Introducton:
Hello, if you decided to click on this thread and read its contents, you are likely interested in getting your items restored or would just like to read up on the topic.
But before you do dive into this long thread, please take time to read the following paragraph as it is crucial if you’re after the restoration of your lost inventory and currency.
Important:
This guide sets out to achieve the restoration of one’s lost items and currency. People reading this topic likely have the problem of being refused a rollback by the Roblox Support Team. I know the frustration of this as I had the same problem before, fortunately, I found the solution to mandate my rollback, that being my jurisdictions’ law relating to digital assets.
Depending on where you live, your jurisdiction may or may not have the necessary law(s) about digital goods (your items and currency) and digital content service providers (The Roblox platform). In this regard, I have extensively researched jurisdictions with large Roblox player audiences. The jurisdictions researched are provided with the necessary laws you are to use to mandate the restoral of inventory and currency lost via the Roblox Support Team.
Every research for the said laws in the listed jurisdictions in this thread is conducted on the highest levels of court in the jurisdiction (not state, province, regional, county or any other sub-national or sub-federal level). The countries in question are China, The United Kingdom, The United States, Australia, The Russian Federation and ALL member states of the European Union. Countries not listed require independent research and as such, this guide is rendered useless for those not resident of the aforementioned countries.
I am aware that skipping over countries with large Roblox player bases is disappointing but this is not done out of my own will. A word of clarification:
This guide was created by me and only me. As of the time of writing this post, I received a limited amount of assistance in researching laws or court cases that could be used to mandate a rollback from Roblox Support. Because of this, I decided to research the countries that have large Roblox player bases. Once again my apologies if this guide is redundant for you because you happen to not be European, American, Russian, Australian, British or Chinese…
To come back to the point. This guide makes use of the specific " unless required by law… " clause under paragraph " If you lost items or currency on your account" of the Article " My account was hacked - What do I do? " which is part of the Roblox Help Article.
This clause will be key to the restoration of your lost inventory and currency. It will be the clause that Roblox Support will be forced to abide by if your jurisdiction has the necessary laws to mandate a restoration of inventory lost and currency.
Past policy:
Also important to know is that, since an unknown exact date after 28th of January 2023. Roblox changed its restoration policy, which can be found here.
In the past, Roblox alleged to ensure (they didn’t because support is dumb and their past policy was inconsistent) that compromised accounts are eligible for a one-time recovery of inventory lost. That policy is however out of the window as they’d rather screw people over and go out of their way to research their consumer rights. Fret not though, this guide does the work of researching your jurisdictions’ consumer rights relating to your rights over your digital goods, e.g. your items and currency.
Past Roblox’s restoration policy:
The current policy (as of writing this guide) looks like this:
As mentioned under the #important section of this guide, we’ll be making use of the current policy. Primarily the very first line is of importance: “unless required by law,…”. Suppose your jurisdiction has the necessary consumer rights. Roblox must comply.
Guide:
The European Union:
People within the EU enjoy the protections of the EU Directives 2019/770 (the “Digital Content Directive”, "DCD ") and 2019/771 (the “Sale of Goods Directive”, "SDG ") Directive.
For what concerns this guide, article 3 of Directive 1999/44/EC; (Directive has since been repealed and enhanced by Directive (EU) 2019/771. details your rights as a Roblox consumer within the EU:
" In the case of a lack of conformity, the consumer shall be entitled to have the goods brought into conformity free of charge by repair or replacement, in accordance with paragraph 3, or to have an appropriate reduction made in the price or the contract rescinded with regard to those goods, in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6. "
source: Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees. (1999, May 25). Eur-lex.europa.eu. EUR-Lex - 31999L0044 - EN Article 3, line 2
What this paragraph means in understandable English is, Roblox has to restore your item or provide an appropriate reduction in the price of your item. Since the former has never happened, one can be sure to use this directive as a mandate to force Roblox to restore inventory and currency lost.
How to utilise this in an email addressed to Roblox Support:
Above is the E-mail wherein I’ve successfully mandated the return of my stolen items. In this E-mail, I mentioned the EU directive that safeguards my rights as an EU consumer about my digital goods on Roblox, e.g. my items. And the Europa.eu portal wherein Roblox Support agents can verify my claims.
Results:
(Personal information redacted in black).
This method of mandating restoration worked for me personally. It will also be this method that is to serve as a base for other users in different jurisdictions.
The United Kingdom:
People within the UK enjoy similar protections to those found in the EU; the specific law in the UK that concerns this guide is called The Consumer Rights Act 2015.
The Consumer Rights Act came into force on 1 October 2015 which meant from that date new consumer rights became law. For what concerns people in the UK wanting to use this guide, the following rights within this law are important to know:
*" Where digital content does not conform to these implied terms, the consumer
can call upon the following statutory remedies:
• repair or replacement of the digital content,
• or a price reduction if a repair or replacement is impossible. "*
In your Email to Roblox Support. Mention the Consumers Rights Act of 2015 and the statutory remedies described by this act. For what Roblox would be doing in this case is the replacement of the non-conforming digital content; e.g. your stolen items or currency.
(2022, May 17). Consumer Rights Act 2015 . researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06588/SN06588.pdf Sale of digital content, implied terms
The Russian Federation:
People within Russia enjoy similar protections to those found in the EU and the UK; the specific law in Russia that concerns this guide is called Law of the Russian Federation of February 7, 1992 N 2300-1 (as amended on December 5, 2022) “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. This is a long read but the specific article that will be of use for this guide is article 21.
Article 21 outlines that, " in the event that the consumer detects defects in the goods and submits a demand for its replacement, the seller (manufacturer, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer) is obliged to replace such goods within seven days from the date of presentation of the specified requirement by the consumer, and, if necessary, an additional check of the quality of such goods by the seller (manufacturer, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer) - within twenty days from the date of presentation of the specified requirement. ".
In your Email to Roblox Support. Mention Article 21 of the February 7, 1992, N 2300-1 On protection of Consumer rights law and that Roblox is obliged to replace the faulty goods e.g. your stolen items or currency.
Australia:
Australian users that buy online can expect their rights as a consumer to be upheld in the same way when they do in a physical store. Roblox provides their service in Australia and thus must abide to Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
Consumers are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund if a product or service they buy doesn’t meet one of the basic rights, known as consumer guarantees.
What the consumer is entitled to generally depends on:
- what was bought (whether the problem is with a product or a service)
- the seriousness of the problem (whether the problem is major or minor).
Available solutions according to the Australian Consumer & Competition Commision:
When a business sells a product with a major problem, or a product that later develops a major problem, it must give the consumer the choice of a:
- refund, or
- replacement of the same type of product.
In your Email to Roblox Support, mention your rights as an Australian consumer as described above and that Roblox is obliged to replace the faulty goods e.g. your stolen items or currency or refund the total cost of the items plus currency.
The United States:
Despite the lack of similar laws that are found in the UK and the EU. The United States does have a precedent of a court’s willingness to classify virtual property as objects of property. One notable case useful for this guide is the Kremen v. Cohen , 337 F.3d 1024 (9th Cir., 2003) case.
The ruling was an important early cyberlaw precedent, determining that an Internet domain name is an item of property that can be bought, sold, and stolen.
The court provided three criteria to determine whether a virtual object (in the court case, a domain name) deserves the status of property and determined that, if these criteria are met, property rights in virtual objects should be granted. These criteria come in the form of the following three-part test:
- First, there must be an interest capable of precise definition
- Second, it must be capable of exclusive possession or control
- Third, the owner must have established a legitimate claim to exclusivity
These three characteristics can easily be applied to virtual objects. You can precisely
define them, as the coding required to create a virtual object is unique to that object and to that object only. Users who are in the possession of virtual objects can exclude other users from possessing or controlling the object.
A user also has a claim to exclusivity as they are the only one capable of possessing or controlling the object without first needing to be granted permission, which can be considered their reward for investing time and effort into obtaining the object. Therefore, virtual objects pass the three-part test and can be considered objects of property.
Muijen, G. (n.d.). Property rights in virtual objects. How a Qualified Normative Approach to Virtual Property Rights Can Benefit Users and Developers of MMOGs . https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=139050
As we now come to classify virtual items as property. Roblox has to abide by American law concerning personal property (chattel). The most important ones
being:
- the right to possess and own, the right to use, the right to transfer without limitation,
- the right to exclude, and the right to security in case of involuntary transfer and
expropriation
In your Email to Roblox Support. Mention the court case involving Kremen v Cohen. Your rights mentioned above and as such, mandate the return of your stolen items and or currency via a rollback.
I am aware that the guide for United States-based users does not provide the luxury of having an actual law for Roblox to abide by (relevant due to their: “unless required by law” policy). The court case mentioned under the USA guide substitutes the lack of such consumer rights law relating to digital goods. The same problem will also be true for the China guide, no law will be named and be able to be used but rather a court case.
Another option for American users is to pretend they are British or a person from the EU, that they are present in those jurisdictions (VPN) and Roblox thus falls under UK or EU consumer law (see UK or EU guide above).
China:
Like The United States, there is a precedent in China for courts’ willingness to classify virtual property as objects of property. One notable case useful for this guide is the Li Hongchen v . Beijing Arctic Ice Technology Development Co case.
In this case, a court in China has ordered an online computer games company to return virtual belongings to a player whose account was hacked and looted.
The court ruled that the games firm must return the victim’s virtual belongings. The company was found liable because flaws in its servers had allowed the hacker to gain access to Hongchen’s account. It has not been revealed whether the company must also pay out damages.
This court case could be used as it sets a precedent for Chinese users to be given back virtual items because of company error. How you would be able to convince Roblox that the error is supposedly theirs is a guessing game though…
Another option for Chinese users is to pretend they are British or a person from the EU, that they are present in those jurisdictions (VPN) and Roblox thus falls under UK or EU consumer law (see UK or EU guide above).
Poll:
To document whether this guide bears results, I have decided that using polls would be appropriate. Please only vote in the polls if you have tried getting a rollback using this method. To emphasize: to try to receive a rollback from Roblox support is not a quick thing done in a day with only one single ticket. It’s a long process of going back and forth in email correspondence with Roblox support. I would appreciate it very much if you only vote after you have gone that route.
Doing so will help safeguard the usefulness of this poll as the vote it prevents the vote being skewed.
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Closure:
This topic is a disappointing niche subject. I decided to remedy this by creating this guide. People often fall victim to Roblox Support’s antics and such injustice deserves transparency on the Developer Forum. No one should be left to try and find advice via Youtube videos, Discord channels or other social media with questionable objectivity. Users deserve advice documented in objectivity and that actually works.
I won’t pretend this guide is the definite answer for how to get a rollback as it never will achieve that goal. The average Support agent is no stranger to idiotism, illiteracy and lability and truly no guide is able to account for that. I just happened to find a way to get my rollback and I am currently in the process of guiding other people into my footsteps so that they can get their own rollback. The logistics of helping other people prompted me to create this guide for other people to use.
I invite you to contribute to this topic by doing research yourself. Find out whether your jurisdiction has laws relating to the regulation of digital assets so more countries can be added to the list. Another way to help is find out other ways how you achieved your rollback and document the way you did it in a Devforum post here. This way, more people can be sure to receive their account rollback.
Editing of this guide:
Further edits to this guide will be made when new information comes to light law related or to fix spelling and grammar mistakes.
Lastly:
Questions can be voiced (preferably) in the replies of this guide or via my discord handle Dav.id#1189
.