It’s stories like the following that sets EA back a hundred steps when it feels like they paced forward. The story below is of a user who purchased ‘The Sims 3’ used at their local Goodwill store. Illegal? You’d think not – after all, there is no warning on the back of the box that says Not for Resale. But apparently EA Customer service thinks buying the game second-hand is for the devil. They don’t want any of that…Oh no.
The annoyed customer spent their time battling EA customer service trying to get their game activated, as supposedly another account already claimed the code. EA’s response after a back-and-forth email battle? Basically ‘tough shit, give us more money’.
When I first explained my plight, the EA tech support representative offered me this option. Buy another, new copy of the game. “The Sims 3 is available in most major retailers or as a direct download!” he chirped. I then explained that my budget doesn’t really allow for a $49.99 game purchase, especially when I have a copy that I can play, but can’t register.
You know…It’s not hard for EA just to pass them a new code. But they’d rather look like dicks and get bad media coverage instead. Sure, they’re not liable to hand out codes to those who purchase second hand…But you’d figure they’d at least have some sort of decancey and would like to get good press for a change.
View the original article here.
Thanks to Sims 3 Nieuws for the source of the story!
I bought second hand games for The Sims 2! lol, but come on! Its about 15 GBP cheaper!
Devil ,why? EA sells licenses to play Sims 3, EA doesn’t sell the game. This person bought a game but not the license, the original buyer remained with the license when game was registered.
From this webpage: http://www.simprograms.com/the-sims-3-eula-updated-answers-securom-and-iga/
This End User License Agreement (“License”) is an agreement between you and Electronic Arts Inc. and its affiliates (collectively “EA”). This License governs your use of legitimate copies of this software, and all related documentation, utilities, and updates and upgrades that replace or supplement the software and are not distributed with a separate license (collectively, the “Software”). This Software is licensed to you, not sold.
It mainly has to do with their Customer Support. You see, if EA stated that right off the bat, then yeah. The guy probably wouldn’t be making that big of a deal over it. However, they led the guy on a wild goose chase, after he already mentioned purchasing it 2nd hand, and finally after multiple emails stated he has to buy the manual.
I think they (EA) should invest some more time and money with their Customer Service, lord knows they need it. Most of the time it’s a nightmare trying to get them to troubleshoot people’s issues. Another thought would be just to give the guy a new code and mention that it’s not wise to purchase 2nd hand. At least then if he managed to post about it, it’d put their customer service in a much better (and needed) light. For video games, Nintendo has an awesome customer service and treats their callers with respect. Of course, considering that they are console base, their troubles may be easier to solve. 🙂
Leann, the problem is there is no known way of transferring the license like you would with car ownership. I know people who have tried to delete/transfer their accounts but failed even after contacting EA for help. EA simply just wants more money. That makes EA’s practices unethical and despicable.