The Gamepal Challenge
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EdAugust 18th, 2007 |
My documented experience with Gamepal is oddly the second most popular post on my blog. For those who don’t know, I hired Gamepal to power level my World of Warcraft character. I just didn’t have the time to keep up with the game and wanted to play with my son more. But instead of having my character bumped up a few levels, my account was banned. I had this account for nearly 2 years, so that really sucked.
When I tried to get at least a refund, I was pretty much told I was SOL. So I did what all consumers should do when screwed by a company, I wrote a blog post. The fact that I make my living in part by helping companies rank for terms on Google made my voice heard, and I now rank well for the Gamepal name. I also linked to The Rip Off Report posting about them, which helped them outrank even my site. So now when someone searches for Gamepal they see my article and the Rip Off Report article about them.
This has led to a lot (at least for my blog) of comments on the post. Most from unhappy customers of Gamepal who share similar stories. Occasionally I hear from people claiming to be former employee, and even some who claim to be current employees.
Most recently I was contact by someone at Gamepal who was now very interested in solving my problem. They sent me $50 through Paypal. I don’t know what made them chose that amount. I had paid them much more, and I didn’t request the money. But I did buy a nice pot for a Bonsai tree with the money.
The last communication with Gamepal was from Kristi, who says she just stated a month ago, and so now everything is well in Gamepal land. Kristi promises partial refunds to those who lose accounts at the hands of the company. I admire her optimism, but I remain skeptical.
But am I being unfair to Gamepal? I simply documented my experience with them. But are they trying to be a better company? Did some of the people who were banned doom themselves by logging into the account while someone was playing it? Or did Gamepal just get screwed themselves by unethical power levelers? How about we give them a chance to clear their name.
The person who referred me to Gamepal was my cousin Shaun. He had a level 56 Paladin that he had been working on for over 2 years. He hired Gamepal to up him to a level 70, so that he could play some of the cooler levels. But of course his account met the same fate.
I purpose this challenge to Gamepal. I will provide a fresh account with a level 1 Paladin. If you can level this character up to level 70, and it can remain there for 30 days without being banned, I will make sure this blog reflects that. I promise we will not log in to the account. You can even change the log in info if you like during the level up.
This is the chance to prove that your service can work. It’s up to you if you want to take it.
