"I hate it. They make it incredibly difficult and time consuming for regular users to buy or sell on the market, despite the fact that statistics show their ridiculous measures to prevent thievery don't help at all.
Half the games i play that regularly update have to be started and shut down several times to get the update pushed- when i open DOTA 2, it tells me to restart for an update. Steam says there's no update. I open it again. Tells me to update. Steam still cannot find or push me an update. It takes at least 3 tries, every time.
The reason I'm reviewing today is that I went to purchase about $40 worth of games and had an error in processing. I have almost $100 on my steam wallet so it's not like a card being declined or something, the money is already on there. The error message said to try again in a few minutes so i tried it every 3 to five minutes for a good 20 minutes while playing something else. Finally that message clears and the payment processes... and then i get the message that I have tried too many times to make a purchase, and I'm being blocked. They already took my money for the purchase, and now I don't have my games. WTF?"
"I did not read the other reviews so as not to bias my view.
I have had too many encounters with Steam to remember. Steam support reminds me of the Combine, and for those that played HL2, know what I mean. Their follow-through after purchase of their products is almost nil. That is, if you can get past the standard blame on yourself or your computer.
I retired and love playing games, but I now refuse, even if they are the greatest game out the, to have anything to do with Steam/Valve any longer. It is a frustrating, with lots of grief to get support or, even having paid for the products (4 times for me), and receive a note of thanks and that's it.
"
"Steam is like the Jesus of PC gaming, 'Nuf said."
"Steam is good service for online buying of games, i really like how it works. I dont have any problems with it, i had read everything before buying something in the store, great services but not a lot of great deals everyday."
"Totally agree with all previous comments that this is the worst customer service ever invented. First you account gets hacked, you report as they indicate and then nothing happens for almost 6 weeks now. Good in features and nice to use but when something goes wrong you are totally ******. "
"THE ABSOLUTE WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! Time Warner Cable sucks as well! Never again! Quick to take your money but FAIL TO FIX ANYTHING!!! "
"Steam/ Valve Corporation is a company you are forced to go through to play the Train Simulator games. I bought a copy of "Train Simulator 2012" over a year ago and have thus far been unable to download it thanks to Steam/Valve Corporation. Attempts to straighten out the problem with their "Support Team" are met with 'form replies' or in other words 'canned responses'. Repeated requests for help are fielded by them with a repeated circle of 'Canned Responses'. ALL THEY CAN DO is send Canned Responses and uselessly change a password occasionally. Steam has now sent me an email REFUSING ANY MORE HELP ON MY MATTER. Steam has a monopoly on computer gaming and needs to be BROUGHT DOWN! I thought there were anti-trust laws in place in this country. They (Steam) couldn't care less if I ever play my game that I spent hard earned money on. I would rate this company negative 25 stars - but I am forced to rate it 1 star here. This company of STUFFED SHIRTS needs to go back to College and take Ethics 101. - - - read the complaints against them on the Better Business Bureau website: http://www.bbb.org/alaskaoregonwesternwashington/business-reviews/computer-software-publishers-and-developers/valve-corporation-in-bellevue-wa-27030704/complaints "
"This is a company of criminals that target customers and hack computers, they slow down download speeds to harass you, have no customer support and violate numerous laws, preventing the sale and trade of the products you buy... they are an evil monopoly that should be destroyed by any means necessary. any employee ought to be slaughtered."
"Their automated password reset did not work and it took them 7 days for customer service to manually reset it. Very frustrating as I have over 150 games and spent thousands on them.
When my account got hijacked, I knew I was in for some serious trouble. It is now SIXTEEN DAYS and they have not even replied to my properly submitted requests for help. I have followed up with six more emails, which contained information that proves I am the owner. I have repeatedly asked what other information could possibly be needed.
I have no idea when this will be resolved, but I am now using Origin, Uplay and GoG as platforms for gaming. I will reluctantly use Steam, but for anyone reading this... PLEASE use another platform other than steam! They don't deserve your money and they don't care about their customers."
"Valves steam service is the worst customer service experience I have ever had!
This is the email I sent them regarding the problem I was having:
"I cannot login to your website. I've created an account confirmed my email but I still can't login. I change my password and enter the funny letters and numbers and it all verify correctly but I still can't login. I've downloaded your software and it's all working fine but I can't login. Every time I try to log in I end up stuck in an endless cycle. I made a purchase of $45.10 the product was life is feudal. Only hours after the purchase I had to claim Fraud through PayPal to have my purchase refunded to me because I cannot contact you to have this problem fixed. Because I can't fix the problem I have no access to the products I purchased. Claiming fraud was easy because there is no phone number to contact you. Having no phone number to contact you is very very bad customer service it's shameful. Also I have a learning disability so the written word is exceptionally difficult for me I had to get help with this email. If there was simply someone to talk to this problem would've been fixed so quickly. Your customer service ratings would be very high which means you would be making more money in case you were unaware of that."
I have received no response.
TIP:
Did you know that you can claim purchase from steam as fraud! I did. Paypal refunded me because they couldn't get in contact with steam service either. The first clue of fraud that causes reflags to go off is the inability to contact the company personally.
If you paid with paypal call them and dispute your purchase as fraudulent because "you are not receiving services paid for."
They only get one star because I can't give negative ones.
Valves steam service should be black listed and shut down forever."
"Lousiest excuse of a company I've ever had the misfortune of doing business with. Game doesn't work, have repeatedly tried to troubleshoot with tech support only to be told that I didn't do any so they refuse to help me. Asked for a refund for a non-working game, all I wanted was a working game. It doesn't work and they refuse to refund the purchase price. As a tech support/service representative myself, if I treated my customers the way Steam has treated me, I would be fired and blackballed from the industry. Did I lose my temper today after their most recent accusatory, asinine, lying robotic form email? You bet your bippy I did, after a month of their crappy, non-existent "service" I was pounding on my keyboard in all caps.
The only reason they're getting one crappy star is because I'm not allowed to give negative stars. "
"Worse Ever! Purchased Steam App (Garrys MOD)for my son. Could not download, could not contact customer service. In the end we created a different account and tried download again, after paying again. I never was able to contact customer service for refund on first purchase, so still am attempting refund through pay pal as Steam would not refund. Steam also now will not allow 2nd purchase to download as they want me to withdraw dispute for first download which did not download or work. In addition, while trying to download, came up with 7 different malware virus's trying to take over my computer. Now I have paid for 2 downloads for a game, have not received any, and spent hours trying to rid computer of viruses and finally had to totally reset the computer. "
"During the H1Z1 refund phase, I got a refund of 39.99 to my steam wallet, which I then spent to buy Life is Feudal, played the game for a day liked it, come back next day game says purchase instead of play, no money back in my wallet or in my paypal, wrote support been over a week now no reply, This is the reason why people pirate games why buy them and get treated like trash when you can just pirate it and never have to deal with the middle man, thank you valve for turning a honest person into a pirate. "
"Seems like all the bad reviews of Steam stem from either A) I can't get a refund on my digital purchase or B) I can't get a refund because this game doesn't work.
First off, no one refunds digital purchases or opened software. It's the nature of software. Why allow someone to install your goods then accept a refund and hope in good faith they delete the said.
Second, if someone is wrong with the software, or an update breaks it, or the servers go offline, then it is the software creator's responsibility, not Steam's, to fix it. Steam is simply a platform.
That said, Steam is wonderful. Games I purchase are always with me, no matter how many times I wipe my drive, or upgrade. They're ready to download. Steam provides access to tons of games I'd have never even known of before, namely the amazing gem I picked up over the holiday sale, The Long Dark.
For the gaming community, Steam has provided more than anyone else. They allow for some indie developers to get exposure, where they wouldn't have other wise. Greenlight allows for gamers to chose which projects get moved forwards, and provides a central platform for community feedback. Rather than registering at 15-20 different sites and forums, then trying to convince friends to sign up there, I use the community hub.
Steam Workshop is an amazing place for modders and mod lovers alike, at times excelling above main-stays such as the nexus and moddb.
Price wise.. you just can't beat it. Keep an eye out for sales and you can cut your gaming budget by as much as %75! Yes, you still pay full price for new games, but give it time and you get huge savings. Just picked up a 2-pack of 7 Days to Die for me and a friend for $19.99, that's less than half the price for one copy!
Add in the other amazing features, like in-game hud access to community, browers, guides and chat, along with freind's lists that allow chatting, direct voice chat and group voice chat and the even more amazing "join Game" feature (which allows you to log directly into the game or server your friends are on) and you have a gaming platform that I for one couldn't imagine living without!"
"Steam ignores my question about wrong information on their store page by answering they don't do refunds. In addition they tell me: "You will receive no further correspondence regarding this matter."
And just like that, I have no answer to my question. Every inquiry since has been ignored.
Steam is a great platform but their customer service is Godawful..."