AVOID buying anything digital from the Windows Store as refunds are not possible!!

AWPC

AWPC

AWPC

Soldato
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8 Dec 2005
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Should have known really as its such a poorly supported store :rolleyes: but saw a PC game I really wanted to buy on PC real cheap in the xmas sale. Bought it then found out immediately the Season Pass DLC I already owned on my Xbox1X will not work despite it being a Play Anywhere title (supposed to work across both platforms). Many other gamers have the same issue it will not install the DLC at all if you bought it on PC or Xbox. Did not consider of researching this in advance why would I! You have to assume the worlds largest company can at least let you play the content you already bought from them right :rolleyes: :mad:

So as I only played for a few minutes on PC (your allowed 2 hours or 14 days to request a refund) I had to go through the long winded refund process (you have to now manually request a refund as MS removed the auto refund feature that used to auto refund any digital purchase) then was told after 2 days its not eligible for a refund and referred to the MS T&C's regarding Digital Windows Store purchases but that does not contain any specific mention of the issue I have its all legal mumbo jumbo.

My only options are:

1: Swallow the £9.99 loss. Main game works fine but the DLC I already own will not work at all.
2: Follow the generic MS tech support guidelines to reset the Windows Store (this means the 100s of GB or existing PC games I have installed will need to be uninstalled & redownloaded :eek: ).
3: Do a chargeback on my credit card (do not want to do this as if you do MS always suspend your Xbox account which means I lose access to all the content bought on my Xbox1X).
4: Try again & hope I get a different refund assessor!

All the other content I bought over the years had worked fine so did not think for a moment otherwise & you used to be able to get an auto refund until MS removed that feature (which I only ever used once on Quantum Break).
Such shocking treatment from the worlds largest company all for the sake of less than a tenner :eek:
 
I really dont understand what your saying, if you already owned the play anywhere title why would you buy it again?

Also normally you just phone microsoft and they refund you.
 
imginy said:
I really dont understand what your saying, if you already owned the play anywhere title why would you buy it again?

Also normally you just phone microsoft and they refund you.
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Because the PC version has better graphics! I already own the Play Anywhere DLC on Xbox its supposed to also be accessible on PC.

When was the last time you phoned MS & got a refund? Reason I ask is I spent ages on their online Chat system & was then referred to another way you must now request Refunds via this website (both PC & Xbox same process) then an MS assessor looks at it. https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/billing/payment-and-purchases/request-refund

By default MS no longer give a Refund option in your purchase history (they used to you just hit the refund button & 3 days later the credit card was refunded). If I could be bothered then I could get a refund eventually as what MS are doing is clearly against the EU law for digital refunds but for the sake of £9.99 its simply not worth the hassle.
 
Are you getting confused with Steam? You say above 2 hours of play or 14 days which is Steam’s refund policy. I’ve never heard of MS giving refunds for Windows Store games as this is separate from Xbox.
 
ic1male said:
Are you getting confused with Steam? You say above 2 hours of play or 14 days which is Steam’s refund policy. I’ve never heard of MS giving refunds for Windows Store games as this is separate from Xbox.
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No confusion from me you used to be able to get a no hassle instant refund but now I have found out that MS removed this function (even though its against EU law for being able to get a digital purchase refund!). So I can either dig in then go through whoever I need to find to eventually get the refund or swallow the loss.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rights-for-consumers-when-buying-digital-content

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/game/get-refund-xbox-one-windows-10-game-3657866/
https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/8pj1r1/ms_no_longer_allows_refunds_for_digital_games/

According to MS themselves you can request it:

Can I get a refund for a digital game?
You can request a refund by going to the Xbox Refund Request Solution. We will review your request and let you know if you’re eligible for a refund.

I think the MS confusion lies with the game I bought is not faulty at all (although technically it is as the Season Pass content will not install). I explained in detail to MS the error codes & the issue but they still rejected my request. The DLC Season Pass purchased separately on another date for the Xbox1 is faulty on PC as under the Play Anywhere T&Cs its content you can access on any device so PC is any device but as its faulty & will not install without trying to reset the Windows Store App (which removes any existing downloaded & installed games of which I have several 100 GB worth!). After I had these issues I found a lot of other PC gamers had the exact same issue & only 1 person got it working after moving it to the C drive then uninstalling & redownloading to the C drive. I tried this before contacting MS it made no difference to me whatsoever same error codes are generated which both refer to resetting your Windows Store which is not even guaranteed to fix it.
MS used to allow you to go to your purchase history & request a refund I have done this once each on both Dead Rising 4 & Quantum break as neither worked properly at release. It was zero hassle & took a few minutes. But that no longer applies as MS have quietly removed this feature :rolleyes:
 
AWPC said:
Because the PC version has better graphics! I already own the Play Anywhere DLC on Xbox its supposed to also be accessible on PC.

When was the last time you phoned MS & got a refund? Reason I ask is I spent ages on their online Chat system & was then referred to another way you must now request Refunds via this website (both PC & Xbox same process) then an MS assessor looks at it. https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/billing/payment-and-purchases/request-refund

By default MS no longer give a Refund option in your purchase history (they used to you just hit the refund button & 3 days later the credit card was refunded). If I could be bothered then I could get a refund eventually as what MS are doing is clearly against the EU law for digital refunds but for the sake of £9.99 its simply not worth the hassle.
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What I don't understand is if you already own a play anywhere title why you would buy it again?

Surely the whole point in play anywhere is that you just buy the game once and can play it on your pc/xbox whatever/where ever you want and no need to buy it twice.
 
I once bought the Forza Horizon 3 blizzard dlc as I had the play anywhere fh3 game, but it would not work on the PC so went on the chat and got a refund for the dlc. The game you bought with the dlc, was it a physical copy? as that is not a play anywhere game/option only the digital one is. Other than that probably just a rubbish support person.
 
imginy said:
What I don't understand is if you already own a play anywhere title why you would buy it again?

Surely the whole point in play anywhere is that you just buy the game once and can play it on your pc/xbox whatever/where ever you want and no need to buy it twice.
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I do not own the Play Anywhere game I own the Play Anywhere DLC! That is still supposed to be sharable across platforms. I bought the base game again in the Xmas sale on PC as its a better experience than on the Xbox1 and as I already owned the Season Pass DLC I did not look any deeper into the massive number of issues other PC gamers have with the title not even installing from the Windows Store :rolleyes:
 
sgavan said:
I once bought the Forza Horizon 3 blizzard dlc as I had the play anywhere fh3 game, but it would not work on the PC so went on the chat and got a refund for the dlc. The game you bought with the dlc, was it a physical copy? as that is not a play anywhere game/option only the digital one is. Other than that probably just a rubbish support person.
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Yeah the Xbox1 game was a physical disc copy but the digital Season Pass DLC I bought on Xbox1 for it is Play Anywhere though except as its not been tested properly on the Windows Store its broken for most & will not even install!

Only way to confirm if it will install is to reset your Windows Store which means losing 100s of GB of existing Windows Store games I have which do work & which do install (I am not doing that either I have almost 500GB worth)! 1 of the 4 Season Pass DLC items installs the other 3 are broken on PC.

MS awkward stance is because the base game works on PC they are effectively saying its not refundable if the Season Pass DLC does not work with it as that was a separate purchase! My point of view is that as the Season Pass DLC is still advertised as a Play Anywhere title & the base game is also a Play Anywhere title when you buy the digital copy from the Windows Store which I did as it was cheap on sale. Surely the base game not working with MS own Season Pass DLC purchase is reason enough to grant a refund when I only played the game for a few minutes.
They are so inconsistent you used to be able to get a no hassle refund but they have removed that option & also now I have looked into it further found they have made it hard for anyone to get any refund despite it breaking EU laws on Digital Goods :rolleyes: so I give up for now I still have about 10 days to try again perhaps I will get a more understanding support person but as it took me ages to even get anyone who understood before I am not hopeful they all seem to want to pass the buck when it does not fit their support criteria scripts & refunds are not something they are up to date on despite it breaking EU laws the US support staff are not trained on this aspect it seems :rolleyes:
 
d_brennen said:
Try support again then just get on with life. It's £10...
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That is why I have written it off for now I may go back to them in a few days (I have 14 days to do that) but MS whole no refunds stance on Digital Windows Store purchases is a serious issue in the EU as it breaks EU laws just ask Valve about how much that cost them a few years ago hence why they had to introduce the refunds system!
 
We've sleep walked into a system where we happily pay a fee to access games (which are missing features out of the box) for an indeterminate time with no recourse when the system no longer works.

I don't see anyone being able to play most digital store games in 30 years like we can with boxed disks/carts.

It's annoying but look at it as a free pass to "acquire" something on the Windows store for free with a clear conscience... :p
 
AWPC said:
I do not own the Play Anywhere game I own the Play Anywhere DLC! That is still supposed to be sharable across platforms. I bought the base game again in the Xmas sale on PC as its a better experience than on the Xbox1 and as I already owned the Season Pass DLC I did not look any deeper into the massive number of issues other PC gamers have with the title not even installing from the Windows Store :rolleyes:
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What game was it?

Most of the play anywhere titles are included in the game pass and if you look round for sales and key sites you can get it for as cheap as £1 a month.

I don't use the store much because it sucks but I will sometimes spend a £1-£3 or get a free trial to complete a game like forza or gears. The last game I got was forza on release Microsoft were doing it for £1 a month when you renewed your pass.

I'm looking forward crack down so will probably get a 1 month pass and play through that.
 
imginy said:
What game was it?

Most of the play anywhere titles are included in the game pass and if you look round for sales and key sites you can get it for as cheap as £1 a month.

I don't use the store much because it sucks but I will sometimes spend a £1-£3 or get a free trial to complete a game like forza or gears. The last game I got was forza on release Microsoft were doing it for £1 a month when you renewed your pass.

I'm looking forward crack down so will probably get a 1 month pass and play through that.
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Resident Evil 7. I already have the Xb1 disc version & bought the Season Pass DLC. Now when I saw the PC version only £9.99 I picked that up thinking I could complete it on PC as Play Anywhere is supposed to be seamless...…:rolleyes:
 
Just wanted to update this to say twice I tried going through the support & you can no longer get refunds this way its all done via the xbox.com/refunds website now as MS changed the way the process works. Spoke at length with 2 different technical support technicians they do not even have the tools to grants refunds MS changed it all.

If you launch the game like I did to test it was working then that means you are not eligible for the refund apparently :rolleyes: not sure how else you can test its working ok apart from launching the game but I am giving up on this. Spent way too long trying to get a refund & MS are not bothered they are breaking EU laws for digital goods sales as the refund team are based in USA & oblivious to this so not much I can do other than swallow the loss & be more careful in future ! (zero purchases from me anymore!)

Clearly if I wanted to push this further I could as it breaks EU digital purchases rules but I do not have the patience to do that someone else is going to have to remind them they are breaking the laws of the region they are selling digital items in :(
 
I'm not sure you're 100% correct, @AWPC. I've had a quick look on the EU website and there are proposals about digital software rights but nothing has been ratified yet.
 
Thanks, I didn't know about that. Reading through some of that blurb and further info elsewhere, it seems the only way to get a refund if the trader doesn't give you one, is by taking them to court! Definitely not worth it for a tenner so it seems you are shafted. :(
 
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