Refund in game currency and a nonsensical answer from support.

[BKM Arjuna]

I bought in-game currency. During the purchase, a large, prominent marketing text appeared saying that I would receive a 20% bonus in coins for the purchase. Which made me make it. After receiving the coins, I did not receive a 20% bonus and immediately requested a refund from Steam, without redeeming the coins or using them in any way.

The answer i received is:


We cannot grant a refund at this time. In-game item purchases are not refundable if any items in the purchase have been consumed, modified, or transferred.


2,400 Multibucks - Removed or Consumed on Feb 5 @ 5:51pm


Purchased: Feb 6 IST


Requests are considered on a case by case basis and are not typically issued for purchases of released products that are more than 14 days old, or if the purchased product has more than 2 hours of playtime. For in-game items the refund period is 48 hours and the item must not have been consumed, modified, or transferred.

According to what they themselves say, I should be entitled to a refund, (For in-game items the refund period is 48 hours and the item must not have been consumed, modified, or transferred.)

What doesn't make sense in their message? They claim that I used the coins in the game, on the 5th of the month, while in the same message they claim that the purchase was made on the 6th of the month.

In fact, I didn't use the coins at all, and certainly not the day before I bought them. And immediately after the purchase and when I realized that something was wrong, I immediately requested a refund like 3 minutes after the purchase or less. without spending modifying or using the in game currency in any way.

They closed the ticket with this message that i added above

Immediately after that, I opened another request for a refund and explained to them exactly that it doesn't make sense to me that they claim that I used the coins and certainly doesn't make sense to me that they claim that I used them the day before I bought them and that I demand a detailed explanation that addresses the claims I made.

Instead of giving me a detailed explanation, they simply sent me a copy paste of the exact same message and closed the ticket just like they closed the previous one.

Am I missing something? Something here just doesn't seem logical to me, I would appreciate any help.

[Nx Machina]

In-game currency is consumed upon purchase and is moved to your in-game account balance.

[V3LTA]

Why Can’t You Refund In-Game Currency?
Immediate Use: In-game currency can be spent instantly on items, upgrades, or other digital content. Once used, it’s difficult to reverse the transaction.

Potential for Abuse: Players could exploit refunds by purchasing currency, using it, and then requesting a refund, effectively getting items for free.

Third-Party Responsibility: In-game currency is often tied to the game developer’s ecosystem, not Steam directly. Steam acts as a marketplace, but the developer controls the currency and its usage.

Digital Goods Policy: Steam’s refund policy primarily covers games and software, not virtual items or currency, which are considered non-refundable in most cases.

[nullable]

Originally posted by BKM Arjuna:

Am I missing something? Something here just doesn't seem logical to me, I would appreciate any help.

Often unfamiliarity makes things seem illogical, but the problem isn't the system, it's the information you're missing. Human beings tend to fill in gaps of missing information with whatever sounds good, and often get confused when their assumptions/guesses don't match up with reality. Everyone does this at least sometimes.

Originally posted by BKM Arjuna:

According to what they themselves say, I should be entitled to a refund, (For in-game items the refund period is 48 hours and the item must not have been consumed, modified, or transferred.)

I think you may have made the classic mistake of only reading a portion of content or only focusing on the part that you can interpret favorably.

https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

Refunds on In-game Purchases

Steam will offer refund for in-game purchases within any Valve-developed games within forty-eight hours of purchase, so long as the in-game item has not been consumed, modified or transferred. Third-party developers will have the option to enable refunds for in-game items on these terms. Steam will tell you at the time of purchase if the game developer has opted to offer refunds on the in-game item you are buying. Otherwise, in-game purchases in non-Valve games are not refundable through Steam.

IE you can't just stop reading after the first sentence, or cherry pick the sentence(s) you like best.

So I invite you to read the whole paragraph. And in this case it seems like your recourse is to contact the developer and work with their support to get the 20% bonus coins. You can always ask about a full refund, but it seems like by the terms you agreed to you wouldn't be entitled so it would be at the developer's discretion.