When Fallout 76 was released, it did so with a myriad of issues. From multiple bugs, bad performance, and even bullying by other players in-game. But nothing can compare to the recent dilemma that unfolded when users started noticing that they could see other peoples support tickets.
This all started after Bethesda screwed over those who purchased the Fallout 76 Collectors Edition and decided to not provide the nylon bags as advertised. Eventually, they relented and offered everyone to provide proof to Bethesda’s support.
Then it all starts to get weird.
This all came to light when Reddit user /Jessiepie posted a message that explained what exactly was going on. In detail, it was claimed that this user could see everything that was posted in other users support tickets to Bethesda. But not just see, he/she and other users could also edit those tickets as well. As such, /Jessiepie posted the following in the Fallout sub.
Hi guys! First time Reddit poster here. I am a gleeful vault dweller as yourselves and as of this moment I am receiving every single one of your support tickets on my Bethesda account. Mostly it’s your receipts for you power armor set requesting a new bag. These receipts contain all your info. Your email and home address and the card you used to buy this extremely glitched game. I can see the problems you are having with the game, yes I’m having them too. And I know a few of you want a refund that Bethesda has said can’t happen. I can update your ticket for you, if you’d like. And close it! How fun is that? Please rest assure I have no desire to stalk you or mess with your Fallout 76 experience. I just wanted to let y’all know that this is happening atm. Anyway, I gave Bethesda a heads up via the Twitter. So we will see. I wouldn’t want to be the person having to respond to all of you. Currently there’s 8 pages of canvas bag requests, tickets and “fix or refund me” demands. Is there anyone enjoying the game like me? Oh well! See you in Appalachia. Be nice to each other. I love you!
Another user posted this on the Bethesda support forums, which echoes what /Jessiepie had posted on Reddit.
Beware with what information you put in your tickets, cause they are basically public !
I went on the support website today, to update a ticket of mine, and surprisingly (or not…) I ended up being able to see all sorts of tickets, with people putting their personnal informations in them, like receipt screenshots, names, addresses and so on. I’m assuming this is a bug in the website, because I don’t see for what reason Bethesda would make tickets public. I’m not going to paste screenshots of what I have access to for the privacy of people, but I can see receipts of people from all over the world, and if I can, other people probably can too. It seems like the code of the web site sucks as much as the one of the game. Please wake up Bethesda, this is becoming really serious here. You might wanna fire all your disabled coders ASAP, for the good of the players and the Fallout series, thanks.
As I understand it, there are multiple screenshots floating around with various peoples information in it. That’s damned scary and something that is akin to a hacked website details being leaked. As soon as Bethesda found out about all this, they went into damage control mode. I noticed this message being posted last night right before I headed to bed.
We experienced an error with our customer support website that allowed some customers to view support tickets submitted by a limited number of other customers during a brief exposure window. Upon discovery, we immediately took down the website to fix the error.
We are still investigating the incident and will provide additional updates as we learn more. During the incident, it appears that the user name, contact information, and proof of purchase information provided by a limited number of support customers on their support ticket requests may have been viewable to other customers accessing the the customer support website for a limited time, but no full credit card numbers or passwords were disclosed. We plan to notify customers who have been impacted.
Bethesda takes the privacy of our customers seriously, and we sincerely apologize for this situation.
Finally, when I woke up this morning to see the status of this dilemma, I noticed that Bethesda did provide an update. A sad, pathetic response that doesn’t really instill me with much confidence. There was no detailed explanation, no we’re sorry, nothing. Instead, a community manager took to Bethesda’s forum and posted a since a sentence of a thread that reads;
Hi guys, we’ve resolved this issue.
That’s all we get? Hi, guy’s, we made with the fix so you can stop worrying. Really?
