So today is my birthday (yay!) and EA sent me an email to help me celebrate... 25% off my next purchase on Origin. Well, as any self respecting gamer would know Bio-Ware's kick butt Star Wars MMO gets released tomorrow, so I already knew what I wanted to use my discount on. Then I read the fine print which said this.
"*Value of discount will be deducted from order list price at time of purchase. Valid only for one-time purchases from the Origin store at Origin.com. Excludes pre-orders, games released within 30 days of your purchase, virtual currency and Game Time codes. This offer expires 30 days after the send date of this email and cannot be combined with any other offer, Gift Card, rebate or other discount coupons...."
Let me highlight the important parts...
"Excludes pre-orders" (my purchase)
"Excludes games released within 30 days of your purchase"
"Expires 30 days after the send date of this email..."
So Star Wars was out. Fair enough I thought, you wouldn't want everyone with a birthday getting discount pre-releases on your huge cash cow game that you expect everyone to pay $60 for. That would not be financially intelligent. It was just the luck of the draw that I was two days off.
So I took a look at their other games and was less than impressed. I am a gamer with taste and all the games were either tasteless or ones that I already owned.
Then I started thinking "Why wouldn't EA want to allow discounts on their huge game?" Valve does this often enough. And seriously, what difference should 30 days make? Mathematically it all works out to the same amount of people having to wait the same amount of time to use their discount to purchase whatever new release was coming out. I decided to pose these questions to customer service but getting through to them was nigh impossible this morning. They don't even have an email option for Origin customer service so I'm going to have to try their chat option again when I have time.
The point of this is that if you're going to give discounts for birthdays then don't put restrictions on the really good gifts. That's more of a slap in the face than helping people celebrate. Why the red tape? Is not my gratitude and good will towards your company worth the extra $15 you're trying to squeeze out of me? Is not my lack of anger and disapproval of your actions worth $15? Isn't your reputation worth $15? And here's the funny thing, people who have birthdays after the game comes out will get their $15 discount and it's ok for them to get it but not people 30 days earlier.
Here's the bottom line. At the very best I will not support EA on anything they do because of how they treat their customers (and me). On average I will speak poorly of them and at worst I will want to sue them.
But take a look at a company like Valve. At the very best I purchase their games to support them. On average I talk favorably about them and at worst I still talk favorably about them.
Why EA why?! You run on a money crank system and have no soul.
Final Thought
How would I get someone on the Escapist to write an article about this incident?
"*Value of discount will be deducted from order list price at time of purchase. Valid only for one-time purchases from the Origin store at Origin.com. Excludes pre-orders, games released within 30 days of your purchase, virtual currency and Game Time codes. This offer expires 30 days after the send date of this email and cannot be combined with any other offer, Gift Card, rebate or other discount coupons...."
Let me highlight the important parts...
"Excludes pre-orders" (my purchase)
"Excludes games released within 30 days of your purchase"
"Expires 30 days after the send date of this email..."
So Star Wars was out. Fair enough I thought, you wouldn't want everyone with a birthday getting discount pre-releases on your huge cash cow game that you expect everyone to pay $60 for. That would not be financially intelligent. It was just the luck of the draw that I was two days off.
So I took a look at their other games and was less than impressed. I am a gamer with taste and all the games were either tasteless or ones that I already owned.
Then I started thinking "Why wouldn't EA want to allow discounts on their huge game?" Valve does this often enough. And seriously, what difference should 30 days make? Mathematically it all works out to the same amount of people having to wait the same amount of time to use their discount to purchase whatever new release was coming out. I decided to pose these questions to customer service but getting through to them was nigh impossible this morning. They don't even have an email option for Origin customer service so I'm going to have to try their chat option again when I have time.
The point of this is that if you're going to give discounts for birthdays then don't put restrictions on the really good gifts. That's more of a slap in the face than helping people celebrate. Why the red tape? Is not my gratitude and good will towards your company worth the extra $15 you're trying to squeeze out of me? Is not my lack of anger and disapproval of your actions worth $15? Isn't your reputation worth $15? And here's the funny thing, people who have birthdays after the game comes out will get their $15 discount and it's ok for them to get it but not people 30 days earlier.
Here's the bottom line. At the very best I will not support EA on anything they do because of how they treat their customers (and me). On average I will speak poorly of them and at worst I will want to sue them.
But take a look at a company like Valve. At the very best I purchase their games to support them. On average I talk favorably about them and at worst I still talk favorably about them.
Why EA why?! You run on a money crank system and have no soul.
Final Thought
How would I get someone on the Escapist to write an article about this incident?