Europe Calling Out Nintendo Over Inability to Cancel eShop Pre-Orders

Europe is fed up with Nintendo’s sneaky method of circumventing it’s consumer protection law regarding the cancellation of pre-orders. The Norwegian Consumer Council says Nintendo’s policy breaches customers’ rights and that the big N is the only console maker whose digital storefront doesn’t allow customers to cancel pre-orders. With pre-release downloads of software becoming increasingly common, however, at least one major consumer rights body has had enough with Nintendo’s eShop policies — especially because, according to the European Union Consumer Rights Directive, the company is skirting the law.

The Council attached a screenshot from Nintendo’s official purchase terms, which state only that “all sales are final,” including sales of digital software.

This is in direct conflict with the Consumer Rights Directive, legislation first passed in 2011 by the European Commission that grants “a higher level of protection for consumers … in their own country or elsewhere in the EU.”

One of the directive’s provisions is that consumers must be able to cancel any online purchases, as well as receive refunds within two weeks of that cancellation. While there are some exemptions to this, including physical media that has been opened, online retailers are otherwise expected to give customers the opportunity to cancel. All the other big players including Sony, Microsoft, and Valve respect the law for that region. We wonder how this will shake out in court.

Source: Nintendo eShop pre-orders can’t be canceled, and Europe is fed up

Antonio Worrall
Antonio Worrallhttps://antonioworrall.com
I'm a Senior IT Support Engineer, every day tech geek, gaming enthusiast, world traveler, and foodie living with my wife and cat in the NY/NJ area.

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