Amazon Says Mass Effect 3 Refunds Aren’t Unique

There are reports floating around that Amazon is offering refunds to open copies of Mass Effect 3, seemingly a reaction to the game’s ending, which has prompted a polarizing response amongst players.

According to an Amazon customer support representative I spoke with this morning, this isn’t Mass Effect 3 specific, and offering a refund is standard Amazon policy for disappointed customers.

“Once you open the package and if you are not satisfied you can return it for refund,” said the representative. “It applies for the all the items shipped and sold by Amazon.”

I’ve embedded our entire conversation below, and I've also sent a note to Amazon public relations.

Me: Hi, I was considering buying Mass Effect 3 from Amazon, after being told my friend that Amazon is accepting opened returns if consumers are disappointed with the game's ending. Is this true?

Rep: Hello, I'll be happy to help you.

Me: Thanks.

Rep: Patrick. once you open the package and if you are not satisfied you can return it for refund.

Me: Is this only for Mass Effect 3? Or does this apply to other video games on Amazon?

Rep: Yes. It applies for the all the items shipped and sold by Amazon.

Me: OK, thank you.

Rep: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me: No, that's all.

Rep: Thanks for visiting Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon.

My own experience backs this up. I’ve returned plenty of items to Amazon that were opened, and had no problem.

There are reports of refunds via Origin, too, but I've not been able to confirm those.

So the ending was that bad?

Hmm....is it too early for an Aprils fools joke?

I wish retail stores would allow for returns. Especially BestBuy since they now swipe your ID (at least the one near my house) everytime you return something to make sure you aren't frequently returning products.

That's too insane, although they have the best customer service policy on the planet...

...that has to deal with crazy Mass Effect 3 haters unfortunately.

I can't be the only person who thinks this Mass Effect 3 stuff has gotten way out of hand. Right?

That's why Amazon is the best, they have a no questions asked return policy. It's why I almost exclusively shop there now.

Wow the ending was fine. This crap is getting way out of hand!

@StoicForce said:

So the ending was that bad?

No. People are stupid.

P.S. - I didn't say that. I just quoted K from Men in Black.

@StoicForce: Let's put it this way. Not only there is a charity for it to "retake ME3", there's groups of people telling fans to report Bioware and EA to the FTC to not living up to their hype. It's getting pretty bad.

Oh man if this keeps up, I'll be able to get ME3 for cheap in no time.

@StoicForce: It's more that people are just so irreconcilable these days.

@unstoptheday said:

I can't be the only person who thinks this Mass Effect 3 stuff has gotten way out of hand. Right?

I am with you on this, and I will be for many years to come. (Look, there's no way I'm playing Mass Effect anything for quite some time.)

Amazon continues to be awesome, story at eleven.

I am a disspointment customer!!

Also this seems really weird.

Are we turning into Kotaku with articles like these?

@mewstu said:

Are we turning into Kotaku with articles like these?

I don't see any statues of naked cartoon women, so no.

@phrosnite said:

@StoicForce said:

So the ending was that bad?

No. People are stupid.

P.S. - I didn't say that. I just quoted K from Men in Black.

but... people ARE stupid.

I hated the ending but I mean, I still really liked the game. I would never return it. But to each his own I guess.

Crazy, crazy people.

@mewstu said:

Are we turning into Kotaku with articles like these?

I'm actually rather glad Patrick wrote an article on this since a lot of people are assuming that they're allowing refunds just because Mass Effect 3 has a crappy ending (which I don't necessarily agree with.) No one even bothers to mention that it's standard on just about any product you get from Amazon and ME3 isn't a special case.

Regarding the Origin thing, I had a friend who purchased Battlefield 3 only to find that it ran pretty poorly on his laptop. He emailed the Origin support people and had no problem getting his money back. This was when the service first launched so they might have been in full-on customer support/make everyone happy mode, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Now that all this is getting spread around people are going to start abusing it en masse and force Amazon to change their return policy on videogames, just like every other place that used to have a policy like this.

@buckybit said:

I am 20 hours in - enjoying the game mostly.

People are crazy?!

I love the "I haven't beaten it yet and I don't get the anger" comments.

Just wait, you'll see.

Expectations not meeting reality? Someone call the cops, we've got a mystery to solve!

This is news worthy, because it is so unprecedented. You just don't hear about stuff like this, ever.

@unstoptheday said:

I can't be the only person who thinks this Mass Effect 3 stuff has gotten way out of hand. Right?

I am right there with you.

Wait a minute, how do they decide to refund or not? I can buy every game and say in the end that I was not satisfied and get a refund? That doesn't seem right.

People actually asking for refunds on this game are goddam morons.

It's true. I got Saints Row 3 and it wouldn't play past the first mission. Wrote Amazon and they sent a new copy in two days. Turned out it was my (fourth!) Xbox giving up the ghost, not a problem with the game. Good on you Amazon!

As for ME3, I still haven't beaten it, but at this point I think my expectations will be so low I'll LOVE the ending.

I think some of the things fans are doing regarding ME3 are going overboard, but I'm still happy about it.

Think about it, EA/BioWare decided that the THIRD game in a TRILOGY would be a great game to try to mainstream and simplify for a mainstream audience. They crammed in a mulitplayer mode no fans were really clamoring for, and they stripped out elements from the original main story and then shoveled them onto overpriced day one DLC.

So I'm sorry, my sympathy for EA/BioWare is zero. Everything they've done with ME3 has been for them and their profits, nothing to benefit the consumer. When you do that, it always comes back to get you. They're getting what they deserve.

Those disappointment customers.

;)

Also, this ME3 hate has gotten out of hand. People need better things to do with their time.

I love Amazon.

I don't love anyone who would return a game because they don't like the ending.

Everyone keeps mentioning returning the game due to dissatisfaction with the game's ending. But as someone who bought the Digital Deluxe version of ME3 from Amazon, I want to 'return' it (e.g. delete the piece of shit) from my HD and get my money back for a completely different reason.

I can't import my ME2 femshep to ME3.

Got to the import screen, got the error, turned the game off. I don't want to play with a new femshep or try to play with slider dials for hours getting my old look back. I'm invested in the ME universe with hundreds of dollars over the years including the games, DLC, and extras. Gimme my fucking character or gimme my money back.

The ending was a bummer but I still LOVE the game. The Anti-BioWare atmosphere enveloping the Internet is nuts.

The ending was hilariously poor but it doesn't invalidate the other 99% of the game. It also seems totally messed up that a person can return a game after finishing it (I know it isn't specific to Mass Effect but returning opened games/movies/CDs for a refund is a good way for people to take advantage of you, but I'm guessing the good faith brings in a lot of business or they wouldn't be doing it).

@buckybit: Not really. The game is pretty amazing... until the last 10 minutes or so. So maybe you should actually get to that point before passing judgement.

People dislike a game... Amazon has a customer friendly return policy... BREAKING NEWS YOU GUYS.

Besides, overrated sci-fi series is overrated :)

Love ya Patrick, but were reasonable people honestly thinking Amazon was accepting ME3 returns because of the ending? The less that people report on stories like this, the faster the whole ME3 controversy will go away. Don't meant to sound harsh, I'm just getting really annoyed with it at this point (and I'm someone who dislikes the ending).

There are a couple things about the ending that don't make much sense to me, but overall I was satisfied. This entitled-angry-fan rage about it is ridiculous. Get the fuck over it, dudes!

@sofacitysweetheart said:

People dislike a game... Amazon has a customer friendly return policy... BREAKING NEWS YOU GUYS.

This is breaking news to me because if i knew this i would of only been buying from amazon.

Now amazon is going to be my only source of video game purchases, i can't count how many shitty games i bought new and wanted to return but shitty retail stores refused me.

The ending was a bummer but I still LOVE the game. The Anti-BioWare atmosphere enveloping the Internet is nuts.

That's the reason why amazon is amazing. Their customer service is simply amazing

@Winternet said:

Wait a minute, how do they decide to refund or not? I can buy every game and say in the end that I was not satisfied and get a refund? That doesn't seem right.

You can actually do this with any store selling any kind of merchandise that may be returned. Needless to say, retailers are not fond of the practice, but there's no easy way to keep track of legitimate returns from abusive ones so it goes relatively unpunished.

I still find it insane that people shit all over Mass Effect 3 due to a whopping 10 minutes there not happy with even when the other 30 hours are so are fucking great. If I judged every game based on the ending then practically every game sucks since with most games the ending is typically the least satisfying part.

Hm, haven't completed Mass Effect 3 yet. Is it that disappointing?

The ending IS pretty poor. Actually, it's REALLY poor, but this petition to change it, and this hardcore rage over it is retarded. Like yeah, fuck Bioware for ending it as badly as they did. But leave it at that, and the next game of theirs to roll around, be as skeptical of a consumer as you can be, don't buy it day one, and wait and see if it's worth your purchase.

But even then, so the end sucks. The rest of the game has been pretty fucking cool all things considered, so who fucking cares?

Congratulations, gamers. Over the last couple of weeks, you have proved Phil Fish correct. You truly are the shittiest people in the world.