Steam Refunds - Do they actually stop refunding after so many?

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Stev3FrencH

Limp Gawd
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I am wondering if anyone has experienced this. I have refunding a few games, more than steam wants me to apparently based on their last refund email they sent me stating that the refund service is not meant for trying games. Do they actually stop refunding at some point or another, or is it just to scare people into not refunding? It can be pretty hard to not refund a a good amount of games when there is so much "crap" on steam that just isn't finished or is not what the description leads on to.
 
Be an educated consumer and go outside of Steam to research the product. Going by what is written on the description page is like taking a product off the shelf and reading the packaging - it's for marketing purposes only. Check out reviews for the games and watch YouTube gameplay videos to see if its something you should buy. No reason to abuse the refund system just like any other store. I've only requested a refund for one game ever, and that was No Man's Sky which I mistakenly went out on a whim and preordered.
 
I get why refunding can be denied and why we should not, I am just wondering if anyone has actually been denied by steam/valve a refund. I do appreciate all the insight an completely agree a demo system or try then buy model should be adopted. To many crappy games out there on steam these days.
 
I think before buying it's a good idea to watch "Let's play" style video's on YouTube. You should be able to decide based on that if you think the game is good.
 
Stev3FrencH said:
I am wondering if anyone has experienced this. I have refunding a few games, more than steam wants me to apparently based on their last refund email they sent me stating that the refund service is not meant for trying games. Do they actually stop refunding at some point or another, or is it just to scare people into not refunding? It can be pretty hard to not refund a a good amount of games when there is so much "crap" on steam that just isn't finished or is not what the description leads on to.
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Sounds like you're an impulse buyer who needs to do more research on what you're purchasing. I've only refunded one game since Steam started doing them, and that was Homefront: The Revolution because it constantly crashed on my PC.
 
To directly answer your question; Yes, they can and will block your account from refunds if you abuse it.

To fix the problem, as others have stated, spend some time on finding out if the game you are buying is something you want to support. Not just play, support. Also, no one should EVER refund an early access game! You should know FULL WELL what you are getting into with those.

Best of luck.
 
Armenius said:
Sounds like you're an impulse buyer who needs to do more research on what you're purchasing. I've only refunded one game since Steam started doing them, and that was Homefront: The Revolution because it constantly crashed on my PC.
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I have refunded a total of 3 games in the last 2 months, which is a lot I suppose, yes. Since the refund system was introduced I had refunded one other game, which was NMS. I just had never heard them denying refunds though and with the way people talk about refunding games on places like Reddit, I figured it was something many others do all the time, for more than myself. I just was more curious at what point do they start denying refunds and if anyone had hit that point yet.
 
I remember the big time era for free demos back around 2000. And I think it ended around 2005 or 2006 maybe. Now it's wading through gameplay videos and forum comments to make buying decisions for me. I should apply for more free betas I guess.

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the easiest way for steam to prevent this and make a shit tonne of ppl happy would be a four hour trial then purchase option. that got me to buy sw:battlefront on origin. I don't imagine it would be that hard to implement, add a try button to the site and it already keeps track of play time. 4 hours hits, game gets disabled and only purchase options become available. this could actually increase sales of games that people tried but didn't like enough to buy at full price so they shelve it and forget it. now when it goes on sale steam could pop up and tell you "its on sale wanna try it now?" kinda thing. someone might go "hey yeah id pay $20 for it", clicks buy. again, this is exactly why I bought SW:B ult ed. I was in its beta and liked it. game came out and I was like "holy shit I'm not paying $80+!! for MP only". they put up the 4 hour trial, I used that up quick and "still not worth $60". then origin popped up when it was on sale a couple months ago and I bit for $20.
 
pendragon1 said:
the easiest way for steam to prevent this and make a shit tonne of ppl happy would be a four hour trial then purchase option. add a try button to the site and it already keeps track of play time.
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It's not a matter of Valve adding a button. It's a matter of the publisher being the decisionmaker on something like that. Same with DRM: it is the publisher - not Valve - who decides whether to toggle DRM on or off when they make a title available on Steam.

And most publishers aren't interested in devaluing their game with 4hrs free playtime.

What EA does with Origin is a different ballgame since they own the titles and they're a little more desperate to generate interest for their marketplace.
 
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I've done a number of refunds, but I only played one of the games. The rest I had not activated yet and they sat in my inventory. I imagine they are more lenient with those.

DPI said:
What EA does with Origin is a different ballgame since they own the titles and they're a little more desperate to generate interest for their marketplace.
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And that competition was sorely needed. Origin implemented features we've been asking Valve for the last 5-7 years, while all they were doing is implement fluff and more ways to milk 12 year old kids with hats and social features. I hate having a lot of clients, but I am glad Origin brought some needed competition to Valve.
 
pendragon1 said:
the easiest way for steam to prevent this and make a shit tonne of ppl happy would be a four hour trial then purchase option. that got me to buy sw:battlefront on origin. I don't imagine it would be that hard to implement, add a try button to the site and it already keeps track of play time. 4 hours hits, game gets disabled and only purchase options become available. this could actually increase sales of games that people tried but didn't like enough to buy at full price so they shelve it and forget it. now when it goes on sale steam could pop up and tell you "its on sale wanna try it now?" kinda thing. someone might go "hey yeah id pay $20 for it", clicks buy. again, this is exactly why I bought SW:B ult ed. I was in its beta and liked it. game came out and I was like "holy shit I'm not paying $80+!! for MP only". they put up the 4 hour trial, I used that up quick and "still not worth $60". then origin popped up when it was on sale a couple months ago and I bit for $20.
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Sony did this on the Playstation Store for PS+ members in the PS3 era. I don't know if they do it anymore, though. I think they gave you 10 hours to play the full game before you had to buy it to keep it, so only certain games would be made available in this try before you buy incentive.
 
some games are 3 hours long or less.... so that would not work for everything.
 
Stev3FrencH said:
I get why refunding can be denied and why we should not, I am just wondering if anyone has actually been denied by steam/valve a refund. I do appreciate all the insight an completely agree a demo system or try then buy model should be adopted. To many crappy games out there on steam these days.
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Personally I've only gotten denied for missing the 3 week window. I got suckered into buying an Adventure game during the winter sale that got pretty good reviews, but by the time I got around to checking it out it was a poorly Optimized POS. They rejected it saying the window on returns was 3 weeks I believe. I've only returned a couple things.
 
The message is a default message. I ignore it. I refund the vast majority of the games that I buy. I refund to my Steam Wallet, so it's not like they lose out on processing the transaction.
 
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