EA recommends users GUESS their serial numbers

No biggie. The logical solution is that EA supplies customers with new codes, which they're happy to do if you're willing to photograph your serial and email it in. Otherwise, they've offered the public what must be one of the saddest "workarounds" in DRM history:

There is currently a work around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try "guessing" the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game.

In other words, try all 36 possible combinations and you'll get there soon enough. If you've been shorted the complete serial number, we'd recommend guessing all 1.33674945 × 10^31 combinations.[EA]"

http://gizmodo.com/5075094/ea-recommends-users-guess-their-serial-numbers

Oh EA. I can't think of any reason why gamers don't support you?!

lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAmephisto_11

I don't see any problem with this. Mistakes are made. **** happens. You can take a picture and prove you bought the game to get a new serial or you can guess the last character. Both solutions are 5 minutes worth of work. No biggy here. I don't really like EA, but bashing them because of this is just silly.Arsuz

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"]lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAJLF1

not saying i would pirate it but i would definately skip it. i don't like giving money to companies that want to have us by the balls and write the rule book. expecting customers to inconvenience themselves that much for the errors they made is ridiculous.

:lol: that's EA for you.

That's the dumbest solutio to any problem I've ever heard :lol:

[QUOTE="JLF1"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAmephisto_11

not saying i would pirate it but i would definately skip it. i don't like giving money to companies that want to have us by the balls and write the rule book. expecting customers to inconvenience themselves that much for the errors they made is ridiculous.

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

[QUOTE="JLF1"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAJLF1

not saying i would pirate it but i would definately skip it. i don't like giving money to companies that want to have us by the balls and write the rule book. expecting customers to inconvenience themselves that much for the errors they made is ridiculous.

this, its a concept the blind EA haters cant seem to understand

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

[QUOTE="JLF1"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAJLF1

not saying i would pirate it but i would definately skip it. i don't like giving money to companies that want to have us by the balls and write the rule book. expecting customers to inconvenience themselves that much for the errors they made is ridiculous.

companies make mistakes and that's completely understandable. but the way they are handling the solution seems like they are brushing aside people who paid $50 for a game and forcing them to inconvenience themselves further than they should. EA should have know that with their already bad rap that this is just going to disgruntle customers even further.

example of a good way to handle a mistake: apologize and add a 3 year warranty (ms with the 360). remove offensive content from a game (talking about lbp, though i 100% disagree with the outcry about this)

bad examples: denying the problem and forcing the customer to buy a replacement (Ps2 DRE), expecting the customer to search for troubleshooting for widespread errors on their own (nvidia with the widespread nvlddmkm errors for a long time.)

this, its a concept the blind EA haters cant seem to understand

warmaster670

companies make mistakes and that's completely understandable. but the way they are handling the solution seems like they are brushing aside people who paid $50 for a game and forcing them to inconvenience themselves further than they should. EA should have know that with their already bad rap that this is just going to disgruntle customers even further.

mephisto_11

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

companies make mistakes and that's completely understandable. but the way they are handling the solution seems like they are brushing aside people who paid $50 for a game and forcing them to inconvenience themselves further than they should. EA should have know that with their already bad rap that this is just going to disgruntle customers even further.

Teufelhuhn

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

[QUOTE="warmaster670"]

this, its a concept the blind EA haters cant seem to understand

darkslider99

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

companies make mistakes and that's completely understandable. but the way they are handling the solution seems like they are brushing aside people who paid $50 for a game and forcing them to inconvenience themselves further than they should. EA should have know that with their already bad rap that this is just going to disgruntle customers even further.

mephisto_11

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

mephisto_11

You know, I hate EA as much as the next person, but this is notthing to complain about. they messed up, sure, every company does it.
So they offered you two solutions:
1. Take a picture of the serial and send it them, they shall than send you the last digit.
2. If you don't feel like bothering with all that, simply try and guess the final digit.

Whaty else were they going to do? Recall every copy of the game and than slap new serial codes on, and than ship it out again? Any idea how long/how much money that would cost?
darkslider99

And Clear Sky was recalled due to missing CD keys so it's not impossible. Anyway, this is not that uncommon, one would think that whoever prints them serials had some sort of quality control and would notice it in time, but I guess not.

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

Teufelhuhn

EA is not like verizon or other large networks. they could handle this in a timely fashion and not dissatisfy customers further through using phone calls. the only catch is that it will run up costs and EA certainly doesnt like that.

regardless of my outlook on this matter or yours, most customers are not rational. EA already has a bad rep as having a draconian drm policy and a history of releasing bad games or ruining franchises people love.this situation only reinforces that view in people's minds. whether this is founded or not, we can't say but from a business and diplomatic point of view they should just suck it up and find a more convenient solution.

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

mephisto_11

EA is not like verizon or other large networks. they could handle this in a timely fashion and not dissatisfy customers further through using phone calls. the only catch is that it will run up costs and EA certainly doesnt like that.

regardless of my outlook on this matter or yours, most customers are not rational. EA already has a bad rep as having a draconian drm policy and a history of releasing bad games or ruining franchises people love.this situation only reinforces that view in people's minds. whether this is founded or not, we can't say but from a business and diplomatic point of view they should just suck it up and find a more convenient solution.

Geez guys...it's a misprint on the packaging. They're offering to completely replace the key if you want, or they suggested a workaround if you don't want to wait for that. I mean I understand that the hate for EA is usually dialed up to 11, but this seems a little over the top...Teufelhuhn

thats up to you, but am definitely not fine with spending hours trying to correct a mistake that the manufacturer made. Their solution is simply an insult, thats why I try to avoid EA products.

[QUOTE="mephisto_11"][QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

phone call and have the problem solved within 2 minutes

JLF1

EA is not like verizon or other large networks. they could handle this in a timely fashion and not dissatisfy customers further through using phone calls. the only catch is that it will run up costs and EA certainly doesnt like that.

regardless of my outlook on this matter or yours, most customers are not rational. EA already has a bad rep as having a draconian drm policy and a history of releasing bad games or ruining franchises people love.this situation only reinforces that view in people's minds. whether this is founded or not, we can't say but from a business and diplomatic point of view they should just suck it up and find a more convenient solution.

when companies stand to gain something, there is always one

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]Geez guys...it's a misprint on the packaging. They're offering to completely replace the key if you want, or they suggested a workaround if you don't want to wait for that. I mean I understand that the hate for EA is usually dialed up to 11, but this seems a little over the top...Muhannad_basic

thats up to you, but am definitely not fine with spending hours trying to correct a mistake that the manufacturer made. Their solution is simply an insult, thats why I try to avoid EA products.

[QUOTE="JLF1"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]

they should just suck it up and find a more convenient solution.

mephisto_11

when companies stand to gain something, there is always one

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]Geez guys...it's a misprint on the packaging. They're offering to completely replace the key if you want, or they suggested a workaround if you don't want to wait for that. I mean I understand that the hate for EA is usually dialed up to 11, but this seems a little over the top...Muhannad_basic

thats up to you, but am definitely not fine with spending hours trying to correct a mistake that the manufacturer made. Their solution is simply an insult, thats why I try to avoid EA products.

I agree. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm not exactly sure how the serial system works, but I imagine they could update their system so that serials are accepted even if the last digit is missing or something like that.mr_mozilla

[QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]I agree. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm not exactly sure how the serial system works, but I imagine they could update their system so that serials are accepted even if the last digit is missing or something like that.Teufelhuhn

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"][QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]I agree. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm not exactly sure how the serial system works, but I imagine they could update their system so that serials are accepted even if the last digit is missing or something like that.mr_mozilla

Ahh so instead of going the quicker and simpler route they should instea go for one that is more complex, will take longer and is more prone to complications because people are unwilling to spent 10 minutes of their time? Not only that but I doubt that anyone who did expreince the CD-KEY issues is unhappy at this and would prefer to wait atleast a month longer just because they hate EA so much and expect them to do it for them.

[QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"][QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]I agree. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm not exactly sure how the serial system works, but I imagine they could update their system so that serials are accepted even if the last digit is missing or something like that.Nikalai_88

Ahh so instead of going the quicker and simpler route they should instea go for one that is more complex, will take longer and is more prone to complications because people are unwilling to spent 10 minutes of their time? Not only that but I doubt that anyone who did expreince the CD-KEY issues is unhappy at this and would prefer to wait atleast a month longer just because they hate EA so much and expect them to do it for them.

[QUOTE="JLF1"][QUOTE="mephisto_11"]lol i almost regret buying dead space. F you EAmephisto_11

not saying i would pirate it but i would definately skip it. i don't like giving money to companies that want to have us by the balls and write the rule book. expecting customers to inconvenience themselves that much for the errors they made is ridiculous.

So then why do you support Microsoft when thousands of people have had to experience the inconvenience of being without a 360 for weeks while it's at the repair shop for RROD (which is an error on MS's part)?

:|

I'd much rather spend 10 minutes guessing a simple single digit due to a misprint rather than having no console for a few weeks due to a major design flaw...

what a bunch of bull.

Whatever you do, dont go and complain about them on their forums...POJO_MOFO

why, will they come down with the ban hammer?

No wonder why some peoples prefer to get cracked games... pirates get rid of securerom and other software damaging crap out of it before seeding it...

I am all for buying games... but when does it means the consumer must pay the price of the non-consumer? :o