What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington
I have purchased over 40 games from Steam.
A few days ago I purchased a new flight sim, only to find it wouldn’t work, despite me having the right hardware and software – all my other 40 or so, high end games and simulators work, including a similar version of this one.
I decided I wasn’t going to waste lot’s of time trying to get it to work (like I realised I’d done with this company before).
I contacted Steam and told them the game was faulty, wouldn’t run on my system, provided them with screen shots to prove that, one, it wouldn’t even register – kept telling me that the game’s servers were down, and also a screen shot of the game crashing – at the registration stage. I removed the game from my library and asked for a refund.
Steam wrote back and told me they didn’t handle support, and to contact the supplier.
I wrote back and told them that I wanted a refund, and didn’t want to waste my time trying to get something to work when it should work first time. They sold it, they should be responsible for it
They wrote back and again told me to contact the game supplier.
I raised a paypal dispute (based of the game not working). Steam then told me that if paypal refunded me the money, “steam” would freeze my account!
They told me that if I dropped the paypal dispute, my account wouldn’t be frozen! Seems to me to be blackmail, and the consumer has no rights at all!
Under Washington law (what the company operates under), are they allowed to do this? If not, where can I complain?
Why should the User have to pay for the software, and then help fix it so it runs on a standard system (all the other 40 or so titles, and sophisticated sims run on my high end PC and this is the first time I've asked for a refund.)
Thanks in advance,
James
PS. here is a copy of a section from their online policy (seems a little one sided to me!):
3. BILLING, PAYMENT AND OTHER SUBSCRIPTIONS
ALL CHARGES INCURRED ON STEAM, AND ALL PURCHASES MADE WITH THE STEAM WALLET, ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, REGARDLESS OF THE PAYMENT METHOD, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT. (Apart from the following paragraph, there is not other mention of refund/payment in any other section)
IF YOU ARE AN EU SUBSCRIBER YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM A PURCHASE TRANSACTION FOR DIGITAL CONTENT WITHOUT CHARGE AND WITHOUT GIVING ANY REASON UNTIL DELIVERY OF SUCH CONTENT HAS STARTED OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE HAS COMMENCED. YOU DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM A TRANSACTION OR OBTAIN A REFUND ONCE DELIVERY OF THE CONTENT HAS STARTED OR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE HAS COMMENCED, AT WHICH POINT YOUR TRANSACTION IS FINAL. YOU AGREE THAT DELIVERY OF DIGITAL CONTENT, AND THE ASSOCIATED SUBSCRIPTION, AND/OR PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSOCIATED SERVICE, COMMENCES AT THE MOMENT THE DIGITAL CONTENT IS ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT OR INVENTORY OR OTHERWISE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO YOU FOR DOWNLOAD OR USE. (Sounds good, but as soon as the software has started downloading - which is done after purchase - you can't claim a refund!)
I have purchased over 40 games from Steam.
A few days ago I purchased a new flight sim, only to find it wouldn’t work, despite me having the right hardware and software – all my other 40 or so, high end games and simulators work, including a similar version of this one.
I decided I wasn’t going to waste lot’s of time trying to get it to work (like I realised I’d done with this company before).
I contacted Steam and told them the game was faulty, wouldn’t run on my system, provided them with screen shots to prove that, one, it wouldn’t even register – kept telling me that the game’s servers were down, and also a screen shot of the game crashing – at the registration stage. I removed the game from my library and asked for a refund.
Steam wrote back and told me they didn’t handle support, and to contact the supplier.
I wrote back and told them that I wanted a refund, and didn’t want to waste my time trying to get something to work when it should work first time. They sold it, they should be responsible for it
They wrote back and again told me to contact the game supplier.
I raised a paypal dispute (based of the game not working). Steam then told me that if paypal refunded me the money, “steam” would freeze my account!
They told me that if I dropped the paypal dispute, my account wouldn’t be frozen! Seems to me to be blackmail, and the consumer has no rights at all!
Under Washington law (what the company operates under), are they allowed to do this? If not, where can I complain?
Why should the User have to pay for the software, and then help fix it so it runs on a standard system (all the other 40 or so titles, and sophisticated sims run on my high end PC and this is the first time I've asked for a refund.)
Thanks in advance,
James
PS. here is a copy of a section from their online policy (seems a little one sided to me!):
3. BILLING, PAYMENT AND OTHER SUBSCRIPTIONS
ALL CHARGES INCURRED ON STEAM, AND ALL PURCHASES MADE WITH THE STEAM WALLET, ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, REGARDLESS OF THE PAYMENT METHOD, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT. (Apart from the following paragraph, there is not other mention of refund/payment in any other section)
IF YOU ARE AN EU SUBSCRIBER YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM A PURCHASE TRANSACTION FOR DIGITAL CONTENT WITHOUT CHARGE AND WITHOUT GIVING ANY REASON UNTIL DELIVERY OF SUCH CONTENT HAS STARTED OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE HAS COMMENCED. YOU DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM A TRANSACTION OR OBTAIN A REFUND ONCE DELIVERY OF THE CONTENT HAS STARTED OR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE HAS COMMENCED, AT WHICH POINT YOUR TRANSACTION IS FINAL. YOU AGREE THAT DELIVERY OF DIGITAL CONTENT, AND THE ASSOCIATED SUBSCRIPTION, AND/OR PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSOCIATED SERVICE, COMMENCES AT THE MOMENT THE DIGITAL CONTENT IS ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT OR INVENTORY OR OTHERWISE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO YOU FOR DOWNLOAD OR USE. (Sounds good, but as soon as the software has started downloading - which is done after purchase - you can't claim a refund!)
