FTC violations via False Advertising.

[[TLB]FlameHaze]

A few weeks ago, I was solicited by Steam via an e-mail for the two factor authentication. The e-mail included a list of 5 games and their prices.

I was interested in two of the titles however for some reason the Store price did not reflect the price advertised. I contacted support expecting them to resolve this and as the law requires honor the price advertised. However instead I was offered a series of excuses that never addressed the matter and have nothing to do with the issue. Basically pretending like it was a glitch which doesn't matter than when I insisted basically saying STEAM has no power to honor the deal. Which is frankly an insult to anyone intelligence.

What's worse is that after the first reply made it clear that the advertisement was not going to be honored, I repeated to have it fixed. However weeks later the same offers were still being attached.

Steam is no different to Amazon. You are representing your vendors to us the customers. It is your responsibility to handle transactions and compensate the customer regardless of the circumstances or who's responsible. Especially in this case as I presume STEAM initiates the advertisement not the developers.

What I would like to see is a couple of changes. First include a simple system call to the store to confirm prices listed are accurate. Second I would like support to be aware that this isn't something to excuse, instead work on fixing the problem rather than aggravating your customers.

Do better, you are the only platform I use due to your quality service, however to stay that way you must learn from your mistakes and improve rather than use your platform position to shoo away your customers when you screw up, as one customer isn't important.

Regards,
Flame

[Brian9824]

Publicado originalmente por mldb88:

Publicado originalmente por xBCxRangers:

"This isn't Steams problem". This is not Steams fault". "Steam has done nothing wrong". Steam can do what it wants being it's THEIR property". "You have been shown multiple times, Steam is in the right, and you wrong OP".

It's been two years i've been posting here, and it does not seem Steam made "any" relative mistakes, or did anything wrong.

That's QUITE an achievement, Mr Newell

When you continually blame Steam for things because you can't be bothered to educate yourself on the actual topics you inject yourself into, that isn't a Steam issue either.

Do you think he read far enough to get to the part when it was revealed it wasn't an email from steam or an ad from steam?

[Wayward]

Never would think that getting banned from a truck sim forum could have such a profound effect on a person that they're still here to grind that axe a whole year later, but here we are.

[FFL2and3rocks]

I just tested it myself. If you delete the original emails that Yahoo is pulling the information from, the "deal" will no longer be there when you refresh the page.
When you open a Yahoo email, it searches your inbox for discount/sale emails from the same sender and puts them in the Deal Summary box above the email, even if they are outdated. Valve has no say in this.

[76561198407601200]

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

There is no misunderstanding here. Steam isn't denying the error, they are simply saying that they can't change the store price.

This portion is correct, they can't change the store price which is why you need to contact the game developers who do set the price and express your concerns with them, not on user forum where your issue won't be resolved.

[Brian9824]

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

Publicado originalmente por Brian9824:

That wasn't an ad, it was a promotion they ran and they PURPOSELY offered it. Again, if its a MISTAKE they don't have to honor it.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/if-something-is-advertised-at-the-wrong-price/




https://www.localsolicitors.com/consumer-guides/advertising-the-wrong-price-do-stores-have-to-honour-pricing-mistakes



Again, False advertising requires a business to PURPOSEFULLY offer a lower price or offer, such as the Pepsi fighter jet. It does not cover MISTAKES

I am talking about FTC in the United States, I have no knowledge of UK laws.

FTC defines it as such:

What exactly counts as false advertising? According to truth in advertising laws (more on those in a minute), deceptive marketing is any that includes misleading, incorrect, or fraudulent information, whether the business does it intentionally or not.

Not quite, it has exceptions for honest mistakes, otherwise a decimal place could bankrupt a business.

Of course there is also the fact for the 19th time that this wasn't a steam ad at all

[Crazy Tiger]

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

STEAM does nothing and false ADs continue.

^^ this. Cause, you know, it's not Steams problem.

[Amaterasu]

Publicado originalmente por Brian9824:

Publicado originalmente por mldb88:

When you continually blame Steam for things because you can't be bothered to educate yourself on the actual topics you inject yourself into, that isn't a Steam issue either.

Do you think he read far enough to get to the part when it was revealed it wasn't an email from steam or an ad from steam?

No.

[Crazy Tiger]

Publicado originalmente por Brian9824:

Publicado originalmente por mldb88:

When you continually blame Steam for things because you can't be bothered to educate yourself on the actual topics you inject yourself into, that isn't a Steam issue either.

Do you think he read far enough to get to the part when it was revealed it wasn't an email from steam or an ad from steam?

Nahg, he sees his demons posting, so naturally just goes against the narrative.

[Mad Scientist]

Publicado originalmente por FFL2and3rocks:

I just tested it myself. If you delete the original emails that Yahoo is pulling the information from, the "deal" will no longer be there when you refresh the page.
When you open a Yahoo email, it searches your inbox for discount/sale emails from the same sender and puts them in the Deal Summary box above the email, even if they are outdated. Valve has no say in this.

Thus confirming a yahoo thing and not made nor programmed by Valve as some others insist.

So to strongly emphasize for the OP, again;

Specific pricing and discounts may be subject to change. Please check the Steam store page for details

Publicado originalmente por Mad Scientist:

If you want to wait for a sale;
-Add it to your wishlist
-Wait for an in-client notification of games you want being on sale
OR
-Wait for a notification from your actively running Steam App that games you want are on sale.
ELSE
-Go to the Store Page and look for any current deal, pay attention to the days/hours remaining or listed end time and time zone.

Publicado originalmente por Start_Running:

Any source that is not one of those is not from steam.

[Haruspex]

That tiny thumbnail image you supplied of the ad in which all the actual helpful information as to where it came from is cropped out isn't even what actual Steam advertising emails look like. You're looking at some third party thing and attributing it to being official Steam communications.

[Aluvard]

Publicado originalmente por Brian9824:

Publicado originalmente por mldb88:

When you continually blame Steam for things because you can't be bothered to educate yourself on the actual topics you inject yourself into, that isn't a Steam issue either.

Do you think he read far enough to get to the part when it was revealed it wasn't an email from steam or an ad from steam?

No.

[AustrAlien2010]

Case:
User received out-of-date advertisement from Steam.
User feels insulted, contacts Steam support, and wishes to have it fixed.
Steam support apologizes, and cannot fix it.

User received another out-of-date advertisement from Steam.
User still feels insulted, and continues wishing to have it fixed.


Situational status:
Other users cannot help user, resulting in prattle.


Recommened course of action:
Disable E-mail advertisements from Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3951406499778417710/#c3951406499778452632


Maybe that fixes this? Because else I also do not know how to help you with this.

[Mad Scientist]

Publicado originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

(snip)

Already found the cause of the situation;

Publicado originalmente por FFL2and3rocks:

Yahoo likely generated those ads with information they scraped from older emails you've received, like wishlist notifications, including outdated ones. Steam/Valve did not "deal" with the ads.

Publicado originalmente por FFL2and3rocks:

Yahoo is literally taking information from older emails and plastering it above current ones, and then asking you to buy Yahoo Plus to stop it. That's why Yahoo labels it as a Deal Summary, and not as a Paid Advertisement. Complain to Yahoo about their privacy policy.

Yahoo’s systems may analyze and store all communications content, including email content from incoming and outgoing mail, as well as incoming and outgoing messages to messaging apps.

This information may also be used for interest-based advertising.

Publicado originalmente por FFL2and3rocks:

I just tested it myself. If you delete the original emails that Yahoo is pulling the information from, the "deal" will no longer be there when you refresh the page.
When you open a Yahoo email, it searches your inbox for discount/sale emails from the same sender and puts them in the Deal Summary box above the email, even if they are outdated. Valve has no say in this.

TL;DR - Op missed Steam e-mail, opened another email from the same company, yahoos programming made it come up after the fact. There's a reason why stuff was cropped out.

[Tito Shivan]

Publicado originalmente por xBCxRangers:

"This isn't Steams problem". This is not Steams fault". "Steam has done nothing wrong". Steam can do what it wants being it's THEIR property". "You have been shown multiple times, Steam is in the right, and you wrong OP".

It's been two years i've been posting here, and it does not seem Steam made "any" relative mistakes, or did anything wrong. Only our hundreds, even thousands of OPs.

That's QUITE an achievement, Mr Newell

You never miss a beat to throw a jab at Steam, don't you Mr Rangers?

Publicado originalmente por Haruspex:

That tiny thumbnail image you supplied of the ad in which all the actual helpful information as to where it came from is cropped out isn't even what actual Steam advertising emails look like. You're looking at some third party thing and attributing it to being official Steam communications.

The devil always hides in the details. And lots of details are being left out here.

[Start_Running]

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

What would you like to see as the OUTCOME of this discussion from STEAM.

1. Steam deals with false ADs
2. Steam does nothing and considers it acceptable to send customers false ADs

THey aren't the ones creating and sending the ads you saw. They have nothing to do with it. And given how things work the ads themselves may not have been 'fake' when they were made or sent to you,. Eitherway this is betwe YOU and your Email provider.

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

This isn't about who's ultimately responsible for causing the issue.
This is about STEAMS response to it.

Their response is something you already know. "None of our Business"

Publicado originalmente por TLBFlameHaze:

SONY PlayStation network went down because of Hackers, would it be appropriate for SONY to say that and not compensate their customers?

Yes. This sort of thing happens rather frequently.
So long as it can be shown that reasonable means were taken to thwart the hackers, then there's nothing that they need do.



Again. Why are you not taking this up with the party that actually sent you the ad.

Publicado originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

Case:
User received out-of-date advertisement from Steam.
User feels insulted, contacts Steam support, and wishes to have it fixed.
Steam support apologizes, and cannot fix it.

User received another out-of-date advertisement from Steam.
User still feels insulted, and continues wishing to have it fixed.


Situational status:
Other users cannot help user, resulting in prattle.


Recommened course of action:
Disable E-mail advertisements from Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3951406499778417710/#c3951406499778452632


Maybe that fixes this? Because else I also do not know how to help you with this.

Except that the advertisements aren'ta pparently coming from steam.