Asheras wrote on Mar 2
nd, 2018 at 10:21pm:
You are forgetting the part where the player agreed not to exploit or cheat. You act like SSG was in breach. The breach was by the player. Nice try. Either you are obtuse or a moron. I'm going with moron.
Actually. I think it is more likely you are looking to protect friends or your own actions. It all comes down to, done't exploit if you dont want risk getting banned.
I'm starting to think you work for SSG the way you're scrambling to convince people to not go for refunds. You're even more apologetic for them than usual, which is saying a lot.
You seem to be under the illusion that EULAs are bullet proof and an end-all-be-all. Chargeback regulations are not binding laws nor do the issuing banks have to care about a EULA. Chargebacks are at the discretion of the card issuing banks and follow Visa's and Mastercard's regulations. Chargebacks generally favor the consumer and put the burden of proof on the merchant.
It wouldn't be too hard to make a case that SSG knew about the exploit for months and left it in-game as a form of entrapment while continuing to accept additional purchase before banning them. Additionally, it is definitely provable that SSG has handled previous bans and exploiting much differently and more leniently, which would provide false expectations in this case.
Regardless of why the contract was ended, if goods or services were paid for and not delivered prior to the end of or cancellation of the contract, you are generally entitled to a refund for the balance, especially when the cancellation was non-consensual and when the merchant gave no chance to appeal it or plead your case before cancellation. In the end, if they paid for a year of VIP or if they paid for other services in the game and didn't get the entirety of what they paid for, they're entitled to a refund for the portion of service they didn't receive.
Is it a guaranteed, slam-dunk win of a chargeback? Definitely not. Is there a possibility of the players winning the chargebacks? Yes, it's possible. In the end, it is a card holder's right to file a chargeback claim if they think they did not get what they paid for and it costs them very little in time or money to file a chargeback so they don't have much to lose by trying. The worst thing that happens is the card issuing bank rules against them. /shrug
Full disclosure - I'm am neither one of the people who used the exploit or who got banned.
I do however take issue with SSG's inconsistent enforcement of their own stated policies, their inconsistent application of disciplinary measures, what appears to be an intentional honeypotting and entrapment of players, and what seems to be an overly draconian response to this even towards first time offenders.