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Sober IT truths from the island-state

by Michael Tan, Singapore

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I got played royally by Steam!

Oct 27, 2009 03:37

Steam is an online games vendor. Borderlands wasn't out in Singapore retail yet, so I went to buy it from Steam. At 2am Singapore time, I was almost 95 percent done downloading. The message on its Web site stated 1 hour left for activation. I refreshed the page. And guess what?

Steam "shafted" me. It changed the date to:

Available: 30 October 2009
This game will unlock in approximately 3 days and 5 hours

Turns out the US has the game unlocked NOW, at 3.30am Singapore time, but the rest of the world got their activation dates pushed back at the very last hour.

The worst thing about it is that steampowered took business away from the local guys by false advertising, or breaching their contract. If it spoke the truth from the very beginning, the company would NOT have gotten my money. IAH and Tec Drome would have gotten it instead.

To date, there's been no explanation yet.

Now, did Steam plan this? Did it wait for us suckers to buy the game from it, as many of us suckers as possible, and THEN change the date?

I would prefer to support the struggling Singapore games market. At least in Singapore I could punch someone who played me so royally. In fact, I might just get an attorney to take a chunk of flesh off Steam.

Remember this site: www.steampowered.com.

Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.

Look, I'm not the only angry one. See these threads. If Steam hasn't deleted them already:

>> I've asked for a refund

>> STEAM Release Delayed Date: 30 October 2009

>> Stupid concept - [3 Day delay]

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michaeltan

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michaeltan says...
OK peeps....

Summary of the issue and how to talk to the credit card company.

forums.gameaxis.com...

How to unlock the damn thing even if you are not in the USA:

forums.steampowered.com...

Singapore downloaded version is NOT low violence if you buy from Steam, but the IAH Games DVD published in Singapore, we don't know yet: forums.gameaxis.com...

My action flowchart re Borderlands:

I'm getting my cc company to cancel the transaction and reverse the charges.

If they can't make it, tonight I'll try the VPN authorization method.

If fail, will wait to see the Singapore DVD has the low or high violence version.

If SG DVD has high violence, I will do a retentive long term thing to get my money back from Valve.

Else, I will play the Valve version at least there is some good in that transaction.

Oct 27, 2009 10:58

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aweysham

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aweysham says...
You are off to a good start by letting us readers know how some of these vendor operate. Thanks for that. I hope you win out in the end. Keep us posted.

Oct 27, 2009 17:12

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michaeltan

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michaeltan says...
Thankfully Steam redeemed themselves and agreed to give me a refund. Reproduced verbatim:

4 Â« MESSAGE BY FRED ON TUE, 27TH OCT 2009 10:14 AM Â»
Hello Michael,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

As requested, we have processed a refund to your account.

Your confirmation number is: XXXXXXX

Your bank or credit card issuer will return the funds to your account - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to be posted.

Please note that we do not normally offer refunds on purchases made online. However, we are happy to make the exception for pre-ordered games if the request is received prior to the release date.

Steam Subscriber Agreement
www.steampowered.com...

Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Oct 28, 2009 06:06

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About Michael Tan

Michael Tan is lucky enough not to have to choose between his job and his passion. He is the responsible for all aspects of developing new businesses and sourcing new productlines for a regional IT distribution company. He also oversees the company's legal affairs as General Counsel. In real life, he is a technology enthusiast, from both the fun and business viewpoint. The only choices he has to make are whether to play with his astro telescopes, his PC games, his Wii console, hit the track, tweak his car, or refine his biofilters, post his blogs, research for a new digicam, scour every forum to feed his habit further, play with his son… You can reach Michael at michaeltanyk@gmail.com ALL BLOGPOSTS ONLY REFLECT MICHAEL'S OPINIONS AND NOBODY ELSES'.