• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Why there's no refund policy on PSN yet?

S

SlipperyFishes

Banned
Mohasus said:
Because first party titles are the crème de la crème and every game is optimized for the PS4, there is no reason to ask for a refund.

On PC half of the time the games won't run or there will be performance problems, so it makes sense to have such a system implemented.
Click to expand...
I hope this is a sarcasm post.
 
C

Chronospherics

Member
In terms of refunds, I don't think the returns policies offered by Microsoft or Valve are good solutions. So I'm not convinced Sony would be able to roll out a good solution either. On PSN their are too many arcade style and indy games that you could easily play for a few hours, beat and then return, so a refund policy would need to take be considerate of, and make an effort to protect those developers and publishers from that abuse.

I could easily have returned What Remains of Edith Finch, after I had beaten the game, with Valve's 2hour refund policy.

PackAPunchedMick said:
Open games for sure. Never bought a code from amazon.co,uk
Click to expand...

Only time I have ever tried with amazon.co.uk they have said they need to be sealed. Same as Argos, same as HMV.

Nothing in their returns policy seems to suggest that they would take an unsealed game back within a 30 day period.
 
R

Recall

Member
Chronospherics said:
In terms of refunds, I don't think the returns policies offered by Microsoft or Valve are good solutions. So I'm not convinced Sony would be able to roll out a good solution either. On PSN their are too many arcade style and indy games that you could easily play for a few hours, beat and then return, so a refund policy would need to take be considerate of, and make an effort to protect those developers and publishers from that abuse.

I could easily have returned What Remains of Edith Finch, after I had beaten the game, with Valve's 2hour refund policy.



Only time I have ever tried with amazon.co.uk they have said they need to be sealed. Same as Argos, same as HMV.

Nothing in their returns policy seems to suggest that they would take an unsealed game back within a 30 day period.
Click to expand...

Wrong.

UK consumer rights indicate you can return any product within 28 days of purchase with a valid receipt and for the goods to be in a re-sellable state.

What happens if you open a game and the press was faulty making it so the game doesn't play?

Is it sealed, no. Can you return it, yes you can.
 
T

Toki767

Member
I know Sony tracks how many hours you've played a game since they send e-mails telling your your total hours gaming, but I wonder if that tracks playing games offline too.

I just think PSN is still basically handicapped from the PS3's PSN infrastructure. All they've done on the PS4 is give it a face lift, but it's still the same inside.
 
C

comedian

Member
I'm astounded that this allowed in the EU to be honest. I just don't understand why consumer right laws are so much weaker for digital purchases than physical (though the answer is most likely that laws are just very slow to adapt to the new digital age).

I bought Witcher 3 on the PSN for almost full RRP price (approx. 50£), played it for a few hours thereby realising that I hated it. If I had bought it at a store (or even Amazon) I could have returned it and got a full refund, but because I bought it online I was out of pocket. Given that with Amazon Prime Now I can sometimes get something delivered within 1-4 hours, and often Amazon is cheaper, there is no reason for me to purchase a game on PSN.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
They won't even let you cancel preorders even though their terms say you can. My friend and I played FF14 on PS4 but recently both bought gaming PCs and made the jump to that platform. He preordered the new expansion already on PS4 and entered several chats with customer service and they refuse to cancel his preorder for it.

I told him whatever he does do not reject the charges because Sony will ban his account. I can't believe they won't cancel the preorder; I've cancelled several preorders in the past.
 
T

TheVoidDragon

Member
Bluth54 said:
Consumers are more likely to buy a game they aren't sure if they'll like if they can easily refund it.

Sony wont be sued in Europe or Australia for violating their consumer laws requiring refunds.
Click to expand...

This is something that people mention a lot, and from what i've seen it's entirely wrong There are no EU laws they're violating by not giving refunds.

The EU "Right to withdraw/return" with digital goods only applies until the start of their end of the contract (as in, the game has been provided). You get the key activated on your account right away after buying, so immediately you loose the right to return it. That's what the EU law says.

Here's the exact quote for you:

For such contracts, the consumer should have a right of withdrawal unless he has consented to the beginning of the performance of the contract during the withdrawal period and has acknowledged that he will consequently lose the right to withdraw from the contract.
Click to expand...

So what EU law do you think they violate?
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Because no one has legally forced them to do so and it's not keeping people from investing in their system.

It's a shame really. Not even being able to get a refund for a pre order before the game has even been released is beyond ridiulous
 
P

PackAPunchedMick

Member
Chronospherics said:
In terms of refunds, I don't think the returns policies offered by Microsoft or Valve are good solutions. So I'm not convinced Sony would be able to roll out a good solution either. On PSN their are too many arcade style and indy games that you could easily play for a few hours, beat and then return, so a refund policy would need to take be considerate of, and make an effort to protect those developers and publishers from that abuse.

I could easily have returned What Remains of Edith Finch, after I had beaten the game, with Valve's 2hour refund policy.



Only time I have ever tried with amazon.co.uk they have said they need to be sealed. Same as Argos, same as HMV.

Nothing in their returns policy seems to suggest that they would take an unsealed game back within a 30 day period.
Click to expand...

I had success returning Driveclub, Unity and Black Ops 3 on PS3 just by stating the games were broken or missing content i had no idea they didnt include.

Got a full refund within 4 days on all of them.

Replacements are even better, you get the replacement before youve even returned the broken game.

Fbh said:
Because no one has legally forced them to do so and it's not keeping people from investing in their system.

It's a shame really. Not even being able to get a refund for a pre order before the game has even been released is beyond ridiulous
Click to expand...

This isnt the case in the UK, you can access your account management via the website and manually cancel the pre-order your self.
 
D

Drillary Clinton

Banned
I purchased FFXIV: Stormblood on PS4 the day it was announced. I got a gaming PC 2 months later and wanted to cancel my preorder and had a challenging time getting them to refund my money. Finally, after speaking to someone higher up, I did. Only to find out it got refunded to my PSN wallet -_______-
 
T

tsundoku

Member
Drillary Clinton said:
I purchased FFXIV: Stormblood on PS4 the day it was announced. I got a gaming PC 2 months later and wanted to cancel my preorder and had a challenging time getting them to refund my money. Finally, after speaking to someone higher up, I did. Only to find out it got refunded to my PSN wallet -_______-
Click to expand...
well yeah thats how the process works, you are always funding your psn wallet the exact or remaining amount of a purchase from your credit card / paypal / psn card and then using the psn wallet funds to buy licenses
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
Drillary Clinton said:
I purchased FFXIV: Stormblood on PS4 the day it was announced. I got a gaming PC 2 months later and wanted to cancel my preorder and had a challenging time getting them to refund my money. Finally, after speaking to someone higher up, I did. Only to find out it got refunded to my PSN wallet -_______-
Click to expand...

Well that's the most they do.

i got a refund for mass effect 2 on PSN after 4 days of back and forth with emails. they just refunded the price of the game on psn. they won't go past this stage for obvious reasons
 
C

Chronospherics

Member
Recall said:
Wrong.

UK consumer rights indicate you can return any product within 28 days of purchase with a valid receipt and for the goods to be in a re-sellable state.

What happens if you open a game and the press was faulty making it so the game doesn't play?

Is it sealed, no. Can you return it, yes you can.
Click to expand...

They also explicitly state that they have the right to refuse a return of anything that can be consumed, which includes items like digital codes.

I think it's different if you can evidence that the game is faulty and you just want an exchange, but it's different returning a game that you simply don't like, yet may have used the digital codes for.

That's just been my experience however. I know you can usually get further with a good argument, but never have I had a return on an unsealed game be treated as something they accept without question.
 
D

Drillary Clinton

Banned
tsundoku said:
well yeah thats how the process works, you are always funding your psn wallet the exact or remaining amount of a purchase from your credit card / paypal / psn card and then using the psn wallet funds to buy licenses
Click to expand...

Ok but does steam not have a similar system? When refunded on steam, the funds go back to your payment method, in this case, PayPal.

I ended up getting the Uncharted expansion but now have a wonky ass $13 left sitting in my #wallet.
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
Drillary Clinton said:
I purchased FFXIV: Stormblood on PS4 the day it was announced. I got a gaming PC 2 months later and wanted to cancel my preorder and had a challenging time getting them to refund my money. Finally, after speaking to someone higher up, I did. Only to find out it got refunded to my PSN wallet -_______-
Click to expand...

#4theplayers.
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
Drillary Clinton said:
Ok but does steam not have a similar system? When refunded on steam, the funds go back to your payment method, in this case, PayPal.

I ended up getting the Uncharted expansion but now have a wonky ass $13 left sitting in my #wallet.
Click to expand...

With that #wallet, you can purchase those awesome themes and avatars on PSN™!
 
K

Kayant

Member
Probably a combination of their current infrastructure plus not being forced to legally as mentioned to provide it but with MS's accounuement maybe they will more incentive to do it.
Keyser Soze said:
There is no point in having a 10 day refund on PSN as by the time you actually downloaded the game you'll already be outside of the eligibility period
Click to expand...
D6l8fu1.gif
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
Scrawnton said:
They won't even let you cancel preorders even though their terms say you can. My friend and I played FF14 on PS4 but recently both bought gaming PCs and made the jump to that platform. He preordered the new expansion already on PS4 and entered several chats with customer service and they refuse to cancel his preorder for it.

I told him whatever he does do not reject the charges because Sony will ban his account. I can't believe they won't cancel the preorder; I've cancelled several preorders in the past.
Click to expand...
Live Chat support is useless in this situation. Pretty sure they'll always say no. Tell him to call in and be nice. Don't have an attitude or take it out your frustrations on the CSR and maybe, just maybe they'll help you out.

I've refunded 3 games so far by doing this (each time they told me it was a one-time refund lol) . Sometimes all it takes is a little kindness.
 
ArtHands

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Chronospherics said:
In terms of refunds, I don't think the returns policies offered by Microsoft or Valve are good solutions. So I'm not convinced Sony would be able to roll out a good solution either. On PSN their are too many arcade style and indy games that you could easily play for a few hours, beat and then return, so a refund policy would need to take be considerate of, and make an effort to protect those developers and publishers from that abuse.

I could easily have returned What Remains of Edith Finch, after I had beaten the game, with Valve's 2hour refund policy.



Only time I have ever tried with amazon.co.uk they have said they need to be sealed. Same as Argos, same as HMV.

Nothing in their returns policy seems to suggest that they would take an unsealed game back within a 30 day period.
Click to expand...

you can get banned for refund if you abuse the refund system.
 
JareBear: Remastered

JareBear: Remastered

Banned
This is why I don't understand why pop-gamer culture embraces going all digital so universally. That "who regrets going all digital" thread from a couple weeks ago was almost entirely filled with everyone saying all digital is perfect and anytime someone said they like physical, the mob would chastise them.

Physical will always make more sense from a value standpoint, period. No discussion required.

The reason why PSN doesn't offer refunds is so many people but digital despite the fact it makes zero fiscal sense, Sony has no reason to change. Sony is rolling in dough from digital sales

Digital versions should cost at least 25 percent less than physical releases
 
Tumle

Tumle

Member
Bluth54 said:
Consumers are more likely to buy a game they aren't sure if they'll like if they can easily refund it.

Sony wont be sued in Europe or Australia for violating their consumer laws requiring refunds.
Click to expand...
I'm all for refunds if a game is broken and unplayable or fallsly adveticed.. but refunds because you didn't like the game or you found a sale somewhere else after the purchase .. I have a hard time seeing how that is sonys fault and why they would get in trouble with any law for not giving refunds, on those premises.. would it be a nice gesture? Sure..
 
Lord Panda

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
I'm waiting for the our ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) here in Australia to force Sony to provide refunds just as Valve were forced to.
 
D

Dark-Cloudz

Member
Rellik said:
Your mistake was emailing them. Phone support has always been better with Sony.

But yeah, they should have a real system in place.
Click to expand...


They can do what they like. 15 formal emails and they should give me my fucking money back - literally the only game I've ever wanted to do it for.

So now I go 2nd hand. They've probably lost them selves about £300 of software for the sake of one game.

So to the guy who said what's in it for them? Not pissing off customers and maintaining a customer base who will loyally buy launch software. For me that ship has sailed on principle.
 
T

Tapejara

Member
It's something I really wish they'd change, in addition to letting us cancel pre-orders.

xrnzaaas said:
For me a bigger problem is why can't I buy a game that I got with PS+. I don't plan on cancelling my subscription anytime soon, but it would suck if I couldn't actually give them money to keep something for good.
Click to expand...

It bugs the hell out of me that if/when I cancel my PS Plus sub, my copy of the now delisted Simpsons Arcade Game will be unplayable and I'll have no way to regain access to it. It was awesome as hell that it was released for free on day one, but it sucks that my ability to play it is forever tied to a subscription service.
 
6

60EffPeeEss

Member
I work PS Support UK.

Refunds only happen to wallet. No permissions to refund to the card are ever given unless its faulty content, which you need to contact the dev first to receive confirmation they can't troubleshoot or they won't patch it, then send us that confirmation for us to process it.

A refund process like Xbox Live or Steam won't come to PS, at least not for a while, because SCE don't want to appear like they're copying competitors, because that'd open a whole can of worms in terms of people begging for other features that other services have.

Also PSN ID's are the database entry linked to your purchases. You can't change it because you'd lose all your shit. Maybe one day it'll change, maybe never. It'd be one hell of a process to switch it all over.
 
S

score01

Member
comedian said:
I'm astounded that this allowed in the EU to be honest. I just don't understand why consumer right laws are so much weaker for digital purchases than physical (though the answer is most likely that laws are just very slow to adapt to the new digital age).

I bought Witcher 3 on the PSN for almost full RRP price (approx. 50£), played it for a few hours thereby realising that I hated it. If I had bought it at a store (or even Amazon) I could have returned it and got a full refund, but because I bought it online I was out of pocket. Given that with Amazon Prime Now I can sometimes get something delivered within 1-4 hours, and often Amazon is cheaper, there is no reason for me to purchase a game on PSN.
Click to expand...

Am I wrong in thinking that if you by a game and don't like it, that's on you? Didn't think stores would accept returns of physical opened/played games.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Steam will stop issuing refunds if you play two hours of a game before launch day
News
12
1K
Spukc replied
Sony has gotta have the worst customer service
2 3
125
6K
SenkiDala replied
  • Locked
Ok Microsofts refund policy has turned to shit and I need to call them out.
2
64
4K
SoloKingRobert replied
[Jez Corden] If Microsoft really IS bringing Steam, Epic Game Store, etc. to Xbox consoles, it needs to answer these big questions
2 3 4
155
8K
sachos replied
Xbox Black Friday starts on November 17
News Hype Platform 2 3
121
8K
Leonidas replied
Top Bottom