how to fill complain in EU

[Moonfear]

Hi, i am trying to look into ways how to fill complain about customer rights in EU. Unfortunately steam support ignored multiple tickets, or to be precise, i got multiple automated answers and now i can go either to my country office or EU, which i think is better solution, they should have more experience with this topic than smaller country office.

I am trying to refund game, bought in prerelease version, and which is nothing as advertised after launch. Automated answer is that i own it longer than 14 days (i was hoping devs will fix it), and played more than 2 hours (of course, it was prerelease unfinished game).

Any advice will be appreciated, thank you.

//edit: i dived into EU legislation and this must be reported/solved on national level, if anyone needs starting point, its here:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-contract-terms/index_en.htm

Regarding EULA and contracts, i am waiting for answer, i am not sure about SW, but for HW any contract must be done in language of customer (at least automation, machinery and services)

[Lilim]

Do you really want to go to court over a €39.99 game?

[13119205187913161]

Originally posted by Moonfear:

Originally posted by Lithurge:

You would have signed a business contract, written by lawyers, which would have explicitly set out the terms that would allow you to do that. In this case you signed a contract with Valve and agreed to the warnings set out on the games early access page, none of which gives you those rights.

not true

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-contract-terms/index_en.htm

Terms which inappropriately exclude/limit consumers' rights to compensation if the trader doesn't keep to his side of the contract.

Contract terms that are unfair under EU law have no legal or binding force on consumers

also after deeper dive in EU legislation, this is something which must be enforced by national authority, which makes my OP invalid, filling national complain is quite easy.

the trader did keep their side of the contract

steam sold you a game and told you how to refund it

you had faith that the company would fix the problems you saw

that faith comes at a cost

you now have to take it up with the people that made the game

[Ogami]

Originally posted by KalCuey:

the trader did keep their side of the contract

steam sold you a game and told you how to refund it

you had faith that the company would fix the problems you saw

that faith comes at a cost

you now have to take it up with the people that made the game

^ This.

This has NOTHING to do with Steam at this point. Your money has long gone to the developer.
Steam warned you when you bought the game that it may change during development and not turn out the way it was promised or you wished for.
This is entire new level of " i dont want to take responsibility for my own actions" whining.

YOU bought the game, YOU agreed to the Early Access conditions, YOU have ZERO rights to a special refund outside the limits or even more laughable of suing Steam for the bad decision YOU made.

Be an adult and take responsibility for your own actions and dont try to blame others for your own faults.
People like you honestly disgust me. Bah.

[Satoru]

You already waived your right to a refund as per EU law

You have no legal recourse via the EU

You did not get a 'pre-order'

you purchased an early access game. You waived your EU right of refusal the nano-second you downloaded the game. After which Steam VOLUNTARY refund policy kicks in. YOu do not meet Steam's volutary refund policy. You LEGALLY WAIVED your EU right of refusal already

A contract 'you do not like' is not an illegal contract. In fact waiving your right of refusal for digital content is literally baked into EU law. It is 100% legal. The EU made it legal in their directive.

People need to stop talking about laws they don't understand

[Nx Machina]

Darktide did not release as an Early Access title. Darktide had pre-order bonus of play the game early starting 17 Nov 22. The game released 30 Nov 2022.

[Moonfear]

Originally posted by Satoru:

You already waived your right to a refund as per EU law

You have no legal recourse via the EU

You did not get a 'pre-order'

you purchased an early access game. You waived your EU right of refusal the nano-second you downloaded the game. After which Steam VOLUNTARY refund policy kicks in. YOu do not meet Steam's volutary refund policy. You LEGALLY WAIVED your EU right of refusal already

A contract 'you do not like' is not an illegal contract. In fact waiving your right of refusal for digital content is literally baked into EU law. It is 100% legal. The EU made it legal in their directive.

People need to stop talking about laws they don't understand

Not true, i bought pre-order, not early access (i am ok with loosing money on EA games)

Also as i allready wrote, i have experience in different field, so based on that i believe that SW rules should be comparable in EU.

Also i never stated that i understand laws, i do not, thats why i am looking for way to fill complain in official way, to have someone else officialy tell me i should forget it.

And lastly as i allready wrote, i will try one more ticket, maybe third time is charm and i will get actual human response.

I am sorry if you got wrong feeling that i want go directly to some kind of court, filling a complain is completely different thing.

[Nx Machina]

@ Moonfear

https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

Where Refunds Apply:

The Steam refund offer, within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime.

(You are well outside the limits of the refund policy).

EU RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL

The EU/UK statutory right of withdrawal ends 14 days after your purchase or the moment you start downloading the content and services for the first time (whichever is sooner).

At the same time, Steam voluntarily offers refunds to all of its customers worldwide in a way that is much more customer-friendly than our legal obligations. In particular, and for digital games we allow you to try them for up to two hours, whereas your statutory right of withdrawal does not give you a chance to try out games at all.

[Moonfear]

ok, i am not here to argue, i am here to look for help, maybe you are right, maybe you are not, i will wait how ticket will end and then continue to national office, if they tell me i am wrong, ok, they are officials.

[Elucidator]

If you want to make an official complaint, Steam points to Steam Support basically.

For EU and UK Subscribers:

This Agreement is governed by the law of the country where you have your habitual residence.

In the event of a dispute relating to the interpretation, the performance or the validity of the Subscriber Agreement, an amicable solution may be sought before any legal action. You can file your complaint at http://help.steampowered.com. The European Commission provides an Online Dispute Resolution website for EU consumers at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. Participation in this website is not available to US companies, which is why Valve is not registered there. However, insofar as your complaint concerns the behavior of Valve’s data protection representative Valve GmbH you can file your complaint there.

In the event that an Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedure fails, or if either Valve or you prefer not to resort to Alternative Dispute Resolution, you may bring proceedings in the courts of the place where you are domiciled.

(That is a piece from the current version of the Steam Subscriber Agreement)

[Muppet among Puppets]

Buy the games when they are like you expect.
Or refund.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Moonfear:

ok, i am not here to argue, i am here to look for help, maybe you are right, maybe you are not, i will wait how ticket will end and then continue to national office, if they tell me i am wrong, ok, they are officials.

Your entire premise is based on a false assumption. You are not entitled to a refund as per EU law. You can whine all you want to the EU. It will be rejected.

You were being helped. You are being told the truth and the correct answer.You are being given the correct answer. You not liking the correct answer is not our, Steam, or the EU’s problem. It’s 100% your fault

[Moonfear]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by Moonfear:

ok, i am not here to argue, i am here to look for help, maybe you are right, maybe you are not, i will wait how ticket will end and then continue to national office, if they tell me i am wrong, ok, they are officials.

Your entire premise is based on a false assumption. You are not entitled to a refund as per EU law. You can whine all you want to the EU. It will be rejected.

You were being helped. You are being told the truth and the correct answer.You are being given the correct answer. You not liking the correct answer is not our, Steam, or the EU’s problem. It’s 100% your fault

i am not saying that i am entitled, i do not whine, i was looking for help how to fill complain. If it gets rejected, ok, no harm done, if not, good for me.
My initial issue was that i got 2 automated responses from steam support / or prewritten standard answer.
Also as i said, this is not my first rodeo, only different field (also personal, not with corp backup), and i won, so based on this i have some doubts that you are 100% right, and thats the reason i am looking for help. Preparation is half of success. Honestly if it was in my line of work, i would just jump head-first and let authorities deal with it, as private person i just want to try.

No offense, but i suppose you are not lawyer or official representative with extended knowledge of EU or CZ consumer laws.

And honestly, i just don't understand why are you trying to discourage me from trying. If you are upset that i do not want to yield, then i am really sorry, got some corporation indoctrination :)

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Moonfear:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Your entire premise is based on a false assumption. You are not entitled to a refund as per EU law. You can whine all you want to the EU. It will be rejected.

You were being helped. You are being told the truth and the correct answer.You are being given the correct answer. You not liking the correct answer is not our, Steam, or the EU’s problem. It’s 100% your fault

i am not saying that i am entitled, i do not whine, i was looking for help how to fill complain. If it gets rejected, ok, no harm done, if not, good for me.
My initial issue was that i got 2 automated responses from steam support / or prewritten standard answer.
Also as i said, this is not my first rodeo, only different field (also personal, not with corp backup), and i won, so based on this i have some doubts that you are 100% right, and thats the reason i am looking for help. Preparation is half of success. Honestly if it was in my line of work, i would just jump head-first and let authorities deal with it, as private person i just want to try.

No offense, but i suppose you are not lawyer or official representative with extended knowledge of EU or CZ consumer laws.

And honestly, i just don't understand why are you trying to discourage me from trying. If you are upset that i do not want to yield, then i am really sorry, got some corporation indoctrination :)

The fact you are trying to “file a complaint” means you are in fact whining. You are not entitled to a refund. Your complaint is invalid. You refusing to acknowledge that is your entitlement

YOU are the one who doesn’t understand EU/CZ laws.

[Moonfear]

the fact i am LOOKING in how to file complain means i am trying to find solution for situation instead of blindly accepting it

the fact i am LOOKING in how to file complain is BECAUSE i do not know the exact laws for the situation and customer office does

At least try to read what i write. Maybe i will find phone number for help line (we usualy have those for different authorities) and ask if it is viable to fill the complain. Maybe i will get finaly some answer on my ticket. Maybe i will try the link in post marked as answer.

Just try to understand that i will not believe some randoms on internet telling me that its futile. If i do not try, how i will know that you were right?

[Silicon Vampire]

Many previous threads with the same incorrect premise, that’s how.