Account locked behind non-accessible account & E-mail
Years ago I made a burner account for my kids to use on my XBOX, and had my main account I played on. Over the span of almost 4~ years I have spent roughly $4,000 USD on cosmetics (I enjoy the game, have the means to, and I enjoy it). However, my Apex Legends account on XBOX connected with this alternate account I made for my kids, and not my main account. Seeing as I made the burner account years ago, I don't remember the password to the EA account. The e-mail associated was also a burner e-mail made on gmail, which due to inactivity in multiple years, was deleted and google won't restore the e-mail. When I try to reset the password on this burner EA account, the only option is to send the link to the e-mail associated with the account - which as stated doesn't exist anymore.
I chatted into two representatives, each an hour long chat. Gave them all my addresses I've had, my personal information, e-mails, phone numbers, IP addresses, and last 4 digits of my credit cards that they've asked for and they both said the information didn't match a record. When I asked what record so that I can try to figure out and dive deeper, they said they couldn't help me. I made this burner account and e-mail like I said 4 years ago, I don't know which exact information I'm providing is wrong, but they were both made by me, whether I put my DOB, or one of my kids or wives DOB on the account - they will not specify what the issue is.
All-in-all my goal is to be able to merge my XBOX Apex Legends Account to the proper EA account so that I can use my cosmetics on PC (Which I've been playing) so my son can fully take my XBOX off my hands. If I was in it for a couple hundred dollars, It wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm into this account for thousands, almost every event, every skin, every Heirloom - you name it. I just want access to what I paid for on the platform I prefer.
After explaining to the rep that I feel locked out of the items I spent my money on, they suggested posting here so that some Dev can look at it. I'm not sure what course of action is needed next, if the chat representatives won't assist, and they insist there's no chat forwarding option to get a supervisor - do I need to file a BBB complaint? Do I need to get a lawyer and get legal intervention involved?
Any help is appreciated.
Oh man that is not good at all.
Sad to say if you cannot provide proof of ownership of the account/verify ownership there is not much that can be done.
Keeping track of your accounts and their relevant information is on you and is not EA's fault if you are negligent with the accounts and their information.
One should ALWAYS keep track of which e-mail is connected to which account, along with the passwords and any other account information in a safe place for exactly this reason.
One should always keep the accounts, game, E-mail etc up to date and active.
A gaming account, especially a heavily invested one is like a Bank account something you monitor and keep safe.
Some tips below, in particular points 1-4.
Account Safety
How to keep your account and hardware safe 101:
- Use strong passwords for you game account.
- Use strong passwords for the associated E-mail account. Keep track of your e-mail accounts and what they are connected to.
- Do not share either of these passwords with others. Keep note of your passwords in a safe place.
- Enable two factor identification for both the game and associated E-mail accounts.
- Do not let others use your game account (Friends and family alike) because if they do something wrong on your account it is still your fault, nobody wants to have a sanction on their account because somebody else did or said something wrong.
- Do not use internet café’s to access your account and play, you do not know what software is on the hardware there, you do not know if the hardware at the cafe has a hardware ban and this can affect your account in a negative way.
- I would suggest only accessing your account with your own trusted hardware, gaming on another person’s hardware brings some of the same risks as above.
- I would also suggest not letting others use your hardware in order to play with their account, because if they get a hardware ban on your hardware while using it, it can have a negative affect on your account.
- Buying used hardware comes with risks as well. The hardware could have been banned and this is not an EA problem but a problem between the buyer and the seller.
- Play nice with others, in other words do not de-mean, harass or bully others in Chat or over voice coms, both can be reported and that can also have a negative effect on your account.
- Use non-offensive user/gamer tag/club tags, if you get a warning about such change it, doing otherwise can lead to a negative effect on your account.
- Play fair, boosting and teaming are cheating.
- Play fair using cheating software or hardware is not fair and is really only cheating yourself.
- Do not buy and or sell accounts, do you really know what has been done with the account? What cyber info are you giving up? What risk is there that the account is bunk. What is the risk to your hardware?
- Re-read the Terms of Service agreement and the Terms of Sale agreement you agreed to play this game and adhere to it. https://www.ea.com/legal/user-agreement and https://www.ea.com/legal/terms-of-sale
About points 7, 8, and 9, I do know that not everyone can afford multiple hardware setups for the entire family and there is trust that has to be there, talking about the does and don’ts on the use of shared hardware should be done so everybody can enjoy what they do on the hardware and everyone can be safe.
If you believe you have been hacked take appropriate measures to secure your account and associated E-mail account https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/account/secure-hacked-ea-account/
If you believe that a sanction (Suspension/Ban) placed on your account was by mistake you should reach out to the Terms of Service team https://help.ea.com/za/help/account/information-about-locked-or-banned-or-suspended-accounts/
Contacting EA help https://help.ea.com/help/faq/using-ea-help
