Australia’s ever vigilant Competition and Consumer Commission has won a court case against Sony over its PlayStation Store refund policy. An Australian Federal Court has ordered the company to pay AU$3.5 million (~$2.4M) for misleading customers. The case was brought on by four customers who were refused refunds because they had downloaded games purchased digitally, or because 14 days had passed since they made the purchase. Both of those policies are not in line with Australian consumer laws, hence why the ACCC took Sony to court. According to the ACCC, Sony told the four customers that it could only provide a refund if the original game developer authorised it. A fifth customer was also told that they could only receive a refund back to their PS store wallet.
The case was filed roughly a year ago, but only just reached a settlement. “Consumer guarantee rights do not expire after a digital product has been downloaded and certainly do not disappear after 14 days or any other arbitrary date claimed by a game store or developer,” said ACCC chair Rod Sims. “What Sony told these consumers was false and does not reflect the consumer guarantee rights afforded to Australian consumers under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds under the consumer guarantees must also be given in cash or money transfer if the consumer originally paid in one of those ways, unless the consumer chooses to receive store credit,” he added. Two years ago, Valve lost a case against the same consumer commission for misleading refund policy.
