EA Not Banning Consumers Wanting Refunds for SimCity

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What a great way to treat possible returning customers and future game purchases plus word of mouth from this. I think they just lost a bunch of money from this fiasco and poor decisions.
 
[citation][nom]gottagovomit[/nom]We all have been laying the groundwork for this kind of treatment for years now. 1. First we allowed retailers to stop accepting returns on physical game boxes, even if unopened. Rights lost: To return a game that turns out to suck. 2. Then we bought into the hype of pre-ordering games - something that made partial sense perhaps for physical game discs, in rare cases, but became especially pointless once things went digital ("If i don't load it now, it might not play it until 24 hours after launch - OH NOES!"). Rights lost: To know how other consumers are finding the product (AFTER launch) before ponying up your own dough.3. When everything went digital, we accepted terms in most cases that amount to: "This is final sale", and a business model where once the game "key" has been assigned to you, it cannot be returned, refunded, transferred, unassigned.. nothing. Rights lost: Again, the right to return a product which does not satisfy the customer. 4. Supported the game industry big players as they restructured their business model to consist of 90% Marketing and Hype Building, and the remaining 10% of actual developers. It used to be the other way around. Rights lost: Well, you are basically paying big bucks for the marketing of the game these days, not an actual product. 5. Almost forgot - buying games with an always-on requirement when it does not need to be included. Rights lost: Almost any and all control over your own purchase. So there you go. There are probably other points to add but those are the big ones that have led us to this point.[/citation]


The whole pre-order thing is ridiculous at best. To put money down on a game so that eventually when it comes out you can pay the rest of the amount and get the game? WTF? Meanwhile you're out 10 bucks and the company is raking in and sitting on 100's of thousands of dollars.

I guess there really is a sucker born every minute
 
origin sucks except it's the only way to play ME3, buy smart, and be responsible for your own actions, sorry but EA has sucked for a long time
 
If EA won't honor refunds then it's CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT time! Is EA really this stupid? A lawsuit is going to cost them a lot more than just people wanting refunds. Not to mention the bad public relations that EA is going to be hammered with, which will cost them even more millions in the long run.
 
[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]If EA won't honor refunds then it's CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT time! Is EA really this stupid? A lawsuit is going to cost them a lot more than just people wanting refunds. Not to mention the bad public relations that EA is going to be hammered with, which will cost them even more millions in the long run.[/citation]

This is the problem with EA, they really don't give a crap... "People will still want to play 'X' when we force our development companies to release it too early and bug ridden... They don't have the nerve to play something else!" That's how they think, no joke. They'll screw you and they think you'll thank em for it in the end...
 
[citation][nom]Christopher1[/nom]Quite a bit, considering that judges have said numerous times that ToS's do NOT overrule protections written into law.It's past time that the lawmakers put the hammer down and passed a 'digital is the same as physical' law that outlines that with either, you can get a refund if the service changes in a material way. Sure, it can be pro-rated (no full refund after a year or two) but it should still exist.[/citation]

FYI Consumer protection laws in the US on most other countries state the merchant only has to offer a refund if the merchant initiated the transaction (IE they call you and sell you something), digital and physical notwithstanding. If you buy something from them then the guarantees go out the window because YOU decided to buy something. Unless there is a significant difference between what's bought and advertised they don't have to give you anything. There are a number of reasons for this, including protecting merchants from greedy people, but that would fill up several books. There is some debate as to weather this situation would qualify as materially different because EA is taking steps to fix it and because they can argue about higher than expected load.

After more years of customer service experience than I'm will to admit I'll give everyone the following advice:
If you have an issue with a product, ANY product, never threaten a chargeback unless it's your last resort. This rightfully risks banning you because you've already shown you don't have any problem stealing by getting the credit card to give you a refund. Credit card companies are notoriously stingy with charge-backs because they don't have to pay for them. If you really want something done first of all go to the right place, a game support forum is the wrong place. Second tell them why your not happy and what you would like done, but know that you probably won't get it. Third be cordial, if you end up in an argument you're screwed. Finally realize that no matter what happens the guy on the other end will give you what he can, enough to make you happy but not so much that they risk getting fired. If your not happy with this contact someone higher up or vent online, just be reasonable and don't start every conversation by yelling.

This generally gives the best results for any issues. Oh and don't use the BBB and lawsuits as threats, no one listens because the BBB doesn't care and the company pays for far better lawyers than you can afford.
 
[citation][nom]STravis[/nom]The whole pre-order thing is ridiculous at best. To put money down on a game so that eventually when it comes out you can pay the rest of the amount and get the game? WTF? Meanwhile you're out 10 bucks and the company is raking in and sitting on 100's of thousands of dollars. I guess there really is a sucker born every minute[/citation]

a preorder can make sense, look at borderlands 2
preordering it i got the game for 40$, and i got a 10$ dlc for free because of it. as i would have purchased it anyway, i see it as i got the game for half off because i put money down early.

granted i only buy into extreme circumstances like that.

 
See..you people don't listen. This is exactly why I stay the hell away from walled-garden game stores like EA's crap origin and Valve's Steam. While Valve is exponentially better than Origin they still screw people over from time to time.
You are always at their mercy with this system...never put all your eggs in one basket.

Nothing beats a physical non-online DRM/no-DRM game. Nothing.
 
[citation][nom]tupoun[/nom]Probably depends in what country you live in. In EU, at least in Czech republic (and I don't think other EU states have different policy) it's illegal for the company to make you "tick" the EULA and "click" on I agree button and so easily waive your consumer rights guaranteed by the law (because the law explicitly says, that such a passage in terms and conditions to whatever product or service you may purchase is illegal). You can click on it, buy he product and don't even bother with that part. I am talking from my own experience.[/citation]

That is what every country in the world should have and here's a newsflash: Many ToS's have never been tested in a court of law. Those ToS's are meant to scare people into thinking "Oh noes, I haz agreedz to this!" when the truth is that the ToS stipulations that try to take away your rights are usually illegal themselves by little known local laws, state laws, or federal law.

Even in the United States.
 
Stay away from Class Action Lawsuits - the only people that make money in those cases are the lawyers. If you want to bust these companies' balls, you take them to small claims court.
 
This games release date was basically a cover-up for the real beta extension to start. Next will be delta testing and then omega phase testing. If all goes well (excluding the 697 patches that will be released soon) SimCity (DRM) will finally be playable without any issues, however, this may not happen for months, years. Who knows? EA's job is to take the fun out of games. :-(
 
[citation][nom]mazty[/nom]Not according to the customer trade act in the UK - in fact saying you aren't allowed a refund is illegal if I read the law correctly.[/citation]

Pretty sure if the goods are fit for purpose you can say no refunds, you can't just turn around and change your mind willy-nilly as a customer. You are however obliged to meet the specification of the product as a seller and in that instance are NOT allowed to say no refunds if the stuff is not up to par. Et tu EA?
 
I don't really understand why people are asking for refunds. There was some trouble inititally, but I played most of the weekend with no problems. Even if they were still having issues, I don't think its a big deal to have to wait just 1 week for them to fix everything. If they delayed the release of the game for a week would people be up in arms and saying they were never going to buy it? No. Chances are they played the game, they didn't like it as much as they hoped, and they want their money back, because at this point, the service seems to be doing pretty decently on US and Euro servers.

To me, its hilarious that people would boycott a game or an entire company over something as silly as some down time. Far to emotionally invested in video games...
 
[citation][nom]tomrippity02[/nom]I don't really understand why people are asking for refunds. There was some trouble inititally, but I played most of the weekend with no problems. Even if they were still having issues, I don't think its a big deal to have to wait just 1 week for them to fix everything. If they delayed the release of the game for a week would people be up in arms and saying they were never going to buy it? No. Chances are they played the game, they didn't like it as much as they hoped, and they want their money back, because at this point, the service seems to be doing pretty decently on US and Euro servers.To me, its hilarious that people would boycott a game or an entire company over something as silly as some down time. Far to emotionally invested in video games...[/citation]

Pretty much. I think people should be more careful about pre-ordering. Origin is still an awful service, and having to pay full price in advance is lame. The ban threats are the result of poor customer service - probably subcontracted to some company not involved in video games. The disconnect between Maxis staff and the people doing support for Origin is a clear problem.

Research your games, pre-order physically, so you can cancel them on release if the game isn't as advertised.
 
Not giving refund on digital version is ABSURD!
Once would think digital version is best version to refund because company can cut off access to game without fear that it has been copied, damaged, etc...
I hope EA's attitude is a message hear loud and clear by all gamers. STAY AWAY from their product. All it takes is for 1-2 of their games to fall flat before they change their policy, AND for their idiot CEO to get canned.
 
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