I was turned onto Mafia Wars by my friend, Maureen.
At first, I just joined because she needed a bigger Mafia, but then I got into the game.
I admit this game is addictive, but is riddled with programming problems and errors.
The last time I logged onto Mafia Wars was Sunday, December 6, 2009. Since then, I have been unable to log onto the game.
I am going to go through my complaints to Zynga, the owner/company of Mafia Wars. But first, let me explain some things about Mafia Wars. This game is accessible through the leaders of the social networking, Facebook, MySpace, along with Yahoo, Tagged and iPhone. To say this game is addicitve and fun is an understatement, Mafia Wars has close or over 10 million players and counting. Mafia Wars is FREE, but there is a hitch once you become addictive to the game, purchasing high powered ammunition, cars, armor to keep mobs away from you immediately, is through using Godfather points. Godfather points are given to you as you level up in the game and are slow to come by. Many playing this game do pay for Godfather points and it can be easily estimated that 10% of the users do purchase points and I am low balling this estimate.
So, what is my beef? Well, I have not been able to log onto this game since Sunday, December 6, 2009. Since then my experience has been littered with customer service tickets filled by invisible online ticket takers. To state that Zynga has been on top of things is a joke, since many are complaining about not only logging onto the game, but the continued malfunctioning within the game. Here are a few things going on withing Mafia Wars, that many at this point are either done with this game or very close to it, these comments are from Zynga's Mafia War's Account on Facebook:
* doesn't work for me, when i fight, my opponent never refresh. i can't keep killing the same person over and over...
* I am about done with this game. The whole page does not load on anything. I can't get to all of my businesses. It;s starting to get real old.
# Still unable to collect from all business, unable to send gifts, to ask for energy packs, energy recharge way too low, what other game you recommend me to play, ah,page are cropped too. Bad upgrade, bad update... major dissapoinment.
* Still the white page..... SINCE MONDAY!!!
* no the bugs are still there! you can't see the entire mafia screen. not fixed
* Still havng problems as of 7:30 eastern time 12/11. Did not get credited with some points. Can't see the whole screen.
* MW so buggy that I am about ready to give up on it. More aggravation than fun. Why continue to add stuff when the old stuff ain't working?
* you have a large community of players that are getting sick of your failures. You continue to release new loot , new cities and yet old problems remain unfixed and new ones are created, lucky we DONT pay for this application!
* Performance still sucks. Pages do not refresh. It was a good run Zynga, but it's a boring game now.
* the virtual BLANK SCREEN
The information I listed above are the NICE COMMENTS. These comments are from the thread that Zynga released, about the glitches being fixed:
Hello All,
We fixed the bug that was blocking players from fighting through the Profile page. I want to assure you that this was an unintended bug introduced while trying to improve the performance of the game. Everybody on the Mafia Wars team believes that clans and warring are an integral part of the Mafia Wars experience.
We also realize that there are a number of outstanding bugs in the game that we need to work on. Tomorrow we will post a list of them and the order in which we intend to prioritize them. Please feel free to let us know if you think we've missed anything or we should change the order.
Thank you for your patience and feedback.
Justin, General Manager, click here to play
Ah, yes, Justin. A name used to contact irate customers, but the thing is does this dude exist? Well, when I went to the ABOUT page from Zynga there certainly is NO JUSTIN LISTED. Ummmm....
Next, Zynga took some SERIOUS HEAT all week. Why? Well they would put a post up with the usual technical but NON-TECHNICAL, mumbo jumbo about "we know there is a glitch", "we are working on it", "we value you", but then you would not hear SHIT FROM THEM. The heat was so hot, that they started putting times that they will post an update. And of course, they have not met each deadline, but the update was a bunch of nonsense. Like this from me about Mafia Wars not loading:
(ME) December 7, 2009 9:19AM: It was fine, yesterday, but today a blank page on facebook. Facebook opens with NO ISSUE, but to launch MW or click on a job that someone posted, BLANK. I await your feedback because this is truly a PAIN.
(ZYNGA) Hello XXXXX,
Thanks for contacting Zynga.
We apologize for any inconvenience, we understand how frustrating can be to encounter problems in the game and be unable to do much about it. The game developers of Mafia Wars are aware of this issue and are working hard to track it down and fix it as soon as possible. You are one of our best customers and we will be working hard to provide you with the best service possible.
We do appreciate being informed of these types of issues as they do appear from time to time. We will appreciate your patience while this issue is solved.
Again, thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
Best,
Zynga Customer Support
(ME) 10:40AM: I see that you did some maintenance, but I am STILL not able to access MW. In fact in all my browsers I am getting an error, The page facebook/home has content of an unspecified MIME type. Because you don't have a plug-in installed for this MIME type, this content can't be displayed. Can you PLEASE fix this? Thanks you.
(ME) 1:55 PM: Continuing to get a WHITE PAGE one EVERY BROWSER I use. Can this please be fixed, or I am just going to have to stop playing for MW. Not worth it.
(ME) 3:36PM: When is this issue going to be fixed? I have been unable to access MW all day long and I am not the first. Customer Service is vital to keep people in the loop, one from you on what is going would be appreciated. I am close to just leaving this game and moving on, this is utterly ridiculous.
(ME) 6:47PM: I am STILL unable to access Mafia Wars. When, AGAIN, is this going to be fixed? Along with many losing most of their account attached to this game. Lastly, I have spent money for GF points, I am close to asking for my money back. An update on this would suffice and you need to hire REAL DEVELOPERS, never in my life have I had to witness this.
(ME) December 8, 2009 10:07AM Can Zynga at least have the courtesy to update the status? I am still unable to access MW and the customer service from Zynga is just unbelievable. Many are angry, a status is the LEAST you can do.
(ZYNGA) Hello XXXXX,
Thanks for contacting Zynga.
The problem (white screen after trying to load Mafia Wars) you are experiencing is a known issue that we are working hard to resolve quickly! We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your understanding. I'm terribly sorry this is happening to you. Our developers are on this and it should only be a matter of time before a patch is rolled out. Once that's out, things should be back to normal.
I'd like to take closer look too and submit your User ID to our development team. I'm sure they'd love a sample case to look into. If you are unsure how to find this please refer the article below which is taken from our online knowledge base at www.zynga.com/support.
Answer Title: What is a User ID and how do I find it?
Answer Link: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/250
Also, please respond with your browser type. Examples: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari
Would you mind trying this link too? It's supposed to have helped some users.
http://www.facebook.com/MafiaWarsFans?ref=ts#/MafiaWars?ref=ts
You might have seen these instructions before. Try it out if you haven't. It helps deal with most of the technical issues for the game.
http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/600
I hope I was able to answer all of your questions. I'd like to thank you for your patience and understanding.
Best,
Zynga Customer Support
Well, this has been going on since Monday and when I ask for my money back for Godfather points?:
I have written repeatedly. I have not been able to log onto MW, since Sunday night. Today, it flashes a black screen and then goes back to white. Your responses or updates are ineffective, at this point with the lapse of customer service, I am requesting my money back from Godfather points. It makes no sense to me to see everyone move along in the game and I and millions like me are not. Your responses have been none responses. At this point, what is the procedure to request my money back from this game. I await your response.
The response? **crickets**
I did call Zynga and talked to billing, since the invisible Justin continues to respond on line and via email in cryptic, technical, mumbo jumbo. My call to Zynga was OK, the billing person explained this is billing, of course if you hit the number for customer support or for technical issues, you are then referred to an website address and you can bet your bottom dollar, you will be prompted to create a ticket and the invisible Justin will respond!!! The individual did take down my information and to say that I was salty is an understatement. He did forward the ticket, but again, a ticket that is meaningless, worthless and don't mean anything.
Now Zynga has the audacity to stay that MAFIA WARS is up and going!!! When many are still UNABLE TO ACCESS THIS DAMN PROGRAM!! Or the program is dysfunctional for many who are able to access it.
Zynga, it is about time to either be honest about what is going on or give me my damn MONEY BACK.
Sure, I am just one little blogger, one game player, one who enjoyed this game, but not anymore. I am disenchanted, angry and want my account back IN TACT or my money back from Godfather points. Simple as that.
And Facebook, what are YOU doing to kick Zynga's ass about this? Facebook, you have millions of users who enjoy this game, but it is going through your social network. Leaving Zynga is no big deal to me, because I can leave Facebook just as easily.
Customer service for any company is crucial. Why? Because people don't expect everything to work perfectly, many people are patient, but what Zynga has done to millions this past week is unheard of. They have basically IGNORED, their customers, the ones on Facebook and are trying to fix a program piece-by-piece that have impacted many.
Zynga do the right thing. Either fix these accounts, including mine's or give me my damn money back. If you can not do this, I guess an attorney can do it FOR YOU.
I look forward to hearing from many, especially those who have paid for Godfather points and Zynga has ignored your complaints about the non-operational Mafia Wars.
Post away. Oh, here is Zynga's phone number: 866-820-2321
Contact them and let them REALLY KNOW how you feel, since the invisible Justin is just that, INVISIBLE.
Linda Robinson a.k.a., icebergslim
