EA account linking to a new Xbox Account

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@menarche wrote:
@EA_DarkoDo you think perhaps, you could provide us with a higher level of support? Is there only one tier of support at EA? Or, do you have...idk engineers/management that might need to get involved?

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This is a great question. I have developed a decent amount large enterprise application solutions over the years and I know that once those things launch, there are always tiers of support over the initial customer interaction team. 

@menarche Once i have an hour+ to burn my next course of action will be to get back online with a new chat agent and if they give me the run around turn on Karen mode and ask for their supervisor. 

@thekurse I don't recommend it. I have been in chat with 3 folks. Their Chat support seems to be outsourced, and they adhere to a strict no escalation policy. I have had two different chat folks just close conversation when asked to speak to a supervisor. They always say the typical non answers "As a gamer, we feel your pain.....", "We have passed your feedback up...", and sometimes despite literally telling them that you know the script they are about to try to run through will not work...they run through it anyway. Origin support was great about a decade ago when I had issues, but now it is clearly garbage.

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@menarche wrote:

@thekurse I don't recommend it. I have been in chat with 3 folks. Their Chat support seems to be outsourced, and they adhere to a strict no escalation policy. I have had two different chat folks just close conversation when asked to speak to a supervisor. They always say the typical non answers "As a gamer, we feel your pain.....", "We have passed your feedback up...", and sometimes despite literally telling them that you know the script they are about to try to run through will not work...they run through it anyway. Origin support was great about a decade ago when I had issues, but now it is clearly garbage.

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Good to know. Have you tried their phone support yet? Wondering if they are any better (even though they probably use the same company). 

Since this avenue can’t help and their chat support also won’t/can’t, I also tweeted @ EA_Help. I’ve had good luck with Twitter in the past so maybe between @tmase83 and I they respond to something (though I’ve found a lot of larger companies only have Twitter support on the week days). I also DM’d a few folks I know that may be able to help (long shots though).  

https://twitter.com/redbeardmd/status/1373700912229781505?s=21

Remember folks, the squeaky wheel gets the grease so if you have this problem please tweet, retweet, post on Reddit, Facebook, etc this thread as well as the Reddit thread that @tmase83 linked.

The support chat agent told me this forum was the only avenue I could try to get a response from. 

But the forum moderators say they don't deal with account policy. 

So who does deal with account policy?

I'm asking for an explanation about this account linking restriction policy. 

Why can't I link my Xbox Game Pass account to my EA account if there has been another Xbox account linked historically?

Who can we talk to about having this policy reviewed?

Somewhere in EA there will be a policy manual that details all this, and the process that needs to be undertaken. 

Everyone says they can't help, so who can? 

If the support here can't help us, and live support can't help us... who can? This policy may have some meaning (account sharing, selling, I have no idea) but that's not what is happening here. I hope people keep bumping this, because I don't want to manage multiple EA accounts. That's a dumb solution.

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@-6thAD-Bogard wrote:

If the support here can't help us, and live support can't help us... who can? This policy may have some meaning (account sharing, selling, I have no idea) but that's not what is happening here. I hope people keep bumping this, because I don't want to manage multiple EA accounts. That's a dumb solution.

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Having worked with some amazing database administrators I’m very confused at the policy. It basically encourages duplicate user data which makes any good DBA scream in frustration.  There has to be some monetary reason behind it but from someone who has managed / cleaned up user data because of poor business decisions: this policy seems very stupid. 

I have been "Waiting for chat" for 4 hours. No response. 
I have tweeted to @eahelp with my questions for 2 days, no response. 
In this forum I get no response.

Why is this issue not escalated? Can any EA representative let us know what the reasoning is behind this?

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@Scrpzr wrote:

I have been "Waiting for chat" for 4 hours. No response. 
I have tweeted to @eahelp with my questions for 2 days, no response. 
In this forum I get no response.

Why is this issue not escalated? Can any EA representative let us know what the reasoning is behind this?

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At this point I’m wondering if it makes sense to also rope in some Microsoft folks. They do have a business arrangement that I’m guessing involves a whole lot of money. Maybe they can point us to a tier of support above “useless”. 

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@thekurse wrote:

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@Scrpzr wrote:

I have been "Waiting for chat" for 4 hours. No response. 
I have tweeted to @eahelp with my questions for 2 days, no response. 
In this forum I get no response.

Why is this issue not escalated? Can any EA representative let us know what the reasoning is behind this?

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At this point I’m wondering if it makes sense to also rope in some Microsoft folks. They do have a business arrangement that I’m guessing involves a whole lot of money. Maybe they can point us to a tier of support above “useless”. 

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It absolutely does. I don't know if they can help, but they can't hurt.

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@-6thAD-Bogard wrote:

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@thekurse wrote:

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@Scrpzr wrote:

I have been "Waiting for chat" for 4 hours. No response. 
I have tweeted to @eahelp with my questions for 2 days, no response. 
In this forum I get no response.

Why is this issue not escalated? Can any EA representative let us know what the reasoning is behind this?

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At this point I’m wondering if it makes sense to also rope in some Microsoft folks. They do have a business arrangement that I’m guessing involves a whole lot of money. Maybe they can point us to a tier of support above “useless”. 

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It absolutely does. I don't know if they can help, but they can't hurt.

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I’ve DM’d Megan Spurr on Reddit, who is the gamepass evangelist for Microsoft. Here is the text I’ve sent her: 

Hi Megan. First off, I would like to let you know that Gamepass is an amazing deal and that you have been a fantastic evangelist for Microsoft and it’s services. Because of that, I have come to you for help.

Myself and many other gamers are running into issues linking our current Xbox accounts with our EA accounts. Essentially it boils down to this: we are attempting to link a second Xbox account to an EA account after unlinking a previous Xbox account from EA. EA’s policy is that we may only link one Xbox account to an EA account for its lifetime, which is causing problems for those of us that have had long time EA accounts and may have lost access to our old Xbox accounts. We’ve attempted to contact EA’s support through a variety of means and have been stonewalled at every attempt.

Here is the EA AnswerHQ thread: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin-Client-Web-Technical/EA-account-linking-to-a-new-Xbox-Account/m-p/10176120#M109825

Here is the Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePass/comments/m815h4/ea_accounts_can_only_ever_have_one_xbox_account/?sort=new

At this point we’re turning to you to see if there are any other avenues we can pursue that will be able to fix this issue. Many of us are long time gamers with EA and Xbox accounts dating back 10+ years. I know it’s a long shot but I’m asking for some sort of guidance here. Thanks Megan!

Thanks for taking the time to send the message. Hopefully something will come of it.

This is what Microsoft says:

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@Scrpzr wrote:

 

So I need to contact EA customer support to properly unlink my Xbox and EA accounts. So does Microsoft have false information?

Anyone?

 

 

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That's the thing, the unlinking isn't the issue, several people can do that without EA Support assistance. It's the relinking to another Xbox account that is the trouble. I don't think EA Support channels fully comprehend that part of it. 

Thanks @thekurse for pushing this along. You are better connected than me!

I see EAHelp on twitter answering other people's queries but so far I've not had a response. 

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@tmase83 wrote:

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@Scrpzr wrote:

 

So I need to contact EA customer support to properly unlink my Xbox and EA accounts. So does Microsoft have false information?

Anyone?

 

 

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That's the thing, the unlinking isn't the issue, several people can do that without EA Support assistance. It's the relinking to another Xbox account that is the trouble. I don't think EA Support channels fully comprehend that part of it. 

Thanks @thekurse for pushing this along. You are better connected than me!

I see EAHelp on twitter answering other people's queries but so far I've not had a response. 

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I was able to get a response from EAHelp, but the long and short of it is this:

"That restriction is not one I can override, but it's one we're looking into to see if any other options would be possible in the future. For now, you may not be able to link to the same account you prefer. We'll note your feedback and keep investigating any future solutions if possible."

Hopefully if we keep asking for a solution they can find one.

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@-6thAD-Bogard wrote:

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@tmase83 wrote:

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@Scrpzr wrote:

 

So I need to contact EA customer support to properly unlink my Xbox and EA accounts. So does Microsoft have false information?

Anyone?

 

 

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That's the thing, the unlinking isn't the issue, several people can do that without EA Support assistance. It's the relinking to another Xbox account that is the trouble. I don't think EA Support channels fully comprehend that part of it. 

Thanks @thekurse for pushing this along. You are better connected than me!

I see EAHelp on twitter answering other people's queries but so far I've not had a response. 

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I was able to get a response from EAHelp, but the long and short of it is this:

"That restriction is not one I can override, but it's one we're looking into to see if any other options would be possible in the future. For now, you may not be able to link to the same account you prefer. We'll note your feedback and keep investigating any future solutions if possible."

Hopefully if we keep asking for a solution they can find one.

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That sounds like the biggest cop out corporate speak response they could give you. I really really hate it when they say things like “we’ll take your feedback into consideration” and “we’ll investigate future solutions”. I mean, feel free to do that, but to the customers that you are currently leaving high and dry it sounds more like “Stop asking for this basic thing, go away, we don’t care”. 

There has to be someone in the company somewhere that can at least give us a straight answer of why this policy exists in the first place and why they are unwilling to help out their customers with this seemingly simple request.

I mean, is their database schema so convoluted that when you link accounts it creates some sort of wild foreign key constraints that require them to call Raul from a contracting company they haven’t used in years and have him sign in and untangle the data for $200 an hour? 

Or is it just that Dave from accounting was in a meeting 8 years ago and came up with a line graph that said users with multiple accounts spend more money and the board went “wow nice graph Dave, let’s make this policy and go grab a couple of vodka Red Bull’s after”? 

It sure does sound like that. Having worked in big companies half the battle is finding the right person among the many that can solve your issue, this twitter user might have struck the right person. I'm sure this can be resolved.

Pleased to see someone got a response from EA Help on twitter, I haven't heard a peep. I tweeted them again;

https://twitter.com/Tim20802273/status/1373910961355071488

I figure if they haven't replied to my original tweet after 24 hours then they aren't likely to!

Okay so Dan at EA Help on Twitter DM'd me almost immediately this time. He's been the most forthcoming EA rep I've been in contact with.

Long story short, there is a system limitation at the EA end that is stopping us from linking another Xbox account. The system is still being developed but there is no guarantee that our issue will be resolved. The unlinking accounts page on EA Help - https://help.ea.com/en/help/account/unlink-gaming-accounts-from-ea-account/ will be the best place to look out for any changes to the linking restrictions.

The best place to try to get someone at EA to look at this issue is the forums, so post here I guess.

My DM conversation is below;

DAN: Hello again, thanks for getting back to me. OK you mentioned that you unlinked an old unused Xbox Gamertag from your EA account. Are you now trying to link another Gamertag to that same EA account? If so, what error message are you getting when you try to do that? -Dan 

3rd attempt at trying to post this, so hopefully there aren't duplicate posts!

Okay so Dan at EA Help on Twitter DM'd me almost immediately this time. He's been the most forthcoming EA rep I've been in contact with.

Long story short, there is a system limitation at the EA end that is stopping us from linking another Xbox account. The system is still being developed but there is no guarantee that our issue will be resolved. The unlinking accounts page on EA Help - https://help.ea.com/en/help/account/unlink-gaming-accounts-from-ea-account/ will be the best place to look out for any changes to the linking restrictions.

The best place to try to get someone at EA to look at this issue is the forums, so post here I guess.

My DM conversation is below;

DAN: Hello again, thanks for getting back to me. OK you mentioned that you unlinked an old unused Xbox Gamertag from your EA account. Are you now trying to link another Gamertag to that same EA account? If so, what error message are you getting when you try to do that? -Dan 

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@Qrusher14242 wrote:
@-6thAD-Bogardi got the same kind of response, and they also said this, not sure if its true or not:

"Thanks for the DM! We've been seeing this reported a lot today, so we're having it looked into. You're able to link multiple Xbox accounts to one EA Account on a normal day, but we believe this is due to the recent addition of EA Play to Game Pass PC + Ultimate on the console. "

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That... doesn't make sense? It says in plain text on the account connections page that only one account per network per lifetime can be linked.

This has been EA policy, and wasn't introduced with Game Pass. Our headaches were introduced with Game Pass :D

I've been getting this response from email support (who are completely useless):

Please allow me to share that you cannot link the same account to EA Account once you unlinked. This is working as intended.

To know more about, please go through our help link:

https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/account/link-your-console-accounts/

Hope you can understand the predicament. Had it been possible for me, I surely would've done something for you in this without a second thought. 

Which effectively boils down to "tough luck, we're not going to help you"

I believe it's possible that they can't fix it, and since this is a policy issue, I understand them being dismissive.

Thankfully, EAHelp gives us a little hope, but only a little. If we don't keep making noise this will just slip through the cracks.

It's clearly an illogical rule to make a new empty account just to be able to play with my current Xbox account.

I have subscribed to EA Play before, and I've leveled up a lot with Battlefield V and other original titles like Anthem, Star Wars battlefront 1 & 2 etc. 
Now because of this rule, I can throw away my achievements and start from scratch.

For now. I won't be using EA Play.