EA is the WORST

[Jackie Daytona]

I've got a tale of woe. If you don't want to read a bunch of whine, you should probably just click away from this post.
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Story begins around 3 weeks ago. EA offered some free Sims 4 DLC through Epic. I kinda felt like playing The Sims. So, I installed it.

In the middle of the install, it brings up a little window. It's installing the "EA Play App". Whatever, how could this possibly be a problem?

Well, suddenly it says it's uninstalling Origin. I immediately hit the cancel button. Does nothing. Continues to install EA Play and removes Origin.

That's fine. I'll just download Origin and reinstall it. However, EA has taken down the pages that have the Origin installer. To force people onto their new app.

Alrighty. I'll just login through the EA Play App. It says it needs me to "verify" my identity. I don't see why. I put in the correct username and password. I REALLY shouldn't need anything else.

It says it has sent me an email. Which I'll need for a verification code. I don't even know which email.

So, I try to login to EA's help site. They won't allow it. This ALSO requires a verification email. RIDICULOUS.

At this point I'm, more or less, locked out of my account.

I look around EA's site, and find a contact form. I give them an alternate email. I explain the entire situation. It didn't get me anywhere. I keep sending emails. They just kept saying I had to respond to the verification email sent to my old address.

I spend a week trying to get it sorted. They all act like they don't speak English. (Not surprising since everyone I talked to had an Indian name.) Anyway, they FINALLY tell me I chose the wrong support option. Apparently I didn't want "can't login" I wanted "account recovery".

Basically, they forced me to start completely over. 3-5 emails later, and they give me an option to get my account back. To do so, they need information about the account. No problem, I have all this.

IP Address
Home Address
Real Name
Last 4 digits of my credit card
Last purchase made, and the date it occurred
The account's email address
Phone Number
Date of Birth

I give them all the information. I explain that I don't know the date of the last purchase. I also don't know the old email used. They email me back to tell me it's wrong. But soon I'll get a second chance to give them the correct info. I wait a few days. I then get an email asking if I "still need help".

I send FIVE different emails asking what information was wrong. NONE of these Indian support people will tell me. They don't even acknowledge the question. Worse, EACH AND EVERY RESPONSE was from a different person. They just keep saying that I have to answer the email verification. One told me to (again) give them all the information I listed above.

I was ready to give up. What could I possibly do? Well... I find the Origin installer on the internet. I got Origin working again. It let me login. No trouble at all! No email verification required.

However, I still want my account to, y'know, actually be accessible. So, I click on the help menu in Origin. Turns out, it opens a browser and auto-logs you into EA's help site! YES! Progress!

So, I'm now able to make an official support case. Which I can easily login and check. I'm even able to look at my account data. Awesome! Especially since I can now see my old email address. However...

I haven't been able to login to the email address in many years. Because Google did a very similar thing to me. It demanded I answer a text sent to a phone I no longer have.

I try explaining this to the support people. They either don't care, or can't understand.

I continued to email them. Pleading with them to try and understand the circumstances. Hoping that SOMEONE will eventually see that all I want is to change my email address. Well, that never happened.

Anyway, I dig through EA help articles. Desperately looking for some sorta loophole. I even found some links to Reddit and Twitter. It was no use. There seemed to be no solution at all.

I found that A LOT people are experiencing the same problem. They used Origin for many years. Had no problems, but then were blocked from login. Just because they don't have their old email anymore, and the new EA app demands it.

Finally I came across a person with an interesting suggestion. They said it might be possible that the old email address was inactive long enough to be deleted. That you could probably recreate the old email by making a new account with the same name.

Welp, that didn't work. The screenname still existed. But, I figured it was worth trying to login to it. By some miracle it didn't ask to send a text to my old phone! They also had me go through some verification, but it was painless overall.

I was then able to login to EA normally. I was able to answer the verification email.

So, I was able to verify my account, and now I don't have to deal with this. But, really? Why did it need to be this way? The password IS THE VERIFICATION.

Despite this, there was one last mystery to solve. What information did I get wrong? Pretty sure I know my own address and name. I double-checked the emails. I spelled it all correctly.

One option in your EA account is to download a file with all the info they have on you. I tried to download it in the middle of all this nonsense. However, it ALSO required email verification. But now that I have that, I can finally see. The information THEY could see about me.

Ultimately, there was only one question I couldn't answer. (And ONLY ONE I actually got wrong.) Which was the date of the last purchase. Turns out, it was some years ago. Using a debit card I no longer have. From a bank that no longer exists.

So... because I didn't have the last 4 digits of my old debit card... For THIS, they refused to let me update my email address. Oh, and I couldn't tell them when the last transaction took place.

These people are completely unreasonable. I gave them my name, address, previous address, IP address, phone number, and my date of birth. All of which was correct. I gave them other details about the account. Such as the people on my friend list, and games I have on there. I even contacted them through their site WHILE LOGGED IN. And they think I was trying to hack into the account.

We all know EA is one of the worst video game companies out there. But this? This is beyond the pale.

Imagine going to your bank. They ask for your ID. Then they say they need to email you. You don't have the old email anymore. So, they refuse to let you make a withdraw. Then, they say you can't use your account unless you happen to remember your debit card number. Which you haven't seen or used in EIGHT YEARS. Oh, and they want details of a transaction you made back then.

And if that wasn't enough? My emails to EA support very clearly indicated I wanted to change my email to something I could use. The email I told them I wanted to use? Well, they made that into an account. Which I can't access. Because of this, they won't allow me to change to that email. Because it is "in use on another account".

Would you believe this isn't even the first time EA has pulled this on me? I bought SWTOR when it first came out. Around the same time, I was using an email address from a small company that was growing in popularity. Well, they went out of business. Then, out of nowhere, EA demands I answer an email.

Just like the story above, it was about the same. Except I never got the account back. Simply because I can't answer an email. I had every piece of information they could possibly need. Including the CD key, name on account, birthdate on account, screenname, password, and even the names of my characters. They refused to allow me to login to the game. Even making veiled threats that they were "passing all this information along to our security team".

[K33n3rs]

♥♥♥♥ them after sims 4 went free and they switched launchers it wouldn't recognise my copy of sims 4 i downloaded the damn thing 3 times

[TruebornJester]

Have some free points for your troubles.

[shadowseekeroc]

I'm currently having this issue. I was hoping to find a origin download thingy bc i have no clue if my DOB on their is my real one or not. also if any cards are linked. but yeah suffering

[MinionJoe]

And I continue to have no regrets about walking away from EA over a decade ago.

[Krypto]

If it wasn't for wanting to play Dead Space and Mass Effect every so often, I'd uninstall the EA App from my computer.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

The joys of third-party accounts and log-in screens.

[Monnsteri]

No, Ubisoft is the worst.

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by Monnsteri:

No, Ubisoft is the worst.

Ubisoft is the worst now.

EA was the worst first.

They even have two consecutive awards for worst company to show for it.

[Krypto]

Originally posted by Monnsteri:

No, Ubisoft is the worst.

Ubisoft doesn't require you to sign in to access your purchased offline single player games. EA does.

[TristanMike]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by Monnsteri:

No, Ubisoft is the worst.

Ubisoft is the worst now.

EA was the worst first.

They even have two consecutive awards for worst company to show for it.

Yeah, I third this one. Ubisoft is the WORST. Like, they actively snub their own user base.

[STARSCREAM🔰]

based

[Mike]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.