I think this could interest you guys:

Hello, I'm nifelan and I'm an information technology student in Vienna who enjoys playing video games among other things. This is a warning to all PC/Mac gamers that use Steam in any way and the text also includes a small warning about ClickandBuy. So please take a moment of your time and hear my story.

Background

Ever since early 2004 I've been using Steam and early server problems aside, I really started to like the platform a lot. Automatic updates, good server browser, nice community features – and let's not forget all the really awesome deals.

Over the years I've collected over 160 games (which were worth quite a lot) and played regularly, especially with my brother. I also used Steam as a second instant messenger, talking to some of my friends – which was especially handy due to the Steam Overlay technology, which allowed to chat and surf while playing a game without having to switch back to the desktop.

When the Orange Box came out, I started using ClickandBuy as a payment service and I had little to no problems with it. Easy and comfortable charging of my bank account with no additional fees. There was one little thing that I ran into, which was a hidden monthly transfer limit. I couldn't buy games for more than ~100€ a month.

This limit has been set by Valve/Steam according to ClickandBuy and Steam tells me that they never ever asked or enforced such a limit so ClickandBuy must be mistaken etc. Until now I've been just a measly message boy between those two companies and pretty much gave up on buying too many games a month.

ClickandBuy always charged my bank account and from time to time I overdrew my

account a little, which wasn't much of a problem (even though I should have a bank account that wouldn't allow this – but such charges, Lastschriften, seemed to ignore that limit).

What happened – the financial side

Steam started a big summer sale and I bought a few games that I always wanted to own – I even gave some of those games to a few friends as a gift. In total, I spent 21,19€ on games.

A few days later (last Thursday, July 1st 2010) I had a look at my bank account in the morning – the two charges from ClickandBuy had been refused. Naturally, I wasn't happy about this and called my bank, who explained me that my account wasn't covered. Ironically I got enough money to cover the charge just on that day. Talk about bad timing. This has been the first time that a charge didn't overdraw my account.

ClickandBuy reacted a few hours later by charging me 15€ for each failed transaction (30€ in total for failed transactions which were about 21,19€). They locked my ClickandBuy account and I started another transaction which would charge my account with the 51,19€ – a process, that usually happens in one or at most two days.

What happened – nasty fumes from Steam

When I started my PC that evening, the Steam window opened and didn't respond. It took me a few seconds to realise, that there was a small message box hidden behind the window. The message box said:

After a reality check I had a look at my email accounts – no message, no reminder, nothing. The guys  behind Steam secretly disabled my entire account.

The damage

I couldn't log in any more. Every time I tried to log in (regardless of correct or incorrect password), I got the same error message. I also couldn't use the offline-mode since the stored account data has been erased the instant that I received that message. This meant, that I couldn't use any part of Steam. I couldn't shop for more games (while a lot of hot deals were passing by), talk to my friends, use other community features, play any games (not even the ones I bought in 2004) and of course, I  couldn't log in anywhere, therefore I couldn't use the Steam client to play games that I didn't have in  Steam (I did that to use the nice overlay).

Remind yourself, that all this happened without any reminder for payment or any information on why

my account was disabled.

The "reason"

I immediately contacted Steam support and within seemingly endless four hours they replied, that my account will be automatically unlocked as soon as I balance my ClickandBuy account.

The aftermath and further problems

On Monday ClickandBuy finally charged my bank account. However there was no change in my ClickandBuy account. The next day I called their support (after I somehow got my hands on their telephone number, their webpage is utterly broken and a 404 minefield – not even the imprint works). They told me, that it will take at least five additional days for my account to be balanced since they automatically move the money through two or three sub-accounts, which takes a while and since it is an automated process, there would be nothing they could do for me. However, they were nice enough to credit me 15€ since the two transactions happened in a very short timespan.Of course,

the Steam account also replied, that it will take 3-5 business days for my account to be unlocked. Now I do fear that it will also take quite a while for ClickandBuy to transfer the funds to Steam so I don't  really count on seeing my Steam account any time this month.

What's even more annoying is, that I can't download any games on my laptop for my vacation trip in the close future and I won't be able to play any games while I'm on vacation – and I just bought a few games that run on my laptop! I also bought a few games that definitely don't run on my laptop and which I played regularly with my brother. This social activity has now also been cut very short. I asked the Steam support, on what (legal) reasons they base the deactivation of my account, but all I've got so far was yet another response, telling me that my account would be unlocked after I balanced by ClickandBuy account.

I did send that question again, stating that I'll feel to be forced to file an action for an injunction (Unterlassungsklage) against them, if I don't get a satisfying response. After all, their subscriber agreement doesn't state anything about disabling accounts or delayed payments.

There is serious doubt that this action is legal.

Conclusion

I might have been a huge fan of Steam but this random act because of a mere 21,19€ really put a huge dent into the trust I place in them. If you use Steam, think twice before buying every game from

them. Sadly, buying your games on a disc won't save you, since most games still require an online activation – and when those servers get shut down, you too won't be too happy.

Notes about this text

Please feel free to share and distribute this text but mention at least my nickname when doing so.

I will expand this whenever I get new information.

Fortunately, the law overrides any illegal statements in the SSA – and as far as I'm informed, no matter what Steam says, in this case the Austrian/European law would apply.

Currently I still don't have my account back. It's been a week now and it will most likely take another 2-3 weeks until I get it back.

It took 3 business days for my bank account to be charged. It will take another 5 days after that for the money to be transferred to my ClickandBuy account (they move it through 2-3 sub accounts!). My guess is, that it will take another week for the funds to be transferred to Steam and I have word from the Steam support, that it takes 3-5 days for my Steam account to be unlocked once I've balanced my ClickandBuy account.

Of course all this has to happen on the first day of my holiday.

Kissaki said:

Well, a steam-option of disabling

games which you couldn't pay for would be the optimal way and worth

suggesting to Valve.

As long as they don’t have an option to disable games for a single

user disabling the account is probably their only option – other than

letting you play the game you couldn’t pay.

The latter is questionable though indeed. You bought the other games

and should still be allowed to play them. But neither can they let you

play the non-paid games.

Pretty bad.

In the end, its your own fault not paying / not being able to pay

what you bought. Bad timing indeed. Nontheless should one only buy for

as much money as he has after all.

I've said it and I'll say it again: the practise of disabling entire accounts cannot be legal, especially when there is no mentioning of it in the TOS (and even if it were, just writing something in the TOS doesn't make it legal – at least in Austria/EU).

Also there are guys who had similar problems because PayPal/ClickandBuy screwed up (or PayPal decided to freeze the account and "investigate" it, like they often do for no apparent reason – they freeze accounts for up to half a year whenever they feel like it). Steam also doesn't seem to accept alternative methods of payment when such issues arise. Loosing your entire account, possibly forever, because your payment service declares you no longer trustworthy or something like that? I'd be more than pissed.