc at this stage, then send

[zakblood]

first the how to get it to work link

tm.asp?m=3901652

or show you some detail on the page etc

all you do is alter to not show ticket but make one and fill in the details, if it's an account issue and it doesn't work because of that, goto here and sort that out first

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 58&t=79395

then you won't have a conflict issue if you do, or pass this part if you don't etc

[rwenstrup]

Thank you for responding with some effort ... the purchasing issue gets this response to the credit card purchase attempt:
ASP 500.100 Error
An error occurred processing the page you requested.
Please see the details below for more information.

COM Error Number -2147217873 (0x80040E2F)
File Name /includes/db_functions_shoppingcart.inc.asp
Line Number 2818
Brief Description Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.scart_IPBlock' with unique index 'IX_scart_IPBlock'. The duplicate key value is (x.x.x.x).
Script Name /shoppingcart/ccorder.asp

The anniversary coupon I simply have never received the email I've been told will be sent ...

[hadberz]

The anniversary coupon I simply have never received the email I've been told will be sent ...

I think mine was in the spam folder on my gmail. Might look there. That said, the key will show on the Slitherine website under manage my account, View my Anniversary Coupons. Not sure if it shows anywhere on Matrix site.

[IainMcNeil]

Hi rwenstrup

Sorry you are having problems. You've been in contact with support a number of times and they've explained that anniversary coupons are issued in July on your anniversary and if you don't get one then to get back in touch on your Anniversary. We are not able to reissue or activate expired coupons so there isn't anything we can do when you contact us January 12th about a coupon from July 29th. Things to check are that you have set up the correct email address & the mail did not go to your spam folder but it can only really be checked within a month after the coupon was generated so July-August. You can see the date of your anniversary coupon and any previous coupons you generated here:
https://samelogin.slitherine.com/Manage

On the payment problem the issue is some peoples machines using specific browsers are unable to place orders so they asked you to try a different browser. These bugs are in the interaction between the browsers and payment providers like PayPal. We have absolutely no control over it and no way to fix it. It works for one person and not another. The way to get around it as they suggest - use a different browser.

Support have responded promptly to all your tickets. There is not anything else they can do.

[E]

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
Hi rwenstrup
We are not able to reissue or activate expired coupons so there isn't anything we can do when you contact us January 12th about a coupon from July 29th.

Why can't you reactivate an electronic coupon? (by definition, an electronic coupon is comprised solely of electrons, and I know for a fact that electrons can be controlled).

Do you not have access to the database this is operating off of? Why can't you edit his data temporarily, issue a coupon, then correct the data? Do you not have a keyboard? Do you not have access to programmers of some kind to help you make the system work for you?

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL!" (or is it Colossus & Guardian now?)

[rwenstrup]

IainMcNeil,

Following your instructions above I checked for previous anniversary coupons and it states that none have been issued. I have been a member since 2004 and a constant purchaser from your site. Clearly your organization has failed to issue an anniversary coupon at any time in the past. Perhaps you could have made the assumption the customer may have a limited enough amount of intelligence to perceive if they have received a coupon in the past?

As to the failure to allow purchases ... I have been using the same credit card for a number of years and it has continued to work for ALL other uses. I have been a Chrome user for a number of years and it continues to work for ALL other purposes.
At this point what appears to be the problem is not that fact that there is a problem on my part or the part of other parties, but the attitude of the staff at Matrix Games towards their customers.

I have pointed out over and over the problem and all I get is pat answers without any effort to solve the problem ... and now I've been told that it's not your problem ... it's some other party ... me because I failed to notify you about a support issue on anniversary coupons during the correct one month period (though the issue has been open since 2008 without ever getting an adequate response), and the fact that I have purchased tens of games from Matrix using the Visa/Chrome combination ... and it's not your problem if it does not work today.

I have always had a high opinion of Matrix Games ... love the games ... love the community, but you guys are not a 'support' organization ... your pat answers and arrogant assumption of your customer's ignorance is obnoxious. As a support organization you are a complete failure!

Instead of passing my issues off with a response which has no thought behind it ... how about doing your job?

[IainMcNeil]

Hi rwenstrup,

sorry you are getting frustrated but these are not pat answers. As explained above the issue with your payment is not your card it is the browser combined with the payment provider. If you use a different browser your card might work. If it fails then we can troubleshoot this further.

You have not generated any coupons because you have not received the mails. In July, on your anniversary get in touch if you do not receive the mail. We don't have any way to create coupons outside the system. As described above you need to check you are getting the mail within a month of it being issued.

These are not pat answers, they take time to write and explain exactly what is going wrong. You've now had around 8 responses to your query, but you don't like the answer, as the answer is we cant make it work the way you want it to.

If you follow the instructions everything it will all work out Sadly with PC's there will always be oddities that means some people have issues where others don't and it is not always possible to fix, sometimes you have to work around it.

Thanks!

[rwenstrup]

Iain,

I stand by my judgement of the attitude of the support team. If you review the past communications in an objective way you will see that the responses from the support team are not consistent at all ... they are pat answers sent out without thought.
Just one example, the first time I have ever been told about a 'one month window' for the anniversary coupon was today.
The fact that I could not even contact the administrative staff without going through this general forum indicates the degree of indifference to customer issues.
I can see my efforts are fruitless ... too bad ... it should be a warning to others that they will not be supported by Matrix if they have a problem ... consider that statement from a customer you have had for 16 years!

[IainMcNeil]

Hi rwenstrup

we've looked at the records and in June 2016 you contacted us saying you had not had a coupon. We replied telling you when you would get it, so it was all explained to you a year and a half ago. You didn't get back in touch until now, 19 months later.

I understand it was some time ago and you may have forgotten but I don't see how you can blame the support team for that

[E]

You still refuse to open the pod bay doors don't you?

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
sorry you are getting frustrated but these are not pat answers.

"It's your fault, nothing we can do." is a pat answer, no matter how you rephrase it.

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000As explained above the issue with your payment is not your card it is the browser combined with the payment provider. If you use a different browser your card might work. If it fails then we can troubleshoot this further.

Why should the customer jump through hoops to give you money? Shouldn't YOU you EARN the customer's money? Shouldn't YOU make it EASY for us to give our money to you? Where is YOUR alternate payment method for problems that you say below are a certainty with PCs?

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
You have not generated any coupons because you have not received the mails.

How can he receive an email containing a coupon that hasn't been generated?!?!
(A Catch-22 is not a valid answer, nor is it an acceptable excuse.)

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
These are not pat answers, they take time to write and explain exactly what is going wrong.

You are right... these are not answers. They are excuses.

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
You've now had around 8 responses to your query, but you don't like the answer, as the answer is we cant make it work the way you want it to.

He doesn't like them because they are unacceptable to anyone but another bureaucrat.

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
If you follow the instructions everything it will all work out

Wow! I cannot believe you just slammed a long-time customer in such a thinly veiled manner!

ORIGINAL: HAL 9000
Sadly with PC's there will always be oddities that means some people have issues where others don't and it is not always possible to fix, sometimes you have to work around it.

This is what I believe you are missing in the customer service realm... HE is the customer. He has been paying YOU money. HE shouldn't have to work around it. YOU should do the working around it.

[rwenstrup]

Iain,

Think about this ... you are continuing to let this issue be handled in a public debate instead of fixing the access to the administrative staff and making this a private discussion ... this is a very clear indication of the degree to which the culture in the support staff is in trouble ...

I sincerely hope that a leader within the Matrix/Slitherine organization will step in and turn this around ... I really do wish for Matrix to continue to prosper ... but this level of performance is simply NOT acceptable ...

[rwenstrup]

E,

Thank you for bringing some much needed clarity to the situation ... it is clear that the support group is having a hard time understanding that they have some issues ...

[IainMcNeil]

If you don't think having the owner of the company spend time dealing with your response then I don't know what to say. Support have explained what you need to do.

The tone here is very aggressive and unacceptable. I've said all I can and what you need to do with support to get running. There is nothing more to say so closing this thread before you say things that require further action.

You only have to look around at the other threads here to see what an exceptional job the support team do.