Refund for software bought and downloaded online

kerrykin

Good morning folks,

Recently I downloaded a couple of trial versions of data recovery software and was convinced enough that the software was going to work for me and so paid for the full versions.

Once I inserted the licence for the first piece of software and ran it fully the program failed to recover any data and I contacted the company and they told me to try the second piece of software which again appeared to be the correct software so I paid for it and installed the licence. It appeared to work but none of the recovered pictures are actually usable, as in I cannot actually open them.

Now the issue is that I thought I would be able to get a refund as the software is not performing as described. What I would like to know is do I have any legal right to a refund? They have so far blankly refused to refund as they state no refunds on their website, they are based in USA and Germany and I paid with Paypal. Is there any hope?

somethingcorporate

Can you file a claim with paypal?

kerrykin

Yes I can but none of the reasons for applying for a refund were relevant to this so I wasnt too sure if this was the correct action to take.

System

Distance selling doesn't cover electronically downloaded software for starters.

This leaves SOGA. Ignoring the fact that they are based in the USA & Germany, SOGA will not apply either. The software is not faulty. It is merely the case that in this instance it was unable to recover any of the data that you were hoping it would.

visidigi

!!!!!! wrote: »

Distance selling doesn't cover electronically downloaded software for starters.

This leaves SOGA. Ignoring the fact that they are based in the USA & Germany, SOGA will not apply either. The software is not faulty. It is merely the case that in this instance it was unable to recover any of the data that you were hoping it would.

Agreed, data recovery is very hit and miss - what's the terms and conditions state for the product? I would imagine there's a pretty big passage on guarantee of data recovery success, or lack there of.

somethingcorporate

Which is why paypal may be the best chance they have at seeing their money again.

visidigi

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Which is why paypal may be the best chance they have at seeing their money again.

It might be the best, but its still highly unlikely

Especially as the product is the sort of thing you only use when you're desperate, and PayPal would be unable to prove if the software did or didn't work.

arcon5

I dont think PayPal offer protection for electronic purchases

kerrykin

Thanks for all the replies.

The reasons I thought that I should be due a refund are that the first program was badly advised as being the answer to my problem and the second program suggested that I could recover the data successfully without being able to prove it until I purchased the licence. Therefore I felt misled. Would this be grounds for a refund?

bod1467

What programs did you try?

I have had great success in the past with GetDataBack. (The trial version will run a scan and let you know what it can find and recover, but won't actually do the recovery until it is licensed). The key though is to avoid installing any such program on the same disk as the data you are trying to recover.

kerrykin

bod1467 it was Raid Recovery that I was recommended to try first and then GetDataBack and it was installed on a separate drive from the recovery. I have only used it this once so I wouldn't like to say the software isn't good it was more that I felt misled into buying a licence when it didn't actually achieve what I wanted.

Added to the fact that DiskInternals Trial version recovered the pictures first of all but wouldn't save them either until I purchased it which I baulked at the £200+ asking price.

I think I will try Paypal and see if they can help get a refund for me, but I dont hold out much hope.