NEVER order anything through Origin's application!

[DA-Bucks]

Holy crap I made the awful mistake of trying to preorder a digital copy of Mass Effect 3 through Origin's application.

I thought the process would be as simple as, make the payment and I would be able to pre-download the game. Ohhh fuck no, it's not that easy.

I pre-ordered at noon today through the link stating "Pre-order mass effect 3 today" and it described my option to predownload the game and have it ready for launch at midnight.

When I confirmed the fucking purchase, they said I would receive an email stating the instructions. No email came. So at 3 hours afterwards I contacted their online live chat support. I was told it would take 2-3 more hours to complete the transaction and I should be able to download it then. Ok, that was ghey I thought, but I can deal with that. So at 9:30 tonight I checked the status and it was the same. So I contacted support again. I was essentially told "this takes time". I said I did the online digital order for convenience, but it would be far more convenient to drive to the store and pick up a hard copy of the game and that the process to download a game was ridiculous.

what kind of fucking business model is it to have a customer pay on the internet for something and then have it take a day or two to process the order? I'm reading in support forums it has taken up to 5 days to complete the order with Origin.

That and I'm still pissed that BF3 is ran through Origin and a shitty web browser plugin.

/rant

 

[TooTall]

Yeah, I never fuck around with that digital download bullshit.

Nice rant though. I'm impressed.

 

[DA-Bucks]

Wow, another update. Their customer service (India btw), is quite simply the worst I've ever encountered.

After contacting paypal, they had no record of the transaction and their escalated customer service rep (btw, quick responsive and professional) stated that there could not possibly be a transaction since there was never a confirmation email.

I brought that up to Origin's retarded rep (who probably typed through a translator) and they said I needed to contact Paypal for paypal issues. She said the transaction was "successful". (btw, if it was successful, why couldn't I get the download? Oh that's another story.)

She was then condescending and short with me. At this point I said, "let's cancel the transaction."

Response was: "Fine."

I would've called their support line, but I guess a small company like EA can't be open at night.

It's hard to capture the essence of the chat, but it was ridiculous. Oh yea, processing time to cancel the transaction, 5-7 days. lol I'm not worried Paypal doesn't have the record anyways.

If you search the internet for Origin's or EA's customer service, you'll see hundreds of reviews just like mine.

For example here's one link:
http://aroundthe.net/gaming/eaorigins-hilarious-and-frustrating-customer-support/

 

[CentralMOBuck]

Any time I've had to deal with EA's customer service it's been a PITA.

 

[ulukinatme]

I actually had the opposite result with ordering through Origin.

I preordered SWTOR through Gamestop, although it was just 3-4 days before official release. According to Gamestop's website they would e-mail a pre-order code to allow early access to the game within 24 hours (People with early access could start playing up to a week before the actual release). Well...more than 48 hours after preordering from Gamestop my order was still listed as "Not processed." Didn't have my e-mail or anything.

So, at this point I was semi-annoyed as I work four 10 hour shifts and my weekend was soon to be over and I kind of cleared my slate hoping to get the chance to play. Despite my order still saying "Not processed" Gamestop would not allow me to cancel the order by phone or internet. I then ordered the game through EA's Origin site, got my early access code within 30 minutes and was playing the game. When the actual copy of the game came from Gamestop 4-5 days later I returned it to my local store :) As far as I'm concerned they didn't follow through on their promise, so they lost the business.