Steam Refunds

>>385505582
It could be better by extending the 2 hour limit but thus far I've had 0 problems with it and boy have I been refunding games like crazy recently. Lots of shit games.

refunds are a consumer right in a lot of countries
so i can't say it is "a move" at all

Theyve never refused a refund for me though I wish they just had hard rules instead of >do whatever you want but not too much as arbitrarily decided by us

it makes me question getting things cause im worried im approaching some unseen cap

>>385505582
It was forced on steam, they didn't do it willingly.

The problem with refunds as they stand is not that they exist but how they're being used.

How this should be used:
>this game won't run on my computer, I better get a refund!

How this is being used currently:
>huh this game was not as fun as I expected, I better get a refund!

A refund should only be given if you can't use the product you bought. Not because you didn't like the product.

>>385505843
>forced

No it wasn't. There's no law that forces online stores to offer refunds anywhere near as lax as Steam does.

They only made that so the EU wouldn't widen Gabes anus.

>>385505791
What excuse do you use? I've never gotten a refund on 'i don't like this game'.

>>385505582
They're obligated by EU law to offer refunds.

This isn't valve doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. It's that or face EU lawsuits/penalties.

>>385505949
>developer scams and lies about the game (see: no man's sky)
>you buy the game expecting something entirely different from what you're getting
Tell me why this doesn't warrant a refund.

>>385506009
EU law.

They could not have a system where EU players were getting something and NA were not, they had to do it all across the board once the EU forced them to do it.

>I just got a full refund
>how I can't?
>I dunno try again
>I just found out it's because I like in the USA, fuck Steam!

>>385505949
t. Gone Home dev

>>385505949
What if it has so many gamebreaking bugs and broken features t's essentially not the game you were led to believe?

>>385505582
Why not just make all games playable for 2 hours and then charge you once the 2 hours are over if you want to continue?

You can of course still chose to preorder or buy the game first hand if you want.

>>385505582
you need more than 2 hours to playtest a game.

push it to 5.

>>385506653
that sounds incredibly exploitable

>>385506653
You're asking every developer that releases on steam to implement what is essentially a two hour demo?

Yes I'm sure they will be delighted.

No - it's Valve finally bowing down to decent consumer laws offered in decent countries within the EU and also Australia.

They had shit refund policies before that because Americunts have fuck all consumer laws.

>The steam store doesn't have AUD
>Valve argues this means they don't do business in Australia
>They do this because they want to get around the Australian consumer laws
literally the most jewish company in existence. worse than ea desu. i don't know why everybody slobbers all over gabe's fat chode

>>385506009
>>385506506
aussie law as well that you cant deny a refund if its under 7 days
hell i got a refund once for legacy of goku 2 and told them because i finished it in one sitting
>thats a bullshit reason but we have no choice
it was EB games as well

There seems to also be different unwritten rules based on the nation you live in, I've got refunds with playtime much higher than a friend that lives in the states.

>>385506726
Especially since some of them take that much to finish

>>385506745
>>385507114
I mean you can see why

When will Aussies enforce Steam to implement a one week period for refunds?

>>385505582
I'd increase the amount of time you can refund from 2 weeks to infinity, I have a lot of shit I did not even play that I bought years ago and would like to refund, but that's fine as is I guess.

>>385508180
They probably already have it, steam knows which region you live.

>>385505582
>consumer friendly move
That implies they did it out of goodwill and not because a multinational organisation was about to ram their ass

>>385506348
I've said it's not fun for every refund and it's always gone through.

>>385508279
Well that's just unfair. Fucking privileged Aussies

>>385506497
maybe you shouldnt be a retard and fall for hype and lies and actually look into stuff about your purchase before blindly going through with it

>>385507114
>buy game from eb
>take it back within a week cause it's shit
>guy asks why I'm returning it for the system
>because I didn't enjoy it
>he laughs and says he can't refund it for that reason
>point out that returns covers simply not liking it
>he agrees and gives me a refund in cash
The receipt listed the reason as "defective unit" and I paid by gift card to get it but whatever.

>>385505582
>consumer friendly

no, they were LEGALLY OBLIGED for fucking YEARS to give refunds, their 2 hours played time is still pushing the limits of the rule and probably not even enough to be legal in some countries.

Their support was (and still is) fucking trash, they're trained to ignore the law and even if you link the laws they're breaking by not refunding they would just not reply and there's nothing you can do about it.

Epic dude :)

>>385508379
So its the consumers fault if a game dev lies about everything in the game?

Man you must be a shit for brains gas station attendant, right?

>>385508503
If you link the laws they're breaking why not call the cops to push it further?

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>>385505949
>its a "refunds shouldn't be used if you don't like it" episode

>>385508620
>Hello, what is your emergency?
>Steam is refusing to refund my videogame eventhough they are legally obliged to do so.

Now thats a phonecall Id like to hear.

>>385506009
Except there is, Norway is fucking brutal when it comes to protecting consumers, they shut down the iTunes services in Norway until Apple made the media files from iTunes into normal audio files that could be played on any device

So how does the refund work exactly? If I buy a $20 game and refund it, does the $20 come from the developers pocket? What about the percentage that steam gets with all purchases? Can I transfer those $20 back into my bank account or is it trapped in steam?

>>385508620
People already have, why do you think the refund thing even happened in the first place?


Certainly not because steam want to be nice

>>385508946
dunno about the first part of your question but you get to choose if you want the returned money to go to your bank account or your steam wallet. It is obviously faster to get it to your steam wallet than your bank account so most people choose that.

>>385508946
>So how does the refund work exactly? If I buy a $20 game and refund it, does the $20 come from the developers pocket?
Not exactly. It comes from the money Steam has set aside for the game to pay you your cut; AFAIK Steam won't literally send you a bill and ask for money if you get a refund that pushes you below $0, but they'll cannibalize future purchases of the game to make themselves whole before you get more money from them. At least that's how it works for indie devs, major publishers have their own contract with Steam
>What about the percentage that steam gets with all purchases?
Comes out of Valve's pocket
>Can I transfer those $20 back into my bank account or is it trapped in steam?
It's been trapped in Steam for every refund I've ever done but I think there are countries where a refund to the method of purchase is legally required

>>385508379
>hey i'll give you X
>ok i'll buy it when it's out
>hey what the fuck you promised X but it's Y
>b-b-but we poor cant make X please understand that just working hard even if you make shit makes me entitled to your money

>>385506348
When there was a sale a while ago I would buy a game, only to find out the price had dropped later.
Each refund I literally said "the price has dropped and I'd like to get it at the lower price," and they never denied my refund. It's insanely consumer friendly for this industry.

>>385508692

The most overlooked thing about this is the 14d/2h clause is "no questions asked" but outside of that range you can still apply for a refund.

Just got my PUBG refunded amidst all the bullshit going on with that game. Reason I gave is they changed the ToS from that which I originally agreed to. They were stubborn and kept saying no but after 5 minutes of not accepting "No" for an answer they gave me a refund.

14 hours played but first refund I've requested from steam.

>>385505949
That's not how returning physical products works, at all.
Why should it be the same for digital ones?

>>385509564
You get to choose between refunding to steam wallet and CC/payment option
The latter takes a few days, of course
At least that how it is in the european caliphate

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>consumer-friendly move
>forced into it

>>385510680
that's generally how it works these days

>>385508261
I can agree with that
>Buy game on sale
>Throw it on backlog
>Season change time moves on, years pass
>Play game
>It's actually shit/ irreparably bugged/ published by ubisoft
>No refund.

>>385505582
It's good, but don't kid yourself, EU basically made it for Valve. And yes, the 2 hour limit is shit because any old game could put 2 hours of decency in only to become a smoking shit for the rest of the game. So yeah, it needs something like GoG with the 7 - 14 day return policy. That's better. It encourages players to actually play instead of sitting on shit and doesn't punish you if the game decides to be shit for 10 hours straight.

>>385508910
Holy shit... I NEED to live in Norway. What a fucking godsend. Actually some fucking standards. Thank god.

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>can refund shit indie games that last 2 hours that I wasn't gonna play anyway
>but steam flash sales are dead and gone for every
Just another reason to hate the EU desu

>>385508567
No, but its the consumers fault if he blindly buys something based only on the statements of the man trying to sell it to you. Every person will tell you HIS product is the best shit on the market, its up to do to do your own research to see if the product is worth a buy.

>>385505582
I dunno, when you bought physical copies you could return them at any time, even if you only get a tiny fraction of what you paid

with steam it's either a full refund under strict conditions or no refund at all, I'd rather be able to sell back my games even if I only get like 5$ for them

>>385505582
it's only fair considering they took away demos

>>385511267
That would be false advertising unless they can reliably prove it's the best and false advertising is illegal in civilized countries. Consumer organizations get corporations in trouble for such claims every now and then.

>>385505720
>>385505843
>>385506069
>>385506468
>>385506506
>>385508503
>>385509063
>>385510998
The EU law you illiterates are thinking about does specifically states that it does not apply to digital goods and services.
Not a single digital store abides by it. Steam, Origin, Uplay, GoG, iTunes, App Store, Google Play Store, etc. None of them offer unconditional 14 day refunds.

Refunding defective shit has been a standard in any business for like centuries.

>>385506892
Because unlike EA who is known for being corporate scum and doesn't hide it Gabe is seen as a friendly fellow gamer and thus can get away with almost anything

>>385511801

except that law was used in the famous iTunes/EULA case in UK so your argument is invalid

>>385511947

Can you sauce this? Haven't heard about this dispute before.

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>>385511947
They had to change the EULA according with the law, but they still offer no refunds after you've downloaded the song/app/whatever.

Steam does exactly the same thing.

EU law does not give you the right to refund digital services after the seller has given you access to them, hence Steam making you sign the "this can't be refunded after you click buy" thing with every purchase.