Tag: refunds
Fortnite is being forced to give out refunds, and you might qualify for one
The Federal Trade Commission levied a record $520 million fine earlier this week against Epic Games, creator of the extremely popular game Fortnite. Of this, $245 million is slated to go to customers whom the FTC said were tricked into purchases they didn’t intend to make.
The FTC called the practice “dark patterns,” or manipulative user interfaces which make it easy to spend money unintentionally. Some users lost money even on loading screens or while booting the game up.
Could you be eligible to get your money back? The FTC has set up a website to help you find out.
Who is eligible for a Fortnite refund from the FTC?
Basically there are three main categories of eligibility. According to the FTC, refunds will be made available to:
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Parents whose children made an unauthorized credit card purchase in the Epic Games Store between January 2017 and November 2018
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Fortnite players who were charged in-game currency (V-Bucks) for unwanted in-game items (such as cosmetics, llamas, or battle passes) between January 2017 and September 2022
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Fortnite players whose accounts were locked between January 2017 and September 2022 after disputing unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.
How do I get a refund from Epic Games?
The FTC reports that if you believe you’re eligible for a payment, you don’t need to do anything right now.
“When we have more information about the refund program, we will post updates (on the website) and send email notices to customers who paid for in-game purchases,” the website posted.
The commission added that refund seekers should be careful and watch out for those who may scam you as you seek a refund, saying the FTC never asks you to pay to file a claim or get a refund.
NPR said it may be difficult to identify who has been affected by issues with Fortnite. “The process is a little bit complicated because we are dealing with a user base of 400 million players,” FTC attorney James Doty told NPR.
What is Epic Games doing to improve its system?
According to a statement, Epic Games said it would agree to the settlement and that it made mistakes, but laid the blame partly on obsolete laws.
The company has improved its payment and refund systems, Epic wrote, eliminating saving payment information by default in favor of “an explicit yes or no choice to save payment information.”
In addition, to eliminate confusion when pushing a button over purchases, Epic wrote it has added a “hold-to-purchase mechanic that re-confirms a player’s intent to buy.”
Calls for push payment scam refunds for all
Activision to ‘nerf’ chart-topping Call of Duty skin by making it more visible, with some players seeking refunds
Google have started issuing refunds for Stadia games and hardware
Google have started issuing refunds for their recently canned game streaming service, Stadia. Those who’d bought any games, hardware or add-ons have already been told they’ll get their money back by January 18th, which is when the lights go out and all access to Stadia games shuts off.
The situation sucks for the Stadia team, and the numerous developers who were caught short by Google’s failure to communicate Stadia’s imminent demise. If you’ve spent the past three years mostly buying games through Stadia though then crikey, that’s a nice windfall.
Google Stadia Hardware Refunds Will Be Issued Within Two Weeks
At the time of the shutdown announcement, Google committed to refunding hardware and software purchases, and it began software refunds earlier this month. Once your hardware refund has been issued, you’ll get an email confirmation, Google said in Wednesday’s email. Google expects the “majority” of Stadia refunds to be processed by the January 18th shutdown date.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Some Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Players Are Asking For Refunds
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s release has been plagued by bugs, ranging from strange graphical glitches to useful exploits, to a more frustrating set of game crashes and performance issues. Coupled with complaints about the game’s design, some fans have decided to seek refunds for their copies of Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet.
Soon after the game launched, threads started popping up in the Pokemon subreddit with players chronicling their attempts to seek a refund from Nintendo customer service. While the Nintendo eShop has a flat policy that disallows refunds because of a change of mind, an accidental purchase, or because players don’t like the game, it will honor refunds for faulty products.
Players have to go through customer service to request a refund, where they will talk to a Nintendo rep to plead their case. Most Reddit users who have posted about successful refunds say they have used the game’s performance issues and crashes to argue that the game is faulty, requiring a refund. User u/Hotdog_Daddy even claimed that “the rep actually told me that given the situation regarding the state of Pokemon S/V she would elevate my case to ensure the refund was approved.”
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players want one thing: refunds
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet buyers are requesting refunds, after running into numerous bugs and performance issues. Some of them, applying for their money digitally, are urging others to join them.
This development, first reported on by The Gamer, has largely been spurred on by unpleased customers on social media. Reddit, a hub for Pokemon discussion, has been a particular hot spot for complaints and refund requests, with several users posted their anecdotal stories of financial recovery on the forums.
“If you genuinely are disappointed with the game, I’d strongly urge you to do this instead of complaining or trying to raise awareness of the game’s issues.” writes user Sellouthipster. They posted their a guide for successful refunds on the Reddit, noting that although these situations are rare, it seems Nintendo is accepting complaints of the game’s quality as adequate cause for a refund. “I highly doubt any kind of fixes are coming – especially before Christmas – and I have zero urge to play a broken game.”