Pilot Archive
Thread: Stuck in Space Bug/My SOE Live Chat CSR Experience Today
I thought I would post this here as it is a pilot issue, though there is really nothing you can do if it happens to you other than to /bug it. Here are my experiences with this bug.
Today, I was trying to complete my first Tier 4 Neutral mission. I docked with "Hutt Transport." Nothing happened. The only way I could undock was to /dock again, but then I could not move, hyperspace, nothing....
Let’s go back in time – let’s say a few days ago. I was stuck at the Kashyyk space station. I could not move, /comm, hyperspace, nothing. A hostile NPC then proceeded to repeatedly blow up my ship (about once every 20 sec or so). I submitted a "stuck" ticket. After 2 hours and hundreds of deaths, I gave up on waiting for a CSR to save me. So I re-logged. When I re-spawned, I was on the surface of Kashyyk. Upon checking my ship, all of my components had poofed. Luckily I had some extras in my backpack so I wasn’t stuck on Kashyyk.
Back to today. Luckily, no NPCs were camping me today. I was simply stuck. I submitted a ticket (not being hopeful of any resolution), and tried the "Chat Live with Customer Support" option on the SWG site. After waiting 20 minutes for a response, here is that conversation. I have changed the names so as to protect the innocent. For me, I have changed my name to "Me:" and for CSR Jimmy G., I have changed his name to "CSR:". 
CSR: Hello, Thank you for contacting Sony Online Entertainment. One moment please, while I read your question. Thank You!
Me: Howdy
CSR: You can contact a GM from launchpad by using the option CHAT.
Please make sure you're entering in a general CHAT room.
Me: I don't understand. I'm stuck ingame
CSR: You have to ask Ingame CSR's to move to another location
CSR: I have provided you the steps to contact Ingame CSR's.
CSR: You don't have to enter Ingame.
Me: so how do I get to the launchpad without logging out?
CSR: Please logout from the game
Me: The last time I was stuck in space and logged out, I loggen in on the surface, and all of my ship components had poofed.
Me: *logged in
Me: Is this your suggestion?
CSR: Yes you have to logout from the game and then contact Ingame CSR's.
CSR: I am sorry I can't assist you with Ingame issues
Me: Wow! I guess I'll just have to deal with losing everything yet again. Thanks :/
CSR: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Me: Well, considering I cannot play the game, and if I do your suggestion I'll lose several hundred k in components, there isn't a whole lot more that you can do for me.
CSR: Thank you for visiting our SOE Chat line. Take care and have a Good Day!
Me: 
Soon after, a CSR responded to my in-game ticket and transported me to a planet. My components did not poof, but they did decay 10% - ouch.
-BS
cluckcluck wrote:
poor CSR. I can tell ya what happened. That poor guy makes minimum wage or only a buck or two over. He tries to help ya... obviously cant.. and you feel the neccessity to burden him with your opinion. If you had done that " I'm taking my business elsewhere" shi---stuff to me when I was at Dell, your call would have mysteriously dropped mid sentance. I hate it when people think ANYONE at a company is capable of correcting or cares what your problem is. You sir are a jerk, and I salute that poor ignorant poorly paid ... whatever that got stuck with ya.
I've done lots of customer service jobs, a couple in call centers. I'm assuming Dell let you go considering your attitude on how to handle a customer who is giving you all relevent information and also letting you know that the last time they logged out they were affected even more seriously. Sorry to disagree, but these people are supposed to not only know how to help, they are supposed to care. I'm glad that the majority of my CSR experiences with SOE recently have been good, but I remember the bad old days . . .
cluckcluck wrote:
poor CSR. I can tell ya what happened. That poor guy makes minimum wage or only a buck or two over. He tries to help ya... obviously cant.. and you feel the neccessity to burden him with your opinion. If you had done that " I'm taking my business elsewhere" shi---stuff to me when I was at Dell, your call would have mysteriously dropped mid sentance. I hate it when people think ANYONE at a company is capable of correcting or cares what your problem is. You sir are a jerk, and I salute that poor ignorant poorly paid ... whatever that got stuck with ya.
Its no wonder your not working there aymore, this CSR just shrugged his shoulders and said
"to bad", "move along!"
cluckcluck wrote:
poor CSR. I can tell ya what happened. That poor guy makes minimum wage or only a buck or two over. He tries to help ya... obviously cant.. and you feel the neccessity to burden him with your opinion. If you had done that " I'm taking my business elsewhere" shi---stuff to me when I was at Dell, your call would have mysteriously dropped mid sentance. I hate it when people think ANYONE at a company is capable of correcting or cares what your problem is. You sir are a jerk, and I salute that poor ignorant poorly paid ... whatever that got stuck with ya.
As a former CEO and CFO of a couplecompanies, if any of my employees would have taken the attitude of "I hate it when people think ANYONE at a companyis capable ofcorrecting or careswhat your problem is" or "your call would have mysteriously dropped mid sentance", especially customer service, they would have been promptly terminated. You may want to consider that in your next customer service position, or better yet you may want to consider a career change. And as for my being a jerk, I would disagree. I'm simply a paying customer who contributes to their revenue (albeit a very small percentage) and helps make their business plan a viable business, who had an issue with their product and wanted the problem corrected (which was partly done by an ingame CSR).
Yes, this guy was clueless. That is most likely not his fault. To me it sounds like poor training and procedures within SOE. His uncaring attitude and short tone however were his responsibility. However, I've seen first hand what customer service reps have to deal with and can totally understand how one would get that way after many calls from irate and insensitive customers.
Now back to the issue at hand. The reason that I posted this was to a) alert others to this bug and b) let them know the repercussions of their actions. Perhaps I was not clear, so for that I apologize. Let me try again.
If you get stuck in space, and you value your ship components, do not logout as they may all poof. If you manage to get hold of an ingame CSR, they can respawn you on a planet surface, but all of your components will decay by 10% (not ideal, but better than poofing). Now the trick is to get an ingame CSR. Jenden (DE Correspondent) had agenius suggestion.
What the CSR said is pretty much what you have to do (up until logging out, don't have to do that). You just alt-tab out of the game, bring up the launchpad, log in to the launchpad, and go to the chat option.
Ifyou don't actually log into a galaxy, you will not get booted out of the game. So this suggestion seems to be a great solution for this and many issues.
Again, I apologize for not being clear and for allowing... well... someone like cluckcluck to degrade this intoa flame session. I hope that the information I have provided will help make an unfortunate bug more bearable if you should ever come across one in game. Good luck all, and may the Force be with y'all.
-BS