Sony Refunds Final Fantasy XIV Customers

Customers who purchased Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn on the PlayStation Network from August 27-28 are receiving a full refund from Sony.

Customers who did purchase the game through the PlayStation Network on August 27 or 28 will find a full refund, and the game will reappear in the PSN download list.

The refund comes as a result of unstable servers, a problem plaguing the MMO since its relaunch last week. Director Naoki Yoshida explained on developer Square Enix's forums why the servers have been problematic.

"Considering the outcome of our first launch, our sales estimates were decidedly conservative," he said, "as we believed that there would be a more gradual rise in users over the opening weeks and months.

"Instead, to our pleasant surprise, we experienced tremendous support from a great number of players who were eager to get into the game from day one."

Yoshida said that FF XIV was designed to support 5,000 simultaneous players in any given world at one time. However, high concentrations of players in the same three city states toward the beginning of the game led to crashes, followed by more when all of those players tried logging back in at once.

This follows the news that Sony will be allowing an extra week of free play to anyone who registers before September 9, because of the same server problems.

Yoshida said that, although these problems may fix themselves as players progress in their respective games, the development team is working to fix the current problems.

"As of this post, the servers have been acquired, the essential programs installed, and we are currently in the process of conducting our internal tests," he said. "The fact that we had to implement these restrictions is a direct result of my inaccurate sales and login estimates, and as producer, I must accept complete responsibility for this misstep. Each and every player who has been affected has my deepest apologies."

Source: GameSpot

Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for various outlets. To hear his thoughts on The New York Giants, Tim Dorsey or white chocolate, follow him on Twitter. 

F.C.C. Is Told Verizon Underpaid Data Refunds

The lawyer, Arthur V. Belendiuk, of Washington, said in a petition for investigation that Verizon and F.C.C. documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request contained evidence indicating that the company might have taken $240 million or more from the false charges, more than four times the almost $53 million it agreed to refund.

A Verizon spokesman, Torod B. Neptune, said that the allegations were without merit, and declined to comment further. F.C.C. officials and the Office of the Inspector General declined to comment.

The Verizon charges came to light in 2009 in articles in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer and The New York Times.

Thousands of Verizon Wireless customers had been complaining about mysterious $1.99 data charges on their cellphone bills. The customers said they had not used the Internet connection function on their phones; some demonstrated to Verizon employees that the charges had occurred randomly, often when the phone was turned off or the battery removed, and at times on accounts that did not have a phone capable of connecting to the Internet.

The F.C.C.’s enforcement bureau investigated and in October 2010 reached a consent decree with Verizon. The company agreed to pay $52.8 million in refunds to customers and a payment of $25 million to the United States Treasury to end the investigation. At the time, it was the largest such payment in F.C.C. history, the agency said.

The F.C.C. found that about 15 million pay-as-you-go customers could have been affected by the false charges over a period of about 30 months.

“Today’s consent decree sends a clear message to American consumers: the F.C.C. has your back,” Julius Genachowski, then the F.C.C. chairman, said on Oct. 28, 2010. “Today’s settlement also includes strong F.C.C. oversight and accountability to ensure that Verizon Wireless fully repays what they owe to their customers and puts new measures in place to improve customer service.”

Mr. Belendiuk, who frequently represents television stations and broadcasters before the F.C.C., said the documents produced by Verizon in the investigation indicated that in trying to assess how to fix the problem, the company’s proposed solutions would cost it $8 million to $10 million a month.

The documents, Mr. Belendiuk said in his petition, indicated that when the company put in place a fix for the flaw, “Verizon’s $1.99 data charge revenues dropped by approximately $8 million per month.”

Mr. Belendiuk said he had filed the Freedom of Information request and the petition on his own behalf and not for a client, and that he was interested in the case from the time it was disclosed. The settlement itself, as a precedent, “makes a difference for me as an attorney, in knowing how to advise my clients,” he said.

Gadgetwise Blog: Q&A: Requesting Refunds From Google Play

Does the Google Play store offer refunds for apps I buy on my Android phone?

The Google Play store does provide full refunds for apps that you have purchased, with a couple of conditions. First, you must make your refund request within 15 minutes of buying and downloading the app; when you buy new software, check it out immediately to make sure it works properly and that you have no issues with it.

If you discover problems with the app after the 15-minute return period has passed, you might try contacting Google or the app’s developer, although this sort of direct approach may not always work. Developer information is typically listed on the app’s page in the Google Play store.

Google’s second condition for getting a refund from the store is that you can only return an app once. If you buy the same program a second time, you cannot return it.

To request a refund for an app you have purchased on your phone within the 15-minute window for returns, open the Google Play store app, choose Menu and select My Apps. Select the app in question and tap the Refund button to start the process. Google’s site has more information on requesting app refunds.