The Pinball FX3 and pre-owned DLC debacle

[RTA]

"You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it.

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours. There are more details below, but even if you fall outside of the refund rules we’ve described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we’ll take a look."

HOW ??????????????

There is no contact email to send anything detailed to explain the situation to and no way of doing anything on the Steam Support pages other than choosing the Robot generated suggestions. If your particular problem - 'You've accepted payment AGAIN for things that you should have had marked as already owned, so can you please refund this error ?' is not listed, then just HOW do you proceed to "if you fall outside of the refund rules we’ve described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we’ll take a look".

Please explain to me how this can be done.

I do 'fall outside the refund rules' and I can't 'ask for a refund anyway' as there is no way to do so.
It's taking my total time played on the DLCs as my total time played on everything. I've not played ANY of the tables that Steam should have transferred to my FX3 installation anyway.
I thought this was initially a licencing problem and that maybe Zen had to re-do certain of the tables again to comply, which is why they did not appear in FX3 when I owned them in FX2. I thought this was bad but as they are some of my favourite tables, I bit the bullet and bought them again. Normally Steam would not let you re-purchase DLC that you already owned, but as it did in this case, I thought that must indeed be the case. It sucked, but whatever.
I then find that, thanks to a♥♥♥♥♥♥up by both Steam AND Zen, tables that should have transferred to me did not and payments that I should not have been able to make, I could.

This is wrong. I would just like it fixed - Please ?
So far this 'free' upgrade has cost me a lot of money.

[Spawn of Totoro]

There is a box during the refund proccess, where you can explain why you want a refund.

[RTA]

Doesn't work.
In this case it ignores the fact you are talking about particular DLC and takes your total play time of Pinball FX instead. Because it's a robot reply it 'does not compute' so you are automatically refused.
They have my purchase history. They know I own the DLCs for Pinball FX2 and they know I should have had them in FX3 so should have not taken my money.
For some reason they do not wish to give it back.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by RTA:

Doesn't work.
In this case it ignores the fact you are talking about particular DLC and takes your total play time of Pinball FX instead. Because it's a robot reply it 'does not compute' so you are automatically refused.
They have my purchase history. They know I own the DLCs for Pinball FX2 and they know I should have had them in FX3 so should have not taken my money.
For some reason they do not wish to give it back.

Refunds are denied by a person, not a robot. If you put in the reason, then it was read.

[RTA]

I've now made my THIRD request for a refund. Each time I've explained that I already own the DLC for Pinball FX so should not have been allowed to purchase them again and so far each time has been refused. Third time lucky ?

[RTA]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Originally posted by RTA:

Doesn't work.
In this case it ignores the fact you are talking about particular DLC and takes your total play time of Pinball FX instead. Because it's a robot reply it 'does not compute' so you are automatically refused.
They have my purchase history. They know I own the DLCs for Pinball FX2 and they know I should have had them in FX3 so should have not taken my money.
For some reason they do not wish to give it back.

Refunds are denied by a person, not a robot. If you put in the reason, then it was read.

And sadly ignored completely ....

[eram]

Best to make a steam support ticket. If the dlc was purchased less than 14 days ago and base game has less than 2 hours playtime since dlc was purchased you should be entitled to a refund. Unless the DLC refund policy applies here? Consumed dlc may count in this case as well as the 2 hours played on the base game.

Refunds on Downloadable Content

(Steam store content usable within another game or software application, "DLC")
DLC purchased from the Steam store is refundable within fourteen days of purchase, and if the underlying title has been played for less than two hours since the DLC was purchased, so long as the DLC has not been consumed, modified or transferred. Please note that in some cases, Steam will be unable to give refunds for some third party DLC (for example, if the DLC irreversibly levels up a game character). These exceptions will be clearly marked as nonrefundable on the Store page prior to purchase.

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Contact steam support.
https://help.steampowered.com/

[RTA]

That's the problem. It doesn't take DLC play time, but total time in Pinball FX. In this case on the new tables.
That shouldn't be a problem as they have my purchase history and know if I am or am not entitled to the DLCs for free, regardless of play time.
If I am entitled to them for free, as I am, then I should not have to pay for them again.
It's not about play time at all.
I should have had them available and marked as owned. They were not.
I should not have been able to buy something that, if everything had worked properly, I would have already had. I was.

That's a Steam/Zen configuration error resulting in something that should not have been able to happen. I just want that fixed.

[eram]

DLC purchased from the Steam store is refundable within fourteen days of purchase, and if the underlying title has been played for less than two hours since the DLC was purchased, so long as the DLC has not been consumed, modified or transferred.

[RTA]

They've just refused to refund for a THIRD time.
Same thing: "Your playtime of an included product exceeds 2 hours (our refund policy maximum)"

This has NOTHING to do with playtime. I own these products. Steam records SHOW I own these products. Thanks to a combination of errors I was tricked into paying for them again, which was wrong and Steam should refund if it is indeed "considered on a case by case basis".

If I am entitled to these DLC for free but have been tricked into paying for them again, then I should be refunded. It has nothing to do with playtime.

I am either eligible to get these DLC for free or I am not. Steam records will show that I am. If I am eligible to get the DLC for free then I should not have been charged again. If I should not have been charged then .......

How does playtime figure into this AT ALL ?

[eram]

Sounds like you've installed the dlc and/or played the base game for 2 hours since you purchased the dlc.

[RTA]

Originally posted by eram:

Sounds like you've installed the dlc and/or played the base game for 2 hours since you purchased the dlc.

Am I being unclear here ?

"For the fourth time !!!
Playtime is irrelevant to what and why I am asking for a refund.
I am either eligible for this DLC for free because I own it in Pinball FX2 or I am not. Simple. Playtime has nothing to do with anything.
Check your records and you will see that YES, I AM eligible for this DLC for free as I DO own it for Pinball FX2.
If I am therefore eligible for it for free then it should not have been possible for me to be misled into buying it again as your very own records should have stopped the purchase completing.
I have therefore been charged TWICE for this DLC and would like this second payment that I was tricked into making by a combination of yourselves and Zen not co-ordinating refunded.

I repeat - Playtime has absolutely NO relevance to my request for a refund. You have sold me something twice and I want one payment back."

[eram]

Refund policy says otherwise. I suggested you make a steam support ticket. Their answer is final.

Good luck!

[RTA]

Originally posted by eram:

Refund policy says otherwise. I suggested you make a steam support ticket. Their answer is final.

Good luck!

And how can I do that ?

It's not something I've bought that I don't like or something I've changed my mind on, it's a purchase that Steam should never have allowed to happen.
Steam don't allow you to buy something that you already own. This time it did. That is a Steam error and whatever I've played / not played has absolutely nothing to do with my request for a refund or why I'm asking for it.

Anybody who actually reads that [if it isn't a robot] with access to my purchase history, can see that instantly. I've been charged twice in error for something that I've already paid for.
How is that difficult to understand ?

[RTA]

Originally posted by eram:

Refund policy says otherwise. I suggested you make a steam support ticket. Their answer is final.

Good luck!

I took your suggestion on board earlier but there is no option to make a support ticket as it's not on the menu list of available choices, so seriously, if you know how I can do so then I'd appreciate knowing how to do it.

[RTA]

Originally posted by eram:

Refund policy says otherwise. I suggested you make a steam support ticket. Their answer is final.

Good luck!

I appreciate your help, but sadly it seems that there is no way to raise a Steam Support ticket any more. I've gone through all the available menu choices and nowhere can I raise a support ticket. No email address to contact, nothing.

The only option there is to go through the refund process menu. That's why I quoted exactly what I'd put in my refund request in case I'm being in any way unclear to the person that would read the message as to why I'm asking for a refund.

Every time they've come back with the same automated reply, which means either that they are not bothering to check their records or are looking at something completely irrelevant as a reason for not refunding. It's like them saying "We can't refund you because you are wearing blue socks", which is just as relevant to my request as the time I've spent playing Pinball FX.

They've charged me twice for one thing. All I want is the second charge refunded.
If a store charged your credit card twice for something, even if you'd used whatever it was that they'd charged you twice for, they'd refund the second payment.
Why is Steam any different ?