REFUNDS WITH SHARED FAMILY ACCOUNTS

[saucydad]

I bought beat saber after playing it on a shared account for a couple hours, and when I asked for a refund, they refused to give it to me, saying I played my own game for 4 hours when it was less than 45 minutes played. Dumb ♥♥♥♥♥ won’t refund my money, little money hungry ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Ogami]

Thats correct, playtime via Family Share counts fully for refund requests.
Otherwise people would buy a game, share it to another account, play it there and then refund it on the main account that has 0 playtime.
Family Share games are by all means just the same as owning the game yourself, just with the caviat that you can only play it when the other library is not in use.
So you already played the game for 4 hours overall, 2 hours over the refund limit.

[Satoru]

You have 3.7 hour in Beat Saber and achievements from 2022……

[Komarimaru]

I mean, ya... They do that so people, such as yourself, can't abuse the system as ya wanted to attempt?

Or everyone would buy on one account, and share to another, never having to pay for games lol

[potato]

working as intended

[Wolf Knight]

the auto system only looks at total time played. if you bought it recently (less then 2 weeks ago), and only played it for less then 2 hours, try submitting a manual ticket. select the purchase, then select "I have a question" and make your request there.

remember, the auto system does not look at everything, it only looks at when was the license added and how much time the game was played, nothing else. the manual ticket will get a member of support to review it more closely.

[Yujah]

Note that the initial refund request including a deny-message is fully automated. I'd in this case feel you have at least somewhat of a point that prior to purchase on a family-shared library spend time should conceivably not count, and you can try opening a manual ticket ("I have a question about this purchase") to see if Steam support agrees.

Mind you; that's not to say that I think they will. Refunds are intended to have you decide whether or not the game works for you in a basic sense. It's definitely also a point that you already knew whether or not it did now that you played through the family-shared library, so I'd not be surprised if a manual ticket also doesn't help -- but you can try...

[saucydad]

I personally bought the game on November 14th, played for all of 30 minutes, as shown with the purchased DLC. I did not own the game prior to this. So yeah, I want my money back cause they’re a bunch of money hungry ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. ♥♥♥♥ steam.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Originally posted by saucydad:

I personally bought the game on November 14th, played for all of 30 minutes, as shown with the purchased DLC. I did not own the game prior to this. So yeah, I want my money back cause they’re a bunch of money hungry ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. ♥♥♥♥ steam.

So its Valve's fault and not yours for sharing the game?

Hows that work?

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by saucydad:

I personally bought the game on November 14th, played for all of 30 minutes, as shown with the purchased DLC. I did not own the game prior to this. So yeah, I want my money back cause they’re a bunch of money hungry ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. ♥♥♥♥ steam.

You can try a manual ticket, but as has been said all playtime counts. Family sharing is not a way for people to circumvent the refund policy.

[Yujah]

See above. I'll only otherwise note that the sense in which I myself feel you have that mentioned "somewhat of a point" to be a legal one. I.e., Steam does not refund out of the goodness of their hearts; they were and had to be forced by the European Union, and I could imagine the law to not allow for something like Steam's family-share to overrule -- and then again I could also imagine that it could.

So as said, try your luck with a manual ticket.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Yujah:

See above. I'll only otherwise note that the sense in which I myself feel you have that mentioned "somewhat of a point" to be a legal one. I.e., Steam does not refund out of the goodness of their hearts; they were and had to be forced by the European Union, and I could imagine the law to not allow for something like Steam's family-share to overrule -- and then again I could also imagine that it could.

Thats actually not correct. Steam has to offer no refund at all. The standard digital product rules apply, the second you buy the product you waive all rights to a refund.
That is common EU law that companies can have this term in their TOS.
Most like Steam offer a voluntary refund policy on top but its not mandated by law.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by saucydad:

I personally bought the game on November 14th, played for all of 30 minutes, as shown with the purchased DLC. I did not own the game prior to this. So yeah, I want my money back cause they’re a bunch of money hungry ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. ♥♥♥♥ steam.

Again ALL playtime is counted towards the refund policy

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/5FDE-BA65-ACCE-A411

and has been played for less than 2 hours (this includes online, offline and shared library playtime)

[Yujah]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Thats actually not correct. Steam has to offer no refund at all. The standard digital product rules apply, the second you buy the product you waive all rights to a refund.

Also that is not correct -- but I'll grant you that your statement still has the bigger truth percentage here...

What appears the case is that you have the normal 14-day rights also on digital goods -- but only up to the point of download. I.e., it's a "from the point of receiving the goods" thing; for example as per https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/MEMO_11_675

Yes, in this case and most such cases playing implies having downloaded so yours is the practical statement: thanks, I was under the impression that it was other.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Yujah:

Also that is not correct -- but I'll grant you that your statement still has the bigger truth percentage here...

What appears the case is that you have the normal 14-day rights also on digital goods -- but only up to the point of download. I.e., it's a "from the point of receiving the goods" thing; for example as per https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/MEMO_11_675

Yes, in this case and most such cases playing implies having downloaded so yours is the practical statement: thanks, I was under the impression that it was other.

Ah, thanks for the correction, i was not sure if it was purchase or download.
( and too lazy to look it up )

[Kage Goomba]

You realize you just defeated your own argument right?

Shared account - obviously someone else played the game.
The fine print is crystal clear on the matter.
Complaining like a child is just foolish at this point.

But if you really want that money back - go ask for a charge back on your credit card - course don't be surprised if steam bans your account in response or some kind of penalty.