Steam

[felter]

So I have money in my wallet on steam, it was money I given in steam cards for games at Christmas, I bought some games over the Holiday period without any issues and I was going to buy something a short while ago. Get to the checkout and hey presto steam wants my first name, my last name, my full address, my post/zip code, country of origin and my phone number.

I don't give out my personal details to anyone, unless I have to, I certainly don't give them out online. The phone number is also an issue seeing as I'm one of those few people in the world who don't actually own a phone, I have access to a phone but it is not mines, I'm not supposed to just give the number out willy nilly. I can give it out to emergency people like the doctors, hospital that sort of thing, but it's not my phone number. I also have to point out I don't have a mobile or a smart phone. There are others asking about the phone number issue as it seems I'm not the only one in this predicament, but steam are just ignoring the issue.

So steam has my money and I can't spend it, so I will say I'm more than a little bit pissed off right now.

In case you are wondering, they are saying it is for tax reasons but they don't need my phone number or my name and address for their tax reasons. I get them asking what country I'm in but the rest of it is none of their business, especially seeing as they are not actually sending anything to my home address.

Is it that weird that some people do not use phones or want phones and like their privacy. Got to say this is not the first time I've had issues with companies wanting a phone number I don't have to give to them, but this is the first time one of them has been holding my funds to ransom till they get that non
existent phone number.

Not a happy camper in the least.

[Vertigo 7]

you could always give fake info. I do stuff like that all the time for people I deem as having no legit reason for my info. My favorite "identity" is Mr. Nonya Business who resides at 1234 Nowhere Street, Nimrod, MN 56478, nonya@business.com, 218-911-8753

works 99% of the time.

[Mightysword]

In case you are wondering, they are saying it is for tax reasons but they don't need my phone number or my name and address for their tax reasons.

- That's one nice thing about people who don't live in the US ... because the merchant does need those information to know how much they should tax you, or even do it at all here. You can drive a few dozen miles to a different county, or a different public transport district here and you can get taxed differently. Steam is a US company so I'm guessing their system are set up that way.

- Secondly, it's worth to point out that Steam is not a 'store' in the common sense. As in, you just come in, pay for the item and never see the store again. It is a "subscription" platform. Once you get something from steam, every time you play it, you're using their service. I don't know if there is a subscription service out-there that would NOT ask for those kind of information. Maybe Pornhub (and no I don't subcribe to pornhup, I'm just guessing if there is a place that allows it, that would be the kind of place ).

- Thirdly: can't speak much. But I just created a temporary steam account to check something out for you. I was able to add a free to play game and have it start the install process without the need of providing any extra info. So my 2nd point above may be moot, and the problem is pretty much still the first point. Even if you already have the money in your wallet, even if it's free money, it's still the question they need to know how much they need to charge you outside of the price of the game. It probably is a liability issue. I don't know about other countries but the US is famous as "the land you can sue anyone for anything" for a reason. While most companies do as much as they can to cover their arse and reduce their liabilities, you can expect US companies to be extra aggressive about it.


One way to get around it if the issue is truly with the payment processing system is to get around it with Paypal. I use it for the same reason I don't want to give out my info everytime I want to buy something on the web. Of course, this is only work assuming you don't have the same issue with paypal.

[felter]

So Steam have got rid of the phone number requirement, it's interesting that the communication they finally sent me they say, so you can now buy the game as you don't need to enter a phone number though it may ask you for it but just leave it blank. Here's the thing, it's taken a little over a week to get it sorted out, the reason I was for buying the games was due to the fact they were on sale with 70% off, they ain't on sale any more, so thanks but no thanks.

So it turns out they didn't need the phone number after all, so why were they demanding it to start with, and saying they needed it when they didn't.

[Alan Phipps]

You probably have a case to get Steam customer support to give you discount codes for you to get the games you applied for earlier at the sale price.