If you pre-order a game that offers a beta and cancel, should you get get only a fraction of it?

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
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I agree with Best Buy here. You don't deserve a free ride of the game when the conditions say you must buy it to get your "beta". The beta/demo is provided as a "thank you" to the people who pre-order. It not there to get a free test drive of the game because if it was, the beta would be provided to everyone free of charge.
 
Screw Best Buy... but then again, screw pre-ordering games. It's difficult to feel sympathy for those who do, still, in the year 2017.

The last game I pre-ordered was RAGE... never again!
 
I don't have a problem with doing this so they can set the precedent not to try and con the system.

Now, if Best Buy is the only company that does charge they are going to basically be telling consumers "don't pre-order from us".

But I also believe that some people who played the beta might think the game sucks afterwords and canceled their pre-order.
 
A beta isn't a separate product. It's an early version of the final product.

Therefore, a beta can't be charged as a separate line item. You are essentially using the item you paid for at an early date. Therefore the refund policy should be the same on a beta that it is with a final product. What is the refund policy on games after release?
 
A beta isn't a separate product. It's an early version of the final product.

Therefore, a beta can't be charged as a separate line item. You are essentially using the item you paid for at an early date. Therefore the refund policy should be the same on a beta that it is with a final product. What is the refund policy on games after release?
http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Gaming...hing-that-is-supposed-to-be-free/td-p/1040768

@sohjsolwin I was able to locate and review your orders, and will be happy to explain what happened here. As called out in the Bundle or Promotional Discount Items section of our Return and Exchange Promise “If you return an item bought as part of a bundle or with a promotional discount and you do not return everything - not to worry. We will reimburse you for what you do return, minus the value of the discount or freebie.” In this case the Beta Access code is a digital item, which is final sale and nonreturnable under our policy.


Because you canceled your order after your digital Beta code had already been fulfilled, which can’t be returned or deactivated, the system automatically charged you its value in accordance with our policies. I do apologize for any disappointment this may cause, but because we cannot return or deactivate the digital code you were already provided we’ll not be able to provide you with a refund for its value.
 
Screw Best Buy... but then again, screw pre-ordering games. It's difficult to feel sympathy for those who do, still, in the year 2017.

The last game I pre-ordered was RAGE... never again!
I preorder if there is a good financial reason to do so. I've preordered destiny 2, battlefront 2 and rdr 2 from amazon as they were all 40% off and I was likely going to buy them anyways. Nice thing with amazon is I can cancel anytime if I don't like where the game is heading.

I'm all for not preordering if there's no reason for it though.
 
And I'm saying their policy is wrong. A beta is not a separate product as part of a bundle. A beta is but a small piece of the finished product and therefore refunding that product after getting a trial run should be the same thing as if you bought the full game on release day (no beta), decided you didn't like it, and returned it to the store. That's the policy that should be applied here. Whether they do accept software returns is a different issue altogether. The only way that the Best Buy policy that you mentioned can apply is if that trial period was a separate paid trial available to everyone, but pre-order customer's got vouchers letting them play for free.

You can't give away something labeled as a free sample then charge someone a fee to take it back. If I sell you an entire cake, but I offer you a free slice cut out of the same cake you're buying (and advertised as such) before you pay me in full, I do not have the right to charge you for a single slice if you decide you don't like the taste. That's the seller's fault and separate billable slices should be offered.


Now let's change the scenario. Let's say you pre-order a game, and with the game comes a voucher for a separate collectible figurine. You go redeem the voucher and want to keep the figurine, but decide the game is shit and want to return it. Since the figurine wasn't part of the game but was a separate billable item within the package, the seller could still charge you the cost of the figurine.
 
I remember when a Beta was for the developer to test out the game, not a big marketing ploy to drum up pre-orders.

I honestly wouldn't have a problem if they wouldn't grant refunds at all on preorders at all until the product actually ships. Then again, I don't preorder games any more, because it's nothing but sucker bait.
 
If it's a MMORPG, then no, but if it was a single player game then yeah I agree, you should only get a fraction back, if anything, but last time I checked, single player games don't offer beta access?
MMORPGs evolve so even if you play beta for a couple of months, there's still a lot left to play.
 
The beta key is clearly marked "Included Free", and thus has no value. Returns should be given at full price.

In the future, if they want to pull shit like this, then they need to clearly indicate the value of the beta and indicate that any returns will have the value of that beta deducted from the return if it was activated.
 
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