Cannot register new, paid for accounts?

I am helping two people register a new, paid for PoF account and begin playing the game. We are all at the same physical location, so can talk as well as see what's gonig on on each computer. We've tried since last night (now 12 hours).

The initial foray: After filling in the email address, password twice, display name and checking I agree, we click signup, the screen blinks, and we get a message that an email has been sent to the entered address containing a numeric code and instructions to put in the code and hit continue. However, in both tries, on two separate computers, no email ever arrives. We verify the email itself is working by passing emails back and forth to/from each other. ARENANET is apparently not emailing the verification email.

12 hours later, with still no email, we revert to a blank account creation form and try again. This time, after filling in the email address, password twice, display name and checking I agree, we click signup, the screen blinks, and we get a message across the top of the page saying we are unable to register the account with the data given, please check it and try again. We have no errors indicated on the screen (i.e. the little triangles with the ! point. Nothing appears to be wrong with any of the entries, but we don't even get as far as the previous night, where we get the message that an email has been sent. The page never advances.

Any ideas? I have an account of my own, 5 years old and will every expansion and LW, and can log in and play. My two friends cannot even great an account, never mind resigter a serial code. What should we do next? Customer support won't be open for days, there is no phone support, chat, etc. We are computer literate and willing to try helpful suggestions.

The CS Team works 24/7 and 365 days a year. You can submit a ticket for assistance at any time.
Make sure to check spam/junk and to whitelist all ArenaNet and GW2 addresses.Also, don't you have to create an account before purchasing? Or were the Serial Keys gifts?If the Serial Keys have already been obtained, they would be entered at 'My Account'.
Otherwise, once an account is created, you can't use the same password, again.The CS Team will be able to assist you.

Good luck.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:The CS Team works 24/7 and 365 days a year. You can submit a ticket for assistance at any time.

Thanks, as I know you to be knowledgeable, but see below

Also, don't you have to create an account before purchasing? Or were the Serial Keys gifts?

I purchased a serial code for them (my sister and her husband) using my account, with trepidation, since I didn't want the purchase associated with me or my extant 5 year old account. I got a serial code, and would have gotten a 2nd shortly afterward,. I had it available to use to register one of them, but both failed to get an account so neither could use it. Nobody has registered a serial code because we cannot progress that far.

If the Serial Keys have already been obtained, they would be entered at 'My Account'.

My plan is/was for them to create an account, a needed step regardless of the purchase order, then apply the code thru the "my account" entry for their account. They are not able to create an account (no certifying emailed code from Arenanet, as said in the OP)

Otherwise, once an account is created, you can't use the same password, again.

Yes, you can, as I have 3 accounts myself using the same password, (different email ID's of course) and I have 2 for my grandsons, who also have the same password, (but not the same as mine). However I can't use the same user ID again, to create a 2nd account, which is probably the cause of the failure when my sister tries to redo the process half a day later. I speculate the account got created and the Arenanet process broke down when it did not send the confirming number code to certify that the email address was owned by the one sitting at the keyboard creating the account.. Subsequent tries to redo ran into the account having been created issue,, so could not use the same email, and the "created account" could not be used to do anything because no email was forthcoming to verify it.

The CS Team will be able to assist you.But my sister's complaint is she can't create an account in the first place. So how does she complain? To open a support ticket, she has to log in. To login, she has to have an account.. The problem is not being able to open an account, so what to do?

Good luck. What should have been a 30 second effort times 2s turned into two days of no play, and not a clear way for them to contact customer support. I can't do it for them since Arena cannot give me info on other people's accounts. Ergo I hoped someone would figure out we had done something in error and could suggest a fix.

Thanks.

@"Michael.9403" said:But my sister's complaint is she can't create an account in the first place. So how does she complain? To open a support ticket, she has to log in. To login, she has to have an account.. The problem is not being able to open an account, so what to do?

You don't need an account, you click "submit your ticket anonymously"

If they're not receiving the registration emails, they might not be able to receive the ones from support either. You should receive an automated response within 24 hours to confirm the ticket was received. If you don't get one, you'll have to use a different email. Ensure the emails aren't being caught by junk/spam/promotion/etc filters.

If you want a quick solution, make a new email with a different provider and make a free account if you don't have a valid key.

As asked in the original posts...were they gifts? Since they were, much of what was posted subsequently would not apply.Also, as Healix stated, your friends/relatives can contact the CS Team via the 'Support' link and 'Submit a Ticket' using the 'anonymous' option.

(Odd that you are able to use the same password for multiple accounts; it had been stated [by CS] that that was not possible, as well as not being able to re-use Account Names. I guess they have changed policy.)

Sounds like a problem with the email provider; again, as suggested above, try a new one.

Good luck.

Have you checked so the payment dident bounce, I remember people having trubble with that before when buying multiple copys with the same card.I guess thats to make it harder for credit card frauders to buy alot of accounts.

All:

Thanks for the idea about the email provider being the culprit. Upon review, both are .gmail. One account was new, created only for using for the new GW2 account, and one was several years old. We checked both by sending emails back and forth, and from me they would not have come from a .gmail account. I do have a GW2 alt account that is .gmail based, and it works. Furthermore, I located the authorization email from Arenanet on that email archive where I must have kept it since then. No such email has arrived, even by today, for my two relatives' account.

However, the idea that comes to mind is to create a yahoo account and give it another try. That's why I tried the forum. I expect the holiday will have expired before anon submittals to customer service and the quality holiday play time will have passed and we'll be back to real life.

As for did the $$ show up for the Serial Code purchase, I'm sure it did, but I can't test serial code(s) until we get an account for one of them.

Again thanks for the reply.

Edit: no matter how many times you proof read it, there will still be one typo missed.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

(Odd that you are able to use the same password for multiple accounts; it had been stated [by CS] that that was not possible, as well as not being able to re-use Account Names. I guess they have changed policy.)

I stumbled on that accidentally. I supplied my daughter with 2 game codes for her sons. She established the accounts and forwarded the details to me, and I noted different email addresses of course, but a common password. That was so convenient that I changed my 2nd account, and when I got a 3rd, ti uses the same password.

As for how/when it happened, quien sabe. I never knew until I knew.

We both can remember things stated by CS that were not even true at the time, never mind changed later. They don't exactly go up the mountain and get it on stone tablets.

Update: I created a .yahoo email account and it worked immediately. I now have one account and will certainly have 2 when I get the players assembled again. I didn't stop to figure out why .gmail didn't work.

I'm now trying to figure out how to stop the automatic demand for email sms (or phone) on the account. I want to enter userid, password, and click to play but haven't found how to shut it down. I only find how to move it to phone, even worse for a traveler in the land where my motel internet will work but my phone won't get reception. Onward.

I'm not sure if you already have 2FA on the account in question, or not. If you do, you can change it to something like WinAuth, or ask the CS Team to just remove it altogether. Then, you just get the little prompt, which with one click, is bypassed for each session.

The email secondary login is automatically affixed to all new accounts, apparently. You have the choice to change it to phone, a disaster for a traveler. I assure you, it's a deal breaker. I don't have it myself, but the game dumps me (and hence them) a couple of times a session, and having to double enter to get back in will cause GW2 to become history. Make things hard enough and we lazy folks head for the exits. (I have all 9 archtypes, some full ascended the rest at least partially, to put my definition of lazy into context). I'll work hard at the game but insist on enough quality of life that it's not onerous to try to login.

I'll try CS with their accounts in a few days. With all the account creation issues, we ran ourselves out of time to play and hit the road again tomorrow a.m. Time will tell if they play again, even though they liked the game a lot. They (and I) dislike double login enough that some other game will get the money.