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A lot of publications are reporting this morning that Valve just made it possible for everyone to receive refunds on games they don't like within a 14 day period of purchase. If true, that would be great and would show a real about turn from the company that has been taken to court in some countries over its lack of after-purchase support, but it's not the case. Instead, the updated subscriber agreement is actually designed to waive EU rights to a 14 day returns policy.
The bit of the new agreement – spotted by Redditor Punkun – that everyone is getting so excited about is the following:
“If you are an EU subscriber, you have the right to withdraw from a purchase transaction for digital content without charge and without giving any reason for a duration of fourteen days or until Valve’s performance of its obligations has begun with your prior express consent and your acknowledgment that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal, whichever happens sooner. Therefore, you will be informed during the checkout process when our performance starts and asked to provide your prior express content to the purchase being final.”
That all sounds fine and dandy, until you pick out the part that says “until Valve's performance of its obligations has begun.” In the real world, this would translate to ‘no-refunds if you used it,' but in the digital world, this obligation could begin as soon as you've finished paying for the product. While this agreement doesn't expressly say that that will happen – leaving the language ambiguous enough that you could think it takes place as the download begins, or once you begin playing – the text during an actual purchase makes it much clearer.
Attempting to buy a game on Steam within the EU at the moment gives the following message:
“By clicking “Purchase” you agree that Valve provides you immediate access to digital content as soon as you complete your purchase, without waiting the 14-day withdrawal period. Therefore, you expressly waive your right to withdraw from this purchase. ”
EU law for the right to withdrawal for digital content currently gives anyone the right to receive a refund as long as they haven't downloaded or streamed the product. This is to stop people abusing a law that was designed to protect people shopping online. What Valve's updated subscriber agreement does is do away with even that, making the purchase itself the line that when crossed, no refunds will be given.
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KitGuru Says: In short, don't expect Valve to give anyone refunds any time soon. However, it would be interesting to see how this stood up in court, as Valve appears to be sidestepping EU law with its new agreement.
Simple really, don’t pre-order ever…
This drives home the fact that once you pay you have to accept what you are given. Even if it turns out to be marketing lies (woops I mean “departmental miscommunication with Marketing”).
I was excited for Cities: Skylines, it looked like a great game. But I waited a week post release and saw that it was everything it claimed to be. I made my purchase and I am very satisfied with it.
Patience and common sense will save you a lot of money and grief!
Nice try Valve but sadly for you people cannot actually waive statutory rights (at least not in the EU anyway).
Common sense is never as common as it claims.
Actually that means if you are given the green light by the actual developer/publisher, I guess you can refund the game. But I guess Steam alone won’t do any refunds. Good move by V0lvo .
Valve blatently flaunting the laws and attempts to get them to play ball. Makes me glad I’m going the Kinguin/G2A route these days. They need knocking off their pedestal.
I’ll be preordering Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain on the PS4 this year. First preordered game I’ll have done in about 7 years. The Collectors Edition no less, which is again 7 years since the last time I did that.
I have 100% faith in that game being amazing. The rest? There are amazing looking games that simply fall short.
I disagree 100% with preordering, but MGS is one exception to this.
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It’s a lesson most people should have learned years ago. Especially now with all the post-release DLC, that is later bundled in a GOTY edition or what not, you have to be slightly mental to pre-order a game or pay for it upon release.
And if you can’t even get a refund, well, that’s all the more reason not to buy at full price at launch time.
Sure, I’ll click this link, get a virus or scammed. That’s what I’ll do.
LOL I just wanted to point out how coincidental this is. Davidyell says common sense is not so common, and then you the bot post something entirely meant to prey on this absence of common sense.
Sale Of Goods Act and Provision Of Goods and Services Act. LEARN THEM.
(UK Statute Law, backed by EU Statute as per the article above). ANY attempt to deceive, deny or punish customers for
using these legal rights to minimum service is a CRIMINAL OFFENCE
(illegal, as opposed to a civil breach of contract). Try it, and feel
the power. Most fools buying this stuff are ignorant scum dragging-down
standards for everyone who DOES know their rights, so making it harder
to get our due, when, e.g. the game doesn’t launch due to a massive bug
(a bug is a defect in the product and legally, that’s a reason to force a
refund, as it’s not up to the consumer to tolerate bugs, it is merely a
COURTESY by the consumer if they CHOOSE to tolerate them). Just because
it’s code, doesn’t make it a special exception, and just because you
signed a EULA, doesn’t make it a special exception. If they took YOU to
court, under the EULA, for standing up for your rights, don’t be scared –
they’d be committing a criminal offence and producing evidence against
themselves just by putting the case forward!
FAR too much ignorance about the law. Use your rights or lose them, idiots!
No, actually that means that if you can prove there is a fault in the product, that you’re competent to prove in court is a FAULT (not a bug, not a mis-configuration by yourself of your own system etc), then you are both entitled to a refund and can win in court, so need to tell Valve / Steam this. EULA means nothing (and includes language stating “this does not breach your statutory rights” – why do all EULAs contain this? Because denying your statutory rights is a CRIMINAL offence, and they’re covering themselves. Play them at their own legal game.
BTW this dons’t mean if oyu pre-order a game u can’t get a refund.. Valve always issues a refund for preorder up untill the time its been released… Account > find pre-order game… click refund.. done….
this just enforces what ever one has known ever since digital content been a buyble means… there not refunds on digital goods period unless stated by law (IE project was miss advertised, fraud, dose not work as described ect ) (that doesn’t mean if your rig can’t run it; doesn’t mean it dose not work as intended ether… It just means for some reason it dose not work on your current setup… Could be a crap load of reason and most the time its not developers of the product ether
Easy solution to this that won’t breach any laws. Mandatory demos for all games. People get to try before they buy. If they forego the demo then Valve can wipe their hands of it.
Nor it makes much sense.