FINALLY! I received a response that wasn't auto generated:
Dear Rita,
Thank you for your recent message. I apologize if the response you received did not completely explain the situation at hand.
Unfortunately due to the nature of the issue in the game which we have fixed, it is impossible to receive back any of the progress lost prior to Feb. 7th for any of the members of the community. However, the game is back up and running and we are doing everything we can to ensure this technical error does not occur again.
Rollbacks and service interruptions are things we have little tolerance for on our LIVE servers. We test as much as we can to provide the best show possible but on occasion a storm of great magnitude can strike. Some of the hardest decisions need to be made during trying times.
Our systems were once again troubled on February 16, 2011 and once again we had to make tough choices. Resetting progress was necessary. We believe to have a handle on the situation and will continue to monitoring gameplay and data that comes in as thousands of Pirates log in by the hour.
For Unlimited Access Members, whether it is a recurring subscription, gift subscription or Game Card, we will be extending your access. An additional 14 days of time has already been added to your account. We understand this does not compensate the time you've spent customizing and looting.
Additionally, Basic and Unlimited Members, should redeem the code: golden
Consider this a small disbursement prior to our upcoming Double Gold Weekend which will coincide with our Mardi Gras celebration:
Double Gold Weekend
March 12 and 13, 2011
We hope with this early holiday announcement Pirates can find the time to replenish their gold coffers back to their rightful amounts in a fraction of the time.
In the meantime, all Pirates (both Basic and Unlimited), can redeem the following code: darkcutlass
Again, we extremely sorry for the inconvenience and frustrations which have occurred during this time. We appreciate your understanding and patience while we have been working on resolving this unforeseen issue and, we hope too see you again in the Caribbean soon.
Thank you,
Amanda
Pirates of the Caribbean Online Member Services
SO... While I'm not THRILLED with this, at least they are acknowledging the problem was WAY beyond their control, and hopefully they will try to OVER compensate in the upcoming weeks. In the mean time, if you haven't already, use the code "golden" for 500 gold and "darkcutlass" for a (hopefully) decent cutlass. Don't forget to give EVERYONE you know the codes so we can give back to as many people as possible. ~ Rita aka Charlotte Heartcastle