Steam to offer refunds to EU customers for 14 day period

[HEXUS]

But this only applies to games you haven't installed and subsequently tried out.

Read more.

[shaithis]

They allow refunds but won't refund a broken game? Utterly useless.

[Hicks12]

Wait so as soon as you click install you waive your right? Seems absolutely stupid and limited.

I may download a game then INSTALL IT LATER, valve knows this (steam does runtime setups) so it seems silly to force it with regards to just clicking install now (which is steams download...). Also this should really effect installed games, give 14 days for non downloaded/installed games but maybe an hour or two for installed ones that seems fair.

Only thing I hate about steam is the pricing of everything and the inability to sell/trade games, I miss those days! I only buy my keys from the likes of greenman gaming where its much much cheaper than steam for the same code

[Syphadeus]

Maybe I read this incorrectly, but it seems to be a useless clause, put into satisfy European law but that, in effect, is just a piece of legal waffle.

I am entitled to a no questions asked refund for a period of 14 days, provided I do not download and install the product. Downloading and installing digital content with immediate effect is one of, if not the only, benefit or advance of digital e-commerce. The only protection this effectively adds is for customers who accidentally buy something and then decide, before using it, they don't want it.

The very fact that this new clause has been implemented is insulting. I'm not surprised they've done it on the quiet as it highlights Valve's attitude toward their customers. They will stick to the very edge of the letter of the law and will offer no guarantees or assurances regards the quality of the products they offer and make profit on.

[Brian224]

"You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, we may terminate your access to your Account."

Steam operate at least three pricing areas in the EU (GBP, Euro Tier 1 and Euro Tier 2) and these are not always the same price. Could this fall foul of regulations on the free movement of goods?

[zombie02]

If you can install it then you can finish it in 2 weeks and then ask for a refund.

[kalniel]

If you can install it then you can finish it in 2 weeks and then ask for a refund.

True, though they could probably track progress too I'd have through (they do for achievements) so they could add a trial clause in there somewhere.

[ET3D]

Seems a bit useless, but not completely. Could be of use for people who buy a game, don't install it immediately, and soon thereafter it's discounted or appears in a bundle. That's not an uncommon problem.

True, though they could probably track progress too I'd have through (they do for achievements) so they could add a trial clause in there somewhere.

You can play offline and your game will not be tracked.

[kalniel]

You can play offline and your game will not be tracked.

Then make 'trials' dependant on tracking.

[Chadders87]

Steam operate at least three pricing areas in the EU (GBP, Euro Tier 1 and Euro Tier 2) and these are not always the same price. Could this fall foul of regulations on the free movement of goods?

Point. The EU is a trade union setup to enable free trade within the union, as such anything you purchase in one member country can legally be transferred to any other member country. Valve may not highlight the fact but they do allow you to buy elsewhere in the union.

I just bought Cities Skylines from GamesPlanet (France) for £17... £6 less than UK priceing.

[cjs150]

"Maybe I read this incorrectly, but it seems to be a useless clause, put into satisfy European law "

Yes, that is exactly why it is included - EU Directive on distance selling

[MrRockliffe]

Or do how EA do it. I believe they give you 48 hours once you've started the game.

[Medallish]

Once again it seems Origin offers the better service here compared to Steam, and that's frightening! Origins refund policy is 1 week after purchase, or 24 hours after the game has been run.

Sure 2 weeks might be better than one, but atleast you can run the game.

[watercooled]

Agreed this seems completely stupid. I've bought more than a few games on Steam only to find out they're horrible, barely-functional ports and there's not a whole lot you can do about it unless there's some community mod to fix it.

Origin's way is much better - at least you get to try the game out before knowing if you want to refund it.

I'm really not a fan of Steam and as I've said before, it seems to get a lot of biased defence on points where alternatives are criticised. Its DRM is especially terrible; I've lost count of the amount of times we've been kicked off games without warning because Valve messed something up on their end, there's no reliance on their servers for the game itself but because the DRM treats everyone as a thief by default it panics when it loses a solid connection.

And then there's Steam cloud which has corrupted and/or overwritten a fair number of saves (luckily I keep my own local backups too) - it seems completely laughable to have a backup/sync system where it fails in its ability to restore saves properly and will happily overwrite the single 'cloud' copy with a corrupted one.

Yeah, I'm no Steam fanboy if you couldn't tell...

[Syphadeus]

It may satisfy the EU Directive but I doubt that it would hold up if it was scrutinised. By stipulating that the right to a refund is waived the very moment the customer elects to download and install the product, the spirit and intention of the EU Directive is broken. What this is is legal smoke being blown up backsides to conform to a bare minimum standard and which satisfies a rule on paper only, while spitting in the face of the consumers that the Directive is meant to be oriented toward.

[jimbouk]

Whilst not exactly generous, is this not a sensible implementation of the (former) Distance Selling Regulation / (now) Consumer Contracts Regulations?

If you walk into a shop and buy a game you can read the packaging, you can't open it and try it first. If you buy a game digitally or physically from an e-tailer then why would you expect more rights?

In fact from http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-righ...ts-regulations:

If you want to download digital content within the 14 day cancellation period you must agree to waive your cancellation rights

(non-summary: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...lation/37/made)

For goods not fit for purpose, etc then we're onto the Sale of Goods. Anyone here made the effort of trying to take Steam to court?