What's the deal with Epic Games Store refunds?

It's shiny, it's brand new, it's causing confusion - the Epic Games Store is here, and all eyes are on the platform to see whether it can truly rival Steam. It's already received praise for offering developers a generous revenue split of 88/12 compared to Steam (which currently offers 75/25 or 80/20 for games that generate over $10m). Yet over the past few days, concerns have been raised over whether the Epic Games Store will treat customers with similar fairness - with many pointing to its current refund policy as a potential source of problems. There's a lot of confusion here, however, so here's a breakdown of what we know so far about the Epic Games Store's refund policy.

The online discussion began when users on Twitter and Reddit posted pictures showing automatic responses customers are currently receiving when they try to get a refund for their games. Pointing to an Epic Games Store FAQ page which states "a full refund will be offered for any requests made within 14 days of purchase", users claimed Epic was not delivering on this promise, as customers are currently being asked to provide vast amounts of information in order to claim a refund.

I tested this out by purchasing a copy of Hades and then immediately refunding it (sorry, Supergiant Games). Sure enough, if you currently want to get a game refund, you are referred to Epic's contact form, and after sending off a request you receive the following automatic response:

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