Computer Game Problems

vicstick2251

Hi all, I'm having problems getting a refund for Diablo 3, and could do with some advice on composing a letter, but I'm not entirely sure what my rights are in this situation.

I brought the game on the May 19th as a direct download from Blizard, the company that makes the game. The game itself can be downloaded for free, but in order to actally play it you must be logged into the Blizard servers at all times, through an account you create with them.

Unfortunately the company seems to be having trouble with its servers, and on many occasions I've been unable to log into them due to faults, "maintainace", or the servers being too "busy" to allow me to log on.

I was prepared to accept these difficulties for a few days because the game was new and I assumed the problems were teething troubles, and would soon be remedied. However the problems are ongoing, and there seems to be no improvement in the service.

I called customer services today saying I was unhappy with being unable to play my game at random intervals, and I wanted my money back. Their response was that because I'd made the pruchase more than a week ago, and because I have been able to play my game sometimes, they did not have to provide me with a refund, saying this was in their terms and conditions.

I replied that there was nothing they could put in their terms and conditions that ment that I was not entitled to my statutory rights as a consumer. Was I correct? If so, is there anywhere I can help with writing to the company? I suffer with mental health problems so this is all very stressful, and I could use some assistance.

Thanks, Vicki

vuvuzela

vicstick2251 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm having problems getting a refund for Diablo 3, and could do with some advice on composing a letter, but I'm not entirely sure what my rights are in this situation.

I brought the game on the May 19th as a direct download from Blizard, the company that makes the game. The game itself can be downloaded for free, but in order to actally play it you must be logged into the Blizard servers at all times, through an account you create with them.

Unfortunately the company seems to be having trouble with its servers, and on many occasions I've been unable to log into them due to faults, "maintainace", or the servers being too "busy" to allow me to log on.

I was prepared to accept these difficulties for a few days because the game was new and I assumed the problems were teething troubles, and would soon be remedied. However the problems are ongoing, and there seems to be no improvement in the service.

I called customer services today saying I was unhappy with being unable to play my game at random intervals, and I wanted my money back. Their response was that because I'd made the pruchase more than a week ago, and because I have been able to play my game sometimes, they did not have to provide me with a refund, saying this was in their terms and conditions.

I replied that there was nothing they could put in their terms and conditions that ment that I was not entitled to my statutory rights as a consumer. Was I correct? If so, is there anywhere I can help with writing to the company? I suffer with mental health problems so this is all very stressful, and I could use some assistance.

Thanks, Vicki

I suspect that as they are a US based company, and rights you have would be under US law, not UK.

bluenoseam

They do not have to provide you with your money back otherwise Blizzard would have been out of business 7+ years ago, their most popular title (World of Warcraft) has periods of maintenance. I would also point you to the EULA (which i doubt you read) & license which WILL state that you accept intermittent outages in gameplay - such is unavoidable in games like this.

Sorry to be so blunt, but ultimately there's no nice way of saying it, the game is an online activation model which requires a constant connection, unfortunately those do come with unique issues.

Elle7

There are a few matters to be aware of here.

Firstly is that as you downloaded the game, your rights may be different. I'm not sure that they are, but my experience with US law is that they can be treated as such, as you have the files.

Secondly, whilst there was issues with Diablo on the first few days, there have been none recently. If you are still having difficulties, it is likely to be a connection or compatibility problem. The problems were annoying, and a great many people did return the game, but Blizzard did fix them. I covered the story for a newspaper, and most people can now access the game fine.

It would appear that Blizzard's ToC comply with the law, and give a returns period that you have exceeded. If you'd returned it within this time, they would have had to refund you.

There's no real point in writing to them because they haven't broken any laws, and they will be aware of that. They are very unlikely to respond. Taking them to court is likely to be very costly, and you'd need a lawyer with a good awareness of American law to help you.

Check firewalls etc, and see if there is anything that could be blocking the game. Also check that your computer and internet match the minimum requirements. If you still can't get on, technical support may be able to help you - or an IT professional.

Finally - you might be able to recover some of your money through selling it on eBay.

As an aside, I've just noticed that you've said you downloaded it for free. Diablo 3 costs £35, unless you subscribe to WoW for 12 months and get it for free. Is that what you did? There is also a free trial of the very start of the game, but you can't log in once this is completed until you purchase the actual game.

vicstick2251

Sorry, when I said free I may have misunderstood. There's a large link on Blizzard's website with "need the game client, download it here" or words to that effect, so I presumed that anyone could download it at any time, but it would be useless until you had a battlenet account on which you'd paid to for the game. I payed

Anyway, there have been several periods of scheduled maintainace during the night in the past few days, but there have also been ongoing problems with disconnections and people not being able to log in. I know I'm not the only one having troubles because their forums are full of people having the same trouble at the same times as I am. Today I've been trying for the past 3 hours with no joy, and there's no statement from Blizzard saying that this is due to maintainace.

I understand that there will be occasional problems, and the need for maintaince. But in the past 10 days there have been at least 4 times when I've been able to log in for a few hours, and 2 occasions where I've been unable to play for very long periods of time.

I'd estimate that my time played is only 50% of the time I'd like to have been able to play. It seems difficult to believe that this would be considered reasonable, which was the root of my complaint.

But if they don't have to comply to UK law because they're an American company, do they have to comply to EU law because they have a European branch based in France?

cardinalbiggles

vuvuzela wrote: »

I suspect that as they are a US based company, and rights you have would be under US law, not UK.

Just as a side issue they can not force US law on to you, they have to operate by the laws of the country they are trading in. This probably isn't applicable here but it annoys me when you see English companies saying in their terms and conditions that the contract is under English law, afraid not if you live in other parts of the UK its under the law of the country you ordered it from.

Ok rant over and no help to you.

ps Those Americans do what they want anway...

unholyangel

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

they have to operate by the laws of the country they are trading in

Uhm, do you mean if they are a UK company trading in the UK? Or do you mean they are an American company trading via the internet in the UK?

However:
14. GOVERNING LAW. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of France.

So it is governed by French (more or less EU) law and not US law.

vicstick2251

From their own EULA for the game.

"This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws applicable in your country of residence. In the event that any provision of this License Agreement shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable and/or invalid, the remaining portions of this License Agreement shall remain in full force and effect."

So we're dealing with UK law by their own admission, and a UK court can hold the EULA to be invalid.

Do I bother with quoting their EULA at them, and saying that having overloaded servers when only 13,000 of the 6.5million people that brought the game are online, seems to suggest they're not taking "reasonable efforts to provide the service all day, every day"?

wealdroam

vicstick2251 wrote: »

From their own EULA for the game.

"This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws applicable in your country of residence. In the event that any provision of this License Agreement shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable and/or invalid, the remaining portions of this License Agreement shall remain in full force and effect."

So we're dealing with UK law by their own admission, and a UK court can hold the EULA to be invalid.

The quote from their EULA that you have posted is only saying that if any part of the EULA is found to be invalid, then the rest of theEULA remains in force.

A pretty common term.

vyle

I don't really know if would get a refund or have luck pursuing one, because you will, eventually be able to play. This happens with every new blizzard release, and with pretty much every game that has a requirement to always be connected to the internet. It's kinda to be expected, and why I will never buy a game that requires one.

And I'll never give money to activision...but that's another issue.

Give it a week and I expect you'll be able to play with no problem at all.

Mupette

OP

I'm a wow player, and based on what's being said ingame atm, diablo 3 is having problems, but they will be resolved.

A few years back i had major issues with wow with the wotlk expansion, i am an IT engineer (or was before the MS struck) and my pc should of been enough for the game and had lots of conversations with blizzard, they said it was my pc, me being pig headed said it was them,

It was actually my gaming ram burnt out and not performing properly and my gfx wasn't far behind.

anyhoo don't give up on the game just yet, but have a good look at your pc make sure everything is working fine,

seeing as you have a battle.net account (this is a must for anyone who plays diablo 3 or wow) you should go to the forums where you will get the help you need.