dlainedee

Of course safety is a priority, but you have *totally* missed my point. They should ADVISE, STRESS, and even TEACH safety, but a corporation, in all reality, should NEVER enforce personal safety on any of their members. It is NOT their place to do so. To ban a member for this is unprofessional. Many times I edit messages of members that post personal information on one of our customer support public forums. I always leave an edit message, so anyone reading the post after this edit understands why I did it. And, in the next 'new' post I will explain to the member why I edited their personal information out, and why it isn't safe to post such information... We also have a filter in place. However, I WOULD NEVER ban this member, or place 'black marks' against this member for doing so. Same applies to public chats. How CRUEL it would be to do so. How UNPROFESSIONAL it would be to do so. A corporation should NEVER take severe action against a client when it concerns the client's PERSONAL information. *Personal* is the keyword here. Advise, teach, stress, the importance, yes, but ban/mute, NO. When it concerns real...SPAM, saying another website once during a conversation, does not make it spam. Giving the link over and over and over again, is spam, and this is usually obvious. Staff knows this, or they should... They also have a filter in place. Macro/bots... fact of the internet and have been for as long as I can remember. It's obvious to staff when there is a bot, and if it isn't obvious to staff, then banning all members that MIGHT be, is WRONG. As far as getting a trojan on your computer, that is not RS fault, AS LONG AS, there are NO links on their site that leads to another site that has these illegal programs. Take my word, I would be more concerned about my bank account pw being stolen then a game that is supposed to be fun. You can advise, stress and even teach your members the importance of updating their anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, but you cannot force them to do so. In-house email makes hacking extremely simple, with no degree in puters needed... That right there is a no-brainer... The most secure place to send a new pw is the members PERSONAL/PRIVATE email. That right there is a no-brainer... Securing my computer is my responsibility and not a websites. If I get a virus or trojan then it is my fault, not the trusted website. A website cannot run around trying to protect all their members (from themselves), if they do, they won't have the time to spend on the commodity that they are selling. RS has a Filter in place, and they stress, like all [good] websites do, internet safety. BUT, playing big brother by banning good members, just so you don't miss banning the bad members, IS WRONG. Then, worse, saying - sign up again with a new member name, IS WRONG... And despite all that, I do understand rules, but the worst thing of it all is, the lack of communication. Having only 400 characters to explain and defend oneself is the same as saying, you are guilty, and we the said corporation -- do not care what you have to say in your defense, or, how much proof, if any, there is of your innocence. A corporation, that has memberships - customers/clients, should allow their members to fully explain what happened, in their own words (we do have children playing and members from other countries). We the customer/client expects, rightfully so, a reply from a REAL person reading and responding when a canned answer CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be given. They err too many times against the good members. Because, what appears to be -- it is easier to ban everyone, then deal with and take the time, to prove the members' innocence or guilt. To me, it is better customer service to err for the bad, then make a mistake for even one good member.

You still don't understand... They DO NOT have the right to play big brother. They should advise members not to give out personal information, but THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO STOP ME FROM GIVING OUT *MY* Personal Information! It BELONGS to me, not RS. Sorry, it is BAD customer service to ban folks for giving out information that does not BELONG to RS Staff. It is up to the parents to teach their children, NOT RS to ban good members over anything of this kind. Actually, it is NONE of their business if I CHOOSE to give out my personal info. I should be able to do with my personal information as I see fit. They are banning and muting good members because of bad ones. This is extremely unfair, unprofessional, and UN-customer service. You are young, and you just don't understand what is going on. If they were in the United States...they would be in a lot of trouble for the things they do to PAYING members. You do not BAN a PAYING member, then tell them to start another account. In a Court of Law, RS would lose. You do not ban PAYING members for having a conversation about their private lives. I am a Katrina surviver... If I choose to have a conversation about what happened to me, what I experienced, they do not have the right to ban me over this... They need to focus on their game, their TOS, and stop playing big brother. With stupid silly rules that they have NO RIGHT to make, much less enforce. RS does NOT need to protect us... They need to STOP using IN-House email. They need to use our private email to send all information, including a new password when it is needed. This alone would end 99% of all hacking... It is ok for you to stand up for RS, for most things, but by your own words, you do not understand what you are talking about. Sorry, but it is true.

:) It's ok, you misunderstood all that I said, but, it takes time and experience. You have plenty of time to get that experience. :-)

I don't mean to offend you, that is not my intention, but you must be a child, or at least a young teen. You don't yet understand the corporate world (of course, I don't think any of us do - fully :D). Anyhoo... ;D OF COURSE THE MONEY IS EVERYTHING! :D It's nice to love your job, no doubt, but, if there is no income - coming in, no profit to be made, then there is no job. ;D Well...as far as the way they treat their own staff, that has absolutely nothing to do with the way they treat their customers. Almost apples/oranges... ;) Think about this...if someone is working for you, and everyone including yourself, can't stand nor tolerate this person, you would fire or lay them off... ;D That's a no-brainer, so - Apples and oranges... :) I think, these people went from young computer geniuses, messing around with gaming in their garages...to multi-millionaires (after the smoke cleared from the 'dot com bust'). That is a good thing (not the bust)...but, the things that I know, see and experienced, makes them appear as though they don't understand the 'customers/clients' department of a corporation and how very important that department is. Maybe that isn't their fault, or at least not at first. When a corp grows financially, and their business deals with memberships, then it is the time to consider having a customer service department that does nothing but customer service. You have to, at some point, put your puter folks back in front of the codes (only) and away from the paying customers. ;) Most computer geniuses are not people/persons, not on a large scale anyway. I really don't agree with SS4Alex that the only reason is more money/profit. For any corporation, money/profit is a given, so I don't think that has anything to do with the lack of good customer service. I think the reason may be that they get overwhelmed and they just don't want to deal with all the problems that comes with having customers (people). It can be, and is overwhelming and I know this for a fact. I think, they feel let's just ban or mute the supposed problem, allowing the person to sign up again, because it is easier... This is not good. They use the 'excuse' (which is an extremely poor excuse and should never be told to your clients even if true), that they are under staffed and don't have the time for us. There is no reason, whatsoever, why a multi-million dollar corporation such as RS is understaffed and doesn't have the time to deal with customers on a personal level, when they are in the customer business. ~~~ Even if they didn't want to use the conventional ways of seeing when a member signs up with a new member name, because they feel it is time consuming, they can use our means of payment. I may have more then one credit card, bank account, or phone number, but it is highly unlikely that I would sign up for such accounts using a fake name and address. They have names for people that do this, and a room at the local hilton... ;) The way I understand it, and it is over my head, dial-up users' IP addresses comes in blocks, so a little more time consuming, but not impossible. High speed users, they know who logs into their site. And even with dial-up, they can see every member name you make, even if you close the account down. ;) The bottom line here is, they really need to rethink their permanent ban and mute. They need to be slow to take drastic action against their members, especially their paying members. However, how they treat their paying members affects whether or not their FTP members become paying members. Word of mouth = Free to pay, should be the bottom line for any corporation. Sady, but had I known about their customer service policies before I decided to become a member and spend any real time, I may not have become one. Word of mouth can make or break a corporation...especially when dealing with the adult customer/client aspect of a corporation... I stay because I do like the game, and because $60 a year is nothing to me, a drop in the bucket. But, it is still unfair to me, and all their clients, that we must be in fear of every tiny thing we do and say, unable to relax and fully enjoy the game. Many of their policies can be very confusing anyway, which of course, makes it unfair to the members. The sad part of this is, they permanently ban members over policies, without at least one warning (and without adding bad marks). Do they have some policies that are confusing which makes them unfair? Yes, I think so... For one example, I may tell a member while playing RS to go to runehq .com, but not yada .com. I 'think' (unsure though) that I may be allowed to tell a member to use TipIt .com, but if I say yada1 .com I'm banned. Is RuneVillage .com ok, but yada2 .com is not? See where I'm going? They state that saying (typing) other websites on their game is punished by permanent ban or mute, then why allow these? What about McDonalds, Barns & Noble, Walmart, Winn-Dixie, on and on. These are also websites now. Why are we not banned from saying those? Of course, it is obvious that Hq is accepted by RS as a website that we are allowed to say, because of Copyright laws. No where on the RS site does it state that we are allowed to say Hq, and most children wouldn't understand copyright laws anyway, or recognize it, same for many adults. So in all reality we are all violating the rule by saying 'go read at runehq .com' ... How can RS justify saying - some sites are allowed, but not others, and worse, banning good members when there is no list of accepted sites for us to use, to go by? We cannot read their minds, we cannot know what is allowed and not allowed, if they pick and choose sites on a whim. They really aren't banning you, they are just making you start all over again... extremely unfair and more so, unprofessional. They are banking on the idea that they will not loose the money, because you will sign up again. Thus, they are taking the easy way out, at the customers expense. My wish for a wish list would be, budget in a customer service department, and allow it to revamp their policies. And, stop playing big brother. There is a lot of adults playing now, and we continue to grow. We also have the money, which they want. ;D Playing big brother to adults, when RS has a filter in place, is un-becoming of any corporation. :-)

You didn't answer a question that I asked, so I will ask again in case you missed it. How long do the black marks stay on a customers file? Oh sorry, they stay on account forever (expect in some exceptions - but I dont know the details of that so cant elaborate) Remember though it's not a case of "your account is 10% banned"...... it's more of we have warned you about this, it acts as evidance. I personally think if people have broken enough rules to collect 10 black marks they are really not good for the games community...... its not hard to follow a set of simple rules, I know people who where perm banned for repeatidly using offencive language....... they where simplay not willing to change there ways! fatpat, I understand when things are jokes, but it's always to think about how what you say could be interprated by otheres around you, and how evidance would look to Jagex. I will always try to include the fact that I am joking, or do things like that through privatce messages when I know the recipient will understand the joke..... Although I would always go with "phr33 st00f pl0x" or somthing that is annoying and noobish but not against the rules. I'ts a shame and should be learned from. No, I have to disagree with that. If a member doesn't do anything wrong for say...1 year, 5 years, 10 years (to the extreme), the black marks remain? That is extremely unfair and unprofessional, and it wouldn't matter if it is a game, or whatever place that has memberships. My friend got banned for 3 days because he said his place of employment. It isn't a bad place, and he wasn't inviting anyone to go and join up, just mentioned it. His place of employment is an online corporation. He now has 7.5 black marks, this was over a year ago. He has had no other infractions... RS is WRONG for this. He is an adult, he was having a conversation, all he did was mention his employment. Let me explain one small reason why I believe they are wrong in the way they handle this, and that is because they tell the member (paying), that is banned, to *start* a new member name... If this member is so bad that RS deems a ban as the measure of punishment, why invite them back?? When a member is banned from my corporation's site, they are not invited to join up with another MEMBER NAME, and if they are found out joining with another name, they are instantly banned again. Once you ban someone, regardless of their name-change, they should stay banned for life. The name changed, not the person. So, if you are giving them another chance, then why not just give them back their original member name? So back to my question... If a member obeys all the rules, and of course, never again repeats the offense that he was temporarily banned for, they do not remove the black marks as time goes by...? If you can't see the injustice in this, then there really is no use in us going round and round anymore. :-)

You didn't answer a question that I asked, so I will ask again in case you missed it. How long do the black marks stay on a customers file?

Yes, you did act as though you were insulted, by your own words, and yes you did insult me, by your words... Go back and reread if you think I am wrong... I never said that RS wasn't doing anything right, *you said that* above. Please do not put words, nor meanings, into my mouth. It was you that misinterpreted what I said, then responded to that misinterpretation. Btw... I don't need my mind changed... ;D I'm not against rules, regulations, or policies... It is the way they are handled that can make them bad... I find on RS a lot of good members have a lot of fear, especially high level members, because they have the most to lose. Fear should not be what good members feel... Also, it doesn't matter what parents teach, or don't teach their children. It is not the responsibility of a website to force children to do what their parent refuse to do... That is the sad problem with the vast majority of kids nowadays, they are not made to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. How do you see $60.00 a year as a low subscription price? Compared to many other sites, including non-game sites, $60 is either about the norm, or rather high... Most sites are around $39.99 to $49.99 a year. ;) The price isn't the issue anyway... If RS thought they were charging too low of a subscription price, take my word, they would raise it. That is a no-brainer... ;) Of course people click on links and go to sites that they should not, but playing big brother will not stop that from happening. Banning and muting GOOD customers because of the bad, is bad customer service. I stand by what I say... When you ban, or mute a member, a CUSTOMER, then it should be done on a personal, communicative, level... NEVER should canned responses be made to appeals. First offenses should be handled with a warning and nothing else... Children DO NOT read the home page, or rules, or policies. RS knows that too. So a warning should be given to all for first time offenses. Even adults deserve that courtesy.

If what you say is true, then this is a classic example of bad customer service. :-( You should have (maybe) been warned, but not banned, and surely not muted. As far as 'being a threat to other [younger] members', this is where playing big brother is not healthy for a website. It is against the law (on the net) to have any members under the age of 13. We all know that RS is full of members under the age of 13. I understand that the children can lie about their age, and parents condone it by paying. That is all fine... However, it is the responsibility of the PARENTS to stop their children from following links to sites, not RS, or any corporations. They could do what we do at the site I work for... Sites that we feel, or think, are a threat, are filtered. :D The member is never banned though.

These are completely different situations. I don't think Jagex minds a bit of criticism/being compared to other games, that's fine. I'm not sure what to say... The majority of people who advertise for other websites lead you to sites that attempt to steal your password. P.S. Welcome to Tip.it, but always remember that the edit button can be used if you want to say more without posting more than once in a row. Well, I may have to disagree with that. I know for a fact that they ban for mentioning other sites, whether it is in competition with RS or not. As far as sites that steal passwords, to me, RS is just playing big brother, and I don't feel that is necessary. I train my child about the net and going to sites that she doesn't know about. Downloading is out of the question, unless I check out the site first. If a child, or an adult, gets a virus, or trojan, for going to a site just because someone said to go, then they are responsible, not the corporation that it was said at. I think it is great for RS to advise, and to warn, and even teach, but to ban for talking about other sites, is wrong. In my opinion, of course. What if this site has nothing to do with RS, a non-competitive site that a paying member is EMPLOYED at. They are just conversing with another about their jobs -- then the ban is extremely unfair. In my opinion, and experience, it is just an excuse to stop all talk about other competitive corporations. I think RS is bigger then that, and should be a little more lenient. Many adults play, and we talk about our jobs, as well as our kids and family, and many jobs are online. Everything I have posted is just my opinion, and not to be taken as written in stone. Regardless of how the Mod above twisted my meaning into something insulting against RS, is wrong, and extremely incorrect. I will say this though, and I cannot and will not say who, but this person is very much in-the-know. A corporation, that is accepted by RS and is used by almost everyone for quests, information, and the like, there is only one volunteer left that plays the game (or so I have been told). The rest, including Staff have quit...due to bad customer service... :( Once this volunteer quits, unless TipIt continues to help out with quests and such, there will be no more help from that site. :( If no one plays, how can they write up quests and such...? Like I said, I don't mean to sound as though I have anything against the RS Staff, because I don't. I do, however, think they need to RE-think some of their banning policies, and to err on the side of their customers, not on the side of the ban button. Thank you for the welcome. :-) P.S... If I add to a post, those that have already read the post, will miss what is written. Also, to add to a post, especially after it has been responded to, is what a naughty troll would do... ;-)

First off, what you have said is absolutely uncalled for... You are taking this personally, and 'allowing' yourself to be insulted, personally, when this has nothing to do with you. This is not about YOU, and this is not a reflection of the RS Staff as PEOPLE. This is a conversation about a corporation and their customer service... You are however, insulting me just because you 'disagree' with me. You 'assume' that I think I am "all mighty and powerful", but nowhere in my words do I say that or even suggest that. If you disagree with me, then do it in a mature fashion by telling me why you disagree and then back yourself up, without insulting me, and name-calling. Insulting and name-calling is not a way to make you look intelligent or make you look as though you might know what you are talking about. We call folks that do what you have done above to me, forum trolls. I know that is not what you intended to do or be, but it is what you did... Anyway, regardless of how much I spend on a membership...You are not speaking from any corporation's point of view... Whether I spend five dollars a month, or sixty dollars a year, it makes me a *CUSTOMER*, nonetheless... ;-) I have the right to demand service, all customers do, paying or otherwise. Had you had any experience in working for a corporation or even a small business, you would never have said what you said... Bottom line... Your words appear to come from a child that has no experience in the working world, much less the corporate world. However, I don't believe this particular customer was encouraging the mod to commit suicide. I think that is rather silly to even think it, much less ban for it. So please don't draw for straws, it is not helping your case. ;) I do think he was an idiot for saying it though, but not enough to be banned or muted. 10 million times $5.00 times 12 ... do the math... ;) It is not the concern of a corporation what someone's personal background is. I understand taking action against racial slurs and such, but simple name-calling... like... go jump off a bridge... does NOT warrant a ban... You as a mod, however, need to grow thicker skin, or maybe you should re-think being a mod. This is not an insult, but a criticism in a helpful way. You're allowing yourself to be insulted, when I did not insult you or RS Staff, and never intended to insult. I am expressing my opinion from what I know, what I have seen, and what I have heard. And, my experience as a moderator and assistant, and my experience in the corporate world. I can assume that people will take it as a joke, because if they have thin skin they need to get off the net. RS Staff has more important things to concern their selves with, then silly, immature, name-calling. You also, cannot mistreat your customers, because you 'think' another member might really jump off the bridge. You've totally changed the subject of this thread, and tried very hard to twist the meaning of my words, and then responded to the twisted meaning. That is extremely unfair, and unprofessional on your part. :( Like I said, I have no ill feelings towards RS Staff, not at all. I just think, they need to rethink their security, their customer service, and the way they communicate with their paying customers.

Yeah, it does. The one time Jagex mistakenly gave me a black mark, I appealed, and the black mark was almost instantly removed. Jagex will only give you black marks or ban you if they have obvious evidence of what you've done. I have to disagree with you. That is just not true. Many don't have the appeal button, because it says something like - it was before a time...whatever... If there is no proof, and no appeal button, then they should lean towards their paying customer. They need to give paying customers a chance to prove that they will not do whatever it was they were accused of doing, again. There should always be, three strikes, before even one black mark is given. IMMHO, of course.

If they can't handle 8,000 messages a week, when it deals with banning or muting a PAYING customer, then they need to hire more staff, or get out of a business that deals with customers... BOTTOM LINE! I understand certain canned answers, I use them... But, once the appeal is sent in, then it needs to be read and answered on a personal level. BOTTOM LINE! Macroing is a fact of life on games, on the net. It has been for as long as I can remember. That can be dealt with in a private way... We are not taking about bot players... They may be correct the 'vast' majority of the time, but if they are wrong even ONE time, to a paying customer, then they might as well be wrong every time... It is better to err in favor of the bad customer, then to err against a good customer. BOTTOM LINE! From what I know, the owners went from computer geniuses playing around in their garage, to multi-millionaires... It has a tendency to promote spoiled children that lack training in the corporate world as far as customer service is concerned. You might step on toes of other corporations or those advancing within said corporation, but you don't step on your customers' toes. As far as the moderators go, Staff cannot know if they will work out until they allow them to be one. I am not talking about the mods anyway. Besides, most I have met are wonderful people. I, however, think, anyone under the age of 17, SHOULD NOT BE A MOD. They don't have life's experiences in dealing with people that have different opinions then they have. Just because you disagree with folks doesn't mean you take action against them. Just because you don't understand what was being said, taking it out of context and reporting is wrong. Youngin's tend to be prideful and will take action against customers just because of that pride. They don't have enough experience in the working world that deals with customers to be mods. If you are going to be a mod, you MUST have thick skin. That should be the main qualification... BOTTOM LINE! For example... Reporting a paying customer just because they told you to go hang yourself, is as dumb as dumb gets. That mod should have been temporarily suspended from his duties for reporting such a stupid, immature thing, as name-calling... That should have rolled off the mod's shoulders, and he either should have made a joke to the customer, or ignored him... However, worse...is Staff banning a member because of name-calling. That is just plain wrong and extremely unprofessional. They need to communicate on a personal level when dealing with paying customers. BOTTOM LINE! And, in a TIMELY manner!!

I have to disagree with you. I work for 2 different corporations online as a moderator. I've done this since 1999. If we are asked a specific question, like how to use the controls of a forum, or how to make a link appear, why the site is running poorly, or a tutorial type question, yes, we used canned answers. However, when it has to do with a problem, or taking action against a member, especially a paying member, then it should be on a PERSONAL level, not a canned answered one. If they are going to ban or mute, they need to explain exactly what the member did. They need to have proof, beyond a doubt. They also need to listen to the member's explanation. They need to be lenient, and extremely slow to ban or mute. If they use the excuse that they get too many emails and cannot take the time for them all, then that is no excuse. Or an extremely poor excuse. They should either hire more staff, or do as the site I work for is doing, we are called the 'Community Support Team'. If they cannot handle the work load that comes with a business that deals with customers, then they need to get out of the customer business. I just have one thing to say to this, does your corporation deal with millions of people?Hmm well personally I don't think there are 1million people that post on your forums or whatever kind of corporation you have to deal with. Personally I'm very proud of the entire Jagex staff, with as few of them that there are, they do one great job with the game and even the support. My one biggest rant in all of Runescape is that people seem to think that Reporting is a skill. Why is it that the second someone says something jokingly to a friend, people report them? It's not a skill, and honestly I hate it when people report players who are joking around with friends. I don't think it's even the fact that they are bothering you, they just report. Is it because they want to be a moderator so bad? That's not a bad thing, but you have a better chance of becoming a moderator if you act nice and helpful, rather then reporting every little thing you see. So if I could give anyone advice on Runescape, it would be to think before you report. Was the player joking with their friend? or were they purposely trying to harrass another player? I'm not saying to discontinue the use of the report menu, but I'm saying use discretion. Yes, it is a large corporation. I am one of the few Community Support Members that has Controls in most all the Official forums. I tutor xhtml in their xhtml forum, and 'run' their css forum, along with many other duties in all the other official forums. I work very closely with Staff, and it is nothing for the Hosts forum and Members forum to get over a thousand messages a day, that does not count the responses. I also run my own forum... Up until a couple months ago, after the new owners :-| took over Classmates, .com, I ran my own school's forum, and almost all schools in Southeastern California, and Southern Louisiana. My high school, I took that forum from less then 100 messages (with no responses) to over 16,000 messages in less then a year. Enough of my resume. ;) You changed the topic...however, yes I agree with you. Many wannabemods, kids, report for everything, and most is silly reporting. However, when RS bans a member because a tattletale takes that conversation out of context, and so does RS Staff for that matter, then they are wrong for this. There is many times, when a response to another member is outside the 60 seconds screen shot, so the response may be, and is, many times, taken out of context. This is when RS really needs to rethink its policies. I have no ill feeling towards the RS Staff, they do a good job with the 'game'. However, that does not mean they do a good job with customer service... That alone, can make, and most definitely, break a corporation. As the net continues to grow, and games especially, there is and will be games that are similar to RS. The competition will not be over which game is the best to play, but who has the best customer service... In-house email is the most *insecure* form of security for our accounts, that there is or ever will be. Give this some thought... If our accounts were secure, there would be NO REASON for a bank pin number. Our new passwords should be sent to our PRIVATE email accounts, not to an insecure in-house email, that is easily hacked... If I go on vacation and my account is hacked, then all they need do is have my pin removed in the 7 days. As far as the security questions, that is a given... There has been way too many customers that have had their accounts hacked for RS Staff to not know their system does not work, and that it needs to be changed. Unless these children hack my private email, which these kids are NOT true hackers or crackers, they will never get my new pw... now will they? ;-) Also, as far as giving out your private email address or IM in a public venue such as the game, or public forum, our corp does advise against doing this... However, it SHOULD NEVER, and I mean NEVER, be something that a site bans or mutes its members over. That is none of their business in how we as members choose to handle our own personal information. Personal is the keyword... So, if I choose to tell my friend my IM name on the game, so he can contact me, RS DOES NOT have the right to mute, or ban me for this. This policy is horrible customer service, horrible... Another lack of customer service... Back in 2000, (the corp. I am still with) we got it through our Staff's thick, paranoid, heads, that mentioning other sites on their site, is something they need to GET OVER... For example... If I mention Burger King while eating at McDonalds, and McD's throws me out for this... We have horrible customer service here, don't we? If you as a business, is so paranoid that you think mentioning other sites is going to cause you to loose your customers, then it is time to look at yourself, not the mentioning of other sites. Advertising is different, but we aren't talking about that... If a corporation is secure in itself then mentioning other competition is a healthy thing, and will not bother said corporation... Please DO NOT use the excuse that RS Staff is protecting us from bad sites... that's a crock, and they know it... Folks need to learn to secure their computers and be safe on the net, we however, DO NOT need any site to play big brother... That is an insult and extremely bad customer service... These black marks that they give out without a known scale, which is also extremely bad customer service. How long do these marks stay on an account before they are removed? One year, two, twenty? The impression that is given is, they will take your money allowing you to work hard and level up, only to ban or mute you somewhere along the line. They bank on the addiction to the game, hoping you will start all over, thus, they make that much more money from you as a customer. I was a legal and corporate secretary (SAHM now), and I do understand the profit part of any business... But, if a corporation does not put their customer service ABOVE everything else, said corp, will eventually fade away, when a corp, with the same commodity comes along with excellent customer service. I love the game, so don't take me wrong in what I am saying. And I have nothing against the Staff, personally, but criticism can be a good thing, if taken seriously without taking it as an insult. It is unfair that I like this game and that I am in fear that all my hard work, fun and the money I spend, can be lost in a wink, and for no reason other then RS Staff is not professional in their customer service department. If they are that busy and cannot handle the customers on a personal level, then they need to hire more Staff. It is unfair that a corporation that I spend my hard earned money for their membership, will not communicate with me on a personal level. As an adult customer especially, this is wrong.

How can you say that?!? The one thing Staff never does, is confide with their mods about what actions they take against members. No way do they tell you who, what, when, where... so on... So you have no right to say they are right, have proof, or anything, because you really do not know. I know for a fact, without any doubts WHAT SO EVER, that they are quick to punish, without any proof. I'm not saying everyone is innocent, many are not. But, before I would condemn one innocent member, I'd give 1000 another chance... RS is going to end up on the wrong side of the BBB. It's just a matter of time. I hate to see that happen, it is a nice game. However, there is a lot of adults playing, and this is where RS needs to take time with their CUSTOMERS, and slow down with the banning and muting.

I have to disagree with you. I work for 2 different corporations online as a moderator. I've done this since 1999. If we are asked a specific question, like how to use the controls of a forum, or how to make a link appear, why the site is running poorly, or a tutorial type question, yes, we used canned answers. However, when it has to do with a problem, or taking action against a member, especially a paying member, then it should be on a PERSONAL level, not a canned answered one. If they are going to ban or mute, they need to explain exactly what the member did. They need to have proof, beyond a doubt. They also need to listen to the member's explanation. They need to be lenient, and extremely slow to ban or mute. If they use the excuse that they get too many emails and cannot take the time for them all, then that is no excuse. Or an extremely poor excuse. They should either hire more staff, or do as the site I work for is doing, we are called the 'Community Support Team'. If they cannot handle the work load that comes with a business that deals with customers, then they need to get out of the customer business.

You should not post a private email. It is against the rules for all sites, not just RS.

that IS mutable, and it was perfectly fair. I disagree. Online, you need to have thick skin, or don't play online. I think name-callers are low life people, but, to ban or mute a paying member for stupid name-calling, is unprofessional and lacks customer service in the worst way.

That makes no sense at all? When I trade/sell, how would I know if that person is the real account holder, or a creep that hacked the account? There is no way for anyone to know. So why would RS hold you accountable for this?

I'm confused? Why would RS 'ban' you if you couldn't pay the bill, regardless of the reason? Ban??? The corporation I work for, if a member's paid account isn't up-to-date, we just remove their membership as a paying member, but they can still continue as a Free member. RS has free membership, so why do they ban if you choose to go free?

Ok first off, if your reporting someone who you think might be innocent, then don't report them :D Second off, I can't reveal too much here, but honestly it takes Jagex about 2 minutes to look at your appeal/query and respond. Do you realize how many people play this game and are banned? I can't reveal everything about how the system works, but believe me your one out of thousands. Actually they just hired a few more CS people so just be patient. Other than that, I can't really help you more. I am not customer support, so I can't really answer for them. However, if you have a problem with their service, you can send a query in using the customer support link on the home page. Hi Duke, I understand that you cannot speak about what goes on behind the scenes. I also work as a mod, (Community Support Team Member) for another major online corporation. Our staff consists of only 6, and there is approximately 10 of us on the team. Our corporation deals with millions of customers also. We deal with our customers on the forums, and via private email. Yes, we do have CANNED ANSWERS, but that is for specific questions that are answered over and over again. Never, would we use canned answers for an appeal, a problem, or anything that involves CUSTOMER service with our corporation. We treat our customers as individual people, that have real problems, and need real answers. These are our Paying customers, they deserve respect. However, you cannot say that RS has a real customer service. They reply with canned answers, where canned answers should never be used. They ONLY have in-house email with a ridiculous limit of 400 characters. That in itself says they don't want to hear what their customers have to say, because if they did, there would be no limit. In-house email? The most insecure way to run a website. It sets us all up to have our accounts hacked. They know this, they know this... Why they do not allow us to use our own email is beyond anything I can understand. Our private email is where they should send our new passwords, and anything to do with our accounts, not to an insecure in-house email. They use the excuse that they have way to many inquiries to deal with them all. WRONG!! Either you deal with all your customers, or you get out of the customer business. I am quite sure that RS staff has been online for a very long time. This is why I am so confused as to why they still have the same mindset that many online corporations had back in 99/2000, but have long since changed - for the better. And even back then, most sites were not as *paranoid*, or horrible as the RS staff is in the way they treat their PAYING customers. I love the game. It is the only game I play online, but to think that I have invested my money and my time to a corporation that could care less about their customers, does not make me feel very good about my decision to be a part of that site. They need to rethink their banning and muting policies. I have talked with many innocent PAYING customers that they banned or muted, that DID NOT deserve to be banned or muted. They have some rules that they REALLY need to rethink also. I have a question about these so called black marks. How long do they stay on a customer's account? If a customer is a model customer, say for a year, is the black marks removed? Dee