- 62 -
Miller may have read the terms of the SSA and formed the opinion that he was not able to obtain a refund, but tried to do so anyway.
236 The Australian consumers who were likely to be misled by representations in the SSAs could only be those few consumers who conscientiously read the terms and conditions of the SSAs, including the consumers who did so because they wished to know whether they could obtain a refund for a game that they considered to be defective. I accept the submission by Valve that such a meticulous consumer must be assumed to have read the whole contract, although not necessarily in close detail. That consumer would take more notice of those parts of the terms and conditions which were in capital letters. The reasonable consumer who is reading the SSAs would also understand that the terms and conditions in the SSAs were not directed only to consumers in Australia. It would not make any difference to that consumer's understanding of the SSA whether it was being read by the consumer through the Steam Client, or on the Steam website.
Representation 1 (in the SSAs)
237 The first alleged representation is that consumers had no entitlement to a refund from Valve for digitally downloaded video games they had purchased from Valve via the Steam website or Steam in any circumstances (No Entitlement to Refund Representation).
238 The ACCC relied upon the following statements in clauses of the SSAs: 2011/2012 SSA
| 2011/2012 SSA(1 January 2011 to around 4 August 2012) | Clause 4 | 9. BILLING, PAYMENT AND OTHER SUBSCRIPTIONS…B. Charges to Your Credit CardALL STEAM FEES ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART … C. Steam WalletALL STEAM FEES ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART … |
| 2012/2013 SSA and 2013 | Clause 3 | 3. BILLING, PAYMENT AND OTHER |
