Merchant Archive
Thread: THE DEVS & CSRS SUCK!!!! After 300 items lost in a vendor I have lost all will to play.
god, what's with all the merchant posters being a$$holes?
Blame the victim? Even if his story is a bit of an exaggeration, the current "item poof" system sucks.
In real life, do items disappear from vendor shelves if not sold? Not unless stolen or the place is destroyed, but insurance covers that.
I might agree with some of you *if* there was any rhyme or reason to how vendors and storerooms worked. I've had a crate of torches in the storeroom, just to see when they disappear, for over 6 weeks now. Would I let my good items go there? Nope. But my point is, it's inconsistent at best.
How about withdrawling an item from a vendor to reprice it, and when you put it up for sale it shifts to another vendor?
Vendors, my fellows, just do not act consistently. Sure, if you wanna take a "well he shoulda known better" attitude, that's fine, but I'll laugh my a$$ off at you when your vendor disappears for a few days (as is not uncommon) and you spend hours trying to deal with the Completely Stupid Retards (CSRs, for the slow) to get your items back.
It amazes me what the devs do in this game. I get an email if I purchase something and the vendor is 2 feet away, but apparently, I can't get an email to let me know my vendors need maintenance, my houses need maintenance, if my harvestors stop gathering...
Maybe in your imagination of a sci-fi world, these things make sense, but to me, technology exists to make life and tasks more simple.
Note to the original poster, ask to speak to the csr's supervisor. Get an out-of-game email. Do a search in the forums and provide links to the NUMEROUS instances of vendors acting inconsistently. They have records, they can track your items, they owe you them back. The only reason they resist at first, is because this game has so many bugs that if they started having to replace everyone's items that disappear, they'd have to quadrouple there csr staff, and actually teach them to do something besides hit their chests and say "I can't do nuttin".
-Snift, master merchant, master miscreant
Chickenlad wrote:
I don't know, I can't speak about what happens after you die...can you? Are you an authority on the afterlife? Are you sure we don't go to the great big cloning center in the sky? Am I being flippant? Yup. Point is, your example doesn't hold water. It's impossible to answer.
And tell me friend, where in game do you find that items will poof if they have been in the stockroom for 7 days? Did you see it in the holocron? No, you didn't, because it's not there. It's just another glaring example of the "trial by fire" method of programming that this game uses. Like EQ, where they added in spell descripitions after...3 fuggin years. It's the same thing here. The only way you learn is by having it happen, or if you hear about it from someone else, or you read the boards.
You'll excuse me if I find that this method of teaching players the ins and outs of the profession completely unacceptable.
-Snift
Search String: Vendor Stockroom
How long will items stay in my vendors stockroom?
Items can remain in a stockroom for up to 7 days, however they will disappear if they are left there for longer than 7 days. Please note that vendors are not designed to incorporate storage of items. Items that are lost from vendors that are intentionally used for storage cannot be returned by Customer Service.
If you view the details of an item in the stockroom it has a timer just like those that are on sale do which is counting down. When it works correctly it counts down from 7 days to 0 and then the item vanishes. This is not consistant and that is an issue but you should never assume that it will remain longer than 7 days. If it does you have gotten a break.
Getting this changed probably won't be easy becasue the devs don't want people leaving things in the vendor indefinitely. They fear that the vendrors will become a giant bottomless suitcase to store your items. Convincing them otherwise won't be easy. I am very sorry that anyone ever has to lose items. I have lost plenty of items in this game since I started playing and it was agonizing every time. I sympathize with the issue but I simply can't see how statements like "THE DEVS & CSRS SUCK" is productive. Proposals for how this could be changed without playing into the potential for the stock room to be abused to strore personal items to get around the house item limits would be prodcutive.
A friend of mine had a emergency, was off teh game for 1 month. He came back to find his house and everything in it (including vendors) gone.
That's a lot of hard work down the drain. Now as for he should have put maint before he left. Um that's why it is called an ememgency
$hit, I just got fowned =)
Still, it is inconsistent, more often than not, if i get a timer on items in the stockroom, it's 30 days, and sometimes i don't get one at all...
Nice work doc heheh
Chickenlad wrote:
Still, it is inconsistent, more often than not, if i get a timer on items in the stockroom, it's 30 days, and sometimes i don't get one at all...
It is inconsistent. I think if you receive an offer from a 3rd party and accept it; the item goes to your stockroom, however, I don't think it is on the same 7-day time limit. I recall getting an offer on one of my remote vendors, accepting, but forgetting to head out to pick it up for a while. I'm pretty sure it took me more than 7 days to finally get out there, and I was surprised to see the items were still there.
I can accept the deletion of items, as I understand the challenge of keeping folks from using it as storage. Lesson learned on my part. Still, it would be nice if folks got an email 24 hours prior to the deletion so they have a chance to remove them.
DocSavag wrote:
Chickenlad wrote:
I don't know, I can't speak about what happens after you die...can you? Are you an authority on the afterlife? Are you sure we don't go to the great big cloning center in the sky? Am I being flippant? Yup. Point is, your example doesn't hold water. It's impossible to answer.
And tell me friend, where in game do you find that items will poof if they have been in the stockroom for 7 days? Did you see it in the holocron? No, you didn't, because it's not there. It's just another glaring example of the "trial by fire" method of programming that this game uses. Like EQ, where they added in spell descripitions after...3 fuggin years. It's the same thing here. The only way you learn is by having it happen, or if you hear about it from someone else, or you read the boards.
You'll excuse me if I find that this method of teaching players the ins and outs of the profession completely unacceptable.
-Snift
From the Knowledge Base (available in game by going to the Holocron and then the Customer Service Tab and searching) : Search String: Vendor Stockroom
How long will items stay in my vendors stockroom?
Items can remain in a stockroom for up to 7 days, however they will disappear if they are left there for longer than 7 days. Please note that vendors are not designed to incorporate storage of items. Items that are lost from vendors that are intentionally used for storage cannot be returned by Customer Service.
If you view the details of an item in the stockroom it has a timer just like those that are on sale do which is counting down. When it works correctly it counts down from 7 days to 0 and then the item vanishes. This is not consistant and that is an issue but you should never assume that it will remain longer than 7 days. If it does you have gotten a break.
Getting this changed probably won't be easy becasue the devs don't want people leaving things in the vendor indefinitely. They fear that the vendrors will become a giant bottomless suitcase to store your items. Convincing them otherwise won't be easy. I am very sorry that anyone ever has to lose items. I have lost plenty of items in this game since I started playing and it was agonizing every time. I sympathize with the issue but I simply can't see how statements like "THE DEVS & CSRS SUCK" is productive. Proposals for how this could be changed without playing into the potential for the stock room to be abused to strore personal items to get around the house item limits would be prodcutive.
OK....I know I am going to get killed for this but.....
As someone who previously worked for a software development company and has worked both technical support and customer service jobs, I can tell you.....threads with titles like this get you nowhere fast.
If someone came up to you and told you that you were stupid and you suck, when you did the best you could, how helpful would you want to be. I feel for the CSRs....you ask...do they even play the game? The answer to that for the majority of the employees is probably no. In my experience, you get a little training (if you are lucky) then they hand you a book and turn you loose with the customers. Email support is generally filled with pat responses the experienced CSRs have constructed to respond because they get tired of typing the same thing over and over.
You want to blame SOE.....go ahead but don't blame the poor people who are stuck working for them. I am sure all the CSRs would like to see everything fixed just as much as the players. But guys really, I am totally addicted to this game but it is a game...if you don't like it, quit playing and move on to something else. It is not a necessity in life and you complain more than my customers who rely on the software as their real life income producing work livelihood.
/start hatemail
It's funny you say that....that was one of my tag lines when I did technical support....
I understand the frustration you are experiencing. However, the program is functioning as designed. You may submit an enhancement request and it will be reviewed by our product management team for inclusion in a future release.
Translation: It goes into the great unknow and a year from now someone will regurgitate it as the next GREAT idea.
I just feel bad for the devs....their job must really suck 
Respectfully,
Keniki
I had the same problem, I just didn't play that character for awhile, thinking what doesn't sell on my vendor will be safe in my 'stock room'.
Where does SOE list the time limits for vendors stock room anyway? I've been trying to find it in my manual.
I just know I lost a lot of resources, stuff I have collected since day 1. This is pretty much the final straw with this game, I'll be done as soon as my current month runs out.
[quote]I can accept the deletion of items, as I understand the challenge of keeping folks from using it as storage. Lesson learned on my part. Still, it would be nice if folks got an email 24 hours prior to the deletion so they have a chance to remove them.[/quote] What, the email you DO get when the item doesn't sell (the "Unsuccessful Auction" emails) isn't good enough to tell you to get your ass to your vendor and deal with the stock in your stockroom?
You're given an email saying an item comes down off of sale, and you CHOSE to ignore it (or not be in game, for whatever reason) - you KNEW (using the excuse that you didn't do the legwork to find out for sure before hand and you ASSUMED differently isn't Sony's fault, it's YOURS) that the items would come off after 30 days from the time they were put up and then would be deleted 7 days after they come down...You have NO ONE to blame but yourself.
As far as emergencies, yup - but Sony can't be held responsible for your personal problems outside of game - they have more than enough trouble keeping the duct tape stuck on the game as it is