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Microsoft Mistakenly Sold Fallout 4 For Free On Xbox (polygon.com)
On Thursday the $110 Deluxe Edition Bundle of Fallout 4 appeared in the Xbox store priced at $0.00. The Escapist reports that "The mistake went viral, and there's no telling how people were able to take advantage before the error was corrected..." An anonymous reader shares their report:
If you grabbed Fallout 4 for free on Xbox One, it will be disappearing from your account... Microsoft has confirmed that any copies obtained due to the error will have their license revoked, and the games will disappear from the user's Xbox One library.
Now Microsoft is telling affected users that "your free download will no longer work. For the inconvenience we will deposit $10 by the end of June in your Microsoft Account."
Now Microsoft is telling affected users that "your free download will no longer work. For the inconvenience we will deposit $10 by the end of June in your Microsoft Account."
"Our offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10 was an error. Your license will be revoked and the OS will disappear from your PC. For the inconvenience we'll give you a $10 discount on the retail price of Windows 10."
In what way is it a consumer right to get something for free that was not meant to be free?
If an online store offers something for sale at price X and I give them X dollars, then it belongs to me.
If Microsoft didn't want to make that deal ... wait for it ... they shouldn't have offered it.
That X happens to have been 0 is no concern to consumer protection laws.
On the other hand, Microsoft would have had to pay Bethesda for the lost revenue, as it's not their game to give away for free even if they wanted to.
Regardless of whether it's a loss or not it would set a precedent that if MS sold something and decided later they wanted to charge more then they could theoretically get away with removing said software or billing you the difference between what you paid and how much more they think you should pay.
Any company could get away with it actually. There's no contractual information that says they can't come back to you for more money later.
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Pricing errors are NOT bait and switch.
Correct. Pricing errors are not bait and switch.
In a brick and mortar environment; the store can cancel the purchase or dishonor the advertised price Up to and until the customer completes the transaction.
After the customer has left with the item, the store cannot come back and decide they want to change the price, Or the price displayed on the shelf and the register was a mistake, and the customer needs to pay the difference.
The store would definitely lose that one. The store is liable if their employees priced an item incorrectly.
The only way the customer is liable to pay more or return is if the error that was made was in the processing of the payment ---- the correct price was advertised, or the customer agreed to a higher price than they paid, and the cashier told the customer the correct price, but they made the check out for a lower amount, etc.
Customer is not responsible if the store made a bad deal with them, only if there was a bonafide mistake in the handling of their transaction where they paid less than the agreed upon price.
Now.... Microsoft's store is a little different, because they have technical control of the product even after you leave the store
There are free games and apps. $0 is often a legitimate price.
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Was the free Windows 10 upgrade a mistake too?
It was heavily advertised as free, so obviously not a mistake. Is everyone on Slashdot autistic? unable to understand empathy, or subjective logic.
The obvious mistake was a mistake. The obvious non-mistake wasn't a mistake. How is that confusing to hundreds here?
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