GOG Launches New Guaranteed Refund Policy

[Gigano]

It is arguably little more than they're required to do by (EU) law[footnote]Perhaps even much less [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0044:EN:HTML], since in theory you have a two year period to complain about deficiencies under it.[/footnote].

However, a company which is mindful of consumer rights, implementing them long before it's absolutely forced to do so, in a way that's apparently consistent with the spirit and purpose of them, is still something which should invoke considerable praise. And business to back it up

It's somewhat sad that a digital distribution company taking consumer rights seriously should be considered an unusually progressive forerunner; but it nonetheless is by comparison, and should consequently be acknowledged as such.

 

[Caiphus]

Good for them. It's a shame I don't use their service much. I have Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 and some of the old D&D games, and that's it. Just don't get into old games much.

But yes, consumer rights are always fun.

 

[Isalan]

I need to support GoG more... Anyone want to recommend a game I should buy right now?

If you like your RTS's then Total Annihilation is a solid gold classic. Think Supreme Commander 5 years early.
Also, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 may be the best games EVAR (possibly) and they've just released the original Theme Park!

Hope they get more old Bullfrog classics, I miss when Peter Molyneux still had his mind.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Wow, I love GOG. They really are one of the best places I have had the pleasure of buying stuff at. Hope not too many people abuse this.

I need to support GoG more... Anyone want to recommend a game I should buy right now?

There's a tonne of classic RPGs if you are into that sort of thing and don't already own them. Fallouts, Planescape, Baldur's Gates, System Shock 2, Deus Ex. You even get a discount for the overall series if you buy them together.

 

[Amaror]

A very cynical person would expect assholes to try and abuse this, as would a very optimistic person.

Because this is the internet.

I need to support GoG more... Anyone want to recommend a game I should buy right now?

If you like strategy king of dragon pass is pretty cool. It's really unusual but fun.

 

[Rob Robson]

A very cynical person would expect assholes to try and abuse this, as would a very optimistic person.

Because this is the internet.

I need to support GoG more... Anyone want to recommend a game I should buy right now?

I recommend Outlast if you haven't got it yet and like horror games. Really the first horror in a while that 'rustled my jimmies'

If you like adventure games, GOG has hands down the best library out there, with The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, and the Syberia series being truly amazing, and Still Life is pretty good too. Beyond Good & Evil as well. Oh, and Sanitarium!

RPG-wise I know everyone recommends Planescape or Baldur's Gate but I really recommend staying away if you weren't a gamer back when those games came out as the technological disparity will not inspire fun. Neverwinter Nights or Enclave would probably be a more sensible starting point.

As for strategy, if this is a genre you are into and you haven't already played Earth 2140, that should be a no-brainer to pick up. The whole set in the trilogy is there for only $5.99 - Total Annihilation is another staple.

These are just off the top of my head. I recommend looking over the list of games and user reviews to identify candidates you may like, the world is your oyster.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Woo! If only that was available before I bought Dungeon Keeper 2 though.

Oh well, it's more reason for me to go a little hog wild with older games!

 

[shintakie10]

Now, i don't want to rain on the parade here, GOG is absolutely the most customer friendly publisher and distributor in the business, but the reason for this is probably not just that they're actively working on being customer-friendly. GOG, being head-quartered in the EU, and doing business in the EU is actually required by law to provide refunds within 14 days of purchase, for any stated reason even. The EU law applies to all internet (or phone/mail) based consumer sales within the EU. And before anyone comes claiming that software is a service where this doesn't apply, some companies have actually tried that argument in court, and EU courts so far always thrown that out, ruling that a product doesn't change into a service simply because the seller claims so.

Still, even if they're just doing what they're legally required to, it's pretty good to see they're actually willing to do it, and capitalize on that, instead of trying to get away with less, as so many of the scum-bags in the business do.

Wouldnt that only apply to the EU though?

This seems to be for all territories.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Think I'll go show my support for GOG by purchasing some more of their games.

A refund policy for digital products is going to be standard for the industry in a few years. Companies like Valve and Ubisoft would be wise to implement it now, while it can still make them look like the good guys instead of being forced to do it by some regulatory body or another.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

I will have to support gog more often

A very cynical person would expect assholes to try and abuse this, as would a very optimistic person.

Because this is the internet.

I need to support GoG more... Anyone want to recommend a game I should buy right now?

Total Annihilation

I second this. while I suck at rts, I find total annihilation to be a fun game while having trouble with medium difficulty AI.

 

[Haakmed]

Hey thats cool....now where is Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy? I would not be sad if you charged me 40 bucks for that game.

are you me from the past? ive never met another person who has heard of it let alone played and loved it

Played that game to death when I was... what? 11. Got some fond memories of that game bugging out and nuking myself lol.

 

[RicoADF]

Now, i don't want to rain on the parade here, GOG is absolutely the most customer friendly publisher and distributor in the business, but the reason for this is probably not just that they're actively working on being customer-friendly. GOG, being head-quartered in the EU, and doing business in the EU is actually required by law to provide refunds within 14 days of purchase, for any stated reason even. The EU law applies to all internet (or phone/mail) based consumer sales within the EU. And before anyone comes claiming that software is a service where this doesn't apply, some companies have actually tried that argument in court, and EU courts so far always thrown that out, ruling that a product doesn't change into a service simply because the seller claims so.

Still, even if they're just doing what they're legally required to, it's pretty good to see they're actually willing to do it, and capitalize on that, instead of trying to get away with less, as so many of the scum-bags in the business do.

Same thing in Australia, if a product doesn't work out of the box then we are entitled to a full refund regardless of what the shoddy EULA says. Funny thing is a few games I've purchased have actually had a sticker on the back saying to ignore the EULA as Australian law overrides it. Heck even the EULA's now seem to recognise this as when I read the PS4's and got to the arbitration part it said that it was only American users that were affected, apparently the rest of the world says no to those clauses.

 

[Grimh]

-snip

-snipsnip

-snippety

-snip again

-snip

Thanks everyone, I think I'll get Dungeon Keeper for now but I'll keep the others in mind for future splurging.

 

[McKitten]

Same thing in Australia, if a product doesn't work out of the box then we are entitled to a full refund regardless of what the shoddy EULA says. Funny thing is a few games I've purchased have actually had a sticker on the back saying to ignore the EULA as Australian law overrides it. Heck even the EULA's now seem to recognise this as when I read the PS4's and got to the arbitration part it said that it was only American users that were affected, apparently the rest of the world says no to those clauses.

The EU law goes further than just legally required warranty (which has a minimum term of 2 years here). The 2-week refund right is for any and all online/mail/phone purchases, with no reasons given. Basically, if someone sells you something that you can't immediately touch and take home, you've got the right to simply change your mind (as long as you do it within the first two weeks). It's simply considered a part of fair business practices, and if sellers don't like that, they're free to open a real shop and stop selling products online.
And yeah, the arbitration clauses are usually hilarious. So some legal beagle in some gaming company thinks he can add a clause to a EULA that will tell a foreign court whether or not they have jurisdiction over complaints filed by their own citizens? I wish you good luck with that.
(Reminds me of an attempted court case in germany, in the early days of piracy-trolling. Some joker brought a lawsuit against anonymous in a couple thousand cases in front of the supreme court, just listing a bunch IP addresses, and expecting the court to do all the ground work for him. The reply basically translated to: "Cut that shit out, and if you ever waste our time like that again we'll fine the living hell out of your Law Firm"

The big problem with the quite adequate consumer protection laws in the EU is that companies like Valve get away with breaking them at will, because people would have to sue them. And sue them for every instance, there is no provision that punishments get harsher if a company violated the same law a couple hundred times already. So it's a basic numbers game. Compare the profit for every time they break the law with the percentage of people that actually sue (and the cost of that) and that gives the cost/benefit ratio of breaking the law again. Unfortunately, it's usually very profitable to keep breaking the law and absorbing the (small) fines for the very low percentage of lawsuits that actually happen. (And it's not just media companies doing this)

 

[RicoADF]

The EU law goes further than just legally required warranty (which has a minimum term of 2 years here). The 2-week refund right is for any and all online/mail/phone purchases, with no reasons given. Basically, if someone sells you something that you can't immediately touch and take home, you've got the right to simply change your mind (as long as you do it within the first two weeks). It's simply considered a part of fair business practices, and if sellers don't like that, they're free to open a real shop and stop selling products online.
And yeah, the arbitration clauses are usually hilarious. So some legal beagle in some gaming company thinks he can add a clause to a EULA that will tell a foreign court whether or not they have jurisdiction over complaints filed by their own citizens? I wish you good luck with that.
(Reminds me of an attempted court case in germany, in the early days of piracy-trolling. Some joker brought a lawsuit against anonymous in a couple thousand cases in front of the supreme court, just listing a bunch IP addresses, and expecting the court to do all the ground work for him. The reply basically translated to: "Cut that shit out, and if you ever waste our time like that again we'll fine the living hell out of your Law Firm"

The big problem with the quite adequate consumer protection laws in the EU is that companies like Valve get away with breaking them at will, because people would have to sue them. And sue them for every instance, there is no provision that punishments get harsher if a company violated the same law a couple hundred times already. So it's a basic numbers game. Compare the profit for every time they break the law with the percentage of people that actually sue (and the cost of that) and that gives the cost/benefit ratio of breaking the law again. Unfortunately, it's usually very profitable to keep breaking the law and absorbing the (small) fines for the very low percentage of lawsuits that actually happen. (And it's not just media companies doing this)

Over here the law doesn't give a time limit, rather it says that the item must not fail/be faulty within a reasonable expected time frame. So in other words if a $2 kids toy dies a year from purchase it's not covered but a $20000 new car would be expected to work for 5 years without major fault (normal wear and tear/damage caused by driver obviously exempted).

 

[sparafucil]

I mostly get my games on Steam, but I should probably throw a bit more love GOG's way. I've had my eye on Temple of Elemental Evil and will definitely get Witcher 3 on GOG.

 

[McKitten]

Over here the law doesn't give a time limit, rather it says that the item must not fail/be faulty within a reasonable expected time frame. So in other words if a $2 kids toy dies a year from purchase it's not covered but a $20000 new car would be expected to work for 5 years without major fault (normal wear and tear/damage caused by driver obviously exempted).

There are two different types of warranty here, what the 2-year limit says (which applies to consumer items above a certain cost. Other categories like cars or houses have their own laws regulating sales) is when they switch over. Within the first 2 years the warranty that applies means the seller is automatically responsible for any failure unless they can prove it was the customers fault that the item broke. After 2 years, the seller is still liable to provide replacement or refund, however only if the customer can prove that item broke due to a factory fault. (normal wear&tear of short-lived items doesn't count) Of course, in practice that means warranty ends after 2 years, (unless the seller/manufacturer voluntarily offers more. More expensive items usually come with more than 2 years, it's good marketing) you're hardly going to go to the effort to prove that your toaster broke due to a factory fault 3 years after purchase.