Even though just about every PlayStation 4 owner is still high on Spider-Man, not many of them would have a bad thing to say about Sony. Showing they care about players more than Sony, Germany stood up in defense of customer rights.
The complaint was filed by a regional consumer association Verbraucherzentrale NRW and refers to terms and conditions of the PlayStation Network. As the statement goes, Germans found three specific areas to be in violation of the country's consumer laws, which are pretty serious charges.
First up on the menu is prepaid credit, which can actually expire if left unspent after 24 months. Sony obviously didn't send them the memo on their way of dealing with cash and other perishable goods.
Sony's second dubious practise is automatically holding parents accountable for cash spent in-game by underage children. At a glance, this may seem a bit unfair but think about it - Phony are even worse for standing in your room with an ice cream and charging you once the kid takes a bite. And he/she will, trust me.
The last thing that needs to go from PSN's repertoire is in the domain of return policies. Apparently, PSN gives no hints that customers "must explicitly agree to forgo this right" when purchasing digital goods from Sony's wares-peddler. Sneaky? Quite. Enough to fool the Germans? Not in a million years.
Sony have already been advised to comply or get ready for a fierce tussle, because the Old Lady is not joking when it comes to laws - just ask , or . With gaming already sagging under the weight of micro-transaction sleaziness, while the likes of Sony abuse customers' ignorance of own rights, it was about time someone stood up for these poor Stockholmed souls.
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The company will consider its stance and legal options, which I suspect would be plentiful if this had been a US consumer group. Nevertheless, the fact that these complaints haven't come from the state won't be of much help in Germany, whose consumer rights laws are followed religiously. You know what they say - when you're in Berlin, abide.
