14 DAY TRIAL // Looks like well-known game publisher Gameloft has had some serious issues with its billing system, as several customers who purchased apps from its website reported that they have been double, triple or even quadruple charged over the same item.
It all started with an article posted on Androidandme by Taylor Wimberly, who bought three games from Gameloft last weekend and got a fraud alert email from his bank a few days later. Apparently, Gameloft charged him four times for one of the games he had purchased.
Ironically, that this was the first time that Wimberly managed to purchase, download and install the games and each transaction went smoother than ever.
Another Gameloft customer who goes by the username MikeyDroid and had the same problem said:
“The real issue… they triple charged my card buying the game which forced a hold / fraudulent charges on my debit card. After three emails, I haven’t received a single response in about a week. Gameloft has zero credibility with me and I’d expect a company as large as them to be able to handle such a simple task.”
Following the high number of complaints received, Gameloft issued an official statement:
“Gameloft would like to apologize to those who were affected by the following situation on Gameloft’s Android store:
We spotted an issue in our billing process that affected 0.05% of all transactions on our stores in December. After having bought one game through a credit card, some customers were charged a second time under certain circumstances.
All customers who received extra charges will be automatically refunded for all related game charges directly to their credit card accounts, and will receive a free game credit.
This bug has been fixed today.
Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it might have caused some of our customers.”
As a side note, Gameloft does not retail its Android games through the usual Android Market channel, instead customers have to buy and download apps from the company's online store, which is known for its issues.
One of the biggest issue with Gameloft’s system is the My Downloads section which lets users re-download games that they already purchased. Initially, the company limited each purchase to a single download, but after the high number of complaints received, it decided to changed this policy.
However, a high percent of customers are still unable to re-download all the games they have purchased from the publisher.
Another problem with Gameloft's online storefront is the lack of a system to enable customers to update their purchased games.