Amazon Refuses to Sell SimCity

[tkioz]

Smart choice of words, EA.

Maybe they won't ban users for REQUESTING a refund, but if the user blocks the payment for a defective product, they will be banned for sure.

Moral of the story: Don't buy online games, don't buy games with online DRM, don't buy games that require an online service.

Pretty much. They wont ban people for requesting a refund, but they certainly don't have to give one.

Depending on the laws of different countries that actually DO have to give a refund. In Australia for example a non-working product (i.e you can't get the game to work) automatically qualified for a repair, replacement, or refund, customers choice, within 7 days... no argument at all allowed...

 

[Kopikatsu]

It is beyond me how you can not find someone being banned from their entire games library over an issue with a single game "not unreasonable".

Probably people who follow the rules, and thus never have an issue with it.

 

[synobal]

but it's not unreasonable of the company to cancel accounts belonging to people who refuse to pay.

Uh yes it is, it very much is. I haven't heard of a publisher coming to your house to confiscate all your games by them because you've failed a payment on one of their games and this pretty much constitutes that.

It was bad with Steam as well, thankfully Valve listened and changed the way Account-disables work about a year back: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=471349

They no longer "ban" anyones account and deny them access to their games over failed payments or payment-disputes but disallow trading and buying of new products till it's cleared up with support.

It is beyond me how you can not find someone being banned from their entire games library over an issue with a single game "not unreasonable".

Especially since in the given case the customer tried to appeal to the proper channels and they proved to be undiscerning. He has a right to a refund if the product he bought isn't fit for purpose.

Origin has been such a cockup, I've got like two games on it one is spore I got for free due to them trying to get me to buy stuff on origin and the other is battlefield 2142 I bought back when origin was EA download manager. The sever is still trash it's just been reskinned and I loathe it.

 

[Scorpid]

Smart choice of words, EA.

Maybe they won't ban users for REQUESTING a refund, but if the user blocks the payment for a defective product, they will be banned for sure.

Moral of the story: Don't buy online games, don't buy games with online DRM, don't buy games that require an online service.

I'd probably add don't buy EA but that list covers every single EA game being put out anyway.

 

[Something Amyss]

Smart choice of words, EA.

Maybe they won't ban users for REQUESTING a refund, but if the user blocks the payment for a defective product, they will be banned for sure.

Moral of the story: Don't buy online games, don't buy games with online DRM, don't buy games that require an online service.

At the very least, don't rush in to buy them.

 

[Ickabod]

Nice to see Amazon stepping up here.

 

[Vie]

Wow, this really is turning into a good old fashioned train wreck!

Crumpets anybody?

 

[Daemascus]

It is beyond me how you can not find someone being banned from their entire games library over an issue with a single game "not unreasonable".

Probably people who follow the rules, and thus never have an issue with it.

Seems to me people who follow the rules should also be able to use the product they just paid for.

 

[1337mokro]

It is beyond me how you can not find someone being banned from their entire games library over an issue with a single game "not unreasonable".

Probably people who follow the rules, and thus never have an issue with it.

The rules like not blocking payment for a defective product? The rule that states that you lose any right to a refund the second you play a game unless decided upon otherwise by the company?

Yes I can see how people who obey the rules don't have an issue with that because they are blind sheep. The man threatened with an account ban was also a rule follower. He bought his game, was unable to play it, is still unable to play it and wanted a refund for this non-functioning mess of a game. Got denied and threatened.

Yes follow the rules. The next time you buy a broken appliance from a retail store don't go back and demand a refund, because if you do that the retail store can come into your home and take all electrical appliances with them.

It sounds kind of ridiculous when you apply the same business practices to other items, doesn't it?

 

[NiPah]

It is beyond me how you can not find someone being banned from their entire games library over an issue with a single game "not unreasonable".

Probably people who follow the rules, and thus never have an issue with it.

Just going to point out as a guy who follows the rules and has never had an issue with this I still find this policy to be horrible and unreasonable.

 

[blalien]

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda sad to see this happen to the SimCity franchise. I'm actually a fan of 'simpler' and 'dumbed down' sequels like XCOM:Enemy Unknown and Civilization V that make it easier to get into those ridiculously complex franchises that are difficult to understand for new players. I had kinda hoped the new SimCity would do that for its franchise, but instead this happens.

Ah well, back to Civ V I guess. Glad I didn't preorder.

I don't think those games are even dumbed down so much as they include a tutorial and an intuitive interface. I've gotten so spoiled that the 90s PC turn based strategy games are completely inaccessible to me now. I really hope the Space Hulk game is good.

 

[mattaui]

I might have had the occasional trouble with Amazon customer service, but by and large they always come through in the end, so I'm sure they got tired of having to deal with irate customers and realized that the source of the problem wasn't the customers, it was the product.

The fact that a company of EA's size and experience would continue to release such sub par product (Sim City being only the most recent example) is a clear indication that they've got next to no corporate leadership and a real breakdown in their internal organization. I just hope they don't have to trash any more franchises before they shape up.

 

[weirdee]

They should probably hold back on sales anyway until the server situation stabilizes, like they did with that other game's preorders, just so that the current users don't have another pile of metaphorical rocks dumped on them.

 

[kajinking]

Who thinks Gearbox and Sega are really glad about this.

"Oh hey they screwed up talk about them now!"

That being said I'm going to go give Cities XL a try

 

[thethird0611]

Seriously... does anyone else notice how EA comes out and says "No, we do not ban people for asking for refunds", while evidence has been shown the kid who posted the chat session actually got his?

And the only thing we see on this thread is people saying how bad EA is for banning people who want refunds?

Seriously...

What is wrong with you EA haters?

 

[Nachtmahr]

Actually, EA is being quite reasonable about giving refunds to people who ask for them in a reasonable manner. But nobody wants to hear that.

This exactly.

In fact, EA is quite generous and the Origin customer service is amazing. Just yesterday I ran into the infamous Mass Effect 3 error where it suddenly tells you that you need to purchase an Online Pass to play multiplayer. Customer service fixed this in 30 seconds, and gave me a 15% off my next purchase promotion code for my trouble.

If you are polite and reasonable in your requests, they will return the favour.