I hate this. Every time I buy something from Stardock or Steam (This is the first game that relies on Steam I’ve bought.) it gives me shit.
Seriously. What do I do now? The shop has a no refunds policy for games and now I’m FUCKED!
Seriously, what are my options here?
Try going to the store you bought the game at, explain the situation, and ask for a new copy instead of a refund.
If that doesn’t work and you paid with a credit card you could leave the game at the store, then call your credit card company and request a chargeback.
I don’t know if there is anything you can do through steam.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1673-IDGK-4694
Nothing to worry about, it’s just that someone must’ve gotten your key from a keygen.
I had the same happen a few years back with Sin Episodes: Emergence. Scribbled my Steam username across the CD key sheet and emailed it across. A few hours later, they registered the CD key to my Steam account.
It might be worth contacting steam support, they’ll probably require proof of purchase along with the cd key (so a picture of your receipt alongside the back of the manual). It’s what they request if you lose access to your account, which is essentially what’s happened here (though it’s localised to a single game).
edit: beaten with a link too, ah well.
Went back to the shop and threw a tantrum a 3 year old would be proud of until they gave my money back.
Apparently they are having this issue with about 2/3rds of the copies of the game they have recieved from our local distributors.
I’m just furious at the way this has been handled at all levels. Steam shouldn’t just assume I’m a criminal. They should force me to log a support ticket through their client after which I should be given a grace period of a week or two to enjoy the game I paid for while the problem gets sorted out. The retail outlet should have sent the game back to the distributor when issues started pouring in.
And why is there no link to that knowledgebase article in the error I recieved from Steam? Also how long does it take to get the key transferred to my account?
you should probably reserve a minor tidbit of rage for the nice man who made a keygen so someone could fuck up your copy…
Sounds like somebody along the distribution chain is pulling keys out of the boxes before they’re shrinkwrapped (or rewrapping them). It doesn’t seem like a widespread problem, so it would be unusual for there to be such a localized spike otherwise.
Good luck with getting Steam to transfer a key.
They continued to send auto responses to my original email for another two weeks, which I ignored. I assume this was so they could put “Problem solved” on the ticket and close it, based on my non-response.
I think you should go apeshit crazy a little longer. That always helps everyone out.
Well, the rational measured response won’t see me being able to play a game I paid for so it is six of one half a dozen of the other.
And Cliffski making the fact that there is a keygen out there my problem as a paying customer is bullshit. Under no circumstances should any copy protection ensure that a paying customer (notice a running yheme here?) cannot play a game they paid for. (Damn, there is that word again.)
Shit. Mario’s back and he’s under a much more deceptive name.
You either are very lonesome, or piss everyone in your social circle off frequently, or hang out with a lot of people who enable you to behave like this.
Anyone who expects everything they buy to work flawlessly immediately clearly hasn’t been using a PC for very long. It’s too bad, with some patience you could have been playing that game after a short wait, instead you went and gave some poor minimum wage employee shit for something that wasn’t his fault at all.
this. up until recently i was that part-time employee and it never ceased to amaze me how angry people got over merchandise. its sad, really.
What’s surprising is that they are having problems with 2/3rds of the copies and they are hesitating about giving your money back. It’s obviously not a dishonest customer they are dealing with.
You throwing a tantrum - maybe not the best approach.
When I worked at EB, shortly after 9/11, I often got yelled at by irate customers who were incensed we still carried Microsoft Flight Simulator. They thought it was terrible that any American company would continue to sell a terrorist training tool like that.
So I’m always nice to the staff at those stores now, even if they are responsible for a legitimate mistake, because I know the kind of stuff they have to deal with.
It’s the customer’s right that the product they receive does what it is advertised to do. In this case, it didn’t and the merchant is responsible to make good on the claims, either by providing another piece of merchandise or refunding the money.
Everything should have been able to be handled without resorting to tantrums…
i’m actually surprised he got a refund instead of an exchange for another copy of DoW2. every retailer i can think of will not give refunds for opened media, understandably.
Throwing a tantrum is never a good thing, however, being pissed you can’t play something you paid for is understandable. I have been PC gaming since 1990. Yeah, I expect and almost always get to play games I paid for right away. Exceptions being games I knowingly bought as a pre-release and some MMOs.
Paying with a credit card means you always have a recourse. Go to a store and explain calmly , politely, and clearly that you can’t play a game you bought and telling them to refund your money or you will do a charge back and see what response you get. Someone telling you they never accept returns on opened merchandise and them never taking returns on opened merchandise are two separate things.
You should have held up a copy of Call of Duty or Counter-Strike and seen what they said about that.