Can't refund a game with 112 minutes of playtime

[Warp]

I'm trying to refund a game that I'm unable to keep playing. Steam reports that I have played the game for 112 minutes, which ought to be well below the 2-hour limit. However, the refund request gets rejected because, it claims, I have played the game for over 2 hours.

Is this some kind of bug (perhaps some kind of rounding error), or is the system behind the scenes counting something that's not displayed in the game's own page in my library page?

[Warp]

Publicado originalmente por Snapjak:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithPurchase
Find the one for the game.
I have a question....

BE VERY DESCRIPTIVE.
Submit ticket.

Thank you. The "I have a question about this purchase" seemed to be a way to contact them about it. I sent them a message asking about it (and attached a screenshot of what Steam is showing as my playtime).

I will probably post an update if/when they respond.

[The Giving One]

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

Also, did you play the game in offline mode at all? while offline mode doesn't show on the total playtime you can see on the profile, it is still counted and synced for purposes of issuing refunds upon reconnection

That's true, and a good point. So unless there is some other strange issue, this could be it.

[Winged One]

Publicado originalmente por The Giving One:

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

Also, did you play the game in offline mode at all? while offline mode doesn't show on the total playtime you can see on the profile, it is still counted and synced for purposes of issuing refunds upon reconnection

That's true, and a good point. So unless there is some other strange issue, this could be it.

exactly even when you play in offline mode it still counts the time, while it doesn't show on the profile once you reconnect it syncs to the servers so Valve can see that additional playtime when considering refunds.. its to stop people from trying to game the system

[The Giving One]

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

exactly even when you play in offline mode it still counts the time, while it doesn't show on the profile once you reconnect it syncs to the servers so Valve can see that additional playtime when considering refunds.. its to stop people from trying to game the system

I am actually surprised this is not an issue more often posted about here. Maybe not that many use off line mode and then try to refund ? Or just off line mode at all ? Not sure, but I have not seen too many refund cases where that was the issue in the end.

But of course, that may not mean anything, as I could have just missed them as they came up. Hope OP will at least update the thread with what was discovered.

Pretty-please, OP.

[Warp]

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

Also, did you play the game in offline mode at all? while offline mode doesn't show on the total playtime you can see on the profile, it is still counted and synced for purposes of issuing refunds upon reconnection

That might in fact be possible, now that I think of it. I had some internet connection problems a few days ago, and I don't remember for certain if it happened while playing the game, but it's possible.

I still haven't got a response from Valve, but I'm now getting the feeling that might be it.

[Winged One]

Publicado originalmente por Warp:

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

Also, did you play the game in offline mode at all? while offline mode doesn't show on the total playtime you can see on the profile, it is still counted and synced for purposes of issuing refunds upon reconnection

That might in fact be possible, now that I think of it. I had some internet connection problems a few days ago, and I don't remember for certain if it happened while playing the game, but it's possible.

I still haven't got a response from Valve, but I'm now getting the feeling that might be it.

it is certainly highly possible.. I am interested to hear where this goes though, feel free to update us on the result of the situation :)

[Warp]

Steam support responded, and yes, it turns out that I had indeed inadvertently played offline (because of an internet connection problem) for a significant time, and the real total playtime was well over that 2-hour limit, and that's the reason why the system rejected the request.

They still asked me if I wanted a refund regardless, even though I suppose technically speaking they didn't have to. That was a very pleasant surprise. I'm not accustomed to such fairness from a big corporation, and it was refreshing to see that they were willing to do this.

[Kargor]

Geez... sounds like another of those stupid Steam decisions. If they have the offline data, why hide it and cause confusion like that?

If they don't trust the data because people might have tampered with it, hiding it from display doesn't make it any more trustworthy... it just causes confusion like this for people that didn't tamper with it.

[Winged One]

Publicado originalmente por Warp:

Steam support responded, and yes, it turns out that I had indeed inadvertently played offline (because of an internet connection problem) for a significant time, and the real total playtime was well over that 2-hour limit, and that's the reason why the system rejected the request.

They still asked me if I wanted a refund regardless, even though I suppose technically speaking they didn't have to. That was a very pleasant surprise. I'm not accustomed to such fairness from a big corporation, and it was refreshing to see that they were willing to do this.

yeah, from the OP I thought that was the most logical reason, thats why I brought it up..


But they offered you the refund anyways? did you take them up on it? honestly, I am quite impressed by that.. mind if I link this post of yours next someone claims "They never make exceptions to the refund policy!"?

Publicado originalmente por Kargor:

Geez... sounds like another of those stupid Steam decisions. If they have the offline data, why hide it and cause confusion like that?

If they don't trust the data because people might have tampered with it, hiding it from display doesn't make it any more trustworthy... it just causes confusion like this for people that didn't tamper with it.

its because alot of people use offline mode because they don't want the have a rediculously long visual playtime

[Warp]

Publicado originalmente por theseraph1:

But they offered you the refund anyways? did you take them up on it? honestly, I am quite impressed by that.. mind if I link this post of yours next someone claims "They never make exceptions to the refund policy!"?

I took the offer, but they have yet not responded. I suppose it takes a bit of time.

I see no problem in linking to the post.

[Winged One]

Well if support had offered you the option regardless, I think the odds of you getting it are pretty good..


that is quite the exception they made, while I have no idea what your ticket said I imagine you must have conducted yourself Honestly, Professionally, and Politely.. so props on that

did they say just how much over you were when including the offline time?