Who gets this penalty? The FTC?
Why do these penalties always end up as a fine for the company? They should also be forced to simply go and refund the amount they overcharged at least and preferably add a multiple too.
Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
71–80 of 318 posts
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#72> Additionally, the order bars Epic from blocking consumers from accessing their accounts for disputing unauthorized charges. This could be bigger than people realize. This is very common in many tech companies like Uber/Doordash/Sony/etc. where if you do a chargeback, you often get blacklisted on their service. It would be amazing if this starts to end this practice, and you can actually have authority to get your m…
> if you do a chargeback, you often get blacklisted on their service. Although, to be honest, if a problem has deteriorated to the point where I need to do a chargeback, I've already written off doing any further business with that company anyway.
Yes, but the problem is when you have already purchased a bunch of other things that can only be accessed through that service.
They should be required to refund every purchase on an account that they close.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#73Quite frankly in-game purchases has destroyed an entire industry for me. Mobile games are so filled with this junk I don't even bother looking at them any more. I avoid anything on PC that has a store, repeating season passes or virtual currency of any kind. It's even coloured my view of the types of add-on DLC that 20 years ago would have been a legitimate expansion pack, purely because it feels too similar to the d…
There’s a bit of a sweet spot with replayability and DLCs.
I have a hard time finishing games. When they add new chapters to the game they’ve moved the goal posts as it were, and that doesn’t feel good. If they introduce some new side quests and a new race, I’ve still finished the game (or let’s be honest, got 90% of the way).
But if I want to play Skyrim again as a telekinetic khajiit then I might pay for DLC.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#74Who gets this penalty? The FTC? Why do these penalties always end up as a fine for the company? They should also be forced to simply go and refund the amount they overcharged at least and preferably add a multiple too.
>Under the FTC’s order, Epic must pay $245 million, which will be used to provide refunds to consumers.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I take it you have never tried to use the support system of many of these services? Yeah, you may sometimes get a good rep that will actually help you and refund you. More often times than not you are forced to jump through massive hoops, auto replies, no help, etc. to the point that you have to do a chargeback. Also, chargebacks are not always a guarantee, VISA (or whoever) does their own investigation to make sure…
I refund routinely on Steam. The only times it doesn't work is if I've played more than 2 hours which seems fair. I don't see why I would be entitled to making a chargeback after I've played the game for that long. That would be like renting a movie, watch it and then make a chargeback.
You're missing the point. The point being there is plenty of use cases that are not fraudulent ones.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#76Does anyone here know exactly what these patterns are?
I play Fortnite so I can answer. Basically purchase in Fortnite was instant. You clicked/touched on the button > you bought it instantly. There were no confirmation screens, no "are you sure" etc nothing. One click purchase. And cancellation was very limited, basically non existent. Credit cards were also saved instantly so no further interaction needed for later purchases, so some kids ended up spending a lot withou…
I don’t like how sometimes in streaming services clicking on a movie shows the details, while in other places it starts the movie. Now it’s on my keep watching list which gets awkward on family accounts.
But at least they don’t auto play movies that you have to pay for. Which it sounds like is what’s happening here.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#77Who gets this penalty? The FTC? Why do these penalties always end up as a fine for the company? They should also be forced to simply go and refund the amount they overcharged at least and preferably add a multiple too.
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Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you chargeback in Fortnite instead of just refunding? The only reasons I can think of are fraudulent ones.
I'm not familiar with the Fortnite cash shop, but do they refund hard currency or just "points"/ fun bucks?
If you purchased something in-game with "v-bucks" then you can get your v-bucks back if you still haven't actually used the item in a game yet, or if it was purchased in the last 30 days (up to 3 times). They don't usually refund actual money, as far as I can tell.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#79> Additionally, the order bars Epic from blocking consumers from accessing their accounts for disputing unauthorized charges. This could be bigger than people realize. This is very common in many tech companies like Uber/Doordash/Sony/etc. where if you do a chargeback, you often get blacklisted on their service. It would be amazing if this starts to end this practice, and you can actually have authority to get your m…
This is just common in general. Nobody that you chargeback is going to want your business again. It's just that tech companies usually hold something you want (your account) effectively hostage, whereas a restaurant or whatever you can just stop going to. This does make it worse.
We could regulate that: if you want to close the account (and thus withdraw all the bought items), refund all the money they paid for it.
Re: Epic Games to pay $245M for tricking users into making unwanted charges
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if you do a chargeback, you often get blacklisted on their service. Although, to be honest, if a problem has deteriorated to the point where I need to do a chargeback, I've already written off doing any further business with that company anyway.
Yes, but the problem is when you have already purchased a bunch of other things that can only be accessed through that service. They should be required to refund every purchase on an account that they close.
> They should be required to refund every purchase on an account that they close.
I could not agree more.