I can also confirm this... and today i tried to join with out a premade, and it was the same problem as the OP says.
So how about you(BioWare) give us lvl 50 characters 5 BH commendations per day, and 8 per week untill you fix this issue!?!
And a peice of friendly advice from me, hire a better QA team... Cause i find their lack of knowledge disturbing!