Lost my RATS Access...?

I sent an U2U to a moderator, but I don't know if it was the right person, and I didn't get a response, so I'm posting here:

I purchased my RATS access today, and everything was fine for several hours, until suddenly I started getting the "you don't have access, buy it" message. I have no idea why I lost access, as I'm pretty sure nothing I've posted was against any T.O.S. and no moderator let me know that I got revoked...

Anyway, my points are gone, and I can't get to any of my posts, or the other RATS posts, so can somebody please look into why this happened, and restore my access?

Thank you!

RATS access resets on the first of every month. All you need to do is purchase the monthly subscription update to regain your access.

I understand that... but today is the first of June, and I purchased it today, so I should get it until the end of June, right?

If I just need to spend another 250 points, no big deal, but I don't want to lose the "5000" that it cost me to get in today, and was supposed to give me one month access. FWIW, my memCenter does now give me the option to resubscribe for 250p.

Also, if this was an error, I'd like to find out what caused it, so that nobody else has the same problem in the future. Did I just sign up with only 3-4 hours left on my first month?

Originally posted by cohiba
Did I just sign up with only 3-4 hours left on my first month?

Apparently so. The 5000 point cost is only for the first time. It's a low maintenance fee after that

DOH! That sucks! I was well aware of the points/fee system, but I purposly waited until about 8:00 MST today to sign up, so that I would actually get to use the forum... Now I'll have to be a post wh0re for a little bit to get my points back (j/k)

Thanks for the answers... At least from now on I'll know to just wait until it kicks me out to resubscribe.

Same thing happened to me. I didn't know exactly how the RATS subscription worked. I bought the access yesterday under the assumption that I had a month from purchase. Fortunately I had enough points to rebuy this morning. Just a suggestion SO, but you might want to clarify that it's from the 1st of the month on the purchase form. Maybe throw a date checker in there so people are warned they'll have to resubscribe in a couple of hours or whatever.

I fully agree... A time/date warning sure would have been nice. Hell, maybe it DOES say this somewhere, and I just missed it. I would have waited another 3 hours, if I had known. Really it's only 250 points, which if you ever post is pretty easy to get, but I sure was frustrated for a little while, thinking I had spent all my points for nothing.

[edit on 6/1/2005 by cohiba]

Originally posted by cohiba
Hell, maybe it DOES say this somewhere, and I just missed it.

It does.

Renew Monthly Subscription: 250 -- On the 1st of every month, the user-list will be removed, and you must renew your membership to gain access. For those who have previously purchased the RATS forum, renewals are 250 ATS Points to gain access again.

I also renewed my rats access earlier today. Very early in the morning (my time) But I still had to pay an extra 250 points 15 mins ago.

I think I purchased rats for May 31.... for about 4 hours!

I am not complaining as points are meaningless to me, but I am worried about new members as they will waste precious points if their timezones "conflict" with ATS.

I think someone should sticky a thread regarding RATS if not already done. I have been on ATS for 2+ years and I still fell for the old Time Zone glitch.

Same thing happened to me earlier today as I spent the 250 late on the 31st and a few hours later on the 1st my access was again denied. Luckily one of our friendly neighborhood mods refunded my points (thanks again asala).

There really needs to be some sort of warning or some way to count individual account access rights instead of a blanket removel of everyone every first of the month so that this won't become a bigger problem in the future.