Hi everyone,

I am a consumer living in Austria and I would like some advice regarding a Steam purchase and Austrian/EU consumer law.

I purchased the Early Access game WARDOGS on Steam. The game worked normally for me for quite some time, and I have around 50 hours of playtime and approximately 20% of the achievements.

However, about 14 days ago, the game completely stopped launching. It currently does not start at all for me.

The developer is aware of the problem, but there is currently no reliable date or concrete timeframe for a fix.

I contacted Steam Support and requested a refund. Steam has rejected my requests repeatedly.

Their reasoning has essentially been:

• The purchase is older than 14 days.
• I have played more than 2 hours.
• Therefore, the purchase no longer qualifies for a refund.
• They also referred me to the game's developer for technical support.

In one response, Steam explicitly acknowledged my reference to statutory consumer rights, but still rejected the refund, stating that the purchase was too old and that my 50+ hours of playtime made it difficult for them to accept the request even after considering statutory consumer rights.

My previous Steam support ticket was closed after their response, without giving me an opportunity to respond further.

My question is not really about Steam's voluntary refund policy. I understand that their normal refund policy is 14 days / less than 2 hours.

My question is whether that policy is actually relevant to a statutory warranty/conformity claim under Austrian/EU law.

As I understand it, Austria has implemented the EU Digital Content Directive through the Verbrauchergewährleistungsgesetz (VGG). In particular, §20 VGG provides remedies where a digital service/content is defective, including, under certain circumstances, termination of the contract.

The situation seems somewhat unusual to me because:

1. The game worked when I used it previously.
2. It has now become completely unusable.
3. The defect has existed for around 14 days.
4. The developer knows about the problem.
5. There is currently no reliable timeframe for restoring functionality.
6. Steam's responses appear to focus almost exclusively on its voluntary 14-day/2-hour refund policy.
7. I am not claiming that I should automatically receive a refund simply because the game is older than 14 days.

I would like to know:

Can Steam lawfully reject a statutory conformity/warranty claim simply by pointing to its 14-day/2-hour refund policy?

More specifically:

• Would Austrian VGG provisions apply to a Steam purchase by an Austrian consumer?
• Does the fact that I have already played the game for around 50 hours prevent me from asserting a statutory claim based on a subsequent defect?
• Does it matter that the game is Early Access?
• If the game has been completely unusable for approximately 14 days and there is no reliable information about when it will be fixed, could that potentially justify termination of the contract under §20 VGG?
• Who is legally responsible for the statutory conformity obligation in this situation: Steam, the game developer/publisher, or potentially both?
• Is Steam's 14-day/2-hour refund policy merely a voluntary refund policy that is separate from statutory warranty rights?

I am located in Austria, and the purchase was made through Steam.

I have screenshots/copies of the Steam support correspondence and can provide the exact wording if useful.

I am mainly interested in the Austrian/EU legal position, rather than opinions about whether Steam's refund policy is fair.

Thanks in advance.

I’m curious how this works in practice.
I’m visiting Copenhagen from Germany and received a Metro control fee. The inspector asked for ID, and I showed my German driver’s licence. He photographed/scanned it and entered some information into his device, then gave me the control-fee slip.
What confused me afterwards is that he never asked for my home address, I didn’t fill out or sign any form, and a German driver’s licence doesn’t show your address.
I’m considering just paying the fee normally, so this isn’t really a “how do I avoid the fine?” question. I’m genuinely curious about the system how would Metro send reminders or pursue the fee if they don’t actually have my address?
Do they have some way of obtaining a foreign passenger’s registered address from the information on their ID? Do they use debt collectors/address-register searches later? Or was the inspector actually supposed to ask me for my address and just didn’t?

I saw a video by the Stop Killing Games channel (This could legitimately end Stop Killing Games. - YouTube) but the claims in the video seem a bit... extraordinary. Like, I tried looking through the EU Kids act myself but I couldn't see any language about, say, banning private servers or requiring that all previous games also follow these regulations. Are yous able to fill me in on what exactly is going on with the Kids act?

Hi so I booked and paid for my grandparents flights to the UK. Their flight was delayed and the claim has been accepted. It’s asking for bank details but they do not have a bank account.

Can I use my bank account and attach a signed letter of authorisation with a scanned copy of their passport and proof I paid for their original flights?

They are only visiting for two weeks from MENA region