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Valve Finally Have A Proper Refund Policy For Steam

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About damn time. Valve have a history of really poor support, especially when it comes to refunds, so this is very welcome.

I imagine this is due to pressure from different nations, some of which have been hitting hard on Valve (and rightly so).

This comes with a new version of the Steam client that fixes a few bugs, and adds support for their refunds and support websites.

An excerpt:
QuoteYou can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it.

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours. There are more details below, but even if you fall outside of the refund rules we've described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we’ll take a look.

You will be issued a full refund of your purchase within a week of approval. You will receive the refund in Steam Wallet funds or through the same payment method you used to make the purchase. If, for any reason, Steam is unable to issue a refund via your initial payment method, your Steam Wallet will be credited the full amount.


See the full policy here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Steam
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32 comments
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lvlark Jun 2, 2015
Quoting: sarmadFinally!!! I can now just go ahead and buy the game instead of spending an hour searching google on whether my hardware can support such a game. Well done, Valve.

This. ThisThisThis.
And the 'maybe you played the game for an hour and didn't like it' from the excerpt.
Demo's are alive once more.
fraghopper Jun 2, 2015
Good-bye, Dead Island. It was nice playing for the three hours that you worked.
EKRboi Jun 3, 2015
Quoting: psychodriver
Quoting: scotsman9999
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: scotsman9999Now they just need a way to delete games from your library, refund or no (many games I regret buying and would just like to expel from my library, no refund expected)

Right click, set category, click the hide tickbox.

I know, but I'd prefer it more permanent.

You could locate the install directory under SteamApps, zip the directory up, and email it to the devs/publisher and tell them you're returning the product because it's defective?

LOLZ! If someone does this (and they should) PLEASE let us know how that goes ;)

As for the subject at hand, this is awesome! One of the major reasons devs/publishers have been getting away with the buggy crap they put out is because it has been nearly impossible much of the time to return their buggy crap.

First of all people shouldn't be pre-ordering in the first place IMO. With this policy now in place... if you are going to pre-order (for pre-order bonuses or whatever) make sure to do it and have enough time to test it when it comes out within that 14 day window. If the game is buggy, broken or whatever get a refund. Hit them where it hurts. It shouldn't take long to get the point across that they have to stop this crap. I would prefer a game be delayed and work than have the excitement of a new game installing and running the first time only be shattered by bugs and/or horrible optimization.
ProfessorKaos64 Jun 3, 2015
*Moves rock cave entrance aside* what...what...yearrr is it?
Quoting: HoriThe game must be purchased directly from Steam Store or can any activated key be refunded? What about gifts?

Normally, only direct purchases should be refunded.

Also can we get a refund if we buy a game that does not support Linux? There were cases when devs promised a Linux version and then they either canceled or postponed it (again and again).

This policy does not apply to gifted games that have been redeemed or games activated with steam keys. Direct purchases only.

And as long as you have less than 2 hours played and are within 14 days of purchase date you can return it but all else is lost. So if you bought a game and then found out the developers were cheaping out on Linux support AFTER the 14 days you're SOL.
pd12 Jun 3, 2015
With EU, Australian and other countries' consumer laws being breached/circumvented by Valve, it's about time =)
Ilya Jun 3, 2015
I think 2 hours is a bit too much time, they could've gone with 1. Apart from that it's great.
Belvar Jun 3, 2015
A time-based restriction is very unfair for the developers that makes short games. I'm thinking Gone Home, 140, visual novels... Plus, steam does not track play time when in offline mode.
I get why some people could want a refund system but I don't think that's an absolute necessity.
fabertawe Jun 3, 2015
Quoting: DrMcCoy
Quoting: kalinThere is nothing for abuse

Well, many games can be played without having Steam running. So you could, theoretically, buy the game, install it, copy the game data somewhere else, and then ask for a refund. You get your money back and keep playing the game outside of Steam. Of course, you'll lose features like cloud saves and achievement tracking, but you might not care about those.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I am not advocating that you do this. This would be illegal too.

It would be a shame if devs who previously didn't, now insist their games do have Steam running so as to protect themselves from this in some way. I'd still hope users are trusted and treated in good faith... maybe at least the Linux versions ;)
someone Jun 3, 2015
Quoting: EKRboiFirst of all people shouldn't be pre-ordering in the first place IMO. With this policy now in place... if you are going to pre-order (for pre-order bonuses or whatever) make sure to do it and have enough time to test it when it comes out within that 14 day window. If the game is buggy, broken or whatever get a refund. Hit them where it hurts. It shouldn't take long to get the point across that they have to stop this crap. I would prefer a game be delayed and work than have the excitement of a new game installing and running the first time only be shattered by bugs and/or horrible optimization.

From the policy:
Refunds on Pre-Purchased Titles
When you pre-purchase a title on Steam (and have paid for the title in advance), you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title. The standard 14-day/two-hour refund period also applies, starting on the game's release date.
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