I had an interesting chat with a bloke called Avnish at on EA’s livechat help service last night. I wanted to see if I could get a refund on BF3 (despite having bought a retail version), or get it swapped for a different game. Sadly I couldn’t. Still, I did glean some worthwhile information. Here’s a slice of the conversations:
Avnish: May I know from where you have purchased the game?
Lewie: Tesco
Avnish: If you want a refund please contact your retailer.
Lewie: Tesco don’t give refunds on unsealed games though
Avnish: We are sorry as you have purchased the game form third party retailer we can not provide you refund.
Lewie: is there anything you can do? Maybe let me swap it for a different game on Origin?
Avnish: No.
Lewie: but if I had bought it through origin, you’d have given me a refund?
Avnish: Yes.
Lewie: is that a standard policy or something, only I wasn’t aware you offered refunds on origin games, and it might be a factor in when I consider buying EA games in the future
Avnish: Yes, we refund games that are purchased through Origin.
All I had said was I wanted a refund because I was disappointed with the game, not that it was faulty or anything.
Useful information, no doubt. If there are any games you’d consider buying from Origin, but would like to have the option of a refund if you don’t like it, I suppose this would work for you. I didn’t find out how long you’d have to get a refund, presumably there is a limit to how long they would let you try a game. This would also be useful if there is a game that you aren’t totally sure how well it will run on your system.
Let me know if you have any trouble with trying to get a refund on any Origin purchases. Does anyone know any other DD outlets that offer refunds?