You submitted a refund request, you did. Then are shocked when get the refund?

Maybe don't mess around with things for fun next time.

Maybe don't mess with stuff and you wont have issues?

Originally posted by marka:

I submitted a refund request out of curiosity, not expecting it to be processed since I was way over the 2-hour limit.

To my surprise, Steam processed the refund and removed the game from my library — without warning me or clearly explaining that an “exception” was being granted.

Now I'm told I must repurchase the game at full price (¥3500), and they won’t offer the sale price or a discount.

You requested a refund just for fun!? and now you are miffed about you need to re-buy the game at full price?

Originally posted by marka:

Steam should at least offer a coupon or let me buy it again at the sale price.

Why should they? You have just wasted their time and cost them money.

Please make it make sense

Next time, don't ask for a refund if you don't want one. Also it doesn't immediately issue a request. You had multiple chances to back out before finalizing the request.

So you FAFO'd and are surprised at the result? You'll just have to wait for another sale now, won't you.

Originally posted by marka:

I had purchased "魔法少女ノ魔女裁判" during a sale for ¥2800. After playing the game for over 13 hours, I submitted a refund request out of curiosity, not expecting it to be processed since I was way over the 2-hour limit.

To my surprise, Steam processed the refund and removed the game from my library — without warning me or clearly explaining that an “exception” was being granted.

Now I'm told I must repurchase the game at full price (¥3500), and they won’t offer the sale price or a discount.

Support closed my ticket without resolving anything. This feels incredibly unfair.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Steam refunding something unexpectedly and then locking you out?

I feel like this whole process was not transparent at all, and I’ve lost both my time and the ability to play a game I actually enjoyed.

Steam should at least offer a coupon or let me buy it again at the sale price.

So You wanted a refund and got a refund?

but now steam thinks it is in error and wants you to repurchase the game even though you don't want it?

"i requested a refund for the lulz, how dare you grant it!!!"
Are you for real?

It'll be on sale again.

[Update]

I understand that my initial post may have come across as careless or misleading. Let me clarify:

I didn’t request the refund “just for fun.” I genuinely didn’t expect Steam would approve it after 13 hours of playtime, and I assumed I’d have a chance to cancel before anything was finalized. That was my misunderstanding — I had no intent to exploit the system.

In fact, I ended up really enjoying the game and I was planning to keep it. That’s why I’m so upset that it was removed from my library without any warning or second confirmation, and now I have to re-buy it at full price.

I respect Steam’s rules, but I feel this process lacked transparency. I’m simply asking for a fair resolution — maybe the ability to repurchase the game at the original sale price, or at least a small discount.

Thank you to those who took the time to reply.

if you want to get it for the original price you bought it from, you will have to wait for a sale.

that said, never refund "for teh lulz". It costs Valve money, not just the game's price but transaction fees as well.

Originally posted by marka:

[Update]

I understand that my initial post may have come across as careless or misleading. Let me clarify:

I didn’t request the refund “just for fun.” I genuinely didn’t expect Steam would approve it after 13 hours of playtime, and I assumed I’d have a chance to cancel before anything was finalized. That was my misunderstanding — I had no intent to exploit the system.

In fact, I ended up really enjoying the game and I was planning to keep it. That’s why I’m so upset that it was removed from my library without any warning or second confirmation, and now I have to re-buy it at full price.

I respect Steam’s rules, but I feel this process lacked transparency. I’m simply asking for a fair resolution — maybe the ability to repurchase the game at the original sale price, or at least a small discount.

Thank you to those who took the time to reply.

You can buy it on sale the next time it goes on sale, sometime after 30 days have passed since its release.

Originally posted by marka:

I had purchased "魔法少女ノ魔女裁判" during a sale for ¥2800. After playing the game for over 13 hours, I submitted a refund request out of curiosity, not expecting it to be processed since I was way over the 2-hour limit.

To my surprise, Steam processed the refund and removed the game from my library — without warning me or clearly explaining that an “exception” was being granted.

Now I'm told I must repurchase the game at full price (¥3500), and they won’t offer the sale price or a discount.

Support closed my ticket without resolving anything. This feels incredibly unfair.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Steam refunding something unexpectedly and then locking you out?

I feel like this whole process was not transparent at all, and I’ve lost both my time and the ability to play a game I actually enjoyed.

Steam should at least offer a coupon or let me buy it again at the sale price.

Don't fall into bait

[Clarification and Additional Thought]

Some people seem to think I submitted the refund request “for the lulz” — but I want to make it very clear: that was never my intention.

I genuinely didn’t expect the refund would be approved, since I was well over the 2-hour playtime limit. I thought there would be another confirmation step or that the request would simply be declined. If I had known the refund would be processed instantly and couldn’t be canceled, I wouldn’t have submitted it at all.

I really enjoyed the game — I played it for over 13 hours. It was never about abusing the system. I just made a mistake.

[Additional Thought]

After going through this experience, I started thinking more seriously about the implications. If Steam sometimes approves refunds beyond the 2-hour mark, and doesn’t immediately lock access to the game, doesn’t that create room for potential abuse?

For example, someone could request a refund at around 2 hours, then continue playing for another 10+ hours and reach the end of a story-based game — and still get their money back. That’s definitely not fair to developers.

While I had no such intention, this situation made me realize that the system might be vulnerable. Maybe Steam should consider adding a clearer warning or temporarily locking access to the game once a refund request is submitted — just to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings or even bad actors.

Thank you to anyone who reads this with an open mind.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Honestly, I’m still really frustrated — but maybe I’ll just buy the game again during the next sale. That said, it’s such a great game and I’m really hooked on the story… I’m also afraid of running into spoilers if I wait too long. So I might end up buying it again at full price just to continue.

It’s a tough situation, but I do appreciate the people who replied thoughtfully.

Experiment gone wrong?