Lost 400 crystals due to arena refresh/connectivity bug
(I was instructed to post this here by one Richard E. from EA customer service; predictably, EA has refused to offer a refund)
The other day, I had used up my 5 arena runs for the day but needed to do a one more to secure top 5. So I press the 50 crystal refresh button. But my phone had a connectivity issue - pressing the button did nothing. I was running out of time, so I pressed it again, went out of arena and back in, pressed it, still nothing. Did a few more repeated attempts. Finally, I switched my phone to a more reliable connection and voila, 5 more runs! So I quickly go in to battle. Only, on emerging, I notice to my surprise I was not down 50 crystals, but 400! And a little while later, another 50 mysteriously disappear...evidently, each time I pressed the button (probably 8-9 times), it deducted 50 crystals from my account, but I only got one refresh.
This seems to be a bug. The game registered multiple "purchases" (EA defines crystal exchanges as purchases even when no real life cash changes hands) and charged me for all of them, when in fact only one purchase (50 crystals for a refresh) was made.
Much to my chagrin, EA customer service declined to restore the lost crystals. They said that "all purchases are final." No refunds! A common policy...However, I would dispute that 400 crystals of purchases had been made, as that implies a fair exchange of goods. I made 8-9 "purchases" of arena refreshes, but only received one refresh in return - 5 more runs, not 40. EA never honored their end of the bargain, in my opinion.
If I had purchased more cantina energy than I wanted due to a bug, say, and got 400 crystals worth of energy I didn't want - fine, a mistaken purchase, but I still get something in exchange for my crystals. No refund would be fair in that case. But here, I got nothing in exchange for the bugged, mistaken purchases.
To be fair, EA did offer a credit of 100 crystals at first as a 'special exception'. I replied that that's much less than my loss in crystals and ask for the full amount, but now the 100 crystals are off the table it seems and I'm directed to the forums. I'm making this post here, perhaps as a note to programmers to account for connectivity loss in purchases better, perhaps as a warning to others not to impatiently press a purchase button multiple times - and not to expect compensation from EA if you do.
The other day, I had used up my 5 arena runs for the day but needed to do a one more to secure top 5. So I press the 50 crystal refresh button. But my phone had a connectivity issue - pressing the button did nothing. I was running out of time, so I pressed it again, went out of arena and back in, pressed it, still nothing. Did a few more repeated attempts. Finally, I switched my phone to a more reliable connection and voila, 5 more runs! So I quickly go in to battle. Only, on emerging, I notice to my surprise I was not down 50 crystals, but 400! And a little while later, another 50 mysteriously disappear...evidently, each time I pressed the button (probably 8-9 times), it deducted 50 crystals from my account, but I only got one refresh.
This seems to be a bug. The game registered multiple "purchases" (EA defines crystal exchanges as purchases even when no real life cash changes hands) and charged me for all of them, when in fact only one purchase (50 crystals for a refresh) was made.
Much to my chagrin, EA customer service declined to restore the lost crystals. They said that "all purchases are final." No refunds! A common policy...However, I would dispute that 400 crystals of purchases had been made, as that implies a fair exchange of goods. I made 8-9 "purchases" of arena refreshes, but only received one refresh in return - 5 more runs, not 40. EA never honored their end of the bargain, in my opinion.
If I had purchased more cantina energy than I wanted due to a bug, say, and got 400 crystals worth of energy I didn't want - fine, a mistaken purchase, but I still get something in exchange for my crystals. No refund would be fair in that case. But here, I got nothing in exchange for the bugged, mistaken purchases.
To be fair, EA did offer a credit of 100 crystals at first as a 'special exception'. I replied that that's much less than my loss in crystals and ask for the full amount, but now the 100 crystals are off the table it seems and I'm directed to the forums. I'm making this post here, perhaps as a note to programmers to account for connectivity loss in purchases better, perhaps as a warning to others not to impatiently press a purchase button multiple times - and not to expect compensation from EA if you do.
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