Banned for requesting a refund and having to resort to a Chargeback.
So as the title says. I got banned for issuing a chargeback for 2042 with Paypal.
And as I read the ban notice I thought that's strange to be banned for getting a refund for a broken unfinished game. However, I had seen posts on Reddit and other places that its a breach of EAs terms and conditions. So I decided to have a look at them.
The only reference to Chargebacks I could find is as follows.
- Make use of any payment methods or refund systems to access, purchase or refund EA Services for fraudulent purposes, or without permission of the authorized owner, or otherwise concerning a criminal offence or other unlawful activity.
Now the key term there is "for fraudulent purposes".
I have happily and openly provided the transcript from EA support in which I originally requested a refund for Battlefield 2042 and I have included the PayPal Chargeback ticket as such you will see I have in no way tried to hide why I am asking for a refund. To put it plain and simply the game was broken at launch, not as advertised, and furthermore EA in their own Townhall admitted there were major issues with the game.
Before a moderator tells me I can appeal it... I have and had no reponse.
In the transcript, the support agent I was speaking to stated that EA by law had an opportunity to fix any issues with the game to bring it up to the level that they promised. And to an extent, I agree with this. But after 4 months they still have not fixed simple things and pushed back content launches for the game. They have not met this! So I requested my refund and it was declined based on EA policy. Unfortunately, EA policy does NOT outrank Irish and/or European consumer rights. Which states a consumer can request a full refund for an item that is not fit for purpose or has major or minor faults up to 2 years (EU law) and 6 years (Irish Law).
So from reading EA policy I can only assume they have banned me as they do not like chargebacks due to the fact that they will get a penalty charge from the card issuer. However, IF EA were more transparent with the products they were selling, or more willing to offer refunds when they make a mistake this would not happen.
As it stands at the moment, I will not be making any more purchases from EA. If I do by anything it will be through third-party sites where I can get a genuine license key for a fraction of what EA charge, and actually have a customer-friendly refund policy. I may only be one customer but I am now one less customer they have.
Now I would like one of three things to happen.
- My account returned to me in full working order (with access to Battlefield 2042 removed).
- or a full refund for all other games I purchased, and no longer have access to.
- Or if EA is so confident that I have committed fraud which is a criminal offense, I would like them to hand over my details to the financial regulator or whichever law enforcement agency they work with and provide me with logs and a record that this has been done.
Hey @FifthRocketeer,
I'm afraid we're completely unable to review any account actions on the forums.
While I see you've mentioned already appealing this with the ToS team, that is the only place you'd be able to have this looked into further.
If they've completed multiple reviews and have declined to remove the action, that is not something we'll be able to do on the forums either.
If you've just submitted one appeal you're welcome to create a new appeal and a new member of the ToS team will investigate for you.
As this is not a situation we're able to address further on the forums and the topic has brought in some legal discussion which is also not something we're able to address, the thread is being locked here.
