ECA Update: Amazon discount gone "for the time being"; in process of self-destruction

can someone please explain the stacking concept to me? Was it that people were using the same eca code over and over for one game or does it mean they used the eca code + another discount?
 
[quote name='SpiderHulkThing']can someone please explain the stacking concept to me? Was it that people were using the same eca code over and over for one game or does it mean they used the eca code + another discount?[/QUOTE]
I asked this question twice in this thread but no one loves me enough to answer lol
 
[quote name='USB Cable']I asked this question twice in this thread but no one loves me enough to answer lol[/QUOTE]

we're having too much fun playing the blame game!

basically eca had 3 different batches of codes, first ones started with L, second with J, n last started with 66. it turned out though that amazon took these as different codes, so you could get up to 30% off if you had older codes.
 
[quote name='xycury']Old code that you put in and never used, OR a canceled order that you had an ECA code tied to.



STOP spreading this crap about auto 10%. ECA and Amazon are completely different entities and wouldn't have any control in releasing any kind of information that would tie the discount together by those two accounts.[/QUOTE]

It wasn't in there yesterday and I haven't canceled any orders.

How am I spreading anything? I clearly said I have no explanation for it.
 
[quote name='USB Cable']I asked this question twice in this thread but no one loves me enough to answer lol[/QUOTE]

there were different batches of codes, people were stacking the first batch with the second and than with the third to get 30% off.
 
[quote name='slidecage']ummmm called this weeks ago when the discounts first disappeared.... Amazon probally wants nothing to do with ECA after the entire GI free account (no company is going to give all of these people 10% free on games) .... ECA will make up a story and blame it all on amazon (what they did ) amazon will never come back to ECA


Months ago ECA probally went to amazon and amazon goes how many people you have... ECA goes less then 10,000 .... Amazon thinks to sell well it could help both of us out and since people are PAYING To access ECA there wont be many people using the codes... Then all of a sudden BOOM that less then 10,000 = 50,000 + amazon goes, no way in hell we are going to issue that many codes and that you allowed stacking that you mostly #$#$# us over... We dont need you, eca needs us,,,, Good bye.

Eca makes up a story about how this is all amazon fault so the people will say its amazon fault and ECA can do no wrong.

sorry but like i said as soon as the codes disappered.. amazon is long gone and eca mostly just #$#$# everyone over

i sort of find it FUnny that if amazon say NO to the codes then whey do the old codes Still work..... More like amazon said NO MORE NEW CODES and ECA is making this entire story up

if all codes would be removed Old codes would not be still working...[/QUOTE]

totally agree. The GI coupon is a bigger problem than any stacking
 
[quote name='y2jasper']we're having too much fun playing the blame game!

basically eca had 3 different batches of codes, first ones started with L, second with J, n last started with 66. it turned out though that amazon took these as different codes, so you could get up to 30% off if you had older codes.[/QUOTE]
Now I gedit! Thanks for clearing that up you and DefeatUForever. I put in about 10 codes from the last batch just so I didn't have to keep putting in a new one so I was thinking I did something wrong and Amazon was gonna send snipers for me. :whistle2:# I buy all my games from Amazon now so I used almost all of them on pre-orders and have about 1-2 left anyways.

I hope Amazon does their own membership situation for the codes I would gladly join that and enjoy a pack of tic tats! :whistle2:k
 
Echoing y2jasper, slidecage, 62t and so on...

The free ECA memberships hurt Amazon more than the stacking; in fact, the stacking is merely an annoying result of the free membership debacle. Why?

Stacking was actually an internal issue for Amazon, since Amazon was the one issuing the codes to the ECA. Once the free membership floodgates opened the ECA was running out of codes in a matter of days, as opposed to a matter of months. At first, Amazon hastily provided new codes (rife with stacking glitches), but after a few accelerated batches Amazon probably realized that something was amiss with the ECA. Amazon could have corrected the stacking codes by being more careful with code creation or by issuing account codes, but they're not pleased with the ECA.

The ECA has created an external issue for Amazon, something which Amazon could not control: everyone and their dog can get a free ECA membership with a plain discount code. Instead of serving a select group of people, limited by the fact that they had to pay $15/$20 to reap the benefits, suddenly Amazon was bombarded by tens of thousands of free members demanding the same benefit. As slidecage and others have said, no business in their right mind would continue to honor that.

So what does that say about the ECA? They're mismanaged. By offering limitless complete memberships for free, the ECA has shown complete disregard for both their partners and their paying members. Their partners now have to contend with an abnormally enlarging base, and oddly enough, the ECA blames their partners for not keeping up with the demand. Their paying members have no actual benefits over the free members, and yet the ECA expects them to stay on board. There are a number of ways that the ECA could have prevented this, such as limiting the number of free memberships, reducing the free memberships to a limited trial period, limiting some benefits from free members, or merely reducing the cost by $5 for a limited amount of time. Free full memberships without any thought to the negative consequences shows really poor planning on their part.

While I support the reasoning behind the ECA, I will probably not renew my paid membership with them. There are ways to run free membership organizations, but this isn't it. They're driving membership numbers up at the expense of partners and paid members, and that really shows a lack of sense.
 
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Oh well, at least we know it's dead. I was waiting for that so I could buy stuff safety again :whistle2:/

I agree that the other discounts will probably be lame.
 
[quote name='Guerrilla']Echoing y2jasper, slidecage, 62t and so on...

The free ECA memberships hurt Amazon more than the stacking; in fact, the stacking is merely an annoying result of the free membership debacle. Why?

Stacking was actually an internal issue for Amazon, since Amazon was the one issuing the codes to the ECA. Once the free membership floodgates opened the ECA was running out of codes in a matter of days, as opposed to a matter of months. At first, Amazon hastily provided new codes (rife with stacking glitches), but after a few accelerated batches Amazon probably realized that something was amiss with the ECA. Amazon could have corrected the stacking codes by being more careful with code creation or by issuing account codes, but they're not pleased with the ECA.

The ECA has created an external issue for Amazon, something which Amazon could not control: everyone and their dog can get a free ECA membership with a plain discount code. Instead of serving a select group of people, limited by the fact that they had to pay $15/$20 to reap the benefits, suddenly Amazon was bombarded by tens of thousands of free members demanding the same benefit. As slidecage and others have said, no business in their right mind would continue to honor that.

So what does that say about the ECA? They're mismanaged. By offering limitless complete memberships for free, the ECA has shown complete disregard for both their partners and their paying members. Their partners now have to contend with an abnormally enlarging base, and oddly enough, the ECA blames their partners for not keeping up with the demand. Their paying members have no actual benefits over the free members, and yet the ECA expects them to stay on board. There are a number of ways that the ECA could have prevented this, such as limiting the number of free memberships, reducing the free memberships to a limited trial period, limiting some benefits from free members, or merely reducing the cost by $5 for a limited amount of time. Free full memberships without any thought to the negative consequences shows really poor planning on their part.

While I support the reasoning behind the ECA, I will probably not renew my paid membership with them. There are ways to run free membership organizations, but this isn't it. They're driving membership numbers up at the expense of partners and paid members, and that really shows a lack of sense.[/QUOTE]

Very well reasoned, and I agree wholeheartedly. Perhaps a "tiered" membership system would have worked better. Free members get a couple paltry benefits. The $15-20 annual membership would get some better bonuses. Then maybe a $40-50 annual "platinum" membership would get the cream of the crop, including Amazon.

The current situation is all kinds of messed up, though. Unless they come back with something good, I certainly won't be renewing next year. I've already gotten more than my money's worth (and for the record, I never stacked any codes), so I might as well wait it out to see what happens.
 
Didn't circuit city used to have a membership for $50 annually?

I'd pay that for a 10% off Amazon membership STRAIGHT from Amazon.

The ECA completely shit the bed.
 
[quote name='Guerrilla']Echoing y2jasper, slidecage, 62t and so on...

The free ECA memberships hurt Amazon more than the stacking[/QUOTE]

I did read some stuff from the ECA (shortly after the codes went down) saying that Amazon had no problem with the ECA's overnight boost in membership. This was before they sat down and had a meeting, so perhaps that's not the case anymore. Did that meeting ever happen, by the way? I don't see the post/discussion up @ ECA anymore, but perhaps I'm just missing it.

Edit: Ah, found it. http://forums.theeca.com/showthread.php?t=6672
 
[quote name='confoosious']Didn't circuit city used to have a membership for $50 annually?

I'd pay that for a 10% off Amazon membership STRAIGHT from Amazon.

The ECA completely shit the bed.[/QUOTE]

It used to be $20 for 1 year and you get 10% off all games. I got it free with the purchase of a system and easily saved more than $20
 
all i can say to all the talk about stacking, free membership, and lack of codes is this...

was it that hard for amazon to make a 10% off coupon?????

This whole issue seems to stem from amazon being at fault simply because they produced hastily made and faulty discount codes, which in reality people, i ask once again, how hard is it to make a 10% discount code...

In fact, to avoid all of this, amazon and ECA should have collaborated to link an eca account to an amazon account, making the 10% off instant. Not much that could go wrong with that method as well.
 
[quote name='Guerrilla'] While I support the reasoning behind the ECA, I will probably not renew my paid membership with them. There are ways to run free membership organizations, but this isn't it. They're driving membership numbers up at the expense of partners and paid members, and that really shows a lack of sense.[/QUOTE]

Agreed . . . Further, this is just one more example of the complete and utter lack of communication that I brought up as an issue earlier -- there is no good reason why we should have to come to the CAG forums to get information about what's going on with the ECA rather than having it come from the ECA themselves (all due respect and thanks to the OP of course, whatever his relationship to the ECA might be). And yet here it is, now a full day since this was posted here, and there is nothing on the ECA website or forums other than a very terse "this promotion is no longer available". Sorry, but that doesn't cut it at this point. I mean, I get why they would try to dodge the issue given the amount of flak they're bound to take for it, but they created the situation and now they should deal with it.

[quote name='kilm']Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."[/QUOTE]

Has anyone actually tried this to confirm whether it cancels only the recurring billing or cancels the membership entirely? As tempting as it is to cancel my membership out of protest for the way they've handled everything, I would be seriously annoyed if they did actually manage to come up with another worthwhile offer later and I had to pay again to get it. Still, there's no way in hell that I want them to even try to auto-renew my membership at this point.
 
[quote name='arcane93']Has anyone actually tried this to confirm whether it cancels only the recurring billing or cancels the membership entirely? As tempting as it is to cancel my membership out of protest for the way they've handled everything, I would be seriously annoyed if they did actually manage to come up with another worthwhile offer later and I had to pay again to get it. Still, there's no way in hell that I want them to even try to auto-renew my membership at this point.[/QUOTE]
Just the recurring fee. . .in theory. I mean, you still have membership rights/access but it's anyone's guess as to whether they actually cancel the fee lol. I've done this myself, so I can vouch.

And honestly, what's the worst that could happen? Have to sign up for a new free triaLoL account?
 
[quote name='the_grimace']all i can say to all the talk about stacking, free membership, and lack of codes is this...

was it that hard for amazon to make a 10% off coupon?????

This whole issue seems to stem from amazon being at fault simply because they produced hastily made and faulty discount codes, which in reality people, i ask once again, how hard is it to make a 10% discount code...

In fact, to avoid all of this, amazon and ECA should have collaborated to link an eca account to an amazon account, making the 10% off instant. Not much that could go wrong with that method as well.[/QUOTE]
Why would or should Amazon care or spend there manpower or resources to accomodate the Eca? I mean seriously Amazon doesn't need the Eca but the Eca needed Amazon and there to blame by offering everyone and there brother a free membership.
 
Well, I knew about the ECA for a long time, even knew about the free promo code from GI Mag, but I dragged my feet for so long that I only got 2 10% off codes by the time the closed up shop.

I can't complain, it's about $12 I'll save on games I'd be purchasing anyways, it's just a bummer to see it go.

I just went ahead and canceled the recurring fees on my account and can confirm that it does not end the membership benefits until the paid (or free) year is up.
ECA Full Membership This role will expire on 10/02/2010 - 20:04
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='jacknicklson']It doesn't cancel your membership, just the recurring charge[/QUOTE]

Thanks to everyone who answered. I was concerned by the "This action cannot be undone and may result in the termination of subscription services." message which comes up, but I suspect they probably mean that the subscription will now terminate at the end of the membership term, not anytime sooner. Anyway, recurring fee canceled -- they now have until August to impress me with something else (either another worthwhile benefit or actual accomplishments :lol:) if they want to see anything more from me.
 
[quote name='zohar']I love this thread. Every time I'm bored at work, I just peek in here and read a couple of pages. :)[/QUOTE]

You can say that again. ;)

Anyways, shame ECA coupons are dead but it was good while it lasted. Pretty sure I got at least $15 in discounts on Amazon, so I didn't lose out. Still annoyed, but the ending was inevitable.
 
[quote name='kilm']Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."[/QUOTE]

Thanks for posting that. I just canceled my recurring sub... I honestly don't care what other discounts they're going to offer, Amazon was the only one worth it. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be crappy.
 
oh well, I paid for a membership a week before free ones became available. At that time I went hog wild and preordered everything I could want all the way through the first quarter of next year. So I got my money back.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']I agree that the stacking sped up the process. But my question from the beginning was what amount of codes was Amazon comfortable with distributing. Sure, the quicker the codes are used, the more sales Amazon makes, BUT how much it's actually raising profits is difficult to determine. I never got the feeling that Amazon was comfortable just giving the ECA an endless supply of discount codes.

My feeling is that this is a partnership Amazon was reluctant to form in the first place, and these problems just showed them what a bad idea it was. I don't expect to see any prominent businesses linking up with ECA from here on out. The "new businesses" they're talking about adding will probably end up being Circuit City (aka Tigerdirect 2.0) or Barnes & Noble (aka We'll Give You 15% off by Charging 30% More!) As a paid subscriber of the ECA, until I hear something positive they actually accomplish for the gaming community, here's hoping they go down in flames.[/QUOTE]

I'm questioning if they made a profit at all on a 10% alone, of course I have no clue what their margins are but it's pretty common knowledge (or thought?) that it's not very high and since Amazon is already taking a nice part off ($2-$6 on brand new releases, months later typically $7-10). So I'm guessing their margins are slim to start and adding that 10% for everything just put it over the edge.

But I think you're absolutely right on the second bit, Amazon just needed a small justification to kill it and giving it out pretty much free and then the stacking was more then enough.
 
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Umm... weird. I pre-ordered Tekken 6 on Friday and didn't have any codes left. All of a sudden, I'm getting 20% off my orders, I just made an order for 3 games and it's still there.

Only thing that've happened since then are that
1 - Amazon refunded me for a damaged copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii Version, they refunded me Wednesday and replaced my copy last week..lol).
2 - Removed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized from one of my current orders and put it in the one I just made so I could get the release date delivery.
 
Daily Reminder: the ECA, an organization supposedly here to represent consumers, scammed its own consumers and now censors all dissent/discussion of this on its forums.
 
[quote name='kilm']Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."[/QUOTE]

Thanks for posting this, since I paid $20 for my fee about 10 days before the free shenanigans.

I did pretty well with the discounts, though (not stacking like the geedy ones, mind), and at the very worst, came out even as if I never bought the discount to begin with.
 
Thanks for that link! I like that he spelled that all out, and hope this doesn't hurt them. I've been really impressed with Hal in the past (a big part of the reason I joined).
 
[quote name='62t']What are some of the things he done in the past?[/QUOTE]

Not to be confrontational, but does it even matter? Were in the present, his organization is obviously in a bind give the guy a break...
 
[quote name='seen']In case anyone has missed it; the ECA is a non-profit which never advertised you were paying for an exclusive Amazon discount. More interestingly according to the ECA prez, most of the ppl complaining are the one's who got the service for free!!!

http://forums.theeca.com/showpost.php?p=111495&postcount=6[/QUOTE]
But if you can't behave civilly and continue to send our staff abusive and threatening messages, we will terminate your membership and we will not allow you to renew.
Click to expand...
Idle threats LOL! I could make as many free accounts as I wanted right now if I cared enough. This guy is a tool.
 
The irony of that statement is in a region that is far beyond mind-boggling.

[quote name='jacknicklson']LOL at scam, learn to read things when you sing up for them[/QUOTE]

Well, I think we've been around these boards long enough to know that anytime someone doesn't get what they want, they will likely refer to it as a "scam."
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']The irony of that statement is in a region that is far beyond mind-boggling.[/QUOTE]
Well if it isn't my #1 fan. Hope you enjoyed the autograph I sent!
 
[quote name='seen']In case anyone has missed it; the ECA is a non-profit which never advertised you were paying for an exclusive Amazon discount. More interestingly according to the ECA prez, most of the ppl complaining are the one's who got the service for free!!!

http://forums.theeca.com/showpost.php?p=111495&postcount=6[/QUOTE]

Before, they were saying how free accounts were NOT the reason for Amazon pulling the codes. And now they're saying the free accounts are the ones who are complaining about it?

Guess they're starting realize that maybe giving away free accounts wasn't a good idea.:roll:

This has been a huge disaster for The ECA's image. I doubt most people cared about how The ECA was proactive about gamers/gaming and only did it for the discounts but now, those people will only remember the ECA as the organization who said they would provide free discounts and then backed out.

About the only good thing from his post is that it sounds like they're trying to get more discounts (though sadly, not from Amazon) but I'd wager he is saying that just to cool people down a bit.
 
That's what I'm worried about Vinny. Hopefully not...I don't think a lot of people understood what they were signing up for.

I mean I'm disappointed, but not THAT much because I may have supported them anyway-I'm probably going to let it renew even if they don't have any more discounts, but a lot of people seem to just think it was some discount club or something.

I'm honestly just happy that we KNOW they're gone. Amazon lost out on a lot of sales from me while I thought they were coming back.
 
Its funny because before if you mentioned you only got a paid membership for the amazon discount and didn't care about the eca or what it claims it does, you'd be jumped all over in the old thread. Now not so much lol. I'd also like to see the number of paid members that have now cancelled renew their membership renewal, Im willing to bet its significant number. And their presidents message is a joke, sure if you call days between any updates and just stating anything to ease the community whilst not providing any real info good communication than the eca is great. And lol at threatening to take away the free memberships to your shitty organization, Im sure it would crush a number of people if you did so who never gave you a dime or cared about the eca to begin with but did enjoy a discount at amazon.
 
The new discounts need to start already. This membership has been completely worthless for weeks now. And I am one of the schmucks who paid for it (given I did get the .edu discount ~ $15). Really gonna miss the Amazon discount.
 
[quote name='seen']Not to be confrontational, but does it even matter? Were in the present, his organization is obviously in a bind give the guy a break...[/QUOTE]

Actually, yes it does matter. He claims that everything they do "is public and very visible", but my response to that, then, is that if that's the case they must not be doing very damn much. Again, I've gone all through their site looking for what it is they're actually doing (not position statements, not web petitions, not editorials, etc., but actions and accomplishments) and have come out empty handed. From what I see, it looks to me like they're just hiding behind a lot of pretty-sounding but ultimately empty rhetoric.

He also claims that they send out a "monthly membership newsletter", but I haven't received one (or anything else) since joining (and I check my spam box regularly, so I know it didn't get dumped in there). Again, I don't want daily gaming industry news, I don't want a job in gaming, and I don't want social networking -- I want to know what the ECA has done and is doing with the money that I gave them (because yes, Hal, I'm vocal and I'm a paying member).

Just because they managed to get non-profit status registered with the IRS doesn't mean that they're actually an effective, or even legitimate, organization.

But believe me, I want to be proven wrong on that.

And I'll admit -- while they had the Amazon discount, I didn't really care, because I felt like I was getting my money's worth regardless. But if they now want me to care about the organization for the sake of the organization, then I want to see some accountability.

I do agree with him that there's no reason not to be civil (and when their people chose not to be civil to me for asking questions on their forums, I chose to just not go back rather than responding in kind). But I think they'd see a lot more civility if they were more forthcoming with answers.
 
On a related note, anyone having problems logging in to their ECA account?
I signed up a while ago, and paid for my ECA account, but I just tried to log in and the system isn't recognizing my email address. I'm pretty sure it was fine a few weeks ago, anyone else having this problem?
 
[quote name='seen']In case anyone has missed it; the ECA is a non-profit which never advertised you were paying for an exclusive Amazon discount. More interestingly according to the ECA prez, most of the ppl complaining are the one's who got the service for free!!!

http://forums.theeca.com/showpost.php?p=111495&postcount=6[/QUOTE]

Mmm, I just don't get this eca president. Why attack the free member by giving this quote

1st quote
"And we occasionally run promotional 3, 6 and 12 month free trial promos, which is the smallest category, but apparently most vocal "
Isn't that being vocal is good in this kind of organization? You need to be more vocal to be heard. And why blaming a specific group (free member in this case), as a professional organization or business, you never blame or critize a member or customer, unless they're breaking a law.


2nd quote:
"I am not a big forums person, but will check my PMs, so feel free to message me there if you have additional questions, comments or complaints."

Again, if you don't like being in a forum; where people exchange comments, ideas, etc; why are you becoming the president of an organization that supposed to being vocal to the industry to defend all gamers?


3rd quote: "But if you can't behave civilly and continue to send our staff abusive and threatening messages, we will terminate your membership and we will not allow you to renew."

Threat??? What kind of president are you? LOL...


I'm a paying member by the way, and already get my membership back from Amazon discounts... And I'm not going to renew my membership next year, not because Amazon is gone, but because I don't like the way this president handle a simple matter like this.
 
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[quote name='seen']In case anyone has missed it; the ECA is a non-profit which never advertised you were paying for an exclusive Amazon discount. More interestingly according to the ECA prez, most of the ppl complaining are the one's who got the service for free!!!

http://forums.theeca.com/showpost.php?p=111495&postcount=6[/QUOTE]


Actually, when people were still paying for memberships, there was verbiage about how it would pay for your membership if you bought 2-3 games per year.

Also, it isn't like the free memberships were some kind of hack or cheat. They freely advertised the no-cost membership. He has no room to complain about those members being vocal.
 
[quote name='arcane93']Actually, yes it does matter. He claims that everything they do "is public and very visible", but my response to that, then, is that if that's the case they must not be doing very damn much. Again, I've gone all through their site looking for what it is they're actually doing (not position statements, not web petitions, not editorials, etc., but actions and accomplishments) and have come out empty handed. From what I see, it looks to me like they're just hiding behind a lot of pretty-sounding but ultimately empty rhetoric.
[/QUOTE]
All very well said, arcane.
 
[quote name='yourlefthand']Actually, when people were still paying for memberships, there was verbiage about how it would pay for your membership if you bought 2-3 games per year.

Also, it isn't like the free memberships were some kind of hack or cheat. They freely advertised the no-cost membership. He has no room to complain about those members being vocal.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I can confirm this. It was something they marketed as though it justified the expense. It's not like it was being pushed as the ONLY reason to sign up, but they weren't shy about puffing out their chests about it. And I don't blame them because landing that discount was a huge accomplishment. But it seemed like they got in over their heads quickly and completely botched the execution.

With competent management, Amazon could have been an incredibly lucrative partner for the ECA. But giving out free access to the discounts that Amazon was so gracious to even consider offering was a slap in the face. Maybe the free membership was the only way to get the ECA in Game Informer, but they really didn't need that to increase membership. Sure, it gave them a huge boom, but it also was their greatest downfall.

Slowly but surely would have been a better approach. And with a steady Amazon discount, word of mouth and small internet ads would have been effective enough to increase membership and convince people that the $15-20 fee was worth it.

As others have mentioned, now that we're (and when I say WE, I mean the people who gave money to support the organization...not the parasites who killed the goose and are now crying about it) expected to be trustworthy, honorable people who care about the good that the organization does, we also deserve to read reports and see results of what they're accomplishing. Like it or not, it's a two way street.
 
Shame it's gone. Though I will continue to use Amazon.

I paid $15 and I definitely paid it off. ECA was dumb to give out free memberships, especially if they had this Amazon discount. Though Amazon should have found a better way to give out discounts to prevent stacking.
 
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