GTA Online's most recent DLC not only added the legendary Duke O'Death to the game after years of the vehicle being considered unbalanced, but unlocked the returning player content for all to buy and enjoy, seeing as without character transfers, no more players will achieve this status.
Returning player content refers to a collection of select items and vehicles which were only made available to those who transferred a character from either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 versions of GTA Online over to any of the Enhanced Editions. The vehicles, such as the Kraken Sub or the Dodo Seaplane, weren't given outright to these players, however only they had the option to purchase them.
Now that the vehicles (and the Hatchet, for those of you who remember it) have been made available to all players, Rockstar didn't want the returning players to feel like their loyalty wasn't appreciated anymore. Those returning players who haven't bought some (or any) of the content exclusive to them were given ownership of it for free.
Naturally, this would make those who bought it originally feel more than a little rustled, since others now got the same content for free simply by waiting. However, to solve this issue too, Rockstar has retroactively refunded any and all returning player content fans have bought over the course of the game's run in full.
True enough, many players started reporting that they had received large refunds, and the community platforms were flooded with questions from players who didn't read the news post announcing the refunds about "randomly" being given money. Sums ranged wildly, as not everyone bought all the returning player content, but in general the refunds ranged between $GTA 500K and 2 million.
The larger sums could also be attributed to the game tracking repeated purchases. So if you bought something, sold it, then bought it again, both purchases could be refunded. Though outliers, some players bought, sold and re-bought the Dukes half a dozen times over the course of the past 1-2 years resulting in exorbitant refunds.
In the midst of all this however, were also reports of people who seemingly got the shorter end of the stick. They got refunded, sure, but only somewhere between GTA$ 600-720. No, we didn't miss a "K", there... they actually got just $600. Of course, nothing among the returning player items and vehicles cost that little, so clearly we were looking at an error of some sort.
If you've fallen victim to one of these erroneous refunds where you barely got enough cash to fill a gun with ammo, getting a proper refund is easier than you think. Many players hit by this issue have reported that going through Rockstar Support has gained them complete refunds including a small bonus thrown on top for the inconvenience.
You'll probably get the quickest service if you supply screenshot evidence, but the support personnel usually have access to all the information you need. If they don't, just send repeated tickets until your plea falls into the hands of someone who actually has access to the databases that track all this.
Rockstar Support seems to get a lot of flak from the community for not repealing alleged "false" bans, however since that has become company policy, it's hardly their fault. On the flipside, almost unanimously, players tell positive tales of their experiences with Support when seeking refunds for money lost due to lag or hackers. So please, be kind to your Support reps, they're people too.
Just throwing this out there, but if you have a shred of empathy, do say "thank you" when wording your ticket to Support. They'll appreciate it. Really.
