Different countries have different laws and requirements when it comes to refunds or returns. This is why sometimes some companies can get away with shorter refund windows in certain countries. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it seems that the company’s “no refund” policy has run afoul of Norway’s Consumer Council.In a letter published online (via Stevivor) by the Norwegian Consumer Council, it seems that they have singled out Nintendo for not offering customers a way to get refunds on their purchases on games that have been pre-ordered. It reads, “The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) has found that out of the seven leading digital video game platforms, only Origin and Steam had adequate systems in place for refunding purchased video games. Out of the seven platforms, Nintendo in particular violates consumer rights by not offering any way to cancel a pre-ordered game.”
It seems that Nintendo might be aware that it could run into legal trouble because on its website, the company clearly acknowledges that they do not provide refunds or exchanges on what they call “mistaken purchases”. The support document reads, “We are unable to provide refunds or exchanges for mistaken purchases.”
It is unclear as to how Nintendo plans on addressing these claims (if at all) as they have yet to respond to the open letter.