Steam's refund policy is based in greed

[*****.wes]

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.” That might be okay for them, but it’s not great for us players. And I bet I’m not the only one who’s run into trouble with this rule.

So, here’s what happened to me: I picked up a game recently, and when I tried to play it, all I got were crashes. I put off fixing it until the next day, and then I spent several hours just trying to get the game to start. It never worked, so within 24 hours of buying it, I asked for a refund. Even though I had 4.5 hours logged, it was all troubleshooting, not playing.

But then I get this automated response from Steam saying they can’t refund me because I’ve “played” over 2 hours. That’s not fair. I didn’t get to play at all; I was trying to fix it!

Now it looks like I’m stuck with a game I can’t use. But I’m not going to let this slide. Whenever Steam gets brought up, I’ll be sure to remind people about their tightfisted refund policy. I’ve bought plenty of games from them in the past, but after this? No way, not anymore.

[Yzal]

I'm sure they'll miss the guy that bought 15 games in 9 years...

[Chompman]

If you were having these many issues you should had refunded before the two hour mark happened as this is not normal for most games.

Steam cannot know what you are doing as all they see is when you have loaded the game and that's all that matters.

You can try doing a manual ticket for the refund and see if that works but they have to set a basic limit or it will be abused and many other stores offer a similar policy.

[Kerv]

Steam has one of the most generous refund policies in gaming, you should've refunded before the 2 hour mark. Your fault lol

That said, if you submit a second refund request you'll probably have a human look at it and they might still refund you, the first request is always done by a bot

[76561198407601200]

Originally posted by *****.wes:

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.” That might be okay for them, but it’s not great for us players. And I bet I’m not the only one who’s run into trouble with this rule.

It is great for players as constant refunds would cause developers to start charging more. Thankfully the ability for refunds can be revoked and you can move on to another platform that allows it. Best of luck, blocked, etc.

[Haruspex]

Originally posted by *****.wes:

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.” That might be okay for them, but it’s not great for us players.

By that you mean it's not great for you specifically because you went over the limit and want a refund anyway.

Originally posted by *****.wes:

So, here’s what happened to me: I picked up a game recently, and when I tried to play it, all I got were crashes.

Thankfully Valve has a great refund policy! So you requested a refund, it was automatically approved and that's the end of the story, right?

Originally posted by *****.wes:

I put off fixing it until the next day

Okay, fair. People get busy. I get that. I mean, it only takes seconds to do, but sure.

Originally posted by *****.wes:

and then I spent several hours just trying to get the game to start.

Palm, meet face. In what reality would you think this is a good idea? The refund policy is well known and well documented. You should have known better.

Originally posted by *****.wes:

It never worked, so within 24 hours of buying it, I asked for a refund. Even though I had 4.5 hours logged, it was all troubleshooting, not playing.

Okay, this isn't quite as bad as I expected. Request another refund, but this time select "I have a question" to submit a manual refund. Explain the situation, nicely. It will be reviewed by a real human being and they'll make a decision on whether to make an exception for you. This is not a guarantee. You could still very well be denied, and if so you should treat it as the final decision.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by *****.wes:

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.”

No, that's the opposite of what it says. It says that refunds are guaranteed if you've played less than 2 hours and bought the game less than 2 weeks ago.

If you fall outside of that category, that's what manual tickets are for. Explain what happened and hope someone agrees with you that you deserve a refund.

[Komarimaru]

1. You can submit a manual refund request for the game through the Help, Steam Support option at top of Steam Client.

2. New Vegas is an older game, but should run fine with no changes even on Windows 11. I dare wonder what was wrong that you couldn't get it to run?

[xBCxRangers]

Well, i just had a game refunded, i think it took them all but two hours to refund it. If you think this is bad, don't try and get a refund at Sony.

There is a case to be made though, it may take someone more than two hours, to find a serious flaw in a game. Say, go to certain mission, 3 hours into the game, and mass crashes, making the game worthless. I can understand that.

But folks also have to research what they buy.

And certainly, your case.

That's why Xbox has as an "asterisk' next to their policy on many games, that there can be exceptions to the rule (like, what i just brought up), and perhaps Steam should go at least to that, instead of a blanket policy.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

There is a case to be made though, it may take someone more than two hours, to find a serious flaw in a game. Say, go to certain mission, 3 hours into the game, and mass crashes, making the game worthless.

And if there is such a serious issue with a game, and the developers are unable to fix it in a reasonable amount of time, you do realise that Valve will step in and waive the usual refund requirements, right? They've done it several times for a variety of reasons.

[xBCxRangers]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

There is a case to be made though, it may take someone more than two hours, to find a serious flaw in a game. Say, go to certain mission, 3 hours into the game, and mass crashes, making the game worthless.

And if there is such a serious issue with a game, and the developers are unable to fix it in a reasonable amount of time, you do realise that Valve will step in and waive the usual refund requirements, right? They've done it several times for a variety of reasons.

Do they? Or does the game have to be a big ticket item that makes the news, for they to make an exception? Even Sony did that. But for smaller less known games, not likely, unless i'm misunderstanding.

Don't get me wrong, Sony denied me a refund that i never even played. I just downloaded it. They're the worst culprits in my view, and i heard Nintendo worse than that (though i never used them).

Exceptions should be made, and if they do make them as you said, great.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

Well, i just had a game refunded, i think it took them all but two hours to refund it. If you think this is bad, don't try and get a refund at Sony.

There is a case to be made though, it may take someone more than two hours, to find a serious flaw in a game. Say, go to certain mission, 3 hours into the game, and mass crashes, making the game worthless. I can understand that.

But folks also have to research what they buy.

That's why Xbox has as an "asterisk' next to their policy on many games, that there can be exceptions to the rule (like, what i just brought up), and perhaps Steam should go at least to that, instead of a blanket policy.

Read the third paragraph on https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

[xBCxRangers]

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

Well, i just had a game refunded, i think it took them all but two hours to refund it. If you think this is bad, don't try and get a refund at Sony.

There is a case to be made though, it may take someone more than two hours, to find a serious flaw in a game. Say, go to certain mission, 3 hours into the game, and mass crashes, making the game worthless. I can understand that.

But folks also have to research what they buy.

That's why Xbox has as an "asterisk' next to their policy on many games, that there can be exceptions to the rule (like, what i just brought up), and perhaps Steam should go at least to that, instead of a blanket policy.

Read the third paragraph on https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

Well that obviously didn't work for this fella lol.

[Soren]

Originally posted by Lazy:

I'm sure they'll miss the guy that bought 15 games in 9 years...

Doesn't really matter how much you spend. That shouldn't bias their opinions on whether you'll get a refund or not when doing a manual review. Though if OP is one of those people who refund like 48 times a year, he need not bother trying. Refund abusers are much more likely to be denied.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by *****.wes:

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.” That might be okay for them, but it’s not great for us players. And I bet I’m not the only one who’s run into trouble with this rule.

The fact that you even get that is because of Steam. There was a time when a refund was out of the question. Support offered them on case-by-case basis until an Australian court forced them to create a specific policy. They could have just went back to "no refunds" at all. Developers were up in arms when the 2HR/2WK policy went into effect claiming they would lose sales.

So be thankful that there is even a refund policy at all.

[xBCxRangers]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Originally posted by *****.wes:

Steam’s refund policy basically says “no refunds if you’ve played more than 2 hours or if it’s been over 14 days.” That might be okay for them, but it’s not great for us players. And I bet I’m not the only one who’s run into trouble with this rule.

The fact that you even get that is because of Steam. There was a time when a refund was out of the question. Support offered them on case-by-case basis until an Australian court forced them to create a specific policy. They could have just went back to "no refunds" at all. Developers were up in arms when the 2HR/2WK policy went into effect claiming they would lose sales.

So be thankful that there is even a refund policy at all.

Yep. Don't know why Sony and Nintendo havent been sued.