Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax has been ordered by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to issue refunds to some Fallout 76 players after ZeniMax acknowledged that it misled consumers about their rights.
Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), players who were unable to play Fallout 76 due to a variety of faults like “problems with the servers, lagging, graphics, and visual problems,” were entitled to a refund. However, ZeniMax refused the refunds in violation of the ACL.
The company has now committed to issuing refunds.
In a statement, ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said:
ZeniMax has acknowledged that they are likely to have misled certain Australian consumers about their rights to a refund when they experienced faults with their Fallout 76 game. When a consumer buys a product it comes with automatic consumer guarantees, and retailers must ensure their refunds and returns policies do not misrepresent what the Australian Consumer Law provides.
When a consumer has purchased a product that has a fault which amounts to a major failure, the Australian Consumer Law provides them with the right to ask for their choice of either a repair, replacement or refund.
The ruling applies to players who requested a refund between November 24, 2018 and June 1, 2019. While it’s likely that some of those who purchased physical copies have probably traded them in by now, this is good news for digital buyers.
In a legal undertaking, ZeniMax also pledged to improve its customer service in Australia, particularly by amending relevant documents and scripts to remove anything that would lead its support teams to violate consumer rights in the future.
[Source: ACCC]
