The Level Of Steam Support: Nonexistant

[Deadmano]

On several occasions I have contacted steam support, only to be thoroughly disappointed, and to ask myself why I even continue supporting a company that clearly cares more for its end of day sales report than the actual users who make said sales happen!

I may not have a massive collection of games (40+ mainly AAA games) but for every bit that I contribute I'd expect to have some form of support, not an automated response, see below;

This is a message I sent through via the Steam Helpdesk;

Hi there,

I recently added funds to my wallet to enable some purchases from the market, however when I tried to make a purchase I was told that I had used a new payment method and that I'd have to wait until the 11th of July, which is a whole week!

Now this is ridiculous, and should this be the case I'll simply stop using the STEAM payment system as a whole, and simply buy retail STEAM versions to avoid this issue...

Due to their being a special I had to request my colleague top up my account, even paying him back in cash (as STEAM doesn't support EFT or Deposits) so now I am literally screwed for an entire week...

Worst thing is, you guys usually respond in a week (given my past encounters with your support) so that further warrants for the disuse of STEAM payment services...

Please can this be amended, so that I may go ahead and make my purchases before I simply request a refund?

And the response I got was;

Hello Phillip,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

Only items and games that are purchased with trusted payment methods can be traded immediately; otherwise there is a 7 day cool down before they can be traded.

The Steam Community Market will also be unavailable during the cooldown.

Any payment method that has been used on the account more than 7 days ago is considered trusted.

You may gift games during this cooldown period.

For more information about gifts and guest passes please see the following article:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6262-QXCN-0755

Now if you were to go through my initial message (of which the rage is well warranted considering the circumstances) and see the reply you will notice that 80% of it does NOT relate to my query, which makes me fully think its an automated response... Where did I ask about gifting?!

You know what is ironic? You can't buy anything from the market, since they want to protect their community from fraud, right? Yet I could still purchase any game I desired with the exact SAME card... Where is the logic in this? Now I have to be punished because the payment system is inadequate and can't cater fully for my needs?

What is the point of having a help system when you don't even bother responding, with relevant information no less... You're making so much in income and if you can't cope with the current flood of support requests then the most obvious step forward is hiring more staff to take care of it...

Protip for Steam: Please get your staff to fully read through a support ticket BEFORE responding... If I wanted to read some random garble I'd sift through Facebook all day.

Honestly this just makes me want to buy from retail stores more, since at least I will get a friendly smile and assistance with my order, and I'll be helping the community to boot. Whereas on steam... To some extent I can ever see why piracy happens, for if this is how a paying customer is treated what better off am I than to a pirate?

Sincerely,
A rather disgruntled steam user.

[darrelpantalone]

THE ONLY reason I use steam is because 2K linked the CIV series through them. You are right, their support is a joke, they try and shove all problems off on the game. I purchased CIV V Gold through them, got a new machine and it took over 2 hours to install and the installation was incomplete.. They gave me instruction to follow and they are impossible , because there is no main menu with single player on the system. They don't respond, and is it too much to ask for a simple reinstall section to put your games back on line ?

[Satoru]

Note that Support did exactly what it was supposd to. Direct you to the FAQ which outlines the cooldowns for specific actions. And how the Trade works with items and item cooldowns with trusted accoutns

Just becauuse you dont LIKE THE RULES doesn't mean support didn't do its job.

What part did they not address

1) you complained about the cooldown, they addressed this
2) You can purchase whatever you want on steam, you can't use THE MARKET. That's it. Which they told you
3) You can gift things as long as you're a trusted account. Which they told you

There was nothing else in yoru rambling ticket that was relevant or needed to be addressed.

It's also amusing you threaten to go 'outside of Steam' which is an empty threat since you cant trade or put items on the Market for keys purchased outside of Steam.

[Tito Shivan]

I see the answer fitting to the query.
They've answered you why you weren't able to make the transaction with your steam wallet.
The cooldown is implemented to avoid scams. It's not going anywhere.

[ KARR™]

Originally posted by AAO Deadmano:

I recently added funds to my wallet to enable some purchases from the market, however when I tried to make a purchase I was told that I had used a new payment method and that I'd have to wait until the 11th of July, which is a whole week!

<snip>

Please can this be amended, so that I may go ahead and make my purchases before I simply request a refund?[/i]

[quote/]

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

Only items and games that are purchased with trusted payment methods can be traded immediately; otherwise there is a 7 day cool down before they can be traded.

The Steam Community Market will also be unavailable during the cooldown.

Any payment method that has been used on the account more than 7 days ago is considered trusted.

<snip>

The answer is 100% connected to the question. Although it isn't the answer you want.

[Fane]

Well, I gotten a real reply several times(Because my problem were kind unique) And please remember there are 50 million user and there might be thousands and maybe tens of thousand of user that report to support and there could be maybe hundred of staff to do support. So they use machine to reply to requester with common problems(Try going to support forums) But if you got a unique problem(LIke me purchasing a item on market and it didnt show up), they reply.

[2point4]

Unless things have changed within $team support, they don't use automated responses. How long did it take to get your first response? Automated responses will usually be generated in minutes or less. My experience with support is typically a days long wait time.

Valve likes to believe the whole company is support. That's currently hundreds of people. Although I doubt the more well known names at Valve are taking time out of their days to respond to support requests (i.e. Doug Lombardi isn't answering your ticket. Neither is Robin Walker, Icefrog, Chet Faliszek, Marc Laidlaw, etc.)

[Deadmano]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Note that Support did exactly what it was supposd to. Direct you to the FAQ which outlines the cooldowns for specific actions. And how the Trade works with items and item cooldowns with trusted accoutns

Just becauuse you dont LIKE THE RULES doesn't mean support didn't do its job.

What part did they not address

1) you complained about the cooldown, they addressed this
2) You can purchase whatever you want on steam, you can't use THE MARKET. That's it. Which they told you
3) You can gift things as long as you're a trusted account. Which they told you

There was nothing else in yoru rambling ticket that was relevant or needed to be addressed.

It's also amusing you threaten to go 'outside of Steam' which is an empty threat since you cant trade or put items on the Market for keys purchased outside of Steam.

You know what is amusing? The fact that you sound just like support, in that you too don't quite follow. How old are you, 12? There's no "right" or "wrong" side, the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day I AM the customer, and I should be treated no better or worse than what is expected of the quality of service.

I didn't come here to argue with a few users on the morality of things, I came here to express MY concerns, which are fully valid.

Where did I ask about gifting? Your 3rd point is invalid, so too is your 2nd point as I wasn't asking about any purchase on steam, and lastly your 1st point is fully mute as they never addressed the issue else I wouldn't be here in the first place, now would I? What is "addressed" in your terms doesn't mean it would be the same for me.

The fact of the matter still stands that due to poor service on Steam's end, I as a paying customer had to suffer, and not even the slightest of courtesy was given in that the reply sent was that of an automatic nature (the whole layout of the reply could clearly be taken for something out of a FAQ). If this is unclear to you, then please, do not bother replying again.

And regarding the "threat" you seem to make out of my message, where did I imply I'd want to at all trade for items that I received outside of steam? Yet again, stop beating around the bush. You'd make a perfect candidate for the current support team.

I can only hope that this was a fluke, and the actual support is actually helpful and tailor their responses to each customers needs, and makes them feel a part of the community, appreciating their tender and are willing to assist properly.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

I see the answer fitting to the query.
They've answered you why you weren't able to make the transaction with your steam wallet.
The cooldown is implemented to avoid scams. It's not going anywhere.

They "answered" what I already knew, what was made blatantly clear... But that wasn't the reason why I contacted support... I wished to have the issue remedied so I can continue my use of the service. Yet nothing was said of that.

Originally posted by iKhan(The Saharan Spy):

Well, I gotten a real reply several times(Because my problem were kind unique) And please remember there are 50 million user and there might be thousands and maybe tens of thousand of user that report to support and there could be maybe hundred of staff to do support. So they use machine to reply to requester with common problems(Try going to support forums) But if you got a unique problem(LIke me purchasing a item on market and it didnt show up), they reply.

I'm sorry, but you clearly do not work in a sector who deals with customer support on a daily basis... Regardless of how many users there are, and how many users make reports, Valve as a company is expected to respond to each and every one of its customers queries in a timely and professional manner. Don't you expect this from every company? For instance if there is something wrong with your cup of coffee at your local diner, are you just going to let it slide without taking it up with your waiter or the manager? Or if you had an issue with a product you bought at a store, will you do nothing about it? What makes this situation any different? And as I said, if they can't handle the influx of support requests then they need to adapt, not try to "automate" responses and further anger customers.

Whether your issue is "more unique" than mine or not, big or small, we all deserve the same amount of attention at the end of the day, and to have the issue resolved as quick as humanly possible.

Originally posted by 2point4:

Unless things have changed within $team support, they don't use automated responses. How long did it take to get your first response? Automated responses will usually be generated in minutes or less. My experience with support is typically a days long wait time.

My reply was given within 24 hours, which is acceptable, yet for the reply I received I'd have much rather waited longer if that would have meant a proper reply was given. I'm not going to even do a follow up and it will be for this reason they will slowly lose paying customers, one by one.

This isn't a rant, as much as some of you wish to make it out to be. It's actually a discussion, one which I wished to share my views on the support of a company who seems to pride themselves on just that... Perhaps one day they'll look up from their bank statements and see what is going on around them, and see where they can improve.