Genuine question about taking etailers to small claims court

Utnac

Utnac

Utnac

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17 Feb 2011
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I pre-ordered Brink off of D2D.com. I attempted to cancel it within 7 working days as distance selling laws, but D2D are arguing they don't have to give me a refund as none packaged games are exempt (true). As far as I can tell that is only in there to stop me taking the key and then claiming a refund and running off with the game. However, they can clearly see that I have not got a key (they havn't sent me one yet) so this would not be a barrier, and yet they will still only offer me a game exchange or store credit.

Has anyone in a similar situation gone to the trouble of going to the small claims court over this sort of transaction? How did you get on, and if anyone is vaguely qualified in law, do I have any chance what so ever in a small claims court, I understand they are fairly 'good' at giving cash to the claimant, but is that to the point of overturning a legal technicality?
 
they're based in California and part of the IGN Entertainment group? unless you're buying from a UK subsidiary the UK DSRs won't apply, it'll be US lay that you need to look at.

I would go to PayPal or your credit card company and open a dispute immediately as they didn't deliver what was promised and tackle it that way.
 
Icm76 said:
they're based in California and part of the IGN Entertainment group? unless you're buying from a UK subsidiary the UK DSRs won't apply, it'll be US lay that you need to look at.

I would go to PayPal or your credit card company and open a dispute immediately as they didn't deliver what was promised and tackle it that way.
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PayPal arnt interested, that was my first route, since it was through paypal my bank just tell me to talk to paypal :s

Since they have a specific UK portal surely that counts as them operating in the UK, it's not like I bought it off amazon.com or something
 
Brink keys were released previously but have been removed from display due to an issue with European purchasers or something for now.

Afaik, they've no way of knowing who has and hasn't used their key yet.
 
orderoftheflame said:
Brink keys were released previously but have been removed from display due to an issue with European purchasers or something for now.

Afaik, they've no way of knowing who has and hasn't used their key yet.
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You have to click a button to 'claim' you key, I havn't clicked that button so have not see a key, they will have a record of that surely?
 
Utnac said:
You have to click a button to 'claim' you key, I havn't clicked that button so have not see a key, they will have a record of that surely?
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They may do, or they might not do. I've no idea what information they keep records of.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't give a monkeys who had and hadn't viewed a key already though. I'd have thought once they've issued a key to someone that's that. It doesn't seem like who's viewed which key would be useful enough information to store.
 
orderoftheflame said:
They may do, or they might not do. I've no idea what information they keep records of.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't give a monkeys who had and hadn't viewed a key already though. I'd have thought once they've issued a key to someone that's that. It doesn't seem like who's viewed which key would be useful enough information to store.
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At the time I requested the refund though, no keys had been offered full stop. I guess you havn't used D2D before, but the button to claim your key is the same as the one to download the game, and surely it'll be relevant to them to see how many times people are downloading games.
 
Utnac said:
At the time I requested the refund though, no keys had been offered full stop. I guess you havn't used D2D before, but the button to claim your key is the same as the one to download the game, and surely it'll be relevant to them to see how many times people are downloading games.
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I'd have thought the record of how many times people have downloaded a game would be from the number of actual file requests, not who clicked a button.

I've clicked the button probably a half dozen times to see if the key is available, without even starting the download. Does this mean they think I've downloaded it six times? ;)


I've used it before. I'm not sure what it has to do with anything though... I'm trying to tell you that I doubt they record the information, if you didn't want to hear that answer why ask the question?
 
Utnac said:
PayPal arnt interested, that was my first route, since it was through paypal my bank just tell me to talk to paypal :s

Since they have a specific UK portal surely that counts as them operating in the UK, it's not like I bought it off amazon.com or something
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.co.uk is just a URL, it's not where the business is located.

If PayPal refuse to help I would just continue to kick up a stink, investigate the applicable US law. If it was UK I would argue that any terms that say they can fail to deliver on time but keep the money are "unfair" and a breach of the relevant statutes, then file a money claim online. The US probably has similar laws and procedures. Try these to find the equivalents:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml
http://www.bbb.org/us/

You're looking for the US equivalents of Trading Standards, OFT, CAB etc. and probably need the offices for California - remember state law is significant and different than federal law.

Find some solid info, then write again to D2D customer services and say that you believe their terms are fundamentally unfair, their technical failures are not your fault, they failed to deliver the item promised, you want a refund and will continue to pursue the issue until you are satisfied.

They're probably just being dicks because they don't want to issue 1000's of refunds to UK & EU customers who were let down.
 
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