Steam Is Now Offering Refunds

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Steam Is Now Offering Refunds

 

Steam is finally getting refunds. Starting today, users of Valve

[ANON86364]

One step closer to re-activating paid mods.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

This is something that many people have been asking for for a long time, however I wonder if this will work as seamlessly as they say it will. Considering Steam Support's reputation...I'm not so sure.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Wow pretty cool. A major shift for the industry IMHO. As this is the first time any major retailer has offered 14 day returns on software that they didn't make themselves.

 

Really cool as this could lead to overall higher quality games. As nothing would be less fun than a ton of pre-orders that end up as returns on launch day to the launch day bugs or just overall poor quality.

Edited June 3, 2015 by LogicalApex

[MightyJordan]

About damn time. Surprised they were able to get away with not offering it for so long here in the EU.

We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.

Kind of them. While on about getting the best deal, here's a little tip: grab Enhanced Steam and you can see the pricing history for every item, so you'll see if a deal's good or not.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

About damn time. Surprised they were able to get away with not offering it for so long here in the EU.

Kind of them. While on about getting the best deal, here's a little tip: grab Enhanced Steam and you can see the pricing history for every item, so you'll see if a deal's good or not.

They were able to "get away with it" in the EU because the EU doesn't mandate they offer returns...

 

You are no longer entitled to a refund once you initiate the download or start streaming the media in the EU.

 

This new offering from Steam not only enables returns, but also allows you to download and attempt to play the game for up to 2 hours before you lose the ability to request a refund.

[LaP]

grab Enhanced Steam and you can see the pricing history for every item, so you'll see if a deal's good or not.

 

Cool very nice addon.

 

I wish it could be incorporated into Steam ...

[Argi]

Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam

[+Cryton Subscriber²]

Well if Steam are really doing this then kudos to them. Another reason why they're going to be hard to match let alone beat.

[MightyJordan]

They were able to "get away with it" in the EU because the EU doesn't mandate they offer returns...

You are no longer entitled to a refund once you initiate the download or start streaming the media in the EU.

True, but you don't automatically download a game on Steam once you've bought/redeemed it; you can cancel that and download it later, so I'm under the impression they were obligated to provide the fortnight window if you didn't start downloading the game (although I'm going to assume they included something in the agreement on the checkout page to wriggle out of it).

[+LogicalApex MVC]

True, but you don't automatically download a game on Steam once you've bought/redeemed it; you can cancel that and download it later, so I'm under the impression they were obligated to provide the fortnight window if you didn't start downloading the game (although I'm going to assume they included something in the agreement on the checkout page to wriggle out of it).

For me, steam automatically starts downloading games when I hit finish on the dialog purchasing it. I don't remember if there was a checkbox allowing me to stop that, but the wording at the EU suggests that stating the download is enough to end the rescinding period; even if I were to have cancelled it prior to the completion of the download.

 

But this is a tangent. This is definitely good news overall for us consumers. Hopefully it leads to more polished games with less "Day 1 DLC", other horrible gimmicks, and launch day bugs.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

This is something that many people have been asking for for a long time, however I wonder if this will work as seamlessly as they say it will. Considering Steam Support's reputation...I'm not so sure.

Their support will wait for a few weeks before addressing your refund request and then tell you it is too late.

[trag3dy]

Too bad about the 14 day requirement. I have about 120 games in my steam list that I've never played. 

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

GG Steam

[Luc2k]

Wow pretty cool. A major shift for the industry IMHO. As this is the first time any major retailer has offered 30 day returns on software that they didn't make themselves.

 

Really cool as this could lead to overall higher quality games. As nothing would be less fun than a ton of pre-orders that end up as returns on launch day to the launch day bugs or just overall poor quality.

It's not 30 days though. As for being the first, GOG has something similar with 30 days, as well as EA's Origin (it's much shorter for non-EA games, but it's there).

 

It's also an alternative to curation, which they refuse to do. It's good IF the support is there.

[gohpep]

This is something that many people have been asking for for a long time, however I wonder if this will work as seamlessly as they say it will. Considering Steam Support's reputation...I'm not so sure.

It seems like they've updated the support website, though I'm not sure.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

It's not 30 days though. As for being the first, GOG has something similar with 30 days, as well as EA's Origin (it's much shorter for non-EA games, but it's there).

 

It's also an alternative to curation, which they refuse to do. It's good IF the support is there.

Thanks for catching my slip of the mind. I meant 14 days and have edited the post to reflect that.

 

GoG doesn't sell Day 1 release games... They are only selling older games that companies are using as an additional revenue stream.

 

Origin only sells EA owned or affiliated games, no? That was always my understanding. So a policy like this was easier for them to do. What Steam is doing is akin to Amazon offering such a policy due to being a large retailer for pretty much everyone in the industry. Origin isn't a major retailer, but more of an EA company store.

[Luc2k]

Thanks for catching my slip of the mind. I meant 14 days and have edited the post to reflect that.

 

GoG doesn't sell Day 1 release games... They are only selling older games that companies are using as an additional revenue stream.

 

Origin only sells EA owned or affiliated games, no? That was always my understanding. So a policy like this was easier for them to do. What Steam is doing is akin to Amazon offering such a policy due to being a large retailer for pretty much everyone in the industry. Origin isn't a major retailer, but more of an EA company store.

GoG does sell some Day 1 releases. It's mostly kickstarted games like Divinity Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2 or indies. Here's a list of 2015 games if you're curious.

 

While I'm not that familiar with Origin, they do sell games that have no connection with them like the Witcher series. uPlay also sell some 3rd party games and have a very limited refund policy. GreenManGaming and Humble store which are big Steam key resellers with refund policies as well.

 

Maybe it would be easier if you said what you considered a major retailer because it looks like Steam is the only one that qualifies. From where I'm standing, Steam is the last one to offer the service although it's a decent policy compared to some stores provided support is up to snuff.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

GoG does sell some Day 1 releases. It's mostly kickstarted games like Divinity Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2 or indies. Here's a list of 2015 games if you're curious.

 

While I'm not that familiar with Origin, they do sell games that have no connection with them like the Witcher series. uPlay also sell some 3rd party games and have a very limited refund policy. GreenManGaming and Humble store which are big Steam key resellers with refund policies as well.

 

Maybe it would be easier if you said what you considered a major retailer because it looks like Steam is the only one that qualifies. From where I'm standing, Steam is the last one to offer the service although it's a decent policy compared to some stores provided support is up to snuff.

GreenManGaming doesn't offer refunds like this.... If you've been given the Steam key, including them sending it to you via email, then you're not eligible for a refund. Humble Bundle only issues refunds "at their sole discretion" whatever that means...

 

My point is simply that Steam is the largest retailer of games from pretty much all game publishers to have this policy and it is a very liberal policy as well. Refunds have long been the thing that the game industry by and large were not major supporters of. Steam is dragging them into this full force. This doesn't appear to be a "at our sole discretion" policy nor is it limited to only a few titles here and there. This covers the entirety of the Steam Store... Indies, who are more willing to offer such policies, and large scale publishers alike.

 

I would consider GreenManGaming a large retailer similar to Steam, but, as I mentioned earlier, they don't offer anything close to this type of return policy.

[MightyJordan]

For me, steam automatically starts downloading games when I hit finish on the dialog purchasing it. I don't remember if there was a checkbox allowing me to stop that, but the wording at the EU suggests that stating the download is enough to end the rescinding period; even if I were to have cancelled it prior to the completion of the download.

For me, when I buy something on Steam, I have to click a big green button on the transaction complete page that says "Install games". DLC is the exception there; that starts automatically after a minute or so. The "cancel" button thing I mentioned originally is only when you redeem a code.

[FloatingFatMan]

It really is about time they did this. Sometimes, even if your rig meets the game requirements, it just doesn't work right.  At least now if that happens you can get your money back.

[Coldgunner]

Managed to get a refund on LOTR, thought it was a crap hack and slash.

[Bi4me]

This is a good incentive for people to start pre-ordering games. I've never pre-ordered (because quite often a hyped game turns out to be a flop on release) before but I might just get the courage with the refunds.

[spacer]

I actually used it for a refund for Wild Hunt. I bought it, but my laptop couldn't run it smoothly. The experience was just awful. So I asked for a refund, and got it within a few hours. It was pretty smooth, actually.

 

The downside though is that I paid with a credit card, but they only refunded space money to my Steam Wallet. I'll probably use it all eventually, but it's still annoying. It would have been nice to get the money back on my card instead.

[FloatingFatMan]

The downside though is that I paid with a credit card, but they only refunded space money to my Steam Wallet. I'll probably use it all eventually, but it's still annoying. It would have been nice to get the money back on my card instead.

 

That's not a refund... That's store credit...

 

Bloody bait n switch!