Posted December 28, 2012
Red_Avatar: Well true it's not the first time but it's a pretty damn big mistake considering it could cripple the company - and to be fair, all other digital sites have made mistakes as well including Steam and Steam did the exact same thing: refunded the games and removed them from people's accounts. Or they froze payment and actually locked people's accounts which is far worse if you ask me. This happened to me once - I made the payment only for my account to be locked. I contacted support and they said that I had willingly exploited a mistake.
Part of my job is price calculation and if we make a mistake in our price offer that means we'd be selling at a loss, we legally have the right to rectify the price offer and the old one becomes void. If we make a mistake that does NOT mean we sell at a loss, we have no such right. Obviously, in this case it would be selling below cost so GG is entirely within their rights (and legally it's even their duty) to cancel the orders.
I agree with you and in my country we have similar law that protects the seller getting losses at this kind of mistake, when a consumer exploits it. But is needed to look at this specific case: since the GG were (are) in promo, with games at over 90% off (such as botanicula) how the consumer could with no doubt say that, for example, the Beth pack was some promo too? Aningan: If the law is so clear in the EU why don't people quote the exact law in a reply to GG and be done with. They don't have a choice in the matter if the law is clear and you show them you know the law.
Red_Avatar: I think that people don't understand that there's a kind of hierarchy to the laws. If GG sold these games "illegally" (i.e. below cost) then all customer rights about retaining the product become null and void. Since the goods had not yet exchanged hands, GG was legally forced to refund the games. Part of my job is price calculation and if we make a mistake in our price offer that means we'd be selling at a loss, we legally have the right to rectify the price offer and the old one becomes void. If we make a mistake that does NOT mean we sell at a loss, we have no such right. Obviously, in this case it would be selling below cost so GG is entirely within their rights (and legally it's even their duty) to cancel the orders.
PS.: I didn´t buy anything from GG.