flyboy6
USA#2Author of original report
Mon, July 30, 2012
Gamepal has contacted me back after some email issues. We have agreed on a price that I find acceptable and all issues with my Age of Conan submission are resolved. The problem arose from communications breakdown and I retract my negative statements about Gamepal.
Ashley
springfield,#3Consumer Comment
Mon, July 16, 2012
"Ashley I am assuming you are affiliated with gamepal somehow. First, Show me anywhere that I stated I was selling the account itself. Of course I dont own it and cannot sell it. What I do own and control is access to said account. I can give/sell that information (login information) to whoever I want to. Yes, the developer can ban me for it, but it is by no means illegal."
I am in no way affiliated with gamepal. They are a bottom feeding bunch of scam artists out to steal and hack accounts. You do not own and control access to the account. Reread the terms of service on whichever MMO you are playing. Unless you've got one with a strange EULA/TOS it will state somewhere that allowing another person to log in to your account is a violation of the terms of service also. You do not own the account, and cannot by their terms of service allow anyone else to log in on the account. So no, you can't. I didn't say it was illegal, however you cannot sell something you do not own. If I buy a gym membership, I can't go sell it to someone else. That's not how it works. I also cannot just let other people use my membership.
" I entered into a documented agreement to exchange account access for a sum of money. If that account access was used and no money was paid then I definitely have a leg to stand on. My bait and switch claim also is valid because I described what I was giving access to, they agreed on a price, I sent them exactly what I described, they took the access and said they were going to give me a different sum of money."
No, you don't have any leg to stand on. You don't have the rights to sell access to your account anymore than you have rights to sell the account. You also do not have a contract with them that was signed for a particular purchase price.
" Bait and switch is illegal. But the business they are in is not, otherwise they would not be able to be a business. And this whole ordeal is very poor business practice."
Bait and switch is illegal. This is not bait and switch, you should go back to economics class. Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud, most commonly used in retail sales but also applicable to other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by advertising for a product or service at a low price; second, the customers discover that the advertised good is not available and are "switched" to a costlier product.
What product or service were you offered that was not available for a low price and what costlier product or service were you offered instead?
" I was contacted by Gamepal via email today offering a price closer to my original bottom line, but within 14 minutes recieved another email from a different rep stating my submission has been cancelled on my request along with the password to access the account. I immediately tried and that password did not work. Hopefully they will stay in contact and this will be resolved."
Again, good luck. Its people like you that help ruin the gaming industry. By dealing with this bottom feeding bunch of low lifes you are encouraging them to hack and steal more accounts.
You also might want to go read gamepal's terms of service. They reserve the right to change/modify all terms, conditions, and notices under which their websites and services are offered. Meaning they reserve the right to change your offer at any point before the offer is complete. I'm assuming you clicked the "I agree to the terms and conditions" of which you clearly didn't read. Your post violates several of their terms and conditions. The fact that you are attempting to retrieve your account which negotions are in progress violates their terms.....
You are correct on one point. No one should do any business with gamepal.
darkflyer
United States of America#4Author of original report
Mon, July 16, 2012
Ashley I am assuming you are affiliated with gamepal somehow. First, Show me anywhere that I stated I was selling the account itself. Of course I dont own it and cannot sell it. What I do own and control is access to said account. I can give/sell that information (login information) to whoever I want to. Yes, the developer can ban me for it, but it is by no means illegal.
I entered into a documented agreement to exchange account access for a sum of money. If that account access was used and no money was paid then I definitely have a leg to stand on. My bait and switch claim also is valid because I described what I was giving access to, they agreed on a price, I sent them exactly what I described, they took the access and said they were going to give me a different sum of money.
Bait and switch is illegal. But the business they are in is not, otherwise they would not be able to be a business. And this whole ordeal is very poor business practice.
I was contacted by Gamepal via email today offering a price closer to my original bottom line, but within 14 minutes recieved another email from a different rep stating my submission has been cancelled on my request along with the password to access the account. I immediately tried and that password did not work. Hopefully they will stay in contact and this will be resolved.
Ashley
springfield,#5Consumer Comment
Mon, July 16, 2012
" If I have any problems retrieving my account or if a thourough inventory shows anything missing I will seek action on gamepal.com."
Seek action? And how do you propose to do that? The account is not yours to sell. You dont own the account nor do you own anything that is on the account. Both the account and the items on the account belong to the game developer, not you. You have no legs to stand on legally, since you are trying to sell property that never belonged to you. Gamepal knows this, and they like to screw people like you. They know you can't legally do anything to them. They have likely stripped your account of wealth and sold the wealth on the black market for a quick buck, knowing full well you can't do anything about it.
Your best bet is to report your account hacked and get it restored to you through customer service. If you tell the game developer you were trying to sell it, there's a good chance they will just perma ban the account.
darkflyer
United States of America#6Author of original report
Sun, July 15, 2012
I have been digging around www.gamepal.com FAQs (since the emails refer you to these) and have found a few things that really makes me think that they are using bait and switch tactics.
The bait: The fact that I submitted 100% accurate account details Especially pertaining to skill levels and assets should mean that my original quote of $500 dollars should also be 100% accurate. This is backed up by Gamepal's own FAQ section:
http://www.gamepal.com/faq/index.php/sell-accounts/33-before-submitting/19-how-do-you-price-accounts.html
A revolutionary system that 100% accurately asseses accounts...
I liked the quote of $500.00 which was immidiately agreed to by me by giving them the pertinent account info.
The Switch: Of course I get an email citing a "system error" in thier so called 100% accurate system dropping the price down significantly. Ive seen many reports about these "system errors" and the email states
"After review of your account submission, our system experienced an error in pricing your account. We can offer you $164.00 for this account which is the CORRECT PRICE after our manual individual reviews. Please note that this offer is non negotiable at this time and will be valid for 48 hours."
SO now they have my account info, and are pressuring me to accept a much lower price with deadlines.
This ALSO goes directly against what thier FAQ says:
http://www.gamepal.com/faq/index.php/sell-accounts/28-quotes/277-can-a-quote-change-after-i-submitted-my-account.html
A quote cannot change unless something is missing from the account. In my case I know I gave completely accurate information on my account's specifications.
This is the original email I recieved:
"Greetings,
This email is to confirm that we've received your account submission and are ready to offer you $500.00 for your account at this time. Your account submission ID is A1888709, please keep this number for your records. If you'd like to accept this offer, simply fill out the acceptation form received at the time of submission. If you have any questions, feel free to visit our Live Help.
Account Submission ID: A1888709
Our offer: $500.00
Date submitted: 2012-07-08 18:49:38
Submission IP: XXXXXXXXXXX"
This email clearly states that the offer is for $500, which I accepted. In the company's own words I submitted information to a 100% accurate. Everything I submitted was completely accurate and nothing on the site or the email states the price can change for anything other than inaccurate information.
So to me this is bait and switch. I am very interested to hear what the company has to say about this... If they would ever respond to me.