Dealing with Blizzard Ban

Options
Textmessage
Textmessage Posts: 387 Member
Just wondering if any of you guys have dealt with being wrongfully banned by Blizzard. I woke up today and found a nice email waiting for me:

***Notice of Account Closure***

Account Name: <removed>

Reason for Closure: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy

This account was closed because one or more characters were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for "real-world" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.

Even if this is the result of account sharing, the account owner can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.

We've found the above behavior is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/services/anti-gold/

The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at http://us.blizzard.com/company/legal/index.html. Note that additional Terms of Use violations may result in more severe actions against this account, up to and including permanent closure.

If you believe your account was compromised, please go to the following website https://us.battle.net/account/support/account-recovery.html. Our support staff will assist you as soon as possible. If you are unable to access your account due to the password being changed, please visit our Login Support site here: https://us.battle.net/account/support/password-reset.html

For any disputes of this action or further information on exploitive activity, please visit the Account Administration Overview and contact page here: http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/300515

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/



I've only recently started playing again after a near 1.5 year break. The only things related to what they're accusing me of that I THINK would trigger anything are

1) I combined all my gold from toons on one server, then paid to transfer one toon to the server I'm now playing on with said gold

2) A friend gave me 1500g to help buy heriloom pants.

3) I use my cell phone as a mifi source and connect solely via that (I read people get banned as suspected gold sellers due to odd IP addresses /shrug).

Has anybody had any luck getting something like this cleared up? All the posts I've read so far make me feel I'm not going to get results with an appeal.

Replies

  • DaniH826
    DaniH826 Posts: 1,335 Member
    Options
    Beware of phishing emails. Don't respond to that email nor click on any of the links or enter your account information anywhere!

    I get those e-mails all the time in my junk e-mail inbox. Too bad it isn't my actual WoW log-in e-mail account. Too bad the idiot phishers don't know that. Obvious spam is obvious. :smile:
  • neffesther
    Options
    My brother had the same thing happen to him. He just called customer support and it all got worked out. Have you tried just contacting them and seeing what they say?
  • Textmessage
    Textmessage Posts: 387 Member
    Options
    To clarify, this wasn't JUST an email - I was actually banned at the login screen.
  • DaniH826
    DaniH826 Posts: 1,335 Member
    Options
    Call Blizzard.
  • stratmantl69
    Options
    Definitely call Blizzard. I know it can be a hassle sometimes, but in the end I've had nothing but positive experiences with their CS. Good luck with that and hopefully you can get back on your realm very soon.................
  • kbitzonefour
    kbitzonefour Posts: 114 Member
    Options
    GW2, GO!
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
    Options
    To clarify, this wasn't JUST an email - I was actually banned at the login screen.

    Call them. I know many accounts that are on hiatus are often hacked, especially if you dont have an active authenticator attached to that account. So you might be being banned for past hacker activities on your account. Call blizzard, they have awsome customer service and you can usually get it straightened out if you werent actually doing anything wrong. Many of the people complaining online about Blizzard Cust Svcs and bans were usually botting/buying gold and/or leveling services and then tried to get blizzard to believe they werent.

    Ive been a GL in WoW for over 6 years. My guildies have done everything under the sun and then given Blizz every excuse you can think of to get out of it. If you did something wrong, it rarely works. If you didnt, they'll clear it up.

    Edit: GW2 also has hackers and gold spammers and needs account authenticators for protection. So switching games isnt a solution. Learning to play by the TOS and explaining yourself when you have a problem is.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    Options
    Yes. Email and call them. Explain everything. Buy the token to secure the account. It'll be ok. Also, since I bought the authenticator, I've had no issues being hacked. Prior to doing so, I was hacked twice in spite of all my efforts (except the token).

    I played wow in beta and ever since, with a one year hiatus. WHen I returned after that year, the account had been hacked/banned, but a phone call and authenticator purchase got everything going again. Of course, I had no money, and my bank/bags were emptied, but my main was at least wearing her gear.
  • jesseg1989
    jesseg1989 Posts: 49 Member
    Options
    I was banned once and they never gave me an explanation, but a few years later I contacted them and they unbanned my account and gave me 2 weeks of free WoW time lol. And it was 2 weeks before christmas.
  • Textmessage
    Textmessage Posts: 387 Member
    Options
    A late follow-up, but one nonetheless. They did unban me within the same day. As mentioned above, no explanation was given other than the fact they assumed I was doing something illegal with the game's economy.

    It was a bit annoying how in the last response letter, they instructed me to watch what I was doing so I don't get banned again. Would be nice to know what I even did to get a ban out of the blue for in the first place. -_-
  • pappesbaby
    Options
    Had the same thing happen, same email. I can tell you it was when your friend gave you the 1500g. I had gave my hubby the gold for his master riding & was banned that night at 12AM. I called & they fixed it right away but the cs lady told me that she was 99% certain thats what did it. I said well how much can I safely transfer without getting banned, of course they couldnt tell me that. We just put large amounts in the guild bank & transfer it that way now. If I do trade with one of my kids I keep it under 100g & dont seem to have any problems.
  • NurseSturgill
    NurseSturgill Posts: 32 Member
    Options
    My husbands account randomly got banned yesterday too....without reason. You can enter a ticket online, or just call them. The wait was like 30 minutes for the phone, but his ticket was resolved before then. His account was back in working order within the hour.
  • Ashwee87
    Ashwee87 Posts: 695 Member
    Options
    I have seen where if you do combine all your gold and it is over a certain amount and you move said toon, it does flag your account. More than likely that is why it happened. Glad you got it resolved though.