EA overbills $300/mo for Warhammer Online

Overheal

And they're taking the issue "very seriously"

An online game is sticking players with charges of up to $300 a month, Kotaku reports. But not to worry. A forum manager has checked in and confirmed that EA is taking the problem seriously.
James Nichols, community forums manager for the offending Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, posts:

“
We are working as quickly as possible to resolve this issue and reverse charges, we understand the inconvenience this has caused many and take the situation very seriously. That said to provide the best assistance some things need to happen:
- Contact your financial as soon as you are able to explain the situation.
- Charges will be reversed, this process can take several business days depending on how many accounts are processed.
- If your bank has not yet refunded additional fees you can then contact EA Billing Support for assistance in this matter.
EA Billing Support will be unable to provide assistance until the charges are refunded (as your financial institution is unlikely to take action until the funds are present.)
We do not want our customers to sit on hold (or not be able to get through at all) when we're currently unable to provide further assistance until your account has been refunded.
”

If you've been affected, let us know how comforting it is to you that your problem is being taken seriously.
Warhammer Online Bug Results in More Than $300 Monthly Fees For Some [Kotaku]

A screw-up in EA's Warhammer Online billing system has resulted in many players being charged upwards of 22 times for a one-month subscription, filling bank accounts with overdraft fees and the Warhammer forums with very angry players. A Warhammer Online forum thread named 'Billing Error' has been filling with reports from customers who were surprised yesterday when their normal monthly fee for playing the EA MMO was multiplied anywhere from 12 to 22 times. That's upwards of $329.78 for one month of Warhammer Online.


EA is aware of the issue, addressing it in a post on the Warhammer Online Herald, following it with this hopeful bit of news:

We have confirmed with our vendor that players who have been charged multiple times for their subscriptions should start seeing a reversal of charges within 24-36 hours. We anticipate that once the charges have been reversed, any fees that have been incurred should be refunded as well.

It's great that the charges are being reversed, but the damage is already done. Players are finding themselves with empty bank accounts, overdraft charges are piling up, and the notion that reversing the charges will clear any bank fees is a fanciful one at best. My bank doesn't play that way. I've had similar situations arise in the past, and I've needed to fight tooth and nail to get my money back.

To assist us in providing the best possible service please contact your financial institution prior to contacting EA Billing Support as we can only assist with resolving additional fees after you have been reimbursed.

This is going to be an extremely busy week for EA billing support, and I'd daresay EA's lawyers will be getting a workout as well.
Suddenly pre-paid time cards are looking extremely attractive.
Thanks to Matthew for bringing this issue to our attention.

At some point I just stopped being surprised at the shenanigans of these 'Businesses'.

PirateShampoo

Would be very pissed also, wonder if they will get reimbursed for the overdraft fees also.

Venom

It seems even people with non-active subscriptions got hit multiple times so any ex Warhammer player might want to take a look at their bank statements

nix

Ah i love to watch EA fail,

DIE EA DIE!!

Burgo

this guy got hit pretty bad
http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=p2psupport&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=16152#M16152

Maximilian

Something similar happened to me in that a well known internet co. made some odd charges to my credit card. To their credit, AIB blocked my card and the charges never went through.

Venom

This is bad when it happens to a failing game with low subscription numbers like Warhammer but just imagine if something like this happen to a game like WoW which has over 10 million subscribers lol.

The worlds economy would be down the ****ter again

K.O.Kiki

And that's what you get for pay-to-play.

wayne040576

Ok. So there WAS an advantage to that lifetime sub to star trek online that I got?

Canis Lupus

wayne040576 wrote: »

Ok. So there WAS an advantage to that lifetime sub to star trek online that I got?

You didn't.... Did you?

wayne040576

Canis Lupus wrote: »

You didn't.... Did you?

No of course not. Because that would be stupid right?

Venom

wayne040576 wrote: »

Ok. So there WAS an advantage to that lifetime sub to star trek online that I got?

Well since the error with Warhammers billing also hit customers who were not current subscribed to the game if the same thing was to happen in STO you could get re-billed multiple times for €300 a pop :eek:

wayne040576

Venom wrote: »

Well since the error with Warhammers billing also hit customers who were not current subscribed to the game if the same thing was to happen in STO you could get re-billed multiple times for €300 a pop :eek:

That's why I used paypal and made sure it was a once off charge. (It was less than 200 as well for the lifetime. Probably still too much.

Jim

The Euro base can't really complain about being with GOA this time :pac:

BigEejit

So this only hit the yanks?

I read one post on that that a guy on 6 month recurring bills ($50 or $60 I suppose) got hit for 17 charges. Another dude was saying he has $524 in bank charges just for going over the limit multiple times :eek:

Venom

Well its seems Mythic have issued refunds to some of there over charged customers kinda.

The company refunded the amounts taken less one months subscription fee so not even a free month of Warhammer for all the hassle caused by the screw-up. And to make this an even bigger PR ****storm, non subscribed account holders who got hit with the charges have had a months subscription fee held onto as well.

And some reports claim that Mythic are not going to cover the cost of the over-draft fee's the multiple billings cost alot of customers :eek:

If this ain't the death of Warhammer Online then I give up on gamers.