Customer Service: They Did It Right

A couple weeks ago I decided to re-up my subscription to Lord of the Rings Online, as y'all are aware. I wanted to take advantage of the (essentially) Buy 2, Get 1 Month Free deal that also included a free upgrade to Siege of Mirkwood, so on the last day of the sale I snagged a 3 month subscription.

What I didn't mention was the chaos that ensued the day after. The morning after I bought my subscription, I received a call from my credit card company triumphantly informing me that they blocked an evil, vile website from fraudulently charging me. "That's great," I said, "what site was trying to charge my card?" To which the operator responded with audible disgust in her voice "Turbine." Well, crap, I thought…

After I sorted out that mess and convinced the woman on the line that Turbine was a game company (and not some seedy porn company like her earlier tone implied) and that I made that purchase legitimately, I realized the real problem with this whole ordeal: if they denied my transaction, that means that I wouldn't get the packaged deal for Siege of Mirkwood! Sure enough, when I logged into my account that fateful afternoon, I was not flagged as a SoM customer, nor did I have an active subscription.

After dancing between anger at my credit card company for denying a perfectly valid transaction and happiness that my credit card company at least cares and tries to protect me, I went ahead and re-subscribed for three months anyway, namely because they still had the $30 deal. Not to be completely dismayed, I shot an email to Turbine Account Team and explained the situation to them and laid myself at their mercy. Would they upgrade me to SoM since I did technically get in time for the deal and it was my credit card company's zealousness that made the transaction fail, or would they say "tough luck" and ask me to fork over $20 to experience the new content?

Today, after almost two weeks, Turbine responded by letting me know that they would upgrade me to SoM and that I could enjoy all the goodies that came with the new digital expansion! My happy little queer heart was beating for joy at the news, and I have to say that even though it took them two weeks to get back to me, they did me right.

I should also mention that while I have had some annoying technical issues with LOTRO, the Turbine tech support team has always been great to me. I've had long chains of emails go back and forth between them and never once did I feel like I was being brushed off. In short, Customer Service: they're doing it right.