Digital store refund policies have long been a source of frustration for consumers. Sometimes you preorder a game, find out it’s not exactly what you’re hoping for before release, but can’t get a refund for it. Or a game hardcrashes your PlayStation 4 to the point where the harddrive has to rebuild when you restart it and you have to convince someone over the phone that this is worthy of a refund. Well that’s all in the past now as Sony has revised their PSN refund policies for at least these two cases.
According to Sony’s new refund policy, a preorder can be refunded before release as long as the user hasn’t started streaming or downloading it. It is unclear if this also means preloads, but it’s easy to presume that it does. The exception to that rule is that customers can also refund purchases in the case of faulty games up to 14 days after the purchase (or preorder) date.
It’s vague, but it’s definitely an improvement.
Digital stores have often been hesitant to offer refunds, if for no other reason than logistical worries over ensuring they were good-faith refunds or perhaps even just not wanting to give back the money. As consumer rights laws change around the world, however, it is becoming more of a pain to have different regional rules for this sort of thing, so many services are coming around. In Germany, Nintendo is being taken to court over their willful lack of refunds despite consumer protection laws.
Source: Game Informer Sony Revises Refund Policy For PlayStation Network