Valve wastes my time & RMS visits Nottinghack
8 Message by Support Tech Arnold on Wed, 24th Aug 2011 7:34 pm
Hello Tony,
As with most software products, we do not offer refunds or exchanges on games, DLC or in-game items purchased on our website or through the Steam Client.
Please review Section 4 of the Steam Subscriber Agreement for more information.
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
We will make an exception and refund preorders as long as the request is received prior to the release of the game. This only applies to preorders purchased from your account, preordered titles received or sent through the Steam Trading system cannot be refunded.
Please provide an updated Msinfo32 report, showing the most recent changes to your system, so that we may diagnose this issue further.
9 Message by you on Thu, 25th Aug 2011 4:22 am
Arnold,
Welcome to the steep learning curve of international business.
In the UK, we have consumer protection laws, that US citizens do not. Whatever the clauses & terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement, they cannot remove my "statutory rights" as a UK citizen. Regardless where Valve & it's servers are located, if they perform transactions within the UK, with UK citizens, then they are legally required to abide by the laws of the land. e.g. The Sales of Goods Act 1979 (amended) http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/
Note also the Steam Subscriber agreement states
"C. Acceptance/Rejection/Returns
The terms of this Section 3.C do not apply to European Union consumers. You will have a period of thirty (30) days after the date of receipt of any Merchandise to examine the Merchandise to confirm that it conforms to this Agreement and the offer for such Merchandise presented to you at Steam. If the Merchandise does not conform to this Agreement and the offer for such Merchandise presented to you via Steam, you may reject the Merchandise by returning it to Valve (at your expense) along with a copy of the receipt or other proof of purchase. Additional policies and instructions for returning defective merchandise to Valve can be found at http://storehelp.valvesoftware.com. After Valve has received your valid return, Valve will, within a reasonable time and in Valve's sole discretion: repair the Merchandise, replace the Merchandise with an equivalent item, credit to the credit card used to pay for the product an amount equal to the value of the Merchandise (as determined by Valve in its reasonable discretion), or provide another remedy that Valve determines in good faith is appropriate in the circumstances. All claims whether based on contract, negligence, strict liability or otherwise are waived unless made in writing and received by Valve within thirty (30) days after your receipt of Merchandise."
as well as:
"14. APPLICABLE LAW/JURISDICTION
The terms of this section may not apply to European Union consumers."
I HAVE A RIGHT FOR REFUND. read that again... the RIGHT. Not at your discretion, not at your convenience. If you say no, you break the law & prosecution results.
I tried using the link supplied in the Steam Subscriber Agreement http://storehelp.valvesoftware.com but it redirected to https://cafe.steampowered.com/ with no links for refunds. Perhaps the Steam Subscriber Agreement is out of date? Regardless I clearly requested a refund on Tue, 16th Aug 2011 9:49 pm message as above, as this was my only method of doing so.
This was within the required 30 days from purchase, having given you opportunity to either repair the software or replace it with a working version. As you have done neither, and show no signs of doing so, you are legally obliged to provide a full & prompt refund.
I have attached ANOTHER updated ms32info report titled "valvewastingmytime.nfo" which I feel adequately conveys my feelings regarding this matter.
I have no confidence in your abilities to diagnose this issue, given that you & your colleague failed to:
Read my initial report.
Advised me to carry out steps I had already taken.
Realise that I was a UK CUSTOMER & the UK & EU laws apply.
So how about you pass this request for refund / ongoing complaint, up the food chain to someone else?
valvewastingmytime.nfo (File Size : 1.1 MB)
In other news, Richard Stallman visited Nottingham Hackspace last night. His talk had no new information for me, but was interesting to hear it from "the GNU's mouth" so to speak.
That said, his conduct and manners to the organisers and hosts left a lot to be desired...