Ubisoft and the modern gaming ownership dilemma

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mvmiller12

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Well, it has been a while since she last attempted to do it, but my wife recently decided that she wanted to finally play through her Assassin's Creed games. I had gotten her the first game years ago and she liked it alot. So over the years I bought her AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations, (and apparently got a freebie of 3, but more on that later). But she never got around to finishing 1 at the time and now she was ready to go again.

It started simply enough, I installed her disk of Assassin's Creed and away she went. She reached the end of the game and asked me to install the next one, so we sign into her Ubi account and there it is, AC2, and Brotherhood. But Revelations and 3 are both missing. I was concerned at first, but I decided to check my account instead. I've had this happen before where some Sims expansions were bought on MY account instead of hers, and EA moved them over with a simple phone call. Ubi should be at least as good, right?

Well, not so much. I call the Ubi support line, and apparently the phone agents can only help with accounts that can't be signed into. The agent was pleasant though, and opened up a ticket for me to complete so I could handle the issue with a live chat. A hair inconvenient, but not too bad. I completed the ticket with:

Code:
mvmiller12
8/8/2017 3:33 AM

My wife owns Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Assassin's Creed III, and yet they seem to have been accidentally registered to my account instead of hers. She is now playing through the Assassin's Creed games and we have only just now discovered this issue. I would like for both of these games and keys to be moved from my Ubiplay account ([email protected]) and moved to hers instead ([email protected]). Thank you.


and then went into chat, which went like this:

Code:
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:34:31 PM): Thank you for contacting Ubisoft Live Support. Please give me a moment to review your case. In the meantime, feel free to add any additional information that may pertain to your issue, and I will be with you shortly.
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:35:18 PM): Hello. Can you please upload your receipts for Assassin's Creed 3 and Revelations?
Me (8/7/2017, 11:38:22 PM): I no longer have them
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:38:39 PM): I see. Where did you purchase these games?
Me (8/7/2017, 11:38:47 PM): I don't remember
Me (8/7/2017, 11:38:51 PM): This was years ago
Me (8/7/2017, 11:39:08 PM): It took her a REALLY long time to collect all of those flags in Assassins Creed 1
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:39:52 PM): OK. We do need a receipt to transfer a game. I will also let you know the only version of AC3 you have is the free copy from the 30th anniversary celebration that cannot be moved
Me (8/7/2017, 11:40:46 PM): Why does it matter if I have a legitimate key/version and no longer need it for it to be moved to her account? I'm not asking for another copy opf the game. I'm asking that it be moved
Me (8/7/2017, 11:41:10 PM): Since I have it, and it is registered, and it is legit, you shouldn;t need anything else
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:41:23 PM): I do apologize, but that is the requirement for moving the game
Me (8/7/2017, 11:41:38 PM): That is a load of garbage
Me (8/7/2017, 11:41:55 PM): If I had physical disks this would not be a problem
Me (8/7/2017, 11:42:21 PM): I had a similar problem with The Sims and EA, and they had no problem moving that either
Me (8/7/2017, 11:42:37 PM): So why is Ubisoft deciding to be anti-consumer
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:42:38 PM): They have different policies than we do, as they are a different company
Me (8/7/2017, 11:42:38 PM): ?
Me (8/7/2017, 11:42:51 PM): Yes - a better one. Hence their better financials
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:42:55 PM): I do truly apologize, but we will need a receipt in order to transfer the games
Me (8/7/2017, 11:43:07 PM): and they aren't fighting a hostile takeover by Guillemott
Me (8/7/2017, 11:43:16 PM): THIS is how you lose customers
Me (8/7/2017, 11:43:42 PM): I am making a simple request. PLease move the games from MY account to MY WIFE's
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:43:58 PM): One moment please
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:45:30 PM): I have verified that in order to move the game, we will need a valid proof of purchase, such as a receipt or invoice. If you do not have those, we cannot move the game. I do truly apologize for any inconvenience this may cause
Me (8/7/2017, 11:46:07 PM): Why would you need a receipt when it is REGISTERED to my account? How else can you register a game to an account if you didn't buy it???
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:46:25 PM): We require it to verify your purchase of the game from an approved vendor
Me (8/7/2017, 11:46:36 PM): And after this chat I will continue to be able to play said game on MY account (which I don;t want to do)
Me (8/7/2017, 11:46:57 PM): and will still be able to continue to receive apparently subpar support for it if I so choose
Me (8/7/2017, 11:47:27 PM): And I don't care what you think of whatever store I bought the game from
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:47:29 PM): That is what we will need to transfer the game. Is there anything else that I can assist you with today?
Me (8/7/2017, 11:47:38 PM): Yes - move the game
Me (8/7/2017, 11:47:44 PM): Or get me a manager who will
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:48:06 PM): No one else will move the game for you. If there is nothing else I can assist you with i will need to end this chat
Me (8/7/2017, 11:48:34 PM): This is pathetic. It explains why you guys are doing so poorly though
Me (8/7/2017, 11:48:58 PM): I am now boycotting future Ubi titles. Thanks for saving me future money
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:49:21 PM): I am very sorry you feel that way, but I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day
Me (8/7/2017, 11:49:39 PM): My day will be fine. I just need to log her into my account to play her game
Me (8/7/2017, 11:49:53 PM): But I'm not purchasing any more Ubi games
Me (8/7/2017, 11:50:01 PM): And I am telling everyone why.
Me (8/7/2017, 11:50:24 PM): This was a simple customer service request, and you guys screwed it up. Congratulations
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:50:42 PM): I am sorry you feel that way, but this is the policy
Me (8/7/2017, 11:51:03 PM): I would advise your corporate masters to rethink their policies
Ian W (8/7/2017, 11:51:14 PM): I will absolutely forward your feedback
Me (8/7/2017, 11:51:19 PM): Please do


I will admit I was a little heated by the end there, but this is pretty ridiculous. If game companies are going to insist on digital sales and this is the best they can do in this kind of situation, then I think we all need to have a serious discussion digital purchased from publishers about their custodianship of the games we bought.
 
I don't see what the problem is? If you can't produce the purchase receipts for the games you bought, sorry buddy your out of luck. When I purchase digital games, I always get an email with the key. I always keep all those emails. And you should too!
 
Actually I think UBI is doing it right. What EA did for you is IMHO a big problem. Anyone who might hack someone's account can now just transfer the game to a different account with EA's policy, while UBI's method is better because it actually requires them to produce an extra form of identification that the actual valid owner is the one attempting the transfer of the product. As Motley said, keep all your receipts, I have every single email receipt I have made since around 1999. I think I lost maybe 5 email receipts since then only because of a HDD death and my backup being only 24 hours old.
 
He has access to both accounts. Why do receipts matter? He is not trying to gain access to a lost account, and they are not forcing him to prove he owns his games on his one account.

Just forcing him to prove he bought the game to move it.....even though he can keep playing it without prove of original purchase.....

Big Ubisoft fan's here? geeze.....
 
JustinCorrigible said:
You were a gigantic ass.

I could understand your tone and rude statements if it was something like the electric/power company cancelling your account on the word of some other person without verifying their identity and residence...
Click to expand...

OP, you were definitely an ass in this situation. I honestly don't see the big deal with switching from one login to another when your wife or whoever wants to play. This was a strictly convenience concern of yours and you handled it liked a spoiled brat.
 
Slightly off topic but related to this. I've purchased an EA game retail some time ago, but never bothered to activate it until a few months ago.

Then when I tried the code didn't work. I contacted support and they gave me the exact same shit story. That I need a receipt. For what ? A game that I bought over a year ago?

They refused to replace my key, even though I've sent them physical proof of the game disc and the printed key.

They said since it was purchased trough a third party and not directly from EA they can't do anything about it. And that I should take it up with the store where I got it.

That's completely unreasonable.

After I persisted the guy said he will escalate the ticket to a higher level, but that's probably just a typical cut off line they use. As nothing has happened since.
 
LurkerLito said:
Actually I think UBI is doing it right. What EA did for you is IMHO a big problem. Anyone who might hack someone's account can now just transfer the game to a different account with EA's policy, while UBI's method is better because it actually requires them to produce an extra form of identification that the actual valid owner is the one attempting the transfer of the product. As Motley said, keep all your receipts, I have every single email receipt I have made since around 1999. I think I lost maybe 5 email receipts since then only because of a HDD death and my backup being only 24 hours old.
Click to expand...

What you are missing is that I had to prove ownership of my account with the phone rep who placed the initial ticket through 2-factor authentication AND answering a bunch of profile questions. There was no doubt I was the owner of the account.
 
M76 said:
Slightly off topic but related to this. I've purchased an EA game retail some time ago, but never bothered to activate it until a few months ago.

Then when I tried the code didn't work. I contacted support and they gave me the exact same shit story. That I need a receipt. For what ? A game that I bought over a year ago?

They refused to replace my key, even though I've sent them physical proof of the game disc and the printed key.

They said since it was purchased trough a third party and not directly from EA they can't do anything about it. And that I should take it up with the store where I got it.

That's completely unreasonable.

After I persisted the guy said he will escalate the ticket to a higher level, but that's probably just a typical cut off line they use. As nothing has happened since.
Click to expand...

That is unfortunate indeed. I've had to contact EA phone support a few times, mostly for Red Alert 3: Uprising. (which has no key deactivation feature, so if you upgrade your computer and reinstall - you need to call them). And they have been nothing but helpful at those times. Perhaps you got a bad rep on the line.
 
Ironic:

I fired up Uplay just now and it updated itself and my profile has me at level 0 and all of my "Ubisoft reward coins" or whatever those things are? Gone!

I hope that gets fixed soon.
 
zamardii12 said:
OP, you were definitely an ass in this situation. I honestly don't see the big deal with switching from one login to another when your wife or whoever wants to play. This was a strictly convenience concern of yours and you handled it liked a spoiled brat.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry that you feel that way. Sure I can log in so she can play those 2 when she is ready. I said as much above. But let's put this in physical terms. If the complete game box was sitting on MY desk instead of hers, I could have walked it over to hers. Problem solved.
 
Motley said:
I don't see what the problem is? If you can't produce the purchase receipts for the games you bought, sorry buddy your out of luck. When I purchase digital games, I always get an email with the key. I always keep all those emails. And you should too!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure this was purchased through the old Stardock games client before they sold it to Gamestop, but that was years ago. I can't prove it of course, but I really shouldn't have to. I own the game. It is attached to my account. They see it. It's there. I'm not asking for another copy to give away or sell to someone. I'm simply asking for it to be moved to where it belongs.
 
Q-BZ said:
Ironic:

I fired up Uplay just now and it updated itself and my profile has me at level 0 and all of my "Ubisoft reward coins" or whatever those things are? Gone!

I hope that gets fixed soon.
Click to expand...


Same here.
 
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