I need to rant.

[edd__]

Right, i've just got off the phone with EA for what i think is the fifth time. And i've gotten increasingly more annoyed.

My mic broke within the first week of me having it, so i rang up about it. It'll be with you in 3-5 business. Had to re-order it the second time because the order was never placed. Rang again a week later, "oh i dunno what's happened sir. Uh... it'll be anothe 3-5 business days." Each time they had me on hold longer, in complete silence. Fourth time i rang the women asked if she could put me on hold, AGAIN, and then hung up on me.. which was fucking annoying. So i had to ring again, and be put on hold AGAIN.. and when i finally got though they said that they'd found the problem, that the orders went to the wrong packing addresses or something, which is entirely their fault, though the guy made it sound like it was my fault... for their incompetence. And that to compensate for the wait, i'd be given a voucher for the EA online store. So i was feeling alright with it, and the mic turned up 4 days after that call, as did the online voucher.
Except the voucher is for $15 at only redeemable in the North American online store, which only ships to USA and Canada. Which is absolutely no use to me living in the UK, which is blatantly obvious considering i've had to give them my address every single bloody time.

So i rang up again today, but two of my drum pads have become indented and are a bit faulty, and they had me on hold for 12 minutes, playing the same shitty annoying 2-minute song for the whole time, this utterly abysmal rapper over the top of backing beats that sounded like Goose. But i couldn't mute it or anything..

And when i finally got through, the women treated my like an idiot "are you sure the drums are plugged into the USB port? Are you using the drumsticks?" so i shouted at her, "stop treating me like a moron, i know how the bloody work, they are faulty, two of the pads aren't working properly and are noticeably broken"
"please sir, there is no need to be rude, i'm just doing my job."
"can you not see why i'm so fucking angry though? I have rung so many times and had to deal with your incompentant staff, and been placed on hold for so long pissing my money away?!"
"sir, i understand, but please stay calm"
So i half-apologised, hoping that if i was nice it'd help move things along quicker. I explained again about the drums, and she put me on hold... :@ came back like a minute later "sorry sir, as you live in the UK, we can only ship the microphones, drumsticks, drum pedals and usbs to you at the moment. you'll have to go to the store where you bought the drums and ask them."
"I bought them online, they don't have a store. And it says on the box and on your website to ring you guys about it, not to deal with the stores"
"You'll have to ring them sir, i'm sorry but there's nothing we can do."
"for future reference, will you ever be able to sort these sorts of problems out?"
"please remain calm sir, i'm not sure as of yet if we will be able to do so. Sorry, do you have any other problems i can help you with?"

So i told her about the problem with the voucher. And she cleverly suggested that i maybe get whatever item i bought posted to the US to a friend or someone i knew, and then flew over to collect it myself... i was fucking stunned...
"Could you not just change it so i could actually use it?"
she put me on hold again to find out.
"Sir, im sorry, we cannot change it to UK currency, we only deal in dollars."
"what the fuck am i supposed to do with it then? This is bullshit!"
"sir please mind your language, i'm sorry i cannot help, have a nice day."
"fuck off." and hung up the phone.


So fucking pissed off, really need to vent all this. I cannot believe how incompetent the people on the phones are... it's so ridiculous. It has completely ruined my day, i am so angry now. Wasted so much fucking money on their stupid 0870 number, can't wait til i get my next phone bill :|

[nightmare975]

Yes, I hate EA's tech support so fucking much. They really are shit. I needed help with the Sims 2 and trust me, they will not help you. At least they talked to you, and gave you a plausible answer, unlike "You'll need to buy a new game" shit.

[workbench]

lol dude, i feel your pain. what can u do though. u can only use the number they supply.

[Illution]

That sucks bro, they sound like a totally idiotic bunch of people. Or they're given really retarded orders.

soo.. what you gonna do with that voucher eh? ;)

just playin :)

You shoulda stabbed them virtually.

[Hammer 5O2]

they are better than the people from india taking calls for repaired xbox's

[nightmare975]

they are better than the people from india taking calls for repaired xbox's

Sadly, I have an easier time with them.

[edd__]

That sucks bro, they sound like a totally idiotic bunch of people. Or they're given really retarded orders.

soo.. what you gonna do with that voucher eh? ;)

just playin :)

You shoulda stabbed them virtually.
I've found out that EA have a support centre in the UK, so im gunna ring them today. And thankfully it's a freephone number! Hopefully they'll be able to sort the voucher.

The voucher i'm probably gunna save for skate 2, don't really like EA games on the whole, but skate + Rock Band are definite exceptions. Or i might see if i can't trade it for some MS points and buy some songs ;D

I honestly did feel like stabbing the women on the phone.

[workbench]

call center operatives for these companies dont give a good godamn about you or any consumer. i hate them. and dude, u where just right to tell them to fuck off. sometimes they are just plain unhelpful. the asians working for xbox are by far the worst, they dont even have a standard answer, they seem to say whatever the hell they feel like.

[Dla911]

So i told her about the problem with the voucher. And she cleverly suggested that i maybe get whatever item i bought posted to the US to a friend or someone i knew, and then flew over to collect it myself... i was fucking stunned...

OK i'm not much of a Reader of a Rant at all but because it was about EA i had to, I love to hear how people Rant about EA we all have done it and if you have not yet you will soon or sometime soon because EA is crap.

Now to this part makes me laugh, Because EA is Dumb in the first place but still smart, They get you to get someone to use it in the US (Friend or whatever) you save your 15 bucks But where does the 15 bucks go? it goes to UPS or Fedx or whatever if u think about it, its making them money, its just Dumb that EA cant do anything right 95% of the time and kill off Games that would of made them Money down the Road.

[Dla911]

they are better than the people from india taking calls for repaired xbox's

To tell you the Truth its easyer to Listen to these's Guys then EA (i have not had to call EA but i know Friends and i have Heard in on them)

[Tenacious]

I agree, EA's customer support is complete bullshit. But they gotta ask you the simple questions like "Is it plugged in?" because they are a huge corporation and they probably get calls from idiots like that every day.

[aznstomper]

they are better than the people from india taking calls for repaired xbox's

i've talked with both and was able to bypass all the bs questions by telling them that i went through the checklist stuff online. whether you actually do or not, it saves both of you time.

[UNDERWALLY]

Please help me, my pedal broke, so what should I do?? I live in Mexico, can anyone tell me what shuld I do to get a new one from EA?

[edd__]

Just wanted to update this.
Had to ring my retailer to sort out the drums. Luckily though, i used the great saynotto0870.com website to find out their real number and not have to waste my money. But the first time i rang they said i needed to re-ring Rock Band to get a fault reference number :@

So, rang Rock Band, was put on hold for about 12 minutes, then it started ringing, and then was engaged. So i rang again, and i accidently pressed the wrong number while going through the automated voice, and got an answer straight away, which was good. The guy was ACTUALLY useful too! He said that i'd rung the wrong place, but he's happy to help nonetheless as it was only getting a fault reference. One good phone call out of eight or nine?

So re-rang play.com and again, on hold for a couple of minutes. When i got through they told me that because i wasn't the account holder (used my brothers account as he uses play.com a lot and i couldn't be arsed registering). Tried ringing the next day and just saying that i was my brother, but i couldn't prove it because i couldn't remember his email address or postcode.
Which was just a bit bollocks because he was on holiday, no way to get in touch with him. So had to wait for that too :@

So, when he was back i got him to ring for me because i really could not be arsed with another useless phone call. And it all seemed fine, they had no issues with it, straight forward and simple... seemed.
Someone will be turning up today, and in the very annoying way they do these things, all i know is sometime between 10am-5:30pm, so i have to stay near to front door all day :| AND they're not just taking the broken drum pads, i had to put everything back into the instruments box so they can take the whole thing. I guess it is protocol, but still!
AND they've said it'll take at the minimum a week before i get the new/fixed/replaced? instruments. Which would be fine, only i'm going on holiday on Friday xD So it's just my own bad luck this time, but i won't be here to collect them, and none of my neighbours are around during the day, on weekdays to take it for me either. So i had to ring play.com to ask what will happen if no one is in. And sort of luckily it's not being delivered by Royal Mail, because what normally happens with them is that you have a day to get it from the sorting office (which luckily is like a 10 minute walk from my house so no worries there), and if you dont pick it up in that time, they post it back to the sender.

But it's being sent by a different posting company, so if no one is here, and they've said that they hold the items for up to a month, depending on size. As it's a big package, got my fingers crossed that they won't send it back before i can get it. But also, their depot is bloody miles away! About an hour's drive, just to get my fucking instruments.


Also, tried to get my voucher sorted out. Send a clear email to the UK EA support centre, as recommended by someone on the EA forums, but i got an absolutely useless, irrelevant automated reply. Three times. And they seemingly haven't got a phone number. So might just be stuck with this voucher :(

[artvandel4y]

Yeah, the system sucks, but don't take it out on the phone people. They have a really bad job, getting yelled at for dirt cheap. When the disc reader in my xbox broke, they explained it was not under warranty because it was not three rings of death. So, hypothetically, if I were to wrap it in a towel and kill it, I wouldn't have to pay them 100 bucks for something that's their fault. I had it repaired by a modder in about an hour. So, yes I was screwed over by microsoft, but you have to think of the person on the phone as an individual and not microsoft or EA.
The argument from 'Clerks' could be made about the construction workers on the seconds death star where if you work for an evil empire, you acknowledge the risks of being associated with them. But don't be mean to someone with a bad job. Do you whine about the long lines at grocery stores to the cashier? complain about the price of gas to the attendant? Don't kill the messenger.

[edd__]

I know, and it's definitely not their fault. But they all seemed so inept and i was frustrated. Better to ruin some strangers day than break a plate or something ;D I'm half-joking.
But customer service usually get paid quite well. I had two mates that did it, and they both got >£12/hour which isn't too bad for part-time staff. And i think it'd be too soul destroying for anyone to do that job full-time.

If it's a long queue though, i'd say something to the cashier. Especially if there were other tills going unused, i'd be like "can you not get someone else to open up that aisle too?"

[smashngrab77]

Yeah, the system sucks, but don't take it out on the phone people. They have a really bad job, getting yelled at for dirt cheap. When the disc reader in my xbox broke, they explained it was not under warranty because it was not three rings of death. So, hypothetically, if I were to wrap it in a towel and kill it, I wouldn't have to pay them 100 bucks for something that's their fault. I had it repaired by a modder in about an hour. So, yes I was screwed over by microsoft, but you have to think of the person on the phone as an individual and not microsoft or EA.
The argument from 'Clerks' could be made about the construction workers on the seconds death star where if you work for an evil empire, you acknowledge the risks of being associated with them. But don't be mean to someone with a bad job. Do you whine about the long lines at grocery stores to the cashier? complain about the price of gas to the attendant? Don't kill the messenger.

yes and no. some people just don't give a rats ass about their job and are lazy. but there is one guy who was very helpful in the 9 calls that he made. he didnt yell at him. people choose their own paths on the phone. If I get a person who doesnt give a shit i tell them to screw off. But if i get a very helpful person i make sure to let their supervisor know.

[DevilGuy]

Damn, that sucks.

Did you try going to the shop? And I hope you will get them fixed soon and that your phone bill doesnt cost too much. :(

[edd__]

I can't go to a shop, ordered it from an online only store.
And yeah, smashngrab has hit the nail on the head to be honest. It was hard to write in the conversation, but there was a lot of her just going "ummm... *pause* ummm" and then just dead silence after i said things. She, like most of the people i spoke, was extremely incompetent and half-arsed.

It did get picked up yesterday which was good. The guy was a really nice bloke too, had a chat with him about the game cos he said he was gunna buy it for his kids ;D