Some friendly advice: if you can't stand dealing with customers, don't become an enchanter or jewelcrafter. Enchanters cannot sell enchants in the AH, so they do their business in the trade channels. Jewelcrafters can still cut jewels and sell them in the AH, but we also make some of our money by advertising our cuts or responding to "LF JC to cut ____" statements. As such, enchanters and jewelcrafters need to learn how to be store owners -- how much to charge, what to offer, when to be "open", how to deal with rude customers, etc.

I've never done enchanting before, so when I set up my jewelcrafting shop, I had to figure out things really fast. I decide that I would charge 4g per blue gem cut, no exceptions and no relying on tips; I would try to "stock" the most wanted recipes, like Runed Living Ruby and Wicked Noble Topaz; and that I wouldn't directly sell cut gems to people who didn't bring me the uncut, as that would either lead to me losing money or them saying, "I can get this cheaper on the AH!" Yeah, well, I can sell it for more money on the AH, so let's both be happy.

But one thing I definitely had to polish was my customer service skills. I'll make every possible effort for an actual customer -- look up stat combinations, recommend gems for certain classes, and direct them to another jewelcrafter if I didn't have what they needed. But man, there are some bad customers out there. People who think they shouldn't pay you for "just pressing a button", ignoring that your recipes were 300g a pop. People who ask you to buy their gems for them off the AH and then come meet them in the middle of nowhere for a lousy 5g. People who use the phrase "the customer is always right."

Crafters, what policies do you have for your "store"? What are the worst customers you've run into?

As someone who recently did a character transfer of my own, I have to admit I was nervous about the transfer considering some of the horror stories that I'd heard about long transfers, multiple charges despite cards being rejected, and more. However, it would appear that Blizzard has decided to take the entire process of Paid Character Transfers offline while they see what they can do about fixing it.

Per Pavonum on the Customer Service Forums:

As some of you have already noticed, the Paid Character Transfer service has been temporarily shut down so that further efforts may be made to ensure that its correct functionality is restored; our developers are currently working to repair the underlying coding issues that have contributed to the present complications for many players. While it is not known at this time when further updates shall become available, you may rest assured that we shall make you aware with all due haste at that time; for now, we are greatly appreciative of your continued patience. Thanks, folks. :)

Obviously this isn't going to do much for those who have already had problems of getting multiple charges or characters caught in limbo between realms. But I am very glad to see that Blizzard is taking the system offline and checking to see what they can do to fix these problems moving forward from this point. Personally, I'd be willing to wait for however long they need to make sure the overcharge bug is 100% fixed.

[via the Customer Service Forums]

Gave you ever had a close encounter of the GM kind? Ever have to page a GM to ask about a bug or report a spammer? If you have, chances are you've had some amusing conversations. In my experience (and from conversations, as above, that I've seen reposted on the forums), Blizzard's GMs are not only polite and usually helpful, but also have a sense of humor (and some of them will roleplay with you). So I'm asking -- what has your experience been with Blizzard's in-game support staff? Have you gotten any laughs from them -- or just frustration?

Tseric has left Blizzard. While we don't know officially why he is gone, we can make a pretty strong guess. We do know that he was under a huge amount of stress, and even at one point argued with a forum poster with what I consider to be completely eloquent language. The last time we see him on the forums was that very same day. In the last post he left on the forums, posters were mercilessly taunting him. His reply that Sunday morning was simple, short, and more than slightly bitter:

I'm sure you all think you're hilarious in your own space/mind.

Get off my internet.

Kthx.

Tseric announced today the Blizzard support hours for the upcoming holiday long weekend. For those of you who can't access the official forums, the post is re-printed below and continues after the break.

What have your experiences been like with Blizzard's support team, both in-game and through their email and support forums? I've personally only used their Mac support forums, where the team has been incredibly responsive to the userbase. Let us know how Blizzard's been treating you, and if you think their support hours will have any affect on your gaming experience.

From the forums:

The Warcraft Series (including World of Warcraft) Battle.net Open Technical Support Forum Live Technical Support will be available for a half-day this coming Friday, December 22th from 9:00AM-3:30PM Pacific Standard Time (PST) and will be closed on Monday, December 25th due to the national holiday. Please note that while the Technical Support department will be unavailable, our GM Department will be available at all hours throughout the holiday season.

Questions are frequently asked on the official forums that only receive a response saying that it's an issue that needs to be reported to a GM in-game rather than on the forums.  Well, now people have a place to ask such questions on the forums, where everyone can see them - the customer service forum.  The forum is frequented by Blizzard GMs and is littered with official Blizzard responses.  There are already some helpful sticky posts here - one listing solutions to common problems and another displaying this week's most common issues.  Technical issues should still posted about in the technical support forum (or the Mac technical support forum) and the bug report forum remains the best place to report specific bugs, but the customer service forum provides a place to discuss in-game issues that are not technical in nature.