Commerce Ban - Please Help! ACS Sent Me Here

[Spinzakuu]

I have read through the many posts similar to mine, and know that I “need to send an appeal” to get help with my unwarranted ban. I have sent many appeals trying to get the help I need, and after getting mostly boilerplate responses/flat out getting ignored - I finally got this response:

I apologize for adding yet another post to the list but I have no idea where else to go, especially after getting redirected here after all my attempts.

Steam ID: 76561198005862046
Player Name: Vladdicus
Region: NA West Coast
Server: Valtan

Yesterday, Mar 14th, I was issued a permanent ban for having DLC that had been refunded. I made the purchase for the DLC on Amazon, realized my mistake in not being able to redeem a second copy of the DLC on Steam, and I was the one who got help from Amazon Customer Service to get a refund on my purchase - which I was totally fine with eating the cost of in the first place since I legitimately didn’t pay attention to the DLC being restricted to 1 per account. I have not made any other transactions through Amazon for in-game products, and have made all other transactions for in-game products through Steam. I have also not made any other refunds except for this DLC I purchased through Amazon.

I have enjoyed this game so much and have done nothing against the TOS during my 336 hours of playing this game since early access, and have no idea why I would be issued a permanent ban for something that I got Amazon’s help to do in the first place??

I purchased the Vanquisher’s starter pack through Steam on Feb 11th and redeemed it on my paladin, Vladdicus.

I wanted to gift some of the items from the starter pack to my friends but could not get a second DLC pack through Steam. I figured I would buy one from Amazon and see what happened but did not expect to get a Steam code considering AGS published the release of this game in the US. In hindsight though, I probably should have anticipated this and will reiterate that I totally recognize my mistake in ignoring the warnings and purchasing a second DLC pack. I purchased my second Vanquisher’s pack from Amazon on Feb 12th.

After applying the code to my account and realizing that I could not get a second Vanquisher’s pack I contacted Amazon Customer Service in the hopes that I could get a refund. ACS was able to get me the refund that same day, and I opted to get the second tier starter pack for my friends. NOTE: I DID NOT GET ANY EXTRA IN-GAME ANYTHING FROM GETTING A SECOND PACK THROUGH AMAZON. I really just found a fancy way to take extra steps to pay double for the DLC.

Fast-forward to yesterday afternoon - I am getting a head start on my dailies during my lunch break when I get booted from the game with a notice from Steam that my account was locked for having a refunded copy of the Vanquisher’s pack DLC. I sent an appeal to ACS and got this response:

Considering the suddenness of the account lock and the vague reply I got from ACS, I figured that I was accidentally suspended and would be able to log on after some time. When I got home I saw this on my steam dashboard.

I sent a second appeal asking ACS what it was that I did to warrant a permanent ban and was only given the commerce lock section of the TOS as a response.

I sent a third appeal asking how I violated the TOS considering I got Amazon’s assistance in getting my refund and my appeal was ignored.

I sent a fourth appeal with the screenshots I included above and more - including my entire Steam purchase history since making my first Lost Ark purchase - to prove that I made the purchase from a legitimate vendor, I requested the refund, and have made NO other refunds outside of this one instance. I got the reply that I placed at the beginning of this post, sending me here which is kind of silly considering I can’t post on my actual account since it’s banned. I replied saying that the thread had been locked and that the CMs here were directing people to the formal appeals process. This was the response I got:

If ACS sends me here, and the forums are sending me to ACS, and the response I get for clarification looks like this^^^ what am I supposed to do?? Also, I have never been banned from any game before and to see the ban notice on my Steam profile is just salt in the wound at this point.

Please help, any guidance is appreciated at this point.

Extra photos for reference:

Note: The Vanquisher’s DLC has since been removed from my account as part of the ban.

[Spinzakuu]

Thank you! I hope to at least get a response from one of the CMs.

[Spinzakuu]

@Roxx @Maselbart @Seawolf

UPDATE:
I sent another appeal in with a link to this thread and got this response last night:

I checked in on the status of my appeal today and got this response:

I will send another appeal in this afternoon. I am losing hope that I will ever get my account back, please help me!

[Bubbly]

I keep talking about it because it’s such an issue that is consistently being swept under the rug.

How are people getting banned for doing things support themselves assisted doing, knowing the results of this, and you cannot tell me support doesn’t know about this issue.

How are people supposed to feel safe buying things on the auction house when we have no clue if they were refunded and could receive a permanent ban for it? It feels like nothing is being done there and then your only option is to deal with Amazon’s absolutely abysmal customer support and that is a whole different discussion.

This whole commerce lock ban thing is honestly ridiculous.

If you refunded things to get them for free - absolutely deserved. However that is not the case with any of the threads I have seen. They were recommended to refund or innocently bought refunded items on the AH and got banned.
It makes me fearful and I purposely don’t buy skins on it to prevent that issue from happening, but how many people don’t know and how many people have unknowingly gotten banned?

[Xyntao]

I am in a similar situation, the only difference is that i didn’t refunded the Vanquisher Pack, but now i have the pack activated on a region that i don’t play anymore because Amazon requested us to move on another region.

Vanquisher Pack problem!

I purchased the Vanquisher Pack on 17/February/2022 while i was playing on EU-Central, on Zinnervale server. [Ark12] On 18/February/2022, when i saw that not even with the release of EU-West, the que issue wasn’t fixed, i decided to move on EU-West because my daily play time is limited and basically my entire daily time allowance was wasted waiting in que. I moved on West and i wanted to buy again the pack (without even thinking to refund the previous one (as you can see above, it’s not refun…

So now i have two choices: consider those 60£ as a loss and forget about it or refund and get permanently banned.

[Spinzakuu]

It’s one thing to mass suspend the playerbase, it’s another thing to mass BAN the playerbase, and it’s another thing entirely to do either of those things with the lack of transparency I have gotten from ACS. I have given all the information I can showing that I did nothing to break the TOS - even when I got Amazon’s help to perform this “bannable offense”.

I understand that people make mistakes but to handle mistakes at this scale in such a manner is incredibly disheartening and disrespectful.

@Xyntao

So now i have two choice: consider those 60£ as a loss and forget about it or refund and get permanently banned.

This should not be the case! What’s the point of having a customer service department if they don’t offer the appropriate service to their customers, and seem to actively work against them when the customer does reach out for help?? How do they expect to make money off this venture when they have inappropriately blocked their customers from accessing the product in the first place?

[Bubbly]

Honestly the latest reply in the suspension thread was the most I’ve heard talked about it and it’s only because it was such an uproar.

While I am glad those people got their bans reversed, the commerce ban part of the issue has been waiting 2+ weeks for an actual statement on this and honestly, I feel like customer service has gotten worse. I’ve seen screenshots of attitude and passive aggressiveness that is completely unwarranted and unprofessional from different agents. Agents even ignoring their questions and just ending the chats.

It’s one thing to make mistakes but tell them what happened so they can prevent making that mistake in the future, and some mistakes aren’t even theirs but getting punished for.

[Xyntao]

@Spinzakuu

This should not be the case! What’s the point of having a customer service department if they don’t offer the appropriate service to their customers, and seem to actively work against them when the customer does reach out for help?? How do they expect to make money off this venture when they have inappropriately blocked their customers from accessing the product in the first place?

Well, as you saw in the screens, i waited for 1 month and still no reply. I am completely ignored. That’s the reason i decided to not spend anymore. More money for me i guess

[Spinzakuu]

@Bubbly

tell them what happened

This has to be tied for first place when it comes to what is frustrating me the most about this issue. I have addressed the reason my ban was implemented in the first place, clearly communicating that I did not act fraudulently, and all my questions regarding the “merit” of my ban get deflected.

If I can’t get a clear reason as to why I deserve this ban, then how clear is it defined on their end?

@Xyntao

That’s the reason i decided to not spend anymore

When they added an extra founder’s pack for incentive to move servers I should have taken that as a sign to take it easy till things settled down. I am sorry you are in this situation but I am glad you have been able to navigate it in a way that let you keep your account. It’s amazing how complacent ACS is with having their playerbase walk on eggshells like this.

[Bubbly]

Exactly, we have been assured many times now that these appeals are “checked manually”
I have to say I have yet to be convinced anyone is actually reading the appeals unless you make such a huge stink and get someone who will actually take the time to listen; but most of the time you get support agents who have the same tools as the ones who do help, but claim they don’t and can’t help.
Make it make sense.

[Xyntao]

@Spinzakuu

I am sorry you are in this situation but I am glad you have been able to navigate it in a way that let you keep your account.

That’s the issue: there was no other way to navigate except loosing the money. The only reason i am not banned is because i didn’t refunded.
What i find ridiculous in your situation is that Amazon helped and approved your refund and after banned you. I really feel sorry for you, it must be very frustrating. And sorry that i kinda invaded your thread with my issue, but i am pissed off also because everyone ignores me.

[Spinzakuu]

@Xyntao

What i find ridiculous in your situation is that Amazon helped and approved your refund and after banned you.

@Bubbly

Make it make sense.

Don’t feel bad! If this is how we are supposed to get our issues elevated then do what you can to make your issue as visible as possible.

Also, I noticed this issue got moved from General Discussion to English Support at some point today so it’s getting some kind of visibility from the powers that be.

[Xyntao]

@Spinzakuu

Also, I noticed this issue got moved from General Discussion to English Support at some point today so it’s getting some kind of visibility from the powers that be.

Yeah, they have a mod that basically replies automated messages and moves threads to the according channels. But 0 help given. He must justify his wage. Right?

[Spinzakuu]

UPDATE:

I sent another appeal this afternoon and was met with this response:

Considering the nature of the previous responses I have gotten could I please get an update on whether this is actually being looked into before I spend another night constantly refreshing my email inbox? What about all the other people who are waiting to have their unjust bans lifted?

[Spinzakuu]

UPDATE:

First response some of us have received from the forum moderators:

From this thread:

Accidently permanently banned my friend

Bumping with my experience too. I did refund the pack but I did it legitimately, and still ended up buying that DLC and more in the end.

I am still waiting on a response from ACS from my previous appeal. I will send another appeal in if I do not hear by the end of the workday.

Please fix the unjust permanent bans, this has gone on long enough already

[Spinzakuu]

UPDATE:

I have heard nothing more from the forum staff or Amazon Customer Service. Still waiting on a response for my appeals; and, although we got a response from @Kagami yesterday we are still waiting on a statement specifically addressing this issue and how it is being fixed.

I originally didn’t care about compensation for lost play-time, but since I have been banned for most of this week - and it looks like I probably won’t be able to play at all through the weekend - I would like to also know how we will be compensated for this lost time and all the difficulty ACS has given us in our attempts to appropriately resolve the matter. I know I am not the only one missing out on my crystalline aura - let alone event tokens, honing materials, and many other means of progression.

Can I check up on the status of my appeal without fear of having it thrown out and only getting this as a response?

Is sending in these appeals even helping me get the assistance I need? Am I being reset in a endless queue with the many other people who are stuck in this customer service loop that has been created? Can we at least get a timeframe of when we can expect to have this issue addressed?

[alex33x1]

I would first worry about your suspension being lifted, before we start asking for compensation.

I’m on 15 days commerce ban and last night I received an automated message saying my ban will not be lifted. I had to talk to an AGS chat agent today, for him to submit a case for me with all my screenshots, which means this 15 days I’ve been waiting nothing has been done.

Commerce Lock Permanent Ban

I’m reposting this, because I no longer have the ability to edit or post on my Main Account as Amazon Games Locked me out. I was one of the many perma bans, on March 2nd. I made multiple purchases for Lost Ark as I bought it for a few of my friends. I took time off to play the game when it launched, and sunk around 300+ hours in the game. I made a ban appeal and have not heard back from Customer service in over 2 weeks. Yesterday I got this response: [image] I requested my data from Amazon …

Also make sure you request your personal data from amazon, that way you can see exactly why you were banned.

[BigBobbyK]

Waiting on a response for my friends appeal as well. Absolutely ridiculous

[Spinzakuu]

I sent in a request for my information yesterday so hopefully I get it soon. They made it sound like it could take a month to get it all which is not ideal.

[Csorebela2]

Steam ID: 76561198133825155
steam name: jura763
Player Name: Csorebela
Region: EU Central and EU West
Server: Kadan and Punika
I’ve got a commerce ban as well.
I bought Lost Ark Apprentice Starter Pack from a 3rd party website (other channels are not available for me, btw I paid the same price as on Steam or Amazon)
Everything was good until March 14th I’ve got a message from Steam (Revoked CD key)
they removed the product key for my account, then i’ve got another steam message, and they banned me from the game. Demonizing the people who got banned by legitimately working through the channels available to them isn’t the right path here. The third-party websites are to blame for asking for refunds and scamming their customers. So please can the Amazon mods help me? I’ve never got any bans on my Steam profile (it’s a very old profile) and I don’t care about the game anymore just to delete that ban.

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