Players & Chargebacks - Kakao Taking a Stand

After what some have felt are a series of missteps by Black Desert Online publisher Kakao Games, a segment of the player population has been initiating "chargeback" requests to credit card companies or PayPal. Chargebacks effectively give the player a refund of money spent on a product, in this case, Black Desert Online. (See this forum thread for a lively discussion of the topic)

Kakao Games has apparently taken notice of a recent spike in chargeback activity and has sent out a letter to players who have initiated requests with PayPal defining their stance on the issue:

We feel that any situation involving money requires as much information as possible, and would like to make sure you are aware of what a chargeback is, and what consequences come with it.

First of all, what is a chargeback? A chargeback is requesting a refund from your bank or payment provider, bypassing the company that sold/provided the product. Bear in mind, the selling company will have a chance to investigate and dispute the chargeback. Chargebacks are broken into two fundamentally different categories: Legitimate and Illegitimate.

Legitimate chargebacks are when you contest a payment because you have not received the goods or services you purchased, or because someone stole your credit card.

An illegitimate chargeback would be requesting your money back, after using a service for several months and deciding you don’t like it anymore. In either case, it is understandable why someone would wish to get their money back, however, chargebacks should always be done with caution. A chargeback will not only cause you to lose access to the game, but it can also prevent you from purchasing it in the future. More importantly, we will investigate each chargeback, individually. If the chargeback is proven to be illegitimate, this could go farther than just the denial of your refund. 

To conclude, requesting chargebacks should be done after cautious investigation from your part to know all of the possible consequences. Where a finalized chargeback would lead to the withdrawing of your game access, a cancelled chargeback will have no lasting effect on your account. To allow you time to consider your decision, and fully assess the impact these changes will have on your enjoyment of Black Desert Online, we will not take action on your account until the 22nd August, after which time, any account with outstanding chargebacks will be closed.

The original post was made on the Black Desert Online Reddit, but has since been removed.

Thanks, anonymous tipster!