Matt C.

• My troubles started when I tried to play a game of Counter-Strike Source one day in mid July. I tried to enter several servers and each time I got the same message about an error with my Steam user ID ticket. This would happen every once in a while and all I had to do to fix it was log out and then back in. It never failed to fix the problem. But when I logged out and tried to log back in, it told me that my password was incorrect or the user name I had didn't exist. I tried rebooting, logging in on different machines, and eventually reformatting but to no avail. I got on to their worthless help and support page eventually and tried to find out what was wrong. No help there. All I was ever able to figure out was that the account had somehow been deleted . I tried to contact Valve about my Steam woes, but they never responded. Unfortunately for me, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, and Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 (three of my favorite games) were on there and I like playing them so much I had no other option than to make a new account and purchase the games over again. I'm out over $150 in games and I sure as hell am pissed off about it. I'm sorry to hear about your predicament and just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one who has to put up with Valve's crap. 

Alex R. (Resolved)

• My name Alex from the Netherlands and I recently got banned from Steam servers (during the holiday season for pete’s sake), also for alleged cheating. My story might be a bit more ironic seeing that I bought myself the ‘valve value pack’ worth 90 euro’s on the 25^th of December, consequently didn’t really play anything, then found myself banned on the 2^nd of January. I’ve added a support call and went to search for information: the feedback I’ve been getting hasn’t been too great. I followed your advice from your website, and I’ll see where it will lead me.
• I just wanted to let you know that I’ve actually been able to get a refund for my last purchase (of the valve value pack). It took a few weeks and 7 posts from my side where we had a total of 13 posts going back and forth. I pretty much pointed out my rights as a European consumer and laid out some of the laws we have over here which limits the extent of their disclaimer especially regarding the ‘no refund.’ Although they unfortunately didn’t give any specifics about the exact reasons for giving me a refund; the basically said that it is a one-time customer-service thing. I basically tried to stay calm and reply nicely and keep in mind they are really trying to help me even though it doesn’t always look like it. I didn’t really feel like I got copy/pasted replies, except for the parts where they referred to the disclaimer. Anyway I’m happy about the result I achieved through mostly endurance, and apparently the people working at steam support actually are real people that also actually read what you send to them. I really felt close to despair at the end but right before going to the European Consumer Union with my complaint and issue, I got the e-mail that they would credit the purchased amount back to my credit card. So I stopped my e-mail right then and there and smiled from ear to ear to read about the refund.