Steam Support is a Load of Crap and I Need Help

[TheSprinkle]

Hello,

I'll start by saying I love the gaming part of Steam but for the love of god their support is really a load of crap. I wouldn't say are being rude but very difficult, frustrating and annoying. So the problem I'm having here is the Steam trading part, I was trading with a friend and we both had items in the trade box (I had a ★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked but can't remember what my friend put in, it's a Counter Strike Global Offensive item). So pretty much when we both ticked the box saying 'I'm happy with what I am trading' (something along those lines) and then obviously pressed 'Make Trade'. Now here's the interesting part, I got a Steam Trading Error along the lines of 'Steam has uncounted and unknown error' or 'Steam could not connect to the trading server'. The thing is my friend got an error to, so we went to do the trade again and my ★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked was not in my inventory and then was when I got confused. I checked my friends inventory and he did as well and nope, the knife was there, I then rechecked my inventory and still wasn't there. I will paste the Steam thread but take out my nickname for obvious reasons.

 

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The * is me taking out 'names' and 'links' for my privacy. 

 

TITLE: My ★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked | got deleted during trade.

 

Me: Hello, I wasn't too sure which category to select anyway, I was trading with a nice guy who's name is ********** (profile link http://steamcommunity.com/profile/*********************). So I was trading him my ★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked and he said he got a trade error and on my screen I got a this message, Trade Completed No new items acquired from *********. The ★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked is not in my inventory nor his but strangely enough it says I traded him my knife under my inventory history (My inventory history link http://steamcommunity.com/id/**********/inventoryhistory/) I will also supply a screen shot of my inventory history. I will highlight where is says I traded my knife. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and I hope to you from Steam Support soon.

 

Reply:  Hello *****,

 

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

 

We apologize for the delay.

 

As you have agreed upon the trade by confirming it multiple times, we will be unable to recover any items/gifts that have been traded.

 

Before accepting the trade, it is your responsibility to verify that contents of the trade are correct and that you are trading with the correct user. 

 

We will investigate this user and take appropriate action. Please note that you will not receive a notification about any action taken as a result of this report.

 

If you encounter a scammer in the future, please report them from their Steam Community profile. To do so, click the 'More' drop down, select 'Report Violation' and choose 'Attempted Trade Scam'.

 

Some examples of trades that you should not agree to are:

 

- Trading items/gifts for money/PayPal outside of the Steam Community Market

- Trading items/gifts for CD keys

- Trading items/gifts and expecting them to be returned to you through a verbal agreement

- Trading items/gifts for nothing in return in the first trade and expecting to get an item or gift in a later trade

 

For more information on our Steam Trading Policy please visit the following FAQ:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9958-MJDG-3003

 

Me: I don't think you understood this situation. The item was deleted during the trade neither my friend or me have it, I have read about it online and people have said it is the Steam servers. It was a fault on Steams part not mine therefore Steam will have to replace it as I bought it.

 

Me: I also did the transaction through Steam meaning I could not be scammed. ******** did not scam me and does not deserve a ban. You also stated that I confirmed the trade multiple times whereas that is not the case at all, it was one time and that one time I clicked make trade he did not receive the item so I checked my inventory and ********** inventory and we both didn't have it. It appears the fault is with Steam’s trading servers and it is reasonable for me to be compensated for this fault by a way of full refund for lost item, this type of fault has been reported by other users meaning there is an issue. I know for a fact that I did not get scammed as items don’t get deleted when making a trade. If I do not get compensated for the item Steam will be infringing on the Australian Consumer Rights.

 

I will look forward to a response soon,

 

******.

 

Reply: Hello *****,

 

Our records indicate the trade in question is valid and was completed successfully. There is no indication that there was a technical error associated with the trade. 

 

These lost items/gifts will not be returned. In the future, please be more careful when trading.

 

We will investigate this user and take appropriate action.

 

We will be unable to assist you further with this issue.

 

For more information on our Steam Trading Policy please visit the following FAQ:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9958-MJDG-3003

 

Follow the link below for more information on the Community Market:

http://steamcommunity.com/market/

 

Me: Hello,

I am not too sure what is being implied because as it stands I didn't get scammed. When I was going to do the trade with ********** we had all our items in the trade box ready to submit it, when we pressed 'make trade' we both got a Steam error saying 'could not make trade' (it was something along those lines). What I am not understanding is how my item (★ StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet | Urban Masked) got deleted, it's not in my inventory or ********** inventory meaning something odd has happened there. Usually when I get this message the trade will stop and not continue and I will have all my items I placed in the box back in my inventory, but in this case that did not happen. ********** did not scammed me, it is an error with the trade and have read it is a common issue Amongst a small group of people. To me that doesn't indicate that I was scammed or the trade was unfair it's simply something with the trade servers which is of course out of my control. ********** also told me that Steam gave him a 2 week trading ban, he did not scam me meaning he does not deserve it. I ask the Steam Support staff to read the message carefully as my item got DELETED and **********account was trade banned for 2 weeks under the impression of scamming me, whereas he didn't.

 

And then I got this reply,

 

Reply: Hello *****,

 

Unfortunately, we will be unable to assist you further with this issue.

 

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

 

 

I mean come on that reply just makes me angry.

 

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So as you can see Steam trade banned my friend for 2 weeks for no reason and won't answer my question, fix the situation or be helpful, all they have done is be difficult. 

 

Anyway the reason I am posting this is see if anyone else has come across this kind of issue with Steam and had this much difficulty with Steam Support. Is there anything I can do to get my knife back at all? Surely there must be since I paid for it, Steams server services have magically made my knife disappear. 

 

Well that's pretty much the dealio with Steam support, thank you to anyone who reply's as this really gets on my nerves.

 

Thanks.

 

UPDATE:

I replied to Steam's latest message basically stating I demand a refund for the item or a replacement, as they are conflicting with my Consumer Rights in Australia.

 

I will keep you guys up to date with the situation. Also Thank you to everyone that commented as I felt I wasn't alone, now I know that Steam Support is BS 

[Freaky_spider]

yes, ive had some bad experiences with them too

[Stephen Chou]

What a load of crap. I feel like you were answered by a bot.

Anyway, I've had trade errors, except before me and the other person could load anything into the trade slot. Did you ever try again to trade? Maybe you should try trading with some crappy items to see if it works. Maybe just a one day type of error.

[TheSprinkle]

Yeah we tried that with the sticker capsules and again it got magically deleted

[CCap]

This exact thing happened to a friend of mine's gut knife. He went to trade it with a friend to let him use it for a few games, and when he went to check his inventory for the knife, neither of them had it. 

 

It sucks, but sadly there isn't anything you can do to resolve the issue. gg valve

[TheSprinkle]

I love Valve but at the same time I hate them.

[Murdoch]

That's disgustingly condescending.

 

Steam kinda take the piss on that front. I wouldn't go anywhere near their items, or trades or anything like that. And the thought of having to use their support, no chance.

 

I very rarely buy anything directly from Steam tbh, unless it's on sale.

 

But it's a better client than Uplay / Origin. PC gaming is a mess though, I wish we could have different market places, but just one single client for launching and updating games. Then we might not be tied in to and have to accept such shitty customer service.

[nokturrduk84]

Yeah, Steam has bad support, but EA's support is great!

[TheSprinkle]

I know, Origins support is surprisingly good.

[Scionyde]

Yeah, Steam has bad support, but EA's support is great!

 

I don't know about that. They were utterly useless when I was trying to play Syndicate but it would never start up. I eventually had to search through old forum topics to find a workaround to get it to work.

 

That's just my one experience with them, though.

[TheSprinkle]

I really just don't get it, to me it seems Steam is breaching the Consumer Rights.

[Murdoch]

I really just don't get it, to me it seems Steam is breaching the Consumer Rights.

 

They play on the fact that Digital Goods tend to be a grey area in most countries outdated Consumer Rights laws.

 

Not offering refunds is pretty much a big two fingers up from Steam to each and every person that uses it.

[Jdogbf]

Do they have a phone number to call? I would try that.

[TheSprinkle]

Do they have a phone number to call? I would try that.

 

 

No, they have no phone number. Probably because they would get swarmed with 'When is HL3 coming out?'.

[Legion]

Steam support is shit. Sorry op but you aren't getting that item or refund

[TheSprinkle]

Steam support is shit. Sorry op but you aren't getting that item or refund

 

I know it's hopeless, with the context of the latest reply I sent to Steam I think I actually have a fair chance in either getting my item back or a refund.

[Almercenary]

It's known to be shit. I think they firstly just copy and paste that "sorry for the delay". Load of bullshit. EA's support is within 45 mins and they get problem's fixed ASAP. IF it's on their end, they admit it and say sorry. That's why I'm buying all my games on GOG nowadays if I can.

[TheSprinkle]

It's known to be shit. I think they firstly just copy and paste that "sorry for the delay". Load of bullshit. EA's support is within 45 mins and they get problem's fixed ASAP. IF it's on their end, they admit it and say sorry. That's why I'm buying all my games on GOG nowadays if I can.

 

Yeah, I am now buying my games from places like G2Play, G2A and GOG as well