Trial Period or Refund

[waterski999]

Greetings, all! Though I first logged into Steam a while back, I haven't really used it much before now. I am very new to Steam and have been looking at a couple more games to purchase. If I purchase a game on Steam, is there any kind of "trial period?" Or is it possible to "obtain a refund" if I try a game for a few days, and decide "it's not for me?" Apologies if this is a basic question--I am rather new to Steam and have not used it much. Thanks! Patrick

[Aluvard]

2 hours within 2 weeks. Refunds are not demo option.

[Flexi <3]

Originally posted by Aluvard:

2 hours within 2 weeks. Refunds are not demo option.

wait so if i buy a game and i play for less than 2 hours today, can i refund it tomorrow ?

[Aluvard]

Originally posted by oOoFlexi:

Originally posted by Aluvard:

2 hours within 2 weeks. Refunds are not demo option.

wait so if i buy a game and i play for less than 2 hours today, can i refund it tomorrow ?

Yes, you can refund game even week from now, provided that you do not exceed 2 hours limit.
Also keep in mind that Steam is tracking how many times you refund. So if you abuse it to demo games, they will block refund option for you.

[HikariLight]

Refunds are a privilege, not a right.
That privilege can be revoked if you abuse it.

[waterski999]

Hello, everyone, thanks for the information. Really helpful, and most appreciated.

However, with regards to "refunds are a privilege, not a right," I would point out that is not quite accurate. Many consumer protection laws in the US provide the right to a refund for almost any purchase, but that right has limits (for example that "refund right" might exist in the case of fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) but any vendor has a right to terminate someone's status as a customer if that customer abuses the refund process. Conversely, vendors are incented for obvious financial reasons not to terminate customers who are not abusing the refund process, and of course this is the case with most customers here, who buy lots of games with no problem.

This is all a bit besides the point, but I do appreciate understanding the "2 hours 2 weeks" policy. Oddly, I can find this policy nowhere on the Steam site. Thanks for the info.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by waterski999:

However, with regards to "refunds are a privilege, not a right," I would point out that is not quite accurate. Many consumer protection laws in the US provide the right to a refund for almost any purchase, but that right has limits (for example that "refund right" might exist in the case of fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) but any vendor has a right to terminate someone's status as a customer if that customer abuses the refund process. Conversely, vendors are incented for obvious financial reasons not to terminate customers who are not abusing the refund process, and of course this is the case with most customers here, who buy lots of games with no problem.

There have been numerous people complaining on the forums after their right to request refunds was revoked for abusing the system.

And no, it is not against the law to revoke refund requests when someone has a history of abusing it.

[Aluvard]

Originally posted by waterski999:

Hello, everyone, thanks for the information. Really helpful, and most appreciated.

However, with regards to "refunds are a privilege, not a right," I would point out that is not quite accurate. Many consumer protection laws in the US provide the right to a refund for almost any purchase, but that right has limits (for example that "refund right" might exist in the case of fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) but any vendor has a right to terminate someone's status as a customer if that customer abuses the refund process. Conversely, vendors are incented for obvious financial reasons not to terminate customers who are not abusing the refund process, and of course this is the case with most customers here, who buy lots of games with no problem.

This is all a bit besides the point, but I do appreciate understanding the "2 hours 2 weeks" policy. Oddly, I can find this policy nowhere on the Steam site. Thanks for the info.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/5FDE-BA65-ACCE-A411

[MC.traher]

)

[HITI]

YEAP

[HikariLight]

Originally posted by waterski999:

Hello, everyone, thanks for the information. Really helpful, and most appreciated.

However, with regards to "refunds are a privilege, not a right," I would point out that is not quite accurate. Many consumer protection laws in the US provide the right to a refund for almost any purchase, but that right has limits (for example that "refund right" might exist in the case of fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) but any vendor has a right to terminate someone's status as a customer if that customer abuses the refund process. Conversely, vendors are incented for obvious financial reasons not to terminate customers who are not abusing the refund process, and of course this is the case with most customers here, who buy lots of games with no problem.

This is all a bit besides the point, but I do appreciate understanding the "2 hours 2 weeks" policy. Oddly, I can find this policy nowhere on the Steam site. Thanks for the info.

If you show the constant behavior of taking your money back, businesses are well within their legal rights of telling you that they won't let you do so to protect their business..

[waterski999]

Greetings,

Aluvard, thanks for the link. I was unable to find this page.

Hotsauce, to be clear, I have never said it was "against the law" to revoke a customers' ability to request a refund, or even terminate a customer's ability to purchase items on Steam, if that customer was abusing that option. But another user claimed that it is a "privilege" to request a refund. Calling it a "privilege" is not quite accurate.

The answer is actually somewhere in between, and it depends on the situation. Consumers in the US have rights, but there is a limit to those rights. Consumers who are defrauded in some way have rights, but consumers who are not being defrauded, and are simply abusing their option to purchase items (or request refunds) from a vendor (whether it's Steam or anyone else), don't have many rights, and I actually think that if people are actually abusing the refund option, that it's up to Steam to decide what to do. Steam have said so in the link Aluvard has sent, and I have no quibbles with what Steam has said on their Web page about this.

However, what I have now learned from this message exchange, as a new Steam user, is that surprisingly, Steam is not really interested in allowing customers to "demo" a game for an hour or so (at least not as a repeated practice). I find that surprising, since most of us purchasing software are often provided a free trial period, and even some TV streaming channels provide a free trial period. Put another way, "Why would it be 'bad' for Steam to allow customers to "demo" a game for a short period of time? It might make customers less hesitant to buy a game they have never tried."

Customers can always choose whether to use Steam or not, but given that apparently Steam tracks customers' time spent on games, I think it might be more attractive for customers (and reduce the complaints about refunds that Hotsauce has mentioned) if Steam allowed as a standard practice, perhaps a 1 hour (or even 30 minute) "trial demo period" for any game, as we all see with other products like software and streaming channels, etc.

Best, Patrick

[HikariLight]

And businesses can choose to tell a customer not to come back.
Valve is a business and if you refuse to let your spent money stay, they have EVERY right to tell you to stop and tell you to go away.

[waterski999]

BTW Hikari, you've noted, "If you show the constant behavior of taking your money back, businesses are well within their legal rights of telling you that they won't let you do so to protect their business.." I never claimed that businesses do not have the right to determine if you are an attractive customer. But my point is that businesses to not have all rights, and neither do customers. It's jsut not that simple,. However, your original post mentioned simply that "refunds are a privilege, not a right." As I have noted, making that claim is not accurate and too broad. As I have repeatedly said, it depends on the situation.

However, I would also point out to everyone, that if Steam had a broader "demo" option, that has some kind of time limit that is short enough to incent the customer to actually buy a game they like, but long enough to actually "try" a game (maybe an hour or so), then customers would be far less likely to ask for refunds, far less likely to light up discussion boards (and reaching out to Steam directly) with complaints about a lack of refunds, and it would be harder for a customer to justify asking for a refund, if they already had the option of "demo-ing" the game.

Best, Patrick

[Lunar Fang]

Originally posted by waterski999:

"refunds are a privilege, not a right."

You read a little too deep into this statement. Let me clarify, you're not allowed to abuse the refunding system to test out video games, that's it. We don't need Patricks take on consumerism and capitalism. It's that simple, none of us work for Valve. If you continuously refund games, they will take away your ability to use it. That's basically an automated system, a lot of people don't know that if a game is really bad, you can send a manual ticket to support and Valve has many times given refunds beyond the two hours played or owned the game longer than fourteen days.

[waterski999]

OK, folks, I have pointed out my perspective on this, and I have made suggestions on how this could be handled better by Steam. People always provide feedback, and that's mine. Not sure what is meant by "We don't need Patrick's take on consumerism and capitalism," but I can tell this is now getting very far afield.

Aluvard, thanks for the link.

Have a great holiday season, everyone.

Best, Patrick