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General discussion (archive)So, these Bioware Points.(22 posts)(22 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 17, 2012
I just had the pleasure of trying to buy one Mass Effect 2 DLC from the Bioware store.

Not even one second after I filled in my payment details (the confirmation page was just starting to load) my bank informed me that my account had been charged 1€ by ea.com/cs ea hoensbroek nld. I do not know why. There isn't any mention of transation charges in any agreement I had to sign up until then, plus the prices displayed by the store are supposed to be comprehensive of VAT, and even if they weren't, my order wasn't finalised yet. I hadn't confirmed my order, I hadn't confirmed my adress, I hadn't confirmed anything.

Even though I was already pretty pissed off, I still decided to go on with the purchase, to see if at least it would go through. Not before having to read and accept yet another user agreement pop-up about the Bioware store though (wich you bet I took the time to read very carefully).
My order apparently didn't went through, or at least my credit card hasn't been charged yet. No error messages, no 404, nothing. I just got redirected to one page I visited before accessing the store.

Now, before doing anything else, I'd like to know if has anyone around here been able to purchase such points without problems, or is this the norm?
Posted January 17, 2012
could be a test purchase that gets refunded later.
Posted January 17, 2012
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Avogadro6: I just had the pleasure of trying to buy one Mass Effect 2 DLC from the Bioware store.

Not even one second after I filled in my payment details (the confirmation page was just starting to load) my bank informed me that my account had been charged 1€ by ea.com/cs ea hoensbroek nld. I do not know why. There isn't any mention of transation charges in any agreement I had to sign up until then, plus the prices displayed by the store are supposed to be comprehensive of VAT, and even if they weren't, my order wasn't finalised yet. I hadn't confirmed my order, I hadn't confirmed my adress, I hadn't confirmed anything.

Even though I was already pretty pissed off, I still decided to go on with the purchase, to see if at least it would go through. Not before having to read and accept yet another user agreement pop-up about the Bioware store though (wich you bet I took the time to read very carefully).
My order apparently didn't went through, or at least my credit card hasn't been charged yet. No error messages, no 404, nothing. I just got redirected to one page I visited before accessing the store.

Now, before doing anything else, I'd like to know if has anyone around here been able to purchase such points without problems, or is this the norm?
Was that 1€ charged or reserved? Some online shops verify credit cards by trying to reserve a small amount. If it fails because the account has been locked or whatever, they won't accept it. If the reservation is ok, they'll cancel it, i.e. the amount will never actually be deducted from your account.

Sometimes the amount is not reserved but actually charged, and - unless it's some sort of fraud - they'll transfer the exact same amount back to you; it messes up your bank statement a little and may take an extra day to register, but that's it (well, apart from the interest lost while the money wasn't in your account..).

I have no experience with Bioware Store, though, so it might be something else..
Posted January 17, 2012
This happens a lot when you add debit/credit cards to a shops payment system. Its basically to test the credit/debit card to make sure its legit. Depending on their terms it can take 3-7 days for any auth charge to go back to your card
Post edited January 17, 2012 by nijuu
Posted January 17, 2012
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pH7: Was that 1€ charged or reserved?
I'm not really familiar with buying online, all my experience so far has been with GOG and Steam. I don't know if it was reserved, but given it once for every transation I'd guess it's not the case.
And even then, I want to stress that they haven't even left me the time to confirm my billing data. Why would they test the card before? I could have made a mistake while writing down my details for all they knew, or I could have always changed my mind and canceled the whole order.
Post edited January 17, 2012 by Avogadro6
Posted January 17, 2012
Testing before confirming probably helps their ordering system flag your card details as erroneous before you press the confirm order button. Thus helping to speed up the process should you have made any errors.
Posted January 17, 2012
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Avogadro6: I just had the pleasure of trying to buy one Mass Effect 2 DLC from the Bioware store.

Not even one second after I filled in my payment details (the confirmation page was just starting to load) my bank informed me that my account had been charged 1€ by ea.com/cs ea hoensbroek nld. I do not know why. There isn't any mention of transation charges in any agreement I had to sign up until then, plus the prices displayed by the store are supposed to be comprehensive of VAT, and even if they weren't, my order wasn't finalised yet. I hadn't confirmed my order, I hadn't confirmed my adress, I hadn't confirmed anything.

Even though I was already pretty pissed off, I still decided to go on with the purchase, to see if at least it would go through. Not before having to read and accept yet another user agreement pop-up about the Bioware store though (wich you bet I took the time to read very carefully).
My order apparently didn't went through, or at least my credit card hasn't been charged yet. No error messages, no 404, nothing. I just got redirected to one page I visited before accessing the store.

Now, before doing anything else, I'd like to know if has anyone around here been able to purchase such points without problems, or is this the norm?
It's called a "hold" and you'll get it back.
Posted January 17, 2012
I'm not sure if this is a hold, usually they make that clear before they do it.

I just got my bank statement for the period covering last month's sales (during which I had big issues trying to pay on Gamer's Gate), and I've just discovered they charged me a dollar for every time I tried to make a purchase, including over 30 that didn't work. Planning to send them an email shortly, though I doubt it will come to anything.
Posted January 17, 2012
Just as nijuu said. It goes the same here in the States. I've been charged $1 for shopping online at some places before the final amount gets taken out. Never really shows on my bank statements, just notice that small charge. I think the max I had to wait to have it refunded into my account was like 3 days. Nothing to worry about, as it's to check out your card.
Posted January 18, 2012
Just t add, some times the refund (in Europe) can take even 14 days and it's never visible on the bank account or statement, but if you keep track your balance you'll see it eventually.

Relevant to the topic: I am thinking of buying a couple of DLC for Mass Effect 2 as well, but I don't like this Bioware point concept. Will be keeping track of the topic.
Posted January 18, 2012
I didn't buy ME2 so far because of the horrible Bioware point system. I mean, really, what is the use of it? I can think of exactly two things, and I find both pretty rude on Bioware/EA's account:

- introducing a virtual currency so users will lose track of the value of things (I just read about an exchange rate of 400 = 5$. This makes it a particularly obvious attempt at misleading people by misusing the intuition of "400 = 4$")
- forcing people to buy more points than they will use up in one purchase so they will spend more money

The second point annoys me the most, and unless they release a complete edition with all DLC at some point, I'll probably end up not buying ME2 (and 3, for that matter) at all. I don't want to have 10 different store/"social" accounts, with 10 different virtual currencies, and some money left over in each account. I just want to pay by credit card, PayPal or whatever and play the damn game...
(I could just play the main game, of course, but then I'd feel like missing out)

So, err... sorry for not offering any help, this topic just fueled my hate for the Bioware store.
Posted January 18, 2012
I just bought a $20 EA Game Card at Target and used it to purchase the points. The whole transaction went so smoothly I was sure I'd stepped into the twilight zone <.<
Posted January 18, 2012
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etna87: I didn't buy ME2 so far because of the horrible Bioware point system. I mean, really, what is the use of it? I can think of exactly two things, and I find both pretty rude on Bioware/EA's account:

- introducing a virtual currency so users will lose track of the value of things (I just read about an exchange rate of 400 = 5$. This makes it a particularly obvious attempt at misleading people by misusing the intuition of "400 = 4$")
- forcing people to buy more points than they will use up in one purchase so they will spend more money

The second point annoys me the most, and unless they release a complete edition with all DLC at some point, I'll probably end up not buying ME2 (and 3, for that matter) at all. I don't want to have 10 different store/"social" accounts, with 10 different virtual currencies, and some money left over in each account. I just want to pay by credit card, PayPal or whatever and play the damn game...
(I could just play the main game, of course, but then I'd feel like missing out)

So, err... sorry for not offering any help, this topic just fueled my hate for the Bioware store.
You're missing out. Seriously. ME2 is awesome and Lair of the Shadow Broker is the best DLC (of any game) I've played to date.

If that's not enough for you then here you go:

ME3 won't be sold on Steam and will require an Origin account to play. Rage on.
Posted January 18, 2012
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pH7: Was that 1€ charged or reserved?
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Avogadro6: I'm not really familiar with buying online, all my experience so far has been with GOG and Steam. I don't know if it was reserved, but given it once for every transation I'd guess it's not the case.
And even then, I want to stress that they haven't even left me the time to confirm my billing data. Why would they test the card before? I could have made a mistake while writing down my details for all they knew, or I could have always changed my mind and canceled the whole order.
As others have mentioned that sounds like a hold/test of the card. Several systems do that. It should be removed by your credit card company soon (your credit card company rather than the merchant is usually the one responsible for removing the holds). So you should get it back and probably very soon.
Posted January 18, 2012
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Lorfean: You're missing out. Seriously. ME2 is awesome and Lair of the Shadow Broker is the best DLC (of any game) I've played to date.

If that's not enough for you then here you go:

ME3 won't be sold on Steam and will require an Origin account to play. Rage on.
DLC wise LotSB was great but for moving the main story along I much prefer Arrival
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)So, these Bioware Points.(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)