tropod wrote:By automatically having the optional extended 6mth selected, it is akin (not the same though really) to selling a unsolicited supply of a product, which is actually against the law (least in Australia it is, by the Trade Practices Act). Though this is looking at it at its most extreme, given the nature/type of the transaction.

The governing body that rules the vendor does not have laws against the your observation. Yes, the selection for the extension is made automatically and requires the other to manually remove it. Sadly, this is not an illegal practice.

No, I'm guessing it wasn't/isn't. Just felt like pointing it out none the less.

People get unsolicited crap all the time; spam, emails, junk mail, credit cards etc. There's little difference between that and this. Guess only difference is, that you're actually buy the related product.
Lets say you buy some white good appliance for $500 over the phone from a catalog, lets say a Fridge. How would you feel if it got delivered to your home, along with an invoice for $550, the additional $50 being for a fridge warranty. Under law, you would not be required to pay for something you did not ask for, if indeed you weren't asked, in this case the fridge warranty.
Obviously/clearly it's not the same, but to put it into perspective, well.

Someone doesn't like the truth about the EA's customer service practices
ahhh well, can't please all of them all the time

In this case when you go to checkout, the 6 months is automatic..it's the 2 yr EDS (Extended download service) that is optional. And yes, preselected for you, so you do have to wary when you are checking out. Me, I'm always the cynic and pessimist and question everything. I opted to deselect it on the grounds that that I would be provided the download to save to disk. And while I was able to actually locate those files with help from a previous post, the average person is not going to know that and no chance in hell CS is telling them.

Tropod - I like your fridge analogy, but I have a spin on it because this is really what the issue is for me.
How about you buy this fridge for that $500 over the phone, it's delivered. With it comes a short little cord that will apparently evaporate in 6 months from the time it's plugged into the outlet. On your bill there's the extended warranty for a new cord that will last you 2 years. Little were you aware that the original cord will however last long as you don't cut it in half or something. You call the company and ask them what that's about and the they feed you the song and dance of ignorance and "sorry, you need the extended warranty, which is proprietary and can only be acquired from here". It's a fridge for chrissakes! It automatically comes with a built in cord..lol

Again, as much I will moan about all of this. I DO like the game...I really do. And I have hopeful expectations for it's future and look forward to seeing them. It's the business practices of EA that really put me off

Oh and for the person that mentioned that perhaps CS wasn't aware that this could be done. You know, I did give that some consideration. The email I posted here wasn't my first email to them. That was just the most recent and the only one thus far that even addressed what the issue was. I can give them that perhaps they didn't know, but to me...it seems otherwise and they've been trained to help maintain that "extra charge"

*sighs softly*
guess I'm done moaning for "the time being". Thanks for the replies guys

They are ruining all persons who ever wanna download something again I am so happy I always buy discs

So, but to repeat the statement - go to the BBS or consumer support instutions etc. if enough ppl do this instead of writing endless forum posts something can be moved.

lmao

Now tell me that downloading a pirated copy is bad... To bad it is the only way to have a backup of the game, that you can be sure to work in, say 10 years from now...

Indeed.
If it wasn't for pirates I would STILL be unable to pay my legitimately purchased copy of C&C3, since the Securom on that refuses to recognise my CD. Good thing a no cd crack was available pretty quickly for that game.

pixelatedchic wrote: I like your fridge analogy...

I prefer the refrigerator that I can only plug into three different outlets/houses before it stops working and all my food gets spoiled. If my power fails, the fridge detects that and considers it to be one of my three allotted outlets. I should also note that only one person in my house can use this fridge- even when plugged into the just a single outlet- so that I'm asked to buy separate refrigerators for each family member in the household.

Best of all, none of this refrigerator's features were posted on the exterior of the box it came in. In fact, I had to unpack the fridge and plug it into my kitchen before I even found out about the restrictions.

I suppose that's what I get for buying that fridge on the day it came out rather than wait for other customer reviews. Needless to say that I will never again be foolish enough to buy ANY appliances from the manufacturer of this particular refrigerator.

tyger42 wrote:Did they change something since launch day when I bought the DL version? Because when I bought it, the extended download warranty was included at no extra charge....

I looked at the download option when I was deciding where to buy the game, and at that time you could re-download it for either 30 or 90 days, but after that unless you paid extra (for "extended download service") you were hosed.

bonobotheory wrote:EA's customer service has always sucked. I'm not surprised.

EA has a customer service line?

I always thought you just called and talked to an abused chinese kid who's only allowed to heckle you if he wishes to get his daily ration of 10 slivers of rice?

SPORE I'm sorely in denial O.O

Also to anyone saying that 10 years is an exorbient amount of time, keep in mind last year they closed 31 game servers effectively causing all those games to no longer work online.

Most were at most 2 years old, so this game will likely get nuked earlier than 10 years .

The second they start making money hand over fist they generally kill a project, look at what they did to west wood and the renegade game (That game was mega fun for its time but they killed it the second they finished consuming west wood and even stopped producing any new copies of it and killed support for it).

I feel your pain.

Fortunately, I was smart enough (dumb enough?) to pre-order a physical copy of the game, but I'm no more pleased with the situation than yourselves.

I too, think it's bogus **BS** that you only get a limited number of downloads. I believe you paid the same amount of money I did for the game, and I can reinstall as many times as I like-- oh, wait, except I have to go through a lot more BS to get it unlocked to reinstall it more than three times, in the event my crappy VISTA (Microsoft sucks) crashes on me more than three times, or refuses to allow the game to install properly.

You know, I'm not that old (24), but I remember a time when the upgrade of computers and programs meant that you could do MORE things with them. Where the hell did we start allowing LESS control and freedom by the users with MORE advanced technology?

P.S.

I was going to post MY crappy EA customer service responses here as well, as their ineptitude in responding to me blows the previous posters out of the water, however it appears that I either deleted them, or hid them from myself to curb my own frustration. Sorry folks.

TwinHelix wrote:P.S.

I was going to post MY crappy EA customer service responses here as well, as their ineptitude in responding to me blows the previous posters out of the water, however it appears that I either deleted them, or hid them from myself to curb my own frustration. Sorry folks.

I can't see my support desk questions in the "My Questions" section either. But if I follow the link from the e-mailed support tickets I can get to it. I suspect you didn't delete them- you just can't see them unless you go through your email links. Apparently that part of the tech support website needs some... er... tech support.

.... This is why I bought my download version at direct2drive, and not EA.. You needs to research this stuff first dude.

w34p0nx wrote:.... This is why I bought my download version at direct2drive, and not EA.. You needs to research this stuff first dude.

It's sad that you need to, though, don't you think?

w34p0nx wrote:.... This is why I bought my download version at direct2drive, and not EA.. You needs to research this stuff first dude.

The Empire observes that the DRM restrictions are still in place.