The Gamepal Challenge

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.

22 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t know . . . seems like these sorts of “put up or shut up” challenges never really get answered. Companies rarely have the balls to stand behind their products they way they should — I’ll be shocked if they take you up on your offer.

  2. I guess we’ll see if they follow through. If they are as honest and as careful as they claim to be this should be an easy way for them to shut all their critics up. My guess is that they won’t dare take the chance on showing people that your account will always get banned though.

  3. Gamepal won’t do it. They know they will just make fools of themselves in public when the account gets banned. Blizzard knows all about them and kills any account they mess with.

  4. LOL… Frank does make a valid point, but in Ed’s defense its not the length of time you had the account but the amount of time you play it.

    I’m sure Frank has heard this from the ladies before but with a twist to it!

  5. Well, I came across this website after I ordered from them. I had read good things about them before ordering.

    I ordered a 1-70 inclusive with flying mount.

    The accoutn is brand new. It has been over 30 hours since I logged onto the account and made a level 1 character.

    I will keep folks up to date with what happens.

  6. I am keeping a log of every “live chat” and email.

    Pros:
    So far the customer service folks have been nice.

    Cons:
    However, I have to say that they were supposed to start at 6pm central and it is now 11:30pm central

  7. Okies, here are the rough notes, minus a few emails I sent. On of the emails concerned that the char was on a very very long time – 28 hours. The other, i notified them I was posting info. I have come to some conclusions already and will share them at the end of this saga (with the hopes all works out well).

    *if folks dont want to read or dont give a damn, i can stop.

    feb 10 9:30am

    [Live Chat Team] Welcome to live chat, This is

    Lisa how may I help you?
    [Visitor] Hello Lisa, I was just doing a status

    check on an order I placed yesterday. I was

    wondering when the PL would start Ma’am
    [Visitor] Sorry it was Order Number: XXX1234XXX
    [Live Chat Team] one moment
    [Visitor] thank you, my door bell rang also, one

    sec please, sorry!

    [Live Chat Team]
    for what game?
    [Visitor] world of warcraft
    [Visitor] sorry for that, its -9 here, who goes

    door to door selling things, yeesh!
    [Live Chat Team] they do not assign WoW pls for

    24 hours due to the change from your ip to the

    levelers
    [Visitor] understood, thank you. =)
    [Live Chat Team] from the time of verification
    [Visitor] and i wont be logging onto the account

    at all for the duration
    [Live Chat Team] good
    [Live Chat Team] you can check the armory to see

    real time updates tho
    [Visitor] Thank you kindly Lisa. Is there a way

    to check on your website as well?
    [Live Chat Team] i don’t think there is…… but

    you can always come in here and ask if we have an

    update
    [Visitor] Soudns wonderful. I hope you have a

    nice day Lisa. =)
    [Live Chat Team]

    Thanks for contacting us. Please do not hesitate

    to contact us again if we can be of further

    assistance.

    February 10, 2008 10:30 pm

    [Live Chat Team]
    Hello! This is Stan, how may I help you?

    [Visitor] Hello, I am checking up on order Order

    Number: XXX1234XXX, a pl please
    [Visitor] i was told it would begin at 6pm, its

    about 4 hours and 15 minutespast that. Is

    everythign ok?
    [Live Chat Team] One moment
    [Live Chat Team] I am asking the leveler if he

    has somebody that can start the order in the next

    few hours. There is nothing wrong with the order

    that we’ve been told, if there were, we would

    email to let the customer know
    [Live Chat Team] It was only recently assigned.
    [Visitor] Alright, thank you for the update. This

    is my first time having a PL, I am unsure what is

    normal in the process.
    [Live Chat Team] They wait 24 hours after the

    order is placed to assign it. Then the leveler

    starts leveling. 🙂
    [Visitor] Are you in North Carolina, San Fran or

    Michigan Stan?
    [Visitor] Indeed, it is past that 24 hour mark. I

    was curious
    [Live Chat Team] I myself am in GA
    [Visitor] warmer than iowa lol, its -11 here.

    hope you have a good evening sir and I am anxious

    to see teh character come online. thank you

    again.
    [Live Chat Team]

    Thanks for contacting us. Please do not hesitate

    to contact us again if we can be of further

    assistance.

    11:33pm character logged on

    sent tell, no response,

    offered trade and char accepted 5gp

    helped kill a few mobs when they went grey and

    asked if he was getting xp, person replied “no”

    apologized and said will let level in peace…

    said “hehe ty”

    So, to this point, all of level 3, not a bot.

    feb 11 – 8:41am char is level 10.

    1147am i logged to take a nap, char still on. I

    did notice there were periods of afk, i was not

    directly observing, perhaps the powerleveler used

    the rr and ate or the bot was healing.

    4:14pm character is 14 and still online. if not

    breaks were taken, that is 28 hours online.

    4:15 live chat

    [Live Chat Team] Hi there, This is Lilly how may

    I help you?
    [Visitor] Hi, yes ma’am, one sec, copying some

    ifo =)
    [Visitor] okies!
    [Visitor] i have PL Order Number: XXX1234XXX‏. I have

    noticed it appears* the character has been on 28

    hours straight. can he/she take a little break so

    the account does nto get banned? I know you are a

    3rd party company that does live chat, but is

    there anyone you can contact?
    [Live Chat Team] Let me see if I can pass a

    message along to one of my supervisors, they can

    get in contact with powerleveling and see if we

    can get the leveler there to slow down on that.

    =)
    [Visitor] I appreciate the tenacity being shown

    (or that of the bot) but lets not get it banned

    until it is aleast level 50…
    [Visitor] =)
    [Live Chat Team] lol! Alright mate, one sec.
    [Live Chat Team] Alrighty, I’m leaving a message

    with them, when she returns she’ll be able to

    have them look into the situation and make sure

    it doesn’t impose some kind of risk. If you don’t

    notice a change later on, feel free to drop in

    again. I’m here all evening, and we can check in

    again with them.
    [Visitor] Thanks kindly. How many companies do

    you do a liv3e chat for? or it it only one?
    [Visitor] liv3e = live lol sorry for typo
    [Live Chat Team] lol. We handle most of our

    affiliate sister sites. So we’ve got a handful to

    juggle some nights.
    [Visitor] i can imagine. Thank you for your time

    Lilly. =)
    [Live Chat Team] Y’welcome, take care. =)

    7:17pm char is 15 and online –

    9:58 char is 17 and online – in westfall

    10:19pm initated trade with char and gave some 5 agil boots. accepted trade and said ty in tell. Had brief chat. Someone was definitely at the keyboard.

  8. 2/12
    12:51am level 18, westfall.

    6:28 pm – level 22 in duskwood.

    7:10pm – level 23

    10:24pm level 24 still in duskwood.

    2/13pm looked for char in duskwood, no luck.

    and is level 24 still. hope its not a bot. hope

    they log it for a little bit.

    2/13 7:13am level 27 and online. in duskwood.

    2/13 10:22am level 28, online, in duskwood.

  9. 5:16pm level 28 and offline. I think follow may be the key. Like any investment. Had emailed as below:

    From: Power Leveling ([email protected])
    Sent: Wed 2/13/08 12:08 PM

    Hello,

    I have told the leveler about this and that they are not supposed to be on for more than 12 hours a day. We do leave it up to them as to whether they do it all at one time, or if they spead it out throughout the day. Such as, if they play 3 – 4 hours, then log, then play another 4 hours then log, but regardless, if you find they have been on for more than 12 hours, thanks for telling us. He said he will tell his guy that he is not to be on for more than 12 hours.

    -Mark

    On 2/13/08, Iowa Hunter wrote:
    Dear Mark,

    Thanks again for your email. It does not look like the character logs off. Is it more than one person playing or is it one person with tons of jolt cola? I dont mind if they go over 12 hours (your call really) but 24-28 hours may be a problem. I have kept the two blog sites I provided earlier up to date with the positive information so far.

    Thank you for your continued contact and support.

  10. So far so good, seems they are sticking on a 12 hour shift as specified.

    10:14pm no char online – lol.

    2/14 –

    12:22am No char online. A 7 hour break it seems

    so far and i am going to bed. happy valentines

    day

    1142am level 32 in duskwood

    1150am logged on char to go find char and char

    logged off.

    4pm character not online

    5:02 pm char not online

    7pm char not online

    7:45pm char not online

    830pm – 9:10pm not online

    910 – came online 32 in duskwood
    1130pm, offline? i wonder what is going on.

    2/15

    829am level 34 online and in arathi highlands

    1148am level 35 arathi highlands
    1255 still online in arathi and 35 went back to

    work

    427pm offline

    432 level 36 and online alterac mountains

    439 level 37 alterac moutnains

    445pm offline again

    650pm not online.

    730pm not online

    1150pm – not online

    2/16
    12:27 am still not online, going to bed – ha, he

    logged on as i was camping level 37

    sent char XX gold and sent char a tell to use the

    gold shoudl they desire, got a “ty” back so

    someone is at least at the keyboard.

    1002am level 39 dustwallow marsh

    1138am level 40 dustwallow marsh
    209pm level 41 dustwallow marsh

    9:21pm offline

  11. *** these are rough notes, forgive the inconsistent format that may come up! =)

    It has appeared that a 12 hour schedule is adhered too. I have noticed that when the character that the PLer knows (i have sent about 15 gold total to help with gear and sent about 2-3 tells) the PLer logs. That may only be my perception though. There is definitely someone paying attention and at the keyboard since they have responded to the tells.

    Praying that this goes well, I have treated this process like any other investment. I follow up and when I see something I do not like ot have a question about, I communicate with the business, in this case, Gamepal. Of course, I don’t know if a 3rd party program has been used or not. Gamepal states they do not. At least they have the opportunity to set the record straight from past behaivors and I am willing to advertise that fact for them based on the performance with this character.

    2/13 –
    10:14pm no char online –

    2/14 –

    12:22am No char online. A 7 hour break it seems so far and i am going to bed. happy valentines day

    1142am level 32 in duskwood

    1150am logged on char to go find char and char logged off.

    4pm character not online

    5:02 pm char not online

    7pm char not online

    7:45pm char not online

    830pm – 9:10pm not online

    910 – came online 32 in duskwood
    1130pm, offline? i wonder what is going on.

    2/15

    829am level 34 online and in arathi highlands

    1148am level 35 arathi highlands
    1255 still online in arathi and 35 went back to work

    427pm offline

    432 level 36 and online alterac mountains

    439 level 37 alterac moutnains

    445pm offline again

    650pm not online.

    730pm not online

    1150pm – not online

    2/16
    12:27 am still not online, going to bed – ha, he logged on as i was camping level 37

    sent char 10 gold and sent char a tell to use 10 gold should they desire, got a “ty” back so someone is at least at the keyboard.

    1002am level 39 dustwallow marsh

    1138am level 40 dustwallow marsh
    209pm level 41 dustwallow marsh

    9:21pm offline

    2/17

    1:21 am offline

    9:37am offline

    1143am level 43 the hinterlands
    1241 pm 44 and in teh hinterlands
    125pm offline

    2/18

    I logged off at 1230am have not seen since 1241pm yesterday

    44 levels in 6 days so far.

    917am char is online in the hinterlands and level 45
    1028am level 46

    1036am elwyn forest? I am guessing they are going to Kalimdor – and that turned out to be correct.

    10:58am dustwallow marsh
    11:09am tanaris
    1258pm offline and 46 in tanaris – seems to be staying right on the 12 hour mark. 24 levels to go 46 levels in 8 days; 13 days until level 70.

  12. – SUSPENDED –

    Bottom line up front, they failed the test.

    Summary:
    The account was suspended for ecomonic exploitation. I received a partial refund and Gampal stated I should have notified them again about the leveler exceeding 12 hour shifts. Oddly, I did this 3 additional times via email and in Livechat as well.

    On the plus side, they did issue a refund promptly of the non-leveled portions.

    272 of the 404 was refunded.

    The accounts team was prompt in responding. The powerleveling team was not until it came time to send a refund. The livechat while nice, was useless.

    It is too bad the leveler did not adhere to the basics rules of the company.

    It is a good thing, I kept copies of all the emails and was able to document things.

    – Party is over –
    2:20pm email of a 72 hour suspension

    emails to gamepal and an attempt to get to their live chat…

    “The account has been suspended for “for exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy or for being associated to accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation”

    I have emailed Gamepal.com about excessive play sessions that exceed your company’s policy, sometimes these sessions were up to 23 hours.

    It looks like I have received the level 1-50 service versus the 1-70 with a mount service and the powerleveler used the account for economy exploitation et cetera. I would like a reply asap please.”

    email sent to mark at gamepal.com accounts

    “Mark,

    I know you are not in the powerleveling section, however, you are the only person that answers my emails. I have mailed the powerleveling accounts sections two times since my correspondence with you about excess hours on the account (a few 23 hour play sessions with the account).

    The account has now been suspended for “exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy or for being associated to accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation.” per Halicus.

    I contacted your company several times about this and it appears to no avail.

    I would like to know what is going to happen now.

    Thank you.”

    9:19pm
    [Live Chat Team] Hi there, This is Lilly how may I help you?
    [Visitor] Hello, my account has been suspended Lilly because of economic exploitation. I want to discuss a refund with someone please of the incomplete portion.
    [Visitor] I also emailed the powerleveling accoutn folks and spoke to them about 28 hour play sessions that has gone without reply.
    [Live Chat Team] Alright mate, you’ll have to contact the powerleveling department on that.There isn’t much that I can do from this end when it comes to refunds.
    [Visitor] Understood. Thank you kindly.
    [Live Chat Team] Y’welcome, sorry about the problem. =(
    [Visitor] It is ok. I watched this process like a hawk and the pler violated the company terms explained in the contract. I will pay for what they did, but expect the refund. Best wishes to you.
    _______________________________

    Sent: Wed 2/20/08 9:36 PM
    To: Power Leveling ([email protected])
    Cc: [email protected]

    Dear [email protected] and Mark at [email protected]

    It is a little late to poke the leveler now, the account has been suspended. It is regretful that there was no response to this email for 9 days.

    I would like a refund for the incomplete portion. I will pay for what has been done. I have sent a few emails about marathon leveling sessions of 23-28 hours, and now the account has been suspended “for exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy or for being associated to accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation”. I did not debate the issue with the GM and have no intention of debating the issue with Gamepal.

    The leveler, an employee of your company violated the sessions online by 12 to 14 hours. The account was allegedly used for exploitation of the economy and botting. I contacted your company several times about this issue to no avail apparently. This is water under the bridge at this point. Let’s make this work from here

    I will pay for the leveling done – 1 to 50. Your website shows that this would cost me $114.99.

    I have paid $404.99

    All Activity – Simple View from Jan. 21, 2008 to Feb. 20, 2008 Show

    Date Type To/From Name/Email Status Details Action Amount
    Feb. 9, 2008 Payment To Gamepal Powerleveling Completed Details -$404.99 USD

    I would like a refund to my credit card for the remainder of the balance which is $290.00 USD.

    Gamepal needs to expedite this in the interests of good customer service.

    Thank you for your time and consideration.

    Thank you Mark for assisting in this matter. Your attentiveness for a situation outside your department is commendable.

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:16:07 -0800
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]
    Subject: Re: IMPORTANT – RE: PL Order Number: 116357

    I’m poking at the leveler now trying to get him off the account for 12 hours like he’s supposed to be doing. Sorry about this!

    On 2/11/08, XXX
    wrote:
    Hello,

    It looks like the character has been online for 28 hours. Can they take a little break? That soudns like a ticket to the Blizzard Ban Bus! lol

    Thanks,

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:30:09 -0700
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]
    Subject: Re: IMPORTANT – RE: PL Order Number: 116357

    Hello,

    We do not mind you taking time off to watch the leveler. If you find that they are doing anything wrong, we would like to know your concern. We do not use bots and the levelers are only to level 12 hours a day. Again, if you do see them doing anything that concerns you, please let us know so we can address this with them. We do ask that you not interact with the leveler and let them do what you’ve paid us to do. Any issues you have, please email [email protected] .

    Regards,
    Mark

    9:46pm

    [Live Chat Team] Hi there, This is Lilly how may I help you?
    [Visitor] Hello, I spoke to Lilly a bit ago about my accoutn being suspended. I was told there was not much that could be done.. oh, hi Lilly!
    [Visitor] is there someone besides [email protected] that I can email?
    [Visitor] or am i basically out of luck?
    [Visitor] I will pay for what has been done but want the refund for what has not been done.
    [Live Chat Team] Heh, hi mate. =) That’s pretty much the only avenue of email to contact, if it was something concerning leveling it goes directly to them.
    [Live Chat Team] If it was something concerning an account that’s directed to accounts team.
    [Visitor] They responded 8 days too late. Any other options? The guy from [email protected] at least responded…
    [Live Chat Team] You could network to accounts another email on it, otherwise I’m not sure any other direction to point ya in mate.
    [Visitor] fair enough. thank you again Lilly. Does this happen all to often? I am not angry at you, but livehelp seems to be a 3rd party corporation and not a part of Gamepal, is this true? (just an educated guess)
    [Live Chat Team] It doesn’t really happen often, sure there’s human error some days but those are few and far between. And yes lol, we are a third-party that handles the site and its affiliates chat serivices for FAQs and a few other things that we do have access to.
    [Visitor] Fair enough. Thanks Lilly. A good evening to you.
    [Live Chat Team] You too. =)

    ———————————————-

    From: Power Leveling ([email protected])
    Sent: Thu 2/21/08 1:08 AM
    To: [email protected]
    Hello,

    We will be issuing a partial refund for the leveling incompleted. The leveler was told to not level the account for more than 12 hours a day. If you noticed the leveler was still on for more than 12 hours a day, you should have notified us again to let us know so we could find out why they were not abiding to our rules on leveling. I don’t see where we were notified again before the account was suspended. When Blizzard does catch the levelers, “exploitation or third party programs” is their way to say “We think you were getting a powerleveling done but can’t prove it”. At any rate, we will be issuing your partial refund soon and are sorry to see that your leveling did not get completed. We will be talking to the leveler about this again since, from what you’re saying, he did not listen to our instructions on how many hours he was on the account.

    -Kristi

    “If you noticed the leveler was still on for more than 12 hours a day, you should have notified us again to let us know so we could find out why they were not abiding to our rules on leveling. I don’t see where we were notified again before the account was suspended.”

    They were notified by email 3 additional times and in Livechat as well.

  13. Speaking as someone who is currently involved with Gamepal, I can assure you Mr. Schull that when Kristi who handles the powerleveling for Gamepal currently; offers a fair service she is telling the truth. I have seen a few bans as well on powerleveling (Mostly just 72 hour bans), and everyone I’ve seen this happen to has received a partial refund for the service.

    Take in mind everyone, that when you do purchase a powerleveling service, that the possibility of being banned is there. However, you won’t find a powerleveling service that runs smoother, or satisfies as many customers as Gamepal’s powerleveling service does now (or has as low of an instance of bans either.)

    There’s a challenge for you, Ed. Find one that even compares in quality (This means fulfilled orders versus problematic orders and does better.)

  14. Well, why would I not take the word of an anonymous comment post and trust Gamepal? Why should anyone be concerned with the hundreds of comments on this and the other posts here about Gamepal cheating them out of their money and characters?

    Take my, and the hundreds of others posting here, word; Gamepal is not an ethical company. In my experience, you take a significant risk when dealing with them.

    • Hah! Ill take that challenge ANY DAY. My North-American VIP Leveling has never gotten a ban or even a suspension, has the HIGHEST quality service (including customer-service) that beats ANY of my competitors out of the water!

      My secret ? Its simple. Im a small business. Im not looking for bulk clients. Id rather have a few loyal customers that I can take care of 100%. I can assign individual staff to assist them, and guarantee they get the best service and advice of the industry.

      To me, its more important my clients are happy, and will come back, and tell their friends. Making a few bucks ? Meh. Bottom line ill make more long term by guarantee'ing my customers they will get exactly what they expect.

Leave a Reply