So I emailed one of the Vice President's at EA

[joshhuffman]

Here is cut and paste a conversation from one of the EA Vice President's I actually got to chat with.  His man servant was delegated to "take care of me" and as its now the 20th day of lock out nothing has happened.

What they call "The Studio" has been aware of the issue for some time and they have not had success in correcting the problem.  From what I have been told these guys are independent contractors that are brought in to as needed.  They have no affiliation with the original team that rolled the game out hence the nonstop bugs and issues.

The bottom line is that this was the guy (google him) that wanted to change the perception of how the public views EA.  Turns out he is another greasy politician who has the power to make changes but won't.  I will be tormenting his man servant just because they think blowing smoke up my ass will make me happy.

Here are the original emails.  Enjoy.  Will update as they come along.

Mr. Lawder,

This might be overreaching as I doubt this is your email address but I am at a loss on what else to do here.  I am/was a avid player of the iOS game SIMPSONS: TAPPED OUT.  I have over (TOO MUCH TO TELL EVERYONE) of in game purchases over the last 8 months of play.  Since February 1 I have been locked out of the game due to a glitch in the software or software working with the new 6.1 iOS software I updated the same date the Valentine's Day update came out for game.  Also on or around February 1.  I have made 2 ticket requests which were systematically returned with instructions on "hard resetting" the game and a subsequent one on deleting the game and reinstalling it.  As someone with a technical background I had tried both of those options before I submitted the ticket.  Not to mention since the game gets stuck on a loop once I try and log in I know its on the server side and not my device.

Both ticket requests have since been ignored.

I have contacted iTunes for a refund as your game doesn't work, there is no acknowledgement from EA that there is even a problem, and I am not allowed to play.  Keep in mind A FUCKTON spent for a single game on in game purchases makes me think I have the right to play my game.  No it doesn't.

iTunes refuses to refund any money.  They tell me to talk to EA.

EA refuses to acknowledge my problem or help me login in to my game.

I am beyond frustrated and regret every dollar I purchased with this game because between the EA EULA and iTunes refusal to refund, both of you could keep my money and I can do nothing about it.

Please help because this just is not right.  At this point I would really like just to walk away with a refund as I don't trust EA with this game.

Josh Huffman

Lawder, Michael	Feb 13 (6 days ago)

Hey Josh,

I agree - this is not right, and I'd be as frustrated as you are.  I'm sorry that you've had this experience.  

Here's the good news - I'm going to fix it

Kyle will take care of you asap - stay tuned.

-M

----

Kyle Cooper	Feb 13 (6 days ago)
to me

Josh,

  Thanks for taking the time to discuss the issue further with me. As I mentioned on the phone, we are very sorry that you have had such a disappointing experience with both the game and our support. The team responsible for The Simpsons: Tapped Out is currently working on the issue and I should have an update from them on where things are at before the end of the week.

  Also, as discussed, I will see if we have any way to work with Apple on your request for a refund. Just to reiterate, the transactions are completely managed by them so I do not have the ability to promise any type of refund or compensation on their end. That being said, I want to do everything I can for you so I will be investigating all options.

  Other than that, if you have any other questions, concerns, or if there is anything else I can do for you please don't hesitate to let me know. As promised, you will find my direct contact information below.

Sincerely,

Kyle Cooper
World Wide Customer Experience | Executive Relations

[Killeru]

And did he maybe ended the call with "Come Again!" ???

[Melody]

Wankers.

[ryanklewis]

Josh, So you send this email and 30 min. later, you're back in the game?    What's that email address?

[joshhuffman]

I sent this email on 2/13 after being locked out for 2 weeks.  I have since been locked out until I read docno42's response of just letting the harp screen go for a long time and just got back in today which has allowed me to get stuck in the mystery box loop where I am still collecting donuts as we speak.

If you want the VPs address I can PM it to you but the whole purpose of this post was that I got a very powerful man at EA on the line, he promised to help, and didn't do fuck all.

The point of the post is that they really don't care and here is some email proof.

[Joe Everybody]

EA doesn't care about players. EA doesn't care about making games that are well put together or enjoyable.

EA cares about the bottom line, plain and simple. If you're locked out of the game for weeks that's your problem, but when you're glitching to get donuts all of the sudden they notice you.

Best company ever amirite?

[docno42]

Feb 19, 2013 16:33:23 GMT -5 joshhuffman said:

the whole purpose of this post was that I got a very powerful man at EA on the line, he promised to help, and didn't do fuck all.

To be fair, bugs like this can be incredibly hard to squish. And in squishing the bug that caused the current problem most of us are having, you have to be careful that you don't introduce yet another! When you have literally millions of players, causing problems for even just 1% of them results in huge numbers of pissed off people.

Not that I'm bitter

What concerns me the most is the implication you shared that the original developers aren't involved and it's now another group. If that is indeed true then it may take even longer as the new guys struggle to understand what they inherited.

I'm hoping you just misunderstood them - what is more likely is that the independent studio that developed the game is just taking longer than EA (the publisher) would like. Remember, for the vast majority of the games EA is just the publisher - not the creator of the game. They contract with different development houses and then publish the results.

The best example I can give for this is Bungie, the developers of Halo on the Xbox 360 - they started independent but Microsoft published the game, then MS bought them and they came in house and now they split back off and are independent again. I'm not a huge EA fan so I'm sure there are similar examples with them too.

OK, so I did some quick poking around, it seems that EA Mobile is the developer - it started as an independent studio formed by people who used to work at EA, was then bought by EA and renamed EA Mobile. So they are and are not EA at the same time depending on how EA is structured. Ugh....

[joshhuffman]

I do get that it takes time but if you are trying to change the way you are perceived for your customer service then he would have refunded me for the game.  I mean why even respond to me at all if you are have your underlings blow smoke up my ass?

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2013 16:52:12 GMT -5 docno42 said:

Feb 19, 2013 16:33:23 GMT -5 joshhuffman said:

the whole purpose of this post was that I got a very powerful man at EA on the line, he promised to help, and didn't do fuck all.

To be fair, bugs like this can be incredibly hard to squish. And in squishing the bug that caused the current problem most of us are having, you have to be careful that you don't introduce yet another! When you have literally millions of players, causing problems for even just 1% of them results in huge numbers of pissed off people.

Not that I'm bitter

What concerns me the most is the implication you shared that the original developers aren't involved and it's now another group. If that is indeed true then it may take even longer as the new guys struggle to understand what they inherited.

I'm hoping you just misunderstood them - what is more likely is that the independent studio that developed the game is just taking longer than EA (the publisher) would like. Remember, for the vast majority of the games EA is just the publisher - not the creator of the game. They contract with different development houses and then publish the results.

The best example I can give for this is Bungie, the developers of Halo on the Xbox 360 - they started independent but Microsoft published the game, then MS bought them and they came in house and now they split back off and are independent again. I'm not a huge EA fan so I'm sure there are similar examples with them too.

OK, so I did some quick poking around, it seems that EA Mobile is the developer - it started as an independent studio formed by people who used to work at EA, was then bought by EA and renamed EA Mobile. So they are and are not EA at the same time depending on how EA is structured. Ugh....

The bolded part - that's nothing new. I've read that elsewhere and a long time ago. It also seems to be rather standard. Somebody designs the game and then sells it and somebody else maintains it and makes the profit. The problems arise when the new game developers can't figure out the coding from the original ones.

Also - Origin is owned by EA. They own their own server, no wonder it's always down.

[Peruhomer]

He's frustrated and he has someone named Kyle to take care of it. Now that's what you get once you reach the top. I'll work away until I have my own Kyle.

[joshhuffman]

***IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE***

Peru,

Here are your keys to the Executive washroom, your corner office, and your very own K.Y.L.E.  I am afraid you have finally made it.

Feb 19, 2013 17:00:55 GMT -5 Peruhomer said:

He's frustrated and he has someone named Kyle to take care of it. Now that's what you get once you reach the top. I'll work away until I have my own Kyle.

[vaicilajean]

Thanks for posting this, JoshHuffman, and for going through the trouble of contacting a VP. And I'm glad to hear you're back in the game, even if it isn't thanks to Michael Lawder and his pet Kyle.

[amsnake0]

Thanks for sharing your experience,

As a communication scholar, and tapped out fan of course, I am dumbstruck with the horrible communication approach of this company, it makes me angry to see such mismanagement, it's unbelievable.

I've been locked out since Saturday, oh and the EA help line disconnected me after I was on hold for 15 minutes.

I know you probably want to keep your contact to yourself, but if you feel like sharing it with me, I'd love to send a pseudo-academic email to the VP (which we know would prob just go to poor Kyle), so I could inform him of proper communication models. Hah.

I'm also interested in using this as a case study on what NOT to do on my communication blog.

[joshhuffman]

I have no problem sharing both of their email addresses directly after I get shut down on my attempt at a full refund.  Consequently it wasn't that hard considering all employees end at @ea.com


After another Kyle bullshit update and no refund I'll even give you his direct line in Austin.  It's a shame because Lawder was brought in after 11 years at Apple and on paper you would think they would try and change things.  Nope.  

[amsnake0]

Thanks, keep us updated

[usdpc]

On a side note, joshhuffman you have more police cars than probably all my friends combined!





I'm sure you could've bought a new, fully loaded iPad for the money you've put into this game. . . sorry to see you've been having all these problems with EA. You're the kind of customer they should be bending over backwards to please.

[Battyguy]

Awesome... Love your dedication...

Like dealing with Skynet

[joshhuffman]

Ugghh.  Don't remind me.  When I tallied all of my iTunes bills to initially submit to man servant Kyle, my jaw dropped.  Its enough that if they granted me it I would start over and not spend a dime.  Just wait for more glitches.

Feb 19, 2013 22:35:27 GMT -5 usdpc said:

I'm sure you could've bought a new, fully loaded iPad for the money you've put into this game. . . sorry to see you've been having all these problems with EA. You're the kind of customer they should be bending over backwards to please.

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2013 22:42:10 GMT -5 joshhuffman said:

Ugghh.  Don't remind me.  When I tallied all of my iTunes bills to initially submit to man servant Kyle, my jaw dropped.  Its enough that if they granted me it I would start over and not spend a dime.  Just wait for more glitches.

Feb 19, 2013 22:35:27 GMT -5 usdpc said:

I'm sure you could've bought a new, fully loaded iPad for the money you've put into this game. . . sorry to see you've been having all these problems with EA. You're the kind of customer they should be bending over backwards to please.


I'm surprised that EA actually replies

[jehenyen]

Here's the frustrating reality of the situation- executives are so disconnected that their promises of fixing anything for you is never to be believed in the first place.

Anyone who has had a corporate job knows it goes like this:

1. Exec helps to make a decision with budget or deadlines that limits the resources for the worker bee to be able to create the best product they can with the fewest amount of bugs.

2. Customer experiences an issue and contacts customer support who are usually aware of the deficiency and have nothing to offer as a solution. Customer gets angrier.

3. Customer runs their complaint up the chain and reaches an exec, who is flabbergasted to learn that their underfunded (be it underfunded in money, time, manpower, or all of the above) product has bugs and promises the customer a solution is forthcoming and quickly delegates dealing with the customer to an underling who is equally unable to assist with any type of solution. Customer gets even angrier.

4. If a solution comes, it will have nothing to do with the exec or the underling. It will be some worker bee that pushed out the buggy product that has been assigned to the fix even before the product launch.

And so it goes. I may be pessimistic, but I've seen similar stuff play several times in jobs I have worked. For the record, not EA.

Keep at it because eventually they will get sick of the complaints and make a decision to provide those who need it the resources to fix the problem. Also, take to Twitter. Companies nowadays HATE negative tweets about them. They hate negative tweets being retweeted even more.

[D'oh-tastrophe Inc.]

Feb 19, 2013 16:33:23 GMT -5 joshhuffman said:

I sent this email on 2/13 after being locked out for 2 weeks.  I have since been locked out until I read docno42's response of just letting the harp screen go for a long time and just got back in today which has allowed me to get stuck in the mystery box loop where I am still collecting donuts as we speak.

If you want the VPs address I can PM it to you but the whole purpose of this post was that I got a very powerful man at EA on the line, he promised to help, and didn't do fuck all.

The point of the post is that they really don't care and here is some email proof.

I got stuck in this loop when I got back into the game. Got about 1,000 donuts before getting distracted and moving on to something else. I almost feel bad for abusing it.

I have gotten to where I don't expect anything from EA other than updates once, maybe twice, a month. If any problems with the game arise, I've realized I've just got to stick it out until the next update, with the small bit of hope that it will resolve itself beforehand. 

As much as I love this game, EA was the best and worst company possible to execute it. They have the resources and power to make the game one of the best, but they don't use these resources to correct problems when they come up.

I am tempted to say that TS:TO is not made and coded by EA, though, even though it is made by EA Mobile. Whenever there is a server issue (Origins), it is fixed pretty quickly. Usually massive server issues have been fixed within 12 hours (most likely less) from what I've seen. EA is even kind enough to tell us they are working on it. The hard part is distinguishing whether an issue is a server issue, coding issue, device issue... the list of possible issues goes on and on.

I don't know the company structure. EA Mobile could be a part of EA, or it could be a smaller company owner by EA but not necessarily controlled by EA. Think of Ford and Aston Martin for an analogy. Ford use to own Aston Martin. However, Aston Martin's only duty to Ford at that time was report what they were doing to them and get it approved. Otherwise, they operate independently and control the manufacture, sale, marketing, etc of their own products. EA Mobile could have a similar set up to EA. EA owns them, but all EA Mobile had to do is tell EA what they're doing and get a yay or nay. Of course, the only difference I see here is that EA is putting their name on the game, and Ford certainly doesn't put their name on an Aston Martin (although they did rip off the classic Aston Martin grill for the new Ford Fusion, but I'm going on a tangent now).

I feel like I've deviated from my point a bit. But, honestly, I'm a little too lazy to look into how EA is structure and where EA Mobile lays on the map.

Do keep us posted on this. I would love to know the outcome.

[White Rhyno]

You know what you should do, take that VP's email address, with a copy of that email, and post it on the other board stating that if you contact him, you get your game working within half a day.

[joshhuffman]

Like I said before I really just posted this to show that no matter what they say in the press, EA has no desire to change how they are perceived by the public.  Even the cnet.com writer that did the December blurb taking Lawder's comments on "this year was the year for change" in December didn't believe him.  If he gets blasted via email its just a heavier SPAM blocker that some I.T. dude installs for him 10 min later and BAM, he still doesn't care.

I really do feel that EA is at the mercy of the dev studio on this but at the same time probably has yet to truly invest in getting these guys what they need to pump out a quality product.

Everyone says EA doesn't care.  Pundits defend them saying they are doing the best they can.  Jaded industry folk seem to be like its par for the course.  My take is why would you want to spend REAL money on such a flawed/failed game where if ultimately you are permanently locked out you have ZERO financial recourse.

Between the EA EULA and the iTunes policy of not refunding anything really and NOTHING beyond the 30 day purchase mark you are absolutely ass fucked if for whatever reason your account is locked out/deleted.

[walkinonwaterr]

What Mystery Box Loop? Haven't heard of this

[White Rhyno]

Feb 20, 2013 0:25:52 GMT -5 joshhuffman said:

My take is why would you want to spend REAL money on such a flawed/failed game where if ultimately you are permanently locked out you have ZERO financial recourse.

Between the EA EULA and the iTunes policy of not refunding anything really and NOTHING beyond the 30 day purchase mark you are absolutely ass fucked if for whatever reason your account is locked out/deleted.

And that right there is why I don't have any problem with people exploiting glitches for donuts. There are other games I have that I am happy to pay the devs money for, they do an awesome job.

But when you have a massive company like EA, not giving a toss about its customers, I say fair game, rip em off at will