Incredibly poor service and judgement from GI

[Runesten]

So this happened crazy scenario happened: I am playing AC on my Iphone. I put my phone in my jacket pocket to unlock my front door. I reach for my phone i my pocket and pick it up. While picking it up my thumb touches the home button and puff "Congratulations on buying 100.000 coins" and bye 70$.

What? I never wanted to buy any coins. I was really surprised how that could even happen.

I thought no biggie, I will send an email to the GI support and explain them this unfortunate event. After a lot of mails back and forth with first username, then friend code, then screenshot of the invoice the finally send me to some other support division and they tell me that they are sorry but they can not refund the money. I write back again and tell them that i was purely a mistake and they again write that they do not refund and it is all part of the terms etc.

I am really surprised by this. I mean if I really wanted to buy coins I would have bought during the 5x bonus days

I really do not understand why they just can't take back the 100.000 and refund my purchase. I was an accident and I have not used the coins or the mystery building (have not even opened the package with the building.

What do you guys think?

 

[JayBee]

So this happened crazy scenario happened: I am playing AC on my Iphone. I put my phone in my jacket pocket to unlock my front door. I reach for my phone i my pocket and pick it up. While picking it up my thumb touches the home button and puff "Congratulations on buying 100.000 coins" and bye 70$.

What? I never wanted to buy any coins. I was really surprised how that could even happen.

I thought no biggie, I will send an email to the GI support and explain them this unfortunate event. After a lot of mails back and forth with first username, then friend code, then screenshot of the invoice the finally send me to some other support division and they tell me that they are sorry but they can not refund the money. I write back again and tell them that i was purely a mistake and they again write that they do not refund and it is all part of the terms etc.

I am really surprised by this. I mean if I really wanted to buy coins I would have bought during the 5x bonus days

I really do not understand why they just can't take back the 100.000 and refund my purchase. I was an accident and I have not used the coins or the mystery building (have not even opened the package with the building.

What do you guys think?

Sorry that happened. I mistakenly hit the wrong thing sometime when playing too fast and it's frustrating. Normally, the game ask if you are sure you want to make a purchase, so you confirm twice before the purchase. Maybe that's why GI is declining the refund. But, try to get it back through iTunes. You may have more success with them.

 

[JayBee]

Maybe you can read info by clicking the link below. Good luck @Runesten.
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-a-refund-on-accidental-purchases-in-any-app-1785421106

 

[Runesten]

The problem is that the fingerprint system works as a confirmation.
I have already tried Itunes but it does not seem to work for in-app purchases. Not this one at least.

 

[JayBee]

The problem is that the fingerprint system works as a confirmation.
I have already tried Itunes but it does not seem to work for in-app purchases. Not this one at least.

Sorry. The link I provided was from last year so maybe things have changed since then. On you apple receipt it has the option to report a problem. I would say that you have a problem so someone should hel fix it...good luck let us know if you have better results.

 

[Runesten]

I tried the report a problem but Itunes says that this is not a problem they can help with.

I think GI is really doing it wrong here. I mean why not just refund the money I and can then continue to play the game and occasionally spend money on greens if I need and tell everybody how good the game is. Is 70$ really worth pissing of people. I mean it was clearly an accident so why not just refund it.
It think it is really bad service.

 

[Bob69bob]

I tried the report a problem but Itunes says that this is not a problem they can help with.

I think GI is really doing it wrong here. I mean why not just refund the money I and can then continue to play the game and occasionally spend money on greens if I need and tell everybody how good the game is. Is 70$ really worth pissing of people. I mean it was clearly an accident so why not just refund it.
It think it is really bad service.

I’ve done this before as well. Maybe ask them to at least consider switching to the coins to the equivalent amount of greenies?

 

[Below_Average_AC_Player]

So this happened crazy scenario happened: I am playing AC on my Iphone. I put my phone in my jacket pocket to unlock my front door. I reach for my phone i my pocket and pick it up. While picking it up my thumb touches the home button and puff "Congratulations on buying 100.000 coins" and bye 70$.

What? I never wanted to buy any coins. I was really surprised how that could even happen.

I thought no biggie, I will send an email to the GI support and explain them this unfortunate event. After a lot of mails back and forth with first username, then friend code, then screenshot of the invoice the finally send me to some other support division and they tell me that they are sorry but they can not refund the money. I write back again and tell them that i was purely a mistake and they again write that they do not refund and it is all part of the terms etc.

I am really surprised by this. I mean if I really wanted to buy coins I would have bought during the 5x bonus days

I really do not understand why they just can't take back the 100.000 and refund my purchase. I was an accident and I have not used the coins or the mystery building (have not even opened the package with the building.

What do you guys think?

From their ToS (Terms of Service)

"If you are located at one of the European Union member states, you have the right to withdraw from any purchase made from us within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day when the purchase in question is made."

"YOU DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM A TRANSACTION OR OBTAIN A REFUND ONCE DELIVERY OF DIGITAL CONTENT HAS STARTED, AT THIS POINT YOUR TRANSACTION IS FINAL. YOU AGREE THAT DELIVERY OF DIGITAL CONTENT COMMENCES AT THE MOMENT THE DIGITAL CONTENT (eg. VIRTUAL ITEM) IS ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT OR INVENTORY OR OTHERWISE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO YOU FOR DOWNLOAD OR USE."

Unfortunate accident and the best thing you could do is to contact G! support, as you did.

In general you have a right to withdraw from any purchase within 14 days, but there are so exceptions, for instance companies that sell in-game-content. They can make exceptions in ToS, as in the quote above.

Since you already agreed on the ToS, when you first played the game, you also agreed to losing the right to get a refund once delivery of digital content has started. That is why it is extremely important to check your settings and maybe have a two-three step payment solution.
Yes, some companies do refund. I will not discuss why some do it, because there are many reasons depending on the situation.
At the moment I do believe G! does not care if a player leaves game, because they have tons of different games (with in-game-purchases), a massive playerbase and get many new players each day. I am sure they are monitoring the customer pattern and income-per-player, and if it gets bad, they will probably do something. But today, no.

Your best chance? Try to convince G! support. But do know, they are allowed to deny your request.

 

[Runesten]

I have really been trying. They just refer to the terms.

The terms are rubbish though. I have the right to a refund of ANY purchase, but if it is delivered I can not get a refund. Well coins are delivered right away, so....?

 

[Pit1024]

Another way to protect yourself against future incidents is to disable the in-app purchases and enable them for short time only when you intend to really purchase something.
.

 

[Below_Average_AC_Player]

I have really been trying. They just refer to the terms.

The terms are rubbish though. I have the right to a refund of ANY purchase, but if it is delivered I can not get a refund. Well coins are delivered right away, so....?

Rubbish or not, the terms were still accepted. It is like any agreement, if you don't like it, don't sign it.
There are two sides of the consumer protection. Or, more like exceptions to the general refund rule.

In general you can refund anything, even after it has been delivered. But remember, this is in-app purchase (digital content), and not a cellphone you ordered online. You can return the cellphone even after you received it, if you do it within the timeframe. I am sure they can do it with digital content/in-app purchase aswell, but the law does not require G! to do so.

You have the right to cancel an online digital purchase the same way as you have the right to cancel other online purchases, unless you have clearly agreed and have acknowledged that this would lose you the right to cancel. Like other games, you sign into a service. By signing up to these these services, you agree to their terms and conditions and you are responsible for any purchases made by you or by someone else using your account).
If G! did not state this in their ToS, then you would get a refund.

Many games (where you can purchase in-game content) have the same terms. Yes, some do refunds, but the majority does not.

From G! point of view, they did nothing wrong, the customer did.

Do these terms benefit both G! and the customer? Now, that's another discussion.

 

[Below_Average_AC_Player]

Another way to protect yourself against future incidents is to disable the in-app purchases and enable them for short time only when you intend to really purchase something.
.

Agree.
I always read the terms when it comes to purchases within computergames. 2-step verification and a PIN code before purchase is completed.