Hello all. I recently came across a case of false advertising on steam. During the sale last weekend, I saw the Dungeon Siege 3 pack for $9.99 on steam. I added the pack to my cart, the price was still $9.99 and went ahead to check out. After I purchased the item (I bought it as a gift and it is in my inventory), I was checking my online bank statement and noticed I was billed for $12.50 and not $9.99 as advertised or shown on my cart.

I contacted steam support about the incident and I asked to be refunded for the difference as steam store credit or back to my credit card. I also stated that if partial refund for the difference is not offered, I would like a complete refund on my purchase (and as the game is as an item in my inventory, it is not "used").


I got a response today and, as usual, it was the "no we cannot do it, sorry" response. I was wondering if any of you had a similar situation? To provide some background information, I am from the US and live in Massachusetts but I am currently abroad for work reasons. Also, what can I do now? The difference is minute, so not worth all the hype really, but this has happened before and they have made no attempt to fix it apparently. I wrote the following and was wondering what you think.

Hello Joey,

My question was also directed at why this is even happening? If we can find the source of the problem, you can eliminate it so that there is no recurrence of this false advertising incident. Right now, you are not making any attempt to correct the issue of the false advertisement (the offer may be down, but it still continues to occur on the list price of the item. According to Massachusetts Law Chapter 93A, 940 CMR 6.13 states that

"(2) It is an unfair or deceptive act for a seller, manufacturer, franchisor or distributor who discovers a material error in an advertisement subsequent to the submission date of the advertisement to fail to either honor the terms of the advertisement prior to correction, or to promptly correct any material misrepresentation by clearly and conspicuously disclosing the information necessary to eliminate such misrepresentation in the same advertisement or, if not feasible, in the same advertising medium, if reasonable, and as close thereto in both proximity and time as reasonably possible, or, if neither of these options is feasible, in a posting in the store, both at the entrance to the store and close in proximity to the advertised product or through other reasonable means of communications (e.g., by a telephone sales associate for a catalog purchase prior to taking the order). Examples of misrepresentations requiring correction include, but are not limited to, information relating to prices, product descriptions or availability of products."

I am quoting Massachusetts law as I am resident of Massachusetts and also as information so that you may fix this error (to which you are making no attempt at doing). So you are 1) not honoring the the terms of the advertisement and 2) you are not making any correction to the misrepresentation.

Also, I find it difficult to believe that issuing a store credit is not possible.

I would appreciate it if you could re-examine my case to assess accurately how to solve this problem so that it may not re-occur in the future.

It's probably more a billing error than a case false advertising. But it doesn't matter, it was Steams fault. They need to reimburse you the 2,5$. You can't demand the "full game for price swap", at least under german law.

Keep nagging until they give you back the money. Don't bother with all the false advertising mumbo jumbo. Take the e-mail and the account statement, that's all you need.

You said you were abroad. Did you get the game while being in the US or while being abroad?

This is probably your problem. In some countries like mine, the pack is $12.50, and I guess that the real price for the game in your current country of residence is the same. And Steam can be finicky when it comes to a person traveling or moving permanently to another country.

Just curious, did you use a US-based credit card, or local card?

Abroad. however, the issue is not related to regional pricing because every other game is displayed according to the region I am currently in (so should the dungeon pack); for example, I currently see Dead Space 2 as $49.99...

Are you in NZ? It was $12.50 in NZ.

Used based CC (actually debit card; directly tied to my bank account). also I haven't moved permanently and still am a resident of MA according to law (what with all the taxes I pay and my established domicile...)

Are you sure the additional charge was implemented by Valve and was not a fee levied by your payment method provider?

As it is, if you're not in the US, how were you able to make a purchase with your US billing method? Steam usually doesn't allow this unless you contact support first.

huh... didn't know that... But no, not in NZ.

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.)

It was €9.99 in Europe, which equates to roughly $12.50 as well.

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)

If that were the case, the confirmation email from steam would state 9.99 and not 12.50 though? Also, I have made several purchases like this previously and was never charged a fee (also, if a fee were to be charged, it is displayed separately on your account and clearly mentions the party charging the fee)...

With regards to how, I have no idea to be honest. Haven't had a problem since I left the US though...

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