Complaint About Customer Support

[Zakuska2023]

So a week ago, my big bro texted me and told me about all the EXCELLENT Spring sales going on! I get all excited and try to log back in and... wouldn't ya know it...!? I can't remember my password after 20 years. So I get in to try and recover my account, and it won't send me a verification code because apparently my account is too old, and I have to provide more info to verify I own the account. So I have to contact customer support.

I did that last Friday night. They give me some instructions on how I have to write a support ticket # on the original CD artwork by the CD key and send it in. So I go through a pile of old boxes in the attic to get all my Cds and original paperwork etc. I found most of it but the very first copies all I have is the CD and a sticker of the CD-Key, I printed out and stuck in my CD binder for easy access etc. So I probably don't even have the original CD or Key I signed up for Steam with. However I did purchase various Bundles and packs over the years not sure if they ever got added to Steam. I have the CDs and original packaging. Including the white paper sleeves the CDs came in. (Yep, Not Jewel cases).

So... I do what they say. I take a picture of every VALVe product I have all together with the packaging etc. Write the TICKET # on the sleeve right above the sticker of the main disk which I think I might have signed up with. The sticker is too small and that big number won't fit ON the sticker itself. So I wrote it right above the sticker. I then sent it in.

I waited a day, and I get a response from a second Support Team Member. She basically accused me of fraud, saying I didn't follow the instructions and that I'd photocopied the product keys off the stickers they put on the sleeves and edited the pictures. I don't even think she gets that back then a lot of software didn't even come in jewel cases but in white paper sleeves, which she calls... "different sheet of paper". The only examples she gave where of CD jewel cases with the product key printed on the inside artwork cover. Then to top it off, after I took the pictures and figured out a way to get them from my phone to my PC (had to email them) the pictures come out upside down. So not thinking straight at 3:00am, I double clicked the image which pulls up an image editor to be able to rotate the image 180º, and then I get accused of doctoring the images.

I responded with the original untouched upside down photos with all the Meta-Data intact from my phone alone. (took me an hr. to try and get them off my phone to my PC Intact) All I can provide is pictures of the products I bought from them and if that's not good enough, I don't know what to say.😒

I even offered to ship the stuff too them so they could verify it's authenticity, if they promised to ship it back. I mean, I get game companies experience a lot of fraud but... COME ON! How many more hoops must I jump through?


Anyways... I ended up having to create a new Steam account so I could get a bunch of these good deals. And who knows if I will ever get the old account recovered. Not with "HELP" like this!!!

If they ever do reset my password (very doubtful at this point) is there even a way to consolidate the accounts so that I don't have to keep logging in and out between them to play my games I purchased online?

I also found out that 1 of the 5 CDs in the Half Life Bundle I bought didn't even come with a sticker with the Key on it. So I am missing a key they never provided! WTF!

Signed,
FRUSTRATED BEYOND BELIEF!!!

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Oprindeligt skrevet af joseph.mcelprang:

...I printed out and stuck in my CD binder for easy access etc. So I probably don't even have the original CD or Key I signed up for Steam with.

You printed out your own copy. That is why.

[Zakuska2023]

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Oprindeligt skrevet af joseph.mcelprang:

...I printed out and stuck in my CD binder for easy access etc. So I probably don't even have the original CD or Key I signed up for Steam with.

You printed out your own copy. That is why.

:qr:

As usual random person on the internet didn't listen to the OP, and sticks their keyboard in their mouth. Those stickers aren't the stickers I took pictures of and sent in. The stickers I sent pictures of are on the original white sleeves that came in the box of the products I bought. That should be hooked to steam along with the original. The original product was from before steam even existed, you downloaded that off the internet and it didn't even have original CDs or stickers w/cd keys to begin with. All was in emails. Not printed at all.

[Zakuska2023]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Wynters:

Credit card purchases I have found are the easiest and best way to reclaim your account. Without a proof of purchase, accounts are rarely allowed access. Always use an appropriate CC and one that you will keep. You will have more issues if you were younger or do not have any purchases. I have had to "reset" my password once, but again, I had proof of CC purchase. A game key will work, but it's not the best way to reclaim an account - in my experience. I have also had to lose my main account because of said key issue, whereas the CC worked perfectly, although took Steam Support 8 weeks to get back to me.

Unfortunately... the Bank account and Credit Card I would have used when I was single no longer exists. So... that's not going to help. I will be sure to keep the info on these latest purchases.

I have a complaint where if you gift a game, but the receiver does not play the game and also removes you as a friend (scam), Steam Support will not allow you to refund the game under the ToS redemption clause even if it was a scam or a mistake. People see kindness as weakness.

Well that sucks!

So lets see... I can prove to them that I own the email account in question.

I have 2 copies of Half-Life GOTY. One was a single disc. Which I cant find the box to and All I have is a self printed sticker of the CD-Key inside my leather cd carrier. The second one is the the 5 disc bundle, 4 of the cds have keys, on stickers THEY printed and stuck on white sleeves. That's the one I did their instructions with. So... it seems as if I have to find the box to that first Half-Life GOTY because that's the one I think I signed up with. But if my other CD's and keys are on file in my locked account why should that even matter? I've proved I own a product that's in the account.

[Brian9824]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Zakuska2023:

I've proved I own a product that's in the account.

Because to get to that point means you've already failed to be able to verify your account numerous ways, lost all your other info, etc. So basically anyone you know could take a picture of a random gamebox you owned with the cd key and use that to steal an account.

If you can't validate your account the normal ways, forget or lose your email, etc it gets far harder to get access for security reasons.

[J4MESOX4D]

It's pretty crazy really that the older your account is, the harder it can be to recover because you are required to have either historic physical products from up to nearly 20 years ago and banking information that has likely been shredded or can't be accessed whatsoever. People throw stuff away, move house, lose things and change banks. They can be forgiven for not anticipating they may need something for summat that may happen in 15 years time.

I get that it's a tough balancing act so they don't return accounts to people who aren't the original owners but there has to be more leeway, negotiation and other cut-off points to establish ownership. It just goes to show how important it is to look after and maintain your account because if it is ever locked or lost then you may never get it back even if you have plenty of alternative proof that doesn't meet their strict criteria.

[Zakuska2023]

Oprindeligt skrevet af nullable:

Fictional Story: I have a complaint about customer support. Someone, a hijacker, claimed my account was theirs, and they whined and they cried, and they brow beat support into giving them access to my account because the burden of proof was too inconvenient for the hijacker.

Thankfully that doesn't happen.

And you know, this is one of the ways the Internet is still in its infancy. The challenges of dealing with 20 year old accounts is still relatively new. And the etiquette and processes for managing and recovering 20 years old accounts is fuzzy, and it's going to get worse as things become 25, 30, 40, 50 years old. Especially when a lot of accounts basically only required an email address to create. Not a lot to go on.

I think the lesson is, human memory isn't very good. There's a lot of opportunity for accounts to be lost forever or difficult to recover, especially decades later. You're gonna want to start using a password manager to track accounts, details, recovering codes and everything else. Because let's be honest a lot of the Internet still runs like it did in 2003.

And lots of people are hesitant to provide lots of concrete identifying information that would make identification and recovery easy. Can't have it both ways I'm afraid. And if all you needed, or was willing to provide initially was an email address, that you probably don't have any more. It's gonna be your responsibility, like it or not, to keep meticulous records. Otherwise twenty years later you're gonna have opinions about all the hoops you had to jump through and how you didn't like them.

I agree with 100% of what you said. I'm in the process of engineering said processes at my place of employee as we speak.

The password manager is an excellent idea. Something I just setup the night I sent the recover ticket in and faced all the issues with trying to find the password to my steam account. I've been importing all my saved passwords, cc, etc. out of Chrome etc. and my phone. Unfortunately, I didn't save a Steam password that I have found. Samsung pass is one of the most secure since even the user cant get into it without the software once encrypted and can only use the export files to transfer to a new Samsung phone.

[Brian9824]

Oprindeligt skrevet af J4MESOX4D:

It's pretty crazy really that the older your account is, the harder it can be to recover because you are required to have either historic physical products from up to nearly 20 years ago and banking information that has likely been shredded or can't be accessed whatsoever. People throw stuff away, move house, lose things and change banks. They can be forgiven for not anticipating they may need something for summat that may happen in 15 years time.

I get that it's a tough balancing act so they don't return accounts to people who aren't the original owners but there has to be more leeway, negotiation and other cut-off points to establish ownership. It just goes to show how important it is to look after and maintain your account because if it is ever locked or lost then you may never get it back even if you have plenty of alternative proof that doesn't meet their strict criteria.

From what I understand you only need that old stuff if you don't have access to the original email, or have forgotten what it was. Otherwise you can use the automated tool that just sends the code to your email.

[Zakuska2023]

Oprindeligt skrevet af brian9824:

....

From what I understand you only need that old stuff if you don't have access to the original email, or have forgotten what it was. Otherwise you can use the automated tool that just sends the code to your email.

I have the original email. Started using it as my spam email account once I got a Gmail account. When I try the password reset function to send the code... it instead comes back with a nastygram in red writing that says... my account is too old and requires additional information to verify ownership and to contact support. Contacted support and...

😒

[Brian9824]

Can you paste the EXACT message, also how old are we talking about? How long has it been since you accessed the account

[RPG Gamer Man]

This is why you need to use a password notebook. I have one next to my pc so whenever i cannot recall a password, i just look inside it. There are affordable password journals you can buy to write down passwords in on amazon if your interested. In the future always keep your passwords written down to avoid this issue. Here is a link for password journals in case you need to get one:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=password+journal+password+keeper&crid=1XHZKTNAQR6AG&sprefix=password+jou%2Caps%2C120&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_12

[Brian9824]

Oprindeligt skrevet af RPG Gamer Man:

This is why you need to use a password notebook. I have one next to my pc so whenever i cannot recall a password, i just look inside it. There are affordable password journals you can buy to write down passwords in on amazon if your interested. In the future always keep your passwords written down to avoid this issue. Here is a link for password journals in case you need to get one:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=password+journal+password+keeper&crid=1XHZKTNAQR6AG&sprefix=password+jou%2Caps%2C120&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_12

Please don't do any of that lol. Talk about poor security. Just figure out a mnemonic that makes sense to you and is easy for you to remember but means nothing to someone else.

[Zakuska2023]

"Self-recovery is not available for this account because additional security verification is required. Please contact Steam Support for assistance."

The Product...? OLD... as in Pre-Steam existing. We signed up on steam to play Half-Life online in 2003 days after Steam started. We were playing Half Life though for almost 5 years before that even, Win95/98 erra.

I haven't logged into Steam since a minimum of 2015, maybe even earlier. 2005-ish. Haven't had time to play games since my first daughter was born. Just now trying to get back into it.

Off to a rocky start it seems like.

[Zakuska2023]

Oprindeligt skrevet af RPG Gamer Man:

This is why you need to use a password notebook. I have one next to my pc so whenever i cannot recall a password, i just look inside it. There are affordable password journals you can buy to write down passwords in on amazon if your interested. In the future always keep your passwords written down to avoid this issue. Here is a link for password journals in case you need to get one:

...

That's how my wife does it, however Passwords have had to change so often she's now on book 4 because the pages are so worn in the old ones, and she's constantly trying to copy them over. ☹

That's why I got BITWARDEN and I am trying to get it fully setup.

The thing I like about it. It will sync your logins, CC, address etc. across devices AND browsers AND Phone Apps. In the free version you can set it up and share logins and passwords between 2 people. (still maintaining a private area for each) Perfect for online banking, streaming, accounts etc.

In Chrome and Edge it runs as an extension and doubles as a smart book mark manager. You put all your online banking accounts in there and you can click the one you want out of the list and it automatically navigates to that page and logs you in. It prompts you just like chrome if you want to save a password after you have typed it in. I've turned chrome password remembering completely off.

If you go to a page that has a login that you've saved previously, a little badge appears on the extension icon next to the address bar and tells you so you can click and it fills it in and logs you in. That's a lot better than keeping a little black book to be stolen. Espstien found THAT out the hard way!