So… I was in a dark place. I lost my job, low on money, blah blah. I would say I have recovered but during that time, I deleted my main WoW account. I see that it says it takes up to 30 days. It did say that it was completed but I didn’t know if during that 30 day period, the information could be refunded.
If it isn’t possible, I understand. I have this account but its more than 10 years old and I don’t feel like grinding everything back. I’ll just let this era of my life pass by but I just wanted to ask.
Theres a very small window at the end of the 30days to cancel it but if its past that its gone completly and unrecoverable.
The official word:
For the sake of future visitors to this thread; account deletion is a permanent action:
- Do not submit a request when emotions are high.
- Do not rely on having 30 days as a “regret buffer”.
- Do request a reversal ASAP if you’re so inclined.
Assume your account may be deleted the next day, in two weeks, in 30 days. The phrasing is “may take up to 30 days” and not “will take 30 days“.
@jovakar go submit a ticket. Maybe the luck goddess will smile upon you and I’d rather you tried than wondered later on.
That’s a fair point. None of us are Blizzard employees, so none of what we said should be taken as an official “no” in OP’s case.
It would probably not hurt to ask, once, and politely, to see if there is any real answer besides the predicted “no”.
BE CAREFUL!!!
That 30 days is not really 30 days.
I requested to have my account deleted but came back before the 30 days was up but the system already deleted my account.
Now my 10 year account is gone, I was replaced in my guild (even though I had set it up to prevent dethroning), and all my cool mounts and reps I grinded are gone.
No one’s fault. Just bad programming. Oh well. Lesson learned. Don’t make decisions when you are angry.
I miss my guild the most. Guild is still there but inactive, no one has been on it in…I don’t know how long. Sigh. And no way for me to get it back.
It is 30 days, what it says specifically is that your request to delete all data permanently may take up to 30 days. Depending on how much work they have to do and such it can be sooner.
To even reach this option and even further in you have to select a tickbox there cannot be any mistakes. This is the exact text (EU):
Request to Remove Personal Information
WARNING: PROCEEDING WITH THIS REQUEST WILL PERMANENTLY REMOVE ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM YOUR BATTLE.NET ACCOUNT.
This includes your:
- Name, contact information, and security details
- Payment methods and purchase history
- Purchased games, codes, promotions, and in-game items
- Game accounts and all game progress
- Communications with Blizzard support
- Any remaining Battle.net Balance
ONCE THIS PROCESS IS COMPLETE, BLIZZARD WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECOVER THIS INFORMATION OR RESTORE THE ACCOUNT TO YOU UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.
This request only includes personal information on game accounts currently linked to this Battle.net Account. If you have a World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, or console game account that’s not attached to this email address, it will NOT be included in this process unless you link it before submitting this request.
Requests may take up to 30 days to complete.
I understand that I am requesting to have all of my data removed. I UNDERSTAND THAT NEITHER BLIZZARD NOR I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO RECOVER THIS INFORMATION.
How is it bad programming when you requested them to delete and got your account deleted?
But it’s NOT “Bad Programing”. You are told it is irreversible, you should assume that it would go through the moment you hit submit, anyone unsure and not 100% should Not go through with the request. So in truth, it is the fault of people submitting for deletion and thinking they have aprox. a month to think it over.
Because when they tell you 30 days, it should be 30 days.
That is a fair point, but as you can see it can be read as “30 days”.
I have a degree in programming. I know how much work it takes.
They put the delay in there in part to give people a chance to change their mind. They’d rather keep a person than lose one, so they give a “cooling off period”.
No as you can read, it is:
Requests may take up to 30 days to complete.
This means, it may be sooner or later or anytime in that timeframe. It is not “will take 30 days” or “30 days” as described by you. It is quite clear in the writing and reinterpretating it and declaring it a Blizzard fault while you pulled the trigger yourself is just poor responsibility as adult.
Knowing how much work goes in it is not relevant, the policy is upon the request of the account holder the account will be deleted which may take up to 30 days.
Sigh. I said “it can be read as 30 days”.
Then why did you bring it up? Because you thought it bolstered your argument.
If Blizz wants to give a cooling off period, they should be specific about it. Or delete the account after, not before. So there is less ambiguity. (“You have 30 days to change your mind. After 30 days, your account will be deleted.”)
There is no cooling off period. There is not a mention of offering a cooling off period. Just because you wanted there to be one does not make it that way.
Unless you work for Blizzard, and in the specific department that handles these requests, you are making assumptions on how you think their system works.
For whatever reason, it MAY take up to 30 days for the request to be completed. Arguing over language is pointless and doesn’t contribute to the OP. They’ve already been given the best advice they can get unless one of our Blue’s stops in at some point and can see one way or the other.
To the OP, if you do decide to try putting in a ticket like suggested, make sure you include details about the account in case they need it to look things up on their end. Personally, I tend to think if you got the email saying it was completed, you’re probably not going to be lucky, but that could always be my pessimism talking.
Think this has gone slightly off the rails lets just leave it to vrak or orlylia at this point.
People having poor reading comprehension is not a unique issue to Blizzard games or this support article. Unfortunately. I don’t think al the warnings in the world will be enough for some people.
It says UP TO 30 DAYS because it allows Blizzard time to process the request even when ticket queues are backed up. Because the request involves personal information, there are laws about how responsive to deletion requests companies have to be - depending on the country.
Blizzard responds to deletion requests as soon as the ticket comes up in queue. They legally have 30 days before a customer can use privacy laws to seek further action. Generally speaking it takes only as long as the current ticket queue.
100% incorrect. It’s your fault for requesting that your account be deleted when you didn’t mean it. They honored your request. The fact that you didn’t stop it in time doesn’t absolve you of fault or make it bad programming.
It’s hard to say without knowing the account, Jovakar.
I didn’t see that anyone linked this, but you may be able to cancel the process yourself if the request isn’t that old.
Otherwise, I’d recommend submitting a ticket, someone should be able to check.
UP TO means that is the MAXIMUM amount of time it will take. It could be instant. They say UP TO so that people won’t wonder why their account hasn’t been deleted a week after they requested it.
A fruit fly can live UP TO 50 days. Does that mean they will never die sooner? A one gallon jug can hold UP TO one gallon of milk. It can also hold one ounce.
“May take up to 30 days” does not mean “it will take 30 days or more,” it means “30 days is the maximum amount of time it will take, but it can be sooner.”
Just an FYI, you can cancel your subscription instead of deleting your account. So even if you’re homeless, there’s very little reason to delete an account short of being actually addicted. Your characters will still be there without paying anything.