Where's my large ingredients bag gone?

[XRW147]

According to a GM, Oldek, into thin air and tough luck to me that this has happened...

Going by past attempts at contacting Turbine with bugs and in game issues I think this post will fall on deaf ears as well so wondering if anyone else out there has ever lost items from shared bank when trying to move them into your inventory bag and the bank "hangs" - nothing happens and gives you bank error, and whether you have had any luck in getting them back.

Moments ago I was about to run a shroud and did my usualy practice of going to the shared bank to withdraw my ingredients bag from the shared bank. After dragging and dropping the bag from the shared bank into my inventory I noticed nothing was happening for a good 10 seconds then error message popped up saying error can't deal with the bank at this time. I stepped away to drop the bank windows and stepped back towards the banker to open the windows again, this time the banker could not be interacted with. I figured as with every other time something is bugging I should just log out then back in so I went up to the tavern and did just that.

When I managed to log back into the character I went back to bank to try to withdraw my ingredients bag again and to my utter shock and horror the bag was no longer in my bank. I checked my inventory and it was also not there...

I immediately reported this to in game support and was contacted by a GM, Oldek, who was completely useless. All he said was there's no way to replace the item and contents I had lost (1 x large ingredients bag with 1.5 years worth of ingredients all stored in there) and I needed to report a bug to get help on this matter but correct me if I am wrong here but doesn't the very first line of the bug report read "if you need help, DO NOT use this form"? I asked the GM, Oldek, exactly that and he just closed the chat on me - after being a paying member for 4 years I'm sure this must be considered a "best practice" for Turbine customer support training.

In any case, be nice to see some acknowledgement from a customer support rep here but I won't be holding my breathe. Other players feel free to tack your two cents or if you choose flame on.

[XRW147]

Just had a "senior" GM respond in game:

(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'Greetings Minuteman, I am a Senior Game Master for Online Support and will be with you momentarily. You can reply to my messages by typing /r and entering your message.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'I'm here'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'As the previous GM you spoke with told you, there isn't anything we can do in this instance. I apologize for the inconvenience. Any comments or feedback can be submitted by going to www.ddo.com/support and clicking on the In-Game Support link.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'so there is no way to get my items back?'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'dont u guys have game/program logs etc'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'I apologize, but no, we are unable to assist with this issue.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'okay not u specifically but anyone in Turbine'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'u gotta understand the anger and frustration i have right now'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'No, sorry.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'its not like i did something wrong, the game hung, and thats more than likely due to the massive amount of users now since ddo went ftp
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'I do, and would urge you to submit your feedback at the site I gave you.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'I've invested time and money into the contents of that green bag'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'I've tried that site plenty of times in the past and have only received 1 response out of the 10-12 queries i have sent'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'can u be more specific, what area of that page - account ? technical?'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'In-Game Support.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'but from your experience and knowledge you are saying I will never get my item back?'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'Is there anything else I can assist you with?'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'just a couple more questions pls, if u cld'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'buddy are u there? do you reckon there's any way to get my item back going through in game support?'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'I would recommend posting your feedback there.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'is there a team or someone able to check game log to see what has happened to my item?'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'is it possible to put that item back into the bank?'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'I've sent feedback and have posted on forum'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'We cannot assist with this issue. I apologize. As there is nothing else I can assist you with, I will need to close this ticket. Have a good day.'
(Tell): You tell +Glandore+<\Player>, 'just asking u, as a senior GM, whether from your knowledge you think its possible to get my item back?'
(Admin): +Glandore+<\Player> tells you, 'Your help request is now resolved. This request is closed and your Game Master is unable to receive any further messages from you through this request. Please submit a new help request for any additional questions. Thank you for contacting In-Game Support and may the Silver Flame guide you.'

[Argila]

GM help for simple things = great, the rest = waste of time.

Bug Report = waste of time (does someone even look at them?)

http://www.ddo.com/ddosupport
Usually they reply in 2-3 businnes days and i got a reply every time until now. But the contacts made reasons were related to buying TP, so I guess they 'wanted' to answer...

For me it seems that the GMs don't really have any power in DDO. They can help players with in game stuff (where can i find this or that, i am stuck, etc) but when it cames to something more deep they cant do anything and no one seems to care.

They really should learn from other games (like EVE) where GM can solve problems instead of just saying 'sorry cant help'.

I may be wrong, but that is what I think and learned in the 6 months I have been playing.

[Rasczak]

how did you get the bag in with all the ingredients? I keep getting errors when I try

[XRW147]

@Argila - I've sent note off again this time but like I said, I've sent plenty notes relating to other issues in the past and had next to no reply. We'll see if things are any different this time. Everyone I've talked to in game reckons they won't do anything about this cause it only affects one person, hence Turbine couldn't care less.

@Rasczak - you need to make sure you dont have anything bound in there - stones, esscenses, runes etc, only non bound crafting ingredients (shroud ingredients, boot ingredients, etc).

[XRW147]

Got a reply from in-game support (are they asking me to just go back to the GM again?!):

Thank you for your inquiry. For the best resolution to your issue, please contact our In-Game Support team via the Help Menu within the game world. Upon receipt of your request, they will contact you directly and provide further assistance for this issue.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please respond to this email, and we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you,
The Turbine Customer Service Team

[XRW147]

My reply:

Hi, I have already contacted in game support and was told by GM and Senior GM that they can’t do anything and to send an enquiry via www.ddo.com/support, which is what I have done.

[XRW147]

Turbine's next reply (appauling customer service and lack of accountability):

Thank you for your inquiry.

We do apologize but if the GMs were not able to assist you there is little more that can be done as this form is not for the resolution of ingame issues, that is what the ingame staff is for.

We apologize for any problems you may have had.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please respond to this email, and we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you,
The Turbine Customer Service Team

[XRW147]

My next reply, I doubt they care but I needed to vent somewhat:

Folks, you have left me gobsmacked... I have been a full subscriber for years and have spent the last year and a half ++ questing / trading / buying / collecting the contents stored in the large ingredients bag and all you guys can say is sorry there's nothing you can do?!?!?!

How can that be? Do you not have game logs you can look back into to recreate the bag for me or something along those lines? How can you expect your paying customers to just sit here and forget about this kind of thing and what sort of customer service is this that you guys can just pass the buck from one person to another? - ie GM tells me to report this to www.ddo.com/support - in-game support and then you guys ask me to contact the GM... is there no one that is accountable for game errors or issues?

I know I am only one of thousands of subcribers but I hope you can understand where I am coming from here. I put a lot of time, effort and money into this and you can't honestly expect me to be satisfied with round about answers and replies, can you?

[Aspenor]

Not to rub salt on a wound, but this is a fairly well-documented problem. Back when shared banks first came out it happened to a couple people I know. In fact I posted a warning thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=2569868) not long after the mechanic was released. Of course, it's been well buried by now and I wouldn't expect you to have found it.

Turbine really ought to consider making these problems public knowledge in some way. There's really no way you would have known this is a common bug.

You won't get your bag or ingredients back, sorry to tell you.

[XRW147]

Thanks for the feedback Aspenor, I did search knowledge database as well as forums before posting but I didn't manage to find your warning post. I've been using the shared bank (much the same as most people around) for transferring items between toons since it came out, it was in my opinion at the time a nice improvement to the banking function of the game.

I just don't agree with how Turbine refuse to invest any time into fixing things that can ultimately turn current and prospective customers away. In WoW people have had their bank items returned after similar game errors but with Turbine it seems to be a "touch luck" attitude. At the very least they could attempt to compensate their paying customers (with points or whatever) out of good will to show some sort of decency or customer service.

Probably better luck getting blood out of a rock though I suspect.