Steam is a pile of shit

[RikuoAmero]

Yes, that's what I think about Steam.

I want to know about your problems and gripes with the dominant player in the digital distribution business.

For me, it was the recent Christmas sale. I tried to buy the X Superbox for €13.60 but kept getting an error for both my Paypal and Visa card. I tried Firefox and Internet Explorer, and Steam itself, no luck. But, it did work once the sale ended and the price went up to €19.99! So I bought it, and emailed Steam, hoping that like every other company in the world when faced with a customer who tried to buy during a sale, they would at the least give me back the difference between the two prices. But no, I emailed back and forth for a week, until I got a full refund and the games removed from my account. Luckily, I backuped the games to my external hard drive, maybe I can crack them one day.

[gilcohen]

I bought Steam in 20$ from Them

it's good, I play in counter strike

and this no really Expensive.

[seirachan]

did you ask for the refund of all your games? Well either way you shouldn't have bought it then demanded a refund cause it was on sale at one point. the most you could have done is sent them an e-mail before buying it while the sale was still on that it's not letting you buy it. From working experience I would not have returned the sales worth money to you because you did not take the steps to notify before purchase. A full refund for the game is appropriate but otherwise no.

[RikuoAmero]

did you ask for the refund of all your games? Well either way you shouldn't have bought it then demanded a refund cause it was on sale at one point. the most you could have done is sent them an e-mail before buying it while the sale was still on that it's not letting you buy it. From working experience I would not have returned the sales worth money to you because you did not take the steps to notify before purchase. A full refund for the game is appropriate but otherwise no.

actually I did send an email to them before buying it. And a full refund is the only appropriate thing? Here I was, a customer trying to pay for a game thats on sale, and Steam itself f**ks up, not allowing me to pay for it. I did call them out on the fact that their system only started working again once the sale ended: its called bait-and-switch, where you entice a customer into your store with the promise of a lower price, but only actually sell your product for the full price.

[Hōtarō]

actually I did send an email to them before buying it. And a full refund is the only appropriate thing? Here I was, a customer trying to pay for a game thats on sale, and Steam itself f**ks up, not allowing me to pay for it. I did call them out on the fact that their system only started working again once the sale ended: its called bait-and-switch, where you entice a customer into your store with the promise of a lower price, but only actually sell your product for the full price.

...Or they just had technical problems. No point jumping to conclusions without any solid proof.

[Asch]

Hmm...as far as for me, I bough Witcher, on sale, They charged me the the normal price, but, after complain, and proof of purchase, instead of refunding the money, they offered for a exchange, or another game from , the balance left, I don't like the method, but still, they kinda refunded me the money =P

[RikuoAmero]

...Or they just had technical problems. No point jumping to conclusions without any solid proof.

True...in a way...but imagine you're in a store, on the day of a sale, and their checkout computers are on the fritz and you can't get that deal you've been waiting for. You leave a message with the store manager. Any store manager would be willing to help out the customer, its good customer relations, and makes the store look good. I work in a supermarket myself, and situations like this have happened before: we always sell to the customer at the price the product was on the day, as long as they have proof they were there on the day: in my case, I left an email, about six hours before the sale ended.

Hmm...as far as for me, I bough Witcher, on sale, They charged me the the normal price, but, after complain, and proof of purchase, instead of refunding the money, they offered for a exchange, or another game from , the balance left, I don't like the method, but still, they kinda refunded me the money =P

If what you're saying is true, then you were charged a price that was different than was advertised. In such a case, its illegal to offer an exchange or another game, only a full refund is acceptable. And in case anyone calls me out on this, its slightly different from my situation: I knew when I bought the X Superbox that it had gone up to 19.99, but my complaint of not being able to buy during the sale was still valid.

[Asch]

True...in a way...but imagine you're in a store, on the day of a sale, and their checkout computers are on the fritz and you can't get that deal you've been waiting for. You leave a message with the store manager. Any store manager would be willing to help out the customer, its good customer relations, and makes the store look good. I work in a supermarket myself, and situations like this have happened before: we always sell to the customer at the price the product was on the day, as long as they have proof they were there on the day: in my case, I left an email, about six hours before the sale ended.

If what you're saying is true, then you were charged a price that was different than was advertised. In such a case, its illegal to offer an exchange or another game, only a full refund is acceptable. And in case anyone calls me out on this, its slightly different from my situation: I knew when I bought the X Superbox that it had gone up to 19.99, but my complaint of not being able to buy during the sale was still valid.

Technically, I don't know @_@ if it is legal or not valid, cause law here is kinda different, anyways, what they did, was that, I can buy witcher again, with the sale price, and with the balance left, I was offered to buy another game,it is not like that, they took all the money, yup, it can be some technical errors, or such that, I have 12~ games via steam, and only witcher gave me problem.

[† Irish]

yeah its called a rain check, but rain checks dont work for sales, once the sale is off you cant get that deal anymore(unless you order it, Pay for it first)...ive worked in Retail and Sales for a good 3-4 years now, and you just have to deal with irate customers when they come in spewing hate cause you didnt have anymore of the items they want... Concerning your steam experience, you bought it for FULL price then emailed and wanted a discount AFTER the sale. You should have just layed off buying it all together and kept emailing them when it was still on sale... I mean its like going to the store after black friday buying something and bitching that you want the Black Friday price cause you couldnt get anything cause of the crowds... it dont work that way... its just life... I have never had a problem with steam and i have been a customer with them for years....

But this is why I always tell people to be wary of Online purchases... Physically buying the game is far better than digitally, cause you never know when servers are going to go down....

[Hōtarō]

True...in a way...but imagine you're in a store, on the day of a sale, and their checkout computers are on the fritz and you can't get that deal you've been waiting for. You leave a message with the store manager. Any store manager would be willing to help out the customer, its good customer relations, and makes the store look good. I work in a supermarket myself, and situations like this have happened before: we always sell to the customer at the price the product was on the day, as long as they have proof they were there on the day: in my case, I left an email, about six hours before the sale ended.

If what you're saying is true, then you were charged a price that was different than was advertised. In such a case, its illegal to offer an exchange or another game, only a full refund is acceptable. And in case anyone calls me out on this, its slightly different from my situation: I knew when I bought the X Superbox that it had gone up to 19.99, but my complaint of not being able to buy during the sale was still valid.

That's a supermarket. A supermarket and the leading digital gaming distributer, is something completely different. Even if they were on the same level of business, they're run by two different people. Different stores have different policies. The store you work in gives people the sale price if they have proof that day, Valve doesn't. Your store is in person, thus, is easier for you to have proof, theirs isn't, making it a bit harder.

[seirachan]

actually I did send an email to them before buying it. And a full refund is the only appropriate thing? Here I was, a customer trying to pay for a game thats on sale, and Steam itself f**ks up, not allowing me to pay for it. I did call them out on the fact that their system only started working again once the sale ended: its called bait-and-switch, where you entice a customer into your store with the promise of a lower price, but only actually sell your product for the full price.

It's Online, anything Online can have a bug. Maybe the sale itself created a bug but you really shouldn't have bought the game after the sale. There you lost your chance to get the game on sale price. A store is completely different cause you are physically there. You get to talk head on to the cashier. Online you have to wait for them to get the e-mail then wait for a response. Once they received the mail they would see that it was sent at that date and should give you the discount price. But you bought the game already without waiting for a response.

Just like xxIrish said, "its like going to the store after black friday buying something and bitching that you want the Black Friday price cause you couldnt get anything cause of the crowds"

[H4wkeye]

I presonally love Steam. It can bug up sometimes but still it's really high quality and good.

[BushidoSkeleton]

I presonally love Steam. It can bug up sometimes but still it's really high quality and good.

Seconded, I'm a fairly hardcore gamer and I use this for all my games except Warcraft and its never really given me too much of a hassle. Valve are one of the only game companies that give a crap about their fans and community.

It sucks that you had a bad experience with them, but will being negative really make it any better?

[Max465]

I've purchased three games from steam, all of them were on sale, and I've never had a problem with it. I personally think steam is great and the fact that you don't have to pay monthly fees and you don't have to pay DLC for some games makes is great...unfortunately I'm not much of a PC gamer.