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General discussion (archive)Steam falsely advertising prices (54 posts)(54 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 27, 2012
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abolat: By the e-mail, you mean the one that shows the price I paid for the gift? I just checked that and it seems that email states $12.50? So it doesn't really seem a billing error but pricing one then I suppose?
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SimonG: Weird. That means (in the way I understand the billing process of Steam), that it actually was a matter of "false advertising".

I would ask the question also in the Steam forums of that game, because everyhting is automated on Steam, so an error that affected you should have also affected others.

Are you sure that the error wasn't on your side. As in "was your sale close to the deadline ending the sale" or "did your CC company and any oversea charge" and finally, what was your local price ) 9.99€ are around 13,5$ however, so it shouldn't be regional pricing. If you are sure that on your side was everything kosher, keep nagging them. Your "prove of purchase" e-mail has a timestamp, if that shows a time when the game was on sale they can't really do much.

Edit: Check what the price was for your region. The one you actually are in. Steam doesn't care where you are from when you buy games, only where you are while buying. (Unless you are a member of the US armed forces, than you can get a "fix"on your account wherever you are.)
hmmm... as you said I too suspect it to have to do with where I am when buying... Then again, it doesn't explain why everything else on steam was displayed to me at the regional price, while this was displayed at the US price?
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nagytow: I'm not sure if it was a false advertising or you just misread it (took DS3 price as a price for the whole pack), mistakes happen and the fault can be on either side. Try to find out how much it cost in the country you're in. It shouldn't be to hard, there's plenty of websites informing about promos. You can try steamprices.com for example (hard to give any advise without knowing the country).

Anyway, you need to learn about "distance selling" laws in US and/or the country you're in. It's quite easy to get a refund from Steam here in UK: http://i.imgur.com/LUbIB.png
Hmm, good point... However, I am not sure under what jurisdiction I would be in? US or the country I am in. I have used my US bank to make the purchase, but am in another country. Is it the method of payment that determines the jurisdiction (but then that would bring me to the point that I should be able to purchase at US prices) or the country I am in?
Post edited March 27, 2012 by abolat
Posted March 27, 2012
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abolat: snip
To cut a long story short, you might have a right to the 2,5$ from Steam if it was their fault and you can prove that it was their fault. But ff the price in the region you are in is 12,5$ you chances are close to zero, even if you have the right for the money if it was shown as 9.99$ on your client /browser. Especially if you bought it through the browser, there isn't really anything you can do.

It doesn't look like something that Steam did to purposely screw you, so chalk up the 2,5$ towards "educational fee" and check regional prices before buying in the future.
Posted March 27, 2012
You could also tell us where you are, someone will find what the price was at the time at that place, and if it wasn't 12.50, you'll have another arrow in your quiver to ask for the money back.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by Fifeldor
Posted March 27, 2012
low rated
It's obvious this was due to him buying the game over an ip whose area has the pack priced at $12.50.

But of course, heaven forbid the world not bend over fucking backwards for yet another self-righteous American.
Posted March 27, 2012
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Fifeldor: You could also tell us where you are, someone will find what the price was at the time at that place, and if it wasn't 12.50, you'll have another arrow in your quiver to ask for the money back.
The issue is not so much as getting my money back, but preventing this from happening to others as well as myself in the future. I asked around and it seems people that European users got billed at 12.50 USD as well but they saw the price as such, which is not akin to my situation where I saw the price at 9.99 but ended up paying 12.50...

I should mention that, checking the full priced item now, it seems that once I get to the very last payment confirmation screen (point of no return), the price changes (though you have to look for it to see the change). Guess I should be thankful I decided to buy this during the sale and paid only 2.50 for a lesson of "re-re-" checking the price of online purchases before making them....
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anjohl: It's obvious this was due to him buying the game over an ip whose area has the pack priced at $12.50.

But of course, heaven forbid the world not bend over fucking backwards for yet another self-righteous American.
If you had bothered to read my OP, you would have known that I am not in the US right now (how on Earth did you come up with the IP thing again?) but in another country. Or maybe you did but just didn't understand (or want to understand)?

Also, I never asked anyone to bend backwards for me, but if you are so eager to do it, be my guest. I am sure there will be someone interested in seeing how you manage it, just not me...
Post edited March 27, 2012 by abolat
Posted March 27, 2012
This appears to me like you were looking at the Steam page through a regional check of another country, something which automatically gets fixed when you go through the payment section. So even though you may see the US prices through your browser still, because it's still set to US, once you start paying you'll pay the actual price for your region. (although I'm pretty sure that's the price you should see before you actually confirm and certainly in any payment option you use eventually)

This shouldn't normally happen unless, possibly like you mentioned, you switch regions. Or, as a lot of us sometimes do, click on links with the appendage ?cc=US where US can be any country code. It'll change the prices to that country's prices for a while, even though you can't actually pay those prices, as when you go through the payment portal, it'll use the prices for your current region.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by Pheace
Posted March 27, 2012
I've never had such problems with steam. But they billed you more than it was in your order recipe, and this recipe is treatet like legal offer, and they are bound by it. If you still have that 9,99 recipe, it's a proof.

You should contact some consumary rights association or sth like that. Not to recover your $2,50 , but maybe they have power to fine them as well?

In Poland we have UOKiK and Rzecznik Praw Konsumenta , and they can fine companies for unfair business practice.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by keeveek
Posted March 27, 2012
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abolat: If you had bothered to read my OP, you would have known that I am not in the US right now (how on Earth did you come up with the IP thing again?) but in another country. Or maybe you did but just didn't understand (or want to understand)?
Well, that's kind of the point, your IP at the time was not recognized as a US IP and thus you do not get to pay US prices. That's how Steams pricing structure works. You pay what you should according to the region you are currently in, not the one you were born in.

I'm sorry, but unless you have a receipt stating the price at the point of sale was $9.99, you have no leverage here, and no reason to feel entitled to a refund.
Posted March 27, 2012
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keeveek: ...
It's a "receipt", not a "recipe". ;-)
Posted March 27, 2012
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Fifeldor: It's a "receipt", not a "recipe". ;-)
Unless you have your cheesecake recipe written on it as well! ;P
Posted March 27, 2012
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keeveek: In Poland we have UOKiK and Rzecznik Praw Konsumenta , and they can fine companies for unfair business practice.
Most countries have consumer rights organisations (Germany: Verbraucherschutz, UK: Office of Fair Trading, US: Better Business Bureau). How sharp the teeth of these organisations are will generally depend on how business-friendly the general government disposition is. The BBB for example is fucking useless.
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keeveek: ...
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Fifeldor: It's a "receipt", not a "recipe". ;-)
My Polish is a little rusty, but I'm guessing that the words are easy to confuse (in German a recipe is "ein Rezept").
Post edited March 27, 2012 by jamyskis
Posted March 27, 2012
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Coelocanth: I'm guessing it has something to do with your location when you bought the game. I bought the same pack this weekend and was charged the proper amount ($9.99 US)
This. Steam - just like every online store in the US - shows the prices without VAT. Now, according to the laws you don't have to pay VAT in the US after online purchases (except 2 states I think) but you have to pay VAT in most other countries. Probably you are in a country where online purchases are a subject to VAT.
Posted March 27, 2012
I really think this discussion would be helped immensely by you telling us which country you were in, yet you seem to be avoiding giving that information on several occasions now. If you have some reason to not want to that's fine of course, but just putting it out there that it *is* relevant when you buy something in a country different from the US.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by Pheace
Posted March 27, 2012
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jamyskis: My Polish is a little rusty, but I'm guessing that the words are easy to confuse (in German a recipe is "ein Rezept").
in polish it's either PARAGON or RACHUNEK :D
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gyokzoli: This. Steam - just like every online store in the US - shows the prices without VAT. Now, according to the laws you don't have to pay VAT in the US after online purchases (except 2 states I think) but you have to pay VAT in most other countries. Probably you are in a country where online purchases are a subject to VAT.
Well, at least in EU all steam prices include VAT.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by keeveek
Posted March 27, 2012
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keeveek: Well, at least in EU all steam prices include VAT.
But in the US they don't include VAT.
Post edited March 27, 2012 by gyokzoli
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General discussion (archive)Steam falsely advertising prices (54 posts)(54 posts)
(54 posts)