Bass pedal broke. EA AWESOME TO WORK WITH!

[CENACHAINGANG54]

Ok so my biggest fear after reading some reviews happend. In the middle of Enter Sandman I feel this thing under my feet. Yep my pedal cracked! It did not totally crack in half I think due to the way the spring is inbedded in there. So after having to deal with Activision on my gibson which I still have a broke gibson that does not strum down, I hesitantly called EA support. Well it was quick and easy and my new pedal will be here in the next 5 to 8 days. He even gave me a ups tracking number. I would have gotten it quicker but I was without my credit card. So I hope no one has this problem but if you do then EA is easy to work with.

[Twilight]

did you have to pay for it at all or was the card used as like a reference or something?

[froston]

WHats the Number...my blue drum is still broken!

[blazedbishop]

I'd also like to know if you have to pay for shipping or not. If you do that is total crap the game has been out a day and equipment is already going to ****, not to mention it does have a warranty so we shouldnt have to pay ****!

[Angry_Games]

I'd also like to know if you have to pay for shipping or not. If you do that is total crap the game has been out a day and equipment is already going to ****, not to mention it does have a warranty so we shouldnt have to pay ****!

my Fender broke 5 songs in and I went to the EA support site, answered a question or two, gave them my cc# for express replacement (they won't charge it as long as I ship the defective controller back within 28 days) and then gave me a UPS tracking #.

I will have to pay shipping I'm sure back to EA or whatever, but I'm ok with that I suppose, I'll just ship it the instant the new one comes on the slowest boat to china with USPS which should be about $8 or so.

Not happy about it, but not really all that pissed off either after the ease of getting it replaced within 10 minutes and no hassle.

[SinistarX]

No, you don't pay shipping. Your replacement should come either in or with a box and a pre-paid shipping label for sending the defective unit back.

This is according to the EA support site, which says as much during the warranty fulfillment process.

[CENACHAINGANG54]

my Fender broke 5 songs in and I went to the EA support site, answered a question or two, gave them my cc# for express replacement (they won't charge it as long as I ship the defective controller back within 28 days) and then gave me a UPS tracking #.

I will have to pay shipping I'm sure back to EA or whatever, but I'm ok with that I suppose, I'll just ship it the instant the new one comes on the slowest boat to china with USPS which should be about $8 or so.

Not happy about it, but not really all that pissed off either after the ease of getting it replaced within 10 minutes and no hassle.

You do not pay shipping. Also they will put a pending charge on your charge card to verify it works this is also what EA told me. I called EA because my problem was not addressed on the site which was a broken bass pedal. So I called them. I got the number by selecting that I did not receive drums and it will give you the number to the warranty department. If you call you do not have to give a credit card or wait for an empty box. My new pedal is on the way and I have the tracking number and it will be here in 5 days or less. I was instructed to remove the new pedal and send back the old pedal in the box which will also contain a return label. Question is will the pedal be the same? If so I am thinking it will break again.

[HPLabonte]

No, you don't pay shipping. Your replacement should come either in or with a box and a pre-paid shipping label for sending the defective unit back.

This is according to the EA support site, which says as much during the warranty fulfillment process.

well, it better! i think mine crapped out on me again

[HCCAfan]

how much was the pending charge??

[mmorgan184]

My Bass pedal snapped during Ride The Lightning on Expert. Good to know that this is covered under the warranty, I was afraid I would be SOL.

[slipquicksand]

I had the bass pedal breaking problem tonight. I sent this to EA games, and I will just let the email explain the situation. For all of you who have had your bass pedal break it is going to happen again. The reason being is it is a simple matter of the materials being used on the pedal. I will let the email I sent speak for itself.....here it is.

My name is Jorge ****, and I have recently purchased the Rock Band Special Edition unit with drums, guitar, microphone and game and the other accessories that accompany this product.

I live in Denver Colorado and I do play drums in 3 bands within this city on a real drumset, not the rockband drumset. I have had the Rock Band drumset unit for 2 days and the drum pedal on the game has already cracked down the center of the foot board and broken. I have called your support number and explained my problem to them, and I have requested that they send me 3 pedals instead of 1 replacement. The reason I have requested this is because if EA games sends me only 1 replacement pedal it is going to break and then need to be replaced again. Thus again I am going to go through the same issue of not being able to enjoy my game and not have a replacement pedal when the next one breaks, and then call and wait for you guys to send me a new one, which to me is unacceptable and makes me even more upset with this game. I know the pedal will break again because it is made of a flimsy plastic that does not support a human being stepping down on plastic where the pressure point is right in the middle of the pedal where the spring presses against it. The manager on the phone hung up on me. He told me that he was only able to send 1 pedal to me which is unacceptable. He hung up on me because I would not accept that he would not send me 3 pedals. I do not want to have to wait for the next pedal to break and then call again to have another replacement sent to me only to have my game become this intermittent issue in my life.

The day I bought the game (2 days ago) I was so excited to have a game that catered to drummers. It worked great, except for the flimsy design on the bass pedal. The drum pads are made of rubber and will probably last for a while, but the drum pedal is not going to last long with the way it is designed and the materials that are used to make it. I am extremely upset and I would like to have the 3 pedals sent to me so I don't have to wait for another pedal the next time it breaks. I don't think that this is an unreasonable request since I spent $183 with tax to play a game that I was very excited about. Now it is essentially a paper weight in my living room, unusable and upsetting to look at.

I am going to send this message and hope that someone actually sees and understands what I am trying to say.

Also, I am very upset that your customer support person was unable to fulfill my request and hung up on me due to my persistence of wanting to just have the backup pieces so I can play this game that I am very excited to play, but now cannot.

The support person I had was Kathy ********, and she was great, but her supervisor is the one that hung up on me and refused to fulfill my request, I did not get his name, he did not give it to me. To me that is the poorest customer service that I have ever experienced. This game just came out and your phone support people have completely let me down and disappointed me to the fullest extent that they could. I almost wish that I had never paid for the game because I almost feel like I am wasting my time and that someone is just going to read this and then never help me.

What do I have to do to get 3 bass pedals until EA games realizes that the pedal board needs to be made of metal instead of plastic for it to last and work for everyone from your average person who has never played drums to someone who is a professional drummer like myself.

Please help me with this problem, and this must be forwarded to your supervisor or someone next in command after them. PLEASE HELP me with this matter, what do I have to do to get 3 pedals, or better yet, a pedal with a metal footboard, or even cheaper, the same pedal that you use now with a thin metal backing under the plastic foot pedal that will prevent it from breaking as easily.

Thank you for your help, but please, I need a supervisor or higher on this matter. You can reach me through my email which is ***************** or by phone at ************



SOOOOOO that is what has happened to me tonight. Like the email says, the problem with the footboard is that it is made of a shotty plastic. Even if you get a new pedal, it is only going to break again, that spring presses right in the middle of the board and your foot is easily going to break that plastic board if you step on it many hundred times in just a couple of days. I was playing on the expert mode because that is the only way I could actually keep up with the game. If I try to play it on easy or medium, the drums are to broken down and what I actually hear on the song does not actually apply to what I am playing on the game. It IS a great game, the pedal just has to be reworked, that is it. I just hope they don't dismiss me again because they have to give the same scripted answers that they are trained to give. I should know, I quit working customer service to become a full time musician.

[mmorgan184]

Yeah the Bass Pedal is very very cheap. I could feel it bending the whole time I was playing.

[ry_mann]

Hey, I've yet to play this game as I have to wait until christmas to play. I have a suggestion but I'm sure you may have thought about this. If you can, or have access to a music instrument retailer, see if they sell electric drum kickers seperately. The plug should be the same as the original Rock Band kicker.

Again, just a suggestion.

[Micker]

Well, my drums came with a DOA green pad. Tried to fix, no go. They are sending me a new one.

Pressing the bass, you only have to move it a small distance and you don't need to press it hard. It will be easier on you physically if you keep it pressed half way down and just move it a small distance to activate it. I am not saying that the thing isn't a piece of junk, but it might help it last longer if you take it easy on it. You should not be feeling the thing bending the whole time like one guy posted. Its not a real drum and kicking it hard does nothing but make you tired.

I think that EA is going to go broke replacing all these defective pieces. I mean they are REALLY cheap inside.

[maskofskin]

Both my friend and my pedal broke as well. Good to hear EA will be replacing them.

And to the guy wanting 3 pedals, I would have hung up on you too. You sound like a whiney d-bag.

[GregoryHarbin]

It's this sort of post that makes me feel better about Harmonix's working with EA. If they replace my guitar this easily, all will be forgiven.

Quicksand, calm down, and think about what you're asking. The company is not going to send you three free kick pedals. A lot (a LOT) of people are using it just fine, so if you're absolutely sure that you'll continue to break them, the problem is most likely with you. In which case, look online for some people who have created reinforced kick drum pedals with wood and the like. But don't call up EA again making ridiculous demands unless you want to keep getting hung up on.

[FarmerB]

How is the pedal breaking?

Mine is still iontact at the moment and seeing as I dont have a working guitar to play with, I want to try to save my drums!!! (I live in England, so not covered under thier crappy warranty)

Is it the top part or the bottom part that is snapping?

Also, Iread it could be caused by the spring pressure being to great on the plastic. Could you not cut part of the spring away to reduce its compression? Or do away with the spring all together and replace it with foam (just like EA did with the strum... hahahaha)..

Anyway, I plan to cut a piece of 16 guage sheet steel to the shape of the pedal and screw it over the existing pedal to reinforce it. And then maybe make the spring less resistive too.

If anyone could post a picture of the broken bass pedal, that would be great.

Thanks.

[mmorgan184]

I've seen pictures where it has broken right above the spring, and right under the spring, so basically, it's the pedal being made of crappy cheap thin plastic being the problem.

[Zeus974]

I'm going to reinforce my bass pedal. I'm going to take it to home depot and have them cut 2 pieces of metal that I can attach to the plastic. I'll take pictures and such when I get it done.

[naki5]

Same here. My pedal broke 2 days in :(

[FarmerB]

I'll be fixing some sheet metal to my bass pedal first thing tomorrow then I might cut the spring down to, cos it is really springy!!

[nonrate]

Yup, the first sign of structural failure occurred on hour 2 of playing. It was a soft muyshiness near the center of the pedal. Then, on day 3, it cracked in half. Unfortunately, I lost my number one slot for AJFA on expert and have no way to defend my title!

However, although I'll contact EA, I am not going to opt for a replacement right away. Why? Because it's pointless. The replacement will most likely break again. The pedal came out of the box in flawless shape, so the issue was not due to defective manufacturing. It's the design of the pedal itself that's flawed. I plan on actually figuring out how to reconnect and reinforce it the cracked piece to withstand the forces expected with true to life rock drummers. If that fails, then I'm going to figure out how to attach the sensor assembly to my tama bass drum pedal, or ask EA to ship me a new pedal and reinforce the unbroken one somehow.

I'm not surprised this broke. It's very cheap/brittle plastic that's used and anyone that's playing this game that's a real drummer, don't expect it to last. I've cracked real die-cast pedals in half before, so it's no surprise this one went so quick (to me). I will attempt to post my repair results if anyone's interested, it may fare better than a replacement.

SD

[MattOnDrums]

Mine did that on day 2 as well. The problem, as ppl have said, is that the plastic is to thin and not reinforced enough for the pressure of the spring and being played on hard or expert. lol
I play real drums, and to play hard or especially expert, you can't keep your heel flat down on the base like they want you too.
I did the online replacement thing so I'm going to try to reinforce the new one. I might do what I did with my broken one while I'm waiting. Since it broke in half under the spring, I took the best thing i could find laying around and duct taped two paint mixing sticks to it, holding the two pieces together.

oh i just found this, i'll prolly do this:
http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9625#9625

[rasehead]

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=11418

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rock-Band-Bass-Pedal-Reinforcing-Plate_W0QQitemZ280178036565QQihZ018QQcategoryZ1225 17QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Check it out.

[Lucent Beam]

I was playing tonight and my bass pedal snapped and snagged my sock up. Glad I wasn't play in bare feet!
I got super worried that it wouldn't be covered under warranty so I called EA and customer service was awesome (she kept asking me if my foot was ok since I mentioned that jabbed me and I'm thinking "Man, I hope there's not anyone out there who claims actually injury from having their pedai snap!" but I'm sure there would be people like that, so that is probably why she asked a couple times about it). She told me that I don't have the send the broken one back and that a new one would ship in 3-5 days. She never asked for a credit card number though.. I was surprised. Maybe it's cause I sound like a little kid so she figured I didn't have a credit card?
Anyway, what matters is that I'll get a new replacement and that the women I spoke to was friendly and helpful.

[AVC808]

I was playing tonight and my bass pedal snapped and snagged my sock up. Glad I wasn't play in bare feet!
I got super worried that it wouldn't be covered under warranty so I called EA and customer service was awesome (she kept asking me if my foot was ok since I mentioned that jabbed me and I'm thinking "Man, I hope there's not anyone out there who claims actually injury from having their pedai snap!" but I'm sure there would be people like that, so that is probably why she asked a couple times about it). She told me that I don't have the send the broken one back and that a new one would ship in 3-5 days. She never asked for a credit card number though.. I was surprised. Maybe it's cause I sound like a little kid so she figured I didn't have a credit card?
Anyway, what matters is that I'll get a new replacement and that the women I spoke to was friendly and helpful.

interesting. some say send it back, some say throw it out. people will be exploiting this for double bass soon, if they havent already.

[nonrate]

until the pedal itself undergoes a redesign, for a higher level of fault tolerance, I am suggesting to everyone to just repair/reinforce. It will cause the customer additional frustration in the long run and EA more money. Since repairing mine, it actualyl feels better than out of the box.

SD

[zacreeves]

I left mine at a friends house and came back and they had cracked the pedal right above the spring and then the first time I played it finished breaking in half. Since I was there and limited on tools/materials, we took two butter knives laid them long ways on top of the pedal and wrapped a ton of ductape around it. It's actually way better now, we played it hard for hours with no problem. It just feels sturdy now, doesnt look great, but anything similar will fix your problem.

[Lucent Beam]

interesting. some say send it back, some say throw it out. people will be exploiting this for double bass soon, if they havent already.

Well those people are jerks then.
I was definitely not exploiting it.. I was like close to tears when I called because I'm lame like that.
(I love the drums.... :( )