OP's NOTE: I go on a bit, as I'm wont to do. If it's too long, skip to the second to last paragraph.


I was trying to get Mercenaries 2 working after having to wipe my HDD (due to the lack of foresight of Microsoft's software engineers) to reinstall Windows. I wasn't able to revoke the license (this is one of EA's "limited activation" titles), and had hit my max. I put up a support request detailing such on help.ea.com, including the serial code on the back of the manual.

The first response I got was that the code I gave was invalid, and to please input the proper "Product Code". The phrase "Product Code" to me sounded like it could either mean the "catalog code" or the number on the UPC label, more commonly called the "Proof of Purchase". I submitted both, and received a response to please "Submit the valid Product Code, along with your DOB, and place of purchase". I scanned the invoice for the order that included this game (from September of '08), attached it to the response, and phrased as calmly as I could my statement that I had already submitted every number printed on the manual or the case of the game itself, short of the page numbers and EA's Redwood, CA address.

I got yet another response that I needed to submit a...blah blah, you know this already. I called them directly, gave the representative (who's headset was probably years old; the whole conversation was static-filled; don't they get new equipment regularly?) my Support Case #, and we discussed at length how the representatives who'd "helped" me beforehand were receiving an "Invalid Code" response because the game was old enough not to have been bundled with Origin (she knew enough about the game to have mentioned the EADM program), and probably had a different code structure, and how the "In Charge" really need to update the on-screen prompts to reflect that. We also talked about how EA should take down the "DeAuthorization Tools" because the server they connect to doesn't really work anymore (except enough to tell me that I'd used my maximum amount of installations).

So yeah, cutting edge on taking your money, not so much in helping you get your money's worth. But you know this already.

In before Roman comes in with an offensive post and a stupid picture that looks like a shitty Dave Gorman slideshow presentation

But I know what you mean. EA is all too happy to take your money but won't ever help you after you've handed your cash. If you haven't gotten it sorted, I don't think anyone but EA would begrudge you if you decided to pirate it.

Well, recently they gave me a free game for a problem I didn't have. So, I can't really complain. And from what I heard their Origin live support is also not bad.

The fact alone that you can activate Steam games on Origin itself is some commendable.

There are many bad things that can be said about EA, but their support is hardly the worst.

I have read the OP three times and I fail to see the issue. Is there something I don't see? How does this make EA unlike 95% of all companies out there?

I have heavily buged The Sabouteur and they won't help me:(

EA's technical support certainly isn't the worst out there. The real problem with EA's support is that you only ever really need it because of their shitty DRM.

Saboteur is sadly beyond help. The port was unfinished and the devs are defunct. They should never have sold this in the first place.

This was actually one of the very, very few games I pirated recently, just to see how bad the bugs are. So bad, that I didn't buy it. And I would have bought it, but you can't buy on "18 or older" titles on Origin untill it is 22:00 in Germany. So I had a few hours to go and get a pirated version to test. Saved me 10 bucks..

Really? I played it recently and I had no problem finishing it. There were some bugs like german soldiers walking on the air but nothing that broke the game.

Mmhh, maybe it's a chipset issue then. My worst complain is that the streets always disappeared below me while driving. After a few seconds of drop I suddently "hopped back" onto the street. Highly annoying. Than the map wasn't working and it had some really bad perfomance issues (at random).

I watched about 30 episodes of a Let's Play The Saboteur on Youtube. The guy stated at the beginning that it was badly bugged but he was going to try to get as far as possible.

The game looked great, and I was interested, but since there weren't going to be any more patches, I gave it a miss.

... who came up with that retarded shit? i'm speechless right now.

Yes, something like this. ATI?

You think that's bad, the public broadcaster in Canada has this French television show about a porn studio, and even though you can only watch it on the website, you can only watch it between 00:00 and 04:00. It's all part of these stupid "think of the horrible horrible smutty violent cruel things" policies that companies have.

Jep.