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Not offering refunds on software is one of the most anti-consumer practices used in the digital age of gaming. However, it looks like people are beginning to wise up as The BBC is airing an episode of Watchdog tonight, investigating Sony's PlayStation Network store and its lack of digital refund option.
The show will be airing at 8PM tonight on BBC One. So what kicked off this investigation? Well recently one PS4 owner noticed that a £39.99 purchase was made on their PSN account on a PlayStation 3 console. However, the account owner, John Lappin, does not own a PS3.
As you would expect, the customer contacted Sony, explained the situation and the company did acknowledge that his PSN account had been stolen and his payment details had been used to make an unauthorized purchase. However, Sony failed to reverse the purchase, citing a ‘no refunds' policy.
Sony's reply to Lappin acknowledged that they could confirm that his account was hijacked by someone else and used to make an unauthorized purchase: “Our investigation concluded that the serial number of the console on which these transactions were made does not match the serial number of the console you provided to us on your original call. Regrettably, as stated in the PlayStation Network Terms of Service, we are unable to offer a refund for purchases made on PlayStation Store unless the content is found to be defective.”
Obviously this is a big problem and Sony's attitude to the whole situation was awful, which prompted Lappin to get in touch with The BBC. Funnily enough, once the Watchdog investigation began, Lappin did get his refund but Sony isn't getting off that easy, the show will still air this evening and will hopefully prompt it to revise its refund policy.
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KitGuru Says: Refunds on digital purchases are definitely possible, Apple does it in the iOS App Store, Origin has managed it for some time now but there are other platform holders, such as Microsoft, Sony or Valve that refuse to give consumers their fundamental right to a refund. Hopefully this report will spark some changes.
Via: Eurogamer
how was a individual had his old psn account details stolen the only thing i could see is that he sold his old one left the details on it they hacked the system and used his details on another system ,when i sild my ps3 i made sure the harddrive was clear and rebooted it i never used the account for two years purchased a ps4 and i up and ran the account without no problems i also take the bank details off it after a purchase you have to be wise on how you sell your items on he was lucky that he did get a refund change your passwords with numbers and letters
or… You could notice that Sony were hacked multiple times last year and had PSN account data stolen.
Difficult one, I guess it a practice to prevent ‘try before you buy’ or just blast through the content and then get your money back, hence a free game. Gone into this kind of business myself and trying to protect even the smallest business (like mine) from customers charging back for no reason and people asking for refunds on DLC is a nightmare. Quote from Consumer Rights Act 2015:
Are customers entitled to a refund, repair or replacement?
If the consumer is supplied with ‘faulty’ digital content, depending on the nature or extent of problem, he may be entitled to: repair replacement price reduction refund
Keyword – Faulty
The point is if your details are stolen through no fault of your own like when Sony is hacked and details are stolen and it can be proved you didn’t make the purchase you should have a refund in cases where u actually bought it yes you shouldn’t be refunded unless faulty simple and easy really but when it comes to gaming they are money grabbing. I mean look at digital compared to physical copies prices no shipping no discs yet digital mostly always costs more than physical
Fraud is reimbursed by your credit card provide not sony. You call the police file a report and get reimbursed.
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This is flat out bull***t. I have gotten refunds for games and DLC that I HAVE paid for on several occasions. I just recently got a full refund for The Witcher 3 because I wanted to buy a disk coppy. When Destiny was coming out I asked for amd got a full refund for the digital gaurdian edition because i simply didn’t think I would be playing it much as all my friends were playing it i the 360 at the time. I was given a full refund for my DC Universe DLC because I didn’t understand the details of how buying new characters worked. I even got a full refund for rental of Batman v.s. Robin because I had to go out of town and didn’t get to watch it. Some times, they don’t want to help you but in that case you just have to ask to speak to some one else or call back. I can’t think of any case where I either changed my mind on a pre order or something wasn’t working and didn’t get an refund.
Account info accessed last year? Source? Because all I remeber about hacks against PSN weren’t hacks but DDoS attacks to the online servers.
Except Sony has threatened to lock out the accounts of anyone who doesn’t pay the money from purchases made by the fraudsters. Meaning not only do they lose the money but all the content they legally bought from the PSN not to mention the PSN is still a buggy piece of shit despite charging for the service so they could improve it.
you don’t ever need sony to reimburse you. Tell your credit card company and they will handle it. They will reimburse you not sony. Finally you don’t need a credit card you can pay with your cell phone and get confirmation texts or use prepaid cards. Your account being hacked unless it was due to sonys negligence is not their fault. It’s yours or your credit card company’s. Police reports and credit card providers deal with fraud not sony.
The game publisher decides on gaming price not sony.
See you don’t seem to understand the problem, this guy’s credit card company gave him the money back but now Sony is demanding the money and threatening to lock the guy out of his PSN account, Sony know it was a case of fraud yet are still demanding money. Sony is basically telling this guy they are prepared to take away thousands of pounds worth of content over a £40 purchase he never made in the first place.
Also Sony are providing a service, we promise not to hack the PS4 or do anything against the terms and requirements and they promise to deliver a decent service. Now it might not be Sony’s fault but this attitude doesn’t make Sony look good at all, at the very least they should let it go. I get the othet stuff Sony’s done in the past since it’s not good business to allow people to hack into your product and get the things you intend to sell for free but this is punishing a paying customer for something another person did. Between this and PTA being removed by Konami, puts me off buying digital content from the PSN store.
Then you sue. It’s really quite simple. Small claims court doesn’t even require an attorney. If what they are doing is legal be mad at your laws in your country not sony. You pay taxes for the government to protect you.
Except it’s not as easy as that, Sony is a multibillion dollar company. You’d end up in court with them for years over a case you might not even win in the end.