'The Sims 4' Problems: How To Return The Game And Get Your Money Back From EA Origin

Disappointed with “The Sims 4?” You can return the game for a full refund through EA and Origin’s Great Game Guarantee, as long as your purchase meets a few requirements.

“The Sims 4” launched a week ago for the PC, and fans of the popular life simulation series have been more than vocal about the number of flaws in the title, from the game “being boring” to several missing key features, such as the toddler stage of life, dishwashers and swimming pools.

Critics also say they're lukewarm about “The Sims 4.” Game Informer scored the title 6.75 out of 10, and the Escapist called the game "basically ‘The Sims 3,’ but shrunken and sterile” and awarded the game 2.5 out of 5.

Players aren’t just disappointed with the game. Many are growing increasingly frustrated with developer and publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA), whose subsidiary company, EA Maxis, developed the title along with Sims Studio, another division of EA.

Last year, EA received criticism after launching first-person shooter “Battlefield 4” Oct. 29. Though the game received a number of positive reviews, it also became known for its plethora of bugs and glitches, even several months after its initial launch.

“The real disappointment here is how people continue to hand EA money hand over fist time and time again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 18,489,345 times ... It's amazing how they can make such an enormous profit by churning out garbage. I guess that's what the ‘art’ in Electronic Arts is. Continually parting idiots from their money by selling them a heap of garbage is indeed an art,” an anonymous Reddit user said.

Another user voiced agreement.

“They keep peddling out s--- but people are so incredibly dumb that they keep buying it. Would they ever do these obvious cash grabs if no one bought them? Of course not, but people are just that dumb,” forum member flamuchz said.

If you’re dissatisfied with your experience with “The Sims 4,” Origin does offer a return policy, a program called the Great Game Guarantee.

“We stand by our games. If you’re not completely satisfied with your digital download purchase from Origin, you can return it,” Origin says on its return policy page. “When you play a game for the first time, you expect it to rock -- to be worth every nickel you spent on it. We expect that, too.”

The rules on returning the game are somewhat stringent. When you download an EA game from Origin, you can return it only within 24 hours after you first launch the game, within one week from your purchase date or within one week from the game’s release date if you pre-ordered the title. To see if you’re eligible for a refund, check here.

Use this page to submit a refund request. You can check on the status of your request by viewing your order history on the order summary page.

Origin and EA warn all downloadable content and non-EA games are not included in the Great Game Guarantee. You can see more of the program’s policy here.

Were you able to successfully return “The Sims 4”? Leave a comment below.