New World: Aeternum

New World: Aeternum

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HOW TO: Get all your money back once NW shuts down
由 Recondite 制作
How to get your money back from AGS and Steam once New World goes offline very soon (or now, if you'd rather).
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Preamble
So, they're finally pulling the plug.
(... called it on day one *shrug*).

HERE'S HOW TO GET EVERY CENT OF YOUR MONEY BACK FROM AGS ONCE THEY DO:

If you live in the USA, EU, CA or AU, (and most other non-third-world jurisdictions, really), your consumer protection laws explicitly protect your right to withdrawal without loss from digital purchases bait-and-switch scams like these, (including games that permanently become unplayable, their expansions and DLCs, AND digital currency/purchases made within/via said games). Even in countries where you don't have explicit protections to that effect, credit card companies/banks still carry insurance for WAY more than the value+overhead of every transaction - so they're happy to help you unless you get incredibly unlucky with the CSR lottery (... in which case, hang tf up and call tf back).
How-to:
For the Marks, ask politely for a refund from AGS directly, making sure to include in your request that you are invoking your right to withdrawal following their breach of purchase contract, and that they are obliged by the laws of your jurisdiction of residence to comply. When they decline, screenshot it, and submit it to your card company / bank / payment processor with your CHARGEBACK REQUEST, along with a statement that the seller in question is in blatant violation of law AND in breach of contract AND operating in bad faith by withholding the full refund to which you are rightfully entitled.
NOTE: If you did something dumb like use Paypal or another payment processor instead of a credit card directly—(DON'T EVER DO THAT)—they're all completely untouchable and will likely either ignore you or just say "nah" - in which case, document it, and then rinse/repeat with the actual card company / bank (i.e. the only entity to which they are actually beholden for anything at all).

For the game/expansions/DLCs, ask politely for a refund through Steam—(which, btw, is actually obligated by law to provide them to any purchasers upon request in those jurisdictions - though they are untouchable and thus rarely comply with local or federal laws)—or Amazon (wherever you bought the game) in exactly the same manner and using exactly the same language, and when they decline, do exactly the same thing.

99% of the time, this is all you need to do. It doesn't matter if it was 5 hours or 5 years ago - you can still always charge back any payment made to a company operating in bad-faith and/or in violation of law or breach of contract (all three of which apply in this case)... AND YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD!
What if you lose the CSR lottery?
It happens. People are ultimately still people, and many, MANY people get paid actual money to be idiots at work all day. (... Just ask AGS leadership, or anyone at Steam support). Wish I could land a sweet gig like that.

If your bank or card company declines and stands firm, tell them that you'll call their regulatory agency if they, too, insist on violating the law and your rights; if some incredibly asinine big fish with severe small pond syndrome STILL insists at that point, follow through by actually doing it - and then continue to re-submit your chargeback request as many times as it takes, but at least 3-5 times, even if they continue to deny the request.

WHY (#1):
At the very least, a cursory follow-up is mandated whenever most regulatory agencies receive reports of consumer antagonism/non-compliance via credit card companies/banks. The cost to the bank of EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE of any regulatory agency's follow up/investigation alone is hundreds of labor hours and tens of thousands of dollars, and they'll almost certainly get fined even more for their non-compliance on top of that expense (even though you'll never know about it). Any low-level call center supervisor for a card company knows this, and will be trained never, EVER to allow that to happen.

WHY (#2):
After 3 or more times requesting a chargeback on record for a given account, if they still won't comply, in most jurisdictions you can legally simply refuse to pay another cent toward anything on that account, ever; in the USA, the big 3 credit bureaus are obliged to remove from your record any hint of a company or bank that tries to collect on an account under those conditions - so the worst thing most banks can do to you in the long run if you *legally* withhold payment is to cancel the account and write it off... at their own tremendous expense.
Be sensible
IMPORTANT NOTE: You DO need to be willing to follow-through with the credit bureaus if it comes to that, obviously. This is unlikely in the vast majority of circumstances, but may become a factor particularly if your bank is also unwilling to comply with law and would rather just try to recover the money from you - so as you navigate this process make sure you don't give anyone a special reason to want to make your life difficult, don't try to create additional problems where there aren't any, and in general don't abuse chargebacks frivolously or without legitimate cause... thus the earlier instructions containing the word "POLITE."

Be sensible.

Chargebacks are a legally-protected (and legally-bounded) consumer recourse - not a social engineering tool nor a cost-saving financial hack.
STICK IT TO 'EM!
I'd say good luck, but honestly you very likely don't need it. Just be polite, direct, concise, and keep it all business.

I already got my own money back. Go get yours!
10 条留言
Recondite  [作者] 11 月 18 日 上午 3:23 
@Mrnotlak
It's up to everyone to know the laws of their jurisdictions and what rights they have as a result, but in most nations that have any form of consumer protection laws the vast majority of those rights granted by such laws cannot be waived - contractually or otherwise. As just one example, many of the terms of use specified in the Steam user agreement are implicitly void in the United States, because they would otherwise constitute an unlawful waiver of consumer rights; subsequent to that, there also exist protections that apply to entire agreements containing ANY such illegal terms. The fact that very few people know this is more or less what keeps most people afraid of violating the terms of various contract/service agreements... even when they have no legal obligation to comply, and may actually be legally exempt from any need to do so.
Mrnotlak 11 月 13 日 下午 8:14 
the problem that in the contract they say that they are only renting the licence not selling it... they know what they are doing
Recondite  [作者] 11 月 12 日 下午 2:32 
@vonMort
I've never lived in Germany, so I can't speak to that specifically if their banking infrastructure is a bit more tyrannical than others (though I certainly wouldn't expect that from Germany in particular) - but from having lived and worked in many other places in the world, risk of that magnitude hasn't ever been a factor at least in those countries, nor in the USA where I currently live... and very generally speaking, the USA's consumer protections tend to be drastically fewer and less effective—and legal liabilities drastically higher, more severe and less reasonable owing to its essentially unenforced troll-litigation culture—than in the majority of other world nations.

(All that said, if you have any more information about Germany specifically that you think would be important for other German citizens to know in order to navigate this more safely, please post such here and I will gladly consider adding it to the guide).
Recondite  [作者] 11 月 12 日 下午 2:31 
@vonMort
Disingenuous or frivolous chargebacks are certainly risky, sure, (and I have made brief mention of that already in the guide, along with a note that both willingness to follow-through and reasonable personal comportment throughout the process are important), but chargebacks exist specifically as a legitimate last recourse for scenarios exactly like this one - where other preferable good faith solutions have been precluded by the otherwise unrestricted systemic abuse of bad actors.

Provided they are not abused by consumers in bad faith and/or accompanied by personal misconduct likely to inspire others to make your life difficult, the potential risks of chargebacks are negligible in my considerable experience (even in the USA, where the easiest targets of opportunity for banks to pursue are always the law-abiding consumers, not the corporations that are actually breaking the law).
vonMort 11 月 11 日 上午 8:05 
You should add a clear warning about the legal/financial risks of chargebacks. From my experience working with German financial oversight (BaFin), chargebacks can trigger blocked cards, bank fraud investigations and legal action. Readers deserve to know that a chargeback is not a risk-free solution.
Recondite  [作者] 11 月 9 日 下午 12:21 
@iamlatrel
As long as the purchase(s) went through a bank of some kind (whether your own or a credit card issuer, etc), you should be able to give it a shot.

@Calypso
That would be the New World customer service / Support portal, here. [help.newworld.com] Log in and create a ticket to reach support directly.
Calypso 11 月 8 日 下午 7:34 
Where exactly do I send the refund request to for AGS? Im having a hard time finding the correct place to do so
iamlatrel 11 月 6 日 上午 4:05 
Eu moro no Brasil, será que consigo aqui?
Recondite  [作者] 11 月 3 日 下午 1:16 
@SIRSAM
o7
(And if you ever catch a god in breach of contract, don't hesitate to charge back all tithes and ritual sacrifices as well!) :Takedown:
SIRSAM 11 月 1 日 下午 8:24 
This author is doing gods work.