BfA Refund Policy

[Onikaroshi]

I did not learn the 'video games pre-order lesson' after No man's sky so I pre-ordered Destiny 2.
But since then I know better.
And I won't forget the lessons of the past.

I mean, to each their own, but neither of those really compare to a WoW expansion for most people. Most people currently playing will still continue to play, there's just really nothing else out there to compare. Only one mmo even comes close for me, but between the netcode and the gearing method FFXIV can't really take my attention fully.

[Cedon]

1. And any rights not covered by retail law belong to Blizzard.

Which is irrelevent as those rights do not apply.

2. Ahh. "Go steal my money back for me after I made a valid purchase or I'll choose another bank more unscrupulous than you to do it for me." Very classy.

Blizzard is given the opportunity to dispute the chargeback. They either declined to do so, or did so and the bank decided against them. Especially since it appears Blizzard failed to adhere to its own return policy if it indeed did automatically deny a refund stating he had used his boost when he did not.

3. So he tried a refund twice. Computer told him no. Tried a third time, got a person, who also told him no because he had, as he admitted did the questline to unlock allied raced. Blizz said using the boost or unlocking allied races would nullify a refund. He stole money that belongs to Blizzard. If you don't seem to get that I'm not sure how I can help you.

You're obviously not reading things correctly. We're not talking about the OP. The OP was simply warning people who may not see the policy what it is. It was another poster who did not unlock the ARs and did not use his boost yet.

But I get it. You want to White Knight Blizzard. It's ok. Just don't expect to be taken seriously throwing melodrama all over the room calling people "thief".

[Onikaroshi]

Which is irrelevent as those rights do not apply.


Blizzard is given the opportunity to dispute the chargeback. They either declined to do so, or did so and the bank decided against them. Especially since it appears Blizzard failed to adhere to its own return policy if it indeed did automatically deny a refund stating he had used his boost when he did not.


You're obviously not reading things correctly. We're not talking about the OP. The OP was simply warning people who may not see the policy what it is. It was another poster who did not unlock the ARs and did not use his boost yet.

But I get it. You want to White Knight Blizzard. It's ok. Just don't expect to be taken seriously throwing melodrama all over the room calling people "thief".

Businesses can also deny refunds for any reason or none at all, even outside of their own refund policy. Maybe the guy was an asshole to the rep, there's always 2 sides to the story.

[Cedon]

Businesses can also deny refunds for any reason or none at all, even outside of their own refund policy. Maybe the guy was an asshole to the rep, there's always 2 sides to the story.

Go read his post. He didn't deal with a rep until the third attempt. He got automated, misleading responses incorrectly stating he had used his boost when he did not. And no, businesses cannot deny refunds outside of their policy. Because if they do it is legitimate grounds for a chargeback. Not to mention Consumer Protection authorities kick in. And Blizzard's in California which has the most requirements.

[Onikaroshi]

Go read his post. He didn't deal with a rep until the third attempt. He got automated, misleading responses incorrectly stating he had used his boost when he did not. And no, businesses cannot deny refunds outside of their policy. Because if they do it is legitimate grounds for a chargeback. Not to mention Consumer Protection authorities kick in. And Blizzard's in California which has the most requirements.

He also could not be telling the whole truth, people can say whatever they want, tis the internet. He could have used the boost or unlocked the AR and then denied it to us because "BLIZZARD IS WRONG"!

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Something crazy happened to me yesterday. I walked into the grocery store after opening a bag of chips. I only had a few. Those sons of bitches would give me my money back. I need that dollar to get a soda.. and damnit.. came up short.

[Rampant Rabbit]

I am aware it says so on the purchase page, I'm saying that for anyone who may be unaware, they are then going to find themselves unable to refund.

And they will learn to read the fine print as you just did.

Trial and error baby.

[Onikaroshi]

Genuinely interested in this. EU has fairly strong consumer laws - you can return any purchase within 14 without justification - except digital purchases and sealed games, dvds, music etc. If you buy BfA and use the boost, that voids your right to return it.

You're saying this is possible in California due to consumer protection laws? Pretty cool in that case.

Under US federal law Businesses are only REQUIRED to issue refunds on defective products. While it is true that California has stricter laws involving returns and refund policies the waters get muddied with digital products. Much like taxes, it's mostly assumed you use the policy from the purchasing state.

We don't pay california taxes when purchasing WoW expansions (honestly, I don't pay any taxes on digital products in my state), so why would California's return policy be the one used.

[Onikaroshi]

Yeah, that bit about California made no sense whatsoever, but I was just interested if they had very pro-consumer laws - as far as I know, returning digital products has and is very tricky. I don't know of a consumer law that would explicitly allow it (happy to be proven wrong though).

Digital law is just starting to become a thing, specially when it comes to digital consumer protection. We're just coming out of an era where if you got ripped off on a digital product you'd be laughed at if you tried to fight it. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 10 years many new digital consumer protection laws are written world wide.

[Dirtyfist]

Just a friendly heads up for anyone that has yet to preorder Battle for Azeroth. I attempted to refund today as I found myself a bit short on cash due to unforeseen circumstances (intending to repurchase it again next month), and was told that as I had used my boost and had unlocked the allied races I would therefore not be able to receive a refund.

Their policy was listed on the purchase page as I had found out and is as follows:

"You can contact us for a refund of the Battle for Azeroth prepurchase any time before the expansion launches as long as you have not:

- Used the included Level 110 Boost

- Fully unlocked the ability to create an Allied Race character

It may take several days for funds to be credited back to the original payment method."

I'll have to make do in this circumstance as it seems there's nothing I can do, but just wanted to put this reminder out for people who are still considering preordering.

Edited language in the post as people seem to be misunderstanding my intentions in this post.

Still don't understand the purpose of this post. The conditions are stated clearly. They have done their due diligence. You seem to be suggesting they are at fault for something.

[Dahij]

Legion has been pretty strong. I pre-ordered BfA with all the hype of allied races. Then I saw how underwhelming they were (like, I was all about highmountain, and they were literally tauren with moose antlers; the nightborne look flat out awful, I could go on)...then the first BfA alpha notes came out and I learned Zandalari aren't getting paladin...then they go totally out of their way to explain why we can't get Zandalari paladins instead of just giving us it....oh, and this is on top of the patch 7.3.5 fiasco and how the new dev teams' philosophy seems to be "ignore player, they are sheep."

Well, yah, I got burned. Wish I could get a refund on BfA but too late now. I might as well hope it's decent but this has Cata 2.0 written all over it. Actually, Cata looked better coming out of the gates

So basically you just screwed yourself over by buying something you weren't sure you would enjoy. Allied race models were out long before the pre-orders started. There was never a single hint of paladins being given to Zandalari. 7.3.5 was great considering it's just a minor patch. Alpha is early testing, there's still 6 months to go.

Next time you might want to wait for something to be released before you throw your money at it.

[clevin]

What those of you wanting refunds after having used the boost etc don't get is that they could do that... but they'd have to freeze the new stuff you used (the allied races and boosted toon). They did once before if I remember correctly but I imagine it's a bit of a hassle... unlock features when you have BFA. Refund BFA, flip the flag that allows those features... test to make sure that the launcher locks you out of the BFA created toons but not others. etc...

It's just far easier for them to say "Look, you used the benefits, that means it's too late to get money back" which is totally reasonable. If you're not sure you like the allied races or really only want them if you can have something that's not explicitly promised (Zandalari pallies) then you should wait. This is called being a responsible adult.

[Caolela]

I don't get it. If you do not like the xpacs don't play them. Is it that hard?!

*snip*

I don't play Legion. I didn't buy Legion either. So that's what you get for making dumb assumptions.

[Softbottom]

Trolololol thread

[Caolela]

There's kinda a problem with your whole logic, though. How will you know whether the product is good or not unless you try it for yourself, which you cannot do without buying it first. If you want to try the content to see if you'll like it, then buying it is what you need to do.

Not really, no. You can easily see others' opinions after a game has released, various pro reviews and real players' reviews, in-game friends that may be playing it, videos, streams, and so on. There is no need to pre-purchase an xpac before you've had a chance to check out the final version.

[Cedon]

He also could not be telling the whole truth, people can say whatever they want, tis the internet. He could have used the boost or unlocked the AR and then denied it to us because "BLIZZARD IS WRONG"!

Miss Cleo? Is that you?

Genuinely interested in this. EU has fairly strong consumer laws - you can return any purchase within 14 days without justification - except digital purchases and sealed games, dvds, music etc. If you buy BfA and use the boost, that voids your right to return it.

It varies here. For example there's a federal law allowing for a sale cancellation within three business days (including Saturdays) but it has limitations. It has to be over a certain amount, has to be in person (not mail, phone, or online), etc.

You're saying this is possible in California due to consumer protection laws? Pretty cool in that case.

In regards to California, the retailer has to clearly post their return policy unless they have a 7 Day Full Refund policy. If they have neither, the state then dictates a 30 Day Return Policy.

[cparle87]

Go read his post. He didn't deal with a rep until the third attempt. He got automated, misleading responses incorrectly stating he had used his boost when he did not. And no, businesses cannot deny refunds outside of their policy. Because if they do it is legitimate grounds for a chargeback. Not to mention Consumer Protection authorities kick in. And Blizzard's in California which has the most requirements.

I work for a retail company in California, and I can choose to deny a refund a reason for any reason, though if I do so outside of established policy I'll have to answer to my manager as to why I did it if the customer raises a stink over it.

[Onikaroshi]

I work for a retail company in California, and I can choose to deny a refund a reason for any reason, though if I do so outside of established policy I'll have to answer to my manager as to why I did it if the customer raises a stink over it.

Been doing some poking around on digital media, and as far as I have figured, when it comes to digital product the law more applies to where the purchaser resides anyway.

[cparle87]

Been doing some poking around on digital media, and as far as I have figured, when it comes to digital product the law more applies to where the purchaser resides anyway.

Hm. I hadn't considered that. I figured it would depend on where the seller is located, for what laws apply as such, and Blizz is in CA. Cheers.

[Onikaroshi]

Hm. I hadn't considered that. I figured it would depend on where the seller is located, for what laws apply as such, and Blizz is in CA. Cheers.

If you think about it, Blizz doesn't have a Canadian office so if someone purchased it there it would go through the American office, same as Australia, can't use CA rules for that. Basically comes down to the same thing state to state, since they have business places elsewhere anyway. Digital products are weird though, no real set in laws here, hard to find anything at all.