Friend getting terrible support.
I've got a friend who is not a PC gamer at all. He made an account to try and gift me a game for my birthday, having no idea what the hell he was doing. He added $50 to his wallet and has been trying to gift me a game.

Problem is his account is saying he needs to spend money to become a full account, by either adding wallet funds or purchasing a game. Like I said, he already spent $50 to add funds to his wallet. On top of this he also spent $6 on a game to see if that would work. Nothing.

He has now been at it for a couple of weeks now and nothing has changed. He contacted support and got a copy and paste message telling him to do what he's already done. He is getting no help so I'm bringing here in the public. Get your ♥♥♥♥ together Valve.
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Showing 1-15 of 42 comments
How did your friend add the $50 to the account?

:nkCool:
Hennix 1 Jul @ 8:25am 
tell "him" gifts dont count he has to use his own money (via paysafe paypal creditcard) to top his wallet
So your friend not being a PC gamer, not understanding how the system works and having struggles is Valve's problem?

Also, what support response has he been getting? Not paraphrased, not run through your opinion. Copy and paste the responses. That's the only way you're going to demonstrate the support your friend is getting and whether or not the problem is support, or your admittedly clueless friend.
Well it should have worked.

But truth be told, something is going on currently with customer services. I have a ticket open for a week, and not even a reply. And in that past, i usually get a reply within a few hours.

And so i don't what to tell you OP, but we have seen these customer service complaints popping up lately.
I'm not even sure if he would be able to buy you a game using wallet funds either due to commercial activity restrictions in place. If he simply wanted to buy you a game, he could've got a key from any retailer or had it sent direct to your account. Creating a new account, adding personal wallet funds and then trying to gift that way isn't a good idea.
Zuko 1 Jul @ 9:09am 
Originally posted by nullable:
So your friend not being a PC gamer, not understanding how the system works and having struggles is Valve's problem?

Also, what support response has he been getting? Not paraphrased, not run through your opinion. Copy and paste the responses. That's the only way you're going to demonstrate the support your friend is getting and whether or not the problem is support, or your admittedly clueless friend.

It is support's problem when he has already done what should have resolved the issue. He added $50 to his account through Steam. He also spent at least $5 purchasing something from the store. Either one of these things are supposed to give you full account status and he has done both under my guidance. And yet he is still limited. He can't even add friends. I had to add him myself.

Hi,

We have chosen to limit access to some community features as a means of protecting users from those who abuse Steam merely for purposes such as spamming and phishing.

To access all features of Steam, you will need to spend at least $5.00 USD within the Steam store.

You can view your progress at the help site.

Some examples of purchases that qualify:
Adding the equivalent of $5 USD or more to your Steam Wallet.
Purchasing game(s) that are equal to $5 USD or more from the Steam store.
Adding a Steam Wallet card that is equal to $5 USD or more to your Steam account.
Purchasing a Steam gift that is equal to $5 USD or more from the Steam store (Receiving a Steam gift or digital gift card from a friend doesn't count).

Each Steam purchase total will be tracked in USD. If your Steam store's currency isn't in USD, it will be tracked and converted to USD automatically using daily exchange rates.

Please also note that CD Keys, retail purchases, and gifts do not remove limited user restrictions.

Check out our Limited User Accounts article for more information.

Steam Support
Tim
Can your friend post here?

:nkCool:
Zuko 1 Jul @ 9:15am 
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
Can your friend post here?

:nkCool:
I sent him a link to the post.
weird
Originally posted by Zuko:
Originally posted by nullable:
So your friend not being a PC gamer, not understanding how the system works and having struggles is Valve's problem?

Also, what support response has he been getting? Not paraphrased, not run through your opinion. Copy and paste the responses. That's the only way you're going to demonstrate the support your friend is getting and whether or not the problem is support, or your admittedly clueless friend.

It is support's problem when he has already done what should have resolved the issue. He added $50 to his account through Steam. He also spent at least $5 purchasing something from the store. Either one of these things are supposed to give you full account status and he has done both under my guidance. And yet he is still limited. He can't even add friends. I had to add him myself.

Hi,

We have chosen to limit access to some community features as a means of protecting users from those who abuse Steam merely for purposes such as spamming and phishing.

To access all features of Steam, you will need to spend at least $5.00 USD within the Steam store.

You can view your progress at the help site.

Some examples of purchases that qualify:
Adding the equivalent of $5 USD or more to your Steam Wallet.
Purchasing game(s) that are equal to $5 USD or more from the Steam store.
Adding a Steam Wallet card that is equal to $5 USD or more to your Steam account.
Purchasing a Steam gift that is equal to $5 USD or more from the Steam store (Receiving a Steam gift or digital gift card from a friend doesn't count).

Each Steam purchase total will be tracked in USD. If your Steam store's currency isn't in USD, it will be tracked and converted to USD automatically using daily exchange rates.

Please also note that CD Keys, retail purchases, and gifts do not remove limited user restrictions.

Check out our Limited User Accounts article for more information.

Steam Support
Tim

I suppose the question is, what's the origin of the wallet funds he added exactly?

Because while it's not impossible for the problem to be on Steam's end. It's not like users aren't prone to assumptions and mistakes, and somehow I think a clueless non-PC gamer might be especially prone.

So, you're going to have to accept a certain amount of skepticism claiming that a system that works for most users just randomly doesn't work for him. Anything is possible, not everything is equally plausible.
Zuko 1 Jul @ 9:48am 
Originally posted by nullable:

I suppose the question is, what's the origin of the wallet funds he added exactly?

Because while it's not impossible for the problem to be on Steam's end. It's not like users aren't prone to assumptions and mistakes, and somehow I think a clueless non-PC gamer might be especially prone.

So, you're going to have to accept a certain amount of skepticism claiming that a system that works for most users just randomly doesn't work for him. Anything is possible, not everything is equally plausible.
I'm not sure. With how he was fumbling around maybe he sent himself a Steam gift card? If that were the case shouldn't buying a $6 game count regardless? If it doesn't it should.

Let's be real here, I get that security is important, but sometimes Steam's security measures are a bit much. I once got something like a 2 week lock put on me. It's been a while so I may be remembering wrong, but I think it was because I had to update my card after getting a new one. (The joys of cards expiring.) Sure, it eventually went away and I was able to get what I wanted to, but that's still very irritating to have to wait that long, especially as someone who's been on the platform for years.

Unfortunately a lot of people are stupid and as a result the rest of us have to deal with a million layers of security.
Last edited by Zuko; 1 Jul @ 9:49am
Lilim 1 Jul @ 9:53am 
Originally posted by Zuko:
I'm not sure. With how he was fumbling around maybe he sent himself a Steam gift card? If that were the case shouldn't buying a $6 game count regardless? If it doesn't it should.

If he got the 50$ from another Steam account it doesn't count. Using that gifted money to buy a game doesn't count either.

Ask him how he added that money.
Zuko 1 Jul @ 9:58am 
Originally posted by Lilim:
Originally posted by Zuko:
I'm not sure. With how he was fumbling around maybe he sent himself a Steam gift card? If that were the case shouldn't buying a $6 game count regardless? If it doesn't it should.

If he got the 50$ from another Steam account it doesn't count. Using that gifted money to buy a game doesn't count either.

Ask him how he added that money.

Yup, that is exactly what he did wrong. Can confirm now. Thank you guys. You were a hell of a lot more help than support was.

He's pretty angry right now, feeling like he wasted his money. Gonna help him get this fixed.
Originally posted by Zuko:
Originally posted by Lilim:

If he got the 50$ from another Steam account it doesn't count. Using that gifted money to buy a game doesn't count either.

Ask him how he added that money.

Yup, that is exactly what he did wrong. Can confirm now. Thank you guys. You were a hell of a lot more help than support was.

He's pretty angry right now, feeling like he wasted his money. Gonna help him get this fixed.
He's the one who somehow has absolutely no way of his own to add a whole $5 to his account. It is his problem and honestly its a bit suspect that you're here without him, doing all of his basic troubleshooting.
Lilim 1 Jul @ 10:25am 
Originally posted by Zuko:
He's pretty angry right now, feeling like he wasted his money. Gonna help him get this fixed.

Keep in mind that even if your friend manages to unlimit his account, he may not be able to buy a gift for you with his wallet funds.

The purchase of gifts with wallet funds is restricted to prevent commercial activity - this is especially true for newly created accounts.
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