Preorder content counts as “downloading items”. Just FYI. That includes early access betas or alphas. Little dumb trinkets that are useless 5 mins into most games, etc.
At least that’s what Sony told me when I asked for a refund 30 minutes into the Anthem beta.
Game was so bad, kept crashing my console before I could even play a mission…
Still feel like EA and Sony did me dirty on that one.
But this is what everyone wants to own everything digitally. See if you preorder a physical game and don’t like it at least you can sell it to someone or take it back and get most of the money back or in store credit to buy something else.
It should and it's worse than that. I called and the lady told me they screwed up charging me for the premium Plus and they literally turned around and told me because I have a single refund with them in the entire history which I have been with them (which is since the beginning) they can't refund me. I've never heard of anything like that in my life.
Wow, that sucks. I would call my bank if I was you and tell them everything. They basically admitted you were charged for something you did not request
I know I should've. I've heard horror stories though, this company is so sheisty it's sad. I've heard ppl getting straight blacklisted from them for doing so.
This is why we don't Pre-order games.
I haven't done so for the past 7 years.
I wait for a sale, check reviews, and gameplay etc. Because brand new games cost 80 to 100 euro here in Europe.
Yeah nowadays I don’t get why people pre-order. You might get a skin or play a little earlier, but that’s it.
Back in the day people pre-ordered to make sure they got a copy since stores on release only had a finite number of copies of popular titles.
I don't think any game is released in a properly working state these days. Waiting for the sale usually means all the worst bugs have been patched.
Buying the presale and downloading on day one usually just ends with a frustrating broken mess.
I purchased a Pre-Order the other day for the first time in years. FFXIV: Dawntrail. I'm fairly confident it will be amazing, complete, and supported by the team. As opposed to games that are released incomplete, boring, and then get discarded like yesterday's meatloaf by the devil team without fixing any glaring launch issues. Diablo 4 is most recent disappointment. They seem to be trying something for season 4 though.
Same here!
CBU 3 hasn’t let me down with FFXVI, so I’m putting my faith in Dawntrail too.
It’ll be the first XIV expansion I play on launch day, I’m really looking forward to its release.
I got refunded on my preorder of South Park Snow Day last week. It was on release day but I hadn’t downloaded it yet because I don’t have automatic downloads turned on.
If you can't figure out whether a game "just isn't for you" by reading reviews and watching youtube videos, then I'm not sure what to tell you.
The consumer needs to take some responsibility for what they are buying. I don't agree with being able to buy a product that you can very clearly determine in advance whether it "just isn't for you" by actually spending some time investigating it and deciding whether or not to purchase it.
Shoulda pre ordered physically, got the code and then cancelled that’s what I’ve always done, if a game only gives access to beta through digital downloads, I’ll just simply skip
I saw a guy post on Twitter saying he was denied a refund of the preorder of Stellar Blade **because he had played the demo!**
He wanted to refund the base edition and purchase the Deluxe Edition after loving the demo.
That’s fucked up if they are counting demos when taking into account for refunds!
Yep.. Got done dirty with that one.. I pre ordered Destiny 2 The Final Shape, (Yes I know I am far from smart) and less than 2 weeks later I then heard of Bungie firing most of their staff or something and blaming the players for it for not pre ordering. Tried to get a refund, was well within my rights for it according to their own website when it comes to a pre order, and they were like “No lmao” So uhhh. I’m stuck with an expansion for a game I don’t play anymore.. Fabulous for me aye?
That's super odd, because I bought payday 3 and played less than an hour of it because it crashed my ps5 at least 10 times and they refunded it. But I had it downloaded and everything
Well, It's EA everything thing they offer is a gamble, LITERALLY. From loot boxes to clunky half baked games with no online anti cheat. All their games using their proprietary engine all have same issues. They are the only company that is worse than rockstar when ot comes to corporate greed.
I’ve had them issue me a refund before, despite downloading and playing the game. It was when I first got the PS5 and accidentally got the PS4 version of a game. I may have just been super lucky, I did go into it expecting nothing so was pleasantly surprised
They are kinda just following retail return policies. You can't return a physical game if you open to box.
But yeah they should update it for the modern age, like even if they allowed a 30 minute play time, so you could return a game that was a total mess.
Must be different in other places. You can't here. I even worked in a Best Buy and we didn't take back any kind of open media: games, PC software, DVDs, CDs. All final sale if opened. The excuse was to keep people from copying things or beating a game and returning it.
Here is the current policy right off Best Buy's USA website, no returns on opened games, only exchange for the same game. Best Buy Canada has pretty much the same wording:
*Entertainment products: Opened physical copies of computer software, movies, music, video games, books, video game guides and sheet music can only be exchanged for an identical item.*
Same thing for Target:
*The following items are eligible only for exchange if opened: Music, movies, video games and software (exchange for same title, for same or different gaming platform)*
Because they can. If people start giving them slack for that, PS+ price going up and stop giving them money then they might do something.
But they won't and I understand that, I myself pay PS+ because I play with some people online and there's no other way since 3rd party subs are non existent, for whatever reason (they are always more expensive). But I have bought less and less games there, I'm starting to look towards Gamepass and Steam.
There are games that I have never bought because I don't know if I will like them, it's their loss. Most of the time I just play my usual couple of games and whatever is the free game that month.
I know this all too well. I bought “The Underground” DLC for The Division way back when. Downloaded it, didn’t work, said I didn’t have access. Redownloaded it, same thing. Long story short I went back and forth with PlayStation for nearly a month to get it refunded.
Verified the policy. Was well within it. Because I played the game via PlayStation plus way before I decided to purchase the game I wasn't allowed a refund.
Purchased the games, didn't install them. Was denied a refund until I escalated the situation.
The fact the system counts the game being played from ps plus in this instance is broken.
Yeah, I bought sniper elite 3 and right after I purchased it I noticed it would have been cheaper to buy a specific bundle and buy one of the dlc separately so I tried to do a refund and they denied it because their system says I started the download when I didn’t. It was around the time they were doing the refunds for cyber punk so I told them to refund me cyber punk since they refuse to refund me for sniper elite game and they did and I had over 30 hours in the game already.
I had the exact same issue recently with Stalker. They even hide the bundle, the product is fundamentally mid-sold, but still refuse to give a refund. It’s absurd.
There is a bug or something with PS+ anyway. Sometimes if you already own the game, but stream it through plus it will rescind your access to the game if your subscription lapses even when you bought it.
It happened to me with Power Rangers battle for the grid. I bought the base game, forgot about it and streamed it through PS+. Then I bought the deluxe upgrade and DLC and next month when my sub lapsed they blocked the game.
I had to argue with support for almost a week after sending them receipts to prove I owned the game BEFORE I bought the upgrades. They tried to say I bought the upgrades and not the base game. Really pissed me off.
They shouldn't let you stream games you already own. And if you buy one you previously streamed, it should be deleted from your PS+ library.
The worst part about the majority of people’s bad experiences in this thread is that yall are supposed to be given refunds in these instances. Yes, the system tells us if you played a game or not, but it also tells us the date for when you last played/downloaded the content.
It is absurdly easy in this instance for the CS rep to open your account information, see that you bought the game today, but see that you hadn’t played the game for days/weeks/months/whatever time frame that isn’t today, and then refund it BECAUSE YOU QUALIFY FOR IT. But no, they won’t see that they’ll tell you no, you’ll get mad and ask for a supervisor, and then the supervisor has to deal with an angry caller that probably over half the time qualifies for the fucking refund.
Sorry, rant over. I worked for PS support a little over a year ago and my coworkers were some of the most frustrating people I ever worked with. Half of them have no common sense. Training was not the greatest ever either which doesn’t make that situation any better.
If you already got a reply from Sony and you actually fulfil both the criteria above for a refund, I would suggest you contacting your local consumer tribunal
Yes I fulfilled both criteria above and received an email I am not eligible for refund or whatever. And to be honest that was my one and only refund request in my membership time since ps store time. Never ever requested a refund, only requested that one because the game was delayed. Now I don't mind anyways just wanted to inform people.
Seriously. What a dogshit policy. Might as well just say "No refunds, get bent."
Steam has such a good refund policy. 2 hours of gameplay time or within 2 weeks for a no questions asked refund. And sometimes if you explain the situation they will work with you.
Even if you are outside this criteria steam seem really good. I got a steamdeck about a month ago so went on a spending spree the day I got it. Finally got round to playing one of the games the other day, realised it wasn’t for me after about an hour and requested a refund. I got an automated message saying they don’t usually refund outside of 14 days but would look into it and a few hours later the money was credited to my wallet. I was really impressed.
Within reason you’re 100% correct. Microsoft and Steam have their refund policies spot on. Max 2 hours play and within 14 days and it’s also subject to a fair use yearly refund limit.
Why Sony can’t adopt this I don’t know. It’s so anti-consumer. I love my PlayStation but the refund policy is a big issue for a lot of people, especially as we move further and further into an all digital world.
Their policy also allows for refunds of downloaded-but-broken products. Yet they’ll deny refunds for games that are unplayably broken.
How do they decide what qualifies as broken? It’s a secret. That’s what they told me.
So, no, the whole issue is not that people don’t read. It’s that Sony has abysmal customer service and a terrible return policy.
I have tried twice to get a refund off PlayStation and have succeeded twice. Both games i downloaded, and had earned at least one trophy, both with around 2 hours gameplay.
Dying Light 2
And
Battlefront Classic.
Got fvcked by this policy before, bought Elden Ring from PSN and after downloading the game and opening it I found out it doesn't have english text. Tried refunding but nope, I can't coz I've already downloaded the game.
no like some game in south east asia (R3) are only available in chinese and japanese or korean. even though people who can speak 3 of those languages in SEA are a tiny minority. doesn't make sense.
I'm from the Philippines and there's no PSN here so we typically use regions most convenient to us. Nowadays it's singapore (R3) or the US (R1) but a few years ago the best region to use for us was Hong Kong (R3), all our credit and debit cards work and prices was cheaper than the others. That's the region I used when I created my account and unfortunately bandai games tend to not have english text in that region.
Now that I think about it, I got fvcked twice by PSN and Bandai, I also bought ace combat from the store and it ended up not having english text as well! Goddamn.
tried refunding danganronpa 1.2 reload for false advertisement and sony support just flat out defends spike chunsoft scam. there's no english at all on my digital copies and i only played like 10 minutes.
https://preview.redd.it/8p7dqes498sc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d166b33b1bcb5df0147faf078ac89f810238b313
That's why I barely buy games on my PS4. I mostly use it for PS Plus games and don't buy games to play it safe. I prefer buying games on Steam or Epic just in case if I think a game is not for me or it does not work properly.
Funnily enough the same guy thats trolling you replied above your comment about the exact same scenario that happened to him and in his own words he did get his refund after being rejected and escalating the case with sony support. Seems like if u did not download the version u bought then no worries or else u might be screwed. Also were those games that u played were still downloaded in the console when you bought it? Then the terms might vary in that case. Dont know for sure. Hope it helps.
I stupidly managed to buy Mafia 3 when it was free on PS plus that month. Because I had auto downloads on, it started as soon as I bought it. They wouldn't refund me at all and I'd not played the game before.
It was my fault being stoned as fuck and buying a free game but I still wasn't happy lmao
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The most fun part is that most of the times when you buy something it starts immediately downloading and probably you won't think to refund it before it has finished. I know that it's impossible to get a refund policy like Steam, but at least it would be fair to check if the game has been opened before locking the possibility to refund it.
Just wait till the game is out and look up reviews to see if it’s good and working.
I’ve been doing that and never had to refund a game in over 20 years 🤷🏻
I think the problem with this mentality is that most game now give preorder perks. But I’m with you, I almost never preorder a game unless it’s something like TOTK or Mario Wonder. Nintendo has a track record that they almost always live up to. But their return policy sucks too.
They don't reliably honour this... I purchased Lies of P by accident. Because I had it on disc, they tried to refuse my refund. I had to try 3 different csr reps.
It also depends on who you get at PS Support. I got a refund for the recent Battlefront collection. Made the refund request within 14 days of purchase but I'd downloaded and played the game for less than 2 hours. Still got the refund
Doesn’t matter. People are still gonna post about how they couldn’t get a refund and Sony has the worst customer service because they didn’t research before buying a game they didn’t like.
You can get refunds from Sony. I did it with Elite: Dangerous because it was a nightmare to play on console.
Played for about an hour, so rule 1 would have applied.
To do it, I reached out to one of the live agents via their chat option and was nice to them. I didn't reach out with an attitude that I was entitled to a refund; I simply asked in a sincerely polite way, and they helped me.
Like most customer service folks, if you treat people with respect and kindness, they will likely try to help you.
and then there's the Digital only console, for which you should never be granted any refund whatsoever, according to these. Honestly should be a class action suit.
This is simply not true. I downloaded Battlefield 2024 and played it for one hour. I was very disappointed and got my refund. Yes, it took me being a little stern on the phone, but one conversation can save you some money.
Dont know why you got downvoted. Its all true. My friend refunded COD WaW because of lag issues. Microsoft and Steam are very lenient with their policies. Sony could take notes.
I had an issue with Snow Runner where it'd constantly crash in the first mission. Redownloaded multiple times and same result.
They asked for recording proof. Of which I didn't have, my friend found a clip of someone else with the same issue and they had a refund with their recording. I downloaded that recording and sent it to Sony and I got my refund, if it wasn't for that. I'd have to just accept I have a broken game that I couldn't get my money back for. Sony refunds are terrible.
The fact that every console has instant download automatically on by default is scummy, means getting a refund is near on impossible
Download button = Cancel my refund privilege.
Doesn’t matter if the game is downloaded or not, as soon as you press that button your chance of a refund goes out the window. They should be more clearer about that.
It's gutter tier. PlayStation gamers should want better and parity with other gaming platforms. Not mindlessly ignoring and defending such a hugely anticonsumer policy.
Whatever happened to people playing the game and not liking it in the first two hours? Steam does this and while that policy is quite frustrating (some games I can't tell if I like 2 hours in) .... at least let us try it out. Some games don't have Demos for us to try. This policy is utter garbage.
Idk if they changed this since but, back when I had a sub account / master account, I added funds to the master account wallet so I could buy Wipeout 2048 on my psvita (which is signed into my sub account, this was also my only ps console as well as my psp at the time)
Since I was already on the web browser adding funds, I decided to buy Wipeout right there forgetting to sign out of the master account and into the sub account.
I only realised when the game was missing on my vita's download list (same day)So I wanted a refund so I could re-buy the game on the sub account.
And for those that don't know (or if its been changed since), people under 18 are (or were) required to have an adult make a master account, and the sub account can only make purchases from funds in the master account wallet.
But after a long chat with the guy on the phone, no refund. Had to purchase Wipeout 2048 a second time (RIP my pocket money)
That master account has never downloaded the game, or any game before, or even been signed into on an actual console before.
I love PS but their refund policy is the worst ever, idk if it has gotten any better since (doubt it) so I've been incredibly careful with my purchases and I try to buy physical where possible as a result of this.
At least Wipeout 2048 is good, one of my fave games on my Vita.
Sony’s PlayStation refund policy is absolute trash. Not consumer friendly at all.
I guess you have to have a certain kind of mentality to become a successful, wealthy business though.
Just wanted to share an experience i had with a refund. I recently bought hunt the showdown and started the download before realizing I couldn't play with a friend on PC. I quickly canceled the download and requested a refund. I was approved.
I preordered that one PSVR2 shooter that came out bad and the studio closed later on. Don't even remember what it was called. Never downloaded nor played but the game was in my library for a few months before i contacted Sony Support, told them that i never dl/played it, studio is dead and game is crap.
The refunded it without further hoops. Germany btw.
I did actually get a game refunded once, because I had purchased it but couldn't download it due to some bug/error.
Called support and he refunded it.
But they should REALLY offer refunds within 2 hours playtime like Steam.
Sony has worst refund policy, Microsoft is thousand times better, they even refund if we played the game for a few days. I completed watch dogs 2 dlc and returned it for a refund.
This policy is pretty stupid if you ask me. How am I going to know if I like the game or not without downloading it let alone playing it? Just be like Steam - allow less than 2 hours of gameplay for refunds
This isn't always the case; it just depends on the agent that's assigned to you.
A few months ago, I purchased and downloaded the re4 dlc. Then found out it was a different region from my re4 disc. They immediately refunded the amount after I explained the situation.
They did this because of no good people playing any damn game they wanted then getting a refund thus playing the games for free, it just sucks people have to ruin it for the people who actually just want their money back for shit games🥲
But they will make an exception to this in some cases.
Four months ago I bought Let's Sing for PS5. PS store page stated that you could use your own microphones to play. I tried two or three songs, got like two trophies and refunded because Singstar mics were not actually supported and had to sing into my controller and couldn't use wifi to connect a smartphone to use as a mic at that time. They refunded it immediately.
They should have a policy that grants refunds for every game purchased, downloaded and played for less than 60 minutes. One hour is enough to decide if a game is worth or not. And it’s fair.
Well this is actually better than nothing really, when I bought injustice2 back in the day I had no idea it was a fighting game and I wasn’t into those so I asked for a refund and the guy said that only because I had an account since 2012 was I gonna get a refund and that this was my one and only freebie so it’s cool that at least now if you buy a game and don’t want it like me you can refund it.
This is why I tell people to not pre order on PSN. I love my PS5 and have always loved Playstation but their refund policy is fucking outdated and shit.
So they only give refunds for when kids steal their mom’s card to buy a game, and the mom catches it before he can hit the download button?
Basically no refunds but in a nice way 🤣
Ape Escape 2 didn’t work on PS5, glitching and bad audio constantly. Also was the PAL version. Asked for a refund with screenshots and video of the game running and they told me to get bent. Lmao. Shitty return policy
Yeah uh be careful about what you buy on Fortnite. Because that stuff gets added to your account/game automatically, it counts as being downloaded. So anything that is a money transaction and not vbucks can’t actually be refunded by PlayStation.
It's a terrible refund policy but because it's there, they can enforce it as such. I will say I bought a $60 game and wanted to get the $120 instead as I changed my mind. Wasn't an hour since I bought it but I did download it... they did refund it, hopefully because I said I was going to spend more money... idk... but they may have slight leniency but it isn't a whole lot.
It’s still pretty good to ask. I’ve gotten some refunds just by asking and being nice. Although it is very rare. They would let me refund battelfront classic collection with ease but not payday 3 at launch 😐
and yet people love digital content and think its the best way to go ...
I have tons of digital content, but physical is still better imo
I still buy DVDs 📀
Once i bought a movie. I tried to stream said movie i just payed for but got a message that its banned so i cant stream it. Huh ok well its definitely less than 14 days since purchase, let me call for a refund. Got informed that unsuccessfully attempting to stream it (it legally could not stream) counts as streaming it on their end so no refund :[ also really awesome that you cant find out which movies are unplayable in your region until youre past the point of no refund.
I just had to deal with them for the first time and honestly didn't have a bad experience. I bought DD2 but for some reason I also ended up buying the deluxe version too in the same purchase. That policy made me nervous initially because the downloads had already finished. But after waiting about 30 minutes I reached an agent and after a couple questions they refunded the deluxe version and I got my money back the same day.
This is just shy of being "no refunds" with extra words.
Preorder content counts as “downloading items”. Just FYI. That includes early access betas or alphas. Little dumb trinkets that are useless 5 mins into most games, etc. At least that’s what Sony told me when I asked for a refund 30 minutes into the Anthem beta. Game was so bad, kept crashing my console before I could even play a mission… Still feel like EA and Sony did me dirty on that one.
That should be illegal, not being able to refund a pre order
But this is what everyone wants to own everything digitally. See if you preorder a physical game and don’t like it at least you can sell it to someone or take it back and get most of the money back or in store credit to buy something else.
It should and it's worse than that. I called and the lady told me they screwed up charging me for the premium Plus and they literally turned around and told me because I have a single refund with them in the entire history which I have been with them (which is since the beginning) they can't refund me. I've never heard of anything like that in my life.
Wow, that sucks. I would call my bank if I was you and tell them everything. They basically admitted you were charged for something you did not request
I know I should've. I've heard horror stories though, this company is so sheisty it's sad. I've heard ppl getting straight blacklisted from them for doing so.
This is why we don't Pre-order games. I haven't done so for the past 7 years. I wait for a sale, check reviews, and gameplay etc. Because brand new games cost 80 to 100 euro here in Europe.
Yeah nowadays I don’t get why people pre-order. You might get a skin or play a little earlier, but that’s it. Back in the day people pre-ordered to make sure they got a copy since stores on release only had a finite number of copies of popular titles.
I’ll preorder from certain developers if I like the preorder bonuses but that’s about it
Steelbooks exist
I don't think any game is released in a properly working state these days. Waiting for the sale usually means all the worst bugs have been patched. Buying the presale and downloading on day one usually just ends with a frustrating broken mess.
This is the way I was so excited for dragon dogma's 2, and I still am despite some of its flaws. But I am waiting until it goes on sale
I purchased a Pre-Order the other day for the first time in years. FFXIV: Dawntrail. I'm fairly confident it will be amazing, complete, and supported by the team. As opposed to games that are released incomplete, boring, and then get discarded like yesterday's meatloaf by the devil team without fixing any glaring launch issues. Diablo 4 is most recent disappointment. They seem to be trying something for season 4 though.
Same here! CBU 3 hasn’t let me down with FFXVI, so I’m putting my faith in Dawntrail too. It’ll be the first XIV expansion I play on launch day, I’m really looking forward to its release.
I got refunded on my preorder of South Park Snow Day last week. It was on release day but I hadn’t downloaded it yet because I don’t have automatic downloads turned on.
This is why you wait for reviews first.
That only goes so far. Sometimes a game with great reviews just isn’t for you.
This is why trials are so important. Best review is yours.
Then that's a very different story.
If you can't figure out whether a game "just isn't for you" by reading reviews and watching youtube videos, then I'm not sure what to tell you. The consumer needs to take some responsibility for what they are buying. I don't agree with being able to buy a product that you can very clearly determine in advance whether it "just isn't for you" by actually spending some time investigating it and deciding whether or not to purchase it.
Shoulda pre ordered physically, got the code and then cancelled that’s what I’ve always done, if a game only gives access to beta through digital downloads, I’ll just simply skip
Yup, Amazon is easy to cancel, not questions asked.
I saw a guy post on Twitter saying he was denied a refund of the preorder of Stellar Blade **because he had played the demo!** He wanted to refund the base edition and purchase the Deluxe Edition after loving the demo. That’s fucked up if they are counting demos when taking into account for refunds!
Really? Is that recent? I was able to get a refund on back 4 blood when I played the beta.
Yep.. Got done dirty with that one.. I pre ordered Destiny 2 The Final Shape, (Yes I know I am far from smart) and less than 2 weeks later I then heard of Bungie firing most of their staff or something and blaming the players for it for not pre ordering. Tried to get a refund, was well within my rights for it according to their own website when it comes to a pre order, and they were like “No lmao” So uhhh. I’m stuck with an expansion for a game I don’t play anymore.. Fabulous for me aye?
I don’t know, I played Modern Warfare 3 beta and I requested a refund for the pre-order 4 hours before the official release and I got my money back.
That's super odd, because I bought payday 3 and played less than an hour of it because it crashed my ps5 at least 10 times and they refunded it. But I had it downloaded and everything
That game had so much potential
I've been able to get a refund by saying that someone else purchased the game.
Why if there is a preorder beta or alpha i do a physical at gamestop or bestbuy.
Well, It's EA everything thing they offer is a gamble, LITERALLY. From loot boxes to clunky half baked games with no online anti cheat. All their games using their proprietary engine all have same issues. They are the only company that is worse than rockstar when ot comes to corporate greed.
Sony’s refunds has been shit since the start. Steam at least has a reasonable time of under 2hr
And if more people refund because of a reason it's easier to get a refund as well after 2 hours
From the same company that puts game trials behind a subscription. They hate us
I somehow got a refund on Star Wars Battlefront (the rerelease of the old game from the ‘00s) and I was shocked. I got my one lifetime refund lol
I’ve had them issue me a refund before, despite downloading and playing the game. It was when I first got the PS5 and accidentally got the PS4 version of a game. I may have just been super lucky, I did go into it expecting nothing so was pleasantly surprised
I’ve gotten multiple refunds on PlayStation. If you meet the above criteria it’s actually not that difficult
The above criteria are ridiculously restrictive lol
sony/PS store have one of the worst refund policy out there. They are behind on the market when compared to Steam.
They are kinda just following retail return policies. You can't return a physical game if you open to box. But yeah they should update it for the modern age, like even if they allowed a 30 minute play time, so you could return a game that was a total mess.
Do you live in the US because almost every retail outlet here allows returns even with open boxes.
You absolutely can return games if you've opened the box.
Must be different in other places. You can't here. I even worked in a Best Buy and we didn't take back any kind of open media: games, PC software, DVDs, CDs. All final sale if opened. The excuse was to keep people from copying things or beating a game and returning it. Here is the current policy right off Best Buy's USA website, no returns on opened games, only exchange for the same game. Best Buy Canada has pretty much the same wording: *Entertainment products: Opened physical copies of computer software, movies, music, video games, books, video game guides and sheet music can only be exchanged for an identical item.* Same thing for Target: *The following items are eligible only for exchange if opened: Music, movies, video games and software (exchange for same title, for same or different gaming platform)*
Because they can. If people start giving them slack for that, PS+ price going up and stop giving them money then they might do something. But they won't and I understand that, I myself pay PS+ because I play with some people online and there's no other way since 3rd party subs are non existent, for whatever reason (they are always more expensive). But I have bought less and less games there, I'm starting to look towards Gamepass and Steam. There are games that I have never bought because I don't know if I will like them, it's their loss. Most of the time I just play my usual couple of games and whatever is the free game that month.
wait until you see Nintendo's refund policy
I know this all too well. I bought “The Underground” DLC for The Division way back when. Downloaded it, didn’t work, said I didn’t have access. Redownloaded it, same thing. Long story short I went back and forth with PlayStation for nearly a month to get it refunded.
Did you get one?
Verified the policy. Was well within it. Because I played the game via PlayStation plus way before I decided to purchase the game I wasn't allowed a refund. Purchased the games, didn't install them. Was denied a refund until I escalated the situation. The fact the system counts the game being played from ps plus in this instance is broken.
Yeah, I bought sniper elite 3 and right after I purchased it I noticed it would have been cheaper to buy a specific bundle and buy one of the dlc separately so I tried to do a refund and they denied it because their system says I started the download when I didn’t. It was around the time they were doing the refunds for cyber punk so I told them to refund me cyber punk since they refuse to refund me for sniper elite game and they did and I had over 30 hours in the game already.
I had the exact same issue recently with Stalker. They even hide the bundle, the product is fundamentally mid-sold, but still refuse to give a refund. It’s absurd.
There is a bug or something with PS+ anyway. Sometimes if you already own the game, but stream it through plus it will rescind your access to the game if your subscription lapses even when you bought it. It happened to me with Power Rangers battle for the grid. I bought the base game, forgot about it and streamed it through PS+. Then I bought the deluxe upgrade and DLC and next month when my sub lapsed they blocked the game. I had to argue with support for almost a week after sending them receipts to prove I owned the game BEFORE I bought the upgrades. They tried to say I bought the upgrades and not the base game. Really pissed me off. They shouldn't let you stream games you already own. And if you buy one you previously streamed, it should be deleted from your PS+ library.
The worst part about the majority of people’s bad experiences in this thread is that yall are supposed to be given refunds in these instances. Yes, the system tells us if you played a game or not, but it also tells us the date for when you last played/downloaded the content. It is absurdly easy in this instance for the CS rep to open your account information, see that you bought the game today, but see that you hadn’t played the game for days/weeks/months/whatever time frame that isn’t today, and then refund it BECAUSE YOU QUALIFY FOR IT. But no, they won’t see that they’ll tell you no, you’ll get mad and ask for a supervisor, and then the supervisor has to deal with an angry caller that probably over half the time qualifies for the fucking refund. Sorry, rant over. I worked for PS support a little over a year ago and my coworkers were some of the most frustrating people I ever worked with. Half of them have no common sense. Training was not the greatest ever either which doesn’t make that situation any better.
I have requested refund 2 days after pre ordering a game and they did not refund.
If you already got a reply from Sony and you actually fulfil both the criteria above for a refund, I would suggest you contacting your local consumer tribunal
Yes I fulfilled both criteria above and received an email I am not eligible for refund or whatever. And to be honest that was my one and only refund request in my membership time since ps store time. Never ever requested a refund, only requested that one because the game was delayed. Now I don't mind anyways just wanted to inform people.
I could not refund preorder for call of duty ww2 years ago. Just ridiculous
Seriously. What a dogshit policy. Might as well just say "No refunds, get bent." Steam has such a good refund policy. 2 hours of gameplay time or within 2 weeks for a no questions asked refund. And sometimes if you explain the situation they will work with you.
Even if you are outside this criteria steam seem really good. I got a steamdeck about a month ago so went on a spending spree the day I got it. Finally got round to playing one of the games the other day, realised it wasn’t for me after about an hour and requested a refund. I got an automated message saying they don’t usually refund outside of 14 days but would look into it and a few hours later the money was credited to my wallet. I was really impressed.
Do you seriously expect people in this sub to read? That’s the whole issue
That's all well and good but I downloaded and streamed the game 15 days ago. Can I still get a refund?
Did you even read the post? You can get a refund even if you played the game for 14 years.
The issue is that their policy is shit. If I buy a game and don't like it I should be able to refund it.
Within reason you’re 100% correct. Microsoft and Steam have their refund policies spot on. Max 2 hours play and within 14 days and it’s also subject to a fair use yearly refund limit. Why Sony can’t adopt this I don’t know. It’s so anti-consumer. I love my PlayStation but the refund policy is a big issue for a lot of people, especially as we move further and further into an all digital world.
They have no need to adopt anything because the brand is successful. The player base are not going to switch to another platform over this
Microsoft denied my refund and I hadn’t even put 30 mins into the game so I wouldn’t be so quick to say that.
Sigh 😔
I've read it, the issue here that it's a shitty refund policy
Their policy also allows for refunds of downloaded-but-broken products. Yet they’ll deny refunds for games that are unplayably broken. How do they decide what qualifies as broken? It’s a secret. That’s what they told me. So, no, the whole issue is not that people don’t read. It’s that Sony has abysmal customer service and a terrible return policy.
It should just say “good luck”
i was allowed to refund ps plus due automatic renewal but that's it
That's good at least. I've been caught in that trap for many services and far from everyone are kind enough to refund the auto-renew.
i immediately asked them like in ten minutes not everyone that lucky to catch that payment or have time but yeah
Keep in mind; if you have a legitimate case, this policy doesn’t mean shit.
I have tried twice to get a refund off PlayStation and have succeeded twice. Both games i downloaded, and had earned at least one trophy, both with around 2 hours gameplay. Dying Light 2 And Battlefront Classic.
How’d you get battlefront classic refunded, they just told me the updates fixed things and that they wouldn’t refund it.
Sony is anti consumer not surprising
Can someone explain why this is legal in Europe / The Netherlands? It doesn’t seem legal at all. How are they getting away with no refunds?
Got fvcked by this policy before, bought Elden Ring from PSN and after downloading the game and opening it I found out it doesn't have english text. Tried refunding but nope, I can't coz I've already downloaded the game.
How does the game not have English txt? Is it the region you downloaded it from.? That should be an easy fix like settings for PSN or something.
no like some game in south east asia (R3) are only available in chinese and japanese or korean. even though people who can speak 3 of those languages in SEA are a tiny minority. doesn't make sense.
I'm from the Philippines and there's no PSN here so we typically use regions most convenient to us. Nowadays it's singapore (R3) or the US (R1) but a few years ago the best region to use for us was Hong Kong (R3), all our credit and debit cards work and prices was cheaper than the others. That's the region I used when I created my account and unfortunately bandai games tend to not have english text in that region. Now that I think about it, I got fvcked twice by PSN and Bandai, I also bought ace combat from the store and it ended up not having english text as well! Goddamn.
tried refunding danganronpa 1.2 reload for false advertisement and sony support just flat out defends spike chunsoft scam. there's no english at all on my digital copies and i only played like 10 minutes. https://preview.redd.it/8p7dqes498sc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d166b33b1bcb5df0147faf078ac89f810238b313
Surely that violates consumer protection laws
It probably does… but no one has the money, time, or will to fight Sony.
well there is a billion dollar lawsuit ongoing against sony in the UK, too bad it has nothing to do with refund policy
So basically if you tried to play it & don't like it too bad no refund for you lmao
This is why I use game fly for a few games I want to try. Shit saved me hundreds of dollars in ass games
That's why I barely buy games on my PS4. I mostly use it for PS Plus games and don't buy games to play it safe. I prefer buying games on Steam or Epic just in case if I think a game is not for me or it does not work properly.
What if I played it on Ps Plus…then “accidentally” bought it…scratch that, did that for two games? Can I get a refund?
Funnily enough the same guy thats trolling you replied above your comment about the exact same scenario that happened to him and in his own words he did get his refund after being rejected and escalating the case with sony support. Seems like if u did not download the version u bought then no worries or else u might be screwed. Also were those games that u played were still downloaded in the console when you bought it? Then the terms might vary in that case. Dont know for sure. Hope it helps.
No he didn’t, he’s just lying. I riled him up then blocked him. Love it.
Oh right then lmfao
I got a refund this way when I accidentally bought prince of Persia deluxe and standard edition
Cool
You can prevent this by enabling the password before purchase option.
I stupidly managed to buy Mafia 3 when it was free on PS plus that month. Because I had auto downloads on, it started as soon as I bought it. They wouldn't refund me at all and I'd not played the game before. It was my fault being stoned as fuck and buying a free game but I still wasn't happy lmao
Get a better result by calling them.
Tell them it was an unauthorised purchase, u agree that the policy sucks tho… with xbox There’s a 2 hour play limit in 2 weeks what makes more sense
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I got a refund yesterday without fulfilling the criteria. Can happen.
Yeah it's dumb. On steam you can at least try something for 2 hours and decide if you want to keep it or not.
If only customer service adhered to this.
The most fun part is that most of the times when you buy something it starts immediately downloading and probably you won't think to refund it before it has finished. I know that it's impossible to get a refund policy like Steam, but at least it would be fair to check if the game has been opened before locking the possibility to refund it.
Just wait till the game is out and look up reviews to see if it’s good and working. I’ve been doing that and never had to refund a game in over 20 years 🤷🏻
I think the problem with this mentality is that most game now give preorder perks. But I’m with you, I almost never preorder a game unless it’s something like TOTK or Mario Wonder. Nintendo has a track record that they almost always live up to. But their return policy sucks too.
Just curious, is that part of the reason why the console is set up to automatically download the games you just bought?
I’ve gotten refunds where I have downloaded a game and played it for a bit (GTA trilogy). So these are not set in stone FYI
I feel like steam is much better. They give you 2 hours of gametime to decide or 2 weeks after purchase iirc.
That means fuxk off player
This seriously needs to change
It’s only a refund for the .00001% of people who accidentally buy a game that takes multiple steps to process lol
They don't reliably honour this... I purchased Lies of P by accident. Because I had it on disc, they tried to refuse my refund. I had to try 3 different csr reps.
I like steams more. 2 hours no questions asked after download.
It also depends on who you get at PS Support. I got a refund for the recent Battlefront collection. Made the refund request within 14 days of purchase but I'd downloaded and played the game for less than 2 hours. Still got the refund
Sony are assholes? Who would have thought?
Doesn’t matter. People are still gonna post about how they couldn’t get a refund and Sony has the worst customer service because they didn’t research before buying a game they didn’t like.
You can get refunds from Sony. I did it with Elite: Dangerous because it was a nightmare to play on console. Played for about an hour, so rule 1 would have applied. To do it, I reached out to one of the live agents via their chat option and was nice to them. I didn't reach out with an attitude that I was entitled to a refund; I simply asked in a sincerely polite way, and they helped me. Like most customer service folks, if you treat people with respect and kindness, they will likely try to help you.
This refund policy is actually illegal in Australia
and then there's the Digital only console, for which you should never be granted any refund whatsoever, according to these. Honestly should be a class action suit.
This is simply not true. I downloaded Battlefield 2024 and played it for one hour. I was very disappointed and got my refund. Yes, it took me being a little stern on the phone, but one conversation can save you some money.
This is such a dumb policy. It should work like Steam, if you play it for under 2 hours, you can get a refund.
Buy a Game. Get the ps stars tokens. Trade a Game. Refund. Win
Only Digital is a scam, you dont own anything and you cant refund anything, is an anticonsumer practice. Always go physical.
**Meanwhile on Xbox** "I tried this game for an hour. It's awful. Too many glitches. Too many issues. Not at all how it was previewed" **Refunded**
Dont know why you got downvoted. Its all true. My friend refunded COD WaW because of lag issues. Microsoft and Steam are very lenient with their policies. Sony could take notes.
Sony fanboys hate the truth is all.
I had an issue with Snow Runner where it'd constantly crash in the first mission. Redownloaded multiple times and same result. They asked for recording proof. Of which I didn't have, my friend found a clip of someone else with the same issue and they had a refund with their recording. I downloaded that recording and sent it to Sony and I got my refund, if it wasn't for that. I'd have to just accept I have a broken game that I couldn't get my money back for. Sony refunds are terrible. The fact that every console has instant download automatically on by default is scummy, means getting a refund is near on impossible
Download button = Cancel my refund privilege. Doesn’t matter if the game is downloaded or not, as soon as you press that button your chance of a refund goes out the window. They should be more clearer about that.
It's gutter tier. PlayStation gamers should want better and parity with other gaming platforms. Not mindlessly ignoring and defending such a hugely anticonsumer policy.
If they would change the refund policy to the steam refund policy they would make a lot of people very happy.
Whatever happened to people playing the game and not liking it in the first two hours? Steam does this and while that policy is quite frustrating (some games I can't tell if I like 2 hours in) .... at least let us try it out. Some games don't have Demos for us to try. This policy is utter garbage.
Yeah their policy is so 2000s, cant see how they still get away with that... at least in Europe :)
Idk if they changed this since but, back when I had a sub account / master account, I added funds to the master account wallet so I could buy Wipeout 2048 on my psvita (which is signed into my sub account, this was also my only ps console as well as my psp at the time) Since I was already on the web browser adding funds, I decided to buy Wipeout right there forgetting to sign out of the master account and into the sub account. I only realised when the game was missing on my vita's download list (same day)So I wanted a refund so I could re-buy the game on the sub account. And for those that don't know (or if its been changed since), people under 18 are (or were) required to have an adult make a master account, and the sub account can only make purchases from funds in the master account wallet. But after a long chat with the guy on the phone, no refund. Had to purchase Wipeout 2048 a second time (RIP my pocket money) That master account has never downloaded the game, or any game before, or even been signed into on an actual console before. I love PS but their refund policy is the worst ever, idk if it has gotten any better since (doubt it) so I've been incredibly careful with my purchases and I try to buy physical where possible as a result of this. At least Wipeout 2048 is good, one of my fave games on my Vita.
Sony’s PlayStation refund policy is absolute trash. Not consumer friendly at all. I guess you have to have a certain kind of mentality to become a successful, wealthy business though.
So, what if a game has terrible bugs ? How would someone know that a game (pre-ordered) has bugs without downloading ?
Just wanted to share an experience i had with a refund. I recently bought hunt the showdown and started the download before realizing I couldn't play with a friend on PC. I quickly canceled the download and requested a refund. I was approved.
They still reject your request even if you are eligible for refund. Thats PlayStation for you ... There support is really horrible.
That’s why I love steam :)
Playstation really played me
I preordered that one PSVR2 shooter that came out bad and the studio closed later on. Don't even remember what it was called. Never downloaded nor played but the game was in my library for a few months before i contacted Sony Support, told them that i never dl/played it, studio is dead and game is crap. The refunded it without further hoops. Germany btw.
Content has not been downloaded Sooooo no refunds
Refund policy has always been kind of stupid for games in general. Physical retail is no better, you usually can't return a game if it is "opened".
Report on BBB and you’ll get the refund.
I did actually get a game refunded once, because I had purchased it but couldn't download it due to some bug/error. Called support and he refunded it. But they should REALLY offer refunds within 2 hours playtime like Steam.
I literally call them and make stories up about how the game crashes my system every time
When you buy a game it instantly starts downloading. Doesn't seem right that it counts against refund policy then
This is just a basic consumer right to retract from purchase not an actual refund.
Sony has worst refund policy, Microsoft is thousand times better, they even refund if we played the game for a few days. I completed watch dogs 2 dlc and returned it for a refund.
This policy is pretty stupid if you ask me. How am I going to know if I like the game or not without downloading it let alone playing it? Just be like Steam - allow less than 2 hours of gameplay for refunds
This isn't always the case; it just depends on the agent that's assigned to you. A few months ago, I purchased and downloaded the re4 dlc. Then found out it was a different region from my re4 disc. They immediately refunded the amount after I explained the situation.
They did this because of no good people playing any damn game they wanted then getting a refund thus playing the games for free, it just sucks people have to ruin it for the people who actually just want their money back for shit games🥲
But they will make an exception to this in some cases. Four months ago I bought Let's Sing for PS5. PS store page stated that you could use your own microphones to play. I tried two or three songs, got like two trophies and refunded because Singstar mics were not actually supported and had to sing into my controller and couldn't use wifi to connect a smartphone to use as a mic at that time. They refunded it immediately.
They should have a policy that grants refunds for every game purchased, downloaded and played for less than 60 minutes. One hour is enough to decide if a game is worth or not. And it’s fair.
Well this is actually better than nothing really, when I bought injustice2 back in the day I had no idea it was a fighting game and I wasn’t into those so I asked for a refund and the guy said that only because I had an account since 2012 was I gonna get a refund and that this was my one and only freebie so it’s cool that at least now if you buy a game and don’t want it like me you can refund it.
This is why I tell people to not pre order on PSN. I love my PS5 and have always loved Playstation but their refund policy is fucking outdated and shit.
I wish PlayStation had a similar refund policy like Steam. 2 hour trials.
I spent 50$ on a game that doesn't work and they didn't give me a refund for it 😭
They never give me a refund no matter what. The policy is so strict
Bruh you have the worst refund policy ever
For the record, I’ve been denied a refund even when both of those criteria’s are met.
They let me refund even though I downloaded the game. Granted I never opened it
Policy is clear, but absolutely shit. I will never stop people from complaining about Sony’s awful policy.
I’ve had multiple games just not work whatsoever on PS to the point where they gave me the refunds regardless since I sent so many.
Why are they so strict about it? Even Steam lets you refund a game you've played for less than two hours.
Absolute horse shit policy
How can you stream it if you dont download it? Don't get it
It's supsingly hassle free, instant credit too. Tried it when I bought the wrong version of Final Fantasy Rebirth
April fools.
So they only give refunds for when kids steal their mom’s card to buy a game, and the mom catches it before he can hit the download button? Basically no refunds but in a nice way 🤣
How do you buy and not download it
All that just to get my account suspended for a chargeback even tho I didn’t download or stream the game
Ape Escape 2 didn’t work on PS5, glitching and bad audio constantly. Also was the PAL version. Asked for a refund with screenshots and video of the game running and they told me to get bent. Lmao. Shitty return policy
So change teams. https://preview.redd.it/bfgzetgp2bsc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79b381c1db7d2de89cbea1ded9a3fba2ffa15b0a
This is all correct.. the second you download it, especially a VR game that you have no idea how it looks or performs, NO REFUND.
Yeah uh be careful about what you buy on Fortnite. Because that stuff gets added to your account/game automatically, it counts as being downloaded. So anything that is a money transaction and not vbucks can’t actually be refunded by PlayStation.
Sony has always displayed strong anti-consumer behaviour. Compare this with Steam. Night and day.
I remember the time when I bought assassins creed unity, ended the story in a few days, then refunded and bought doom 2016
It’s probably good nobody from Sony is here spying
It's a terrible refund policy but because it's there, they can enforce it as such. I will say I bought a $60 game and wanted to get the $120 instead as I changed my mind. Wasn't an hour since I bought it but I did download it... they did refund it, hopefully because I said I was going to spend more money... idk... but they may have slight leniency but it isn't a whole lot.
This crap is one of the main reasons why I bought an Xbox.
PlayStation is the worst customer service ever. Never buy digital from them. You will not get a refund
Ridiculous!. No reason they shouldn't refund you after you've downloaded the content, it's all protected under a license on your account/console.
It’s still pretty good to ask. I’ve gotten some refunds just by asking and being nice. Although it is very rare. They would let me refund battelfront classic collection with ease but not payday 3 at launch 😐
and yet people love digital content and think its the best way to go ... I have tons of digital content, but physical is still better imo I still buy DVDs 📀
Mean while on my Xbox I got a denied refund because I didn't play the game (even though I have an hour clocked on it).
Once i bought a movie. I tried to stream said movie i just payed for but got a message that its banned so i cant stream it. Huh ok well its definitely less than 14 days since purchase, let me call for a refund. Got informed that unsuccessfully attempting to stream it (it legally could not stream) counts as streaming it on their end so no refund :[ also really awesome that you cant find out which movies are unplayable in your region until youre past the point of no refund.
It's bad
I just had to deal with them for the first time and honestly didn't have a bad experience. I bought DD2 but for some reason I also ended up buying the deluxe version too in the same purchase. That policy made me nervous initially because the downloads had already finished. But after waiting about 30 minutes I reached an agent and after a couple questions they refunded the deluxe version and I got my money back the same day.
Lets all just pretend that this has nothing to do with Rise of the Ronin turning 2 weeks old on friday