Valve taken to court by Australian consumer commission over Steam refund policy

[PhantomWarz]

Your comparison is a bit lacking...

if your comparing this thread topic to the Apple/Samsung patent war... wouldn't it then require Valve to sue "Australia"?

 

I really don't get how people either find this difficult to understand or grasp  :huh:

[Technous285]

Your comparison is a bit lacking...

if your comparing this thread topic to the Apple/Samsung patent war... wouldn't it then require Valve to sue "Australia"?

 

I really don't get how people either find this difficult to understand or grasp  :huh:

More like Australia is Apple suing Steam as Samsung. :3

 

Since some people don't under stand this... IT'S A SARCASTIC JOKE.  *rolls eyes*

[mr moose]

I was talking about the people who bought consoles, not the games on the consoles. The console creators often espouse their creation as "the best gaming experience possible" or "light years ahead of PC" (to quote one rather idiotic CEO). Both statements are not true by any stretch of the imagination, at least to anyone who's educated themselves on the subject.

It could be argued that if you bought a console and there was no indication of the download size of the updates (60+G IRR), then an argument could be made that that is an unreasonable amount given the average data cap in Australia is 50G a month, then you would be entitled to a refund because you cannot use the product as intended due to failure of the company to adequately explain the requirements of the product. 

 

More like Australia is Apple suing Steam as Samsung. :3

 

More like the Australian ACCC is looking after Australian citizens.  It is nothing like an apple or Samsung lawsuit because they personally stand to gain absolutely nothing from it.

[dalekphalm]

More like Australia is Apple suing Steam as Samsung. :3

Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah. As an Australian, how can you say that? Apple and Samsung both maliciously use the law (patent law, in your example) for their own benefit, usually to try and squish/stop the competition.

 

Australia is nothing like Apple in this example. Can you elaborate or explain in ANY WAY as to why you think they are acting like Apple? If won, the outcome of this can only be good for gamers. The fact that we've went this long without any refund policy at all with Steam is disgusting enough.

[Imaginaerum]

They shouldn't give you the refund. The whole idea of Consumer Law is that if an item is not fit for purpose, then you should get a refund/replacement

The consumer law is for companies that wouldn't give good business to their customers if the law didn't say they had to, any other good business would give me a refund for a silly mistake. Yes, they should have given me one, and I've gotten them for less from other places in the real world (mainly because I can argue face to face and not so much through e-mail).

[hal9001]

I wonder how you pronounce ACCC. Hmmmm

[PhantomWarz]

"A triple C" is how we pronounce it

[Guest]

They should change this, even EA has figured this out. Where you can return your game within 24 hrs

People would take advantage- I could finish most games I really wanted in 24 hours, and not pay a dime.

[dalekphalm]

People would take advantage- I could finish most games I really wanted in 24 hours, and not pay a dime.

It's true, you probably could. But most people won't be that unethical.

 

You could buy a DVD/blu-ray at Wal-Mart, then watch it and return it saying it was "scratched" or "wouldn't play". Heck you could do it with an entire season of TV, since they give you 30 days. Granted you have to physically go back to the store, but the potential for abuse of physical products is far more then here in digital.

 

Besides, all they would need to do to combat this, is add in (as per my suggestion far earlier in the thread) a play-time cap. Say 4 hours of gameplay. 4 hours is enough for you to find out if a "Triple A" game is a buggy piece of shit or if you even like it, yet is short enough that you won't have time to finish any single player campaign.

[Guest]

It's true, you probably could. But most people won't be that unethical.

 

You could buy a DVD/blu-ray at Wal-Mart, then watch it and return it saying it was "scratched" or "wouldn't play". Heck you could do it with an entire season of TV, since they give you 30 days. Granted you have to physically go back to the store, but the potential for abuse of physical products is far more then here in digital.

 

Besides, all they would need to do to combat this, is add in (as per my suggestion far earlier in the thread) a play-time cap. Say 4 hours of gameplay. 4 hours is enough for you to find out if a "Triple A" game is a buggy piece of shit or if you even like it, yet is short enough that you won't have time to finish any single player campaign.

I could see it being a problem. I wouldn't do it, but it's certainly not going to be less than 1% of people who do

 

Hell, a 4-hour limit would encourage speedrunners

[Victorious Secret]

Holy shit did you clowns seriously turn a CONSUMER RIGHTS ISSUE into Apple v Samsung and "DAE CONSOLES SUCXS"

For fucks sake. 

[dalekphalm]

Holy shit did you clowns seriously turn a CONSUMER RIGHTS ISSUE into Apple v Samsung and "DAE CONSOLES SUCXS"

For fucks sake. 

Yeah you got me on this one. I still can't understand how anyone - ANYONE - could side with Valve on this, or not immediately go "Yay awesome let's hope ACCC wins!" I mean EA has already proven that a refund policy could easily be implemented without affecting the price of games, and the Origin/EA policy is WAY more generous then it needs to be even.

[dalekphalm]

I could see it being a problem. I wouldn't do it, but it's certainly not going to be less than 1% of people who do

 

Hell, a 4-hour limit would encourage speedrunners

I don't see a sudden influx of speedrunners on EA games. Do you? They've had their refund policy for that, a year now?

[Guest]

I don't see a sudden influx of speedrunners on EA games. Do you? They've had their refund policy for that, a year now?

Yes, but that's Origin.

 

Understandably, Steam is a little different.

[skywake]

People would take advantage- I could finish most games I really wanted in 24 hours, and not pay a dime.

Except that they keep track of all of the stats. They'd know that you were a person who plays a game, beats it in 24 hours and then asks for a refund every weekend. Plus again the Australian consumer law doesn't cover you for "changing your mind" or for refunds of products beyond a certain level of "durability". My guess would be that Steam could easily define "durability" of a game as some number of hours or a certain level of completion. They could even refuse a refund on the grounds that a game isn't faulty if it clearly wasn't faulty.

 

Plus if you really want to be a cheap bastard that games the system aren't you pirating the games already? As mentioned there are other products where this it's much, much easier to game the system. Before internet piracy of movies for example you could rent a movie, rip it and then take it back. In terms of "screwing over devs" isn't buying a game, beating it in a weekend and then trading it in the next week just as bad? The devs won't get a cut of that second sale. Especially if it's a physical product where the margin isn't anywhere near as high. With Steam at least there's a lot less of that happening.

[Technous285]

Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah. As an Australian, how can you say that? Apple and Samsung both maliciously use the law (patent law, in your example) for their own benefit, usually to try and squish/stop the competition.

 

Australia is nothing like Apple in this example. Can you elaborate or explain in ANY WAY as to why you think they are acting like Apple? If won, the outcome of this can only be good for gamers. The fact that we've went this long without any refund policy at all with Steam is disgusting enough.

It was a JOKE, son, a JOKE. Check the post I quoted for more context.

Sheesh, as Joker says - "If you have to explain it; THERE IS NO JOKE!"

[dalekphalm]

It was a JOKE, son, a JOKE. Check the post I quoted for more context.

Sheesh, as Joker says - "If you have to explain it; THERE IS NO JOKE!"

Well son your joke kinda fell flat on it's face then... I did indeed see the post you quoted. His post made sense. Yours, not so much.