RANT ABOUT RUDE EA ADVISOR
SO I JUST WANT TO GET MY STORY OUT THERE BECAUSE I AM SO DISUSED WITH EA/ORIGIN I'M THINKING OF SWITCHING TO STEAM Backstory: I am a die hard Sims Fan and have been playing for as long as i can ...
Forum Discussion
@makaelawaffle First of all when you purchase most software you do not own the software - what you purchase is a license to use the software. If you read the EULA (end user license agreement)(you know the thing you agreed to the first time you played the game - you know the thing no one reads) you should have read the game/pack licenses is not transferable. If your friend used the code it can not be re used. There is no way to deactivate a code from the EA system. Dealing with over seas call centers can be challenging. Recently Microsoft (Windows operating system) and Apple (OS X operating system) will no no support the DRM the Sims 3 was released with. SecuROM and SafeDisc which were poorly supported. The new DRM developed by EA in 2012 for EA games is Origin. Origin is much like Steam. Once you activate a code to a Steam account you can not "give" that code to someone else. Origin works much like Valve's Steam. I to am also a long time Sims player and I sometimes get (very) frustrated with customer service. Software licensing has been in effect for a long time (like the Windows operating system) but as long as there has been no major loss of revenue no one really did anything. This is very much like when the recording industry was cracking down claiming mp3 ripping was a copyright violation. There was a 12 year old girl sued by the RIAA for music downloading. I can go on and on but piracy is piracy. And if we want to continue to see quality games for our computers users have to contribute in the form of purchasing the license to use the game. I in no way excuse the actions of the CS rep as this is not for me to judge. Please do not post transcripts in these forums as it is against the forum rules. I am opposed to foreign call centers because of the language barrier and frequently the issue can not be resolved. American money is going overseas for the purpose of CS that the reps frequently don't understand the American way of life and this makes resolution difficult. The best one was when the state of California contracted a company to do their customer service AND that company sub contracted an India company to do the cs. this could go on and on but the main issue is your ownership of the code. Maybe there should be a COA (certificate of authenticity) but Microsoft tried this. Right now the code is owned by the person who can prove the code was purchased from an authorized seller. Let me say that SecROM was a rootkit and I rather deal with a Steam like DRM then something that embeds code in my computer. hth
Yea i guess i should have read that but i also feel like it should be communicated more thoroughly what things can and cant be done. Either way i would of honestly accepted that there's nothing they can do if 1) the rude advisor hadn't told me that they could recover my game 2)If the advisor had of been pleasant now since ive been put though so much i feel like they should restore my game just for how i was treated. I'm not asking for much! Also thank you for letting me know that i cant post the transcripts i figured i shouldn't. Glad i didn't.
@makaelawaffle I totally understand you. Right now my mortgage was sold to Ocwen Financial. You have no idea the ignorance in customer service until you talk to these guys. Then after multiple conversations I find out Ocwen could configure my account to route to a state side cs upon contact and when I ask to get transferred to a state side consultant, the ignorant person who is in India (I guess) tries to pretend i don't know what I'm talking about. About once a year I've had to call headquarters to resolve errors they are making. Years ago I had a different mortgage company fail to pay my home owners insurance and let it lapse. I had an escrow account and payment should have been automatic. What if a would have had a loss (a claim)? We are not talking a $20 game pack. A couple of years ago I got a letter from the IRS stating I owed $10000 because of a mistake my wife made with the taxes. When I finally got in touch with the IRS (that was another issue - you just don't pick up the phone and talk to someone - I can't tell you how much elevator music I listened to) It was a problem that wasn't entered correctly (it wasn't entered at all) on my tax forms (and I don't do my taxes - I have an accountant). I can only wish a have $20 problems. I'm not trying to minimize your issue but I get to a point I have more important things going on to try to figure out a issue that may not be an issue. The problem I see is you can't prove ownership and if the cs rep enabled the pack for you the system would disable your friend's pack. I'm guessing only one person can own the pack and the cs is reluctant to cancel your friends code (that would be their decision). This would be like when I called Microsoft and telling the nice lady that the computer that had the code no longer exists and they enable the code for the new computer. Apparently your friend used the code already. Be aware the TOS (terms of service) do change from time to time and like any license ignorance is no excuse. If you really want to pursue this I recommend file a complaint with the BBB or a nice (very nice) letter to the executive offices of EA. I would explain how you got received the pack (code) and you really didn't realize it was wrong. You might add this wasn't explained to you (it should have been). Don't include the transcripts as that should only be been in the case of legal action and I don't think you want to go there. As you were in the wrong (regardless if you knew it or not) I don't think legal action would go far (and cost a lot) regardless of what was said. Have a drink (or two) and lament that the system bit you again and hey you learned something new today. take care.
