Refund Request "Playtime of 4 Hours"

[The Mediocre Gamer]

Picked up a new game yesterday and would like to refund it. My "Playtime" is just over 4 hours, but the issue is I wasn't actually playing the game for 4 hours. I had it running in the background while trying to figure out how to setup (unsuccessfully) a dedicated server for the game. My actual time playing the game is under two hours.

I've had Steam for a *long* time, but I have to be honest, I wasn't aware of the two-hour refund rule; just knew that refunds were possible if you asked for them soon after a purchase.

I've tried submitting for a refund twice, but of course, I'm pretty sure it's all automated "We won't refund you" even though Steam states a "support agent" (would denote a real person to me) will respond to my request.

Any chance anyone knows how to get a hold of a real-life "support agent" who can understand my situation and allow a refund to go through?

[Cathulhu]

What you could try:

Support --> A Purchase --> Select Purchase --> I have a question --> State your case

Keep in mind that Valve can still say no and you should expect that to happen.

[J4MESOX4D]

Go through the wizard again but instead click this option https://i.stack.imgur.com/tGEEH.png to submit a manual ticket and explain things in there. Playtime is how long the executable is running.

[Brian9824]

As stated manual ticket, but remember its not guaranteed you will get a refund, it doesn't matter how long you've been on steam.

[The Mediocre Gamer]

Thanks Gents (I assume you are all gents). I'll give that a go.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by InsaneVRGamer:

It'll be denied,.. why... over 4 hours

Not necessarily, no.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by InsaneVRGamer:

Originally posted by my new friend:

Not necessarily, no.

technically it could, he'd need a great excuse why in so long he didn't ask on the forums!

No "great excuse" is necessary either.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by InsaneVRGamer:

Originally posted by my new friend:

No "great excuse" is necessary either.

steams refund is 2hours, and they don't have to give past that unless they want too, and to get that chance you'd need a GOOD excuse!

You never need an excuse at all. "Good" isn't even required.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by InsaneVRGamer:

steams refund is 2hours, and they don't have to give past that unless they want too, and to get that chance you'd need a GOOD excuse!

You never need an excuse at all. "Good" isn't even required.

You usually have to provide some credible context at least in a manual ticket especially if you are significantly over the 2 hour period.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by my new friend:

You never need an excuse at all. "Good" isn't even required.

You usually have to provide some credible context at least in a manual ticket especially if you are significantly over the 2 hour period.

8 hours, refunded a game just by saying I didn't like it. Support doesn't care as long as you don't abuse it.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

You usually have to provide some credible context at least in a manual ticket especially if you are significantly over the 2 hour period.

8 hours, refunded a game just by saying I didn't like it. Support doesn't care as long as you don't abuse it.

8 hours sounds like abuse. Refund requests that are granted outside of the policy are sent back to the developers for feedback so it's always best to provide an honest and legitimate excuse to ensure it's approved. It being blank or something not exceptional could put the user at risk of attempting to abuse the system as well.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by my new friend:

8 hours, refunded a game just by saying I didn't like it. Support doesn't care as long as you don't abuse it.

8 hours sounds like abuse. Refund requests that are granted outside of the policy are sent back to the developers for feedback so it's always best to provide an honest and legitimate excuse to ensure it's approved. It being blank or something not exceptional could put the user at risk of attempting to abuse the system as well.

I literally just put in, "I didn't like it" and they approved it. I've even refunded more games since then but not over the 2 hours and not at a high frequency to trigger the abuse.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

8 hours sounds like abuse. Refund requests that are granted outside of the policy are sent back to the developers for feedback so it's always best to provide an honest and legitimate excuse to ensure it's approved. It being blank or something not exceptional could put the user at risk of attempting to abuse the system as well.

I literally just put in, "I didn't like it"

Then you got lucky and a developer got screwed out of their money. Although 'I didn't like it' is a perfectly legitimate reason within the 2 hour period, if true, it's certainly very fortunate that this reason was accepted after 8.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by my new friend:

I literally just put in, "I didn't like it"

Then you got lucky and a developer got screwed out of their money. Although 'I didn't like it' is a perfectly legitimate reason within the 2 hour period, if true, it's certainly very fortunate that this reason was accepted after 8.

I told the developer on their Twitter before the refund was requested and they really didn't care. They said their game was very niche and after a certain point in the game when the dynamic changes, they knew people would be turned off and wouldn't want to play it anymore.

[nullable]

It is interesting watching people trying to gatekeep Valve's refund exceptions process. Although I suppose I do it with different aspects of the system too. But sometimes our biases creep into certain subjects despite our best efforts.

[CZI]

Once I got refund on app before over 2hour usage.
So I'd suggest to write down details for request.

In my case it was video editor and produced video always got processing error on YouTube.
I've posted on the forum. Dev replied, but not fixed or any work around.
So I wrote refund request with the forum post link.