EA are cheap bastards

[Matt]

I bought Burnout Revenge the other week and when I come to play it, the game didn't work.

The disc has some fine circular scratches around the edge, I assumed it was my console that had done this, which made very little sense, because I'd only just put it in the console. So I called Microsoft support and explained the problem. A very nice Chinese sounding lady told me that she could arrange for my console to be picked up for repair, if I wanted, but said because it's not an MS game, they won't replace the disc. She said if that's the first time I've used the game, it's probably the game disc itself that is faulty. She then said I should call EA games, but neglect to tell them I'd called her (nice advice there ) Because they're likely to say it's the console, when it's not.

So I call EA support.... I'll cut this short and post the e-mail I sent to EA warranty, after being fucked around in a few placed.

Hi there.

I bought a copy of Burnout Revenge for the X-Box 360 almost two weeks ago now (it was just over a week when I started this process) The game was brand new. Still in the plastic seal from Gamestation in the U.K.

At the time I bought another game with Burnout and I'd been playing that for a good week when I decided I'd done enough on the other one (IE: finished it, there abouts ) and opened Burnout for the first time. I placed the disc in the drawer, as normal, closed the drawer, as normal. The X-box appeared to be loading the game, as normal (you can kind of tell from the sounds the DVD drive makes, no?) the screen goes black, as if it's about to load some publisher and developer logos then it cuts back to the 360 Dashboard and a right hand side bar covers half the screen informing me that the disc is unreadable and that I should take it out and clean it with a soft cloth then put the game back in the drawer. So I did this using some CD wipes I'd gotten from PC world and placed the disc in the drawer. Same message and same events.

So, naturally, I got straight on the phone to your support centre using the telephone number in the booklet and informed the guy with an appalling English accent (might've been my phone) of the problem. He suggested it might be a 3rd party device plugged into the 360 (like, how on earth does that make a disc not read?) and then suggested it was my console (Who writes the training manuals?) and suggested I try it on a friends console (very presumptuous of him to assume everyone can afford these things) I did that at my friends house and the same error message occurred. So my conclusion is that the game was knackered before I even took it out of the box. However, not willing to waste some more money on the EA support line to be shunned off by a seemingly non-caring assistant, I came straight to the EA support site instead. The assistant on the phone did manage to take my e-mail address and I'd received an e-mail thanking me for my inquiry.

Now, I'm sorry to whoever reads this, you may feel a little bit as though I'm ranting at you, but please don't. I have a grumble or two about the service I've received, so far. I mean, to be fair I've paid for a game that hasn't worked once, spent time on the phone being told my console might be faulty and then been told online about where I can get replacement discs from for a price. It seems that EA will do everything in their power to avoid replacing this disc for me, which makes no sense because Electronic Arts are stupidly monetarily well endowed.

So please hear my plea as I'm sick of playing the Burnout demo available on the Live Marketplace I'm happy to front the costs of recorded delivery to send you the disc, book and box for replacement (though it'd be much cheaper for me to just send you the disc, if possible, the Royal Mail weigh letters these days) It's clear to me that the problem is the disc itself and I'm going to come off as a bit of an arsehole now and say I really won't settle for anything less than a replacement. £30 is a bit much to pay for something that doesn't work and it's a complete slap to the face to ask me to pay for a replacement disc or to insinuate that I may have damaged the disc, my console has damaged the disc, my console is faulty etc etc etc I've been a huge fan of the EA brand since I had my Sega Megadrive (Whoever chose to lose the Square, Triangle and Circle logo of the olden days should have been fired for that one ) I'd hate to turn to my friends, when they ask adn say "No, EA treat their customers like shit, I wouldn't bother " Because that's bad for business, and business is good

Thanks for your Time

Matt

Now, I do come off as a little bit angry in that mail, I'll admit, I'm pretty peeved at the service, but I've tried to keep it impersonal.

No reply yet, been about 2 days. Cheap bastards. Though it was the weekend.

[kaos]

EA being cheap bastards is when you see a jacked up walk cycle in one game, then see it in whole other game 3 years later.

ea being cheap is when 3 of your game covers are arranged the same, even right down to the character line up on the back.

ea being cheap is when they dont create new games or ip
they just put the hottest new ip on a poor mockery the engine of the hottest new game.

Im not very religous, but I think god way out loud when sombody else got the rights to iron man.
dont even remember who it was...but as long as its not ea.

[Matt]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

Firstly, please allow me to apologise for any inconvenience you have experienced. The information given by our phone agent sounds normal, we usually double check that there is no other problem before suggesting that the disc could be at fault. This is because we get very few faulty discs. Also, you will only be charged for a replacement disc if the original is damaged and therefore not subject to our Limited Warranty policy.

I would like for you to send the game in to us for testing. Please remember to include full details of the defect, your name, address and where possible a daytime telephone number where we can contact you. You can send in just the disc on its own, as this will mean the package weighs less.

The address to send in your game to is:

Electronic Arts UK Ltd
Customer Services
PO Box 181
CHERTSEY
KT16 0YL

Best Regards,

Jody

Customer and Community Services, UK and Ireland
http://electronicarts.co.uk
http://electronicarts.ie

Very few faulty discs. Shit. This disc was scratched before I got it, I doubt they're going to replace it

This is what I mean by cheap. They're fussing around with replacing this for me. It's brand new

[Super Goat Weed]

why didn't you just return it to the retailer you got it from anyway?

[kaos]

good question.

[EchoPark]

yea i would of returned it to gamestation tho i always check my discs the day i get them most of the time b/c of the money i spent i mean i even check if theres a disc within the box, i went all the way to asda brought Dragonball Final Bout and got 2 mins outside my house till a m8 said there was no disc inside. I had to travel all the way back and argue with them that it wasnt in the box when i left. From where i lived its about 20 miles to Asda so in that i did 80 miles XD for a game.

The only problem i really had with the 360 is i got gears of war for my birthday, i opened it stuck it in the machine and it didnt work. It was sayin that there was no game on the disc, i took it to my dads and it worked .... but no in mine