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[NastyBook]

This has been known for a very long time.

Its not like Sony hides this fact.

.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

It's stated in the terms, and is one reason I avoid digital preorders. If I decide to do one, I wait until a few days before so I can still preload.

I agree that it sucks.

 

[DOWN]

Sony only does this to trap people into a purchase though right? There's no logistical reason to prevent cancelling pre-orders is there?

 

[vg260]

Why the fuck would you ever preorder digitally to begin with? Especially this far out? If you want to preload just wait until the preload starts to preorder.

That's irrelevant. The point is that it is an atrocious policy and need to be highlighted and scrutinized.

 

[flkraven]

Pre-Orders

You may cancel a pre-order of digital content at any time before the release date. If the release date has passed, you can still change your mind and request a refund up to 14 days after payment was taken for the pre-order, provided that you have not started downloading or streaming the content to your device. See more information about cancelling a pre-order here.

lol. Are 'helps' region specific?

 

[The Last Wizard]

Don't preorder digitally on PSN unless there's a discount or promotion dude.

 

[AwRy108]

This has been known for a long while and it's been a major problem since the beginning. One of the many reasons going all-digital still has a long way to go.

/thread

 

[icespide]

This has been known for a long while and it's been a major problem since the beginning. One of the many reasons going all-digital still has a long way to go.

What? Just don't preorder. What's the issue?

 

[brawly]

Why would you pre-order digital games months in advance.

Why.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Sony only does this to trap people into a purchase though right? There's no logistical reason to prevent cancelling pre-orders is there?

This is all preorders are for. There is zero benefit to the consumer for preordering, especially AAA titles and especially digitally. Preordering exists to that GameStop or Sony can have some or all of your money early without giving you anything for it. There's no benefit to the consumer other than the "feeling" that you are buying into a game you are hyped for, and these companies prey on that. As consumers please stop spending money for something that has zero benefit to you.

 

[big_erk]

Good thing you preordered that digital copy of Destiny 2 before they ran out.

Now that's just mean. Funny, but mean.

 

[Archtreyz]

This has been known for a long while and it's been a major problem since the beginning. One of the many reasons going all-digital still has a long way to go.

One of the many reasons going all-digital on PSN and Xbox Live has a long way to go. Steam, you're fine.

 

[kennyamr]

This has been known for a very long time.

Its not like Sony hides this fact.

Yup.

I've known this for a long time. Since I started pre ordering actually during the PS3 era.

I always do because I know I will play them.

Don't pre order games that you are not 100% sure you will want to play.

I don't mind pre ordering those, even with bad scores, I'm sure I will want to give them a try.

 

[KaoteK]

That's some bullshit, I mean I know it's stated clearly when you preorder on US PSN, but still.

US PSN refunded me No Man's Sky no questions, and I'd played a number of hours before I'd asked for a refund.

Maybe keep trying your luck?

 

[Bluth54]

I don't even know why you need to pre-order with digital.

On PC you can often get pretty good deals when preordering digital games from Steam key resellers like Green Man Gaming.

 

[Veritigo_X]

Yeah there's zero reason to pre-order months in advance unless you're wanting to give Sony an interest free loan for some reason. I often pre-order but always a couple days before release date just so I can pre-load.

Still, we shouldn't have to take precautions like this due to a lack of basic consumer rights. Sony and Microsoft should take a page out of Valve and Google's book and give us some consumer friendly options.

 

[vg260]

What? Just don't preorder. What's the issue?

Perhaps it's worth highlighting because it's an incredibly customer-unfriendly policy and worth pressuring Sony more about it?

I find it funny when something like this is brought up from time to time the responses are simply "don't preorder if you don't like it". That's the obvious workaround, but is it a reasonable policy to begin with? Isn't more criticism and attention beneficial to customers?

There was near rioting when Microsoft revealed their original Xbox One plans. I don't think the response of "Just don't buy it. What's the issue?" was an appreciated response as it didn't really address the underlying issues. People pressed Microsoft for a more customer friendly policy until they did something about it. Why not do the same here so Sony makes a more reasonable policy?

I get that a lot of people don't care for digital, but this is not an inherent issue with digital purchases, but Sony's policy.

 

[phant0m]

This isn't news? It literally says it on every preorder page.
Also, many people have had luck getting the "courtesy" refund from Sony, myself included.

It also only refunds for your PSN wallet, not back to a card. You people really always want to have your cake and eat it too. Jesus man it's a digital preorder, they're not gonna run out of stock. Don't preorder unless you've seen impressions and you know you want the game.

 

[NoKisum]

Could it be a Bungie/Destiny thing?

I remember hearing about a few US people cancelling their pre-order for South Park: The Fractured But Whole a little while ago because of its recent delay, and they got their money back as well as a free copy of Stick of Truth.

 

[Mass Effect]

I bought a game, didn't worked well on my PC and Microsoft staff gave me a refund in one hour. I don't think they have the same policy at all.

Microsoft gives you the refund if required, no reason to not give it to you, I mean, it's digital content, the license can be returned

Well that's good to know. At least MS isn't shitty about this.

 

[Archtreyz]

Perhaps it's worth highlighting because it's an incredibly customer-unfriendly policy and worth pressuring Sony more about it?

I find it funny when something like this is brought up from time to time the responses are simply "don't preorder if you don't like it". That's the obvious workaround, but is it a reasonable policy to begin with? Isn't more criticism and attention beneficial to customers?

There was near rioting when Microsoft revealed their original Xbox One plans. I don't think the response of "Just don't but it. What's the issue?" was an appreciated response as it didn't really address thew underlying issues. People pressed Microsoft for a more customer friendly policy until the did something about it. Why not do the same here so Sony makes a more reasonable policy?

That's why you stop pre-ordering. More than anything, companies hate losing money. If we'd stop feeding them pre-orders and stuff like this, they'll change their policies.

 

[FZW]

Yeah, this has been well known...

which is exactly why I don't pre-order from PSN (or at all really).

Curious: What are Microsoft and Nintendo's stance on this? Same?

MS has refunded games for me before.

 

[spwolf]

Microsoft is so much better. Took me 5 minutes online chat or less.

I cancelled my south park pre order because release date has changed twice.

your request, your order placed on Tuesday, August 16, 2016 has been refunded. You should see $59.99 credited to your account soon

thats kind of bad case against PSN, because for South Park preorders they auto refunded everyone and let you keep another version of the game that was bundled in, for free.

 

[Cynar]

It clearly does state when you're purchasing a game that all sales are final.

Yup. I go into this knowing it as well. Op really needs to read things more clearly before making a purchase with anything in the future.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

I never digitally pre-order way in advance. The only time I ever pre-order digitally is during the period when I can pre-install the game thus I know I want to get the game anyways.

 

[KaoteK]

Perhaps it's worth highlighting because it's an incredibly customer-unfriendly policy and worth pressuring Sony more about it?

I find it funny when something like this is brought up from time to time the responses are simply "don't preorder if you don't like it". That's the obvious workaround, but is it a reasonable policy to begin with? Isn't more criticism and attention beneficial to customers?

There was near rioting when Microsoft revealed their original Xbox One plans. I don't think the response of "Just don't but it. What's the issue?" was an appreciated response as it didn't really address thew underlying issues. People pressed Microsoft for a more customer friendly policy until the did something about it. Why not do the same here so Sony makes a more reasonable policy?

Spot on, Sony don't get a pass, they need to take a lead out of Steam's book, this along with the dreaded ws-37937-9 error code are some anti consumer bullshit.

 

[antibolo]

The whole concept of "digital pre-orders" is stupid to begin with.

Or at least it should only be available once pre-load has begun.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Digital stores are designed to trade your consumer rights in exchange for convenience. Like, actually designed with this in mind.

You can, at best, expend multiple hours fighting to get this resolved. Customer Service is going to do its best to ensure the company holds on to your money.

 

[styl3s]

The whole concept of "digital pre-orders" is stupid to begin with.

Or at least it should only be available once pre-load has begun.

I only ever pre-order to pre-load which is usually the day before but yeah i would never pre-order a game 3,4,5,6+ months out.

Unfortunately i pre-ordered Persona 5 last night only to find out my Best Buy has the Heart edition and i had already gotten my "one time return" on Drive Club :-/

Digital stores are designed to trade your consumer rights in exchange for convenience. Like, actually designed with this in mind.

You can, at best, expend multiple hours fighting to get this resolved. Customer Service is going to do its best to ensure the company holds on to your money.

Digital stores except GOG, Steam, Xbox, Origin and a few others.

Convenience shouldn't factor into anything we need better consumer laws.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

It clearly does state when you're purchasing a game that all sales are final.

Yeah, came here to say this. It's clearly written that you can cancel pre-order unless it's required by law.

Now is that rule shitty or not, is an entirely different conversation.

 

[Fj0823]

And this is why I only pre-order games I really REALLY really know I want

 

[vg260]

That's why you stop pre-ordering. More than anything, companies hate losing money. If we'd stop feeding them pre-orders and stuff like this, they'll change their policies.

Sure, in an ideal scenario that would work, but in practice pre-ordering will never completely be done away with, and as long as the mechanic exists, there should be a reasonable policy in place for it.

 

[EatinOlives]

I'm fairly in-the-know and I wasn't aware of the policy. It's a bad policy that exists for no good reason. People ought to be made aware of it, especially when they're making a big push on the digital storefront.

It's a shit policy for sure, but I never pre-order anything digitally and even I knew about the no-refund policy...

 

[Bl4ckSunsh1n3]

It's been like this for a while. It even tells you on the store page that refunds are only available where required by law. It's right there if you read all of the stuff before you buy it.

Don't preorder on PSN. If you must preorder (something I also don't recommend unless you are absolutely sure about the game), use Amazon or something where you actually can cancel. If you want it digitally, wait until it's released to buy on PSN.

 

[icespide]

Perhaps it's worth highlighting because it's an incredibly customer-unfriendly policy and worth pressuring Sony more about it?

I find it funny when something like this is brought up from time to time the responses are simply "don't preorder if you don't like it". That's the obvious workaround, but is it a reasonable policy to begin with? Isn't more criticism and attention beneficial to customers?

There was near rioting when Microsoft revealed their original Xbox One plans. I don't think the response of "Just don't but it. What's the issue?" was an appreciated response as it didn't really address the underlying issues. People pressed Microsoft for a more customer friendly policy until the did something about it. Why not do the same here so Sony makes a more reasonable policy?

I get that a lot of people don't care for digital, but this is not an inherent issue with digital purchases, but Sony's policy.

I understand it's not consumer friendly and it would be better if refunds were allowed but there is a huge difference between this and the original Xbox One policies.

If you bought an Xbox one and those policies were real you would have no choice but to live with those policies

You are not required to preorder digitally there is literally no reason to.

The post I responded to was saying it's a reason to not go all digital which makes no sense. If you're okay with the other drawbacks of digital why would not being able to cancel preorders be a reason not to when you literally have no reason to need to do it?

Now bringing it up and getting Sonys attention to potentially change it? I'm all for that. I only take issue with the idea of this being a reason not to go all digital

 

[MaKTaiL]

Huge OLD news I'm afraid. Didn't need to post that long conversation.

 

[minameissteve]

You need to call them if you want a chance at a refund. Chat support is worthless.

 

[inner-G]

Buying digital is a losing proposition in many ways.

You give up a ton of control and functionality for convenience.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

lol. Are 'helps' region specific?

Yes. On Playstation, Americans and Europeans deal with totally different companies. EU PSN Store and US PSN Store are completely separate with nothing shared between them - even the categories at the top of the web store are different. The region set in your PSN account will redirect you to the correct company's store and policies, logged out users get geolocated.

Americans deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment America, while Europeans deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe.

 

[TheMan]

Ran into this problem with my son, he's two years old. Loves to grab the controller and pretend he's playing like daddy. Anyway, I thought I had 2step authentication turned on...I didn't. He somehow managed to preorder steep and the last guardian by button mashing. Sony gave me one curtesy cancel but I had to keep TLG. Could have been worse I guess but lesson learned. Up until that point I had never preordered digitally and I was sure that preorders could be cancelled.

 

[Elandyll]

Don't pre-order?

It's been said already, but the point really is that there is 0 reason to pre order digitally.

If it was a physical LE/ steelbook whatever which may run out, sure.

But Digital? Might as well wait for reviews to hit, and no more than 2 days prior when you know that some early impressions will at least filter out.

Accesd to Betas is something they're trying to push (the industry)as a perk, but for that you can pre order physical on Amazon and cancel later on if need be.

 

[ps3ud0]

Really should be making companies have policies that are better than what they are legally obliged to apply. Helps all us consumers out...

Digitals a really sucky medium and consumer law doesn't seem to protect us as well as physical products. All this for the sake of convenience...

Glad I'm in the UK but even Im worried how digital goods are interpreted in current consumer law. Probably get worse post Brexit to boot

ps3ud0 8)

 

[dubq]

Good thing you preordered that digital copy of Destiny 2 before they ran out.

To be fair, pre-ordering digitally gives you beta access...

 

[pelican]

Well, this isn't particularly consumer friendly.

Pre-orders can be refunded in the UK, different consumer laws mind you.

 

[nakedeyes]

Sad story, and I wish Sony would budge, but buyer beware dude! This is not news to anyone who even remotely looks at the PSN policy, which is something you should do if you are the type to preorder a digital game months in advance.

Also: don't preorder digital months in advance! Set a phone reminder and buy it a week in advance of releas or something. It is not is danger of selling out!

 

[vg260]

You are not required to preorder digitally there is literally no reason to.

Of course you are not required to do so. You are also not required to buy a PS4 or Xbox at all, but just because it's an optional delivery medium or product doesn't mean they shouldn't have reasonable policies.

Also, there are digital pre-order exclusive items sometimes like themes (regardless of how trivial). and there are limited-time promotions like the spend $100/get $15 back. So there are literally reasons to pre-order digitally, whether you find them worthwhile personally or not.

 

[icespide]

Of course you are not required to do so. You are also not required to buy a PS4 or Xbox at all, but just because it's an optional delivery product or medium doesn't mean they shouldn't have reasonable policies.

Also, there are digital pre-order exclusive items sometimes like themes (regardless of how trivial). and there are limited-time promotions like the spend $100/get $15 back. So there are literally reasons to pre-order digitally, whether you find them worthwhile personally or not.

So you would preorder it for the 100 get 15 back but then try and refund it? What?

Did you even read the rest of my post? I'm not trying to argue this is a reasonable policy I am arguing this isn't a reason to not go all digital

 

[dubq]

It's been said already, but the point really is that there is 0 reason to pre order digitally.

As I said above, in Destiny 2's case you get beta access with a digital pre-order. I want to participate in that, therefore I pre-ordered digitally. Sounds like a good enough reason to me as I am getting a benefit out of it.

 

[HiredN00bs]

As I said above, in Destiny 2's case you get beta access with a digital pre-order. I want to participate in that, therefore I pre-ordered digitally. Sounds like a good enough reason to me as I am getting a benefit out of it.

It's actually for early beta access, which implies the Destiny 2 beta will be completely open at some point during its run.

 

[WormBoi]

This is why you shouldn't pre-order at all, it's not even needed for digital purchases. Also implement the old fashioned method of waiting for reviews and user-impressions before making your purchase.