EA still charging accounts!

[remflyer]

EA billed me on May1 and May 4 for two of my EA Land accounts. So check your billing statements and make sure they are not doing it to you too. I called them and they promptly issued me a credit including a credit for a charge made on 4/28 for another account. Only one problem. They set one of my accounts as a free player so I now do not have access to skill and money lots with that account.:mad:

[Shari]

oh, thank you for the reminder!! they billed me the day before they gave 90 day notice... I could definately put that 9.99 to good use.

[ahafan02]

I haven't been billed since April 6th and I have two paid accounts.

[Milton]

I was billed on May 6th. :mad:

[ahafan02]

i better check my bank statement LOL

[ahafan02]

No I haven't been charged...they need to get it together and stop billing people and give us back our ATM refunds.

[Madra]

Thanks for the heads up, I went and checked and I was indeed billed for both my account and my husbands on May 5.

[elkhartware]

Im sick of the whole situation... I believe no one will see any kind of refund... There was never a serious attempt for amnesty, too many promises were made and none have been delivered.... I for one , will never support electronic arts agin, nor will i subscribe to any of their games.... FACE IT everyone has been scammed.... 1. simolean losses in merge 2. lost game time due to server outages 3. bumped avatars and lost rares in merge.... 4. false promises of amnesty 5. faulty custom content programming 6. false promises of a buy back on ATMs... The list goes on and on..., Sony online supports their paying customers (unlike electronic arts)....

[Qute Pi]

I was billed may 5th for 1 of my accounts....What a pain!

[NovemberRain]

I checked today and was billed for one acct today and 2 accts on the 6th. So now I get the joy of calling and speaking to someone about it whom I'm sure I won't be able to understand due to the accent...lol

Overall...this is just a pain in the tush to have to do in the first place. I'm beyond disgusted with how EA has handled this whole situation.

[Katheryne]

Im sick of the whole situation... I believe no one will see any kind of refund...

[snip a lot of unproven speculation]
I completely disagree. Anyone who has been calling has been getting refunded their April and May billing, as well as all ATM transactions.

[DjFroggie]

I was billed on May 6th. :mad:

me too.. My birthday! :mad:

[Gracie Nito]

Yep, I have a current transaction on my bank card pending. I'm disappointed that this is such a bother that we all have to take the time to call or file online reports to get our accounts straightened out.

[Shari]

Yep, I have a current transaction on my bank card pending. I'm disappointed that this is such a bother that we all have to take the time to call or file online reports to get our accounts straightened out.

Yep... but from EA's side... think of all the people who don't notice or don't want to take the time to call. More $$ for them... which kind of goes along with the whole way they have handled 90 day notice so far. Crappy imo.

[Madra]

Quite true Shari... I've been telling everyone I know that still has an account to doublecheck their statements to make sure they haven't been billed. Although it's starting to look like we all HAVE been.

I called the number Aster posted and I've been told my cc will be reimbursed for both accounts within the next 5-7 days. This was after a lengthy phone call, so just try and hang onto your patience throughout the ordeal! The voice activated automated system they have in place is just horrendous... it's almost a relief to reach the heavily accented real life voice at the end! Until he's asking you to spell your account name again... for the 8th time... and you know you still have one more account to go....

There's a new dent on my desk...

[Milton]

I just spoke to "David" who is crediting my accounts. Apparently, if your account was in the "pending payment" status - 5 to 7 business days before the actual payment date - at the time of the announcement, then you were probably charged.

[nellie233]

I had charges for my accounts on May 2nd and May 8th, so I called EA and mentioned that playing was suspose to be free as of April31st???? So they went in and stopped my payments (did not get a refund). Anyhow I tried to go on my sim the other day and it would not let me into skilling lots because I was a "free player".... Will someone please shed some light for me????

[nellie233]

my house is money that my simmy owns and she can't enter because she is a "free player" *falls on floor kicking and screaming*

[Polly]

You need to phone them and request that they put you back as premium status (with no charge) so that you can continue to play.

It seems that when cancelling the subscriptions not all customer services are making sure the account remains as premium when they are cancelling the payments.

Polly

[debslee]

Yep just checked my one account and that payment has gone through. Funny though on my Account Information, it says that next billing date is 10 June....... Have sent a swift email though to the support center, here's hoping they sort it out promptly!

[nellie233]

TY, Polly will do just that .... hoping they don't tell me to email support again :(

[LadiLuck]

Well took them two hours to finally fix my recent charges and then get me out of visitor to premium.. 45 with rep and 1 hr and 15 min on hold.

So even after you get your account reactivated don't get off the phone till you log in all your accounts to make sure at the top it says premium and don't hang up till they fix it. Or they will have you send email to tech support that will never be handled.

[elkhartware]

I completely disagree. Anyone who has been calling has been getting refunded their April and May billing, as well as all ATM transactions.

when isee a big woo hoo from the other players, il start beleiving anyone is getting their refunds.... electronic arts is full of broken promises, and excuses:cool:

[LordDeath]

Even as we die a slow death, they continue to charge my credit card!

*coming soon, a really cool signature

[Spacey]

I just got my statement in and I've been billed too. Pooheads.

[SimSimma]

To those of you who remove your billing info: EA will punish you by restricting your account as a free player & if you have money lots you will be locked out of your own house!
I have called TWICE to hear them say "There's nothing wrong with your account". What B.S.

[sedusa]

I am due to be billed again in the next few days so we will see what happens. If I do get billed I will surely give them a ring a ding ding.

[CherryBomb]

My own opinion, for what it's worth, is that you can get your money back from EA, but it is not gonna be automatic. The fact is that nobody at the company cares about TSO or it's subscribers anymore enough to actually go through all the accounts one by one to see who lost what. They are not evil, though, just a bit lazy. If you call them with specific dates and charges, I figure they will do the right thing.

CherryBomb

[Avyi]

Im sick of the whole situation... I believe no one will see any kind of refund... There was never a serious attempt for amnesty, too many promises were made and none have been delivered.... I for one , will never support electronic arts agin, nor will i subscribe to any of their games.... FACE IT everyone has been scammed.... 1. simolean losses in merge 2. lost game time due to server outages 3. bumped avatars and lost rares in merge.... 4. false promises of amnesty 5. faulty custom content programming 6. false promises of a buy back on ATMs... The list goes on and on..., Sony online supports their paying customers (unlike electronic arts)....

I have called several times ( a real P.I.T.A. but did it anyway ) and I sit there and MAKE them refund the charges to my account, don't give up...call them at this number if in the US 866-543-5435, and continue to say "my account" over and over and it will eventually give you a live person. Good luck!

[Wabbs]

Also.. if your account gets set to a FREE account.. call them and tell them you were a preium and it went free and that you were told NOTHING would change from here on out.. they WILL reset your account back to Premium WITHOUT charging you.. it takes approx 1 hour after they do it for it to show up... (I went though this as well).. GL

[Raisin]

This is a disgrace to EA.

Sure if they cancel the game and whatever, but at least they should make sure it's handled properly.

[Crackpot]

This is a disgrace to EA.

Sure if they cancel the game and whatever, but at least they should make sure it's handled properly.
Agreed, it's pathetic they won't even follow through on the final promises of billing being stopped and gameplay not changing...talk about a lack of respect for longtime customers...what a #*%@*^#@ way to run a company:mad:

[Fire Dragon]

Im sick of the whole situation... I believe no one will see any kind of refund... ..

I had 4 accounts refunded the day after I called them. Though there was an issue with my partner's acc and I had to pay to use it again. *frowns* My four accounts all say x days of 180 left to play..So I'm happy with that at least.

[princess45001]

said you get 60 days free not 90

[Oakley Latrellia]

said you get 60 days free not 90 It should not matter what they said 60 or 90 its what they wrote and published on there web site stating effective immediatly no more billing that was 4/29/08 They continue to bill sounds like a case of internet fraud to me?? Paying for something even though there web page states that you will not be billed. Plain and simple no matter how you look at it Electronic Arts are crooks. No better than the rip off artist on EBAY.



Q: Do you have a definition of Internet crime that I can refer to?
Internet crime is defined as any illegal activity involving one or more components of the Internet, such as websites, chat rooms, and/or email. Internet crime involves the use of the Internet to communicate false or fraudulent representations to consumers. These crimes may include, but are not limited to, advance-fee schemes, non-delivery of goods or services, computer hacking, or employment/business opportunity schemes.

Oh and by the way I have been billed to.

[LadiLuck]

To those of you who remove your billing info: EA will punish you by restricting your account as a free player & if you have money lots you will be locked out of your own house!
I have called TWICE to hear them say "There's nothing wrong with your account". What B.S.

From my experience yesterday she tried to put me on a 14 day trial which after she did put my account into visitor status. I told her to log into my other accounts that i have had to call in on each time they are billed and get reactivated and put onto premium. Not only was I on hold and left on hold .. but no one ever came back to tell me it was corrected. over 2 hrs in total of my time. Make sure to be on your accounts and check when they are making the changes. Don't just check your main sim account, check all other in that account. Sims 1-8 or how ever many you might have to each login account. don't let them just brush you off and tell you there is nothing wrong with the billing now. Its what they enter that make your accounts go from Premium to Visitors.

[PolarisTheBear]

I thought they cancelled billing on april 29?! What should I do???? I cannon even LOG IN to ealand or tc3. Does anyone know their customer service phone#? PLEASE HELP

[Madra]

I thought they cancelled billing on april 29?! What should I do???? I cannon even LOG IN to ealand or tc3. Does anyone know their customer service phone#? PLEASE HELP

Aster posted this in another area:

EA Support Phone Numbers and Bug Address

The phone numbers for EA Customer Support are:

Inside the United States and Canada: dial 1-866-543-5435
Outside the United States and Canada: dial 650-628-4306


The bug report email address is:
ealandteam@ea.com

[Wyld Cherry]

They did Polaris, but some pple like myself still been charged after the fact they canceled billings.

I won't bother to get my money back, hince you won't prolly see anyways, but good luck tho

[PolarisTheBear]

Thank you Madra for posting Phone#! I couldn't find it anywhere. I called them and they will refund my card for the charge after April 29th. We'll see... As far as log in issue it has not been resolved and they act like I am asking them to wipe my a$$, not to help with tech support. Do they have ANY employees who's native language is ENGLISH?!

[Cinnamon]

Is there a trick to reaching a person at this number? I've been trying for a while and have yet to locate a prompt with any live being, and shouting at the bot isn't getting me anywhere.

Edit: As it turns out, shouting at the bot actually does work. The representative I finally got was very nice and was able to fix my account problem, so I'm back in! Good luck to all who are still working things out.

[Madra]

Is there a trick to reaching a person at this number? I've been trying for a while and have yet to locate a prompt with any live being, and shouting at the bot isn't getting me anywhere.

Edit: As it turns out, shouting at the bot actually does work. The representative I finally got was very nice and was able to fix my account problem, so I'm back in! Good luck to all who are still working things out.

Hahaha... I think the bot responds to tone of voice. It wasn't til I hit the point of getting really ****ed off at the bot and ready to bang both my head and the phone on the desk that I got a real live human being.

[Milton]

Is there a trick to reaching a person at this number? I've been trying for a while and have yet to locate a prompt with any live being, and shouting at the bot isn't getting me anywhere.

Edit: As it turns out, shouting at the bot actually does work. The representative I finally got was very nice and was able to fix my account problem, so I'm back in! Good luck to all who are still working things out.


That was my approach. Once I got to the point in the program where they repeatedly referred me to the website, I just continually shouted obscenities into the phone until it transfered me to India.

Does this mean I've cursed halfway around the world? :confused:


ETA: I hope they use it for training purposes. :D

[remflyer]

That was my approach. Once I got to the point in the program where they repeatedly referred me to the website, I just continually shouted obscenities into the phone until it transfered me to India.

Does this mean I've cursed halfway around the world? :confused:


ETA: I hope they use it for training purposes. :D

LMAO, this was my approach also to get a live person. I read up on these auto phone answering systems before I called. Apparently many are set up to recognize anger and frustration in the caller's voice and will at that point give them a real person. After going through their looping system twice (which had no access to a person or an option for my problem) I said a few choice words in anger and just shouted the word "representative" about three times. I then got the message "We think you want to speak with one of our representatives". A real person named "Justin" who spoke with an Indian accent then answered the phone. :D

[rpsky3]

Yes, found out today that i was charged for 3 of our 5 accounts again this week! I tried calling yesterday, when 2 charges were on my bank account, now today is 3. there was no answer! this is getting so frustrating!

[owltab88]

I too have been charged for my account on May 6th. I contacted EA's website and asked how I can get a refund and how I can make sure I don't get charged for next month. The sent me a reply stating that they credited my account for the 9.99 and as per my request - cancelled my subscription! That I have like 24 days left! On the EA website it says 22 out of 1924 days left. What is this? After 22 or 24 days am I not going to be able to play TSO? Can somebody possibly explain??? :confused:

[Gracie Nito]

My first response from online help was that they wanted the last 8 digits of my credit card to verify my identity as they take security of accounts seriously.

My response was that I also take security seriously and I wasn't about to post the last 8 digits of my CC in response. I had already logged into the account using their secure password system and provided my login name for account as well as a home zip code as back up.

So I asked them to forward my issue to someone with more authority.
I specifically asked them to edit my account information to give me 90 days of play that would take me well into the sunset of the game. We'll see what happens now.

How hard would it be to just apply 90days of play time to all accounts? sheesh.

[NickelNik28]

OK all that yelling and what not at the automated service does not work. i've found out how to easily but painfully get to a agent(real live person) once u call that number go threw the first couple automated things, once u get the option to say MY ACCOUNT say that, then DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ELSE, let the automated system repeat it's self like 2-3 times i think it was and it will ask u if you would like to speak to a agent, and so forth from there u can say agent, and it will connect you to a live person, after i found that out it only took me maybe 10 mins to get it all fixed. so i repeat My account, wait until u hear him say something about a agent and say agent u will then be connected to a RL Person! Good Luck everyone.

[nellie233]

To those of you who remove your billing info: EA will punish you by restricting your account as a free player & if you have money lots you will be locked out of your own house!
I have called TWICE to hear them say "There's nothing wrong with your account". What B.S.

ooh read what polly wrote to me it helped alot by calling EA and making sure that changed my status to preimium...

[Milton]

I just spoke to "David" who is crediting my accounts. Apparently, if your account was in the "pending payment" status - 5 to 7 business days before the actual payment date - at the time of the announcement, then you were probably charged.

That was Monday afternoon when I called. My credit card was credited during Wednesday night's settlement. Much faster than I was expecting. And I logged in to one of the accounts to verify access. Landed on a money lot with not problem.

[pms janet]

I was charged the day before the big closing announcement and just got another charge on May15...and nobody answering any phones.

[Salarah]

Yes, found out today that i was charged for 3 of our 5 accounts again this week! I tried calling yesterday, when 2 charges were on my bank account, now today is 3. there was no answer! this is getting so frustrating!

Here is my recent reply to the same question from EA.
Why are my three accounts still being charged?
Below are some facts about how the site and service will be closed. Please see also a special message from the team that maintained EA-Land, to the community that played it.
Key Facts:
• On August 1, 2008, the game EA-Land / TSO will no longer be in service and EA will focus these resources on future games
• Your subscription billing will end now, so that at least 60 days of your EA-Land experience will be at no cost to you

Greetings,
That information was posted before they had the ability to stop the subscription transactions. The charges this month have been refunded to you today.

[pms janet]

well I did the only thing I knew I could have control over...I cancelled both accounts and deleted my acct info...as much as I would have loved to stay until the end...I couldn't see doing so when it was costing me and most of the time there were so many erros in the past week I couldn't even play...I will miss all of you...it was fun while it lasted.:mad:

[Claudia MacCloud]

I cancelled my accts the day i heard TSO was done after Aug 1 and was told it would be frree till then.... I think i better check my statements to be sure i wasnt charged ... grrr

but EA is still sending email trying to get me to subscribe again .... So either they are chargiing or they are not ... or are they just communicate false or fraudulent representations to their consumers ?

[dianj]

To those of you who remove your billing info: EA will punish you by restricting your account as a free player & if you have money lots you will be locked out of your own house!
I have called TWICE to hear them say "There's nothing wrong with your account". What B.S.

Thats ok with me after the hassle of trying to get the charges removed, I not only cancelled my 2 accounts ( to aviod further charges) I removed the entire game. This is soooooo NOT how I want to remember a game I truly loved.

RIP: Sunny Delight
"Eva

[dianj]

My first response from online help was that they wanted the last 8 digits of my credit card to verify my identity as they take security of accounts seriously.

My response was that I also take security seriously and I wasn't about to post the last 8 digits of my CC in response. I had already logged into the account using their secure password system and provided my login name for account as well as a home zip code as back up.

So I asked them to forward my issue to someone with more authority.
I specifically asked them to edit my account information to give me 90 days of play that would take me well into the sunset of the game. We'll see what happens now.

How hard would it be to just apply 90days of play time to all accounts? sheesh.



Apparently it was more than they could handle ... LMAO ... EA exec's do after all sit on their brains. wonder whats left after they ummmm ya know

[Connie Johnson]

guys its gonna take 3 or 4 calls to get everything straightened out... I had to call to get my refund... then i had to call to get my sims back in premium status which they had to forward it to someone else to do took about 3 or 4 days... I have just recieved my first re embersment for the atms ... hoping the other 3 will come soon if they dont there will be another call again.. just stay on them till they get everything right...

[DjFroggie]

I opened a support ticket and this was my response:

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

This is to inform you that, in order to ensure that your subscription fee is
correctly debited from your account and that your game play continues
uninterrupted, our billing system sends out what is called a
pre-authorization in the amount of your subscription fee 5-6 days before
your scheduled billing date. This pre-authorization puts funds in the amount
of your subscription fee on hold in your account, making them unavailable
for other uses. This is not an actual charge and you may contact your credit
card company to confirm the same.



She states that EA puts funds on hold in my account before they take them out and no money was taken out... but doesnt that mean that I cant use that money!? im soooo confused

[cat9201]

I just got an email saying I was to be suspended from playing EA Land if I didn't pay...which EA land is NOT charging for the last few months of this dying game. WHY did I get this message???

subscription to The Sims Online™ will expire in 7 days. To continue your game play uninterrupted, just click here to login to your account and activate your billing. In seconds you'll be back in the game.

Don't leave your Sims, friends and neighbors behind! Upgrade to full user status today to keep playing The Sims Online. Upgrading is fast and easy and there are many different payment options to choose from.

[Katheryne]

I just got an email saying I was to be suspended from playing EA Land if I didn't pay...which EA land is NOT charging for the last few months of this dying game. WHY did I get this message???

subscription to The Sims Online™ will expire in 7 days. To continue your game play uninterrupted, just click here to login to your account and activate your billing. In seconds you'll be back in the game.

Don't leave your Sims, friends and neighbors behind! Upgrade to full user status today to keep playing The Sims Online. Upgrading is fast and easy and there are many different payment options to choose from.
Legacy e-mail from the legacy billing system. You can safely ignore it.

[PolarisTheBear]

My second account was charged on MAY 17th!!!!! I wonder what they are trying to pull off, or was it an "innocent" screw-up?!

[Vanilla Sky]

After all the messing up of everyone's account, I finally and sadly decided to delete all of my sims and close my accounts. It seemed as though the good people had switched my accounts to free ones so I wasn't going to be able to play long because I had only a certain number of days left.

Now I've removed the billing information so they won't be able to charge me again and now don't have access to any of my accounts. I have to check to see if they charged me for May. The girl said she refunded it back to me but I still have to make sure. This confusion might be a good thing as it would have been sad to be logged in the day EA Land goes dark.

The days of TSO beta were the most fun for me. We had so much fun playing Code and doing boards. Hosting was fun too and made skilling more interesting. Ahhhh...the good 'ol days of doing logic skills on the PCs. lol Does anyone else remember that?