Vendredi noir... quel desastre! 11/23

Black Friday, what a disaster!


In less than 12 hours, Zynga, Facebook and Mafia Wars have been working hard to alienate their own, very loyal, customers, again.

Several members of my Mafia Wars Family and other players have been so excited about the %60 Off Reward Points Black Friday Sale that they either a) Ran right out and bought Zynga Game cards at a local retailer or b) purchased on line Reward points, only to discover that:

They were now Facebook credits, and that Zynga or Mafia Wars was somehow unable to recognize their purchases.  There have been many exchanges between these players and Customer Service. As far as I can tell so far, there is still no resolution.

VIP extended property beg time FAIL! 11/9

All of us with Gold VIP membership were waiting to see how well the 5 days of extended begging was going to work. This morning, it's all over the feed. "Welcome Back to the Family" FAIL!

So we have all moved on to reporting the problem to Customer Service. I sent my e-mail. Let the waiting begin. I'm not really feeling that VIP feeling.

Mafia Poker Extended

Zynga has extended the Mafia Poker event, much to my annoyance since I had just accepted 50+ Poker Cards that turned into Mystery Bags upon accepting them. And yes, I have submitted a ticket to CS, not that it will do ANY good whatsoever (my last 2 experiences with CS were an absolute nightmare and a complete waste of my life). Nonetheless, you now have roughly 1 day and 17 hours and a few minutes left to complete this event. My work schedule had kept me from getting very far, and I doubt I will be finishing this one, which is unfortunate since it seems you do not lose the Fortune Teller you previously had. I am working on Gold Mastery and I have both a Bronze AND a Silver Fortune Teller in my inventory. Anyway, there's my two cents before I leave for work. Good luck.

Bad Business in the Back Alley

It appears i will not be able to collect any skill points by collecting the 3 loot items unless i pay for them. According to a "helpful" player advocate at Zynga, once Ruby mastery is reached no more loot will drop. I contacted CS because ever since I reached Ruby mastery I have not had any more loot drop. My numbers stayed steady at 9, 8, and 19 respectively. I explained the situation using very simple English to Zynga CS and this is the response I received:

"Hello Jon,

Jon, I understand that you are not receiving any loot from Back Alley Business and I want to let you know this is because you have already fully mastered it, and our Developers has designed the District that after you complete it you won't receive any loot, so that's why you are not receiving Items.

If you have any other concern or question please contact me back, have a wonderful day.

Kind Regards,

A***** B********

Zynga Player Advocate "

I have to ask why this is the case. Why would loot stop dropping when I have mastered the district? I feel I am being punished for completing a Mafia Chore on time. And if this is how it has to be, why not make this seemingly important detail very clear to me as a player? I have, of course, replied to this ridiculous response from CS. I wish I could have used chat....it is so hard to explain things clearly to the Zyngons using e-mail. If there are any further developments, I will pass them on. In the mean time, keep fighting the good fight.

Issues with feeds and Cider House - 11/23/11

Dear Mafia players,

We are aware that there is an issue with the feeds and in particular with the ones related to the Cider House when requesting parts. Our development team has been notified and is currently working to resolve this issue.

Please check the game periodically for updates on its availability. We apologize for this inconvenience.

It seems to me like Zynga is trying to force people into spending reward points to complete their Cider Houses. Talk about the spirit of the season.

All Feeds requesting parts for the Cider House will just tell you "this feed has expired", so these players who are trying to finish upgrading the property before time runs out are getting shafted, and naturally Zynga isn't lifting a finger to do anything about it.

I strongly recommend you contact Customer Support and complain about this egregious slap in the face.

Can't ask for Cemetary Parts

Many players are reporting that when asking for the individual build parts needed to upgrade their Cemeteries, respondents are getting the message that "this post has expired". Some members of our Family had this problem, and now I see that many others are also reporting the same thing.

Apparently, this only applies to the posts that ask for specific parts such as Tombstones, Reciprocating Saws, and Plaster. The post that can be generated from your Mafia Wars home page does NOT seem to have this issue.

I don't know if Zynga is aware of this; they've got something on their Customer Support page about players not being able to upgrade properties, but the answer doesn't seem to apply to this situation at all.

For now there's not much you can do until you're able to ask for general parts. Remember that you can open multiple tabs and generate the help post numerous times as long as you do so before actually publishing any of them. Then you can leave the tabs open and publish the posts one by one until you have what you need.

Crime Sprees

The Crime Spree feature was recently pulled from Mafia Wars, without a bit of warning, in typical Zyngon style. Most players weren't really surprised, and some were mildly upset about it; I saw one person refer to it as a Nerf. I can understand why, as we were able to get small amounts of extra energy or stamina from them 5 times a day, but that's the only thing that made them worth it.

One of my friends heard from some other player who claimed to have been told by Customer Support that the Crime Spree feature was removed for upgrading. I have found no verification of this at this time, and in fact, I had a Customer Support Agent tell me a few minutes ago that the feature would NOT be returning.

Oscar Z: Thanks for the Wait Misty, I've checked some reports stating that the Crime Spree feature will not be released again.

If you've been told something different, please let me know, I'm curious. 

the Case of the Missing Body Bags

A short while ago, several of my Family members noticed that their supply of Body Bags had gone mysteriously missing from their Mafia Wars inventories. This was rather alarming, considering myself and many others have actually focused on stock-piling them in the event that they are needed for future Chicago expansions.

I checked, and found that my inventory of the Body Bags was still intact, but a few more Family members discovered that they too were down to zero Body Bags. What the--?

I suspect it has something to do with the requirement of Body Bags for the current mission event, You Iced My Father. Specifically, I noticed that Body Bags are required for the first mission, Gather Intel.

Who knows? Christy L., a Family member, went to Customer Support. Customer Support offered her no explanation, however they did credit her with 200 Body Bags. Another Family member, Michael S., was credited 200 body bags--that sounds aight until you consider that he had over 300 Body Bags to begin with.

Yep, go check your inventory.

Zynga Customer Support site outage

I noticed earlier this afternoon that there seemed to be some issues with the Customer Support site. I went there looking for any updated info for the new Ice Season 03, but found the site was slow to respond, and wasn't even showing current topics on the Mafia Wars support page.

Checking back a few moments ago, I see the site is now entirely down.

Oh well, it's not like you guys ever read the FAQs anyway :0)

Customer Service Improvements Are Needed Badly

The issue of Zynga's lack of quality Customer Service has been on my mind for quite a while now. Since I wrote up the blog post about Zynga's Q&A #12: Customer Support Availablity and seeing some of the comments and posts around the web lately, a few things have really been nagging at me.

I like to think that my fellow MW players are aware that there are plenty who attempt to contact Zynga's Customer Support with every little gripe about the game they can in order to get the RP apology. Personally I can't stand seeing people bragging about this. To me it is akin to cheating. Zynga opened the door for players to abuse the system in this way, and I have to say I think it is about time they close that door.

Being a Customer Service Representative is not an easy job to do. It takes a special type of person to be able to deal with upset people day in and day out. I would never think to treat another person with such disrespect as I have heard some people in my friends list have done when trying to get something resolved in the game. I would like to remind those out there who do treat these CS Reps in such a way, you are not 'getting back at Zynga' by being a dink to those that are just trying to help you and you more than likely won't get very far with your complaints as they would be written off due to your attitude.

As far as the current state of Zynga's Customer Service, there is much that can be done to improve upon it. There may be plenty of complaints that there are not enough live support agents available, but if e-mails were handled better than what they currently are people would feel that they are getting just the same satisfaction as those who are able to use the chat feature when it is available.

Overall there still needs to be better procedures, consistency and standardization in how the customer issues are handled. If there are wide-spread issues all revolving around the same 'glitches' in the game, then those who do contact CS should expect to receive the same treatment and 'apology loot'. Of course this can be dependent on Loyalty Tier. I haven't spent much on this game, and I don't feel the need to. I do believe, however that Platinum players have earned the right for better compensation because of the money they have spent.

As it stands there currently is no standard in place that can be seen in the compensations. This is why so many players feel they are entitled to RP apologies each time they contact CS, and then proceed to get huffy when this does not happen. If you have two players and neither have spent any money on the game, or perhaps both are Platinum players, if you give one 5 RP for the same issue that the second person has, that second person should be getting the RP as well.

There is also the fact that many CS Reps don't seem to understand what a player is talking about or having an issue with. It may be harder to do, but what about having separate 'teams' within the department? One 'team' may help with only issues revolving around missions/boss fights and another may deal with Jobs and another with Fighting or however they can best divide them up. This way each 'team' is familiar with that area of the game.

Whatever it is that is going on in Zynga's Customer Support Department, it needs some major addressing from within. I am not saying that they are not working hard, but I am saying that the reps are not all on the same page, many don't understand what the exact issue is and everything varies depending on who is spoken with. All of this has put the company's reputation in the garbage disposal in the eyes of the players. It is time for Zynga to take care of this.

Family name/tag disputes

A community manager gave us a quick update this afternoon and said that if your Family has a name or tag dispute, you should contact CS from the email address of your account. They will need the Facebook ID#s of both of the Godfathers/Godmothers who claim the tag, and they will want to know how long your group has been around. For a short time, they will investigate these disputes on a case-by-case basis, as they recognize that these groups have been around the game for a long time before this feature was released. Eventually, the tags will be on a first-come first-serve basis, of course. 

Open a support ticket about the dispute with Zynga Customer Service HERE.  It's pretty sad that I have it bookmarked :-/

the deal with the Hung Chu Enforcers

There's been a lot of discussion about the drop rates for Hung Chu Enforcers since last night. I decided to try and do a drop rate study to determine what frequency they could be obtained for those doing the Crossing The Line mission event. That was a silly idea, as it turns out, and I'm glad I gave up quickly.

As we know, the objective states to loot 12 Hung Chu Enforcers from Job: "Hire an unsavory crew".

Clicking the Go Now button brought you to this job in Pirate tier of Bangkok. This job does not actually have a loot drop associated with it.

In Jen's post about the Enforcers, she noted that Hung Chu Enforcer came from a marketplace crate in the past. My own screenshots also show that it is indeed a marketplace item, and that's when I realized ~ my energy account wasn't getting them to drop because the account had already collected exactly 12 Enforcers. After that point, they will not drop from that job. :facepalm:

I know some of you are having trouble getting them to drop and you don't have the 12 yet, but keep at it. The account I was using for testing purposes last night maxxed out on them in about 3 levels. I already have a few of them on my personal account too. They will drop if you haven't gotten 12 yet, although the drop rate is low. I've seen a few people say they looted the 12 Hung Chu Enforcers but they are not being counted for the mission. Sadly, for those of you with that issue, Customer Support is probably your next step.

a(nother) Zynga CS Horror Story

Another Zynga CS 'Horror' story

By Feature Contributor Nick Greig 

Editor's note: isn't it amazing how familiar this sounds?  Zynga's customer support department is deplorable, scripted, predictable, and a pain in the butt!

It's taken a little longer than planned to get this together, and though it had a happy ending I'm sure you'll agree that it shouldn't have taken as much effort as it did. It also highlights how there are inconsistencies with what Zynga CS reps tell you at times, and how this is further compounded by the fact that seven different CS reps replied to the ticket over it's duration.

Submitted by someone who wishes to remain anonymous of course.

Incident Entry by Zynga Customer Portal ref: Against All Odds FAQ - Sat Apr 23 - Around 7pm

Hi,
I do not yet have this enabled on my account. It appeared very briefly one morning, then disappeared completely. Please advise ASAP as I will not be happy if I miss out on this event.
Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#1 - Sun Apr 24 - Midnight

Hello MWP,
Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support. My name is CSR#1 and I will be glad to assist you. MWP, I apologize for the inconvenience you are experiencig.

MWP, I received your message, but I do not have enough information to determine the cause.
Please reply to this email with the following additional information so that I can resolve your issue:
• The time and date the problem happened, or when you first noticed it
• Description of the problem or issue. Please be as specific as you can. Whenever possible, please take screenshot\'s of the issue in question to display things like error codes, proof of abuse, or anything that will better clarify what you’re reporting.
If you are unsure of how to obtain a screenshot, the following article from our knowledge base at Zynga.com will help:
How do I take a screenshot?
http://support.zynga.com/CP_ArticleView?id=kA160000000Gnvs&gameid=0&loc=en_US
Regards,
CSR#1

~~

Email from MWP - Sun Apr 24 - 7.30am

Hello CSR#1,

My apologies, I thought selecting the "Against all Odds FAQ" when submitting my ticket would have been included in the
information. I do not have the 6 personal missions for this event, the set that begins with "Fickle Lady Luck". I logged on 2 days ago, had it wait in my Mission bar briefly, moved around a few times and it disappeared, so there is nothing to take a screenshot of.

Please advise.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#1 - Sun Apr 24 - Nearly 3pm

Dear MWP,
Thanks for getting back to us!
This is CSR#1 again and I will be glad to assist you. MWP, thanks for write us back with th extra information.
MWP, according to our system you already have the Mission you are asking me, please reply to this email to confrim that you have this Mission, if there is other concern I can assist you, please feel free to write me back, it will be a pleasure to assist you again.

Regards,
CSR#1

~~

Email from MWP - Sun Apr 24 - Nearly dinner time!

CSR#1,

I do not have the mission. I have not received the "newspaper" pop-up shown at "http://mwlootlady.blogspot.com/2011/04/against-all-odds-limited-time-mission.html" and I do NOT have the missions available. All I see in Vegas is my Brazil mission icon. A screenshot is attached, please go back and tell your system it is wrong, thanks.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from MWP - Mon Apr 25 - 1.30pm

Hello,

Nearly 20 hours have elapsed since my last reply was sent. Please can you advise if this issue is still being looked at?

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#2 - Tue Apr 26 - A quarter to nine in the morn'.

Reply from Zynga Customer Support
Hi MWP,
Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support.
My name is CSR#2 and I will be more than happy to assist you in this matter. I\'m truly sorry to hear that you\'re still experiencing issues with the game, I would like to ask you to uninstall and reinstall the Mafia Wars application from Facebook so we can disregard the possibility of a technical issue.
* Login to your account
* Mouse-over "Settings" in the top right-hand corner
* Select "Application Settings"
* Find the game in the list of applications
* Click the "X" to the right of the application name
* Log out of your account
* Restart your computer
* Log back in to your social network
* Re-add the application
To reinstall the application you\'ll need to click on this link:
http://www.facebook.com/MafiaWarsFans?ref=ts, or this onehttp://zyn.ga/c3.
After this procedure, please check if you\'re still having the same issue.
Please, let me know if your account is working correctly now. I\'ll look forward to hear from you!
Happy gaming!
CSR#2

~~

Email from MWP - Tue Apr 26 - 9am

Hello CSR#2,

I have followed these instructions, but upon re-adding the MW application, I still do NOT have the Vegas event missions.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#3 - Wed Apr 27 - Just before 6am

Hello MWP,
Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support.
My name is CSR#3 and I\'ll be assisting you today. MWP I did a little more investigation and, unfortunately, the problem you are experiencing with Las Vegas Mission is an issue we are trying very hard to resolve! We have our Development Team working diligently to quickly get you back into your game!
I truly apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your understanding. If you have any questions or issues in the future, please feel free to contact me directly by replying to this e-mail!
You are an awesome customer, MWP, and your dedication to Mafia Wars is appreciated!
Have a great day!

Regards,
CSR#3

~~

Email from MWP - Thu Apr 28 - Just after 9am

Hello,

Owing to the fact that this is obviously not going to be fixed in time to give me a fair chance of finishing all the missions, I look forward to be account being credited with the loot items that I have missed out on.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#4 - Thu Apr 28 09:40

Hello MWP,
This is CSR#4.
MWP, we take your concerns very seriously. We will do our best to solve your issues as soon as possible.
We are forwarding this information to our development team for their review so they can solve this issue as soon as possible, we would appreciate your patience in this matter and also your loyalty to our games.
Once again, thanks for your cooperation and understanding, we appreciate it very much.
Kind regards,
CSR#4

~~

Email from MWP - Fri Apr 29 -23 hours later, after the event has expired

Hello,

I had completed every mission that has been available since you introduced them, but as this event has now expired, please can you advise on the action you will take to compensate for the fact that I was completely unable to partake?

Loot missed out on:

2 x Car Cutter
5 x Protective Shirt
5 x Freighter
4 x Red Scorpion
5 x Crystalline
1 x Dream Time.

This is without even mentioning the additional XP the missions offer, which would have been very nice indeed. (additional content omitted)

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#5 - Fri Apr 29 - Late lunch o'clock

Dear MWP,
Thanks for getting back to us!
Hi my name is CSR#5, and I will be more than glad to help you today. First of all, let me apologize for the inconvinience that you have experienced with the mission "Against all odds", let me tell you what happened with this mission, our developers did not launch this mission for all the players, this was set up in every single account randomly, that\'s why you never got this mission on the mission toolbar. I apologize again for the inconvinience but there is no mean for us to grant you the items since the mission was not available to you.
Please if you have any other question let me know, I will be more than glad to help you with your questions.
"Remember mafia is not only that, Mafia is the Family that you have to protect"
Have a nice day MWP,
Kind regards,
CSR#5

~~

Email from MWP - Fri Apr 29 14:54

Dear CSR#5,

Thank you for your reply but...

This is simply not acceptable.
Such an event cannot be rolled out "randomly", as this is completely unfair on those who do not get it. I also know for sure that there is every way for my  account to be credited with the loot that I missed out on, as a result of, in
your words, Zynga\'s inability to roll out an event in a standard manner.

If you are unable to provide me with an accurate answer, then please can I ask that you escalate my query to someone who can, or is at least willing to deal more fairly with a 2 year daily player. I will not be leaving this issue alone until I am fairly compensated.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#5 - Fri Apr 29 - 3pm

Dear MWP,
Thanks for getting back to us!
Hi this is CSR#5 again, and I will be more than glad to help you with your problems. First of all, I really want to apologize for the inconvinience that you experienced with this resolution that I gave you before, I will try to do my best to give the best solution, I checked once again your account and I verified that you have made every single mission like you said, also you have been a player for over 2 years, let me tell you what I can do for you, this is the only solution that I can offer you, I can add the last reward for this mission wich is the " Dream Time", as a one time courtesy. Please let me know if this solution is available for you.
I will patiently wait for your response. If  you have any other question let  me know  and I will be more than glad to assist you.
Just like the Godfather, I got your back!
Have a great day MWP!
Happy gaming!
CSR#5

~~

MWP didn't get a chance to read the next message, as they were still composing and sending their reply to CSR#5!

~~

Email from CSR#6 - Fri Apr 29 - A little past 3.15pm

Hello MWP,
Thanks for contacting us back.
My name is CSR#6 and I will assist you in this matter today.
First of all, I apologize for all the inconveniences that you\'ve experienced with the game. I know how frustrating it\'s to have problems in the game and not been able to proceed, I can tell you this because I\'m also a player too.
MWP, as a one time courtesy, I\'ve added Added 3 Car cutter, 3 Red Scorpion, 1 Dream time, 3 Protective shirts, 3 Crystalline and 10 RP as compensation.
I hope these items will be useful to you. Please check your account and let me know if you got them.
Continue enjoying the game and if you have any other concern please don\'t hesitate to contact me. I promise that I willdo  my best to provide you a solution.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Like the Godfather, I got your back!
Kind regards,
CSR#6

~~

Email from MWP - Fri Apr 29 - A gnat's bollock before 3.25pm

Hello CSR#5,

Unfortunately, this is still not acceptable to me.

Firstly, I do not believe for one minute that it was a "random" roll-out at all. As per my original message, sent SIX days ago, the icon appeared in my mission bar, but then vanished after changing cities, never to return. Please do not insult my intelligence by first trying to claim it was a random roll-out. I\'m pretty sure there would be no benefit to "forwarding
this information to our development team for their review so they can solve this issue as soon as possible" (as per a previous rep) if it was a random roll-out.

Secondly, you first claim that you are unable to grant me the items as the mission was not available to me, and then in your next  reply, you state that "as a courtesy" you can award me the Dream Time? If the Dream Time can be awarded, so can the rest of the loot which I have missed out on because of Zynga's inability to resolve this issue over the six days.

Again, if you are personally unable to make this happen, I recommend that you forward this case to someone who can. (additional content omitted)

Also, I would appreciate it if you could spare me the scripted responses (those such as "Just like the Godfather, I got your back!") in future responses. It is not helping my experience.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from MWP - Fri Apr 29 - 3.30pm

Hello CSR#6,

I am unsure why I have received this response, as I had not yet replied to the previous one from CSR#5.

Whilst this is a step in the right direction, I will not let this rest until I also receive the FULL list of loot as I specified
previously.

Regards,
MWP

~~

Email from CSR#6 - Fri Apr 29 - 10 to four in the afternoon

Dear MWP,
Thanks for getting back to us!
This is CSR#6 again. I'm sorry for all the inconveniences you've had.
Believe me, all agents in Zynga are doing our best to satisfy your game experience. You really are our first priority.
MWP, as I want to fix totally your issue, I've added 1 Red Scorpion, 2  Crystalline, 2 Protective shirt and 5 Freighter to your account.
Please check your account and let me know if you receive them.
If you need any further assistance feel free to contact me back.
Thanks for your understanding.
Regards, CSR#6

~~

Email from MWP - Fri Apr 29 - 5 minutes later

Thank-you CSR#6, it all appears to be there now.

Could I suggest that this should have been the FIRST action taken in this set of circumstances, rather than a complete flat out lie and the offer of no compensation? That is no way to keep your loyal player base happy, which should be your priority during these times of dwindling DAU figures.

Thank you for finally resolving this issue.

Regards,
MWP

~~

So, issue resolved right? Yeah, but there was still time for one more CSR to make a cameo!

~~

Email from CSR#7 - Fri Apr 29 - Some time after 4pm

Dear MWP,
Thanks for getting back to us!
This is CSR#7 and I'll be more than pleased to assist you.
Thank you for contacting our Customer Support to solve your problems in the game. This days I've faced different situations and I'm very glad that our customers are satisfied with our service. Here at Zynga Customer's satisfaction is our main goal and I really enjoy when you get what you deserve.

My apologies for the delays you had about solving your issue. This is normally caused becasue our Technical Support Team investigates first all the details of the trouble. Besides that some restrictions in giving items to customers are studied and solved before give them to you due to Zynga's Policies. Although this details, we the Customer Agents are always interested to give you the service you deserve as a Paid Customer. Anyway, I'm very happy your issue was finally solved!

If you need further assistance in future occasions, don't hesitate to contact me back.
Enjoy the Mafia Wars effect!
Kind Regards,
CSR #7

~~

You mean this Mafia Wars effect?

A Zynga Customer Support HORROR Story

This is a chat support transcript sent to me by Matt Wilkinson, and I am posting this with his permission.

When this landed in my inbox, I was thinking this was just another example of how Zynga's Customer Support placates us by finishing missions for us instead of addressing the issue at all. But at the end, it goes horribly, horribly wrong. Matt was either in shock, or is far too nice of a guy! Had it been ME on the receiving end of this chat, I would have called down nine layers of hell on this "CSR". I would have gone absolutely ballistic.Well, I can imagine a LOT of things I would have done and said, and all I can say is, it's lucky for Zynga that this happened to Matt and not me!

Mistyfied has recently been taking a look at Zynga's customer service, and we will continue doing so. Lord knows there's no shortage of material. A Zynga "Customer Support" Story and If I Was In Charge are two examples, and since these were originally posted, I've gotten many more "stories" forwarded to my inbox. It's glaringly obvious (to me, anyway) that Zynga's Customer Support needs to be reformed. And no bail outs!

Read what happened to Matt just the other day. I've posted the whole chat below that Matt sent me. After reading the first several lines, we see that Matt had a problem with 2 missions. This, sadly, is unremarkable, because many players encounter a wide range of problems with the missions in the form of bugs which are never fixed. Reading on, the customer support agent decided to just complete the missions for Matt. Long story short, by the end of the chat transcript, Matt couldn't access his game at all. In fact when he logged into Mafia Wars, it was as if he had never played before and was creating a character for the first time.

Let that sink in for a moment. *POOF* you have no Mafia Wars account suddenly.

Fortunately, we know Zynga can and sometimes does do account "rollbacks", so all was not lost for Matt, but you can well imagine that moment of shock when he logged in and realized his account was gone. What galls me is that the customer support agent just left Matt hanging, essentially. The agent made a feeble explanation (in his defense, he was probably freaking out a little on his end too), and actually seemed to be hurrying to end the chat without a resolution. He did at least assure Matt that his Mafia Wars account would be fine, but the only solution offered was that he would forward the case to someone 'with more access'.

I worked in customer service for many years, so I asked myself how I would have handled that as a customer service rep.

I imagine I would have been freaking out a little bit that I had screwed up someone's account so badly. Instead of trying to rush the customer off the line, I would have offered to stay with the customer until I at least knew definitively how and when the issue would be resolved. When I was in customer service and I screwed something up like that, I apologized profusely to the customer, put them on hold, and marched my butt directly to my manager's office or got someone somewhere on the phone to get crackin'. I kept going back to the line to give the customer updates on what was taking place. I owned that issue until it was resolved if at all possible.

But I digress. Matt tried another chat support agent after the first one rushed him off the chat, but was told nothing else could be done.

An hour and a half later, the first agent contacted him and the issue was finally resolved with apparently no harm done to his account.

As a customer who just took advantage of the 40% off of reward points last night, this situation would have me highly incensed. You be the judge.



Thank you for playing Zynga games. A representative will be with you shortly.
You are now chatting with 'Aubien R.'
Aubien R.: Hello matt! I am a Zynga Customer Support Representative. How can I help you today?
matt: Hi Aubien
matt: I am having some mission troubles
matt: one in the limited time and 1 in Brazil
Aubien R.: I see.
matt: Firstly in my Brazil mission it is asking me to complete the particular job 3 more times although I have fully completed that job 100% and then in the Limited time mission it is asking me to do a job that I have infact completed the whole region to Ruby
Aubien R.: Which mission is that, Matt? Did you try to refresh your game or played on mafiawars.com just to check if the problem still exists?
matt: I will do both now
matt: JOB: "SHOW A BUSINESS OWNER WHO'S IN CHARGE this is the limited time one and JOB: "PUSH OVER A GUN RUNNER"is the one in Brazil
Aubien R.: Okay. Matt. Please do both, I'll be here if you need help.
matt: and I have just checked on mafiawars.com and refreshed my browser while in facebook
matt: and I have the same issue
Aubien R.: I apologize for the inconvenience. Can you please provide your MW Profile Link so I can check your account?
matt: <link removed>
matt: there u go
Aubien R.: Thanks! Let me check your account for a while.
Aubien R.: Sorry for the wait!
matt: thats ok
Aubien R.: Let me just complete that requirement on your mission so you can finish it, Matt. Please check your game a few minutes after our chat for the update. Sorry about the delay.
matt: ok thank u
Aubien R.: No problem, Matt. I'm glad to have assisted you!
Aubien R.: Don't forget to check your game after our chat for your mission update.
Aubien R.: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
matt: thats all my issues that I have
Aubien R.: Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support. To receive an email with the transcript of our conversation, click the envelope icon and enter your email address. I would appreciate it if you fill out a short survey about your experience chatting with me. Click the red X at the top right corner of your chat window to start the survey. We value your feedback! Thanks again!
matt: they are still showing as needeing to be done
Aubien R.: Please check your game after our chat for the mission update because we're having a delay on our end right now, Matt. I apologize for the inconvenience.
matt: its not that I dont trust you but one time before a lady told me that something had been completed and it never did get done and then it took me 3 more chat sessions to get it done
Aubien R.: It's okay, Matt. I understand you very much because I also play the game.
Aubien R.: You can try to refresh your game now to check if the update's on your game now.
matt: JOB: "PUSH OVER A GUN RUNNER" in Brazil is not showing as completed the other one is
matt: on the missions
Aubien R.: I see. Let me refresh your game again.
matt: it asks to do the job 10 times but it only takes 7 to complete it too 100%
Aubien R.: Kindly refresh and check your game now, Matt.
Aubien R.: Is your mission update already, Matt?
matt: I dont know whats happening
matt: its showing me a story board then at the end asking me to enter a mafia name and press continue
matt: I have never seen this before
Aubien R.: Can you please close your game and re-open it again?
matt: it is still doing it
Aubien R.: Okay. I'll be here if you need help.
matt: please dont tell me my account has gone
Aubien R.: No worries, Matt. You're account will be fine.
matt: what do I do
matt: its still showing my the story and asking me to enter a mafia name and press continue
Aubien R.: Let me refresh your game again, Matt. I apologize for the inconvenience.
matt: ok
Aubien R.: Because I can see here that your account is still fine. You're still at level 676, still have the same items, progress on jobs, missions, achievements, etc.
Aubien R.: I think you're just having a display error, Matt. I need to report this to our team right now so that they can further check because they've more access to our system. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.
matt: ok
Aubien R.: For now, please try playing on other browsers and on mafiawars.com. Also, try removing and rein-installing your game because by doing so, it updates everything in the game.
Aubien R.: By the way, if you can get a screenshot of that, it will be a big help.
matt: its doing it on mw.com
Aubien R.: You mean the same startup screen?
matt: yes
matt: I dont know how to remove and reinstall my game
Aubien R.: Okay. Just take a screenshot of that and please attach it to the email that I'll send you after our chat. To remove your game, just to to your Application Setting in Facebook and to re-install it, just press the "LIKE" button in the Mafia Wars Fan Page, just like what you did before.
Aubien R.: *just go to your Application Setting
matt: I cant find anything on facebook that says application settings
Aubien R.: To remove your MW game, just go to the "Account" option on the upper-right side of your Facebook page then click on Privacy Setting and select the "Apps and Websites".
Aubien R.: You can remove your game there, Matt.
matt: I have found it now
matt: I have removed it and installed again and still same trouble
Aubien R.: Okay. I'll add that to my report and forward it to our team no so they can start checking your account for that. Rest assured that nothing's lost on your game, Matt.
Aubien R.: Don't forget to attach your screenshot to the email that I'll send after our chat. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.
matt: ok looks like no play for me tonight
Aubien R.: Again, I'm sorry about this, Matt.
Aubien R.: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
matt: I have sent u a e mail can you check if it has come through to u
Aubien R.: I still can't see it, Matt. Maybe it will arrive after a few minutes.
matt: ok
Aubien R.: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
matt: no thats all my problems now a whole lot worse
Aubien R.: Don't worry, we'll get this problem fixed immediately.
Aubien R.: Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support. To receive an email with the transcript of our conversation, click the envelope icon and enter your email address. I would appreciate it if you fill out a short survey about your experience chatting with me. Click the red X at the top right corner of your chat window to start the survey. We value your feedback! Thanks again!
matt: thank u
Aubien R.: Have a great day, Matt!
matt: and u

a Zynga "Customer Support" story

 A few days ago, I ran across this note by a friend in my news feed. It's a story of her recent experience with Zynga customer support, and if you've ever had to contact customer support for any reason, I rather suspect you'll find the story very familiar. Sue recounts that she contacted customer support about bosses regenerating health during boss fights, and was initially happy when she got this response:

Hello Sue,

Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support!

My name is Milton, I am glad to assist you, I apologize for the previous delay and I am really sorry for the inconvenience, since that you have experienced issues with the Boss Fight. I am a daily player and I understand how frustraiting this can be when you can not complete the Boss Fight, sometimes there are tecnical issues that may affect the game.

Because you are a important customer, I already checked your Mafia Wars Profile and I noticed that you have completed the Boss Fight Capitão Tinto. I am happy to inform you that I have awarded with 10 of each Consumable Boss Fight Items and 15 Reward Points as a one time courtesy, in order to give you a chance to Refill your Stamina, I would appreciate if you could check your account to confirm that it was updated sucessfullly, as previously you had 0 Reward Points and your new total should be 15 Reward Points.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. If you have further issues don´t hesitate and contact me back.

Have a Nice Day Sue!!

Kind Regards,
Milton R.
Zynga Customer Support

Now doesn't that sound familiar?

Sue was really excited about this at first - after all, being compensated with a few reward points is a nice thing for them to do, but she quickly realized that her problem had not really been addressed at all. In effect, she was paid for her silence. She quickly wrote back to Milton.

Hi Milton. Yesterday when I received your e-mail I was happy to have a response in such a small time frame and even more happier when you gave me the Rps and Fight consumables. But then this morning I did another Boss fight and the exact sa...me thing happened. At that moment I realized nothing was fixed, I was paid off by Zynga to just "let it go" Although I appreciate your generosity I would like to know what if anything is being done about this. There are others in my mafia who are going through the same and we are all getting very frustrated. It is not fair to me but also to my mafia members who have helped in the fights and used their own stamina and/or consumables to help me out but then to have the whole thing re-set and back at square one.

 

Milton did respond nicely enough, but still nothing at all was really resolved.

Hello Sue,
Thanks for contacting Zynga Customer Support.
My name is Milton and I'll be more than happy to assist you in this matter. I truly apologize for all the time without receiving a response to your incident on not being able to complete the Boss Fight.
I was checking your Boss Fight issue and found that there are other accounts affected with this inconvenience. According to the development team, the resolution is in progress, I would like to ask you to please bear with us while we resolve this.
Because you are a valuable Player, I am happy to inform you that I checked your Mafia Wars Profile and I have completed for you Let the Pros Handle It: Task: 3 - Win 1 War. I would appreciate if you could check your account to confirm that it was updated sucessfullly.
At Mafia Wars support, we admire your exceptional gaming skills and we believe that real Mafia Wars is about people like you. Just like the Godfather, I got your back!
Your understanding is greatly appreciated for us to keep working to make Mafia Wars as enjoyable as we can. I'll look forward to hearing from you again!
Kind regards,
Milton R.
Zynga Customer Support

We aren't getting customer support, we're getting placated (if we're lucky) and nothing's getting fixed, so it's more like a customer crap-shoot. Tell me I'm wrong. 

Do you have a similar story? Post it on the Mistyfied Mafia Wars fan page wall or email me at mistyfiedmafiawars@gmail.com