EA Forum Bans Still Locking Players Out of Games

EA might want to think about investing in a better public relations team – and better customer service representatives, for that matter. More Origin users are coming forward claiming that, following bans from the EA forums, they have been unable to play games tied to their accounts.

You may recall back in March that a user named Arno went to the video games press after he could play neither online nor single-player EA games following a 72-hour forum ban. Although EA issued a statement apologizing for its “error” and promised that such a glitch would never happen again, it has apparently happened to several more users.

So far, three players have come forward to the press with their own nightmare scenarios:

User Nick received a 72-hour ban from the forums and could not access Battlefield 3 and was advised to contact customer support to restore access to the game. However, each time he did so via e-mail or live chat, the representative refused to even discuss the matter with him.

Rob experienced a similar issue with EA’s customer service after his gaming rights were revoked. The live chat support was unhelpful, as the representative stuck to a script that kept leading him to dead ends.

The strangest incident comes from James, who was banned for using the word “e-peen” in response to a user who had already said the word in another post. He was informed that his Origin account was permanently banned and that his Battlefield 3 characters and levels would be deleted. EA’s customer support, as you may predict by now, has been less than helpful, although they did send an e-mail to him explaining that the matter was already discussed, although James says it was not, and that the decision cannot be appealed.

EA has not yet commented on the matter.

While users are being banned from the forums for a variety of reasons, whether valid or not, the pattern here is clear: EA is alienating its customers with misguided practices and horrendous customer support that is anything but helpful. Reading these stories, it’s no wonder that vitriolic “Origin horror stories” have become something of a meme on Reddit and other communities and users are reaching out to the press to shed light on EA’s abuses of power.

Do you have an Origin horror story to share? Drop us a line.

[via: Rock Paper Shotgun]