Difference between revisions of "Billing FAQ"

We accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card cards. Debit / ATM cards should work fine too. This is the preferred payment mechanism as it gives you instant access and keeps things simple for us and inexpensive for you.

Prepaid cards from these credit companies may also be used. This is an option if you worry about the security of using a credit card online. That way you only risk the amount of that card.

Credit card information can be saved if you prefer, but you will be required to enter the security code for every purchase. This provides some security and helps avoid simple mistakes.

Is your Credit Card server secure?

Absolutely. Our credit card server is secured with 128bit industry-standard SSL encryption. You can verify this by looking for the golden padlock in the bottom corner of your web browser window.

What appears on my credit card statement?

For manual PayPal payments, visit the PayPal website, log in to your existing account (or set up a PayPal account), choose Send Money, and send your payment to paypal@threerings.net. Be sure to add your account name (not the name of you knight) and what Energy package you would like to purchase in the note field. We will need to process this payment manually, and will reply to your PayPal payment email with confirmation as soon as we can.

Payments from PayPal using an eCheck (electronic funds transfer from your bank account) will be credited to your Spiral Knights account when your bank clears the transaction. Your PayPal account will show an estimated clearing date for the transaction. Once the transaction is cleared, the Energy will be credited to your account.

Search PaidByCash.com to find the location nearest you.

• Get a Payment Code from the PaidByCash website, then go pay cash at one of the locations.
• Receive a Virtual MasterCard loaded with the amount you've paid cash and use that MasterCard for your online purchase.
• Enter the MasterCard number in the credit card number field and select the option you wish to buy.

Keep in mind that your MasterCard may retain a balance after your transaction (depending on the cash value you put into the card), so don't lose it!

We process the payment the same day we receive it, except on weekends. Players often worry that this takes too long, but our experience is that it's shorter than most think. Also, if you plan to make a large payment consider insurance or a faster delivery option to ensure we receive your payment.

Be aware we only accept payments in US Dollars. You may need to get an International Money Order in US currency if you live outside the United States. We DO NOT recommend sending cash, since it poses a risk when cash is visible in an envelope. We recommend a check or money order.

Along with the payment please add the following information:

• Your account name (not the knight name).
• Your email address. We will send you a confirmation email when your payment is received.
• Which Energy Package you would like to purchase.

If you decorate your envelope or include a fun note, we may display it on the office wall!

Please make this payable to: Three Rings Design, Inc.

Send your mail to:

Three Rings Design

P.O. Box 482

San Francisco

CA 94104-0482

USA

Accounts start out with a spending limit of $100 for a 30 day period, not a calendar month, but the past 30 days. This limit will easily be enough for the vast majority of players, but some may wish to spend more for various reasons.

As you spend near this limit it will automatically go up to $200, $400 and $800 slowly over time.

Payments cover all your accounts, otherwise it would be too easy for someone wanting to abuse this to just making extra accounts to pay on. So, if you happen to have multiple accounts you spend on, perhaps for your family members, then you'll want to make payments on one main account and then raise the spending limit on this account as needed. Then you can trade the energy from this account to the other accounts.

Should you wish to raise this limit ahead of schedule, you may contact us and we will review your account to see if this is possible. Please be aware that we, unfortunately, don't know all of our players personally, otherwise we would be much more comfortable raising this limit. So if your request to have the limit raised was denied, then this is not personal, it is merely basic precaution as mentioned to protect everyone involved.

No, you can play for free for as long as you would like. You automatically get 100 Mist Energy every day that you can use. If you find that you would like to have more energy, then you can buy Crystal Energy. You can purchase Crystal Energy via the Energy Depot, which is where players buy and sell Energy for crowns.

Your non-US credit or debit card should work fine if it is a VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover Card. Alternatively, use one of the other payment options listed above.

First, you will want to secure your credit card or PayPal account from further abuse. Contact your credit card issuer for advice on how to do this. For PayPal you will want to change your PayPal account password. Once secured, we urge you to contact us before filing disputes since we can often resolve this much faster than the credit card companies can do their paper work. And we're much more likely to provide you with information on who made the charges so you can avoid this in the future.

In our experience the vast majority of unauthorized charges comes from family members, often kids in the household, or friends of the credit card holder.

Once you know more please contact us and we'll work with you to resolve this. Please provide the following information:

• Name and address and last 4 digits of the credit card charged. Or the email address of the PayPal account used without your authorization.
• The dates and amounts of the charges you did not authorize.
• List anyone you're aware of that plays Spiral Knights, even if you don't believe they are responsible at this time.
• Any Spiral Knights accounts used from your household.

Unfortunately, the credit card companies maintain the controls on credit card transactions, making it impossible for us to address specific problems with a particular credit card.

Our experience is that problems arise most frequently from errors in the information you enter on the billing page. The address, zip code, and other user information must match what the credit card company has on file.

Here's a few of the most common problems we've run into:

• Exact spelling of card details. Credit Card companies are very strict about the exact spelling of information on a Credit Card. You should check your bank statements or contact them to see that you have the exact info. Moving house, for instance, may cause problems if you haven't updated the info with the bank.
• Gift cards sometimes need to be activated either at the register when purchased or via the phone/internet after being purchased. You'll want to double check if that is the case with your card.
• If you have any sort of non-English characters in the Credit Card info, you should check your bank statement to see if they have it shown differently. Also try and use standard English characters in place of those non-English characters.
• There's always the chance that you're over a certain limit, check with your bank if that is the case.

The charges you're referring to aren't showing up on your billing information except as a declined attempt. Since your bank is showing they went through, what probably happened was that the funds for the charge were put on hold by your bank before denying the charge. Essentially there's a temporary hold on the funds from the bank because you tried to spend them, but we've not actually received anything.

We've found this happens more often with bank or debit cards, unfortunately we've also found that these problems don't show up as such for a few days and the bank's support personnel aren't always able to see that the charge actually was denied. The funds should show up again in a few days from your bank.

We process the payment the same day we receive it, except on weekends. So it really depends on how fast the mail is delivered. Be aware weekends and holidays may delay delivery. We often receive more of these payments via mail on Mondays, so if you think your payment should have arrived, wait for the end of Monday before contacting us.

If you believe it has taken far too long, the most likely reason at this point would be that we did receive your letter but it was missing information and we couldn't process the payment. If you included your email address, we will contact you requesting additional information. Make sure to check for an email, including any junk or spam folders. If there is no email and you know there was possibly missing information in that letter, then you may contact us via the support form by selecting "Billing Inquiries" and providing the following information:

• The amount of the payment sent.
• What sort of Payment (Check, Money Order etc.)
• Your name if listed on the Check, Money Order or in a letter.
• When the letter was sent.
• Where it was sent from.
• The address it was sent to.
• Anything about the envelope or content that we can recognize it by.

If the payment wasn't declined when you made it, and your card statement does show you were charged, then most likely the payment was accidentially made on a secondary account. Check your other accounts to see if the Energy is there. If you want the Energy on your other account, then you can start two game clients and log into both your accounts and trade with yourself. Please don't use another player to trade with since you risk them running off with it.

If you still can't find it then please contact us and provide the following information:

• Name and address and last 4 digits of the credit card charged.
• The dates and amounts of the charges you did not authorize.

First of all you'll want to check if you accidentally made the payment on another account. Check your other accounts to see if the Energy is there. If it is and you want the Energy on your other account, then you can start two game clients and log into both your accounts and trade with yourself. Please don't use another player to trade with since you risk them running off with it.

Next you'll want to see if your PayPal payment was an eCheck payment. eChecks work like regular checks which have to clear your bank before payment is sent to us. This causes a delay, which can vary depending on your location. Your payment in your PayPal account will show when it is estimate to complete.

To avoid this in the future you may check with PayPal on how to set your account up to use funds already in your PayPal account, or add a credit card as a funding source to make instant payments. For more information on this please see PayPal's Help Pages.

If you want the Energy on your other account, then you can start two game clients and log into both your accounts and trade with yourself. Please don't use another player to trade with since you risk them running off with it.

If you're not sure about how to do this or have some other problem with this then please contact us and explain the situation. List the names of the two accounts (not the knight names) and tell us which account you wanted the payment on.

We also need to verify you do own the account the payment was accidentally made on. Please include the following in that email:

• Name and address and last 4 digits of the credit card charged.
• If you used PayPal, you'll need to send the email from this same email address.
• If you used another payment method please list this.
• The date and amount of the payment made.

Three Rings has an explicit policy of no refunds. Please bear in mind that we do not have this policy to be hard-nosed business people, because we're not, but only because it is necessary to avoid people requesting refunds simply because they've had a bad day delving into the Clockworks.

The easiest solution would be to make a payment on your own account, then simply trade the Energy to the other player. You should always avoid sharing account information and sharing credit card information or PayPal accounts, that is far too likely to lead to severe problems. Also avoid trading Energy via a third player, this player may get too tempted and run off with it, you'd be surprised how often that happens even with friends you believed you trusted, and it's not worth losing the Energy as well as the friend.

If for some reason it has to be a payment made (please again consider trading it in-game instead) then you have the option of making a manual PayPal payment.

Please contact us via the support form by selecting "Billing Inquiries" and asking your question.

When filling out the support form regarding a payment already made, then please list the following:

• Name and address and last 4 digits of the credit card used.
• Or the email address of the PayPal account used.
• Dates and amounts of the payments.
• Information on other payment method used.
• Your problem or question.