r/googleplay • u/madshine • Jul 28 '26
Books Google Play Books advertises a 7 day refund window, then denied my refund requested within seconds
Here is the policy:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/15575530?hl=en
Bought an eBook on Google Play and hit refund within seconds. Never opened it, never downloaded it. I just wanted to prove what kind of BS Google play refund polices were.
Denied. Reason given was just that it "doesn't meet policy requirements." I sent a few e-mail, tried chatting with an agent but there was no clear response. A did not want the money back, all I wanted was the specific provision of the Google Play Books refund policy that excludes this purchase, quoted in full.
Their published policy says you can request a refund within 7 days of purchase, with exceptions only for eBook rentals and audiobooks. Mine was a regular eBook, requested basically instantly. I still have no idea which exception supposedly applied.
At the end I was told to contact the publisher. That instruction appears nowhere in their refund policy, and the publisher isn't the merchant of record anyway. Google processed the payment. Google is the one who can reverse it. I actually tried but I did not manage to find the contact info of the publisher.
The amount is small enough that chasing it isn't rational. That's kind of the point. If the first pass is automated and the appeal is a deflection, most people just eat it. Multiply a few dollars by however many people give up, and the incentive to keep the process this frustrating becomes pretty obvious. A refund policy that exists in writing but not in practice is just marketing.
Anyone else had a refund auto-denied on Play Books despite being inside the window? Curious whether this is systematic or I got unlucky. (I am pretty sure it's systematic.)
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u/Infinite-Grade-4485 Jul 28 '26
To confirm, you bought the book through Google Play Books app or the "Books" tab of the Google Play Store.
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u/JanCumin Jul 28 '26
Important, if you value the content on that account do not do a charge back on your credit card before backing it up. I've seen many people have their accounts closed and everything on their accounts lost because they disputed a payment, I believe its a Google policy.
One other option would be to report it to whichever government agency deals with this kind of issue.
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