SimCity Refunds Denied By EA, Service Rep Threatens Origin Account Ban

Whoa, this turned ugly real fast. I remember it took a couple of months before people were bringing us screenshots and testimonies of Blizzard's terrible customer service. However, in just under a day EA's practice of handing out refunds for the piss poor launch of SimCity is being reversed, with service representatives threatening to ban accounts for those who go through with chargebacks.

For those of you who don't remember, on the day SimCity launched with all the server issues, EA offered consumers refunds if they were unhappy with the service. Well, that olive branch didn't last long, as a customer has an encounter with an EA service rep who not only denied him a refund but threatened to ban him from his Origin account if he decided to go through with a chargeback.

GameChup managed to get a hold of the screenshot from a customer encounter with an EA service rep, and you can read the sad, sad, sad rollout of anti-consumerism below.

Wow, and here it is I thought Blizzard was bad handling Diablo III. WTF EA? You got your cronies to threaten customers with Origin account bans if they pursue a chargeback? Really?

For those who don't know, once you lose your Origin account you lose every game you bought. So it's the equivalent of losing your entire Steam library. I know that last comment regions of your body so pale that even your printing paper looks tanned by comparison.

I also love it how the rep acknowledges the refunds that the company promised in the press release but stands their ground in denying the poor sap any opportunity to make use of the promised refund. It's also cool how Amazon – who is no longer carrying digital copies of SimCity – is also offering refunds on the product because...well, people are pissed they paid for a broken product out of the box. It's sad really, because much like Diablo III, SimCity has some great features to boot. It's just too bad that a good game is hidden behind a fascist security measure.

EA and Maxis are currently working around the clock to get the servers in North America fixed for SimCity while the inevitable Oceania and European launches rollout to nothing less than a chorus of disappointment and chaos.

If you ordered the game from Amazon and you're unhappy, be sure to contact Amazon immediately to receive a refund. If you bought the game from the Origin store, good luck and Godspeed as you journey into the heart of Mordor to get a refund directly from The Worst Company in America.

Oh yeah...and try not to stare John Riccitiello directly in the eyes...I hear his gaze can render your bank account empty.