Fallout fan has to do the unthinkable to secure a refund from Bethesda

A Fallout fan had to go to extreme lengths to secure a full refund for a partially damaged item from Bethesda — or rather, their store handler, ThinkGeek.

As reported by Eurogamer, Fallout fan Paul Watson had purchased a $125 limited edition vinyl soundtrack of Fallout 3. However, upon opening it, he realized one of the four discs had been warped.

So he contacted Bethesda's customer service, and provided photographic evidence when asking for a refund. It worked, sort of. Turn out, he had only received a $25 credit to his account.

When enquiring if he could receive a full refund, the representative informed him that in order to qualify for full credit, he would have to destroy the remaining discs.

"You only showed that one of the records was damaged so we refunded you for that damaged record," stated a Bethesda representative in an email. "If the other records are similarly affected, please provide photos. However if they are not affected and you still would like a full refund for the product, please follow the instructions below for this limited edition item: Destroy the other records, and provide photos of the damaged records.

"Once I get those photos I will happily refund you for your order. Thank you and have a wonderful day!"

Watson, who was unable to replace the single disc, was left with only one option.

After sending the company the above imgae, Watson was refunded in full.

As Eurogamer notes, "Destroying goods to prove a purchaser is not simply trying to scam the seller is not unheard of when it comes companies granting refunds."

You'd think there'd be a better way to handle this, though.

In response to the story going viral, a Bethesda spokesperson issued the following comment: "We are following up with ThinkGeek as it is not the kind of service we want folks to experience from our store." ThinkGeek is the company which runs Bethesda's official store.