PSN User Coerces Sony Hacked Account Refund, Thanks To Australian Law

A PS4 hacking victim has revealed that game companies like Sony, Valve, and EA can be coerced to offer refunds, in spite of their policies and disclaimers. The twist? You have to be a resident of Australia.

A Tim Colwill narrated a series of events where his PSN was hacked, and Sony denied him a refund for the money he lost, but he got the refund thanks to the intervention of NSW Fair Trading.

Colwill’s account was hacked to get a copy of Dying Light. The hacker then locked Colwill out of his own account. When Colwill contacted Sony, they were able to catch the hacker and restore his account. However, when it came to refunds, they were less than forthcoming.

PSN’s Terms of Service holds the account holder responsible for the security of their account. For this reason, refunds are not granted. If you try to do a chargeback via your bank, Sony will lock your account and have it showing to be in debt.

However, because of the sweeping regulations of the Australian Consumer Law, Sony is not able to push this policy in Australia. Australia’s provisions regarding this are have been proven tough thus far: EA has agreed to revise their policies because of it, and Valve is going to court over it.

 Of course, this case evokes memories of the PSN user who was refused a $ 600 fraud refund just two months ago. While kadjar got his refund by making his case a visible issue on Reddit, Colwill got his refund via legal channels.

Colwill advises PSN users make sure their credit card information is not on their accounts, but what would you do to keep your accounts secure? Do you trust Sony with your account data? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.