EA, you haven't fixed your bugged cheat detecting algorithm for over 2 years now

On Reddit, you hear about this all the time. It seams like EA just picks random players to send to the cheat server whether they deserve it or not. This way EA can claim they control cheating, but they really don’t. It is all smoke and mirrors. 

This is interesting. 2 years ago I was informed that they had in place some system but as it was automated, it was highly prone to errors. But my informer might have been wrong.

I promised full transparency so here we go with further correspondence:

--------------------------------

I find it highly disappointing that EA cannot even cite the infraction.  If someone is to be suspended, they should at least have evidence of exactly the issue.  If none can he cited, there is an error.  Everyone makes mistakes, but own your error EA and reinstate our member with full apology and appropriate compensation for your mistake.

Imagine this. You and you and you. Anyone. One day you wake up, enter the game and see a message of being offline. Second check and you're not anymore in your club. You browse clubs and see your club doesn't exist. Not only yours but none of clubs you knew. You state your game has been somehow weirdly broken and write to EA support.

You've got an answer and feel you're about to have a heart attack. Flashes of hot and cold throughout your body. It's like a nightmare you're trying to wake up from.

The ridiculous message reads:
"It appears that you may have broken one or more of the rules detailed in section 6 of our terms of service agreement." ... "We would advise (to)... start over using a brand-new social connection".

Now imagine this: this message and all other EA support messages I posted before were chosen by the system out of a closed set carefully cooked by an army of lawyers and psychologists.
Under normal parameters they assumed, you stand no chance.

The reaction timing is perfectly designed to make you resign. It's not an expert carefully investigating your case for a month. It's an assumption that you will give up after all your never answered emails sent to a black hole.

Would you try to complain to someone? Get in touch with your club? Forget it. They perfectly know that a natural human reaction would be "he must have done something, they can't be this wrong".

Well, they can.

This is an always-win case for them. Or they caught a cheat or you delete your account so they can tick out that they caught a cheat. That's why they so maniacally insist you do it.

Update: my next email to EA customer service:

Dear Praktar,
Again I feel this is a misunderstanding.
I'm not asking about any particular details of your investigation. For the purpose of better managing my team I'm trying to get information when my member will be brought back to the regular server. Also please consider two options according to your procedures.

Option 1: he sustains his claims for compensation; option 2: he drops his claims about simcash, items and premium mayor pass he lost in the process.
In other words how much longer will your investigation take and how much shorter will it be if my member drops his requests for compensation.
Your kind answer would let us make an informed decision about our further steps.

-------------------

Now imagine: my member, (ok this is ridiculous to call someone like this, so lets's call him Jimmy)(though his name is not Jimmy), so Jimmy, who was waiting for 40 days for any answer from customers service suddenly got one the next day:

-------------------

Hey Mayor,
Thank you for your patience and sorry for the delay in response.
I would like to inform you that we have get this account checked with our team and they have confirmed that you have modified the city, so this cannot be moved back to the normal server.

I would suggest to uninstall and reinstall the new game, ensure that you install a version from a legitimate source and start over using a brand-new social connection.

-------------------

So, only after 40 days we've got a slight progress. I'd dare to claim any progress was made only because I hit the jackpot  with my questions.

We're not talking anymore about breaking the TOS, but about mysterious modification of the city. I wonder what city modification can bring you to cheat server? More twisting roads in limestone valley? Storage upgrade? We'll definitely ask.

Progress? How naive your customers are, EA.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

----------------------------

Dear Prakhar,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Fortunately we reached some progress since you stopped accusing my member of breaking the paragraph 6 of the TOS. In this view the options I mentioned are not an issue anymore.
Now we are at the point where your experts claim that they're unable to bring the town back to regular server. I deeply believe that this is only a matter of good will and setting priorities.
My priority is the wellbeing of my members. So I urge you to take all measures to swiftly overcome the technical issues in this area.
Regards

-----------------------------

But Jimmy got the response like this:

------------------------------

Hey mayor, 

thank you for taking the time to send in your feedback regarding this but this have been confirmed that the city was modified and unfortunately once a city is modified cannot be corrected.

-----------------------------

At this point Jimmy and I had a conversation. I told him: look, they want you to pledge you would not claim compensation. This is what worked previous time. But Jimmy said no.

I admire and respect his attitude but it led us to further spinning in vicious circle of zendesk.

Update:
And I've got another empty answer.

Hi there,
I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
The player is question will be contacted back from the representative assigned to him. Please be assured, your club member will be assisted with relevant information regarding this case.
Since the case is handled over a different help ticket, I am afraid to inform but it is not possible for me to interfere or come to any conclusions.
I will now tentatively mark this case as resolved, however, if there is anything else you require assistance with, please contact us again and we would be glad to help you further with it.

-----------------------

Dear Prakhar,
I do not agree that this case is resolved.
If it's true what I've learned from social media, that you have limited control over your scanner and that you avoid to the utmost extend possible taking responsibility for your mistakes, tomorrow it may happen to me and our club is dead. So it is my case too.

When you suspended my member you wrote to him that he "may have broken" paragraph 6 of the TOS.
So basically we have consensus that you punish people not being sure they did anything wrong.
Now you wrote that "he have modified the city, so this cannot be moved back to the normal server".
My question is how? How one can modify his city, being on cheat server that you can't bring him back?

Our club is a non war club focused on the contest of mayors. If my member was a cheat, I'd perfectly see it comparing his scores to the highest scores you accept.
I attach last screens of January 2022 with the top scores in the club, including him, xxxxx. His scores are not impressive.

Please bring him back. He's innocent, I know it and you know it. It's a human living in isolation who's only social relation was this game. It's not another case to be ticked out as resolved. I will not let him be harmed by your soulless procedures and I will not stop alerting social media about this case until it's really resolved.

----------------------

This was my last attempt to talk with a bot. 

But didn't I say we're 70ish in 3 clubs and we love Jimmy?

The exact thing has happened to me. Although it’s only been a week for me. I’ve gotten all the same  responses about I may have broken a rule, experts are investigating  and delete and start over.

Follow up emails are non existent. 

After reading all your posts I now know there is no hope of getting this issue resolved. 

Thank you for your reporting and I hope your friend “Jimmy” was returned to his club. 

It’s a shame this goes on but unfortunately for me I will have to call it quits. I have no desire to go through what you and Jimmy have gone through with all these non answer emails responses by EA customer support. 

I believe EA is working on the cheater scams. As a team leader for more than ten years, I have seen a huge increase in cheaters. My team has dealt with cheaters (at least one individual per team), and sometimes many or all of the team for 3 out if the last 4 Wars we have played! We know turn them in!  This is a huge problem for players who get cheated out of wins and rankings, and EA who needs to balance the goodwill they are bound to honor. 

I will turn in cheaters when I find them (often now), and I'm sorry for your friend, a month us a long time to wait, but I think that I read cheater jail the first Time is about that long. I also believe EA will not accuse unless they have some kind of proof of cheating. 

They are capable of saving, then running the whole game.  

Questions to ask about possible cheating:  How could your teammate possibly get supplies for over a hundred Mags?  How many jackpots or shield busters or duds does a player have and pass on to others in team?  EA can also track how much real $ a player spends. I hope he gets out of cheater jail soon, and if he was cheating that he learned his lesson. I also read the second offense is a permanent ban and loss of city. I hope that is correct, because playing against cheaters is no fun. 

Totally agree with getting rid of cheaters. But when innocent players get caught in the crossfire. And EA customer support does nothing to help them. Then there is a problem. 

When it happened to me I didn’t think anything of it. I knew I would open a ticket and get my issue resolved . But instead I just got accused of cheating, breaking rules of section 6 and modifying my city . Whatever that means. 

Nothing is clarified, no real details are shared. And by the looks of it nobody actually reviews your account. They push lies down ur throat and you just have to take it. No other resources, nobody else to write to. Just cookie cutter email replies . I got all the same emails OP posted. And searching on Reddit many have gotten same emails. 

if it hadnt happened to me, I would have not believed it . I would have thought to myself he probably got caught  and is now being salty about it.  And yet here i am. So if it happened to me, it’s happened to many and can happen to you. 

it’s shameful the way EA for SCBI handles customer support.