@holger1405
I thank you for taking the time and energy to respond and provide useful information (for clarity I want you to know that isn't sarcasm). Again, thank you.
I wouldn't have considered there being a local network error blocking me from the live chat being that hours before I tried to contact them I had made doubly sure my network was spot on. Especially considering that the error I was getting from MEA appeared to be connection related. Also, it's easy to imagine a mega corp understaffing to squeak a few extra gold dabloons in the shareholder's portfolios. I've seen it first hand.
As far as the rest goes I killed my Twitter account back in 2009 and was on a 7 year Facebook break that ended only a year or so ago. I have a cloudy memory that leaves me feeling like I did call and never got anyone to talk to me but that's iffy so I can't say for sure. It just had never crossed my mind to use anything other than the obvious online support channels. I posted in the forums which they SHOULD be monitoring (but obviously aren't), I opened up and submitted support ticket(s) with a calm demeanor and they included links to the solutions in this post and the post(s) it links to. Of course I tried to chat a couple times with no luck. I did my due diligence with the tools I had at the time. At some point they need to do their part and at least read and reply to a support ticket. Hell, no response is really necessary just fix it and when once every 3 or so months when I try to play MEA it'll actually work like it was sold to do.
To my knowledge this is the only game in all Mass Effect saga that I haven't played through at least once. I did my part and ponied up the cheese and they just can't be bothered to solve the problem as such that we don't have to chase people down at EA and make them keep their end of this transaction up.
I'm ranting again, sorry about that...