Steam support is slow and has poor reading comprehension.

CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷDer Millionendorf- Icrontian
edited October 2015 in Gaming

I don't often have issues with Steam, but this month I've had the misfortune of running into a problem that requires help from support personnel. Responses are very slow, and the answers I get seem like the person did not actually read my issue. I know they probably get a lot of issues to deal with, but they could at least actually read what I wrote, especially if they're going to take several days to get back to me each time I clarify.

1 Message by you on Mon, Oct 12 2015 19:59
Bought games on the 8th, on sale. Now they show as "failed" transaction, and aren't on sale anymore.

When I bought them on the 8th, they showed up in my inventory and everything, but now they're not there. I don't think the charge went through. I would just buy them again but the total for the four games has gone up from about 20$ to about 75$. You have a record that I tried to buy them for the sale price.

Can I get these games for the sale price I tried to get them for originally> ?

Next Step:
A member of our team will get to your ticket as soon as possible. In the meantime, please provide a screenshot of the confirmation email that you received from Steam support after your purchase to help us locate the missing content.

If you have not received a confirmation email, it's likely that the purchase failed due to incorrect billing information. Your bank may have put a hold on the funds waiting for the payment to be collected by us. If this is the case, we will not attempt to collect the funds. The locked funds should be released within 10 business days.

If you have a different issue, please let us know and we'll be happy to assist you.

2 Message by you on Mon, Oct 12 2015 20:18
I don't seem to have gotten an e-mail, but I can see the attempted transactions were recorded in your system from the help menu.
steamoct8.jpg - View Image (File Size : 81 KB)

3 Message by you on Wed, Oct 14 2015 15:15
Hello?

4 Message by Support Tech Brian on Fri, Oct 16 2015 15:29
Hello,

We apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience.

Purchases may take time to process. Please restart Steam and log back into your account. If your purchase is still missing, please reply to this ticket with the following information:

  • Complete payment account holder billing information (name and billing address)

-Last 4 digits and card type (for credit cards only)

-Provide the Confirmation Number included in your purchase receipt

We will be able to assist you as soon as we have received the requested information. If your issue has already been resolved, please close this ticket.

5 Message by you on Fri, Oct 16 2015 17:32
I've restarted and the games are still gone. In fact, they are back in my Cart.

CB Droege
3528 Bookmark Place
Maineville, OH 45039

Paid with Paypal

I did not get a receipt, and my PayPal was not charged. The games appeared in my library, so I considered the transaction complete, and did not look for a receipt at the time. Looking through my e-mails now, it looks like I did not get one, so all I have is that screenshot of the help system showing that the transaction failed.

I want to pay for the games. I'm just requesting that I be given the sale prices that were available when I originally purchased them (or thought I did).

6 Message by Support Tech Brian on Mon, Oct 19 2015 11:17
Hello CB,

Steam does not offer discounts to purchases made outside of sale periods. We will not be able to accommodate your request.

7 Message by you on Mon, Oct 19 2015 11:42
I don't think you are reading my request carefully. Your answers seem to indicate a misunderstanding of my issue.

I'm not asking for free games, I'm not upset that I missed a sale. I loaded games into my cart. I pushed the button to buy them. I put my password into PayPal to authorize. The games appeared in my inventory. I did everything I was supposed to do to buy these games for the price that was listed.

The purchase maybe errored later, but I was not notified that the purchase didn't work. I had the games in my inventory. I'd sorted them into the categories I wanted them. I started installing one of them. Then, a few days later, the games are not there. and I find that my PayPal was never charged. That's your fault. Not mine.

I just want to complete the transaction I thought I completed on October 8.

I feel like customer service for a product as big and important as Steam should be a bit snappier and smarter.

oni_delsPirateNinja

Comments

  • That wasn't fun to read, I've been there. Valve is terrible at this, there are other scattered threads about it too. They are never going to honor your request, you are trying to teach algebra to a brick wall. =(

    oni_dels
  • I have only contacted support three times since Half Life 2 came out. All three times were exactly like this. I felt like I could never adequately explain my issue to them in writing. One was a simple issue downloading a game from their servers. Another was a pricing and timing issue similar to what you experienced. Another time I simply had a question about how the new refund policy works. Each time I got nowhere.

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian

    I'm not normally one for this, but take it to Twitter and Reddit. You may suddenly get results.

    oni_dels
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian

    _koni_delspigflipper
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian

    I read somewhere that Valve was starting to put a concerted effort into customer service for Steam. Lip service or real change, time will tell. It is pretty poopy right now.

  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian

    s/cable/Steam

    Thraxoni_dels
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian

    @Winfrey said:
    I read somewhere that Valve was starting to put a concerted effort into customer service for Steam. Lip service or real change, time will tell. It is pretty poopy right now.

    Mostly lip service so far. They did implement refunds on purchases (ahem), and while that is super nice, it hardly solves the biggest chunk of issues a CS team at a major digital retailer will see.

    Valve spoke with PC Gamer 3 days ago and admitted that their support still blows, but that they are working on it and hoping to have better staff ready by Christmas. If that's true, those poor souls will have the worst trial by fire in history with the steam sales.

    http://www.pcgamer.com/valve-admits-steam-customer-support-is-awful-again-but-says-its-working-on-it/

  • NullenVoydNullenVoyd Orlandish Icrontian

    Customer Service is going to become very critical if they want to support their ventures into hardware.
    I think it's neat they're getting into controllers and Steam machines and the like, but if they don't back up the release of this stuff without a solid customer connection, it's just not going to work.

  • It's not like crappy customer service is getting us to Half Life 3 any faster....

    _k
  • @Cliff_Forster said:
    It's not like crappy customer service is getting us to Half Life 3 any faster....

    Bold prediction: there will never be a Half Life 3. Steam is too distracted with all their other things, it's been pushed to the bottom of their To-Do list and they're never going to get around to it.

    Screenshot this now so you can throw it in my face when they surprise launch HL3 on Nov 8, 2018 (the 20th anniversary of Half-Life).

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited October 2015

    New reply:

    Our records indicate two attempts on the 8th to purchase the package in question.

    It appears due to an error in the purchasing process, the transaction failed. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.

    Completely exit the Steam client and your web browser to ensure all pending checkout windows are closed before attempting the purchase again.

    Please attempt your purchase again using a web browser instead of the Steam client. If possible, please use Internet Explorer 7+ or Firefox to complete this transaction.

    When using PayPal as your payment method, make sure that you hit the "Return to Merchant" button after you have finished filling in your billing information. You will be automatically re-routed back to the Steam client which will confirm your purchase. This process can take up to 60 seconds. To avoid purchasing failures, please do not hit your back button or close the PayPal window before this process is complete.

    If you still encounter errors, please reply with a screenshot of the issue you are encountering and we will continue to troubleshoot.

    We will be unable to make any accommodations in regards to the missed sale price for the items in question.

    What a load of malarkey. He admits that it was Steam's fault, then tells me that he can't fix it. I guarantee they have the ability to accommodate this simple request. Any other major store would do it without even asking for more clarification or proof. If I was at Costco and had a problem like this, they'd be all "Yes, sir, here's your cash!" no further discussion.

    This is a travesty of customer service. It seems like a small thing: "Oh no! I didn't get my on-sale viddya game!" and, dear me, I know that the customer isn't always right, but this really was their fault, and they could have fixed it with a button click.

    I don't think I deserve free games, but I know about good customer service, and the correct thing to do here would have been, "Looks like we screwed up your purchase. Here, I'll just put the games in your inventory. Thanks for being a long-time customer of our monolithic product."

    The very least they could do is actually take my 20$ for the games. But the worst possible CS outcome is "We fucked up, but we're not going to help you at all." That's just terrible.

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian

    @primesuspect said:
    I'm not normally one for this, but take it to Twitter and Reddit. You may suddenly get results.

    I'm not much into reddit, so I don't really know where to post. I looked at some subreddits for Steam and for Gaming in general, but they all seem to have rules against posting support-related things.

  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian

    @CB said:
    I don't think I deserve free games

    I think for the amount of money that any one of us have poured into Steam, you do deserve free games or at least the price at time of the attempted purchase.

  • KarmaKarma Likes yoga Icrontian

    @Sonorous said:
    I think for the amount of money that any one of us have poured into Steam, you do deserve free games or at least the price at time of the attempted purchase.

    There are tons of free games on steam......just not ones that most people want to actually play.

  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian

    @Karma said:
    There are tons of free games on steam......just not ones that most people want to actually play.

    My comment was specific towards CB's situation. I was implying that most companies would recognize a loyal customer and their mistake and remedy the error to maintain a good standing. I have had companies like Best Buy and CompUSA bend over and take one because of their mistakes, and Steam should be doing the same here. I wasn't asking for free things for anyone with a massive game library.

  • KarmaKarma Likes yoga Icrontian

    @Sonorous said:
    My comment was specific towards CB's situation. I was implying that most companies would recognize a loyal customer and their mistake and remedy the error to maintain a good standing. I have had companies like Best Buy and CompUSA bend over and take one because of their mistakes, and Steam should be doing the same here. I wasn't asking for free things for anyone with a massive game library.

    I know I was mostly joking about the piss poor state of most of the FTP games that make it on to Steam. Not trying to discredit your statement,

  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian

    @Karma said:
    I know I was mostly joking about the piss poor state of most of the FTP games that make it on to Steam. Not trying to discredit your statement,

    Sorry I didn't pick up on the sarcasm here. <3

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