When will they actually stop holding money?

[SolPhire]

they placed have a pending transaction on my account for $100 and they haven't done anything.

no shipping not even a printed label.

i don't see how they could make a put in transaction before they even send me anything. they said you will be billed IF you do not return the equipment in 28 days. So are they going to hold whatever money for 28 days?

what are you guys doing @ ea? this is sketchier than a 3rd party porn site.

[albinousrex]

they will hold the money until your part is recieved back at ea. im sure the 28 days will start from when they ship it. This is called express replacement. If you have a problem with it, then you should have done the longer one where no money is held. You are not billed this money and as long as you return your part, will never be billed it. The money is being held by the credit card company until ea says they no longer need it, or says to send it over. You never pay this amount. This is a safety fee so you are not just trying to get a free guitar out of this. They make sure your funds are large enough to afford a guitar and if you never send back a broken one, then they take the fee. This also prevents people from cancelling the card.

[Eastwood]

That is the beef that I have. Now that it has been posted, I am worried that the 28 day countdown has started.

[albinousrex]

harmonix are not trying to be jerks here because that is how they lose customers. As long as you send out your part within a few days of recieveing the new one, you will be fine. Even if you go above the 28 days by a few, i think harmonix will just be happy to get back a part. They know that parts havent started shipping yet and are aware of all the backup of replacements they need to get out. I would expect a statement from them in the near future on all issues.

[SolPhire]

i hope so. i just think it's strange that they put the hold on the money before they even took action. i think it would have made more sense to start the 28 days once your parts get signed for.

i really enjoy harmonix stuff too(frequency,amplitude), i would hate to think they have shady buisness practices. But i think that 100 is a bit steep to just put on hold without any notice or any sort of action taken to justify it.(the guitar doesn't feel like its a $100-125 toy guitar)

the replacements are going to be sturdier stuff or more of the same?does anyone know?

in a pinch i just might get gh2 and a guitar for a emergency one.(hope it doesn't come to that)

and this game needs some franz ferdinand.

[macafied]

The 100 dollar pending charge is simply for insurance. Otherwise someone who just bought the game could say they have a defective guitar when they just want to get a free guitar. If they didn't do this, people would take advantage of it.

[albinousrex]

as of now, no statements have been released with whether new stuff will come out, or it will be the same stuff rebreaking. Most likely they would make new stuff seeing all these issues and how common they are, but if they are really shipping out new parts today, im sorry to say i dont think they could have redesigned a guitar and produced it this quick.

I actually had a friend who just bought guitar hero 2 with the guitar because its the same price for teh guitar alone and it with the game (strange, i know), my guitar is still working for the itme being but it feels very loose. I might need to borrow the guitar hero one.

also, i agree with you on the 100 dollars being a bit steep. I think it also includes shipping though which would make it more accurate, 30 dollars is shipping costs for 2 day the size of the fender, and then 10 dollar restocking fee which i was made aware of, and then 60 for the guitar, (same as guitar hero) What i find outrageous is they are charging 125 for a drum petal. Whatever though, as long as the part gets returned, you dont have anything to worry about

[macafied]

You are not actually getting charged anything to return items. Not even shipping.

[Scoota]

when a merchant (EA) does a pre-authorize on a card, they can't remove it without completing the sale. The purpose of the pre-auth is to check to see if money can be held on your credit card. If you REALLY want to remove the pre-auth, call YOUR bank or entity who provides your credit card/bank card, and tell them the exact time and what it says on your statement. They can have it removed in roughly 3-5 days. If EA does NOT bill your card, it will stay on there up to 2 weeks, depending on which bank they go through to authorize credit cards.

These days can be slightly off, but I do work for a credit card processor, so I've got some experience with this.

[jq715861]

This was the norm for the hotel chain I used to work for (Starwood) operated. When you made a reservation or when you arrived at the hotel they would hold one nights price on your card for things like if you canceled after a certain date, or if you destroyed the room in some manner.

After 3-5 days after you checked out the hold would be released. The hold could be anywhre from 70- 500 dollars depending on of course what hotel brand and what city you were staying in.

[albinousrex]

holding the money is doing you a favor. They didnt have to send out the part first at all, they are just being kind trying to get the part to you as fast as possible

[Nekura20x6]

What's made me angry is the fact that there were many people (like myself) who were told the card would be "authorized" and charged if there was an issue. For them to then place a $100 hold on the card is not what I agreed to when I requested Express service.

I understand they have now changed the language of the page, but it's pretty shady to screw over those of us who had to request a replacment on release day.