EA / Bioware / Origin Nightmare

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staticlag

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
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Ok so it all started with Mass Effect 2.

I was being a good citizen and decided to buy the DLC for the game using their Bioware points.


I went on the Bioware site and tried to buy $20 worth of points using my paypal account.

The $20 was billed through my account and the bioware site gave a processing notification to indicate that it was checking with paypal to see that the transaction went through. The site threw an error at this point.

When I went to check the BioWare site it showed that my account was not credited the points. I rechecked paypal to see if the transaction was cancelled. I was not, EA still had $20 of my money and I had not DLC.

So i sent an email to the support team at EA/Bioware explaining the problem.

In the meantime I really wanted to play the DLC so I put $20 of Bioware points on with my credit card and bought the DLC


I did not hear anything back from EA after about 4 weeks so I went back to my paypal account to check if they had refunded the money. They had not, so I filed a report on them using paypal account tools.

So paypal denied my first claim with them.

Probably because I'm just one customer and EA is a giant cooperation.

So I filed an appeal.

Denied again, paypal cited that I had lost the appeal processes because the goods were digital. (no other reason given)

Again, I'm assuming that it's because I'm just one customer, EA is just a giant cooperation.

What pisses me off, is that those f-ers at EA were too damn lazy to check their logs#!@!

Just 2 seconds from a reputable company would have told them, oh we have $40 of this guy's money but he only recieved credit for $20 worth of EA points.

I get on with my life.

Fast forward to today, I bought BF3 on amazon and tired to register it. I get a message that my EA account is banned!

I log into EA it takes me a while to find out how to contact them. I manage to find a chat tool after about 5 minutes.

I log in and wait for about 10 minutes, talk with the associate and he tells me that my account is banned because of: Fraudulent Activity -Bioware Points.


So Thanks EA,

Thanks a lot for stealing my $20, tarnishing my paypal and main email account alias, and banning me just because you are too lazy to check logs.

Thanks for wasting my time and money.
 
Call Paypal. If they still won't refund call your bank and have Paypal stuff reversed. Bank talking to Paypal means more to them than you talking to them. Then have the bank call EA if possible. And ask EA for a refund at full retail price for your games if they won't remove the ban. Take them to small claims court in your state and ask for your PayPal refund, full game retail refunds, and pain and suffering from mental anguish.

:)
 
It sounds like you got majorly hosed. I would have gone to Best Buy and paid cash for an EA game card redeemable for BioWare points. I'd hate to give EA my CC info. I'm a bit paranoid like that.
 
Wow this is juicy.

I would spread this story to Consumerist, Kotaku, PaypalSucks, and Kyle @ HardOCP to get some press coverage. Hopefully something good will come from it.
 
Killdozer said:
Wow this is juicy.

I would spread this story to Consumerist, Kotaku, PaypalSucks, and Kyle @ HardOCP to get some press coverage. Hopefully something good will come from it.
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OP would need to provide some worthwhile evidence.

I'm gonna skip my usual EA rant and just say Goodluck with it OP.
 
A nightmare would be more like not having clean water to drink or not knowing how to read because your parents are too poor to send you to school.

People usually just go on the Origine Customer service chat and get free stuff all the time, did you try escalating your problem through them?
 
MisterSkills said:
A nightmare would be more like not having clean water to drink or not knowing how to read because your parents are too poor to send you to school.
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I should tag you, follow you around, and if you EVER complain ABOUT ANYTHING short of not having clean water or being illiterate quote your own post back to you.

I really hate these arguments. First, it's obviously a hyperbole - it's not a REAL nightmare. Second, everything is relative. In the US, if you're on food stamps and welfare, you're living like a king compared to millions of other in the world - but here, you're considered poor and downtrodden.

Everybody considers their own problems under the microscope of their current situation. Your car getting a flat might seem like the worst thing in the world even though it's fairly trivial in the scope of things - but in that moment, it just might be the worst thing in the world for you.
 
You should check if some other IP location has been logging into your account
 
Just out of curiosity, Have you actually called EA at all when you initially paid for the DLC and it didn't show up in your account?

Rather than just going through the hassle of banks, paypal and EA; call them and explain to them the situation.
 
This is more of a PayPal issue, it sounds like. They're a notoriously scummy company if you weren't aware, so contact them as others have said. It looks like they debited your account but didn't sent it to EA/Origin yet.

Your ire is misdirected. It's PayPal who're being the shysters here and PayPal is the company you should be contacting for reimbursement. In future it's probably wise to use Google Checkout or something instead, as a great deal of ex-paypal users have begun to do.
 
It doesn't sound like you sent them more than email to level 1 support. Bad idea. EA's customer support (that they outsource btw) won't do shit unless you complain over the phone or live chat, and if you really can't get anywhere with origin live chat then you need to email the higher support guys. Its pretty easy to find if you google around the people in charge of ea support.
 
Jellylesg said:
This is more of a PayPal issue, it sounds like. They're a notoriously scummy company if you weren't aware, so contact them as others have said. It looks like they debited your account but didn't sent it to EA/Origin yet.

Your ire is misdirected. It's PayPal who're being the shysters here and PayPal is the company you should be contacting for reimbursement. In future it's probably wise to use Google Checkout or something instead, as a great deal of ex-paypal users have begun to do.
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Have to whole-heartedly disagree here. For issues such as this, you start at the source that is delivering the goods that you paid for, regardless of the medium used by said source to bill you for the goods. Paypal isn't the one that initiated the transaction - that was EA. EA collected funds from you without delivering the goods, and should be the ones that either deliver you the goods, or refund your money. Simple as that.

Paypal's just the middle man here. And to be honest, filing a claim through Paypal means that they'd be doing pretty much the exact same thing that you should be doing on your own - going after EA for resolution.
 
Mabu said:
Have to whole-heartedly disagree here. For issues such as this, you start at the source that is delivering the goods that you paid for, regardless of the medium used by said source to bill you for the goods. Paypal isn't the one that initiated the transaction - that was EA. EA collected funds from you without delivering the goods, and should be the ones that either deliver you the goods, or refund your money. Simple as that.

Paypal's just the middle man here. And to be honest, filing a claim through Paypal means that they'd be doing pretty much the exact same thing that you should be doing on your own - going after EA for resolution.
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What I meant was that it seemed like PayPal didn't convey the funds to EA in the first place, which is why the funds were taken but the goods never delivered.
 
staticlag

that shit sucks brother. don't listen to those (MisterSkills) who replied problems are relative (trivial).

whether it's $20 or $2000, you have a right to be pissed. if you've made reasonable attempts to follow-up and resolve the problem, then certainly take it further (small claim tribunal or whatever you have in your country).

large corporate entities rely on customer apathy on issues like this. don't let it slide.
think we'll be all interested on how this pans out, so keep us posted. if not for the principle or to get your cash back, but as a warning to other customers.
 
Yikes! That's some scary shit right there. Not only are you out $20 but you've been kicked off EA. Does that mean your Origin account is banned too and you can't play your games on it?
 
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You payed it, didn't get anything. Stop right there and go to support. Nope pay again and don't go to live chat. Then you do a chargeback. What did you expect? Steam would ban you too if you did a chargeback against them and so would almost any other company. Yes this situation is horseshit, I agree. But please go ask support and keep escalating it and bitching until you get everything back.
 
xIronCrossx said:
You payed it, didn't get anything. Stop right there and go to support. Nope pay again and don't go to live chat. Then you do a chargeback. What did you expect? Steam would ban you too if you did a chargeback against them and so would almost any other company. Yes this situation is horseshit, I agree. But please go ask support and keep escalating it and bitching until you get everything back.
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I don't think he did a charge back. He filed a claim with PayPal but it was denied twice.
 
No offense, but using Paypal you're just asking for trouble. It's likely that your money disappeared into a Paypal black hole and EA never saw a dime of it. This shit happens to Paypal users all the time, with any company.
 
Using Paypal for DLC or anything that is involved with a virtual item will basically get Paypal telling you that they do not cover such claims for virtual iems. They consider DLC virtual items. Good luck though. I had a similar issue with Paypal/Bioware/EA and thats how Paypal ended it.
 
Sounds pretty shit, EA support seems extremely hit and miss. They have lots of different channels for support and depending on who you get through which channel you can be lucky or unlucky.

I'm not trying to take the blame away from EA and paypal, however one comment I will make is you really need to push things along yourself more. You said you sent an email and waited 4 weeks? If you don't get a response after a day or two you really need to look at another channel of support or investigate things further. When it comes to a billing problem it's best to strike while the iron is hot. Mistakes happen, support people can be morons or maybe the email just got buried or tagged as solved when it wasn't by accident. It shit when it happens and if anything they should be refunding you everything and giving you compensation when it happens, but you need to be a bit more proactive to account for the fact support channels often can and do screw things up.
 
NKDietrich said:
No offense, but using Paypal you're just asking for trouble. It's likely that your money disappeared into a Paypal black hole and EA never saw a dime of it. This shit happens to Paypal users all the time, with any company.
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I've been using Paypal for some five+ years without ever having an issue due to them. Matter a fact I made a mistake not to long ago and signed up with a fraudulent vehicle warranty company without doing my homework. As soon as I hung the phone up with the warranty company I looked to see what people had to say and knew I made a mistake within five minutes of purchasing from them. I called Paypal right away and had my card cancelled and started an appeal with Paypal on the warranty company. Paypal never made me pay for the money while the appeal process was going on and in the end I won the appeal.

Nothing but good things from Paypal on my end. As far as I'm concerned they went the extra mile to help ME out. As for Paypal not covering digital purchases... It makes sense and if it's something people seem to know it should't be on them anyway. That's what those disclosures before you purchase or sign up for anything are for.

One other thing I wanted to hit on is someone mentioning the bank getting involved... Unless that debit/credit card is through the bank there isn't much they can do. It's not their problem at that point. Now, if the OP were to pay his Paypal bill through the bank you might be able to get somewhere against Paypal but like Mabu said I think this entire thing rest on EA/Bioware. If the OP is saying he was charged out of his Paypal account twice then Bioware HAD to have gotten money. I've never had an issue with funds disappearing out of my Paypal account without me authorizing the purchase first. And when Paypal thought something fishy was going on with my account they suspended it and got a hold of me to make sure everything was legit.

OP, I hope you get this straightened out one way or another. It's extremely frustrating to do things the way they are set up to be done only to get screwed over it in the end. I'd say continue with EA/Bioware since it seems they got the money. If they got the money from Paypal it should be on them to deliver the product or refund you. Good luck OP.
 
cageymaru said:
Call Paypal. If they still won't refund call your bank and have Paypal stuff reversed. Bank talking to Paypal means more to them than you talking to them. Then have the bank call EA if possible. And ask EA for a refund at full retail price for your games if they won't remove the ban. Take them to small claims court in your state and ask for your PayPal refund, full game retail refunds, and pain and suffering from mental anguish.

:)
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Paypal has a strict policy that they will not back anything digital. I would not recommend buying OR selling anything digital with paypal. Buyers can easily get their money back by denying they made the purchase with a CC. Which then leaves you with no item and no money in your account. I have had this happen on numerous times over the last decade and have stopped using Paypal altogether unless it is a durable found only on ebay. The sites policy are a piece of shit.
 
Update: I have escalated my bitching and I have spoken with a rep who promises to help get my ban lifted.

Hopefully by Monday afternoon this problem will all be resolved
 
Update 2:

I wanted to let you know that I have gained approval to re-activate your account.

As we discussed, this is a one time courtesy. If you dispute charges with your bank or violate our terms of service, this will result in a ban that will not be overturned.

Don't worry about attaching any documents to this case, I was able to resolve this without the documents.

I hope that I was able to resolve this issue to your liking.


Thank you so much for your patience.

Sincerely,

Tyler C
Origin Advisor
Electronic Arts
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In the end I'm still out my money, but oh well shit happens I guess.

At least I can play my ME2 save games again since the DLC was linked to that account and you cannot access them while it is in a banned state.
 
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I love how they act like they're doing *you* a favor, and letting you off with a warning...

Audacious, really.
 
I'd be interested to hear what your messages to them were, coz from their response it sounds like they got paid and then had it withdrawn or you attempted to pay and the payment got knocked back and for some reason they considered it fraudulent.

That response seems like they don't even know that you have lost $20 in the process.
 
Man thats even shittier.

"OK, so I got your bogus ban overturned but you really owe me. If you ever question us stealing your money again, we'll kill you. Have a nice day"

I guess you should be glad you go it straightened out for the most part (aside from not getting your $20 back) but thats just a shitty way of doing things. I cant believe he's telling you that if you ever dispute a transaction again, youll be permabanned.
 
You still got hosed. $20 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's still basically like buying your family the 8 piece family meal at KFC. That comes with 2 large sides and 4 biscuits.

Man did you ever get hosed.
 
J W said:
... but it's still basically like buying your family the 8 piece family meal at KFC. That comes with 2 large sides and 4 biscuits.
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Off topic: I'm doing my first water only fasting (something to do). It's been about 108 hours of water only (seriously, Gerber pure purified baby water only). Long story short, I read your post, a tear came down my eye... :(

Ten more days, just ten more days...
 
My advice to you is to work with customer service to get the account reactivated and take your lumps. You could most likely get your money back with some effort. However, you will probably end up on the banned for life customer list.

I used to deal with this for a living so if you really want to know I can sketch you an outline of what to do if you want your money back.
 
Franko said:
I used to deal with this for a living so if you really want to know I can sketch you an outline of what to do if you want your money back.
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You say it like there's some hidden code to getting your money back when it should be as simple "I paid $40 and only got $20 worth of points, give me back me $20 dollars". :p
 
staticlag, you should still send this story to the Consumerist. I bet you'll get a much more friendly person within a week.
 
Sounds as if you didn't have an up to date/working credit card attached to your paypal account.

So paypal couldn't take the money and give it to EA. When you then immediately bought the DLC with a real credit card, you have to admit, that would look suspicious from EA's perspective without knowing what's going on with paypal.

So from EA's perspective, you just probably appeared as some kid trying to pull a fast one; Make a 'pretend' purchase with a payment type that you know won't work, buy with a working one, and then claim *all* the money back. I know this isn't you, but unfortunately in the corporate world, you're guilty until proven innocent. And you have to do the proving! :rolleyes:
 
Make a BBB report on them. They will contact you to resolve it. Other people have gotten refunds on products because EA screwed up and wouldn't help them to fully resolve the issue because origin sucks.
 
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