Early this year in March, the Australian Federal Court found Valve, an online distributor of games guilty for several breaches of the Australian Consumer Law in a case that was filed in 2014 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). This is regards to Valve's refund policy refusing any refund on its games. The reasoning behind the lawsuit was that according to ACCC, Valve had misleading interpretations relating to the company's refunds or lack thereof. And with the latest news, Valve could be forced to pay up to $3 million for its grievances.
The lawsuit stems from a law in Australia which states that customers are legally entitled to a refund, replacement of repair of any product that can reasonably be considered defective or not fit for purpose. This is a legal right for all Australians that no private company can bypass the Austrailian Consumer Law even if the company is based abroad. The law states that "all all consumer goods or services come with automatic consumer guarantees that they are of acceptable quality and fit for the purpose for which they were sold. If they are not, consumers have a right to a remedy, which may include refund, repair or replacement in certain circumstances. These consumer rights cannot be excluded, restricted or modified."
Since Valve's refusal to to refund games that are bugged of defective, prior to a change in June of last year, and even stating that under Valve's Steam Subscriber Agreement, it had a policy of not giving out refunds, the company was found guilt of violating the Australian Consumer Law. In fact, in Australia, even a 'no refund' sign is considererd illegal under the Australian Consumer Law.
In defense, Valve said that the company should not abide by Australia's law since Valve is based in Seattle. It claims that it should only follow the laws of Washington State. However this was found baseless as Valve was still operating its business in Austrailia by provding its service to consumer and thus shoud abide by the country's laws.In a hearing last Tuesday, the ACCC said that Valve should be ordered to pay $3 million which is substantially more than what was estimated by Valve's attorneys of $250,000. The reason for such a huge amount of money to be paid was to serve as a deterrent for companys that refuse follow the Austrailian Consumer Law. Nonetheless, the esitamated figure of $3 million is still not final as only the Australian Federal Court has the final decision regarding the matter when the final ruling is handed down by mid-December or January. Stay tuned for more updates.