Alright, so I'd like to throw my hat into the mix of folks who don't seem to have received their CD Keys upon purchasing The Sims 3 Plus Pets combo from Steam. Going back posts at least through this month both here and on Steam, it seems to be a common issue with that combo, or at least those items in particular.
My Support Experiences:
- Steam support says the issue is on EA's end and I have to contact EA.
- EA says the issue is on Steam's end and won't help (1st support experience), or tries to help but things go nowhere and in the end it's clear the problem isn't fully understood or there's really nothing they can do (2nd support experience). After reading the other posts here, I linked my Steam account to my EA account and for the second support attempt, I made sure to include proof of purchase, screenshots confirming the linked account plus 1-2 other things, and mentioned I may need to have the basegame and Pets manually added to my account based on everything I'd read.
I went with Steam for purchasing and playing b/c the recommendation was that Steam is better than Origin and there were really great Steam sales on everything in the past. That's all well and good, until you're stuck in the middle when it comes to support.
What I'm Trying To Do/What's Happened:
1. I want to ensure I have the CD keys for everything I purchased. All the other expansions (EPs) and stuff packs (SPs) received their CD keys codes without issue. I already redeemed the rewards at The Sims 3 store for the expansions. Interestingly, registering World Adventures also gave me Riverview. Without the CD keys for Pets, I'm unable to redeem the Atomic Age items.
2. Linking my EA and Steam accounts allowed The Sims 3 basegame and registered EPs to show in Origin. When I looked at the basegame through Origin, a CD key was visible. (No CD keys were present in my computer's registry.) Attempting to register the basegame CD key received a message that it's already been used and also that digitally-purchased content is considered already registered. The icon for the basegame is grayed out on My Page, though.
3. I've installed and played the basegame through Steam without issue. It's possible that when I install the Pets EP through Steam that the CD key issue will be resolved and/or Pets will "sync" with Origin and I can find the CD key there, or maybe I can start up with EA support again. Both times, they looked in my Origin library and their assistance depended on whether or not they saw anything there. However, I'm planning to play and install everything in the order it was released, to the tune of one new item a month, so it may be anywhere from 5-9 months before I install Pets. (Depends on if I want to do one EP per month, or factor in the SPs as well.) At this point, I need a break, as this unresolved issue is taking away from my enjoyment of the game and taking up my time that could be better spent playing the game.
If anyone do has recommendations on next steps, I'm open to suggestions. Otherwise, I hope others find comfort in knowing they're not the only one experiencing problems.
