Gamers Deserve Refunds When Online Games Fail!
- van: Care2.com
- ontvanger: The Federal Trade Commission
There's very little more frustrating than paying for a service and not receiving what was promised. Take the new Electronic Arts game SimCity, for example: more than 72 hours after it was released, many players were still unable to log on to the servers to enjoy the experience that they'd paid $60 for.
What's even worse, though, is that EA is refusing to give the would-be players their money back.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. In December, Amazon server failures rendered all their domains -- including online streaming site Netflix -- temporarily useless. And the popular multiplayer online game Call of Duty was plagued by frequent server errors throughout last year.
But because of varying laws from state to state, many companies have no obligation to refund their users for their miserable experiences. That's just unfair.
Ask the FTC to ensure that all customers get what we pay for -- and refund us if we don't.
I am writing to ask you to institute a national law that will obligate companies that use remote servers to refund their customers when said servers fail, rendering games unplayable.
After the recent Electronic Arts SimCity disaster, when EA refused to refund its customers the $60 they had paid to enjoy the experience, it is clear that consumers must take matters into our own hands.
If a customer bought a sandwich and received a piece of bread, they would rightly demand a refund. If a reader bought a book and found nothing inside but blank pages, they would demand their money back. This is no different.
Please institute an industry-wide law that guarantees players refunds in the case of server failure.
