My son was asleep, my wife was safely tucked into bed, and the siren song of Magic Online called to me. I had the time and the money to indulge, so I chose to participate in a little draft. I decided on the Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn queue because I still had a pack of Fifth Dawn that I had won from a past League. I purchased a couple of event tickets and the necessary packs and waited for half an hour until the queue filled and the event began.

I opened up a mediocre pack and selected a Slith Ascendent. I had a nice Mono-White deck worked out when I opened my second pack and selected Emissary of Hope. That was when my internet provider, Comcast, decided that I really didn't need to be attached to the internet anymore and my connection failed. After an hour of rebooting, calling Comcast customer service, and fiddling with this, that, and the other thing, my internet connection resumed. I logged back onto Magic Online to find that I had lost everything. No draft for me. Now, I had heard that it is nearly impossible to get a refund out of Wizards of the Coast. I decided to see if that rumor were true.

I contacted an Adept that happened to be online and asked for some assistance. He/She/(It?) provided me with a link that allowed me to provide Feedback for Magic Online. Unfortunately, I don't have that link anymore, but I do have what I sent:

Product replacement - Magic Online Feedback
> From: Dan (*****@***.***) (User ID *****)
>
> On Friday, Dec. 17th around 9:30 PM Central time, I entered a MD5 Booster Draft. After making my first selection in the second booster, my internet provider, COMCAST, has a technical problem which booted me off of your server for approximately one hour. I tried many times to reconnect, but I lost an entire draft set, including two event tickets. I am a big fan of drafting and participate when time and finances allow. I do not trade or sell anything. I am asking you to please replace my draft set including two event tickets. I would be very, very appreciative. I look forward to playing in some of your limited events over the Christmas Holiday.
> Sent to: custserv@wizards.com

On Sunday I received the following response:

> I'm sorry, but we can only do refunds for problems that are directly related do our product (server crashes, bugs, etc). Internet connections, computer problems, or software conflicts on your computer are out of our control and cannot be compensated. I have checked and our servers were up and running at the date/time you reported. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

> Jeff
> Wizards of the Coast
> Software Game Support
> Magic Online Store

I was not very happy with Jeff's response. So, I waited an entire day to calm down before writing my return response back to Jeff. I had to tone down my language a few times before I sent the following:

>To: Technical Support
> Subject: RE: Product replacement - Magic Online Feedback
I am disappointed, but not surprised by your response. Please forward to me an email address for Customer Service.

> Thanks.

Jeff replied with the following:

> Subject: RE: Product replacement - Magic Online Feedback
> Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:18:46 +0000

> custservice@wizards.com

> Jeff
> Wizards of the Coast
> Software Game Support
> Magic Online Store

What is interesting about this email is that custservice@wizards.com does not exist. I know because I tried it a couple of times before I noticed from my first email that the correct address is custserv@wizards.com. Note that I changed my attitude a little bit and chose a different tact when I sent my next email:

> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 10:15 AM
> To: Wizards Customer Service
> Subject: RE: Product Replacement

To Whom it May Concern,

> First I would like to say that I think quite highly of your company. I have been a consistent customer for approximately ten years. My Magic Online sign on is ***** and my DCI number is 689***39.

> On Friday, Dec. 17th around 9:30 PM Central time, I entered a MD5 Booster Draft. After making my first selection in the second booster, my internet provider, COMCAST, had a technical problem which booted me off of your server for approximately one hour. I tried many times to reconnect, but I lost an entire draft set, including two event tickets. The sole purpose of my logging onto Magic Online is to participate in drafts. I have no use for the cards as I do not trade and I do not play constructed. As such, I am not satisfied with my purchase from December 17th, 2004. The value of the digital images does not equal what I have paid.

> I contacted Technical Support and they were unable to resolve this issue to my satisfaction. I understand that it was not the fault of Wizards of The Coast that my draft did not occur. I hope that you understand that it was not my fault, either.

> I am asking you to please replace my draft set including two event tickets by sending me a coupon. If that is not possible, I will have to ask you to credit my credit card using the following acknowledgment as a receipt.

> I do look forward to hearing back from you. I am hoping that we can resolve this quickly and satisfactorily because I am looking forward to playing in a few tournaments while I am on vacation all of next week.

> Thank you for your assistance. And Happy Holidays!

> - Dan *****

Attached here was a standard Magic Online Receipt with objects, prices, etc. The total bill was $9.38. I knew that there was no way that Wizards would want to refund to me my money. I was not surprised on Monday when I received the following:

> I have put in a coupon request for you. You should receive the coupon in 5-7 business days. For security reasons it will be sent to the e-mail address registered to your account. If your e-mail address has changed please log into the Magic Online store and at the top click Your Account, then Change Email Address.

> ********************************************************
> Jason
> Wizards of the Coast
> Technical Support
> Magic Online Store Support

Note that it was not a Customer Service Representative that responded but someone from Tech Support. Sometimes I thing that maybe they're one and the same... Anyway, on Tuesday I received the following:

>Thank you for playing in our Magic Online Events. This email is to inform you that a coupon has been generated for you and is now ready to be used on the Magic Online Store. If you have any problems using this coupon, please call us at 1-800-324-6496, internationally at + 425-687-2190 or email MagicOnlineStore@wizards.com. Please remember, when you reach step 3 of the checkout process, enter the email address that is attached to your account.

If you need to change this address, please log onto the Online Store, click on
> "My Account" tab at the top and then "Change Email Address".
> Please keep in mind that this coupon will expire in 30 days.
> Account Name: *****
> Coupon number: **********
> Amount: $14.00

I wrote this to show you that it is possible to receive a refund from Magic Online. I believe that the people who work there are reasonable, as long as you speak politely to them in a language that they understand.

May your next draft go off without a hitch.

- Dan