Google apologizes for not refunding man’s LOTR movies after they vanished from library
Google has apologized to a man whose purchased Lord of the Rings movies vanished from his digital library, admitting it gave him incorrect information after initially refusing to offer a refund.
The customer previously revealed that his Extended Edition trilogy, purchased through Google in 2022, had disappeared from his library. When he contacted support, he was told the company couldn't refund him because the transaction was more than 120 days old.
Google says he still owns missing Lord of the Rings movies
After sharing his experience on Reddit, the customer followed advice from other users and asked for the issue to be escalated to a supervisor.
The first response didn't change anything, but he pushed back by pointing to Google's own terms regarding the removal or unavailability of purchased content.
A few days later, he received a response from a senior customer support specialist apologizing for how the situation had been handled.
"We want to apologize for the frustration you've experienced over your Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Trilogy," the response read. "You should always be able to easily find and play the content you bought, and giving you incorrect information when you reached out was a mistake on our part."
Google also clarified that, despite the movies disappearing from his library, he hadn't actually lost ownership of them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1vm69r9/update_google_took_away_my_lotr_extended_editions/
According to support, the original bundle he purchased in 2022 is no longer available to buy, but his "ownership rights to all three individual extended edition movies remain 100% active."
Instead, the company blamed a "rendering issue with larger digital libraries" for hiding the trilogy from his main library view, adding that his licenses were "safe and intact."
Google provided direct Google TV and YouTube links to each movie and credited £20 (around $27) to his account as an apology for the "miscommunication and hassle."
A happy ending hasn't been quite achieved, however, as the customer says all three YouTube links still tell him he needs to pay for the films. Meanwhile, only two of the Google TV links work, with The Two Towers continuing to show as unavailable.
Screenshots shared alongside his update also show YouTube displaying a "Buy" button for movies Google says he already owns, along with the message: "This video requires payment to watch."
"Still it's a resolution and I figured it was worth letting everyone know," he said.