Well, I deleted all of my friends this morning based on the slim hope that that might alleviate the problem, but no dice. I've filed a complaint with EA's help center, but I'm not operating under any illusions that the problem is going to be fixed.
I suspect that this may be my last post, so I'll use the opportunity to say "so long" to some of regulars I've interacted with over the last two or three months. Hope I was able to help out at least one or two users during my brief stint here.
Happy tapping,
Krusty