Game card "invalid"

I bought the box game and game card for a friend to start playing the game right before his trial ran out. I bought the box AE game, went home to find out we STILL had to have payment stuff (I do not use credit cards, and am on another person's Credit card that I pay and won't use paypal either) so we went out and spent ANOTHER $20 on a game card to come home and get the "invalid code". I entered in the code on the card as well as the code on the reciept (just cause I wanted to try everything), nither worked.

THEN go into the "help" and "contact us" to only be taken after I enter in question to a "create account" screen. SO I have no way to even enter in a trouble ticket!

I have now spent $30 on a game that doesn't work with money I don't have to spare! I will be calling them in the morning, but then I have to spend my own dime to call them as well as more time to sit on hold.

I'm not sure what is goin on but I am very frustraited with NC Soft and the lack of Coustomer service from their site.

Any ideas on where to go from here?

make sure you are typing the same exact thing in the box that is on the card. capitols and all.

I've purchased a game card a time or 2. Make sure that 8 isn't a B, or a 5 an S. If nothing else get a magnifying glass and go over it. I don't like NCs game cards for this reason.

I wonder if you can use a game card if you haven't gotten credit for the box yet for lack of a credit card. I know you can play the game using nothing but cards because I have a friend doing exactly that, I'm just not sure how he got it started to begin with.

I do think it is strange that you get a free month with the box but still have to provide a credit card to actually play the game. The last person I got into the game got around it by going down and buying a $20 VISA gift card and putting that in as the credit card.