I think you're right. I bought the first Gala so I automatically assumed that they used steam keys, but they didn't originally mention that anywhere in the path from visiting the page to paying so there's no reason they could expect any given visitor to know, and it's hardly unreasonable to be upset about getting steam keys instead of the games that were advertised.

Anyway, it was an honest mistake and (passive-aggressive tone aside) they do seem willing to give you a refund. On Checkout the best thing to do is request a refund through your Checkout account. If that doesn't doesn't work you can request mediation.

Thanks for posting this, not exactly helpful and friendly support. I'll make sure not to do business with them (actually, Steam does not really bother me; their attitude does).

Same here. The fact that they set the default Gala Tip twice as high as the contribution to charity also doesn't leave the best impression.

While I agree that their customer support seems rather bad, I do think that his own mails have been equally bad. They might have bad customer support, but he's not making it easy for them by being a bad customer as well.

Thanks for finding that, although it doesn't help me much, unfortunately.

From that page: The Contact INDIEGALA LTD. link on the order just links to Indie Gala's normal contact page. The only relevant information there is the email address for their support, which is the one I'm already communicating with.

I guess I have to get in touch with my bank and have them reverse the transaction.

Ah, so the contact function just takes you to the regular contact page? Oh well, you can still file a claim with Google or go through your bank as you already mentioned.

I do agree that his second mail was pretty unfriendly (he stated that he was angry...), but the other two seem perfectly fine to me, and their support adopted this strange passive-aggressive unhelpful stance right from the beginning. Plus, I think it's part of the support's task to remain calm and try to offer some help (telling someone to open a Paypal dispute sounds more like an attempt to make the customer back down than to give him a refund), even if the customer is raging about something. Responses like theirs will only make it worse...

Together with the Gala Tip thing spindown mentioned, it seems like these guys are primarily trying to cash in on the bundle rush. Imho, transparency and customer support are the two most important traits of these (mostly) PWYW indie bundles, and they are lacking in both.

I personally found his initial email to be quite passive-aggressive as well. He basically accused them of lying and doing it on purpose and it set the tone of the rest of the mails right at the beginning. Their response was definitely not professional, but it was human. I guess I personally didn't expect spectacular customer support for something which I can pay what I want for.

And what do you mean with the tip spindown? I paid 10$, and the default split was to give them 1$. That's not too bad I think.

I meant this (spindown is the username):
If that's not true, forget I said anything about it ;)

We'll probably have to disagree about his initial email, I still don't find it unfriendly/aggressive (I do accept that some people may despise Steam). Maybe Humble Bundle and Indie Royale have set the bar pretty high for customer support, but I think that's in their own best interest. People will think they're awesome, tell their friends and throw more money their way.

Edit: Silly me, of course I could have checked the default split myself... I get the same result as spindown.

When I look at the Indie Gala website, it shows me a default split of 70% developers, 20% Gala tip and 10% charity.

I'm sure the Gala guy has no ill intentions, but it's pretty obvious he doesn't really carry a professional mindset -- be it because of a lack of training or from frustrations over the first Gala's difficulties -- who knows. He seemed to be a much more generous and helpful guy during the first Gala, but as it dragged on, I felt like he was spamming Twitter too much and really speaking louder with his words than with his actions. His limits with coding the site and with English probably don't help matters, either. Hopefully he won't lose so much goodwill that future bundles fail.

I must have changed it myself then, I just don't remember doing that.

Well, ended up paying $3 for the lowest tier bundle, since those were the only games I didn't already own.

Got the email right away, and games activated fine, so no complaints.

I'm actually OK with them setting the tip/charity however they like. If charity is important to YOU then YOU set it however you want. Charity is good, but demanding a certain level of charitability on Gala or anyone else doesn't sit well with me. Humble are more interested in promoting charity with their bundle, Gala are more interested in earning tips. So be it.

You make good points in your post, but please don't confuse despising Steam with not wanting to spend money on it. I believe most of the people perceived as "Steam haters" actually support Steam in principle to a degree, but find the arrangement uncomfortable for various reasons and prefer other options for themselves. Think of us as "exclusivity haters" :D

So according to their twitter feed, apparently they're going to be adding some sort of bonus. No idea what.

Guh, we're being flooded by bundles.