Unable to create your city at this time. Please claim a city again later

Finally finished installing and updating SimCity, went to play, and now isn't loading any maps, whether I try to join an already existing game or create my own. You know how you guys could solve this? GIVE US A CHOICE BETWEEN ONLINE AND OFFLINE GAMES. We've all been saying it, and many of us have been willing to look past this issue because we love the franchise. Unfortunately, EA not only essentially has stolen our money by giving us a product that doesn't work, they are being vague about any sort of fix on the horizon. So here's your opportunity, EA. Please answer this thread and let us know when we're either:

A) Going to be able to play our game.

OR

B) Get our money back.

This is ridiculous. The funny thing about this whole scheme to supposedly prevent lost revenue through strict anti-piracy measures? Your reputation is going down the toilet in a hurry. I, for one, will never buy another EA game if they're all going to work this way. What's it really worth, guys?