Battle for my Gold goods

[Rygir]

Below is the conversation I'm currently trying to have with steam support because I still haven't gotten my gold items, so I decided a few days ago to launch my question again (after an earlier attempt last week, in which I was told to ask again next week-so I did). If my English is flawed, I'm Dutch, it's the best I can do. I'm trying to be polite but I can't help but feel this is a very strange situation...

Note that the most recent message is the top-most, so for chronological order you should start reading at the bottom. That's not my choice, it's the steam support forum default.

__________________<start transcript>______________________
Gold edition tracking
Discussion Thread
Customer (Rygir ) 12/04/2004 02:47 PM
After looking it through again I see I missed the house number. Still, why do you have to disable my account (not to mention just now that HL2DM has been released)?

Customer (Rygir ) 12/03/2004 02:53 PM
Ah, very well. I've never given a second thought to the formatting of the adress, I'm accustomed to "going from the largest to the smallest"; from 'country' to 'person'. I'm not sure what was missing exactly before though.

Name : <my name>
address : <my streetname [space] my housenumber>
city : <my city>
state/providence : <my province; I assume that's the proper thing to fill in?>
country : Belgium <You can see this in my profile I think>
postal code : <my postalcode>

I hope this clears things up then!

Response (BiancaL) 12/03/2004 10:34 AM
Please send your address as the format below shows, I was not 100% sure how you wrote it and did not want to delay your shipment any further. You never gave us your complete address when you purchase initally and that is why you have not gotten your package yet. Imidiatly after you submit your address in the format below I will enable your account. Thank you for your cooperation in the matter.

Name
address
city
state/providence
country
postal code

Customer (Rygir ) 12/02/2004 08:07 PM
Excuse me, but I replied post-haste, re-enable my account as I don't see any reason it should have been disabled in the first place - If you meant to get my attention, the email notification was more than sufficient for that. In the mean time this has cost me nearly 10 hours of valuable playing time!

Customer (Rygir ) 12/02/2004 02:44 PM
And you might want a copy of the receipt as well. <added info : I attached the original HTML file steam created>

Customer (Rygir ) 12/02/2004 02:37 PM
Good thing I kept track of the whole thing (Not that fond of non-cash transactions, and this was quite a special product as well)<added info : I attached a screenshot of the steam window where you fill out your adress information, as proof they should have it>.

Customer (Rygir ) 12/02/2004 02:26 PM
(Where did that information go when I ordered the package then?)

My adress in full :
Belgium (Europe)
<my province>
<my postal code [space] my city>
<my street name [space] my house number>
<my first and[space] last name>

Response (BiancaL) 12/02/2004 02:19 PM
We need your shipping address so that your gold pack can be delivered.
We have disabled your account until you provide us with that information.<THIS is the reason for hl2.net public posting>

Customer (Rygir ) 12/01/2004 03:14 PM
In order to provide you with complete overview of what I've already been informed of I'm listing all relevant "Questions" here by reference, and if short enough, content.<Added info : I don't think you can blame me for not trying to make it easier for them...>


________________________________________________________________
Reference # 041112-<refnum>
Gold edition tracking
<It was marked as resolved due to timeout, as can be seen in the following 2 replies that were about a day late. It should contain everything you might need to know.>
________________________________________________________________
Reference #0411<refnum>
Re: Gold edition tracking [Incident: 0411<refnum>]
Incident created due to reply to expired incident .

Any news yet?
________________________________________________________________
Question Reference #<refnum>
Subject:Re: Gold edition tracking [Incident: 041<refnum>] [Incident: 041<refnum>]
Incident created due to reply to expired incident .

Seems I was just too late...
Considering it might not be possible for you to check what the old question was about, I requested the tracking number for my Gold package, ordered by the steam account of the same name as this email adress. It wasn't sent a week ago, I'm hoping it has been now.
________________________________________________________________

Because of the redundancy of the latter two, I marked them as resolved.

Customer (Rygir ) 12/01/2004 02:59 PM
Hello,

Many people seem to have received their gold edition items already, and, while I live in Belgium, I'm getting curious what is taking so long, so could you please tell me the tracking number or give me an update on the status of my gold package (my steam account is registered to this e-mail adres as well)?

Thanks!

Auto-Response 12/01/2004 02:59 PM
Title: I received my Gold Package with damaged or missing items
Link: http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...opup_adp.php?p_faqid=264&p_created=1100131948

Title: HL2 Game Packages (Steam Purchases), What do I get? How do I get it?
Link: http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...opup_adp.php?p_faqid=252&p_created=1096498623

Title: HL2 ATI CDKEY Owners Package Details - What do I get, how do I get it?
Link: http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...opup_adp.php?p_faqid=251&p_created=1096497580

Title: Counter-Strike: Source Questions
Link: http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...opup_adp.php?p_faqid=184&p_created=1093654845

Title: I'm having troubles registering my CD key in Steam.
Link: http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cg...popup_adp.php?p_faqid=63&p_created=1092410286
Steam Account ID
<>
CD-Key
???
File Attachments
• 6 - Verschepingsadres.PNG
• temp.html
_________________<End transcript>________________________
Assuming they would respond promptly, this matter could have been resolved within minutes. An email message telling me of the problem instead of waiting until I post a message (or a message via steam or whatever) of complaint on their support site would have been nice. But to block me as if I was doing something wrong and avoiding them or something...(the email notification I mentioned was the MSN popup I got when steam support forums notified me of her response to my question).

My accounts has been disabled for 2 days now, just because they can't reply twice to the same topic in one day or what?

I've got a feeling this is going to take even longer just because I didn't keep my mouth shut and waited for them to finally catch up... (sorry, no, I can't keep calm anymore). :angry:

PS : If this is in the wrong forum, I'm sorry, but after having read the descriptions of each, I couldn't find one for problems with steam anymore and this is on the topic of HL2, after all.

 

[DeltaBlast]

Summary:

He asked why his gold package took so long, and they disabled his account for it.

 

[koopa]

Disabling his account was completely out of order. One of the reasons I'm down on Steam - they can disable your account for silly reasons like this.

 

[Kapitan Helion]

They did what?.... The hell?!... Get yer pitchforkes and torches... There be grillin tonight!

 

[gusolson]

Sounds like they lost some of your data, then when it turned up lost they decided there was something fishey going on (probably assumed you tried to steal something, it could be their policy on anything like this to assume you stole it and act accordingly) I really don't see why they needed to disable your account.

I really try to see the best aspects of what steam can do for us, and hope that all of the kincks will be worked out, but stuff like this makes it hard to like steam. Good luck getting your account back man!

 

[Kommie]

SILENCE THE DISSENTERS!

I really dont think they should have disabled your account, as what the hell is the purpose? can they only send your gold package items if you have a disabled account.
Put your info In the exact order they tell you, which it seem you didnt do.

Your name
Your adresss House# then street name i.e 11 moon st(IDK MADE IT UP)
(might be different in europe though)
your city
your province .. ???
your country Belgium
then your postal code
I guess the american system is different than the european one and this rep cant figure out your adress, as hard as that would be

 

[Rygir]

technically, I don't think steam is at fault...it's the customer service that's "screwing me over" atm. They didn't lose it, she said I hadn't filled out my address completely (She was right, I forgot my housenumber, and have given it twice over the past two days now).

But instead of giving me a nice notification, they shut down my account when I ask for information. If that's policy than policy has to be changed, and fast.

I would really appreciate some compensation for the trouble and frustration they are causing by denying me access to "the service", as the user agreement puts it. Just like many of you, this service has cost me some good money by now...

 

[Rygir]

Oh comon, somebody has to have some idea of what I can do to get this over faster...

 

[koopa]

Oh comon, somebody has to have some idea of what I can do to get this over faster...

Nothing, probably, apart from kick up a huge stink. They've not treated you very well, but support hardly eve does. My advice is not to be so helpful (really) - asking questions and giving extra information just upsets the customer information zombies. These people are low cost labor, nobody wants to spend more than they have to on customer support. So keep it simple and just wait it out, that's my advice. Give exactly what they ask for and no more.

 

[DoctorGordon3]

Who the heck was on the other end? The G-Man? God thats crazy.

 

[ChronosWing]

I don't know if they have a Better Bussiness Burough in your country, but I think there is a BBB website you can complain to about valve if you want, won't do much good but it will put some heat on valve for not delivering services you clearly paid for.

 

[luketabor]

So have they turned your Steam back on yet?

I have been extremely pleased with my experience with Steam so far...when I purchased HL2, it was right in the middle of when it was getting slaughtered. The credit card information wouldn't go through (server timeout) so Steam informed me of it and said something to the effect of "The purchase has not gone through due to Steam being busy, but in the meantime the Half-Life 2 Silver package is being unlocked while we sort your order out."

I was really impressed by that, most places would go "oh well, tough titties. you can play after your CC goes through."

 

[destrukt]

i'd read it but i hate it when people use colours which are almost completely unreadable.

 

[Rygir]

No, nothing so far. I probably should add that I've posted this same story @ steam : http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1742642#post1742642

Funny, a mod came by seconds after I posted and gave a reply that was intended to be helpfull, but sadly pointless after I finished the story. The funny bit is that hours have gone by by now, and no mods have been sighted since.

And in my country such practices are simply illegal . Look, I'm sure they didn't do it intentionally or this is all a big cookup BUT GODDAMN GET A MOVE ON. If I pulled something like that on a customer of mine I would have gotten a severe reprimand from my boss in minutes...

Overal, I think steam is a great concept, but I fear most business, of not all, are not mature and/or responsible enough to handle such power. Complete control over customers? Why not squeeze them till they bleed? Oh comon? Can I? Pleaaaassse?? At which Gabe replies, after having been plagued by his employees over this for months (years?) : "Grmbl", followed by employees tripping over themselves taking that as a yes.

 

[Rygir]

i'd read it but i hate it when people use colours which are almost completely unreadable.

I'm sorry. It was intended to be reminiscent of the steam palet. I.e. Steamy olive drab. If you are still willing to read, I suggest just copy pasting it into notepad or similar. if copied into a rich text editor such as wordpad, you'll even retain the colour coding, but will have a nice clean white background.

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

Just highlight the text, perfectly readable then.

I'm surprised they disabled your account. There is no reason why they should do that, sounds like they are bigger morons than I thought.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

I understand where they are coming from.

See if someone hacks your account, they could then contact VALVe and say "Here's my account info, I have no goods!" and could then go off and steal your goodies... So then they ask for the info, they somehow screw up (maybe didn't read it right) and disabled it thinking you were stealing.

Don't worry, you _should_ get it re-enabled... I know VALVe wouldn't be so mean because some employee doesn't understand something....

 

[koopa]

See if someone hacks your account, they could then contact VALVe and say "Here's my account info, I have no goods!" and could then go off and steal your goodies... So then they ask for the info, they somehow screw up (maybe didn't read it right) and disabled it thinking you were stealing.

I wondered that too, but then surely they have a revalidation procedure ('can you tell us the cc number you bought this on', etc) rather than go through some odd procedure like this? Let's hope they fix things quickly.

 

[DoctorGordon3]

Buncha fat f*cks....Go out and exercise!!!! Stop playing video games all day! "Get a Girlfriend, Get laid, and Get a life!"-William Shatner

Well heck me, the same stunning objectives. Highly embarrasing, for you.

 

[DoctorGordon3]

Hey Doc Gordo..... HUG MY NUTS F*CKPUDDLE!

Dear:
[x] Clueless Newbie
[x] Drunkard
[x] Moron
[x] Loser
[x] Spammer
[x] 12 year old
[x] Pervert
[ ] Nerd
[ ] l337 d00d/"vet"
[x] Other: Flamer


You Are Being Flamed Because:
[ ] You posted a Nudity thread (anime or normal)
[x] You whine like a girl
[ ] You bumped a thread from the last page
[ ] You posted something already asked a hundred times
[x] You started an off-topic thread
[x] You posted a "YOU ALL SUCK" message
[x] You posted something that makes no sense at all
[x] You don't know which forum to post in
[x] You posted false information (or lack thereof)
[x] You are bragging about being a scumbag and/or griever
[x] You posted something totally uninteresting
[x] You double-posted
[ ] You posted a message all written in CAPS (oR aLtErNaTe CaPs)
[ ] You posted a X > Y thread
[ ] You used “L337”
[x] I don't like your tone of voice.

To Repent, You Must:
[ ] Give up your AOL Internet account
[ ] Bust up your modem with a hammer and eat it
[ ] Jump into a bathtub while holding your monitor
[ ] Actually post something relevant
[x] Take some pro-zak
[ ] Be my love slave
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this forum
[ ] Go stand in the middle of an intersection
[ ] Buy a chainsaw and go postal with it
[x] Bow down and kiss my toes
[x] Strangle yourself with a belt

In Closing, I'd Like to Say:
[ ] Get a life
[ ] Use Search Function
[ ] Never post again
[ ] I pity your dog
[ ] F You Adolf
[ ] Simply Stunning
[ ] I think your IQ must be 6
[ ] See you are the party
[ ] Take your crap somewhere else
[ ] Do us all a favor and jump into some industrial equipment
[ ] I think you’re going to have to accept Federation control for the time being
[ ] Go play Dress-Up Barbie Online™
[x] All of the above

 

[DeltaBlast]

Try mailing Doug Lombardi and threat him to bring it out into the open

okay, maybe that's a bad idea, but maybe if you emailed valve employees directly, you'd get quicker help, and maybe more goodies
After all, you just payed them 75$ for stuff that's worth next to nothing (I'm talking about the Gold-goodies, not the game) so at least they could be a little bit grateful..

 

[Rygir]

I understand where they are coming from.

See if someone hacks your account, they could then contact VALVe and say "Here's my account info, I have no goods!" and could then go off and steal your goodies... So then they ask for the info, they somehow screw up (maybe didn't read it right) and disabled it thinking you were stealing.

Don't worry, you _should_ get it re-enabled... I know VALVe wouldn't be so mean because some employee doesn't understand something....

Ah, but you see, she had it on record that my items hadn't been sent yet (in the previous conversation, one of the references mentioned). I also believe that this will get sorted out, but what's taking so long?

And I wonder what that Docter Gordon 3 stuff is doing in this thread :s it makes no sense?

 

[Dasparov]

Email VAVLe and scam more gifts out of it, its outrageous you should get 2 Half-life gold for that and 1 sent to me!!



...sue....sue....sue...you know thats what you want to do

 

[Rygir]

(temporary?) conclusion

Response (BiancaL) 12/06/2004 08:56 AM
sorry for the delay in re-enabling your account. it is now done and your updated information has been sent to the shipper. In your address originally you were missing the housenumber.

Customer (Rygir ☺) 12/06/2004 07:05 AM
It's been 5 days now. What kind of compensation will you give me for disabling my account for all this time?

Customer (Rygir ☺) 12/04/2004 02:47 PM
After looking it through again I see I missed the house number. Still, why do you have to disable my account (not to mention just now that HL2DM has been released)?<just for recap>
_________________<End transcript>________________________
In short : After 5 days I'm finally able to login again. Should I leave it at this? I still think they've (she's...?) been awfully rude... a little apology and at LEAST my damned tracking number - That's what started all this, and I STILL don't have it :s . A little present for compensation wouldn't have been a bad idea either me thinks...

So, watcha'll think?

 

[Kommie]

Well heck me, the same stunning objectives. Highly embarrasing, for you.

Dear:
[x] Clueless Newbie
[x] Drunkard
[x] Moron
[x] Loser
[x] Spammer
[x] 12 year old
[x] Pervert
[ ] Nerd
[ ] l337 d00d/"vet"
[x] Other: Flamer


You Are Being Flamed Because:
[ ] You posted a Nudity thread (anime or normal)
[x] You whine like a girl
[ ] You bumped a thread from the last page
[ ] You posted something already asked a hundred times
[x] You started an off-topic thread
[x] You posted a "YOU ALL SUCK" message
[x] You posted something that makes no sense at all
[x] You don't know which forum to post in
[x] You posted false information (or lack thereof)
[x] You are bragging about being a scumbag and/or griever
[x] You posted something totally uninteresting
[x] You double-posted
[ ] You posted a message all written in CAPS (oR aLtErNaTe CaPs)
[ ] You posted a X > Y thread
[ ] You used “L337”
[x] I don't like your tone of voice.

To Repent, You Must:
[ ] Give up your AOL Internet account
[ ] Bust up your modem with a hammer and eat it
[ ] Jump into a bathtub while holding your monitor
[ ] Actually post something relevant
[x] Take some pro-zak
[ ] Be my love slave
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this forum
[ ] Go stand in the middle of an intersection
[ ] Buy a chainsaw and go postal with it
[x] Bow down and kiss my toes
[x] Strangle yourself with a belt

In Closing, I'd Like to Say:
[ ] Get a life
[ ] Use Search Function
[ ] Never post again
[ ] I pity your dog
[ ] F You Adolf
[ ] Simply Stunning
[ ] I think your IQ must be 6
[ ] See you are the party
[ ] Take your crap somewhere else
[ ] Do us all a favor and jump into some industrial equipment
[ ] I think you’re going to have to accept Federation control for the time being
[ ] Go play Dress-Up Barbie Online™
[x] All of the above

This is in the wrong thread, but damn funny