Should have pre-ordered in Australia

[Dargoth]

I tried reporting them to the ACCC (Australian Consumer and Competition Commision) a few years back, no such luck:

Dear Mr XXXXX

Thank you for your correspondence of 31 October 2012 to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding your allegations of anti-competitive conduct by Steampowered, in relation to the geographic restrictions imposed on consumers for the use of their gaming content. Your reference number for this matter is XXXXXXXXX.

The ACCC is responsible for administering the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 which incorporates the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The ACL is a national law which applies to all business sectors. It covers general standards of business conduct, prohibits harmful practices, regulates specific types of business-to-consumer transactions, provides basic consumer rights for goods and services and regulates the safety of consumer products and product-related services.

It should first be noted that, broadly speaking, companies are free to set the terms and conditions of their contracts as long as they do not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct or misrepresent their service. Furthermore, suppliers of goods and services are generally free to set their own prices and provided they do this independently it is unlikely to raise concerns under the Act.

The ACCC cannot pursue all the complaints it receives. While all complaints are carefully considered, the ACCC must exercise its discretion to direct resources to the investigation and resolution of matters that provide the greatest overall benefit for consumers and businesses. The ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement policy describes in more detail how this discretion is exercised. This policy, which is available on the ACCC’s website [www.accc.gov.au], lists a number of factors that are weighed including whether conduct raises national or international issues, involves significant consumer detriment or a blatant disregard of the law.

It should also be noted that although the Act is designed to encourage fair trading and discourage anti-competitive conduct it does not prohibit every activity that every consumer or business perceives to be unfair and the ACCC must operate within the legislative framework which lays down a specific set of competition and consumer protection rules.

As part of its role the ACCC also monitors emerging trends across consumer and business complaints to determine whether there is a pattern of behaviour by a particular trader or in a particular industry that requires attention. In this regard, your complaint has been recorded and is an important part of our ongoing analysis.


Thank you for contacting the ACCC with your concerns.

Yours sincerely

XXXX
ACCC Infocentre
1300 302 502

My tax dollars at work

 

[Camikaze]

I'm fairly sure ACCC gives boilerplate replies as a matter of policy, because they could find themselves liable if they impliedly undertake to legally represent individuals who contact them. That is, they aren't going to say "yes, you were wronged and we will do something about it", because then if they don't, you'd potentially have a cause of action against them.

This is what the ACCC's website notes on pricing (including multiple pricing). ACL s 18 itself is very broad and potentially encompasses an awful lot of activity in trade or commerce.

 

[wgene]

I preordered from these guys, found about them in the other thread on this topic

just hope they are good/reliable and i don't get ripped off!!

But seriously, i don't need an economics degree to know that this pricing is . Its the same product as what is being sold as the rest of the world, in the same currency as the Americans, yet with some huge markup .... that's what i call a bloody scam!!

I have ordered from them before with no problems. And i just place a order for BE before 2K become aware of it.

 

[wgene]

My tax dollars at work

Talking about the ACCC. The ACCC has launch legal action against Valve. Here is the link.

http://www.accc.gov.au/media-releas...misleading-consumer-guarantee-representations

 

[iRule]

Well, that's something - too bad they're not getting into the whole "overpricing" thing.

 

[wgene]

Well, that's something - too bad they're not getting into the whole "overpricing" thing.

I have a feeling that may come up in the court case. Though the ACCC really needs to take action on 2K as they are the ones telling Valve to jack up the prices.

Has anyone put in a complaint to the ACCC about 2K putting up the prices.