Venting Steam

[Iwata]

Sorry, but a one detail of your story didn't quite add up, I just recently had to recover my account because of a forgotten password (I changed a bunch of passwords when the Playstation Network was hacked, just in case some were too similar to the compromised one). I sent in a request for an account recovery and all they asked for was a picture of a manual with a CD key on it and printing (in pen) of my username and the ticket number on the manual. That's it, no specific game, other than it has to be a game on my account, and they wouldn't tell me a game on my account. Due to the privacy act in fact they cannot tell you anything about the account until you prove you are the owner.

Unfortunately, as stated, that was not the case with me. They were very specific in what manual they wanted a picture of, providing me only with what-I'm-guessing was the flawed CD key as indication of what manual that was. I'm sure they might have different procedures to deal with different cases, but alas, in mine, this was all they asked for. And as I also stated before, I did in fact offer to provide proof of ownership of any other of the number of games I owned on Steam, and never met with a reply, positive or negative.

I too applaud Steam for their actions, they have a responsibility to protect the accounts as best they can, and they do, the person that failed to protect the account here was you, but I am sure if you put in a ticket for account recovery from their online ticketing system and follow the instructions you will get it back. Might even have a free copy of Metro 2033 if that part of your story is true, could be, but I am a bit skeptical. Anyway, the hacker has probably done a lot of harm to your account, likely pirated games added, strange that he/she may have added a legit copy of a game, but then again they could have just lifted that from a retail store as it requires Steam to run. Could have even been a ban for cheating, don't know how that will go for you if you do get it back.

They DO indeed have a responsibility to protect the accounts as best they can. But I hardly think that ignoring something and hoping it'll leave them alone is the best way to deal with a legitimate customer.

Who knows? Maybe I just lucked out and caught a surprisingly flawed and uncaring tech support official, but given my insistence on the matter (and the random switch from English to Portuguese during the proceedings) I'm guessing it's more a matter of company policy than one uncaring member of the tech support team.