Digital product - am I within my rights to request a chargeback?

noscere

I am seeking advice on whether I am able to request a chargeback where the digital retailer has refused to reimburse my lost digital resources, that I had previously purchased.

Synopsis:
I play the mobile-based MMORPG, Star Trek Fleet Command, published by Scopely. As seems to be the growing trend in online gaming, this game offers various in-app purchases, ranging from £4.99 to £99 (values are the same regardless of your local currency. If you're in the US, the biggest pack will be $99. In the UK it's £99. Europe it's €99 etc).

Like many "clash of clan" style MMO games, this game has three types of basic building materials (steel, tritanium, dilithium) and various advanced types of material. I mention this because the important factor to note is that a player's station, or base, can be attacked and looted by other players. These basic materials (not the advanced) can be looted during such attacks, down to a protected limit (this limit is quite low in this particular game).

Players access various lengths of shield, which they can activate to prevent other players from attacking them for the duration of the shield.

If a player is attacked, an automatic 10 minute safety or auto-shield is triggered, and a push notification is despatched to the players mobile device encouraging them to log in as they have been attacked. An attacking player can only loot a certain amount of basic resources, limited by the cargo hold of his attacking ship. Each and every attack should deliever a push notification if the victim is offline. I say should, because this mechanism is unstable, and like many pieces of software, it is plagued by bugs. So the push notifications are not always delivered. Whilst they could claim that the internet doesn't guarantee delivery, more disconcerting is that the auto-shield itself does not always trigger. At one point, Scopely would honor an in-game refund in such cases. Their support team now state that after a policy review, such refunds are no longer issued in any circumstance.

When the auto shield triggers, the wording of the push notification is different, warning the player that he now has 10 minutes to log in. Sometimes you receive this message even if you are attacked but the auto-shield has not been triggered.

Yesterday I purchased three packs. Two ship packs, which contained a complete set of blueprints to build two ships, and certain amount of in-game resouces, both the basic and advanced types, in order to build and upgrade the ships (or otherwise enjoy to spend as one sees fit).

Another important factor is that these packs contained two types of each of the basic resources. For example, in this case, one pack gave 22 million tritanium immediately placed into my inventory, and a number of "1 million" tokens, a redeemable voucher to the stated value, where the resource is not placed into the inventory until a time when I choose to spend the token.

Now, after purchasing these packs, I began to build my new ships but have not.finished. During much of the day and always whilst offline, I activate one of my limited number of shields.

This morning I logged in to play. When playing the game, various activities require that you remove your shield in order to engage in the activity. I was therefore unshielded.

During this time, my connection from the game dropped and I was subsequently unable to log in for over an hour. At first I thought it was the game, but I believe my internet had become unstable, dropping in and out, or just slow.

Finally I was able to log In, only to find that my 40+ million tritanium (and the other basic resources) had all been looted from my station. I immediately quit the game in disgust. Many minutes later, I received 20 or more push notifications, all delivered with the same timestamp.

One of my issues is that the stolen resources where not resources that the game had given me for free during the vasious acts/processes of playing the game, but where resources I had paid for.

The "protected vault" of a players base only protects a small amount of his total. Mine currently protects the first 1.8million tritanium.

By offering the resource tokens, alongside its vulnerable equivalent, Scopely have a mechanism to protect purchased assets from theft. Yet they choose to include both in their packs. I got 10 protected tokens (worth 10million tritanium when redeemed) and some 22.5million of the raw, vulnerable, amount. Per pack...

Even if Scopely do not wish to modify their pack to only give tokens, i believe that the resources I have paid money for should be treated differently to the resources that I've obtained for free. For example, they could have a grace period during which time they cannot be looted, in order to give adequate time with which their customer can actually enjoy their purchase.

The internet is unreliable, and Scopely's gameplay mechanics do nothing to take account of the fact that a players connection can drop out through no fault of their own!

I didn't forget to shield, I didn't forget to log in after a shield expired. It's not like I had been sitting on a stockpile of resources for days or weeks. I had only just purchased the packs!

Not only have not been able to enjoy part of my purchase, I am no longer unable to complete the upgrading of the ships! Moreover, obtaining of these resources are so limited that in order to upgrade my ships to the level I a player expects from the pack contents, it is very likely that I will have to buy another pack!..... even the non-cynical amongst you will be forgiven for thinking this series of messes is in fact by design; a deliberate ploy to increase revenue.

I expect, nay, demand that I am able to freely enjoy a product that I have paid for. Through no fault of my own, I am unable to enjoy my purchase. I find myself out of pocket and unable to use the product I have paid for for its intended purpose.

I am unsure what to do ... its not a tangible item that is lost in the post. Its not a service that has been poorly carried out or where some service-level agreement is breached. Its a digital purchase. But I should still be able to enjoy my purchase and expect the advertised contents to be what I receive... But how do I categorise this or claim my money back from the bank... is it a faulty product?

I have contacted their in-game customer customer support. But I am yet to receive a reply. I do not hold out hope, however.

I have never had cause to raise an issue with them before in regard to a pack that I have paid for. I want to continue playing this game as I have made a good group of other UK and European players, we have formed an in-game alliance and regularly play together some I've even met up with in the real world. If I issue a chargeback will Scopely close my account? I don't wish to stop playing, merely address the issue at hand.

I have had reason to contact them in the past... In relation to the push notification bugs mentioned above. On those previous occasions I was a free-to-play player, yet they refunded my lost resources because of their bug. Then they reversed this policy and I know that other paying players have struggled to get anything from the customer support.

If you have read this far, congratulations and I thank you from the bottom of my heart! I know this is a very wordy message and for this I apologise. I look forward to hearing your responses, if indeed there are any :rotfl:.

[Deleted User]

Sorry - what was the question?

Willing2Learn

Hi noscere and welcome to the forum

You post gives far too much detail. Can you ask your question in just one paragraph please?

noscere

The question is clearly stated in the topic the post ... again in the very first paragraph. Attempt at humour fail.

Once again, my thanks to anyone actually offering help and who doesn't exist purely to troll people with AS.

noscere

Thanks willing2learn. See above

Willing2Learn

Sorry noscere, but it was not humour. I genuinely did not know where your question was. So all you are asking is

whether I am able to request a chargeback where the digital retailer has refused to reimburse my lost digital resources, that I had previously purchased?

I don't have an answer as my knowledge is limited. But hopefully someone will pick up your question shortly...

Ben8282

Thanks for providing those who may be interested in playing this game such detailed information about it.
However, in answer to the question, NO. You cannot request a chargeback in these circumstances. Sorry.

noscere

It wasn't you that I was originally replying to. Your intention was clearly stated and I found your reply helpful. Unlike the reply from a certain rubber-keyed product of the 1980s whose attitude needs to go back there!

My question is that, if the game publisher doesn't offer a reasonable response or solution, what are my options.

My post gave important information so that the responder could accurately answer. However, I'll attempt to summarise. I know it was wordy! Sorry. But, imo, necessary.

Briefly... I play an online game, it offers in-app purchases. Yesterday I bought a number of in-game packs to build ships.

As well as blueprints to build ships, these packs give you building materials to build/upgrade said ships.

Some of these materials are of the type you accrue for free while playing the game. As a PVP game, players can loot the basic ones from other players.

I got disconnected from the game whilst playing this morning. I was unable to log back in for some time. When I finally got back in the game, I had been looted and my purchased materials are gone.

One of my issues is that the game doesn't distinguish between the resources I paid for, and those that I hadn't. Despite there being a way to give a player tokens to redeem for the same resouces at a future time of the players choosing, the makers don't put these in the purchase packs (prob so they can make more money when players get robbed)
I want to know if I can get a refund from my card issuer if the publisher refuses to give me one in-game.

noscere

Thanks Ben. Can you explain why not? Their product is clearly defective.

If I.lied and claimed it was an.unauthorised purchase, i would be refunded. I guess they wish to encourage lying?

born_again

Simple answer NO.

You paid, you received what you bought.

The fact that the game has more bugs than a flu epidemic. Is down to the retailer to deal & refund.

Time to stop playing and wasting money on the game, till they fix it.

noscere

Thanks for taking the time to reply.