LIVE STEAM SUPPORT CHAT SYSTEM

[Rain]

We shouldn't have to wait a day for support to answer back , uplay has it , epic has it , .

[Pierce Dalton]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Yasahi:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

So they sell what?

You. You're the product.

Providing support on a social media platform where most use their own names and share personal information should be high priority, right? Not to mention all the companies and other entities that also have accounts there.

Yet they don't have support like that either. Perhaps phone and chat support isn't that necessary after all. :lunar2020thinkingtiger:

This is a discussion about customer support. Facebook doesn't have customers, except for the companies that choose to advertise there. The regular user is not a customer, hence there is no customer support.

As for the companies that pay Facebook for ads, you can be sure that they do have different, faster channels to contact them.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Yasahi:

You. You're the product.

Providing support on a social media platform where most use their own names and share personal information should be high priority, right? Not to mention all the companies and other entities that also have accounts there.

Yet they don't have support like that either. Perhaps phone and chat support isn't that necessary after all. :lunar2020thinkingtiger:

This is a discussion about customer support. Facebook doesn't have customers, except for the companies that choose to advertise there. The regular user is not a customer, hence there is no customer support.

The users are customers.

By this logic, Steam users with free/limited accounts aren't really customers.

[Pierce Dalton]

Opprinnelig skrevet av SlowMango:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

This is a discussion about customer support. Facebook doesn't have customers, except for the companies that choose to advertise there. The regular user is not a customer, hence there is no customer support.

The users are customers.

By this logic, Steam users with free/limited accounts aren't really customers.

Of course they are not, they didn't give Steam any money.

[ุ]

I mean...including refund requests you're looking at over 180,000 requests a day.

Even if you hired a team of 100 live chat support individuals, they wouldn't be able to crank out 5,000 of those during an entire 8 hour work shift, even at solving at the ridiculous pace of 1 request a minute per support staff.

480 minutes in an 8 hour timespan, x that by 100. That equals 4,800.

Meaning people would need to be on hold for a VERY long time, or Steam would need to hire like 500+ live support staff.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stabra Kedabra Alakablam:

I mean...including refund requests you're looking at over 180,000 requests a day.

Even if you hired a team of 100 live chat support individuals, they wouldn't be able to crank out 5,000 of those during an entire 8 hour work shift, even at solving at the ridiculous pace of 1 request a minute per support staff.

480 minutes in an 8 hour timespan, x that by 100. That equals 4,800.

Meaning people would need to be on hold for a VERY long time, or Steam would need to hire like 500+ live support staff.

This as well.

People will usually ignore the self-help and look straight for the chat/phone number. This was my experience doing customer support when I was literalyl just looking up customer facing KB articles to help them.

If Steam opened that gates, especially considering the amount of 'false' VAC bans, people would be lucky waiting one hold for less than a day before getting a response or a callback.

[ุ]

Opprinnelig skrevet av SlowMango:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stabra Kedabra Alakablam:

I mean...including refund requests you're looking at over 180,000 requests a day.

Even if you hired a team of 100 live chat support individuals, they wouldn't be able to crank out 5,000 of those during an entire 8 hour work shift, even at solving at the ridiculous pace of 1 request a minute per support staff.

480 minutes in an 8 hour timespan, x that by 100. That equals 4,800.

Meaning people would need to be on hold for a VERY long time, or Steam would need to hire like 500+ live support staff.

This as well.

People will usually ignore the self-help and look straight for the chat/phone number. This was my experience doing customer support when I was literalyl just looking up customer facing KB articles to help them.

If Steam opened that gates, especially considering the amount of 'false' VAC bans, people would be lucky waiting one hold for less than a day before getting a response or a callback.

The logistics of it is a nightmare because you'd need like 500+ support agents working 24/7, spanning like a dozen languages.

Valve as of Feb 6th only has 320 employees total.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stabra Kedabra Alakablam:

Opprinnelig skrevet av SlowMango:

This as well.

People will usually ignore the self-help and look straight for the chat/phone number. This was my experience doing customer support when I was literalyl just looking up customer facing KB articles to help them.

If Steam opened that gates, especially considering the amount of 'false' VAC bans, people would be lucky waiting one hold for less than a day before getting a response or a callback.

The logistics of it is a nightmare because you'd need like 500+ support agents working 24/7, spanning like a dozen languages.

Valve as of Feb 6th only has 320 employees total.

That's honestly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane it has that few with how big the platform is.

[ุ]

Opprinnelig skrevet av SlowMango:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stabra Kedabra Alakablam:

The logistics of it is a nightmare because you'd need like 500+ support agents working 24/7, spanning like a dozen languages.

Valve as of Feb 6th only has 320 employees total.

That's honestly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane it has that few with how big the platform is.

Primarily because it's all hub work and remote work. They provide a digital service from a central hub and remote satellite hubs.

Since their service is just storefront, and entirely digital, they don't need stuff such as installation techs and whatnot as you would for say an ISP.

They outsource physical products, such as the Steam Deck. Cheaper to outsource than buy a factory and deal with all that mess, no doubt since they don't put out enough physical products to demand actually owning said factories.

[Pierce Dalton]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stabra Kedabra Alakablam:

Opprinnelig skrevet av SlowMango:

This as well.

People will usually ignore the self-help and look straight for the chat/phone number. This was my experience doing customer support when I was literalyl just looking up customer facing KB articles to help them.

If Steam opened that gates, especially considering the amount of 'false' VAC bans, people would be lucky waiting one hold for less than a day before getting a response or a callback.

The logistics of it is a nightmare because you'd need like 500+ support agents working 24/7, spanning like a dozen languages.

Valve as of Feb 6th only has 320 employees total.

Their number of employees may vary depending on the source. According to this page, the actual number is much bigger:

https://rocketreach.co/valve-corporation-profile_b5c62fb0f42e0ca6

Anyway, as we know support is not handled by Valve itself, it has been outsourced. As for the number of people required to implement live chat, we should keep in mind that bots can be used for that too. And let's be honest, even though they may sound a bit stupid they are able to offer solutions for a good chunk of the issues encountered by Steam users. Live chat doesn't mean that you'll say "hello" and talk to a human. AI is more advanced than ever and several companies have been using it for live customer support. Humans are the last resort, they only come into play if nothing else works.

[AROCK!!!]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

Opprinnelig skrevet av brian9824:

Where exactly does paypal have live chat? They have an automated bot that tries to help you and if it can't help you it creates a ticket for you, and tells you to expect a response in a few hours. Its not a live chat.



Yep, and when its done its not forcing people to be waiting at their computers for hours or else they miss their response.

Yeah, if the bot can't solve the issue then the system transfers you to a customer service agent. Wait time may vary, obviously, depending on how many people they're dealing with at the time. That's live chat. They also have phone live chat, which I used some months ago.

I've used the support number for PayPal too, and was talking to a human within 10 minutes.

As usual, the trolls are out in force with a thousand and one excuses as to why this can't be done.


EA has live chat. Used it once when I had a problem activating some old C&C codes....start to finish was no more than 20 minutes.

Amazon has live chat and call back. I've had Amazon call me at least 10 times, and the longest I ever waited for the call was 5 minutes.

Ebay also has contact numbers for talking to agents.


Seems numerous companies manage to have these systems, but when it comes to STEAM it's an impossible task due to [insert random reason].

[Pierce Dalton]

Opprinnelig skrevet av ÁROCK!!!:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

Yeah, if the bot can't solve the issue then the system transfers you to a customer service agent. Wait time may vary, obviously, depending on how many people they're dealing with at the time. That's live chat. They also have phone live chat, which I used some months ago.

As usual, the trolls are out in force with a thousand and one excuses as to why this can't be done.


PayPal has a support number that connects you directly to an agent...I've used it several times, and the wait time was less than 10 minutes.

EA has live chat. Used it once when I had a problem activating some old C&C codes....start to finish was no more than 20 minutes.

Amazon has live chat and call back. I've had Amazon call me at least 10 times, and the longest I ever waited for the call was 5 minutes.

Ebay also has contact numbers for talking to agents.


Seems numerous companies manage to have these systems, but when it comes to STEAM it's an impossible task due to [insert random reason].

What's more interesting is that the company hired by Valve to handle support offers this kind of service. The reason why Valve opted out of it is clear enough: they're cheapskates.

[AROCK!!!]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

Opprinnelig skrevet av ÁROCK!!!:

As usual, the trolls are out in force with a thousand and one excuses as to why this can't be done.


PayPal has a support number that connects you directly to an agent...I've used it several times, and the wait time was less than 10 minutes.

EA has live chat. Used it once when I had a problem activating some old C&C codes....start to finish was no more than 20 minutes.

Amazon has live chat and call back. I've had Amazon call me at least 10 times, and the longest I ever waited for the call was 5 minutes.

Ebay also has contact numbers for talking to agents.


Seems numerous companies manage to have these systems, but when it comes to STEAM it's an impossible task due to [insert random reason].

What's more interesting is that the company hired by Valve to handle support offers this kind of service. The reason why Valve opted out of it is clear enough: they're cheapskates.

It's also much easier to ignore text and email.

There is a reason STEAM support is rated as "the worst",

https://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Valve+Steam


Old article, but still accurate
https://www.slashgear.com/steams-customer-service-has-been-garbage-for-far-too-long-26604464/

[Boblin the Goblin]

Opprinnelig skrevet av ÁROCK!!!:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

What's more interesting is that the company hired by Valve to handle support offers this kind of service. The reason why Valve opted out of it is clear enough: they're cheapskates.

It's also much easier to ignore text and email.

There is a reason STEAM support is rated as "the worst",

https://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Valve+Steam


Old article, but still accurate
https://www.slashgear.com/steams-customer-service-has-been-garbage-for-far-too-long-26604464/

Whats fun about that scoreboard is the negative reviews are about stuff Steam support doesn't deal with.

Just scrolling through the first dozen there are ones about game hub mods, games not working, VAC bans, and one because he couldn't verify his account.

Not really a reliable source when you read what the complaints actually are.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Opprinnelig skrevet av ÁROCK!!!:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

What's more interesting is that the company hired by Valve to handle support offers this kind of service. The reason why Valve opted out of it is clear enough: they're cheapskates.

It's also much easier to ignore text and email.

There is a reason STEAM support is rated as "the worst",

https://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Valve+Steam


Old article, but still accurate
https://www.slashgear.com/steams-customer-service-has-been-garbage-for-far-too-long-26604464/

You know, for fun I wrote down what the complaints were that are all on the first page;

• Upset that support for Steam VR doesn't know detailed tech specs of the device.
  
• Is unable to verify account for recovery.
  
• Problems with a game hub moderator.
  
• Couldn't get a refund. Claims game mod abuse.
  
• Slow response time.
  
• Issues with running a bought game.
  
• Issues with the Steam client. Claims they don't protect customer data.
  
• VAC ban.
  
• Issues with a 'feature on a sale' that was claimed to be ignored.
  
• Got account compromised and Support won't recover items.
  
• Had issues finding the ticket system. Slow response time.
  
• Trouble contacting support.
  
• Problems with running a game.
  
• Upset they can't gift money/games across regions.
  
• Claims Steam makes money from children.
  
• Issues contacting support.
  
• Issues running a game.
  
• Denied a game refund.
  
• Fell for a support scam.
  
• No phone number.

So, out of all of those issues on the front page, Steam support can only be responsible to help for 3 of them. The ones about having trouble finding the ticket system are valid complaints and I think Steam should make it a bit easier to find.

So that leaves us with 7 complaints that Support would remotely be responsible for and 13 they would not.

So, like I said earlier, not really a good source to 'prove' Steam support is 'the worst'.

[Tito Shivan]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Pierce Dalton:

What's more interesting is that the company hired by Valve to handle support offers this kind of service. The reason why Valve opted out of it is clear enough: they're cheapskates.

Or because their self-help support pages already works like a call center/live chat.

The only difference being walking yourself the self-help steps or getting walked through them by a AI chat bot.