23rd March 2013, 1:26 PM
So I called EA's customer support (which I should add is better than Microsoft's by a LOT. EA has a very messed up culture when it comes to their developers, and they really nickle and dime people on content (Dead Space in particular is a big example, and worse is how those extra suits and weapons just destroy the balance of these survival horror games), but I am shocked at just how good their customer support is. It rivals Nintendo's in fact. I was able to register about every PC EA game I own with their Origin network so I can play the games without a disc now (and don't have to worry about the discs besides). As a result, I've got Sim City 4 registered as a digital download. They really worked with me on that one. They couldn't register my copy by itself, so they went ahead and gave me a registration for the Deluxe Edition with the expansion pack. This extended to my copies of Battlefield 2 as well. Now, Origin itself is a little glitchy in that games older than a couple of years can't seem to be registered directly in the client, but wow did EA's customer support bend over backwards to help me.
This is how customer support is done. Scripts are all well and good (actually, I don't recall having to deal with any annoying scripted questions we both knew weren't going to help, I could just tell them my problem we went straight to resolution), but it is far more important to give tech support agents the freedom to make decisions on their own. If they can do that with only guidelines and some trust in their judgement, you get far more satisfied customers. Nintendo's agents are the only ones that compare in this regard.
Microsoft's tech support system, as always, is terrible. I usually leave those calls frustrated at the impotence of the agent to actually DO anything on their own, not really mad at THEM, so much as whoever oversees their tech support network. If I call Microsoft, I often find that I can't accomplish anything more with them than I could just dealing with computer prompt based support.
Um, anyway, just wanted to say it was helpful to get Sim City 4 entirely digital on my machine. If for whatever reason the digital DRM proves more frustrating, I do still have my discs and can switch right back to disc checking as my DRM restriction of choice.
Oh, this is not to say that EA doesn't suck in other ways. The corporate "official solution" to offer free games was well meaning, but their selection was pretty terrible.
This is how customer support is done. Scripts are all well and good (actually, I don't recall having to deal with any annoying scripted questions we both knew weren't going to help, I could just tell them my problem we went straight to resolution), but it is far more important to give tech support agents the freedom to make decisions on their own. If they can do that with only guidelines and some trust in their judgement, you get far more satisfied customers. Nintendo's agents are the only ones that compare in this regard.
Microsoft's tech support system, as always, is terrible. I usually leave those calls frustrated at the impotence of the agent to actually DO anything on their own, not really mad at THEM, so much as whoever oversees their tech support network. If I call Microsoft, I often find that I can't accomplish anything more with them than I could just dealing with computer prompt based support.
Um, anyway, just wanted to say it was helpful to get Sim City 4 entirely digital on my machine. If for whatever reason the digital DRM proves more frustrating, I do still have my discs and can switch right back to disc checking as my DRM restriction of choice.
Oh, this is not to say that EA doesn't suck in other ways. The corporate "official solution" to offer free games was well meaning, but their selection was pretty terrible.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)