14 DAY TRIAL // Owners of problematic video games, including the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops PlayStation 3 version, are entitled to a full refund, at least according to the UK's Trading Standards Institute.
While games filled with bugs are pretty scarce, at least in terms of blockbuster franchises coming from established studios, we saw a couple of big releases, Fallout: New Vegas and Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PlayStation 3, which were filled with bugs, glitches and lots of other problems.
Not even through multiple patches did the games start performing better, despite the efforts of Obsidian Games and Treyarch, respectively.
Owners of such titles are entitled to a full refund, at least according to the Trading Standards Institute from the UK, which highlights, through its Joint Lead Officer, Sylvia Rook, a law that protects customers from dodgy products.
"When consumers buy goods their rights are always against the retailer, so if there is a problem with a game, the consumer should return it to the retailer.
"The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that goods should be of satisfactory quality, fit for their purpose and as described. If the game is faulty, then the consumer should be entitled to a refund from the retailer (although it is not unreasonable for the retailer to return it to the manufacturer in order to ensure it is, indeed, faulty and it is not operator error, or a problem with the consumer's computer)."
If you intend to follow through with demanding for a refund, Rook advises people to stop using the game so that they won't lose the right to take it back.
"If consumers wish to exert their statutory rights, they should stop using the game immediately as if they continue to use it they might lose the right to reject it and might then be entitled only to damages," Rook said.
"If the consumer wishes, they can also request a repair or replacement, but they don't have to accept this if they do not want to."
Recently, owners of the PlayStation 3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops started a petition through which they demanded a full refund for the game from Activision, its publisher, and Treyarch, its developer, because it was filled with bugs, even after subsequent patches and updates.
The recent 1.05 update, however, seems to have solved a few of those issues for Black Ops PS3 users.