Steam - A tale of Woe in abundance

[Insanum]

****Warning - Rant ahead****[/B]

Well folks, Your normally mild mannered Insanum here.

Long story short, I recently upgraded my computer & downloaded steam, All of my friends use it, And i thought "whats the worst that can happen?"

Oh what fateful words they can turn out to be.

After downloading the application, All was Fine & dandy, Until i wanted to buy a game. Card not accepted. I don't have a paypal account, But due to a bad experience using my mothers account i wont go near them. So I use this "clickandbuy" group. Their transactions end up temporarily blocking my bank account, Meaning i had to contact my bank to get the block lifted.

But, Thanks to a good friend of mine (who's card was[/I] accepted), I managed to get the game sent to me as a gift, Along with Star Trek Online.

Now, Heres the deal, Those of you that know me know i work nights. I get one, Maybe two hours on the computer after i get home from a 12 hour shift to game, Before i need some sleep. Today, Due to my current pattern, Is my first day off, But alas, I have been called in for extra hours tomorrow, So to beat my bodyclock i thought "well thats fine, Ill stay up & play ST:O till later, Then sleep through", Which is a good plan. All was going Oh so well, Until i went to sign in to Steam, To access my game.

"Account Disabled" flashed up onto my screen.

After surfing through the steam website i submitted a ticket basically saying "Why? only i have access, Fix it please.".Now since i am unable to access my CD Keys, I cannot even go onto the ST:O Website & Re-download the software independently of steam, and access the game time i have paid for!

So, I send the ticket. "Maybe the nice teckies at steam will work their steampunk wonder and fix it all with fairydust." I Thought. After looking at the forums, it appears they will do.

In between 3-5 working days.

Now, Don't get me wrong, 3-5 working days is a fine response time if you are corresponding via post (Hell, I used to work in a callcentre, Usually we got post out the same day!), But the fact is, I get one day per week to be able to sit & use a service i have paid for, And when i come to use it they've blocked me, And wont tell me why for 3-5 days? How in this day and age is this an acceptable service?

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So, TLR? - My experience with steam has shown me that my old way of going out and buying CD's doesn't fail me.

Discussion point:[/U] Have you had any similar horror stories with this (in my opinion) awful company? Or have you had a largely positive service? Is there any advice from people who have been in my situation?

Just another note - There isn't a single telephone number for the UK on there.

 

[Arcticflame]

Are you sure your steam account wasn't hijacked?

I've had Steam since Hl2 release date, I have over 60 games on it, and I've never once had any issue that was related to steam (the only issues I've had have been publishers exerting their annoying DRM's onto steam).

As for non steam related incidents, the worst that's happened to me was when I bought gold edition of Age of mythology to play online. I take it out of the box, I install it and try to play multiplayer. It tells me my CD key is in use.

I look up the error and it turns out ubisoft has given every gold edition of AoM the SAME CD KEY. I ask for a new one, they tell me to get stuffed.

Since then I've never purchased an ubisoft product. Produced or developed.

 

[Dusty Donuts]

It's not an awful company. I've had heaps of problems where I haven't been able to sign in, Team Fortress hasn't worked and I've gotten a reply within one day. Yours is probably just a serious problem.

 

[The Madman]

I'm not all that big a fan of STEAM myself, I use it and certainly appreciate it, my STEAM game collection is growing steadily larger and larger, but still...

I don't like the way it works. I don't like how STEAM essentially has the ability to cut me off from all the games I've bought through them at any time, and how the internet is pretty much a necessity when even just playing the simplest of games. Offline mode is an option, but let's be honest here; Internet is mandatory with STEAM.

I prefer download services that come free of strings attached when buying the game on a disk isn't an option. Impulse for example doesn't need to be running in order to play games you've downloaded with it and is largely only used for updates once the game is installed. Meanwhile others like GOG don't even do that, once you download the install .exe you're free to do whatever you like with it forever after. My favorite option.

Mind you I haven't had any bad experience with STEAM, I just don't like the idea that I'm more or less only paying to have the right to play these games via their services. I'd ignore em, but dammit, those deals are just soooooo goood!

 

[Gxas]

I've never liked Steam either. I haven't had many, if any, problems with it, I just don't trust it. I would much rather a CD than a digital copy of a game.

Sure, it saves production value, but tangibility makes me feel safe.

 

[Erana]

You just have exceptionally bad luck; Steam's been fine for me and most everyone I know.
If your profile is frozen like that, you may have been a victim of some hacker, or something.

Still, you can take the free day to do something other than gaming for a while. Just have an electronics-free sabbath. Take a bath, frolic in the snow or something. Its very pleasant.

 

[spinFX]

I've had steam since Counter Strike Source and nothing ever goes wrong except for that weird "Game is currently unavailable" thing, but I fix that with a quick Google search when it happens... Every 6 months.

Just saying: Steam is king.

 

[Good morning blues]

I've used Steam for years and have never had a problem. To be frank, I'm much happier making you wait 3-5 days to get your account fixed up than having the security of my account compromised (and if you're using some sort of bizarro pay scheme, it kind of sounds like that's what your problem is).

 

[Insanum]

I've used Steam for years and have never had a problem. To be frank, I'm much happier making you wait 3-5 days to get your account fixed up than having the security of my account compromised (and if you're using some sort of bizarro pay scheme, it kind of sounds like that's what your problem is).

To be frank, I know now when i get my steam account back i am getting this CD Key, Then getting as far away from steam as possible. Personally, Ive never liked a Valve Game yet. At the end of the day, Security may be paramount, But 3-5 working days? Are you kidding me?

 

[TimeLord]

I've used Steam forever and never had a problem. The convenience of downloadable games whenever you want means I see discs as obsolete

 

[Riobux]

I've used Steam for a long time and I've only been pleased with their good work personally due to the amount of money I've saved. Plus, there are games on Steam that I love that I wouldn't of been able to get otherwise.

 

[Kollega]

Whoa, that's some incredibly shitty luck right there. I don't worship Steam - for me, it's only for Valve games and small indie games i can't buy in retail - but still, i didn't have anything as bad happen to it.

 

[Andalusa]

I've never had a bad experience with Steam so far, but then, I hardly ever use it.

 

[Good morning blues]

I've used Steam for years and have never had a problem. To be frank, I'm much happier making you wait 3-5 days to get your account fixed up than having the security of my account compromised (and if you're using some sort of bizarro pay scheme, it kind of sounds like that's what your problem is).

To be frank, I know now when i get my steam account back i am getting this CD Key, Then getting as far away from steam as possible. Personally, Ive never liked a Valve Game yet. At the end of the day, Security may be paramount, But 3-5 working days? Are you kidding me?

I don't think that 3-5 working days is such a long time for such an important security issue, and I disagree about Valve games (Half-Life games are the only ones I look forward to anymore), though honestly I understand how such a situation would sour you on Steam.

I dunno. On the one hand, you kind of got what you were asking for by using some sort of obscure, unknown payment service. On the other, you are in a shitty situation that can't really be said to be your own fault.

 

[The Aimless One]

I have no bad experience's at all with Steam.
I think it's great.

Only thing that bugs me is pricing. There's a huge difference price when ordering from the U.K. as opposed to the Netherlands (where I live).
When ordering the L4D2 4-pack me and some friends asked someone off our friends list (living in the U.K.) to place our order and "gift" the games to us because it's nearly 30% cheaper when you translate Pounds to Euro's!

 

[Chipperz]

Steam went through a period of crashing my computer whenever I tried to play a game, and even now, it's very touchy about what constitutes an "internet connection". Apparently it requires more than being connected to the internet.

I buy all of my games in hard copy. If it doesn't have a hard copy, then it doesn't get my money. I don't trust Steam, I don't trust Valve, and I like talking to friendly people who know about games as I purchase stuff.

 

[The Great Zegrool]

They were probably saying 3-5 days to be safe. Hell, I've been responded to by the CEO of valve in less than that.