Steam locked my account after I got money they stole from me back

[Kpeckham]

During the summer I bought a $20 game on steam I was charged then and paid for it. On August 20th steam charged me again for what I had already paid for. I was about to fight the charge through my bank when I remembered that steam will lock your account if you attempt to dispute one of their charges. So I went through Steam Support, they said it was a double charge and it should be refunded after ten business days. This happened on the 22nd of August so I waited until this Monday to contact them and tell them that since they had not refunded me I was going through my bank to dispute this charge. The steam support guy said "We have forwarded your double charge inquiry to the payment provider of the transaction.We will update your ticket once we have more information" so I thought since he was sending it to my bank i could dispute from there and get this over with. I was refunded my money yesterday and today I got a message on my steam account that says "This content has been removed from your account because the payment was revoked. This account will be restricted for 9 weeks (until Nov 9). If the dispute is reversed by your payment provider, this restriction will be lifted and the content will be returned to your account." So I sent another message to steam asking to remove this lock on my account and have yet to receive a response. It is after hours so I will update this when Steam messages me back. I had to write this because I was wondering if any of you have had similar experiences. So Steam took my money without my permission and are holding my account for ransom until I give them $20. What should I do next? 

[Kpeckham]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section

[Rolfejc]

Steam has terrible support. I haven't had an experience like this but it sounds like a pain. 

[AresKrieger]

Well I don't use steam due to crap like that, even origin is better a customer service (plus they give you free games)

 

What was the game anyway, and do you have a lot of games on steam?

[Kpeckham]

Just now, Rolfejc said:

Steam has terrible support. I haven't had an experience like this but it sounds like a pain. 

It is and as a fifteen year old the $20 plus a $15 overdraft fee (I don't like to keep money in my checking account) isn't really something I could ignore and not spend so much time trying to get it back

[79wjd]

You learn a valuable lesson called patience. There was no reason to contact your cc company as Valve would have just cancelled the payment. Now, Valve cancelled the second payment and you likely cancelled the first payment. 

 

Contact Steam support, tell them there was some confusion and you contact the cc company and be PATIENT. 

[Kpeckham]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

You learn a valuable lesson called patience. There was no reason to contact your cc company as Valve would have just cancelled the payment. Now, Valve cancelled the second payment and you likely cancelled the first payment. 

 

Contact Steam support, tell them there was a mixup with your bank and be PATIENT. 

I cancelled the second payment that was made this month not the older one from July thank you for your advice

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Kpeckham said:

During the summer I bought a $20 game on steam I was charged then and paid for it. On August 20th steam charged me again for what I had already paid for. I was about to fight the charge through my bank when I remembered that steam will lock your account if you attempt to dispute one of their charges. So I went through Steam Support, they said it was a double charge and it should be refunded after ten business days. This happened on the 22nd of August so I waited until this Monday to contact them and tell them that since they had not refunded me I was going through my bank to dispute this charge. The steam support guy said "We have forwarded your double charge inquiry to the payment provider of the transaction.We will update your ticket once we have more information" so I thought since he was sending it to my bank i could dispute from there and get this over with. I was refunded my money yesterday and today I got a message on my steam account that says "This content has been removed from your account because the payment was revoked. This account will be restricted for 9 weeks (until Nov 9). If the dispute is reversed by your payment provider, this restriction will be lifted and the content will be returned to your account." So I sent another message to steam asking to remove this lock on my account and have yet to receive a response. It is after hours so I will update this when Steam messages me back. I had to write this because I was wondering if any of you have had similar experiences. So Steam took my money without my permission and are holding my account for ransom until I give them $20. What should I do next? 

You should listen to Valve when they tell you "disputes will get your account locked".

 

When they said they would forward the double charge inquiry to the payment provider, they mean THEIR PAYMENT PROVIDER - eg the company (Either their bank, or the merchant payment provider like Moneris, etc) that processes the transactions.

 

They did not mean your bank. Obviously they could have been more clear in their communications, and could have reiterated that disputes will get your account locked, but it's clearly stated that disputes will get your account blocked.

 

I would basically do the following:

1. Go back to your bank and cancel the dispute

2. Contact Valve again, and tell them you've cancelled the dispute

3. While talking to them (or emailing them, whatever), ask them what the ETA is for them to reverse the double charge.

 

I had some double charges happen before from Steam, but it was a glitch in their system, which was automatically resolved. That does not mean this will automatically be fixed for everyone though.

 

TL;DR: Contact Valve - keep the pressure on until they fix it.

[Kpeckham]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

You should listen to Valve when they tell you "disputes will get your account locked".

 

When they said they would forward the double charge inquiry to the payment provider, they mean THEIR PAYMENT PROVIDER - eg the company (Either their bank, or the merchant payment provider like Moneris, etc) that processes the transactions.

 

They did not mean your bank. Obviously they could have been more clear in their communications, and could have reiterated that disputes will get your account locked, but it's clearly stated that disputes will get your account blocked.

 

I would basically do the following:

1. Go back to your bank and cancel the dispute

2. Contact Valve again, and tell them you've cancelled the dispute

3. While talking to them (or emailing them, whatever), ask them what the ETA is for them to reverse the double charge.

 

I had some double charges happen before from Steam, but it was a glitch in their system, which was automatically resolved. That does not mean this will automatically be fixed for everyone though.

 

TL;DR: Contact Valve - keep the pressure on until they fix it.

Ok thanks for your advice will do now

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Kpeckham said:

It is and as a fifteen year old the $20 plus a $15 overdraft fee (I don't like to keep money in my checking account) isn't really something I could ignore and not spend so much time trying to get it back

If your bank doesn't reverse the $15 overdraft fee (they should, since you weren't expecting the payment, and it was taken by mistake), then Valve will cover it. But most likely the bank will just remove the fee.

[KuJoe]

So they were going to give you a refund and you did a chargeback anyways? You know that cost them a lot more than $20 when you do a chargeback right, even if you pay them your $20 you still cost them money. NEVER DO A CHARGEBACK IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN A CLIENT! Only do a chargeback under extreme circumstances and only as a last resort. Even if you do get this resolved, you've just got your account flagged as somebody who is willing to perform chargebacks so why would they want you to continue having an account that can cost them a lot of money?

 

For example, PayPal charges $20 per chargeback (relatively cheap) and the more chargebacks you get the higher risk you are for getting your PayPal account locked/terminated. Imagine if you bought a $5 game 10 times, that's $200 you just cost Steam (assuming you paid with PayPal). Like I said, $20 per chargeback isn't that bad, some credit card processors charge upwards of $50 per chargeback. Why would Steam want to take that risk after somebody already did a chargeback once?

[Kpeckham]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

You should listen to Valve when they tell you "disputes will get your account locked".

 

When they said they would forward the double charge inquiry to the payment provider, they mean THEIR PAYMENT PROVIDER - eg the company (Either their bank, or the merchant payment provider like Moneris, etc) that processes the transactions.

 

They did not mean your bank. Obviously they could have been more clear in their communications, and could have reiterated that disputes will get your account locked, but it's clearly stated that disputes will get your account blocked.

 

I would basically do the following:

1. Go back to your bank and cancel the dispute

2. Contact Valve again, and tell them you've cancelled the dispute

3. While talking to them (or emailing them, whatever), ask them what the ETA is for them to reverse the double charge.

 

I had some double charges happen before from Steam, but it was a glitch in their system, which was automatically resolved. That does not mean this will automatically be fixed for everyone though.

 

TL;DR: Contact Valve - keep the pressure on until they fix it.

 

3 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

So they were going to give you a refund and you did a chargeback anyways? You know that cost them a lot more than $20 when you do a chargeback right, even if you pay them your $20 you still cost them money. NEVER DO A CHARGEBACK IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN A CLIENT! Only do a chargeback under extreme circumstances and only as a last resort. Even if you do get this resolved, you've just got your account flagged as somebody who is willing to perform chargebacks so why would they want you to continue having an account that can cost them a lot of money?

 

For example, PayPal charges $20 per chargeback (relatively cheap) and the more chargebacks you get the higher risk you are for getting your PayPal account locked/terminated. Imagine if you bought a $5 game 10 times, that's $200 you just cost Steam (assuming you paid with PayPal). Like I said, $20 per chargeback isn't that bad, some credit card processors charge upwards of $50 per chargeback. Why would Steam want to take that risk after somebody already did a chargeback once?

Just tried to cancel the chargeback but it already went through and I can't cancel it so my best bet might just be to wait until my account is unlocked

[AresKrieger]

2 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

For example, PayPal charges $20 per chargeback (relatively cheap) and the more chargebacks you get the higher risk you are for getting your PayPal account locked/terminated. Imagine if you bought a $5 game 10 times, that's $200 you just cost Steam (assuming you paid with PayPal). Like I said, $20 per chargeback isn't that bad, some credit card processors charge upwards of $50 per chargeback. Why would Steam want to take that risk after somebody already did a chargeback once?

Well tbh it's valves fault that he was double charged and they were vague in their instructions, plus is some jackass company over drafts my account on a fraudulent charge you can bet I'm going to make some noise about it.

 

However OP your best bet is too buy as little from steam as possible if you want good customer support.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, Kpeckham said:

 

Just tried to cancel the chargeback but it already went through and I can't cancel it so my best bet might just be to wait until my account is unlocked

At this point, I would suggest emailing Valve with full details of what happened, including the fact that your chargeback cannot be cancelled, and let Valve sort it out.

 

Hopefully, they will unlock your account, and give you a "freebie" when it comes to the fact that you did a Chargeback.

 

Remember: Chargebacks are really only there for emergencies, and absolute last resort. Like if your credit card or debit card got stolen, kind of thing. Or if Valve refused to refund the extra money, after multiple times if you asking them.

 

It sucks, but this should be a valuable lesson on patience.

 

1 minute ago, AresKrieger said:

Well tbh it's valves fault that he was double charged and they were vague in their instructions, plus is some jackass company over drafts my account on a fraudulent charge you can bet I'm going to make some noise about it.

 

However OP your best bet is too buy as little from steam as possible if you want good customer support.

I agree about the vague instructions - but "making a noise" and doing a chargeback are two totally different things. Making a noise is like shooting your gun in the air to warn an intruder to leave. Doing a chargeback is dropping a nuke on his head.

 

Fraudulent charges are by definition malicious and intending on scamming you out of money. This charge was not fraudulent by any definition. This was simply a mistake by Valve, or by Valve's bank. Mistakes happen. It definitely wasn't the fault of whoever support agent he got. Overdraft charges suck, yes, but they are easily reversed by the bank once everything has been sorted.

[KuJoe]

3 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

Well tbh it's valves fault that he was double charged and they were vague in their instructions, plus is some jackass company over drafts my account on a fraudulent charge you can bet I'm going to make some noise about it.

 

However OP your best bet is too buy as little from steam as possible if you want good customer support.

Making noise is one thing, costing Valve money is another. If you want to remain a client of a company the last thing you want to do is mess with their money or give them reason to think you're going to be a problem client.

[Kpeckham]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

At this point, I would suggest emailing Valve with full details of what happened, including the fact that your chargeback cannot be cancelled, and let Valve sort it out.

 

Hopefully, they will unlock your account, and give you a "freebie" when it comes to the fact that you did a Chargeback.

 

Remember: Chargebacks are really only there for emergencies, and absolute last resort. Like if your credit card or debit card got stolen, kind of thing. Or if Valve refused to refund the extra money, after multiple times if you asking them.

 

It sucks, but this should be a valuable lesson on patience.

 

I agree about the vague instructions - but "making a noise" and doing a chargeback are two totally different things. Making a noise is like shooting your gun in the air to warn an intruder to leave. Doing a chargeback is dropping a nuke on his head.

 

Fraudulent charges are by definition malicious and intending on scamming you out of money. This charge was not fraudulent by any definition. This was simply a mistake by Valve, or by Valve's bank. Mistakes happen. It definitely wasn't the fault of whoever support agent he got. Overdraft charges suck, yes, but they are easily reversed by the bank once everything has been sorted.

Will do, thanks for what you have told me I hope to get this sorted out soon so I can go back to buying games 

[Scruffy90]

Situations like these are why I now use prepaid cards or get money for the steam wallet. Seems like it would be less of a headache.

[Kpeckham]

On September 9, 2016 at 0:05 AM, Scruffy90 said:

Situations like these are why I now use prepaid cards or get money for the steam wallet. Seems like it would be less of a headache.

 

On September 8, 2016 at 11:20 PM, KuJoe said:

Making noise is one thing, costing Valve money is another. If you want to remain a client of a company the last thing you want to do is mess with their money or give them reason to think you're going to be a problem client.

 

On September 8, 2016 at 11:19 PM, dalekphalm said:

At this point, I would suggest emailing Valve with full details of what happened, including the fact that your chargeback cannot be cancelled, and let Valve sort it out.

 

Hopefully, they will unlock your account, and give you a "freebie" when it comes to the fact that you did a Chargeback.

 

Remember: Chargebacks are really only there for emergencies, and absolute last resort. Like if your credit card or debit card got stolen, kind of thing. Or if Valve refused to refund the extra money, after multiple times if you asking them.

 

It sucks, but this should be a valuable lesson on patience.

 

I agree about the vague instructions - but "making a noise" and doing a chargeback are two totally different things. Making a noise is like shooting your gun in the air to warn an intruder to leave. Doing a chargeback is dropping a nuke on his head.

 

Fraudulent charges are by definition malicious and intending on scamming you out of money. This charge was not fraudulent by any definition. This was simply a mistake by Valve, or by Valve's bank. Mistakes happen. It definitely wasn't the fault of whoever support agent he got. Overdraft charges suck, yes, but they are easily reversed by the bank once everything has been sorted.

Thank you for our help my account is unlocked