Temporary Charges

[B-Max]

Ticket number 3150-QWJM-4777

If a moderator reads this, can I get help and get action.

It's been 3 weeks. And this has been undeniable the questionable customer experience i have with Valve/Steam.

To cut short, I used a debit card for purchases and apparent using a different card charged extra but to Valve they say its verification charges. Apparently its been 3 weeks, and those temporary charges had never ever been refunded with Valve responding:

The verification involves two small charges being placed on the credit card. These are temporary charges that will automatically drop off your statement.

Simple question, what is Valve's policy on this? To begin with, this is not a purchase but additional charge just to verify my card and like it is said, "temporary".

Do I need to do this:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/08/29/valve-is-being-sued-by-an-australian-consumer-watchdog/

Can someone let me know?

[Hanomaly]

Threatening to sue a company is not the greatest way to get them to help you >.< i mean maybe it's a good way for them to quickly refund your money and then lock down your account so you can never buy anything from them again so they never have to deal with you again, or anyone using the same billing address as you again... or deal with anyone using any credit you've ever used in the past.

Of course, you'd still have access to games again, but better to lock down someone's ability to purchase from you again, than deal with a customer threatening to sue or do chargebacks.

If Australia wins that thing against Valve, it's also likely Valve will just cut off selling to Australians, period. So it'll be yay victory... oh poo we can't buy anything from Steam anymore because all of Australia is blocked from the Steam sites.

Afterall Valve does not /have/ to sell to Australia, no company is legally obligated to provide a service to country they don't want to serve.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Moderators have not access to anything but the forums as we are not Valve employees and assist with the forums for no compensation. We don't have any access to the ticket system or user accounts.

If they have already replied, then just reply back that the charges have been there for 3 week and still have not been removed.

Also, I suggest contacting your bank and asking them to verify those as holding charges. Sometimes they can get "stuck" inside the system.

[B-Max]

@Hanomaly: Point taken, but as I noticed, it takes long even for other issues to be responded. Honestly, I had already 4 tickets with them and 3 of them, I am satisfied with the response as a logical person. I am a very easy to please person to begin with. And also, suing a company is not an action I would take but something I would like to point out. But what does it take for action to be done. This is not a refund for a product I bought which is rather that extra charged that is supposed to be temporary. I would take blame if I bought something and then knew I did the wrong thing of not reading everything but this is again a different issue. I have no ill intention with Valve but trying to be mature and diplomatic but 3 weeks for something to be refunded which is not a purchased product or service is something I would like a response other than just a notice stating this looked at, reviewed or investigated. If this can be fixed, heck I would continue my purchases with them. But 3 weeks is becoming a scary experience to transact with them.

@Spawn: Already tried that... I have close relations with my bank. No refunds had been made. Even my bank is asking about it since I am calling them everyday.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Heavy Trading Co.:

@Spawn: Already tried that... I have close relations with my bank. No refunds had been made. Even my bank is asking about it since I am calling them everyday.

It is not a refund. A hold is something the bank does. The verification "charges" are not actually charged, but a message sent by Valve's system to test the card and make sure it is real.

This places a small amount (usually $1 to $2) on hold, sending a confirmation to Valve. As Valve will never claim the funds, it is not a charge. The banks system will typically wait 3-5 business days before automatically removing the hold.

As there was no charge, there will be no refund.

You need to specifically say to the bank "Is this a full charge or is it a holding charge?". Your bank should be able to tell the difference.

This article explains a similar action:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8727-EPSC-9228&l=english