Steam deck - GLS Netherland

[Filik225]

Has anyone already had such a case - namely Steam deck ordered on 30.11 on 1.12 was sent and from 2.12 on the website all the time there is information "The parcel has reached the parcel center."-Utrecht GLS. After contacting NE GLS, I received information that the sender should contact them as part of the resolution of the situation. Steam support says the package has been sent and that's it. What should I do now? Wait for them to send a package or a refund? If the shipment is stuck in the GLS branch for some reason, what can I do?

[Jarek has quit gaming]

Not the exact same case, but as someone who is from The Netherlands i always avoid having any packages on the way around beginning of december due to us having a holiday called Sinterklaas, which is just as popular as christmas, and causes alot of delivery problems for DHL, PostNL, GLS, and basically every other transporter.

This year i got a merchandise mug from Latvia lost in the mail because of this. I would definitely start contacting Steam about the issue again, GLS will just sent you over to them and do nothing anyways.

[RiO]

Can confirm what Pegglekat wrote, having been subject to the same type of run-around during the holiday season. Dutch postal services and parcel delivery services are notoriously bad at handling spikes in parcels. They've all been slimmed down and have had budgets cut far beyond what should be acceptable. Basically, the least bit of rocking of the boat will screw up their entire system and process.


So: contact Steam Support and have them sort it out. You don't want to be in the thick of that mess. Contacting the delivery company is just going to get you lost in a thicket of administrative finger-pointing and blame-shifting.

[Filik225]

Originally posted by Pegglekat '91:

Not the exact same case, but as someone who is from The Netherlands i always avoid having any packages on the way around beginning of december due to us having a holiday called Sinterklaas, which is just as popular as christmas, and causes alot of delivery problems for DHL, PostNL, GLS, and basically every other transporter.

This year i got a merchandise mug from Latvia lost in the mail because of this. I would definitely start contacting Steam about the issue again, GLS will just sent you over to them and do nothing anyways.

So all that's left is waiting for them to just send a package from the branch?

[Filik225]

Originally posted by RiO:

Can confirm what Pegglekat wrote, having been subject to the same type of run-around during the holiday season. Dutch postal services and parcel delivery services are notoriously bad at handling spikes in parcels. They've all been slimmed down and have had budgets cut far beyond what should be acceptable. Basically, the least bit of rocking of the boat will screw up their entire system and process.


So: contact Steam Support and have them sort it out. You don't want to be in the thick of that mess. Contacting the delivery company is just going to get you lost in a thicket of administrative finger-pointing and blame-shifting.

It really looks weak with you. In Poland, when it comes to courier services, it looks much better, I personally have never had problems with carriers. That's why the whole situation is a bit stressful for me.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Filik225:

So all that's left is waiting for them to just send a package from the branch?

No. You inform Steam Support about the matter.

You inform them you haven't received your Deck yet.
You inform them the track-and-trace shows that the package has been stuck at GLS's Netherlands main distribution hub since 2 Dec.
You inform them you contacted GLS and that GLS told you that the package's sender, i.e. Steam/Valve, has to contact them to resolve the situation.

Originally posted by Filik225:

It really looks weak with you.

The Netherlands has all letter mail in the southern provinces regularly just being lost, only for it to be delivered a random 2~4 weeks later. This has been ongoing due to budget cuts and closing down of a major distribution and mail sorting hub, for at least half a year. It made national news. Multiple times. The excuse is always the same: some PR exec making a public apology and explaining that the issues are due to them "not being able to find enough qualified personnel." (Yeah.. because they fired them.)

And then nobody cares again for at least another month or two.
That's how bad it's actually gotten.

Must be fun to be on the receiving end of a notice of default before the original bill comes rolling in a week later, right? (And no kidding; that actually does happen...)

[Jarek has quit gaming]

Originally posted by RiO:

Originally posted by Filik225:

So all that's left is waiting for them to just send a package from the branch?

No. You inform Steam Support about the matter.

You inform them you haven't received your Deck yet.
You inform them the track-and-trace shows that the package has been stuck at GLS's Netherlands main distribution hub since 2 Dec.
You inform them you contacted GLS and that GLS told you that the package's sender, i.e. Steam/Valve, has to contact them to resolve the situation.

Exacly. This is the right way.

God knows where all of those lost packages end up. The delivery companies NEVER tell you what happened. They will start an investigation which will end up in nothing.

Of course, your package can still show up, but from my own experience i would indeed just contact Steam right away and ask them for your options. Because it certainly isn't normal for a package to be in the sorting centre for 8 days.

[Filik225]

Originally posted by RiO:

Originally posted by Filik225:

So all that's left is waiting for them to just send a package from the branch?

No. You inform Steam Support about the matter.

You inform them you haven't received your Deck yet.
You inform them the track-and-trace shows that the package has been stuck at GLS's Netherlands main distribution hub since 2 Dec.
You inform them you contacted GLS and that GLS told you that the package's sender, i.e. Steam/Valve, has to contact them to resolve the situation.

Yes, exactly what you wrote, I already wrote to them, they wrote to me that the package was sent and they sent a link to track the shipment. I will send this information to them again.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Pegglekat '91:

God knows where all of those lost packages end up. The delivery companies NEVER tell you what happened. They will start an investigation which will end up in nothing.

Officially, they are kept in storage for a certain length of time, waiting to be claimed. After which they have to be destroyed. Unofficially? Well-- there's probably more than a few employees 'reaping the benefits,' so to say.

[Filik225]

Originally posted by Pegglekat '91:

Originally posted by RiO:

No. You inform Steam Support about the matter.

You inform them you haven't received your Deck yet.
You inform them the track-and-trace shows that the package has been stuck at GLS's Netherlands main distribution hub since 2 Dec.
You inform them you contacted GLS and that GLS told you that the package's sender, i.e. Steam/Valve, has to contact them to resolve the situation.

Exacly. This is the right way.

God knows where all of those lost packages end up. The delivery companies NEVER tell you what happened. They will start an investigation which will end up in nothing.

Of course, your package can still show up, but from my own experience i would indeed just contact Steam right away and ask them for your options. Because it certainly isn't normal for a package to be in the sorting centre for 8 days.

Okay, and what if Steam writes back as he wrote back "we sent the package, you have a link and please follow" can I do anything else when they "bounce the ball" like that?

[Jarek has quit gaming]

Originally posted by Filik225:

Originally posted by Pegglekat '91:

Exacly. This is the right way.

God knows where all of those lost packages end up. The delivery companies NEVER tell you what happened. They will start an investigation which will end up in nothing.

Of course, your package can still show up, but from my own experience i would indeed just contact Steam right away and ask them for your options. Because it certainly isn't normal for a package to be in the sorting centre for 8 days.

Okay, and what if Steam writes back as he wrote back "we sent the package, you have a link and please follow" can I do anything else when they "bounce the ball" like that?

I don't have much experience with Steam support other than some refunded games, but if they write that once again after explaining clearly what happened it looks like you're getting automated messages.

Maybe someone else here with more Steam support experience can help you with this when this appears to be the case?

[RiO]

Originally posted by Filik225:

Okay, and what if Steam writes back as he wrote back "we sent the package, you have a link and please follow" can I do anything else when they "bounce the ball" like that?

First off; ensure you aren't getting automated replies.
And try to get an actual human response, as has been stated.

If that doesn't work...
Well-- if you're in Poland, then you're in the EU. Meaning Poland will in its local laws have implemented EU Directive 2011/83 on consumer rights[eur-lex.europa.eu]

Concretely, this means your local laws should somewhere have implemented Article 18 of that Directive, which states the trader is liable for the delivery of goods and has to do so by the agreed upon time of delivery when the contract of sale was finalized (i.e. when you paid) or if no such agreement was made, within 30 days.

It's not your problem that the package is stuck in transit.
it's theirs - and it's their responsibility to ensure that it makes it through and is actually delivered on time.

If they do not deliver within that time frame, you as a consumer have the right to contact them and demand delivery within an additional reasonable period of time. You get to set that time frame, as long as it can be considered reasonable. For off-the-shelf goods that are in stock, taking into account the availability of international priority shipping 'within one week' might even be considered reasonable already. (Personally; I would consider it gracious even.)

If the trader then again fails to deliver, you can terminate the contract of sale, at which point they would be legally required to refund you.

Note that there are certain procedures you have to follow for that as well. Best consult your local consumer authority or consumer awareness organizations for those, if it comes to that. They can usually help you with how to do this.

One thing bears special mention though:
DO NOT UNDER ANY CONDITION REVERSE CHARGES!!

That will get your means of payment and/or your whole Steam account locked!

[Filik225]

Thanks so much for the advice and help. I will write to Steam Support and let you know how things will turn out.