Sony PlayStation Store refund for faulty game is almost impossible

fivepointsix

Right, so I bought a game on the Sony PlayStation Store and it is full of bugs and almost completely unplayable. The game is Star Wars Outlaws and it is already considered a disaster for Ubisoft. 

The problem is this. I made the mistake of buying the game direct from the PlayStation store. It doesn’t work. This isn’t a debate. The game’s launch was a disaster and everyone, including Ubisoft, who published it, know the game doesn’t work properly. 

Sony make it almost impossible to contact them and obtain refunds. There is no telephone number and the only way to contact them is on their website chat. This takes hours, if you can get through. 

In order to get a refund, they have a list of troubleshooting instructions. None of which are easy to do. For example, one of the steps is to reinstall the game using a different internet connection. The assistant in the chat claims this is easy but isn’t able to tell you how to do it or if you will lose your saved game progress. 

I suppose the purpose of all of this is to make it so difficult to get a refund that you don’t bother. 

I have had to start the process of obtaining a refund by going through my bank. I think this will be successful but the upshot of this is that Sony then automatically shuts your PlayStation down. This means that I will be left with a PlayStation that no longer works. 

Thats the gist of it. Surely this can’t be allowed in 2024. I was under the impression that under consumer law, it isn’t allowed to make it so difficult to get a refund that is almost impossible or can take hundreds of hours. 

Does anyone know what the situation is?

knightstyle

If you paid by CC start a charge back with the CC company.

GingerTim

I've just completed the game on PS5 so while it launched in a poor state, it's not unplayable and does work. I suspect PlayStation will just say that there will be further updates on the way to iron out the bugs - it's not a Cyberpunk level disaster.

MattMattMattUK

fivepointsix said:

Right, so I bought a game on the Sony PlayStation Store and it is full of bugs and almost completely unplayable. The game is Star Wars Outlaws and it is already considered a disaster for Ubisoft. 

It is not considered a disaster at all.

fivepointsix said:

The problem is this. I made the mistake of buying the game direct from the PlayStation store. It doesn’t work. This isn’t a debate. The game’s launch was a disaster and everyone, including Ubisoft, who published it, know the game doesn’t work properly. 

It works well enough, with the usual bugs that happen early after release and there are no longer any game breaking bugs.

fivepointsix said:

Sony make it almost impossible to contact them and obtain refunds. There is no telephone number and the only way to contact them is on their website chat. This takes hours, if you can get through. 

In order to get a refund, they have a list of troubleshooting instructions. None of which are easy to do. For example, one of the steps is to reinstall the game using a different internet connection. The assistant in the chat claims this is easy but isn’t able to tell you how to do it or if you will lose your saved game progress. 

I suppose the purpose of all of this is to make it so difficult to get a refund that you don’t bother. 

The game works, you might need to uninstall it and reinstall it in the worst case, the main issue might that you continued with an old save and have an embedded bug in your save, when Ubisoft confirm you need to start a new save.

fivepointsix said:

I have had to start the process of obtaining a refund by going through my bank. I think this will be successful but the upshot of this is that Sony then automatically shuts your PlayStation down. This means that I will be left with a PlayStation that no longer works. 

Thats the gist of it. Surely this can’t be allowed in 2024. I was under the impression that under consumer law, it isn’t allowed to make it so difficult to get a refund that is almost impossible or can take hundreds of hours. 

Does anyone know what the situation is?

You waive your rights as part of the immediate access involved in the purchase. Yes Sony will shut your account down if you chargeback against them. 

The game works, so you would be better to troubleshoot that rather than going for a chargeback. 

MattMattMattUK

knightstyle said:

If you paid by CC start a charge back with the CC company.

If someone does this then Sony will suspend their PS account and they will loose access to all games and potentially have their console blacklisted. 

RefluentBeans

You have a right to a working product, yes. 

The issue is the law wasn’t really designed with as frequent updates as there currently is. When games were mostly on disk and limited internet access (the only way to update was to get a new disk because files were too big to transfer effectively) - the disk had to be functional, and so if it wasn’t it was an easy way to prove the product isn’t functional. Then the internet came along, and the game on the disk often had a day one patch. So the question is - is the game eligible for a refund at that point? Then the digital marketplaces become very popular and there is no physical media. So in theory (and sometimes reality when the game is new) the developer could push out nightly updates. At what point is the game faulty? And at what point is a bug ‘expected’ and so not faulty? 

The consumer rights act does have a carve out for digitise media, and the rules basically are that you forfeit the short term right to reject for faulty goods (faults within 30 days) and the retailer has the right to fix, replace, or refund the product. Issue is what does one deem a fix or replacement? What is a diagnostic test vs fulfilment of the criteria under the consumer rights act (is uninstalling and reinstalling diagnostic or is it a replacement product?). They only get one chance before you can reject for a refund. 

In reality the law is very ambiguous about technology as a whole - let along for consumer rights. And as far as I know - it’s up to judges prerogative in how they apply these laws to certain situations. Digital products include A LOT, and it’s hard to make one rule fit for every product. There is unfortunately a difference between being right and actually getting a refund. 

You could pursue this in small claims court. It may or may not be worth it. The judges are, realistically, the only ones who can make this decision. You are entitled to a working product, but the definition of working is a lot harder for digital media. Sony are also equally entitled to choose who they do business with. And they can decide they don’t want to business with you as long as it’s not based on a protected characteristic. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Digital content should be free from "minor defects" but ultimaely companies like Sony aren't going to willingly hand over money for games that have bugs.

Above post covers it well, I'd add that you are better off buying the physical version IMHO.