"Executive Email Carpet Bomb" example

I talked to Wu briefly during his goodbye speech to ZeniBailout about whether he wanted to followup on his account and escalate it up to the next level. he seemed frustrated, angry and resigned, which is completely understandable. I offered to help him draft an "executive email carpet bomb" (EECB) if he decided to take this up further. While he said that it wasn't necessary at the time, I think that this is still enough of an issue that I wanted to draft something for him, or anyone else who is wrongly banned to use to possibly get some actual results.

An EECB is the last resort. It's what you use if you've exhausted every possible normal channel, including customer service, supervisors, phone calls, etc. It isn't to be launched lightly, and should only be used if and only if the company's own systems for handling complaints is not working effectively. The idea behind this is to contact people with actual decision-making power and bring a problem to their attention, as well as give them clear steps on what they can do to fix things. I've used this technique twice in the past, and in both cases I've obtained swift, and satisfactory resolution.

Again, this is to be used only as a last resort when you have exhausted all other means of resolving a problem.

Here is some information on EECBs:

- How to Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb

- Howto: How To Write A Complaint Letter

- EECB Convinces Best Buy To Pay For Damage To Car

SE EECB sample follows:

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Hello,

My name is $NAME. On $DATE, I was banned from playing the Square-Enix game Final Fantasy XI (Online) for suspected "real money transactions" or RMT.

On $DATE, I contacted Square-Enix customers service at $PHONE to obtain an explanation of my ban and to clear my name. I have not engaged in RMT activity and wanted to know the reason behind the ban and to lift the ban so that I can continue to play. I talked to $NAME (if you can remember) and the reason given was that I was playing from a suspicious IP address. There was no evidence of any RMT activity, just that the IP address I had connected from was considered suspicious. There was also no explanation as to what made my IP address suspicious, or how I could remove the suspicion.

I asked to talk to a supervisor and escalated it to... (put all formal steps that you took to try to resolve the issue) On $DATE, I was informed that this ban was final and that no further investigation would be taken. This is unacceptable as this ban was due to no fault of my own, and the reason behind the banning has no evidence at all.

I have been a loyal Square-Enix customer since $YEAR. I have been playing Final Fantasy XI since $YEAR, and I have easily spent over $DOLLAR on Square-Enix, Eidos and Taito games including (insert list of games you've bought... including Tomb Raider, Space Invaders, Kingdom Hearts, etc.) Needless to say, I am very disappointed in the lack of customer service I have received in this matter.

I would like to remain a Square-Enix customer. I would like to give your office the chance to rectify this mistake and show the professionalism and harmony that are the foundation of principles for your company. I am asking that a representative evaluate this case and arrange for the unbanning of my account. I have included detailed account information, including my POL ID, Square-Enix ID, (registration codes, etc.)

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problem and will wait until (set a time limit, no more than 2 weeks from when you send in the email) before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau (or Consumerist.com., Kotaku, Alla, whatever you want to list. Don't overdo it, but do hit the major players.) Please contact me at $address, or by phone at (phone number, email address, etc.)

Sincerely,

Your name.

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Alright, that's the sample. Obviously the reason is tailored to Wu since that's the most recent example, but the general format stays the same:

1. Product & specific incident (FFXI & banning)

2. Steps that you have already done (Talking to customer service)

3. Why the company should help you (Loyal customer)

4. Specific action the company should take (Investigate and contact you)

5. DEADLINE (Very important. Make sure that they know that the clock is ticking)

6. Action that you will take if the company ignores the message (Contact media)

7. Contact info

Now that you've written the letter, you need somewhere to send it to. Unfortunately, SE has been very good about hiding the email address format that they use, so it makes it a little more difficult. What you can do includes:

- Sending email to variations of $first.$last@square-enix.com, such as $first$last@, $last$first@, etc.

- Calling the corporate number and asking specifically for an email address of a person, any person so that you can figure out their email address format

- Contact one of the "Premier Site" administrators and ask that they forward your message into the company... Personally, I wouldn't do this and instead, figure out the email format and send it in that way.

- Alternatively, send in a physical mail (return receipt requested) to their corporate offices. This is what worked for me when I had an issue with Sony. I had a resolution about 5 days after I sent my physical mail.

The people you want to direct this mail to are:

- John Yamamoto (US & EU CEO)

- Daishiro Okado (Vice Chairman US)

- Ron Scott (Senior VP of Sales & Marketing)

- David Hoffman (Director of Business Development)

- Ami Blaire (VP of Marketing)

- Yoichi Wada (President and Representative Director of the Board)

- Keiji Honda (Executive Vice President and Representative Director of the Board)

The last two are on the Japan side of things, so you'd want to find a friend to translate your letter into formal Japanese before sending it in.

If you decide to go the physical mail method, the addresses are:

- Square Enix Co., Ltd

Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi,
Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-0053, Japan
- Square Enix Inc.
999 N. Sepulveda Boulevard,
3rd Floor, El Segundo, CA 90245, U. S. A.

Addressing it to either the individuals should work. Alternatively, you can also try "Office of the President".

Why am I doing this?

So... why am I spending the time writing this up in the hopes that Wu, or someone else who is wrongly banned will use this? Well, the obvious reason is that I really hate it when someone wrongs my friends, and I'd want the problem fixed and my friends cleared. however, my motive isn't 100% selfless.

The other reason, and the main reason why I've been posting about the injustice and problems in FFXI as well as SE is that I want the company to take notice and change. I am 90% certain that SE's executive staff have no idea what is going on with their customer service division, what these bannings are doing to their actual customers and how disgruntled people are about the game. FFXI accounts for less than 10% of their total operating income (7.8% specifically) and it is shrinking steadily (revenue down by 12.1% over 2008, operating income down 47.5%)(Source: SE FY2009 Annual Report, published 8/21/09) I want them to become aware of it, and I want them to 1. fix FFXI so that this stops happening, and 2. make it so that this will NEVER be an issue in FFXIV. I want these online games to actually be fun to play, as well as worth playing instead of having to worry about whether I'll be banned next week.

So, hopefully someone will take up this charge and get in touch with SE. I can't do it simply because... well, I don't have a valid reason. I'm not banned. The person who takes up the charge needs to be someone who has a valid, unjust problem that needs to be corrected. I'm hoping that either the executives become aware of this problem and come down to fix the problems that they have with customer service and their JP-onry attitude, or this gets picked up by mainstream media outlets who will bring this to the attention of the masses. With FFXIV announced, SE marketing would jump on bad publicity about SE online gaming if it hit a major new outlet such as Kotaku or the Consumerist. We all remember what happened when the "18 hour fight" hit Yahoo!

Wu, I know you're reading this... It's up to you whether you want to take this next step! For the rest of you, I hope you never have to use this, but if you know of someone who needs help for an unjust banning, please feel free to refer them to this post. I guess you all also just got a sample of how I can pound out tons of MBA papers in a few hours :)