Electronic Arts is the worst company in America — again! Consumerist readers are periodically asked to vote on companies to determine their level of customer service skills, and once again EA beat out Bank of America, Ticketmaster, and Carnival Cruise Lines for the not so coveted spot.
EA didn’t just “win” it obliterated the competition with 78 percent of the general vote. Other awful customer service related companies that were defeated include Anheiser-Busch InBev, Facebook, AT&T, Ticketmaster, and Bank of America, a company known for openly gouging its customers pocketbooks.
Other companies that didn’t fair well included Walmart, every cable provider in the history of TV, PayPal, and Best Buy.
The Consumerist’s Chris Morran writes:
“Following last year’s surprise Worst Company in America victory by Electronic Arts, there was hope that the video game giant would get the message: Stop treating your customers like human piggy banks, and don’t put out so many incomplete and/or broken games with the intent of getting your customers to pay extra for what they should have received in the first place.”
It is likely that Electronic Arts was voted worst company because of its recent attempts at DRM correction. The company’s SimCity platform was released with users unable to play because of an awful server setup. EA claimed the game needed online servers to operate, although a hack later showed that it could be played in offline mode.
Following the SimCity debacle, EA Games offers everyone with a SimCity account a free game of their choice.
After being voted the worst company in America, EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore promised, “We will do better.”
While Moore apologize for Electronics Arts ‘ recent blunder, he also said “the tallest trees catch the most wind,” suggesting that EA is voted the worst because so many people know the company and voted against it.
Do you think Electronic Arts is the worst company in America in terms of customer service?