Complaint Review: Electronic Arts Inc. "EA" - Redwood City California

First - Let me preface this story pertaining to Sim City 4 with this: I pre-ordered the Galactic Edition of Spore from the EA website. Not only did it not function properly, and give me, repeatedly, a message that the files were not installed, when any person could tell they were, it has subsequently hindered my computer's performance. It hasn't worked at the same capacity since.

Now on to Sim City 4.

FIRST encounter with EA's lack of competence: I attempted to purchase a copy of aforementioned game, and reached the payment page. As I pressed confirm, the page loading bar proceeded to not move at all.

I waited about fifteen minutes for it. It was apparent at that point that something was off kilter. No email on the address I listed, no confirmation page ever appeared.

I tried again, same method and steps. It took five minutes to load. Finally a confirmation of order page appeared.

SECOND encounter: Two identical packages arrived approximately a week later. I was obviously confused, then hopeful that I had been dealt a lucky hand with an extra copy by mistake. I tried to log on, for ten minutes, to my EA account, but was faced with "An unexpected error has occurred, and has been forwarded to our staff, etc." type message.

I later logged on, and found no useful order information whatsoever. A few days later, I noticed a second confirmation email. Crap. I had just bought a duplicate of a product (I didn't know yet.)that did not work, and under further inspection, from a company that did not accept ANY returns whatsoever off their website store.

THIRD encounter: So I said hey, it's Sim City, it'll make a good gift to Someone I know. Nothing doing. I, blissfully unaware, installed the software properly, and begun playing. It's an okay game. I would have enjoyed it, especially after a long, strenuous day. Restated; Nothing doing.

I initialized my computer, the next day around 8:00 pm. It shuts off. I turn it back on. The EA downloader prompts me to update. I do. Computer restarts again due to the upgrade.

I try to run Sim City 4. Nothing happens. I reinsert the disk multiple times. Nothing. I decide to reinstall it. It gets to a total percentage of 81.34%, freezes indefinitely, and I am forced to shut down the computer again. This exact occurrence happens FOUR MORE TIMES.

Yes, believe it or not, I toiled through that process four times, to absolutely no avail. 40-ish% bracket, and another 81.34%.

FOURTH encounter: I shut down my computer one more time, and hope that this next run will be different, or I'm out $80 or so odd dollars. This final time, I insert the first (install) disk into the drive, and it prompts me to insert the Play Disk (disk two). After that disk is in my computer, I press the autoplay button that appears, like the program told me. Nothing even comes up after that.

Nothing that contains Sim City is in my Add/Remove Programs at all, and the Update for SC4 that I download tells me there are no files that exist to update. After it prompts me to insert the play disk... There is something fundamentally wrong now, and I can clearly see that. I'm beginning to believe EA is riddled with incompetence.

FIFTH encounter: I go to the website and look for a phone number. Nothing. (And as later confirmed, there is in fact, is no phone number on the site.) I troll the help forums, and am met with generic crap. My sound accel is Fine. My computer also plays Half Life 2, with minimal problems. There are no adjacent programs running. There is no spysweep up. Nothing is helpful that they suggest, and apparently, no one else thought it was helpful either, due to the abysmal approval rating of each answer. Under 600 out of 6000 views found one article helpful, as an example.

I also notice that when "Sim City 4" is typed into the help query box, over 200 instances of the game malfunctioning appear. This perturbs me.

I am forced to resort to a google search to find a phone number. I am led to this site, and a few others, with nothing but negative words for EA. I leave multiple angry messages as there are numbers on a post containing the few I could find.

The Aftermath: I'm out $80+, I have not been able to speak to any human about my dissatisfaction, I cannot get a refund, and EA keeps on trucking. PLEASE DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY. It only furthers the idea that it's okay to produce inferior quality goods, sell them without any forewarning, and then not be held responsible for them.

In a nutshell, if EA made baby formula, they would be located in china, and contain more than trace amounts of melatonin.

Again, please refrain from purchasing anything with an EA label, not only will you lose out, psychologically and monetarily, but you put money in the pockets of people who, excuse my language, don't give a d**n about the consumer. And that's a failure plan to succeed.

I hope this article can provide some support for anyone who has had similar frustrations - know that it's not an isolated instance. This company is comprised of inferior dealings.

My email is, (((ROR redacted))) and my phone is (((ROR redacted))) If you would like to share a similar idea/opinion, file a class action suit, or make the public aware about holding EA responsible, Please, don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for your time,

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Eddie

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

U.S.A.