Google apologized for removing The Lord of the Rings from a user's library, but still asks to purchase it again

Google apologized to a customer after his purchased Lord of the Rings Extended Edition trilogy vanished from his library. He'd bought the bundle back in 2022, but support initially refused a refund, citing a rule that transactions older than 120 days don't qualify.

Things only started moving after he took the issue to Reddit and pushed for it to be escalated past the first line of support.

Rather than just complaining publicly, he pointed straight at Google own terms of service covering content that becomes unavailable or gets removed after purchase. That seems to be what got the ball rolling, and a few days later a senior support specialist sent over an apology.

We want to apologize for the frustration you've experienced over your Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Trilogy. 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 the customer never actually lost the movies. The original 2022 bundle isn't sold anymore, but according to support, ownership rights to all three individual extended editions "remain 100% active."

The disappearance from his library got blamed on a "rendering issue with larger digital libraries," with Google insisting the licenses stayed "safe and intact" the whole time.

As compensation for the mix-up, Google credited £20 to his account and sent direct Google TV and YouTube links for each of the three films.

That said, the story doesn't quite end on a high note. All three YouTube links still ask him to pay before watching, and only two of the Google TV links actually work – The Two Towers still shows up as unavailable.