Error Code 401

Basically haven't been able to use any CC since June. Almost feels like they've blacklisted me entirely.

In June, my old CC expired and I was issued a new one. My old CC was used with no problems and I had re-occuring subs set up on 4 accounts.

It tried to charge my expired CC (I was away from the game for 6 weeks during that time and it wasn't even something that occured to me to think about) - just to be clear it didn't charge back and I didn't owe them any money (as it bills for the month in advance) - it just tried to charge an expired CC.

Since this time, I haven't been able to use my CC on any account (tried paying for a month for a friend's mule) and any cc's on my accounts. (I have several). There was one time last month I was able to buy crysta, but it charged me twice and I only received the first amount of crysta. I didn't bother to do anything about it because it seemed like too big a hassle for 5 bucks. Also, like I've mentioned before I've talked to my bank 3 seperate times since then and they say it's not them.

Doesn't help that the support guys claim they can't look into it any further or tell me what the heck is going on or wrong, or try to fix it.
So idk. Just hope paypal is out soon :/

I just think worse it cant be.

For me there is no diference between not playing because i cant, and not playing because im blocked. So i would, and i did, try anything possible, any combination. If shits happen and acccount get blocked (what i dont believe that happens), its SE obligation to unblock my account.

Dude bellow said me the true words:

I got error 401 on chrome and registered the same CC number a day later on firefox.

could of just been the 24 wait on it.

My error code 401 experience:
I'm in the military and stationed overseas and naturally have a US address for billing. After my 30 day free trial ended my card was not accepted (billing region via IP address error?). I attempted at least 5 times on 3 different cards using Google Chrome and AdBlock was installed/enabled. Called and the helpful guy said wait 48 hours and to call back and give them last 4 of CC so they could put it in the system, and use IE or Firefox. Called back 48 hours and spoke to another nice guy who got my last 4 and told me to wait 15 minutes and try. I bought 10,000 crysta and am now playing.

After trying 7-8 times with two different credit/debit cards on Wednesday night I thought I was locked out for 30+ days. This morning I fired up Internet Explorer and was able to register a card and buy Crysta. I wasn't convinced that I could reactivate with my credit/debit like I had been doing on Wednesday night; I kept receiving the 401 error.

My thoughts on what happened to me. I moved to a new zip code several months ago. Since my account was happily withdrawing funds from my bank with my old credit/debit card, there was no problem. I recently lost my card and hard to get a replacement. I got a replacement but forgot to update my information in SE Account Management.

When my account got cancelled, naturally the first thing I did was attempt to reactivate. Unfortunately I did not yet update the address information tied to my account. I believe the system uses the zip code when it authorizes payment. Since the zip code of my new card and the zip code registered didn't match, I got the 401 error.

TL;DR: Make sure your address tied to your PlayOnline account matches the address tied to your credit/debit.

Are you guys that are having your 401 issue fixed using NA accounts and talking to NA support? Just called them again (after talking to my bank a fourth time) and it was pretty much the same thing as always. No, they can't look further into it, can't tell me why it's not working. Can't take CC info over the phone or look at it to see any more information. They just tell me to try again after 24 hours and hope it works.

Also(I know this is gonna sound dumb) but how terrible is it gonna sound if I chat or phone in and ask to change information on a mule's account? When they first came out with SE accounts, I didn't realize that you could register more than one account to the same SEID and I made just kind of a joke account for my mule and now, to check or change your mailing address, you have to input a birthday. Nothing I put in will work. I'm 95% sure the mule's address is correct with my bank (I have a paper with everything I registered written down) but right now I have no way to check. How fishy does that sound if I try to change or check it with se, and is there any chance they'd lock the account?

This is defiantly not true for me, at least when buying Crysta with a Debit/Credit Card.

Unless you talking about using Debit/Credit Card for making direct payment and skipping the Crysta.

I have a mule account that I pay for and used my C.C. to buy $30 in crysta fine and that account was my friends' that lives 3 states away. Just seems like a lot of speculation as to what exactly causes 401 errors, so just saying the experience I had.

Tell then its your kid/sister/relative account.

It was actually my sister's account (she hasn't played since like 2006), but I don't think that'd go over too well. Outside maybe kids who are living with you under age 18, I don't think you're supposed to pass off accounts to anyone, family or not :/

Also, finally managed to re-sub a mule account. Still getting 401 errors on my other 2 accounts though. Not sure if it was just coincidence but I went and used vanilla IE on my kids laptop and it finally worked D:

Yes!

Only way to fix this problem is by ourselves and through try and errors!

anyone got any infos yet on this ?
unable to play , been 1 day i think i'm going crazy!!

The SE account management page is giving me a migraine.

I am trying to add crysta to my account and every time I input my login info, it kicks me right back to the login screen.

I use Firefox, and I have also tried (ew) IE.

Wondering why the hell this is happening.

I'm trying to coming back, but the SE's payment system continue to be as bad as it was, if not worse!

I'm getting 401 & 601 errors, tried directly and by buying crysta nothing works. Always 401 errors, even 601 showed me couple of times.

Something is very wrong there today.

An error has occurred.
Please confirm the status of any relevant options and then try again.
For details, please contact the Square Enix Support Center.
(Error code: 401)

It's their stupid security checks, don't spam it if you get errors. Like 5-7 errors will lock you out of paying for a month even if you pass security check. They said they'll be implementing paypal(though their last paypal implementation had the same security checks, so who knows if that'll even relieve the problem).

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/44683-Dev-Anyone-from-SE-Can-we-seriously-please-get-a-response-to-payment-problems

post here to complain, not that they care

When they will put PayPal payment back again? They say "soon", but it's the same as nothing.

Been locked out of my main account since the 2nd.

Knowing with SE, "soon" could be next year.

I had a lot of people recommend using a pre-paid visa, but SE rep told me that they don't work/their bank won't accept them. Might just be an NA thing. EU support seems to be a lot more helpful/nice.

I finally got a mule account re-subbed, been having issues with this more or less since June (I was only playing because of UP and Paypal). Loaded vanilla IE on a different computer (no clue if this is relevant), unregistered payment info, was able to resub. (Note that this was after many many attempts across 3 accounts going through the same steps minus using a different computer). Got a 401 error while trying to buy crysta.

They won't accept pre-paid CC ? If true, then this is completly stupid as pre-paid is charged in realtime, so they get the money right away.

From normal CC, they ONLY get the money after 30 days!

That's what I was told. Not sure why. I know there's some people that mentioned they used pre-paid cards, but I'm pretty sure they were in different non-na regions.

prepaid amex got rejected on one account, then other account accepted it(same ip, same computer, same browser, same registered address, same amount of crysta, no difference that i can think of.. rejected account was prior to the accepted one, so most likely not to do with #/accounts)

so dunno what to take from that, but prepaid definitely can work

The site is STILL f'ing up for me.

Kicks me back to login every. damn. time.

Not sure why but gaaaaaaaaah it's annoying.

That is really weird. Don't think I've heard that problem. Have you tried a different browser ?

I had problems with a smaller bank, it wouldn't let any transactions that were billed through the state of California (and several other states/cities) due to being a "high fraud zone". Most banks won't tell you this straight up because they'll just loose you're business. If possible a FCU bank is the best way to go here, I've never had a single issue with online transactions or even Foreign charges from Europe, Switzerland and Japan. Wells Fargo is also a *** and Bank of America is a close second when it comes to SE billing in my personal experience.

Good luck hope to see you back in the game soon!

Well, I can add myself to the 401 and 601 issues. I can't even buy crysta as they have taken the only method I could use away.

I've chatted SE, called my bank and confirmed all my info on all sides but still nothing. It's incredibly irritating to only be able to try once every 24 hours and it makes contacting support really hard as 11pm is when my 24 hours ends and both my bank and SE's support are closed then. I wonder how long this is going to take to be resolved. I'm pretty sure my cards have been black listed.

It's really frustrating :/ been locked out of my main account since the 2nd. They said they were working on Paypal but with SE, that could take them till next year.

I've tried pretty much everything under the sun that's been mentioned so far. Talked to se 4 times. Talked to my bank 4 times. Double and triple checked that my address matches my banking address. Used different browsers, different computers.

I randomly managed to get one mule back after about a week of not trying. Another mule runs out on the 26th, not sure what's gonna happen with them. I've tried buying crysta a few times on them since then and have gotten 401s.

I'm still pissed they took UP out completely just because they stopped their game card and points thing (UP is still up and running) before they had a different paypal(and others) system ready to take over. There might've been warning that UP was discontinuing that stuff, but they never warned they were removing UP completely. Had I known, I would've stocked up on crysta on my accounts.

I can't even wrap my mind around the way SE operates. What other company in the world would be so hesitant to take money? Or tell their customers to come back in a day, a week, a month? (that's how long the block can potentially extend) When you have hundreds of customers unable to pay, most companies would be jumping through hoops trying to fix that ***. Not se.

14 401 thread still going strong 13 months after it was first started

Sad thing is all this security doesn't stop RMT. They would just create a new account and a new card. This only really slows them down slightly while the real effect is felt in actual players who are unwilling to start from scratch.

Yeah, I really don't understand. It blocks so many legitimate cards it's just crazy. While most players are likely addicted enough to wait and jump through hoops to get back into the game, they have to be losing at least some players indefinetly. Wow's next x-pac coming out very soon likely isn't going to help their position much, either.

well... Im out too. SE payment system just is'nt Canadian friendly i guess. They don't want my money... oh well... /wave



see y'all when paypal comes back.