EA changes refund policy in Australia after talks with consumer commission

EA has promised to change its refund policy in Australia after talks with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has successfully pressured EA into changing its refund policy in the country. The publisher had previously refused to offer refunds for games purchased through Origin, something which the ACCC maintained was against Australian consumer law.

Kotaku Australia reports that EA has agreed to create new refund program. Anyone with a faulty game purchased through Origin can contact EA for help. This applies to copies bought from January 2012 onwards.

A 1800 phone number will be set up in addition to Origin's website help.

"Businesses such as EA selling digitally downloadable goods cannot avoid their responsibilities under the Australian Consumer Law just because they are located outside of Australia,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

“It is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses to state that customers are not entitled to refunds under any circumstances. Where a product has a major failure, consumers can insist on a refund or replacement at their choice. Representations that this right has or can be excluded, restricted or modified are false or misleading,” he added.

EA issued a statement too that reads, "We’re pleased to have worked cooperatively with the ACCC to resolve the ACCC’s concerns and ensure our players in Australia have the best possible experience when purchasing and playing EA games.

"In addition to rights available to our players under the Australian Consumer Law, we are also proud to offer our global, industry-leading Great Game Guarantee that allows for digital returns within certain timeframes if anyone is not satisfied with a digitally-downloaded game from EA."

As Kotaku notes, this whole thing probably started with the Sim City launch issues.