Banned for requesting a refund and having to resort to a Chargeback - OVERTURNED

[FifthRocketeer]

Ok, I am not sure why, But I am not able to update the original thread I started.

Can be found here - It will not let me post the link to my original thread, but search for Banned for requesting a refund and having to resort to a Chargeback. and it is a post on here from myself. But i copied in my original post below.

UPDATE - I wanted to update this as EA overturned my account ban and they returned it to me. This is good news, So I hope this helps anyone in a similar situation.

So as the title says. I got banned for issuing a chargeback for 2042 with Paypal.

And as I read the ban notice I thought that's strange to be banned for getting a refund for a broken unfinished game. However, I had seen posts on Reddit and other places that its a breach of EAs terms and conditions. So I decided to have a look at them.

• http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/#section6

The only reference to Chargebacks I could find is as follows.

• Make use of any payment methods or refund systems to access, purchase or refund EA Services for fraudulent purposes, or without permission of the authorized owner, or otherwise concerning a criminal offence or other unlawful activity.

Now the key term there is "for fraudulent purposes".

I have happily and openly provided the transcript from EA support in which I originally requested a refund for Battlefield 2042 and I have included the PayPal Chargeback ticket as such you will see I have in no way tried to hide why I am asking for a refund. To put it plain and simply the game was broken at launch, not as advertised, and furthermore EA in their own Townhall admitted there were major issues with the game.

Before a moderator tells me I can appeal it... I have and had no reponse.

In the transcript, the support agent I was speaking to stated that EA by law had an opportunity to fix any issues with the game to bring it up to the level that they promised. And to an extent, I agree with this. But after 4 months they still have not fixed simple things and pushed back content launches for the game. They have not met this! So I requested my refund and it was declined based on EA policy. Unfortunately, EA policy does NOT outrank Irish and/or European consumer rights. Which states a consumer can request a full refund for an item that is not fit for purpose or has major or minor faults for up to 2 years (EU law) and 6 years (Irish Law).

So from reading EA policy I can only assume they have banned me as they do not like chargebacks due to the fact that they will get a penalty charge from the card issuer. However, IF EA were more transparent with the products they were selling, or more willing to offer refunds when they make a mistake this would not happen.

As it stands at the moment, I will not be making any more purchases from EA. If I do by anything it will be through third-party sites where I can get a genuine license key for a fraction of what EA charge, and actually have a customer-friendly refund policy. I may only be one customer but I am now one less customer they have.

Now I would like one of three things to happen.

• My account returned to me in full working order (with access to Battlefield 2042 removed).
• or a full refund for all other games I purchased, and no longer have access to.
• Or if EA is so confident that I have committed fraud which is a criminal offense, I would like them to hand over my details to the financial regulator or whichever law enforcement agency they work with and provide me with logs and a record that this has been done.

[EA_Mako · Accepted solution]

I'm glad to hear you were able to get back into the account @FifthRocketeer!

For any others running into a similar situation, please feel free to appeal with these steps and our ToS team will investigate your situation as well.

This really isn't the place to debate what constitutes fraud so I'll be locking the thread here as it's run its course. Thanks all.

[edgecrusherO0]

@FifthRocketeer Welcome to the consequences of your actions, dude. It's lame, but this is what you risk with chargebacks, which are for actual fraud - not just regretting a bad purchase you made.

This has been the case with online accounts for games (Steam, EA/Origin, PlayStation and Xbox etc.) for years and years now, and will continue to be.

Ultimately, you have to decide whether a chargeback is worth losing access to your whole account over. If it is, go for it. If not, then use the poor purchase you regret, and can't refund, as a learning experience so you don't make that same mistake again.

This game is not fraud. It's disappointing, misleading, lame, and underwhelming, but it's not fraudulent.

[Psubond]

@edgecrusherO0 the year one pass is currently borderline fraud. whether or not it steps across that line is yet to be seen but dice's ability to do anything in a timely manner isn't exactly proven (that is the nicest way i could put it).

[edgecrusherO0]

@Psubond It's literally not "borderline fraud", as lame as the situation is. It's currently delayed, which is a common thing in a lot of software.

DICE's other problems are irrelevant. There's nothing in this game or DICE's handling that remotely approaches actual criminal fraud, which is why all the "LAWSUIT FOR FALSE ADVERTISING!!!" and "CLASS ACTION LAWSUITT!!!!!!" BS has gone absolutely nowhere (plus the fact that gamers love to talk up a big legal game but nobody ever actually rings up a lawyer for a consult).

It's just deeply underwhelming and disappointing, which ain't criminal or illegal.

[Psubond]

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@edgecrusherO0 wrote:
@PsubondIt's literally not "borderline fraud", as lame as the situation is. It's currently delayed, which is a common thing in a lot of software.

DICE's other problems are irrelevant. There's nothing in this game or DICE's handling that remotely approaches actual criminal fraud, which is why all the "LAWSUIT FOR FALSE ADVERTISING!!!" and "CLASS ACTION LAWSUITT!!!!!!" BS has gone absolutely nowhere (plus the fact that gamers love to talk up a big legal game but nobody ever actually rings up a lawyer for a consult).

It's just deeply underwhelming and disappointing, which ain't criminal or illegal.

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[edgecrusherO0]

@Psubond No, that's truth. Hence why all the "CLASS ACITON LAWSUITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT" people have shut the heck up.

[FifthRocketeer]

I never claimed the game was a fraud. I claimed it was broken and unfinished. I used a chargeback to get my money back for the game after I asked EA for a refund and they said no.

They then banned my account for using a chargeback. And as per their terms and conditions (http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/#section6)

The only reference to Chargebacks I could find is as follows.

• Make use of any payment methods or refund systems to access, purchase or refund EA Services for fraudulent purposes, or without permission of the authorized owner, or otherwise concerning a criminal offence or other unlawful activity.

So they can only ban you for using a chargeback if they think your chargeback is fraudulent.

So basically they were accusing me of fraud. I appealed the ban on this basis, and under EU and Irish consumer law, they could not refuse the refund. And they removed the ban. As my claim for a refund was not fraudulent.

I was repositing it in case other people were in a similar situation and it may help them get their account back.

[edgecrusherO0]

@FifthRocketeer Again, this is standard. Any chargeback results in an account closure for online services in gaming, and elsewhere.

If you have legal remedies through your government, use those, not chargebacks. Chargebacks will always result in a ban. Always.

Sucks you had to learn this lesson the hard way, dude : /

[Psubond]

@edgecrusherO0 i never said anything about class action lawsuit. you did. as for the OP, i think a reasonable evaluation of this whole debacle is that EA lied about what we were buying. to me that could be classified as fraud.

i do feel as though i got more than my money's worth out of the game, i played for over 500 hours so that's 20 cents an hour which is quite cheap. i still recognize that i have not gotten any of my year one content yet.

just because they software industry takes advantage of us, why are we not allowed to call it what it is? if it is ever to change someone must stand up. even if it won't change things, there is nothing wrong with calling them out for what they do and how they (EA) lie. how many times have they done this to us? they knowingly lied about the state of the game and the state of the "year one" content that is still vaporware 6 months later.

i think that the OP met requirements to perform a chargeback without penalty and to suggest otherwise is just being a shill for EA

[Tall_Tingz]

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@edgecrusherO0 @Psubond 

Fraud can be classified as wrongful deception in order to make financial gain.

Now I think there's a lot in there open to interpretation.... of course, no one is going to test it legally because weve already sunk £70 into a game thats no where near delivering its value and we dont have endless pockets to challenge against a mega corporation.

But I wouldn't argue with someone feeling defrauded at this point in time.