DOUBLE CHARGED FOR EA/UO ACCOUNTS

[RedRum]

Little background info:
- Never had any issues with EA Billing policies nor Account Management for over 8 years…until now.
- 6 years ago, I only had 2 accounts and got both hacked (my own fault for clicking a link and getting a Key-Logger Trojan), so I implemented my own “security measures”.
- Currently I have 8 active Accounts with 6 different email addresses. The TWO originals, TWO I purchased back when you could buy/sell on eBay, TWO I’ve purchased over time off of Stratics or Forums, ONE was given to me, and ONE I started as a house holder.
- Started a bank account at BofA strictly for handling my EA accounts, maintaining funds in the bank +$25 buffer to cover the 8 accounts. Money is auto-transferred from my primary checking account into this account monthly to cover the UO Accounts:
2 are paid in 6month intervals ($60 every 6 months: Jan/July & Mar/Sep)
3 are paid in 3month intervals ($35 every 3 months: 2 in Feb/May/Aug/Nov
1 in Apr/July/Oct/Jan)
3 are paid monthly ($13 a month each for $39 monthly).
Jan – $134 Feb – $109 Mar – $99 Apr – $74
May – $109 Jun – $39 July – $134 Aug – $109
Sep – $99 Oct – $74 Nov – $109 Dec – $39
- I haven't done the Account Migration / Consolidation to the NEW EA Site due to so many people having major issues and reading all the horror stories here on Stratics.


AND TODAY, MY SAGA STARTS…


Today, I get a text from BofA stating that my UO account is OVERDRAWN by $66.44. Off to BofA site to see what is up with my accounts…
Aug 01 – Balance: $26
Aug 01 – Transfer: $110
Aug 01 – Balance: $136
Aug 08 – Payment EA/POGO -$14.11
Aug 09 – Payment EA/POGO -$14.11
Aug 10 – Payment EA/POGO -$14.11
Aug 11 – Payment EA/POGO -$38.00
Aug 12 – Payment EA/POGO -$38.00
AUG 22 – PAYMENT ELECTRONICS ARTS REDWOOD CITY CA -$14.11
AUG 22 – PAYMENT ELECTRONICS ARTS REDWOOD CITY CA -$38.00
AUG 22 – PAYMENT ELECTRONICS ARTS REDWOOD CITY CA -$38.00
AUG 22 – INSUFFICIENT FUNDS/OVERDRAFT FEE $35.00
AUG22 – INSUFFICIENT FUNDS/OVERDRAFT FEE $35.00
AUG 22 – BALANCE: -$66.44


Now, who do you suppose is going to pay these OVERDRAFT FEES?
Who is going to REPAIR MY CREDIT?
How many MORE accounts is EA going to DOUBLE DIP me on?



*Edit*
I hope EA pulls their heads out, gasping for air, real soon...THIS IS RIDICULOUS!
Oh yeah...Sales Taxes or _____ now????? Suddenly my game fees have gone up.

 

[Viper09]

Trying calling them?

 

[Woodsman]

EA probably won't cover the fees outright unless they basically give you some gametime, however you need to remove those charges. Don't walk away with gametime and think that makes up for the overdraft fees. It might hurt your credit score if you're not careful. I'm not sure how that works these days though.

The first thing you need to do is get EA to start to reverse the charges on their own or at least talk to somebody and get an incident number. The first impulse is to have the bank just reject a bunch of charges, but get the ball rolling with EA. Then talk to the bank and point out that the fees were a mistake by EA. At some point you might have to get the CSR at your bank to talk to EA, which will be fun. It just depends on who you get.

Having been overbilled by EA for UO many times over the years, you have my sympathy. They can be an absolute nightmare to deal with.

I was accidentally double-billed for something at an Apple Store once. I went back, they put me in touch with a CSR in their billing, told me to give my bank a call and give them a phone number to call along with a reference number. My bank talked to Apple, and within a few hours the bank called me back and had credited me with the full amount for the second charge, and it went through the next morning. Whatever the Apple CSR had told them, they were satisfied. It was fixed on my end by the next morning.

EA on the other hand. Oh my god it's ****ing horrible depending on who you get.

I had one EA rep convinced that UO was tied to Pogo somehow. I gave up trying to clarify things and just went with the Pogo thing and they reversed the charge eventually.

There is a good reason why BioWare built a call center in Ireland just for Star Wars. Muzyka claimed it was to "get closer to our fans in Europe", but everybody knows BioWare doesn't want EA CSRs handling Star Wars customers.

 

[Aurelius]

If only it was the first time they had screwed up like this... but it isn't...

Warhammer Online 'billing error' results in massively multiplayer overcharge | Joystiq

I only hope they get your money paid back immediately, and sort out any of the repercussions from their actions.

 

[Woodsman]

If only it was the first time they had screwed up like this... but it isn't...

Warhammer Online 'billing error' results in massively multiplayer overcharge | Joystiq

That was probably a part of the reason why we got a new accounting system.

The other was of course Star Wars.

 

[bsluspo]

Our first step in is to update and process all those on any form of recurring billing. This means If you are charged for 30, 90, or 180 days at regular periods, AND were set to bill during the period from August 5th, through the time in which we enable the account center, you will be charged.

It seems that the error is that they wrongly double-charged everyone who was billed after august 5.

 

[Kayhynn]

I'd have to say after Aug. 10. I had accounts bill on Aug. 6 and Aug. 10 and none have been double billed. But the account I deactivated on Aug. 12 tried to bill.

 

[Zosimus]

If only it was the first time they had screwed up like this... but it isn't...

Warhammer Online 'billing error' results in massively multiplayer overcharge | Joystiq

I only hope they get your money paid back immediately, and sort out any of the repercussions from their actions.

I was one of many people that was hit but that in Warhammer. 13 over charges at once. Was no big issue at the time for me. I had plenty of cash in the bank but they charged on an expired card.

It was not Mythic fault at the time since they had used a 3rd party billing system. So I dont blame them for it and still wont. It was the billing system of the 3rd party that caused the mess.

I got my money back and know of many people that was overdrafter did get their money back and covered the over draft charges.


From that time on I have only used gametime codes.

 

[Aurelius]

It was not Mythic fault at the time since they had used a 3rd party billing system. So I dont blame them for it and still wont. It was the billing system of the 3rd party that caused the mess.

Even if it was a 'third party' then, it's inexcusable for a company who know how badly billing systems can go wrong to have such a ham-fisted shambles of an 'account migration' process going on now... it should have been tested, examined and made watertight. Surely the sheer amount of bad publicity they got that time around should have made the people at EA/Mythic think hard about getting this one right - especially at a time when they are trying to drum up publicity for the Star Wars release. Can you imagine the potential sales effects for that if the current mess we are experiencing catches the eye of any of the online gaming press?

It's not as if online billing systems are rocket science or even particularly rare nowadays - this is purely sloppy work, yet again, by a company who seem to specialise in sloppy work...

 

[Woodsman]

Surely the sheer amount of bad publicity they got that time around should have made the people at EA/Mythic think hard about getting this one right - especially at a time when they are trying to drum up publicity for the Star Wars release. Can you imagine the potential sales effects for that if the current mess we are experiencing catches the eye of any of the online gaming press?

They are starting to catch flak over Origin and Battlefield 3 only allowing one solder per Origin account.

This whole thing has been really weird and it seems like it's touching some of EA's biggest games and some of their more obscure ones.

 

[chris12903]

I actually had the double charge happen to me today. I updated my billing info for the account migration/link and apparently when you hit the submit button they auto charge for your account right at that moment. I checked my bank online and saw the charge today and also the charge they took out on 8/10/11. So technically I have until 9/10/11 left on the subscription. I left a call back number on the EA customer support website and they called back almost immediatly. The customer service person did some checking and found the error and said they would reimburse me for the charge that happened today due to the billing update. So I would call to see if they will reimburse you for the extra charges. I'm not sure how the overdraft fees would work out, maybe provide them a copy of your statement. I believe they know about the double charge mistake happening now because there were no questions asked and it was a rather easy and pleasant conversation. Hopefully they will be a cooperative with you. Also I was told the POGO/EA was the old billing service that they used. The new one now is ELECTRONIC ARTS\\REDWOOD POS. So I would imagine that after all is said and done we should not see the POGO/EA charge anymore.

 

[Hand]

Now I'm paying $130 for 6 months...

I was charged my usual 6 months fee during migration... and again two days ago... now, new and improved with taxes!... whohoo! And that was just for one of three accounts... I sure hope they sort this out before the others hit...

 

[Gawin]

This is not the first time EA has had a double billing problem.

EA/Mythic entertainment overcharges thousands of customers - CNN iReport

in this article there is some info that might help you here

"It appears that some of our customers may have been inadvertently charged multiple times for their subscriptions. If you are affected, you should start seeing a reversal of charges within 24-36 hours. We anticipate that once the charges have been reversed, any resulting fees that have been incurred on the affected account should be reversed as well. If after 36 hours, there are still incorrect charges or fees on the affected account, please follow these instructions:



* Please begin by contacting your financial institution and explain to them that you were charged multiple times and, as a result, over drafted. Most financial institutions will reverse these charges.



* If your financial institution is unable to remove these charges, you may contact our billing department for help with charge reversal by calling 650-628-1001 during our hours of operation, which are 10:00 AM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT, 7 days a week. Please have the phone and fax number of your financial institution ready when you call. "

Good luck!!

 

[Zosimus]

Not sure if anybody has brought this up in another thread but.......


Is this related to accounts only that have signed up for EA master accounts?

Has anyone that has not signed up for a master account been double charged?

 

[Viper09]

Not sure if anybody has brought this up in another thread but.......


Is this related to accounts only that have signed up for EA master accounts?

Has anyone that has not signed up for a master account been double charged?

Probably not everyone in either category. Simply solution would be to check your bank account for which you're subscription is linked to. A simple observation will tell you if you've been double charged.

 

[Zosimus]

Heh I have no worries over the issue. Once it happened to me in warhammer online the first big incident I went to game time cards from then on. I had deleted all my cc info from any EA game.

Just curious if everybody that has been hit had signed up for the master account or not.

 

[Tina Small]

I received four "purchase notification" e-mails on Sunday but only expected to receive one for an account that I reopened Sunday because I removed the billing info from it before the migration started and it ran out of paid time a few days later. I've been able to log into that account since I made the transaction in the Account Center on Sunday to reopen the account.

What's odd is that my bank statement only shows one charge from EA that's been pending since Sunday morning when I restarted that one subscription. So at this point I don't know if the other three e-mail messages were generated in error by EA without an actual corresponding attempt to bill me for them or if my bank is sitting on some additional charges. If yes, I'd think they would be showing up by now on my bank statement as additional pending charges.

Something else I noticed is that when I set up the second EA Account [by first logging into a Mythic Master Account (a UO account) and then force-linking it to a different e-mail address than it was associated with under the old system], I was never asked to select a persona or user name for that EA Account. Instead, that EA Account seems to have taken on the name of that first UO account as its persona or user name and, as a result, that UO account name is what's showing up in the e-mail messages when it says in the first line, "The following purchase(s) were made under the EA Account for Username xxxxx via the Account Management site." It definitely makes it look like the system is making multiple purchases for ONE UO account, when actually the purchases could be for any of the UO accounts on that same EA Account. Very confusing!! [The e-mails generated for my older EA Account that made me pick a persona name when I established it say the same thing but refer to the e-mail address for that account as the "Username."] All of these e-mails could be improved greatly if someone would take the step of adding an additional piece of information to tell you which game account a purchase notification is for, not just the name, user name, or persona of the EA Account layered over that game account.

 

[RedRum]

More background info:
- Yesterday, being at work and busy as all get out, I attempted to call EA and work out the overcharge issues. We'll get more into that later...
- Due to me not having my list of which accounts are associated with which email address (and not remembering 2 of the email addresses correctly) I was unable to provide EA with all the information they requested.
- I was able to get a Reference Number from EA so that when I had all the pertinent information, I could call back and they would be able to pick up where we left off.


DAY TWO, MY SAGA CONTINUES...


So I call EA and get ahold of one of the most pleasant phone people I think I’ve ever had to deal with (Judy). After providing Judy with the account info, credit card info and email info, she was able to track that; yes, indeed, the same 3 accounts that were billed on 8, 10, and 11 August were indeed billed AGAIN on 22 August. She was only customer service and could not do anything with billing, so she passed me on to a billing representative (NAME WITHHELD and will be known as NW from now on) – total phone time with Judy ~50 minutes.

Onto the Billing Representative – NW – Right from the start, I could tell that NW wasn’t as cheerful and upbeat as Judy.
NW proceeded to put me on hold within 1 minute of initially talking with her for 13 minutes while she “looked up your account information”.
Once she returned, she said that she was unable to confirm that the same 3 accounts were charged on 22 August as were charged on 8, 10 & 11 August. I explained to her that Judy had looked up the information and had told me the accounts were indeed the same.
She started getting short with me and said “I’m putting you on hold so I can see what Judy did so I can get it straightened out”…CLICK…HOLD…17 MINUTES LATER…SHE RETURNS…”I found that we can refund the charges from 8, 10 & 11 August.”
No explanation as to what she found, what had happened or anything. So, I asked “What about the charges on the 22nd? Why aren’t those to be the ones refunded? I had no issues with them, it’s the charges that came in on 22 August that resulted in $70 in overdraft fees.”
NW started getting heated and the tone in her voice changed for the worse, like I was trying to get one over on her and she had heard all this so many times already that she wasn’t going to deal with it any more. “Mr. ____, I am NOT able to REFUND the charges from 22 August due to them not being processed yet! The ONLY CHARGES I will be able to refund are the ones from 8, 10 and 11 August. Is that what you want ME TO DO?”
I knew this was going down a loooong bumpy road that I didn’t want to be on, so I asked her to talk to her supervisor…apparently that was the wrong thing to do because that just gave NW a nitrous shot of irritated discontent that she unleashed on me in a rant that resulted in me hitting the record button on my phone (yes, I have a built in recorder on my office phone).
I was only able to get about the last 5 lines of her petulant attitude when I informed her that I was indeed recording her tirade and that I needed to talk to a supervisor “immediately”…CLICK…ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…HUNG UP ON.

REDIAL…BUTTONS BEING SMASHED…HOLD…(12 minutes pass)…”Electronics Arts Customer Service, This is D., How can I help you?”
“Hello D., This is _____ _____, I just had a terrible experience with a Service Representative where she got snooty with me, then hung up. Can I talk to a supervisor immediately, please?”
“Can I have the person’s name and Reference Number?”
“I’m sorry D., you can’t. I’ll be happy to give it to a supervisor once I’m connected.”
“Please hold while I get a supervisor.”
(4minutes)
“Hello Mr. ____, this is Harish. How can I help you?”
The demeanor, attitude, voice, everything…I could tell I was dealing with someone who portrayed a sense of concern for customer service and intended on getting to the bottom of this situation in an expeditious, pleasant and professional manner.
I explain to Harish what happened with NW, even playing a bit of the recording, and he couldn’t apologize enough. He even had a Billing Dept. Supervisor come over and apologize as well for NW’s unprofessional attitude.
Both explained that NW would be fairly taken care of and monitored for an extended period of time to ensure her customer service skills would be brought up to the standards that EA expects from their representatives.
Harish said that he wished there was some way he could compensate me for being on hold so long as well as being talked to in that manner; however, “the unstable state of the system at this time, which is causing all these issues, is preventing me from offering you any compensation.”
I told him it was perfectly ok, that I just needed to find out what to do about the 3-accounts with double billing charges as well as the 2-$35 overdraft fees.
He said that he would be more than happy to transfer me back to D., and have D. refund the double charges…however, as for the $70 in overdraft fees; there was nothing he could do.
Harish quickly followed that up by telling me that if I had my banks telephone and fax number, he would call and fax them documentation showing that it was EA’s fault for the double charges and that I should not be responsible for the overdraft charges.

Harish and I discussed a few other things, and I am extremely happy with the way he handled the situation. After being on the phone with EA for over 2 hours though, I can’t do anything with my bank until lunch or maybe this evening. So, I’ll post another update either tonight, or tomorrow and we’ll see how this saga develops.


- - - - - To be continued - - - - -

 

[Jade of Sonoma]

Thanks for this thread. Thank goodness for Stratic's Forums. And a special thanks to the people who write about their problems and look for solutions!

I've already linked nine of my UO accounts to Mythic's Account Manager and have yet to see my monthly CC statement. I think I should contact our credit card company for a list of recent CHARGES. For the month of August, only two game account charges appeared.

It is too expensive to make long distance calls from Canada to California, only to be put in que and left on hold to wait for anyone to respond to my call, let alone wait again for a supervisor to come and make corrections. Looks like I'll need to write letters since I fully expect I won't be able to dodge the bullet that is affecting everyone else who linked their accounts and are paying with Credit Cards.

*What is going to happen ? ? ?

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Keep in mind to folks, that there have been many reports of EA double billing us before. If I recall correctly, most, if not all are eventually resolved and corrected.

Now, that's not to say it doesn't cause problems, especially concerning debit cards and low account balances. I'm just saying, to be fair, let's not forget that this kind of problem is easy to prove and fix and usually has been corrected in the past.

 

[Aurelius]

Keep in mind to folks, that there have been many reports of EA double billing us before. If I recall correctly, most, if not all are eventually resolved and corrected.

Now, that's not to say it doesn't cause problems, especially concerning debit cards and low account balances. I'm just saying, to be fair, let's not forget that this kind of problem is easy to prove and fix and usually has been corrected in the past.

Yes, they have in the past been pretty good about sorting out things when they can - but the core point is they have been here more than once before, and are here yet again.

Rather than chase about fixing stuff after you screw it up, sensible people try really hard not to screw it up, learn from the mistakes of the past, and make things simple and transparent for the customer, who is the most important part of the whole process... unless you are a company called EA.

Seems we can look forward to this sort of stuff recurring for the remaining future of UO, as long as the same mindset holds in the company owning it.

 

[Arcus]

Keep in mind to folks, that there have been many reports of EA double billing us before. If I recall correctly, most, if not all are eventually resolved and corrected.

How the heck can you possibly know most if not all were resolved? You know every single person who posts on Stratics/UO and who dont and every person on every shard that was impacted last time and the outcome of each? I highly doubt that...

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

RedRum-

TY, ty, ty, ty, so much for this thread! I pay for my accounts with my American Express gold card. I checked my recent activity after reading your thread. I have six accounts. I have three charges on 8/26 and two on 8/24.

BUT....

I have three charges pending from 8/23. If EA hasn't processed them by end of today they'll drop off according to information fom Amex's website and the lovely Amex rep Donna.

This is what the Amex site says:

Most pending charges are removed at the end of the day by posting a purchase to your account. This is what happens, for example, when a merchant that has submitted a pre-authorization submits the final charge amount. If a merchant submits a pre-authorization but doesn't submit a final charge amount within 8 days, we remove the pending charge without posting a purchase to your account.

I won't know until tomorrow if I'm overcharged.

However Amex says they will handle it I'm to do nothing other than call them.

Having dealt with Amex as customer and a merchant...I honestly feel a little sorry for EA if Amex does have to deal with them. Amex is awesome to customers, but HELL on merchants.

I'll keep everyone updated.


Thanks Again RedRum!

 

[Arcus]

I pay for my accounts with my American Express gold card.

Did we.....aww nevermind...

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

I pay for my accounts with my American Express gold card.

Did we.....aww nevermind...

Huh?

I've had my Amex account since '99. If you know about Amex then you'd know the higher the tier of your card the better the perks.

I don't know about you but I for one just love perks!

One day I'd love to afford a Amex Platinum, the annual membership fee for platinum cards is $175. Gold $35

The most elite Amex is the Black Centurion card and only people like Donald Trump have one of those in their wallets.

 

[Ganesh89]

Huh?

I've had my Amex account since '99. If you know about Amex then you'd know the higher the tier of your card the better the perks.

I don't know about you but I for one just love perks!

One day I'd love to afford a Amex Platinum, the annual membership fee for platinum cards is $175. Gold $35

The most elite Amex is the Black Centurion card and only people like Donald Trump have one of those in their wallets.

not really.... if you shell out $ 1500 in annual fees and have a good income you can have one as well

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

not really.... if you shell out $ 1500 in annual fees and have a good income you can have one as well

Wow $1500 annul fee for Centurion..I know you have to have a sizable incomeas well.

Way more that a mere Admistrative Assistant/bookkeeper will ever make.
lol

I'll stick to aiming for a Platinum card. One the nice perks with platinum is if you fly for travel you get to use the vip waiting area. Vip waiting area would be nice after being "assaulted", groped or whatever you want to call what airport security does now days.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

after being "assaulted", groped or whatever you want to call what airport security does now days.

wait till you get old like me, take what i can get

Thanks for sharing, RedRum, great report!

 

[Arcus]

Huh?

I've had my Amex account since '99. If you know about Amex then you'd know the higher the tier of your card the better the perks.

I don't know about you but I for one just love perks!

One day I'd love to afford a Amex Platinum, the annual membership fee for platinum cards is $175. Gold $35

The most elite Amex is the Black Centurion card and only people like Donald Trump have one of those in their wallets.

I know off topic ..

#1: If you PAY to let someone make money off of you, you are silly.
#2: The only reason to even bother to post "American Express Gold" rather than just "my credit card" is to actaully try to get people to go WHOA..they have an amex gold! Rather ..we go ...ha ha look at the sucker paying for a card.

 

[MalagAste]

Yes thanks for sharing RedRum....

I'm now growing more and more concerned about this account BS to the point I'm wondering... do I REALLY need to play UO anymore?

Because the more I hear about this the more I simply do NOT want to have anything to do with Account Migration / Consolidation ...

I have 8 accounts that are billed and each has it's own separate email... and everything ...... I have zero interest in consolidation.....

I don't want to "create a master account"...... I have also 3 or 4 accounts that I "own" that are off... I'd like them to remain that way.

I'm not sure I want this sort of stress and hassle.

Thankfully all my accounts are updated and upgraded as much as I wish them to be....

all have SA and all have the High Seas.... I could care less about the Rustic and Gothic BS... One account has rustic one has Gothic.. and that's it... I was highly reluctant to even purchase one set... I'm totally certain I'm not going to purchase 8 sets.

So until I absolutely have to do something with my accounts .... I'm not doing anything at all.

 

[Kayne]

MalagAste if you have separate emails on all 8 then you could have 8 EA master accounts for each email and therefore each account.

 

[RedRum]

Sorry about not giving an update sooner folks!

THE (sort of) END TO THE DOUBLE BILLING SAGA...


Well, after stopping at the bank on my way home on the 24th, I got to talk with my BofA Branch Manager. She could see how I would be upset about getting double billed and overdraft fees. She gladly gave me their fax number as well as her desk number to give to EA the next day, as the bank was about to close (I had strolled in at 4:50 ).

I called EA and asked for Harish on 25 August. He remembered talking with me and I gave him the information to the bank.

I don't know what all was said between EA and BofA, but I got a call from my local BofA Branch Manager and she said the overdraft fees would be refunded that evening and that no marks would be put on my credit report.



All in all,
1.) This should NEVER have happened
2.) EA should have "perfected" their end PRIOR to "guinea-pigging" all of our UO Accounts
3.) With all the effort, suffering, telephone ear, footwork, hassle and worry that EA put me through, some sort of compensation should be offered.
4.) I hope that no one else had to go through all this and if you did, I hope you had an ending as I did where your $$$ was refunded due to no fault of your own.

 

[Tina Small]

Yes thanks for sharing RedRum....

I'm now growing more and more concerned about this account BS to the point I'm wondering... do I REALLY need to play UO anymore?

Because the more I hear about this the more I simply do NOT want to have anything to do with Account Migration / Consolidation ...

I have 8 accounts that are billed and each has it's own separate email... and everything ...... I have zero interest in consolidation.....

I don't want to "create a master account"...... I have also 3 or 4 accounts that I "own" that are off... I'd like them to remain that way.

I'm not sure I want this sort of stress and hassle.

Thankfully all my accounts are updated and upgraded as much as I wish them to be....

all have SA and all have the High Seas.... I could care less about the Rustic and Gothic BS... One account has rustic one has Gothic.. and that's it... I was highly reluctant to even purchase one set... I'm totally certain I'm not going to purchase 8 sets.

So until I absolutely have to do something with my accounts .... I'm not doing anything at all.

MalagAste, if I were in your shoes and wanting to set up eight EA Accounts to each have only one UO account attached to it but with all billing against the same debit/credit card, here is what I would do:

1. Pick an e-mail address that was assigned to one of your UO accounts under the old accounting system and that you know is a good e-mail address. This will be the EA Account/e-mail address that you will use for now for purposes of communicating with Customer Support.

2. Go to support.ea.com and click on the Login link on the left side.

3. In the Username field, type in the full e-mail address you selected in step 1. Then select the "I forgot my password" link and request to have the password for that EA Account sent to you via e-mail.

4. Open the e-mail you receive, click the link in it for resetting your password, and fill in the necessary fields to reset your password for that particular EA Account.

5. Once you've successfully logged into the Support website using that e-mail address as your EA Account name and with the new password you just set, click on Contact Us link on the left side. Then type in Ultima Online for the Product; pick PC for the Platform; and for the Category, select Account/Registration and Account Creation/Changes. Then click on the gray button to Email an EA Advisor.

6. Next use the free-form text box to explain what it is you want to do and why. In other words, tell them you want to set up eight EA Accounts, one for each of your UO accounts, for security purposes; each EA Account will be billed against the same debit/credit card; you will be using the same birthdate on each EA Account as you create/update it; and you will be the sole controller/owner of these eight EA Accounts and their associated game accounts. Then ask if they anticipate that you will have any problems with being IP banned for having multiple EA Accounts, or have issues with your debit card being billed for multiple EA Accounts. You should probably also list your UO account names and their associated e-mail addresses just so you have everything documented and in case there is anything that the Support folks have to do on their end to facilitate what you want to do.

7. After you get everything typed up, just press the Send Email button. Then wait and hope for a speedy reply. I think they try to answer within 24 to 48 hours. You'll get an e-mail message when they reply with a link to go to your ticket. If your ticket is treated as containing confidential/secure information, you may only be able to access it via the link in the e-mail message. Otherwise, you should be able to check the status of your tickets at any time by logging into the Support website and clicking on the My Questions link.

If you get the go ahead from Support, you should be able to follow the instructions in the thread Larisa started to get your eight EA Accounts up and running under their e-mail aliases and successfully linked to their respective UO accounts.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Keep in mind to folks, that there have been many reports of EA double billing us before. If I recall correctly, most, if not all are eventually resolved and corrected.

How the heck can you possibly know most if not all were resolved? You know every single person who posts on Stratics/UO and who dont and every person on every shard that was impacted last time and the outcome of each? I highly doubt that...

Sorry about not giving an update sooner folks!

THE (sort of) END TO THE DOUBLE BILLING SAGA...


Well, after stopping at the bank on my way home on the 24th, I got to talk with my BofA Branch Manager. She could see how I would be upset about getting double billed and overdraft fees. She gladly gave me their fax number as well as her desk number to give to EA the next day, as the bank was about to close (I had strolled in at 4:50 ).

I called EA and asked for Harish on 25 August. He remembered talking with me and I gave him the information to the bank.

I don't know what all was said between EA and BofA, but I got a call from my local BofA Branch Manager and she said the overdraft fees would be refunded that evening and that no marks would be put on my credit report.



All in all,
1.) This should NEVER have happened
2.) EA should have "perfected" their end PRIOR to "guinea-pigging" all of our UO Accounts
3.) With all the effort, suffering, telephone ear, footwork, hassle and worry that EA put me through, some sort of compensation should be offered.
4.) I hope that no one else had to go through all this and if you did, I hope you had an ending as I did where your $$$ was refunded due to no fault of your own.

Wow! Resolved already. Imagine that.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Wow! Resolved already. Imagine that.

Nice to have a follow up report ...
just one detail missing

BofA has "no marks" on their records ...
Just need verify that the credit reporting agencies, reflect the same status ...
All the CRAs ...

I can imagine, that one day
some poor schlub,
doesn't find out that there may have been a problem Until
They see a "bad mark" on their credit report
(OP#1 "repair of credit")


and begin THEIR journey in a backwards fashion ...

not too likely we'll hear about that though.

I can imagine.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

It used to be that institutions; banks, credit cards, utilities etc.. reported monthly to the credit reporting agencies.

In today's high-speed everything world where transactions can and do take place instantly, it's likely reporting is much faster now.

In this case, even if a mark did get reported, it's only a matter of an quick letter to the agency to ask for it to be removed. Once that's received it's on them to validate the mark. If they can't or in this case BofA agrees to it's removal, it's gone.

Just so I'm not misunderstood, I'm in no way condoning or forgiving EA for this debacle. I'm just pointing out it's not the end of the world and that when you are double billed there is no arbitrary observer and or speculation involved. It's quite easy to prove you were billed incorrectly, double or whatever. It's not up to debate. The company has to make it right one way or another. Additionally, banks make billions of dollars on fees nowadays. It's nothing to them to reverse some overdraft fees that were no fault of the customer.

 

[RedRum]

All in all,
1.) This should NEVER have happened
2.) EA should have "perfected" their end PRIOR to "guinea-pigging" all of our UO Accounts
3.) With all the effort, suffering, telephone ear, footwork, hassle and worry that EA put me through, some sort of compensation should be offered.
4.) I hope that no one else had to go through all this and if you did, I hope you had an ending as I did where your $$$ was refunded due to no fault of your own.

Today I got THREE seperate emails for the 3 Double Billed Accounts:

Dear UO Player,

Last week an event occurred that resulted in you being double billed. Rest assured you will be refunded fully, and in addition for any inconvenience caused please accept this 5 use Forged Metal Tool. Simply redeem this code in game . . .


I guess they felt bad.

 

[spamspamspamspam]

Thought I'd chime in on a few things mentioned in the post:

1) I was double-billed and did not try to create any sort of master account, or other account of any sort. Payment for my two accounts come via my debit card attached to my checking account, and ususally takes place each 11th or 12. I was billed again on the 24th for each.

2) As far as the credit reporting issue goes, while I'd be pissed if the bank shows that I have an overdraft, especially if it wasn't my fault, I wouldn't worry at all about anything showing up on my credit reports. They're two different issues. I have worked for a bank for about 15 years, anf to my knowledge, only stuff like loan payments are reported to the credit reporting agencies, and that's only if a loan payment goes past 30 days after the payment was initially due. Also, my bank reports, via download, or maybe tape, to the credit agencies only once a month. Don't forget that banks don't hate overdrafts; they LOVE them. They call them "fee income". The only time that they dislike them is if they lose money on them (like in the case where they would advance money not in the account in the hopes of future deposits...I've heard that called "pay and charge" (so, pay the check, but charge the fee)). Additionally, the only retribution for overdraft abuse (so, much more than one or two overdrafts that aren't the customer's fault) is reporting the offender to a system like CHEXSystems, which is basically a network of banks that subscribe to see if anyone else has reported the offender to CHEXSystems for checking account abuse.

Anyway, that's what I have to contribute

 

[Sevin0oo0]

as far as the credit reporting agencies, unless to Need to get New loans or credit somewhere, for a very small amount, you can get your credit accts Locked, end of story. It's not uncommon either - it spells identity theft to onlookers. not to mention, much safer overall. and reversible

 

[Godiva_Drach]

Now imagine this happening to a player not from the US.

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

*UPDATE*

First I want to thank RedRum again.

The three pending charges dated 8/23 have fallen off.

However thanks to RedRum, my monitering my credit card account extra close I was able to head off an unauthorized charge of 157.90! (non-EA related)

Thank you so much RedRum if there anything you need in game look me up, I owe you major big!

Thank you again

 

[RedRum]

Today I got THREE seperate emails for the 3 Double Billed Accounts:

Dear UO Player,

Last week an event occurred that resulted in you being double billed. Rest assured you will be refunded fully, and in addition for any inconvenience caused please accept this 5 use Forged Metal Tool. Simply redeem this code in game . . .


I guess they felt bad.

*49 days since receiving the original email from EA...dated 01 Sep, 2011*

Well, I finally got around to claiming these Forged Metal Tools tonight...LOW and BEHOLD...the codes don't work. I guess I didn't want to guaranty the enhancements to the items I was imbuing this evening.

:gun:So much for EA holding up there end of the bargin

 

[aarons6]

having had this happen to me and having them not fix it i started only paying with a prepaid visa and buying game time codes..

 

[AngelOz]

*shakes head*. Sad, that we have to find work arounds to play a game. This whole accounting thing has left a really bad taste in my mouth.