S
SWATJester
Guest
[drupal=29882]Adventures in Tech Support: EA Edition[/drupal]
Attention EA: Your customer service sucks and I hate you. With that out of the way, Warhammer players, this is an example of what you can look forward to in dealing with EA's abysmal customer support.
I recently decided to reinstall an EA online game (the precise one will be left unmentioned). I used to play the crap out of this game a year or two ago, to the point of "competitively." I ended up leaving it, but decided to come back and play with a group of friends. While happily listening to them dominating on Ventrilo, I was furiously downloading away at the EA Downloader, and installed several gigs worth of game (I didn't remember it being THAT big).
And then the crashes game. Now, I hate waiting on tech support and it was 4 in the morning, so I didn't immediately email EA. I instead did my dutiful research on the internet and isolated the problem. My game's CD Key was not being written to registry (in fact, I was never given the opportunity to enter the CD Key, but apparently EA Downloader was not even informing my registry that the game was in fact installed.) I could get as far as getting the game loaded up but connecting to a server would cause an immediate crash to desktop. The fixes shown involved manually adding a line to the registry with my key in it, to succeed where the game had failed. Doh. Now instead of crashing to desktop, I would just get an "invalid CD-Key error". I knew exactly what the problem was, and where it was being caused by, I just didn't know how to fix it.
Let me repeat that, for reasons that will become clear momentarily.* I knew exactly what the problem was, and where it was being caused by, I just didn't know how to fix it. Cue my email to EA tech support, and their response:
So be warned by my experiences, ye who might dare to enter the EA customer service hell. You too might get nonsensical answers like the above.
[drupal=29882]Read Full Article[/drupal]
Attention EA: Your customer service sucks and I hate you. With that out of the way, Warhammer players, this is an example of what you can look forward to in dealing with EA's abysmal customer support.
I recently decided to reinstall an EA online game (the precise one will be left unmentioned). I used to play the crap out of this game a year or two ago, to the point of "competitively." I ended up leaving it, but decided to come back and play with a group of friends. While happily listening to them dominating on Ventrilo, I was furiously downloading away at the EA Downloader, and installed several gigs worth of game (I didn't remember it being THAT big).
And then the crashes game. Now, I hate waiting on tech support and it was 4 in the morning, so I didn't immediately email EA. I instead did my dutiful research on the internet and isolated the problem. My game's CD Key was not being written to registry (in fact, I was never given the opportunity to enter the CD Key, but apparently EA Downloader was not even informing my registry that the game was in fact installed.) I could get as far as getting the game loaded up but connecting to a server would cause an immediate crash to desktop. The fixes shown involved manually adding a line to the registry with my key in it, to succeed where the game had failed. Doh. Now instead of crashing to desktop, I would just get an "invalid CD-Key error". I knew exactly what the problem was, and where it was being caused by, I just didn't know how to fix it.
Let me repeat that, for reasons that will become clear momentarily.* I knew exactly what the problem was, and where it was being caused by, I just didn't know how to fix it. Cue my email to EA tech support, and their response:
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts..
I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience cause to you so far.
I have reviewed our Knowledge Base at http://support.ea.com/ and located an article that may assist with resolving your issue. Our Knowledge Base is consistently updated to ensure that you can reference it for even the most recent issues.
I have included the link to the article and I have taken the liberty of copying the information related to your issue below:
<I receive an error message about a duplicate GUID, invalid CDKey, or PunkBuster global GUID ban. How do I resolve this?>
Ok, I click on the knowledge base link. It's for an entirely different game, and doesn't remotely address my problem. What the hell? So I remind them of what my problem is.
Thank you for writing EA.com account services.
We have searched through the information you have provided to us and found that your account is already registered for the game and you are not required to register the game again. When your registration program attempts to send you through the online registration process you can skip that step altogether and just install the game software itself. Once installed, just remember to enter your account name and password that you had originally registered for the game.
Also note that the Bad/Invalid Serial Number or CD Key error means that the game is not recognizing the code you entered as a valid game code. This could be for many reasons ranging from a slight typo in entering the serial number, to a misprint on the jewel case. Because of a printing imperfections, sometimes the registration code can easily be misread. For example, an 'O' should be tried as an '0' (zero) or a Q.
* Verify that the serial number has been entered accurately into the available fields during installation.
o Note: Do not include dashes or spaces; just include the letters and numbers shown on the back of the jewel case.
* If you have a secondary CD/DVD-ROM drive, try installing the game using the alternative drive.
This error can also be caused by a conflict with a background process called rundll32.exe.
Note: This does not apply to those that are trying to install on a Mac.
* This process is most commonly started by Nview a program that comes with Nvidia video drivers after version 28.32. To resolve the trouble, download and install the latest video driver from Nvidia.com. http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/cci/ea/drivers.php
</p>
At this point, I'm angry. I've now told them TWICE that I never was given the option to input a CD Key. If I never had the option, how could I have typed it wrong? And what the hell would background processes have anything to do with it? Yes, the EA tech support people did not even read my complaint. But it only gets worse. At this point I demand a refund. We have searched through the information you have provided to us and found that your account is already registered for the game and you are not required to register the game again. When your registration program attempts to send you through the online registration process you can skip that step altogether and just install the game software itself. Once installed, just remember to enter your account name and password that you had originally registered for the game.
Also note that the Bad/Invalid Serial Number or CD Key error means that the game is not recognizing the code you entered as a valid game code. This could be for many reasons ranging from a slight typo in entering the serial number, to a misprint on the jewel case. Because of a printing imperfections, sometimes the registration code can easily be misread. For example, an 'O' should be tried as an '0' (zero) or a Q.
* Verify that the serial number has been entered accurately into the available fields during installation.
o Note: Do not include dashes or spaces; just include the letters and numbers shown on the back of the jewel case.
* If you have a secondary CD/DVD-ROM drive, try installing the game using the alternative drive.
This error can also be caused by a conflict with a background process called rundll32.exe.
Note: This does not apply to those that are trying to install on a Mac.
* This process is most commonly started by Nview a program that comes with Nvidia video drivers after version 28.32. To resolve the trouble, download and install the latest video driver from Nvidia.com. http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/cci/ea/drivers.php
</p>
Can you take a 'screenshot' of the error message screen the next time this happens and send it to me? Then I can see what you're seeing, and that will help me get a good idea on where to start in troubleshooting this problem with you.
To save a screenshot, simply hit the 'PRINT SCREEN' key when the screen you want to save appears. The Print Screen key is usually located above the arrow keys on most keyboards.
To save the screenshot:
- Click the 'START' button.
- Choose 'RUN'.
- Type 'MSPAINT' in the text field.
- Click the [RUN] button and Microsoft Paint will open.
- Once PAINT has opened, click the 'EDIT' menu and click 'PASTE'.
- It may ask if you want to enlarge the bitmap, go ahead and click YES.
- Once the screen appears, click 'File' on the top menu, then 'Save'
- Give the file a name, and choose '.jpg' or 'jpeg' as the file type.
- Click [save] and make sure to save the file somewhere on your computer where you can find it.
To send us the screenshot:
- Click the link above to update this incident
- Under the Attach Additional Document to Question section click the Browse button
- Browse to the file you saved and attach it to the reply
- Then click Submit Update to Question button
Once I get the screenshot, I'll take a look and let you know what to do from there.*
</p>
Take a screenshot? How the hell am I supposed to take a screenshot of NOTHING HAPPENING. I'm talking to you Amarnath S. and Nabi H. This is how EA loses customers. I am furious with them even now, 3 weeks after the event in question. Why can't I just speak to someone in tech support, as opposed to a customer service drone? To save a screenshot, simply hit the 'PRINT SCREEN' key when the screen you want to save appears. The Print Screen key is usually located above the arrow keys on most keyboards.
To save the screenshot:
- Click the 'START' button.
- Choose 'RUN'.
- Type 'MSPAINT' in the text field.
- Click the [RUN] button and Microsoft Paint will open.
- Once PAINT has opened, click the 'EDIT' menu and click 'PASTE'.
- It may ask if you want to enlarge the bitmap, go ahead and click YES.
- Once the screen appears, click 'File' on the top menu, then 'Save'
- Give the file a name, and choose '.jpg' or 'jpeg' as the file type.
- Click [save] and make sure to save the file somewhere on your computer where you can find it.
To send us the screenshot:
- Click the link above to update this incident
- Under the Attach Additional Document to Question section click the Browse button
- Browse to the file you saved and attach it to the reply
- Then click Submit Update to Question button
Once I get the screenshot, I'll take a look and let you know what to do from there.*
</p>
So be warned by my experiences, ye who might dare to enter the EA customer service hell. You too might get nonsensical answers like the above.
[drupal=29882]Read Full Article[/drupal]
