Subscription Price?

[xaradt]

Okay, at the mo I'm a returning player that has up to Shadowlands, so seems my charge is 5 something Euro's.

I'd like to get all the expansions to experience the entire game, but from how I read it, that would cost me 20 Euro's plus another 17.99 a month..... Sorry but wtf? 17 Euros a month? yes, that includes VAT, but seriously how can a 10 year old game justify a subscription charge that is twice that of almost every other mmo out there, including ESO!

Now I see that if I lived in the USA I'd only pay $14 a month, which is closer to 10 Euros, so is VAT now almost 100%?

Please tell me there is a way for a Brit to pay in $, I don't mind paying VAT, I'm used to the govt pinching my cash, but this is way out of line.

Please don't tell me to do a 12 month sub on a 10 year old game also, 1 month at a time is fine.

[Merit]

Don't forget cred sellers, that another 15 usd's!

[Gorathon]

If you only want a month at a time - if you want to dabble in full expansions - I encourage you to keep the SL-only account and create a new full account. If you don't like full expac, or if your full account lapses, you can't go back to SL-only (and SL-only isn't offered anymore).

[xaradt]

Thanks for the tip Gorathon, but I'm not going to pay in Euro's for it, so unless someone has a way for me to pay in USD or GBP I'm out.

I don't see why I cannot choose, as Euros are not my native currency any more than Dollars are.

[Awikun]

If you enter your adress in USA you will be charged in USD.

[xaradt]

Okay, so I changed my address, glicked upgrade and it did indeed show me the prices in USD, yay I thought, and clicked pay, when I got my reciept it said my Paypal had been charged 19.99 Euro. Seriously Funcom, this is NOT cool, you can't state one thing and then charge in a different currency!

[Notevenmad]

and you cant state one country and make payments from another....

[xaradt]

Well, my country uses neither Euro nor USD, I find the fact that it defaults to the more expensive option plain wrong, I should have a choice to pay in whichever currency (that they offer) I choose.

Bottom line, they said they would bill me $19.99 and they in fact billed me 19.99 Euro, however you look at it that is wrong and illegal.

[Jihnna]

"wrong and illegal"

[Towerblock]

I'd like to pay in Zimbabwe dollars.

[Gaveup]

Buy North American pre-paid credit cards and have your address setup for the same, that's about the only work around I could think of since your paypal account would have your proper address and your countries currency in it, it would be converted to whatever is closest and if you are European or on that side of the ocean it's probably gotta be euro with vat since FC is still run outta Norway? I think I confused myself!

[xaradt]

Well can lock/close this thread, not bothered so much about playing a game where how much they charge you is based on which side of the atlantic you live on lol.

Plenty of other companies manage fair equal subs, don't see why Funcom should be any different. Judging by this article http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=609380 seems to me they need a new CFO.

[Gaveup]

Really makes no sense overall, I'm in Canada they have offices in Canada but don't collect in CAD only USD so ends up costing usually a dollar more after the conversion however when the Canadian dollar was doing better I was paying about $14.00 again makes no sense if they are charging in USD convert the euro's and charge VAT against something like 10.80-11 Euro's.

TBH it sounds like something for a lawyer to really take a good look at and give a proper answer cause it doesn't add up. REFUNDS!

[xaradt]

Well I contacted Paypal and they sided with me and refunded my payment, as Customer services at Funcom refused to do anything bar keep my cash. So I now see that Funcom banned the AO account I upgraded lol, so where they could have got an upgrade and sub from me now they get nothing, nice business model.

[Difs]

Is better this way...

[semisentient]

no the business model, to put it somewhat harshly, is that the lost revenue from the likes of you is small enough to not warrant putting in the effort and cost of making a system that would have kept you. frankly i agree with that and i'd rather they put effort into improving and maintaining the game than appeasing a few grumpy customers who are unwilling to pay what they perceive to be 'unfair' prices. These are customers who are unlikely to buy a lot of addons and in game items to begin with.

most international games charge differently in different markets (wow for instance), a different way to look at it is you are actually just getting the CONVENIENCE and ADVANTAGE of having all international players being in the same server. if you'd rather be strict and feel if u pay more you have to be on a separate server where everyone pays the same, then there are options like WoW for instance.

[Raggy]

And then there is the rest of us who just pay in USD using PayPal because F FunComs business model.

[Iorekzix]

Well, my country uses neither Euro nor USD, I find the fact that it defaults to the more expensive option plain wrong, I should have a choice to pay in whichever currency (that they offer) I choose.

Bottom line, they said they would bill me $19.99 and they in fact billed me 19.99 Euro, however you look at it that is wrong and illegal.

also this could be cauz you baught the expansions. it charges you ~20€ for them including one month sub.

[Keepbrave]

You do realise this whole argument is flawed.
You do realise how much it costs to accept transactions in multiple currencies?
You do realise USD is cheaper as there is not TAX, The US have to pay their tax themselves at the end of the year.
You do realise the euro is still legal tender in the UK?
You do realise Funcom have the right to accept only Euro and sod the rest as they are registered in the EU?
You do realise that even after paying €19.99 most card merchants will charge an extra £1.50 foreign transaction fee anyway.
You do realise putting your address as a US address and paying from the UK just to get round the VAT is fraud? And then you have the cheek to accuse them of illegal activities?

I could keep going. The bottom line is, it is cheaper for them to maintain 2 payment models and they are within their right to ban your account considering you claimed the money back.

[metaluv]

You do realise USD is cheaper as there is not TAX, The US have to pay their tax themselves at the end of the year.

you do realize that in the U.S. we pay sales tax at the time of transaction, where applicable ? (including internet purchases) some states have no sales tax but most do.
and we file an INCOME tax return once a year, from which most people get money back, again, because our taxes are deducted out of each paycheck. some people will need to pay for various reasons, but not the majority.