-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Nintendo's discretional refund policy is unnacceptable
- Thread starter Deleted member 274
- Start date
Yes, I am from Europe but I have no idea how to fix the issue. Nintendo's response was that a refund for digital content from the eShop is not possible, I agreed to the TOS and thereby lose my right of revocation.
OP
OP
Their TOS isn't enough to stop you from filling a complaint or even suing them, I'm not knowledgeable enough to point you in the right direction since I haven't lived in the EU for more than 6 months combined but I'm sure someone else here could help you, you should try making a thread!
Last edited:
OP
OP
OP
OP
In a (supposedly) predominantly liberal community no less
OP
OP
I'm so glad every other product I buy in all areas of my life allows customers to return bad/defective items. They also don't seem to have an army of sycophants willing to defend the interests of billion dollar corporations over their own. I get better service buying my games on eBay. Game industry continues to be trash.
I don't know, NO REFUNDS seems pretty clear to me. They just let people get away with it once because the squeaky wheels get the grease.
It's not so much about the money, I am just disappointed about the way they treat their customers.
- Obviously I never activated the DLC.
- I issued the request for a refund precisely 15 minutes after the purchase.
- It's my first request for a refund ever (from Nintendo or any other company).
- I used the same eShop account to buy 54 digital games (including many of Nintendo's full price games) and subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online.
It's probably possible to buy a digital game, ask for a refund, disconnect your console from the internet and keep playing the game for free, but that seems like a hassle. There's no real reason to not offer r
Try again to maybe get some other person who's more willing to help.
Additionally threaten with reporting them to your country's better business bureau/consumer protection agency.
Try again to maybe get some other person who's more willing to help.
Additionally threaten with reporting them to your country's better business bureau/consumer protection agency.
I live in Europe and I've never seen any shop that lets you open and play a game and still get a refund. Sealed only.
Germany here and I refunded Mario Tennis Aces after opening it and losing interest quickly after an hour or so without problems on Amazon.
No, not if the seal/foil is broken. You can't give back opened games in most retailers and if you can it's not because of laws.
Amazon germany: "Eingeschweißte und/oder versiegelte Datenträger werden nur zurückgenommen, wenn die Einschweißfolie noch ungeöffnet bzw. das Siegel unbeschädigt ist. "
You were lucky then.
That's good to know, as I do use Amazon.de quite often. I still remember wanting to return Resident Evil 4 Wii to Fnac back in the day and practically getting laughed out of the store.
Yeah it should be.
But games (both digital and sealed physical games) are generally excluded from generic 14 day refunds in EU. And thus in most cases by law, you can't actually get refund. Of course broken games, if they can't be fixed in reasonable time, would be eligible for refunds, because that would fall under warranty.
Thus, Valve's (and Epic Stores) refunds go beyond what is required by law at least being in much easier to get (by allowing refunds for any reason).
Compare to for example GoG, who requires you to go thru support and troubleshooting process and they will only refund if they can't get it working.
And that's why they can get away without providing refunds.
That said Nintendo's is going to be in court due to no refunds for preorders . (otherwise, they seem to be fine with Nintendo's refund policy). So Nintendo might be forced to change that.
I take it that you're living in the US as from what I understand this seems to be a big problem as Sony is also pretty bad in this department.
Sorry but no, in the UK we get a 14 day cooling period that Nintendo follows so if I want a refund on my digital goods, then I am entitled to that refund.
The OP is not at fault for Nintendo terrible business practices, especially when said product was faulty.
I think you have been mislead there, as when I buy product from the e-shop I am not given a warning that I am giving up my customer's right.
In fact in the e-mail they mention that I have 14 days to request a refund, but I suspect that might be due to UK cooling period law which applies to digital goods.
I think you might be correct. Generally you can return products even after you've used it, but there seems to be exceptions for movies, music, and software, presumably because it used to be super easy to copy them. Console games nowadays are harder to casually copy, but the exceptions are still in place.
How is it possible that companies as large as ALDI are able to not only offer full refunds on their products, but also allow you to get a replacement in addition to getting your money back, yet with video games we have customers completely ok with getting stuck with a shitty product and willing to defend that company? You would think returning a digital product would be ridiculously easier to handle than all the overhead and loss that comes with returning physical goods.
Why is any of this acceptable and allowed?
Why is any of this acceptable and allowed?
A combination of weak laws regulating digital content and anticonsumer policies since the customers keep giving them money meaning they have no incentive to change. This is a moneymaking industy who cares bout goodwill
Having some consumer protection on digital purchases is a good reason to never allow refunds?! Sorry, but that's bullshit. Perhaps the 2 hour limit should be lowered for some games (I played Tacoma recently and you could easily finish it within 2 hours. You could probably get the Platinum trophy within that time with a guide), but I think all shops should allow for refunds, and until they do I will never buy digital games at higher prices.
Here's the thing about digital games though, they'll be returned in the exact same condition you bought them.
I think he's talking about this in the eyes of the publisher. They will see it as lost revenue, same way they don't do demos for most games these days.
Damn, I had no idea the Pipe Push Paradise Switch port was bad. It's a pretty great puzzle game on PC
Nonsense. Similar refund policies exist on PC and have worked out great. "I didn't find it enjoyable" is even a valid refund reason on Steam, with up to 2 hours of playtime. Similarly on mobile, but their windows are usually smaller for obvious reasons.
Nonsense. Similar refund policies exist on PC and have worked out great. "I didn't find it enjoyable" is even a valid refund reason on Steam, with up to 2 hours of playtime. Similarly on mobile, but their windows are usually smaller for obvious reasons.
Yeah, that and also because there can be some time between picking the game up and returning it, even if as fast as next day, people can say they played it only one hour but there's no way to tell they didn't play it whole. Or watched a movie whole, which is even faster. It is a shame, but it can definitely lead to abuse.
At least with digital there's better time tracking possibilities (either since download finished or actual playtime), not to mention there's no physical destruction of a maker seal or any kind of wear on a physical good, so practices should be much better.
Last edited:
Seems like a lot of effort for $8.79. I'd take it as a loss.
I do wish more digital outlets had a refund policy though, similar to Steam. I've purchased $60 games that ended up on the shelf after a few minutes.
I do wish more digital outlets had a refund policy though, similar to Steam. I've purchased $60 games that ended up on the shelf after a few minutes.
Why is it anytime I've seen a thread on here or elsewhere talking about how bad Sony and Nintendo's refund policy is the almost immediate reaction from some is to blame the OP for being a dumbass? It makes no sense to me when people respond like that. Why wouldn't everyone want to have the ability to refund games that they don't enjoy? Is there a group of people that have never at any point bought a game and wished they hadn't? It's such a weird way to react to better consumer options.
I will say that because of Steam's refund policy I have bought way more games from genres I have never played before. It's allowed me to try games that I never would have thought I'd like. It's great. Sony and Nintendo should allow for the same.
I will say that because of Steam's refund policy I have bought way more games from genres I have never played before. It's allowed me to try games that I never would have thought I'd like. It's great. Sony and Nintendo should allow for the same.
Tough luck OP, it seems the CBATRCACBDF is on patrol today.
Can't-Be-Arsed-To-Read Corporate-Apologist Consumer-Blaming Defense Force, for those not in the know.
Because corporations have been training consumers to be pro bono shills for decades.
Era is always like this when it comes to refunds. I can never quite pinpoint why. It seems like a mixture of not being familiar with platforms with actually pro-consumer refund policies, and people just straight up trying to defend their platform of choice. Because clearly Nintendo and Sony can't be the problem, it must be the consumer who didn't research properly. Right?
It's always fascinating, and I'm glad these people don't run any platforms I care about.
It seems that other users in the eShop thread have really enjoyed the game.
By a looking at a video after being intrigued by the commentary of the controls, I think that the problem of Pikma is that he was expecting a game with a direct movement like the one in 'Stephen's Sausage Roll', and 'Pipe Push Paradise' is a game with a grid based movement, with the same philosophy of a roguelike: intended to be moving with small inputs in each direction. For example, in a roguelike, if you want to move three squares to the right, you need to press the right direction three times. And if you keep pressed the direction, it will enter in the "auto-run" movement option, which is why the movement feels "off" for the OP.
All of that said, I think that the quality of the game is not relevant to this topic.
And every consumer should have the rights to refund a game.
Indeed, I think that with this old mentality, Nintendo is losing sales.
In Steam, a lot of times I gave opportunities to small games, with zero reviews, zero feedback, only intrigued my a premise. And a lot of times, I ended discovering small hidden gems thanks to this.
But when you can throw your money by not having refunds, buying a real bad game, or a game that like the OP, is not the thing that you was expecting, it sucks, and make you feel less inclined to give opportunities to unknown games.
And at the end, it's not only against the law in Europe. I think that this damages to small developers without a budget for marketing.
This has nothing to do with the thread really, but Stephen's Sausage Roll is very much a grid based game.
I also notice that the user in the comment you linked to says one of the puzzles in PPP's opening area is tricky. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's one of the best examples of a puzzle which defies player expectations with an obvious solution that doesn't work I can think of.
Damn, this has nothing to do with the topic, but you have sold me the game :)
I will bite the bullet in the next sale (long story also completely offtopic, I refuse to buy Digerati published games in Switch at full price, for its shitty practices of doing ALWAYS fire sales of a 50% or a 80% only a couple of months after release, screwing to the early adopters).
Has MS put in refunds on Live yet? I know they were talking about it for a while but I don't think I've seen the option ever.
If it were a physical game from anywhere else in most countries, you can EASILY get a refund.
I mean, wow, seriously?
No. Only insiders are promised refunds within time limit. Everyone else has to take their luck with customer service like Nintendo and PlayStation. I am denied twice refunds from Microsoft.
Huh, no. Games have a factory seal. As soon as that seal is broken the good is not worth the same anymore and it will never be new again, can't be reshelved as new. You can get a refund as a very rare exception. Definitely not easily and definitely not in most countries in the world.
None of this is relevant to the discussion of refunds for digital goods so I'm not sure why it's even being argued.
Fully agreed. Especially with the terrible functionality on their online store.
No reviews or ratings? Limited screenshots and videos with no information about it being docked or handheld? Shit should be illegal.
No reviews or ratings? Limited screenshots and videos with no information about it being docked or handheld? Shit should be illegal.
Because your protection for customer/worker is beyond ridiculous and instead of complain about it you joke on people who have it
Yeah i'm surprised there isn't some EU law that requires companies to offer refunds for digital purchases if the product is used less than X hours. Its disgraceful that there isn't an easier, automated process on all consoles to do it. In 10-20 years you know it will be so its just the big 3 dragging their feet.
I think the abuse is minimal if you just make it a general rule that if you played less than 2 hours and its within 30 days you can get a 100% refund. Anything else is at customer service discretion. If you release a game you can finish in under 2 hours then, well, sorry but maybe you should sell your game for under $5 and refunds don't apply to that price or something.
I think the abuse is minimal if you just make it a general rule that if you played less than 2 hours and its within 30 days you can get a 100% refund. Anything else is at customer service discretion. If you release a game you can finish in under 2 hours then, well, sorry but maybe you should sell your game for under $5 and refunds don't apply to that price or something.