7 ms·
On a related note, I once had a dispute with Valve about a buggy game I bought on Steam. Their support wouldn't say anything except point me to the subscriber a
by sgentle 15y ago
On a related note, I once had a dispute with Valve about a buggy game I bought on Steam. Their support wouldn't say anything except point me to the subscriber agreement, which says that they could send you a copy of notepad instead of the game you purchased and you'd still be out of luck.
I considered doing a chargeback, but thankfully I researched it first and found out that if you do a chargeback, Valve will disable all of your games, including the ones not under dispute. It was so cleverly evil, I'm still not quite sure what combination of impressed and disgusted to be.
The answer to "do we own our Steam games" isn't just "no", it's "no, and Valve know this, and they use that fact punitively when they want to".
- kevingadd 15y agoI had the same experience, but instead of giving up, I called American Express and explained Steam's supposed policy to them. They said that was in violation of their merchant agreement and that they'd be contacting Valve for me. I was refunded the full cost of the game a couple days later. Interestingly, Valve never removed the game from my account. It still doesn't work on any of my PCs to this day.
- Legion 15y agoNote to self: buy all future Steam games with AmEx. Things like that and the warranty extension they provide are why I got an AmEx card.
- snowwrestler 15y agoThese types of services are offered by a lot of credit cards these days. Just have to call up customer service and talk to them about it.
- AUmrysh 15y agoThe real question is, if they disable your account, could you chargeback all of the valve charges over the years? I think you'd be justified if they blocked you out of games that you paid for years ago for a chargeback now.
- paxswill 15y agoThis is almost certainly dependent on various merchant agreements, but (I'm pretty sure chargebacks have a limit on the timeframe you can do them. The only recourse you'd have would be to try to take Valve to court.
- Silhouette 15y agoEffectively preventing legitimate chargebacks by leveraging unrelated transactions is a big no-no in basically all commercial agreements for card services. Otherwise, not only are chargebacks not worth anything, but also in quite a few jurisdictions the card company will be left to foot the bill for any disputed transactions themselves because they share liability with the merchant in the eyes of the law (and unlike chargebacks, that liability will not be limited to 6 months or so by a convenient commercial agreement). Basically, regardless of any legal weasel words in their Ts & Cs, if Valve ever actually tried this on a significant scale and one of the card companies got wind of it, Steam would be toasted faster than a loaf in close solar orbit. This will therefore never happen, and a judicious word with your credit card provider will almost certainly get any threats to make it happen dealt with quite effectively, as kevingadd observed.
- bencollier 15y agoI'm pretty certain that's illegal under consumer law in the UK, but like the article says, none of any of this has been tested in court.
- onli 15y agoIt's obviously also illegal in Germany. Valve has to be very careful with things like that. If they act in those ways to a non US-costumer, they will lose in court.
- jellicle 15y agoI don't know why people wouldn't sue Valve in small claims for actions like that. Seems like an easy win.
- ootachi 15y agoValve is a case study in what sorts of evil shenanigans you can get away with if you manage to build up an unassailable sterling reputation in your target demographics (gamers, in this case). The majority of gamers still think Valve can do no wrong.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- dekz 15y agoWhat exact issues have you had with Origin? Although it is almost completely featureless, I've never ran into any issues with it. It pretty much just keeps the game up to date and launches (in the case of BF3) your browser.
- alex_c 15y agoAs a counter-point, I did get a refund from Valve for a game that claimed to have multiplayer, but no longer did (because the publisher had shut down the servers). Valve refused at first, I politely insisted, and got my refund. I am, however, very much aware that my library is entirely at Valve's mercy.
- jessejmc 15y agoThis happened to me twice. Both times I asked for a refund and Valve refused. I was quite insistent and even mailed and faxed a letter to their corporate headquarters. This strategy has worked with other companies, but I never heard back from Valve. Needless to say I quit "purchasing" games from them. They lost a loyal customer that had spent thousands of dollars with them over a $5 sale item.