Kung Fu Tea Promotion [Merged]

[Tjalzor.2135]

@"Gaile Gray.6029" Since there are people, not from the US, that have gotten (multiple) codes for the in-game outfit through the promotion. Will these be taken away again since they where giving out against the "new" conditions of the promotion? If not, why aren't everyone getting the in-game outfit (as an apology for a bad promotion)?

 

I for one have installed the App from the first moment the promotion went live and connected my facebook account. All in accordance to the rules and conditions that were in place then (only sweepstakes where US only so I was legally in my right to enter this promotion and receive the code for the in-game outfit). Only Social Award part was empty so figured App had some bugs (figured half the player base was busy getting the codes so expected it to be lags and stuff). I figured I could wait, so I went on my holiday in the hopes I could get the code after my holiday (The promotion was until the end of this month). Now only to find out the rules and conditions have changed. Was looking forward to the outfit (now for the better part of the 6 years I am playing GW2). And my Facebook account info is now linked to a company, but does not want to give me in return what was promised.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> I have to say I'm just really disappointed. I really held ArenaNet in much higher regard. I can't believe they would just hand their name and reputation over to someone that would drag it through the dirt. And just wash their hands of the whole problem.

>

> Makes me sad...truly. =(

 

I will echo that Inc.. until some genuine support from ANET is offered on this, my wallet is staying firmly closed, hopefully others will do the same.

Whether it's KFT's promotional responsibility or not, we are still ANET's customers, they walked into this cross promo with eyes open (or not perhaps), they offered out the codes and the intent to supply the rewards, but now all they can offer is "not our beef, go speak to KFT, the inn is closed"

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Ulyssean.1709" said:

> > @"killermanjaro.5670" said:

> > With Anet seemingly not wanting any more involvement in this it just feels like KFT somehow acquired a load of dodgy codes from a shifty scam key reseller so they could offer them to fish for peoples data to sell on to hackers, and somehow roped Anet into promoting it for them. (obviously not saying that's the case, only that's what it feels like).

> >

> > I'm curious with this sudden switch of excluding non US based customers, what happens to those codes issued to non-US customers before the change? Surely if those heroic codes remain active then its unfair to suddenly exclude the rest of the non-US customers who either were waiting for things to work properly, or waiting to see if any data given to KFT would actually be safe (which it evidently is not).

> >

> > At this point I'm unlikely to participate in the promo as there is no way I want anything to do with KFT, but I am still interested to know what exactly happens with non-US players. Either Anet will presumably have to deactivate codes given to non-US players in the first 5 days (unfair), or let them keep them and just say to the rest of the non-US players 'You won't get the codes, we're penalising you for being cautious and taking your time before deciding to hand your data over' (also unfair).

>

> Anet DO want to be involved in this promotion. The Kung Fu Tea website is still proudly displaying the fact that they are partnered with Anet. This is the same Kung Fu Tea that is - one week later - still not answering emails. Meanwhile, Anet's (Kung Fu Tea's partner in this endeavour, remember) response is that we have to contact Kung Fu Tea.

> I certainly hope KFT is not using Anet's trademarked logos without their permission.

 

If that was the case.. do you think ANET would splash the promo all over it's launcher to expand the promo reach..

[TheQuickFox.3826]

This promotion turned into a


          

 

[OutOfOrder.3719]

Just offer the Dragon emblem outfit for 800 gems and be done with it.

 

Let everyone, buy the heroic edition for 1000 gems. Simple solution!

[KaryuZeir.9346]

> @"Absconditus.6804" said:

> Right now I am getting somewhat angered reading ArenaNet's response to this (and please note that I am not in any way angry with Gaile, I am upset with ArenaNet, the company, not any of its employees who I still hold in high regard for having created the games I love in the first place). If it was always going to be a US-only promotion, and you have no way of limiting its spread through the launcher, then **don't put it in the launcher**. That's clear and simple logic. Maybe put it on the website as a News post, make it clear that this is for US customers only, and throw the terms in there. Some people will obviously be upset about feeling excluded, but not in the same way people are upset with you now, feeling deceived and losing their trust in you as a company. Also, why wouldn't you make sure that the **cross**-promotion (extra emphasis on the cross) you run with another company has well written non-mistakable terms so that **you** don't land in hot water with angry customers. You obviously have lawyers that can look at these things before they go live. I find it somewhat unacceptable to point fingers towards KFT and basically say "the ball's with them now", when **you** are the ones with **your** angry non-US customers. Why should KFT care about that? Without **you** taking any sort of action, that isn't going away, is it? The very first line on their blog post you originally linked us to even touts it as a partnership.

>

> This whole debacle has damaged my view of ArenaNet as a company, and the way you have responded now basically saying "take it up with them" sullies that view further. Clearly, KFT doesn't care about your non-US customers, at all. And right now it doesn't feel like you do either. I find that somewhat strange, as this is only serves to hurt **your** business, e.g., from people stopping to buy Gems, not buying the next expansion, quitting out of anger/frustration/this being the last drop, bad word of mouth spreading, etc. — it's straight up in-no-ways-good bad publicity — and that because of something KFT has done if I understand your responses correctly. As far as you present it, they're running the whole show. But why would ArenaNet not want to calm the angered mob created from KFT's actions and own up to their own part in creating the situation, by not making sure that the terms were accurate and sending non-US customers their way in the first place? If it even was truly US only from the very start and that's not just a blatant lie from KFT after all the issues. KFT didn't as far as I can see (or remember) even mention that this was a US-only promotion in the first 5 days on Facebook, and just told people to try again due to the app being flooded with high demand.. (unless I'm immeasurably mistaken the initial promotion post as well as a few posts I recall where they responded to US and non-US users alike seems to have been deleted too, which feels kinda scummy to say the least.)

>

> Regardless, the situation boils down to me feeling like I were deceived into giving my data to a third-party company by **ArenaNet**, not by KFT. I would never have known about this if I weren't sent their way by you. Something which after reading the terms and them indicating that only the **Sweepstakes** were US-only, then led to me linking my social media and with that my past post history. I linked my real data to honor what is technically a trade for me claim an outfit I never got back in 2012. Suddenly the terms were changed 5 days in though, after numerous issues from their app not being able to handle the demand from US-, non-US players and greedy botters;

>

> 

> _Image Source: [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156907246883933 "https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156907246883933")_

>

> It just feels too convenient that "it was a mistake". Even if it were, they should have and you should have insisted that they honored what was initially presented to avoid this outcry, both for your sake and their own. From a business perspective, this could have been a great way to drive GW2-playing tourists to their establishments when they are visiting the states instead of driving them away from themselves. There weren't even a disclaimer saying they reserve the right to change the terms at any point during the promotion (and there still aren't). Regardless if this part of the debacle was due to KFT only, it's my trust in ArenaNet which has plummeted by me feeling tricked and deceived by you sending me to them in the first place. And on top of that my view of ArenaNet as a company that puts its customers first has been somewhat flushed down the drain with how it now feels like your a-typical ball toss between companies, where they just point fingers and send angry consumers back and forth. It's not so much about me not getting an outfit I wanted. It's the fact that I were sent through **your** link over to them to give my private data and post history to what is a third-party company in exchange for some GW2 goodies, but then end up with nothing in return. That is what upsets and angers me. I straight up feel scammed into giving out my private details because I trusted ArenaNet so much that I expected any terms shown in a cross-promotion they partake in to be accurate and that any company they affiliate themselves with would be as professional as I thought ArenaNet were.

 

I'm pretty sure that we all here feel this same way after all these days and no solution at all... this really sucks, but for now I'll be still waiting for some more days expecting a response from Anet and KFT about all this withouth lying anymore, and a solution to compensate for all this trouble once and for all.

[Menadena.7482]

> @"Bossun.2046" said:

> Man, kft app rating on Google play store is way down in reviews. Yikes.

 

They can not just blame us. Their regular customers were already complaining if you read the pre-September reviews.

[Nikal.4921]

> @"OutOfOrder.3719" said:

> Just offer the Dragon emblem outfit for 800 gems and be done with it.

>

> Let everyone, buy the heroic edition for 1000 gems. Simple solution!

After days of trying unsuccessfully to get the code for the outfit, along with allowing this company access to my data, I would be pretty incensed to have to then pay for the outfit. I think Anet should come up with some criteria they think is fair and give the outfit to those players who meet that criteria.

[JustTrogdor.7892]

Anet: Hey GW2 players check out this cool promotion. We partnered with our friends at KFT.

GW2 Customers: Cool! Let's check it out.

Promotion turns in to a train wreck so far.

Customers: Hi Anet since you promoted this to us we have a lot of questions about this: Why don't the codes work anymore, why did terms seem to change, is it going to work again, what about customers outside the US, etc.?

Anet: Go ask KFT

 

/SMH

 

No disrespect to Gaile, I'm sure she is as confused and disappointed by this as the customers are and doesn't have any more answers at the moment. Still, it seems like this might be a crazy idea, but since Anet were the ones that exposed their customers to this debacle, perhaps they could get on the phone with their friends at KFT and see if they could get their customers some answers instead of saying ask them yourself. I'm guessing Anet has a better way to communicate with them than the customers do since this seems like it was a joint promotion and all.

 

Edit: I noticed "our friends" seems to have been edited out of one of Anet's responses in this thread. Maybe they are not friends anymore?

 

[Misery.3967]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> We wanted to answer the questions about our website and our localization choices, but the program itself is being run by Kung Fu Tea. You will need to reach out to them for further information on this program.

 

my only question is: Why cant we (all GW2 players) get this new T-Shirt outfit? just like that gw2 hat we got from anet 6 years ago?

[Arizan.1073]

Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"Arizan.1073" said:

> Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

 

That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Arizan.1073" said:

> Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

 

There's a lot to cover here but I'll try and be brief. The way the promotion is supposed to work is simple: you download the KFT app, link a social media account (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) and you get the option to receive 2 GW2 codes. One gives you the Dragon t-shirt outfit and the other upgrades your account to the Heroic version. On a paid account this just gives you a gem store armour set and a few other items, but it could also be used to upgrade a free account to the full version of the core game without the F2P restrictions.

 

This caused a number of problems. Firstly the app was overwhelmed with the number of people trying to get codes so it kept crashing, freezing or just not responding at every step. Which made it impossible for some people to get codes but lead to other people getting more than 1 because they'd push the button multiple times and then suddenly all those attempts went through together. At the same time an unknown number of 'hackers' were using the promotion to get hundreds of codes and then either selling them on ebay or using them to create hundreds of GW2 accounts for botting and gold selling.

 

As a 'temporary' measure to stop all of the above KFT shut the promotion down. That was on the 4th. Anet's security team also began banning accounts they believe were created by people who had been using hundreds of codes and/or were using them for illegal purposes. Hopefully at some point KFT are going to restart the promotion, but with new security measures in place to stop it being abused and with the app fixed so it can handle the traffic. But we don't know when that will be, just that it needs to be before the end of September when the promotion is due to end. (They also changed the terms and conditions after it was shut down to say it's only open to US residents - previously that was only on the in-store event.)

 

So no, you don't need to worry about your account unless you managed to get and use dozens of codes. It could be a good promotion but so far it has just been a waste of time for the majority of players. You should be able to get the outfit once it restarts, but at the moment we don't know when or if that will be.

[Aaralyna.3104]

Like some other EU-citizens here, I unlinked my account on both app as well as facebook and then emailed support@thelevelup.com (KFT app referred to this) and also attached info@kfteausa.com in same email to delete my private data according GDPR (tho you can ask for deletion without GDPR I saw in some terms from thelevelup, where they also explain what they do with your data and what not) and thelevelup replied me today that they closed my account and deleted me from their mailing lists. Next to that they also forwarded my feedback to the appropriate team.

 

I don't expect a reply from the kftusa adress soon as they are probably flocked by thousands of inquiries. And I can pretty much assume we will never see our Heroic code or t-shirt code for free as we are not in US, regardless of the massive mistakes and false advertisement that has happened.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

>

> That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

 

For what it's worth I got and used 2 sets of codes (by mashing the button and then getting 2 at once) I used both, one on my paid account and one on my free account and both are still working. I doubt either showed up as suspect because even the free account is over 2 years old and I only used the 2 codes, but if they were mass banning accounts linked in the promotion I'd expect at least the free one to be gone.

 

But it does sound like all the unused codes have been disabled. Hopefully when the promotion restarts everyone who wants one will be able to get it somehow or other.

[NicholaLord.2630]

> @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

>

> That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

 

wow for real KFT app cant handle traffic and was laggy as hell, and spammed codes even if just aplied for the code once.... and ANET are banning these people presuming they are hackers???

 

Wow absolutely unbelievable !!

[Kitta.5412]

I managed to get my codes for the outfit and the heroic edition 3 days into the promotion though I've encountered and issue and I see @"Gaile Gray.6029" you are saying that certain things should be directed towards Kung Fu Tea rather than Arenanet. What is it of codes that do not work? My outfit code worked and I claimed it but my heroic edition of the game I am incapable of redeeming, I've already opened a support ticket that has yet to get a response.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"NicholaLord.2630" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

> >

> > That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

>

> wow for real KFT app cant handle traffic and was laggy as hell, and spammed codes even if just aplied for the code once.... and ANET are banning these people presuming they are hackers???

>

> Wow absolutely unbelievable !!

 

I doubt that ANet is presuming any such thing. It’s probably more an acknowledgement that the app was giving out multiple codes to numerous people both by accident and on purpose when it was only supposed to give one of each and rather than have all those codes out there they were disabled until the situation could be fixed, which may mean the person will need to get a new code if/when that happens.

[Mewcifer.5198]

> @"NicholaLord.2630" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

> >

> > That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

>

> wow for real KFT app cant handle traffic and was laggy as hell, and spammed codes even if just aplied for the code once.... and ANET are banning these people presuming they are hackers???

>

> Wow absolutely unbelievable !!

 

To be fair, if you knew that you were only meant to get a single code (which should be obvious as far as free codes from promotions go) and you ended up getting multiple, especially if you just applied for a code once, you should know that there is some bug happening. And if you then proceeded to use all the codes even though you know you were never intended to have that many, you are then knowingly taking advantage of a bug. That's exploiting.

[Miss Lana.5276]

> @"OutOfOrder.3719" said:

> Just offer the Dragon emblem outfit for 800 gems and be done with it.

>

> Let everyone, buy the heroic edition for 1000 gems. Simple solution!

 

If after all this, knowing people have received both for free (even though supposedly they weren't eligible to enter) you can bet that people will be too pissed to buy those. That is not even a half-decent solution.

[Menadena.7482]

> @"NicholaLord.2630" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

> >

> > That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

>

> wow for real KFT app cant handle traffic and was laggy as hell, and spammed codes even if just aplied for the code once.... and ANET are banning these people presuming they are hackers???

>

> Wow absolutely unbelievable !!

 

Hey, hacker used to be a compliment! Some of us still think of it that way.

 

Better than KFT calling us bots, right? :)

[Menadena.7482]

> @"Mewcifer.5198" said:

> > @"NicholaLord.2630" said:

> > > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > > @"Arizan.1073" said:

> > > > Iv been hearing a lot about this kung fu tea app and how is not been working and how us gw2 players have not been able to get our gw2 outfit from it. i hear some of us got lucky but iv also found out that Kung Fu tea promotion is banning accounts! from reddit (

) i find it sad and frustrating. Me and my friends have been waiting Presently for it to work but its been days ...what seems to be the hold-up??? Why are people being banned from it ?? do i have to worry about my account too ?? is this really a good promotion or a waste of time ?? all i wanted was the nice gw2 outfit what iv been waiting so long for .

> > >

> > > That’s not proving that Kung Fu Tea promotion is banning accounts. If you read this thread people are saying that all codes have been disabled. That’s probably Anet doing that because of the accounts that got multiple codes, including gold sellers getting multiple free accounts, and the people that were selling these free game accounts and outfits on sites such as eBay.

> >

> > wow for real KFT app cant handle traffic and was laggy as hell, and spammed codes even if just aplied for the code once.... and ANET are banning these people presuming they are hackers???

> >

> > Wow absolutely unbelievable !!

>

> To be fair, if you knew that you were only meant to get a single code (which should be obvious as far as free codes from promotions go) and you ended up getting multiple, especially if you just applied for a code once, you should know that there is some bug happening. And if you then proceeded to use all the codes even though you know you were never intended to have that many, you are then knowingly taking advantage of a bug. That's exploiting.

 

Well, it is a common term so that is why people asked if they could give away the extra codes. They were told yes. Of course with everything going on I would not be surprised if the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing.

[Vyrulisse.1246]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > @"fatihso.7258" said:

> > When do we get an update on the matter? Half month almost passed.

>

> Have you asked Kung Fu Tea? We're answering questions that are properly addressed to us, but cannot answer questions that need to addressed to the company that is hosting the promotion. I'm very sorry that we do not have answers to every question, but truly we do not.

 

So your company's stance is to just pass the buck on a promotion you advertised and sent your players towards? Oof.

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

I have a half-joking suggestion for Anet. They should be able to get a list from KFT of all the players who registered for this promotion and they could send those players a dragon tee shirt outfit, only the tee shirt would be ripped and charred with burn holes in it as a metaphor for this fiasco. Kind of a "I tried dragon tea and got burned" joke.

 

On a serious note, despite the issues with this promotion, I enjoy the game very much and would like to thank the designers, artists and coders for their efforts. They don't deserve any blame for this mess or the decisions of the PR department or whoever is running this promotion, and I hope they know how appreciated they are.

[SatdeNecro.2395]

I still haven't gotten a DLC code at all. I am in the US downloaded the app and connected it to my Facebook account. Check the social rewards messages and still empty inbox. Am I missing something here??