Need advice. Ubisoft wants me to be a fraud victim.

[KageSong]

So, Ubisoft won't let me buy anything. Apparently, it's because over a year ago, I reported fraud to my bank at the time for a $10 US charge. Ubi is saying that unless I reverse that chargeback (which I can't, I don't bank there) thereby making myself a victim of fraud, I can not buy anything from them. Does anyone have any advice in this situation? Or, has anyone found themselves in a similar position?

[TheRevTastic]

Just make a new ubisoft account?

[KageSong]

Just now, TheRevTastic said:

Just make a new ubisoft account?

And support a company that is asking me to be a victim of fraud?

[KageSong]

Just now, KageSong said:

And support a company that is asking me to be a victim of fraud?

Not to mention, at that point, re-buy all my games ... from a company that's asking me to be a victim of fraud.

[TheRevTastic]

Frist off you'd still have access to your account that has the games on there so you wouldn't need to re buy them.

 

Secondly you're the one asking advice on how to keep buying from a company that wants you to be a victim of fraud so it seems you're alright with that from the get go so I don't see why that's a problem with you.

[dalekphalm]

22 minutes ago, KageSong said:

So, Ubisoft won't let me buy anything. Apparently, it's because over a year ago, I reported fraud to my bank at the time for a $10 US charge. Ubi is saying that unless I reverse that chargeback (which I can't, I don't bank there) thereby making myself a victim of fraud, I can not buy anything from them. Does anyone have any advice in this situation? Or, has anyone found themselves in a similar position?

Have you contacted support? Provided them with screenshots of your banking proving the fraud (with of course, sensitive info redacted)?

 

What was the $10 charge for? Was it for something that appeared on your account? We will need more detail to help you.

 

If you want to get their attention, Tweet them, post on their FB pages, etc - you need to get the attention of someone in the support department with enough power to actually make decisions (eg: not front line support).

[KageSong]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

Have you contacted support? Provided them with screenshots of your banking proving the fraud (with of course, sensitive info redacted)?

 

What was the $10 charge for? Was it for something that appeared on your account? We will need more detail to help you.

 

If you want to get their attention, Tweet them, post on their FB pages, etc - you need to get the attention of someone in the support department with enough power to actually make decisions (eg: not front line support).

I'm no longer with that bank. Nor can I contact them, because I'm not sure who I was with at the time.

 

The charge was for a game I do own, that I have purchased, more recently than that.

 

For various reasons, I actually don't use social media.

[KageSong]

3 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Have you contacted support? Provided them with screenshots of your banking proving the fraud (with of course, sensitive info redacted)?

 

What was the $10 charge for? Was it for something that appeared on your account? We will need more detail to help you.

 

If you want to get their attention, Tweet them, post on their FB pages, etc - you need to get the attention of someone in the support department with enough power to actually make decisions (eg: not front line support).

For what it's worth, I'm not saying any of your thoughts are incorrect under normal circumstances, just that things are complicated with me and the specifics of this.

[Arika]

41 minutes ago, KageSong said:

And support a company that is asking me to be a victim of fraud?

But you already said

 

Quote

So, Ubisoft won't let me buy anything

Meaning you tried to buy something. If you don't want to support then, don't try and buy anything. In which case, I don't understand the point of this thread? 

[dalekphalm]

45 minutes ago, KageSong said:

I'm no longer with that bank. Nor can I contact them, because I'm not sure who I was with at the time.

Wait.. you don't remember what bank you were using? That seems like a rather massively important thing to forget.

45 minutes ago, KageSong said:

The charge was for a game I do own, that I have purchased, more recently than that.

How were you able to make that purchase?

45 minutes ago, KageSong said:

For various reasons, I actually don't use social media.

So? Create an account, use it, then delete it after you're done. Use fake info to protect your identity if you're worried about privacy.

[KageSong]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Wait.. you don't remember what bank you were using? That seems like a rather massively important thing to forget.

How were you able to make that purchase?

So? Create an account, use it, then delete it after you're done. Use fake info to protect your identity if you're worried about privacy.

I don't remember if it was my bank, or my grandma's. I think it was my grandma's. She's 94 and unwilling to talk to the bank about it.

 

I have no idea why this is the first time they've said that when I've bought a few things in the past year.

 

I would create a fake account like you say, but privacy is not my concern. My concerns are actually grounded in law, which I'd rather not explain. Suffice to say, I truly can not do social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

[KageSong]

23 minutes ago, Arika S said:

But you already said

 

Meaning you tried to buy something. If you don't want to support then, don't try and buy anything. In which case, I don't understand the point of this thread? 

I guess the point of this thread is two-fold.

 

1: Because I think people deserve the information about a company that could do the same to them and I felt that posting it this way was better.

 

2: Because I genuinely hope someone has advice that will help me get through this situation so that I can indeed spend the money I'd like to spend on the games I'd like to have. Which dalekphalm has given, except that in my very specific situation I can't implement that advice.

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, KageSong said:

I don't remember if it was my bank, or my grandma's. I think it was my grandma's. She's 94 and unwilling to talk to the bank about it.

If it was another person's bank account, you're probably SOL on any practical solution.

4 minutes ago, KageSong said:

I have no idea why this is the first time they've said that when I've bought a few things in the past year.

I'd guess that your account was flagged for suspicious activity. If you can't prove to them that you were scammed, then to them, it looks like you're scamming them by trying to steal $10 from them.

4 minutes ago, KageSong said:

I would create a fake account like you say, but privacy is not my concern. My concerns are actually grounded in law, which I'd rather not explain. Suffice to say, I truly can not do social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Right... well, that sounds like something that shouldn't be discussed further.

 

How were you scammed to begin with? Take us through exactly what happened.

[KageSong]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

If it was another person's bank account, you're probably SOL on any practical solution.

I'd guess that your account was flagged for suspicious activity. If you can't prove to them that you were scammed, then to them, it looks like you're scamming them by trying to steal $10 from them.

Right... well, that sounds like something that shouldn't be discussed further.

 

How were you scammed to begin with? Take us through exactly what happened.

Well, I mean, I saw a charge that I didn't make on a bank statement (possibly grandma's credit card statement, she let me use it at the time, as I'm disabled and have no income). I called the bank (or card company on her behalf) and said hey, I didn't make this purchase. They would have then said to let them look into it and see if they believe me. They then a few days later contacted me and said they believe me and did a chargeback. 

 

I mean, I can't really give specifics on this specific charge, because I clearly don't remember it or I'd know what it went through. However, I do know from experience that that's how chargebacks for unauthorized (i.e. fraudulently made) charges work.

 

No other company ever has told me I can't buy from them because I reported a fraudulent charge. Granted, that's only happened 3 other times. Twice was when my card was stolen before I got it reported, so I remember those for sure.

[dalekphalm]

11 minutes ago, KageSong said:

Well, I mean, I saw a charge that I didn't make on a bank statement (possibly grandma's credit card statement, she let me use it at the time, as I'm disabled and have no income). I called the bank (or card company on her behalf) and said hey, I didn't make this purchase. They would have then said to let them look into it and see if they believe me. They then a few days later contacted me and said they believe me and did a chargeback. 

Okay, I'm with you so far.

 

So, after the mysterious $10 charge (which was clearly from Ubisoft store?), were any new games added to your account that you didn't buy?

 

Did you contact Ubisoft at the time to report the fraudulent charge to them directly? Or did you only contact the bank/credit card?

 

How did they associate the chargeback with your Ubisoft account?

11 minutes ago, KageSong said:

I mean, I can't really give specifics on this specific charge, because I clearly don't remember it or I'd know what it went through. However, I do know from experience that that's how chargebacks for unauthorized (i.e. fraudulently made) charges work.

Kind of, yeah. Typically it's as simple as requesting a chargeback. However, Online Digital Game stores have been pretty strict about Chargebacks potentially leading to account bans, etc - this has been the case for many years.

11 minutes ago, KageSong said:

No other company ever has told me I can't buy from them because I reported a fraudulent charge. Granted, that's only happened 3 other times. Twice was when my card was stolen before I got it reported, so I remember those for sure.

 

[KageSong]

6 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Okay, I'm with you so far.

 

So, after the mysterious $10 charge (which was clearly from Ubisoft store?), were any new games added to your account that you didn't buy?

 

 

Not to my knowledge. The charge was for Uno apparently, which I have purchased, and have not charged back

 

6 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Did you contact Ubisoft at the time to report the fraudulent charge to them directly? Or did you only contact the bank/credit card?

 

With my memory issues I couldn't tell you for certain. I've had several concussions in life and I'm mentally disabled from them, among various other things. However, I would guess that I did contact Ubisoft and then the bank or card (again mine or my grandma's, can't be sure.)

 

6 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Kind of, yeah. Typically it's as simple as requesting a chargeback. However, Online Digital Game stores have been pretty strict about Chargebacks potentially leading to account bans, etc - this has been the case for many years.

 

I guess maybe I could see this mentality, but I had fraudulent charges on both Steam and Battle.net before and neither of those companies have since told that I can't purchase something. And both of those were significantly more than ten bucks.

 

I know it's such a weird topic on here, and weird to be asking advice. But, I would really love to find a way to solve this within my means, because there are games I enjoy and want to play with a clear conscience. Not to mention, I want to order Uplay+ which is recurring income for Ubisoft, which is way better than ten bucks for them.