Steam's Refund Policy and Consumer Rights

[juhanite]

I bought a game from Steam and it stopped working after a while. It showed "Steam load error" when I tried to launch it. I contacted Steam support but they said they couldn't refund me because I had played more than two hours.

I understand that this is their policy, but I'm confused about what it means for my rights as a customer. I thought that when I buy a game from Steam, I can basically play it as long as I want.

But based on this experience, it seems that Steam can stop giving me access to my games without compensation (after two hours of playtime). Is this how it works?

[Boblin the Goblin]

What game was it?

Also, it throwing a 'Steam Load Error" isn't Steam denying access to you game. An error occurred with Steam when trying to launch it and the game requires Steam.

[Mad Scientist]

2 Hours within 2 Weeks. The closer you are to those numbers, the more likely you can get a refund. You can select "I have a question about this purchase", fill out relevant information, and submit. Whatever response you receive after that is the final answer.

You'll need to have the client working properly. Logout, wait, reload the client and then try launching the game.

[Thiefy0]

Originally posted by Mad Scientist:

2 Hours within 2 Weeks. The closer you are to those numbers, the more likely you can get a refund. You can select "I have a question about this purchase", fill out relevant information, and submit. Whatever response you receive after that is the final answer.

You'll need to have the client working properly. Logout, wait, reload the client and then try launching the game.

you re wrong , you don t even need to fill out anything because they have bots that determine if you should get a refund or not , steam doesn t mention this but you can refund a game even with 2.9 hours :) and it s a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practice to decline refunds cause people played 2 hours of a game , it takes more than that to determine if you like a game or not.

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by Thiefy0:

Originally posted by Mad Scientist:

2 Hours within 2 Weeks. The closer you are to those numbers, the more likely you can get a refund. You can select "I have a question about this purchase", fill out relevant information, and submit. Whatever response you receive after that is the final answer.

You'll need to have the client working properly. Logout, wait, reload the client and then try launching the game.

you re wrong , you don t even need to fill out anything because they have bots that determine if you should get a refund or not , steam doesn t mention this but you can refund a game even with 2.9 hours :) and it s a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practice to decline refunds cause people played 2 hours of a game , it takes more than that to determine if you like a game or not.

the manual ticket being submitted for a refund is reviewed by a human, not a bot. the refund policy is not there so you can demo games. it is there so you can reduce the risk of getting stuck with a game that simply does not work on your system or is flat out broken (not your definition of broken).

you liking a game does not matter, you go over the 2h limit, you are not entitled to a refund. and steams policies are in line with other stores (sometimes better then others)

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Thiefy0:

Originally posted by Mad Scientist:

2 Hours within 2 Weeks. The closer you are to those numbers, the more likely you can get a refund. You can select "I have a question about this purchase", fill out relevant information, and submit. Whatever response you receive after that is the final answer.

You'll need to have the client working properly. Logout, wait, reload the client and then try launching the game.

you re wrong , you don t even need to fill out anything because they have bots that determine if you should get a refund or not , steam doesn t mention this but you can refund a game even with 2.9 hours :) and it s a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practice to decline refunds cause people played 2 hours of a game , it takes more than that to determine if you like a game or not.

What I mentioned is how to make a manually reviewed ticket, ie by a human, hence the response is their final answer, even if copy/pasted replies are used.

[Lamont]

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by Lamont:

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

Their refund policy is completely legal.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Lamont:

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

As another said, their refund policy is 100% legal. Temporary issues that will likely be resolved in a patch or that require the most basic troubleshooting does not mean people are entitled to a refund regardless of the time played.

Their most recent review is 40.5 Hrs, 8.6 of which are the last 2 weeks - if that's the game, then they are very much outside of the refund window. They have only made one single forum post, so additional details are left out.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Lamont:

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

Refund policies - Take your pick.

1) Steam - Within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime

2) Epic - Games and products are eligible for refund within 14 days of purchase. However, you must have less than 2 hours of runtime on record.

3) EA Play - Whichever comes first.

a) Within 24 hours after you first launch the game.

b) Within 14 days from the day you bought it, if you have not launched the game.

c) Within 14 days from the release date if you pre-ordered the game, if you haven't launched it yet.

4) Ubisoft - You can request a refund for a digital order within 14 days of your purchase, as long as the content has not been launched.

5) Blizzard - The game is newly purchased within the last 3 days. You haven't started the game; if the game has been played at all it won't qualify for a refund.

6) GOG - starting now, you can get a full refund up to 30 days after purchasing a product, even if you downloaded, launched, and played it. That's it. (Open to abuse, they monitor for abuse as do all PC stores).

GOG - https://ibb.co/ZzXPMwv

[nullable]

Originally posted by Lamont:

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

Not everything you agree to is dismiss-able simply because you find it inconvenient and can claim "it's not the law" or you arbitrarily decide that it violates laws you interpreted solely for your own benefit.

Could be, once in a while, businesses don't try to create unenforceable policies just to mess with armchair lawyers.

[Start_Running]

What game was it OP.
related you might want to check in the game's forums about that.

[Thiefy0]

Originally posted by Wolf Knight:

Originally posted by Thiefy0:

you re wrong , you don t even need to fill out anything because they have bots that determine if you should get a refund or not , steam doesn t mention this but you can refund a game even with 2.9 hours :) and it s a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practice to decline refunds cause people played 2 hours of a game , it takes more than that to determine if you like a game or not.

the manual ticket being submitted for a refund is reviewed by a human, not a bot. the refund policy is not there so you can demo games. it is there so you can reduce the risk of getting stuck with a game that simply does not work on your system or is flat out broken (not your definition of broken).

you liking a game does not matter, you go over the 2h limit, you are not entitled to a refund. and steams policies are in line with other stores (sometimes better then others)

to sumbit a refund ticket for manual review you gotta go out of your way , 99% people sumbit them bots look over to see if you are in the refund criteria , don t argue with me you re wrong asf , it s not normal to not be able to refund a game if you pass 2 hours of playtime , loot for example at cd games , you can refund them after 1 or 2 weeks , you can fully explore the game and decide if you like it or not . you re totally blinded by all of the corpo d you re riding :)

[Thiefy0]

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Originally posted by Lamont:

Steam and their policies are not Law, I'd ask a Lawyer and think about litigation, it wouldn't be the firrst time the courts put Steam right on consumer rights.

Their refund policy is completely legal.

it isn t. do your research before commenting crap

[Zarineth]

Originally posted by Thiefy0:

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Their refund policy is completely legal.

it isn t. do your research before commenting crap

Where exactly is it illegal? I'm asking, because you surely made research before posting.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Originally posted by Thiefy0:

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Their refund policy is completely legal.

it isn t. do your research before commenting crap

You have not a clue what youre talking about. Standard policy for video games returns for decades was "if its opened, its yours".