Steam Account Suspension Rant

[BadKharma]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forums and made this account to speak my mind about something that has been nagging me during the last couple of days.

As it says in the title of this thread my Steam Account has been banned. The reason that was given to me was that a transaction I made on my Steam acc through Paypal was disputed for reasons unknown to me and this led to a chargeback to my account. Steam support seems to be unwilling to help me in any sort of way because they supposedly have a "zero-tolerance policy" when "fraud" is concerned even if there is no fraud in play. Strangely enough there is no mention of this practice in the Steam Subscriber Agreement. I searched for similar cases on the Steam forums and there are quite a few that are similar to mine and nearly all of these people didn't get their accounts back. I always thought that Steam/ Valve were okay but this whole account suspension thing has opened my eyes.

My tip to everyone, don't use Paypal on Steam! If there is ever a problem with the transaction your account will get banned and you probably won't get it back. Steam are a bunch of scumbags who don't give a damn about any of us gamers. I know I certainly won't buy anything from them anymore.
I lost an account worth hundreds of euros for a negligible 7 euros, so be warned.

And to all Steam fanboys, please keep your opinions to yourself. You can glorify them as much as you want, but they're still a horrible and apathetic corporation that doesn't care about any of its customers. /endofrant

If you made it this far down the post I thank you for your attention and wish you a good day.

BadKharma

[Nalano]

What have you done to contact Valve?

E-mail? Phone?

I ask because I've noticed a far more conciliatory relation through voice than through textual mediums.

[Smashbox]

Steam are a bunch of scumbags who don't give a damn about any of us gamers.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

[soldant]

Assuming there's truth to this, it probably stands as a valid counterpoint to "Steam never does anything wrong" which permeates these forums. Banning the entire account due to a disputed transaction seems sort of overkill, but you should still try to find out the reason why it was disputed.

[BadKharma]

What have you done to contact Valve?

E-mail? Phone?

I ask because I've noticed a far more conciliatory relation through voice than through textual mediums.

I have written several emails and not received a single helpful reply to my problem. Since I live in Europe I am not sure where to reach Steam support on the phone. Couldn't find a number, that wasn't located in America, anywhere.

[BadKharma]

Assuming there's truth to this, it probably stands as a valid counterpoint to "Steam never does anything wrong" which permeates these forums. Banning the entire account due to a disputed transaction seems sort of overkill, but you should still try to find out the reason why it was disputed.

I have contacted both Steam support and Paypal, but since my account was only banned when the dispute was already closed, I didn't have any way to prevent the suspension. I didn't receive an email from Steam, warning me of the possibility of a ban, or an email from Paypal, that they wanted to start a dispute, either.

[BadKharma]

I strongly disagree with this statement.

Easy to disagree if you don't bring counter-arguments, isn't it? :)

[BadKharma]

By the way, here's the link to a post on the steam forums by a guy who has the same problem: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2013440

[Drake Sigar]

Bad - I promise I'll be more sympathetic to your plight if you stop beginning the word 'dispute' with a capital letter every time.

Edit: Thanks!

I strongly disagree with this statement.

Smash, have you changed your avatar slightly? I don't like change. :/

[Nalano]

Couldn't find a number, that wasn't located in America, anywhere.

Nor can I. The only number I can find is 425-889-9642, which is their headquarters in Washington state.

I wish you the best of luck in getting this resolved. Clearly they need better service in the UK and the EU.

[BadKharma]

Yeah, that's the number I found as well, but thanks for looking. I can completely agree with the last statement.

[Smashbox]

Easy to disagree if you don't bring counter-arguments, isn't it? :)

I feel like the burden of proof that they're all scumbags who don't care about any game players may fall to you. But since you asked: Steam may have some anecdotal problems with customer support and partner relations, and I don't think they can do no wrong (nor do I realistically think that's an opinion permeating the forums) but they do make an effort to provide a better service than many similar companies.

Smash, have you changed your avatar slightly? I don't like change. :/

Yes, Medusa's wearing a Skyrimish helmet to up her armor rating. For now.

[Mistabashi]

Just to be sure, what method did you use to contact Steam about this? Did you raise a support ticket or send emails to somewhere? If the latter, what email address did you send it to? I would always recommend using the support ticket system as you are guaranteed that your message goes to the right person, but if that isn't getting you anywhere you can always try emailling gaben@valvesoftware.com, he does seem to take the time to read most things people send him.

[BadKharma]

I wrote several steam support tickets through the link that it gave to me when I tried to log-in to my account. When I got an answer I would reply to them through the ticket and the email directly. Thanks Mistabashi, I might give that a try.

[BadKharma]

I feel like the burden of proof that they're all scumbags who don't care about any game players may fall to you. But since you asked: Steam may have some anecdotal problems with customer support and partner relations, and I don't think they can do no wrong (nor do I realistically think that's an opinion permeating the forums) but they do make an effort to provide a better service than many similar companies.

A few weeks or so ago I would have completely agreed with you, but I have never been treated this indifferently by online support before. They seem like they really don't care about my problem and don't really try to fix it. The generalisation might have been a little overexaggerated but the steam support tickets I've received back so far gave me that impression.

[JamesG]

You're not alone with this problem, and its one of the reasons I stopped using Paypal with steam. Generally if you push things enough the solution tends to be giving you a 'grace period' in which you must re-purchase whatever it was that caused the problem in the first place. Hardly an ideal solution if that item was purchased as part of a daily deal. (Also, I strongly recommend avoiding Paypal on the second attempt if you can. If the problem re-occurs you are in substantially more trouble.)

[BadKharma]

Thank you very much James, I guess I'll keep pushing them nicely then :) Should they re-activate my account I'll be sure not to use Paypal again.

[SirKicksalot]

You know, for all the hate they get, EA has stellar support for Origin.

I make all my Steam purchases using Steam Wallet. It's just safer to stash a lot of money there and slowly draining it than risking credit card or PayPal SNAFUs. I'm European so I only buy stuff during sales anyway. As a bonus, Steam Wallet transactions work even during the big sales when credit cards are rejected all the time.

[vinraith]

I ask because I've noticed a far more conciliatory relation through voice than through textual mediums.

That is a very useful thing to know, thanks Nalano.

@BadKarma

Best of luck in getting this resolved quickly and fairly. This stuff happens far too often, and Valve support isn't what you'd call sympathetic.

[Nalano]

That is a very useful thing to know, thanks Nalano.

It's usually because they take your calling as proof that you're you. It's also legal proof that you've attempted to contact them.