Official Legal Complaint: Breach of EU Consumer Protection Laws and Unfair Pricing

[Justfungus]

Someone posted a legal statement and BAM !
Out come all the armchair lawyers with their YouTube law 'degrees'.
(making popcorn)
This is going to be good ... until the thread lock.

 

[Striga]

So you sue for 50 dollars in damages, the attorneys are lining up for a piece of that.

I think the goal is not to earn 50 bucks, but to motivate the company to do better than this:

 

[The Narc2]

So you sue for 50 dollars in damages, the attorneys are lining up for a piece of that.

It becomes more impactful when it becomes a class action suit. also part of the damages can also have the legal fees as part of the settlement. Hence the reason litigation is some cases is disgusting and lawyers can be some of the filthiest vermin on the planet.

Of course remember lawyers were definitely part of writing the EULA for the game which has allowed SSG to torturously nerf peoples fun time and time again, so again I wish the OP and any of the others that join in a class suit with the OP the Best of Luck, I wouldn't feel the slightest empathy if the Nerf hammer came down hard on SSG.

 

[mikarddo]

It becomes more impactful when it becomes a class action suit. also part of the damages can also have the legal fees as part of the settlement. Hence the reason litigation is some cases is disgusting and lawyers can be some of the filthiest vermin on the planet.

Of course remember lawyers were definitely part of writing the EULA for the game which has allowed SSG to torturously nerf peoples fun time and time again, so again I wish the OP and any of the others that join in a class suit with the OP the Best of Luck, I wouldn't feel the slightest empathy if the Nerf hammer came down hard on SSG.

You do realise that your rather toxic post is aimed at real people with real lives - and that no one is forcing you to play the game if you feel that way?

 

[The Narc2]

You do realise that your rather toxic post is aimed at real people with real lives - and that no one is forcing you to play the game if you feel that way?

Your welcome to your opinion, my post is part opinionated and part expression and part fact.

I could easily call your post toxic for trying to indicate that I am “Aiming” at people, save it for the peanut gallery buddy. I am simply responding to the post I quoted and giving facts to the OP about due process. Describing what your post in response would be easy for me to do but would also be against forum guidelines so save your pathetic attempt at a trap for someone more obtuse.

 

[Arkat]

Pretty sure posting on an internet forum doesn't count as proper notice of a filed complaint against any defendant; in this case, SSG, or possibly Enad Global 7.

But it might. It all depends on the rules of civil procedure in the jurisdiction where the complaint is to be filed. If the proper jurisdiction to hear this complaint is Massachusetts, then the person making the complaint needs to follow the Massachusetts rule regarding what counts as proper service.

If the complaint is to be filed in US Federal Court (probably the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts), the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure need to be followed with regard to what counts as proper service.

Yes, I have a law degree, but I am not officially a lawyer as I did not ever take a bar exam. That was intentional, btw.

 

[Sylvado]

It becomes more impactful when it becomes a class action suit. also part of the damages can also have the legal fees as part of the settlement. Hence the reason litigation is some cases is disgusting and lawyers can be some of the filthiest vermin on the planet.

Of course remember lawyers were definitely part of writing the EULA for the game which has allowed SSG to torturously nerf peoples fun time and time again, so again I wish the OP and any of the others that join in a class suit with the OP the Best of Luck, I wouldn't feel the slightest empathy if the Nerf hammer came down hard on SSG.

They are three parties in a class action, plaintiffs, defendants, and attorneys. Only one of the parties comes out on top financially, take a guess which.

 

[Lori]

Update 81 Release Notes: - The DDO Market and DDO Store are no longer available in Poland.

The EU. It's EU law

 

[Lori]

American company so not bound by silly European law push it to hard and they'll close the European server

If they want to so business in the EU, they are.
And if you had read the post, EG7 is a Swedish company

 

[Gemini-Dragon]

Digital pricing for games in a foreign currency has been a problem for store fronts for a long time. Nothing they are currently doing in against EU or US law. Even if it seems unfair. The EU Geo-blocking Regulation was created to prevent online merchants from discriminating against customers based on nationality or location. Online video games, software, and copyright-protected digital works are explicitly excluded from the core non-discrimination pricing rules. Publishers are legally allowed to partition their digital storefronts into distinct geographic zones and enforce specific local price points

 

[droid327]

The EU. It's EU law

Apparently some EU countries have localized stores, some don't. So they'd only have to lock out the countries that weren't in compliance

If they want to so business in the EU, they are.
And if you had read the post, EG7 is a Swedish company

EG7 does not operate DDO, SSG does and they're an American company

The whole field of corporate law is about creating shells and walls that isolate companies from each other and their liability, debts, taxes, jurisdiction, etc.

 

[KylerrTheMajty]

Just to clarify exactly what I mean: the rest of Europe pays in euros, with the tax already included in the price. Poland, however—despite having been in the EU since 2012—is assigned US dollars. In previous years, I would submit a support ticket and they would switch my currency to euros (that option used to exist), but this year they refused. After submitting a third ticket asking why this hadn't been an issue before but suddenly was, I received no reply—only a warning that I would be banned for sending tickets.

 

[droid327]

I don't know about VAT only to be added at checkout, but I believe OPs complaint is foremost the inability to pay in Euros, apparently.

I think the main complaint was having to pay €20+ more ($160=€140 plus tax vs €120 after tax) because they werent getting the lower European rate

The real issue is why are they charging Germans less when Germany is an advanced Western economy and should be paying their fair share same as Americans anyway

Aside from some minor exchange fees (which the vendor often eats) there's no real difference paying in different currencies online, you use the same credit card

 

[Sarlona Raiding]

SSG is clearly an American company - the EU ownership doesn't really matter except in a few niche cases.

With that said EG7 is a holding company and it seems like there should be a single store solution for all their brands that handles all this properly.

But perhaps they value the ability to spin off subsidiaries/specific titles quickly more than economies of scale.

 

[The Narc2]

SSG is clearly an American company - the EU ownership doesn't really matter except in a few niche cases.

With that said EG7 is a holding company and it seems like there should be a single store solution for all their brands that handles all this properly.

But perhaps they value the ability to spin off subsidiaries/specific titles quickly more than economies of scale.

SSG is subservient to EG7, EG7 are there lords and masters, SSG arent owners they are employees, EG7 uas the ability to **** the game down if they want and send all SSG employees home jobless.

Also all actions done by SSG are impactful to the reputation of EG7 as they are under the EG7, that is why not a myself or a single person in my circle loads up any new game that holds under that unbrella with the same reputation.

 

[ofra]

Oh, that never-ending, losing battle, trying to set the currency to the Euro. I let myself get fleeced two or three times, and that was the end of it for me.

 

[Sarlona Raiding]

SSG is subservient to EG7, EG7 are there lords and masters, SSG arent owners they are employees, EG7 uas the ability to **** the game down if they want and send all SSG employees home jobless.

Also all actions done by SSG are impactful to the reputation of EG7 as they are under the EG7, that is why not a myself or a single person in my circle loads up any new game that holds under that unbrella with the same reputation.

You are welcome to your opinion, but can you cite a single case where a corporation incorporated in the U.S. had it's entire operation shut down by the EU because it was owned by a European Company?

From it's start it was a US corporation with no foreign ties. It was later purchased by a Swedish corporation that considers itself a holding company and lets SSG operate very independently. In other words, SSG is an investment.

Even if the EU did have the authority over a US corporation owned by an EU Corporation - which I doubt they do - they would never try it and risk fallout for something so ridiculously minor and non-impactful.

 

[The Narc2]

You are welcome to your opinion, but can you cite a single case where a corporation incorporated in the U.S. had it's entire operation shut down by the EU because it was owned by a European Company?

From it's start it was a US corporation with no foreign ties. It was later purchased by a Swedish corporation that considers itself a holding company and lets SSG operate very independently. In other words, SSG is an investment.

Even if the EU did have the authority over a US corporation owned by an EU Corporation - which I doubt they do - they would never try it and risk fallout for something so ridiculously minor and non-impactful.

The EU has authority over EG7 which most certainly has authority over SSG and is also responsible for SSG’s actions in the eyes of the EU, the suit doesnt need to go after the US company SSG to get results, it simply goes after the boss of SSG(which is EG7) and then the boss either forces SSG to comply and cover any damages and/or also forces SSG to shut down the game or sell it off as an asset.

In any case SSG has little to no control as they are the small fry in the entire scenario.

 

[Ilvati]

Even if the EU did have the authority over a US corporation owned by an EU Corporation - which I doubt they do - they would never try it and risk fallout for something so ridiculously minor and non-impactful.

I have no idea about this particular area as is not my practice but rules that govern indirect ownership are often referred to as "attribution" or "affiliation" rules and are pretty common. In my practice area of tax there are a number of rules that treat EU companies owning US subsidiaries as US companies in certain circumstances (e.g., anti inversion rules in 26 US 7874) or treat all affiliated companies as a single company (e.g., the regulations under 1502). The EU has some instances of these rules as well (e.g., county by county financial reporting and/or GDPR).
They are enforced against the resident company if the non-residents don't comply. They are pretty common through the world and almost universally complex and expensive to administer -- big publicly traded multinationals spend a significant amount of internal resources attempting to comply.

 

[The Narc2]

I have no idea about this particular area as is not my practice but rules that govern indirect ownership are often referred to as "attribution" or "affiliation" rules and are pretty common. In my practice area of tax there are a number of rules that treat EU companies owning US subsidiaries as US companies in certain circumstances (e.g., anti inversion rules in 26 US 7874) or treat all affiliated companies as a single company (e.g., the regulations under 1502). The EU has some instances of these rules as well (e.g., county by county financial reporting and/or GDPR).
They are enforced against the resident company if the non-residents don't comply. They are pretty common through the world and almost universally complex and expensive to administer -- big publicly traded multinationals spend a significant amount of internal resources attempting to comply.

Bam nice Mic Drop for @Sarlona Raiding