Just had a pretty negative experience with Steam support and just wanted to post about it here to inform others of my experience. What you do with this information is up to you!
- I bought a Steam Deck OLED 1TB in November 2023 for $723 USD
- I take really good care of it (still looks brand new)
- Last week I ordered an official Steam Deck Dock because I use the Deck so much.
- After disconnecting the Steam Deck dock one night, the Steam Deck completely dies.
- The Steam Deck is 16 months old (4 months out of warranty)
- I contact support, and after doing some cursory troubleshooting, they let me know that it needs repairs and the quote is $197 USD
- I reply saying that’s quite a bit of money for a product just out of warranty, but if they can guarantee the repairs for 12 months I would do it
- They dodge the question for a while, but after several messages finally say that they can only guarantee up to 90 days after repair
At this point, I’m no longer interested in being a Steam Deck owner nor am I planning on using any Valve service in the future. I will pay the repair fee†, but I intend on selling it immediately after to recoup some of my losses.
†I’m sure that some of you are going to say repair it yourself! However, the issue is that the repair is a 3 hour long process that needs the battery to be drained first. Due to the current state of the Steam Deck, it is impossible to drain the battery. If I had access to a garage that I could have a metal bucket full of sand in case things go bad, I would consider doing it myself, but hitting a fully charged Li Ion battery with a heat gun in a small carpeted apartment is just too risky for my risk tolerance.
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Out of warranty
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Unwilling to pay someone for a job you can’t do
I’m sorry this is just being an adult, you said you were done with it why bother posting? It’s not like it’s an example of bad customer service. You’re just ranting you didn’t get your way. It’s not a great situation but I can’t think of many companies that would give you what you wanted in this situation.
why bother posting?
To quote myself: “just wanted to post about it here to inform others of my experience. What you do with this information is up to you!”
Unwilling to pay someone for a job you can’t do
It’s more that I’m unwilling to do a job that is almost certainly a manufacturing defect in either the Steam Deck or the official Steam Deck dock.
Yeah, this is my impression as well.
There is a clear link on the store page to go to the warranty info, if OP didn’t read it or understood it before buying, this is on them, not Valve.
You sound like a butthurt fanboy. Don’t think like big corps, try to understand the little man. Deck is just 4 months out of warranty and suddenly dies. Of course you’d be raging wouldn’t you?
Thanks for posting, OP! I bought my 500gb oled used a few months back and tbh I hope you’re alone with that problem.
Deck is just 4 months out of warranty and suddenly dies. Of course you’d be raging wouldn’t you?
I mean I’d be disappointed, but not with Valve. Shit happens. If it was a known issue that impacted lots of people, yes. Anything outside the warranty period is just good will if they cover it.
Fortunately Valve made them super repairable.
That’s not how the world works, Karen.
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Ok, but what was the cause they diagnosed?
They never diagnosed a cause. They said it’s possible it’s not repairable and that they’d dispose of it for free or send it back.
That’s very unfortunate. However, I’d like mention a few things about attempting a self-repair:
- You don’t need a heat gun to disassemble it. A simple Philips head screwdriver will do.
- Batteries are dangerous regardless of their charge. You should be careful handling them even when they are fully discharged.
ah yah I have a launch steam deck that stopped booting or bootloops when it finally does. valve said $200 just to look at it. it is what it is. I like it too much to toss it but I put that $200 to an ipad mini and it’s a way better steam link than the steam deck.
@LettucePrey I usually try to stay away from posts like these, but this one is weird. 12 month warranty is a bit crap, but it’s standard. That’s at least one thing good about the EU. But it doesn’t really matter whether you’re four months outside of warranty or two years, you’re still out of warranty. I have my fair issues with Valve, but a lot of companies wouldn’t even bother offering you a repair in a scenario like this. Are there consumer laws in your country that dictate that you always should be offered that when you’re outside of warranty?
Secondly, why would you demand an additional 12 month “guarantee” on the repair, i.e. a new/extended warranty? For something that’s already out of warranty? Are there _any_ companies that would ever agree to that? I don’t know of any. That’s akin to buying a refurbished unit from them, and that unit would _not_ go for a measly $197 in that case.
why would you demand an additional 12 month “guarantee” on the repair
It is fairly typical in the automotive world, especially collision shops.
It’s also fairly reasonable in my eyes. Is Valve not confident their repair will actually work & last those 12 months at least?
If you’ve ever fixed an issue with the family PC, and then had a relative call 6 months later because “what did you do, it’s broken”, you’d understand exactly why warranty isn’t offered on warranty repairs.
Okay, but Valve does give some warranty for repairs, so why does that matter?
You’re the one saying it’s reasonable to expect a reset of the warranty on every repair. I just said why that’s not reasonable; your follow-up here makes no sense.
How does it not make sense? They already give a warranty for the repair (which you seem to think is unreasonable). At this point we’re only discussing the length of the warranty.
this isn’t an automobile, cars are designed to survive in the elements, laptops are not.
So let me get this straight you are upset that Valve is charging you for a repair 4 months after your warranty ended? Your warranty that lasted 12 months, so been out of warranty about a 1/3rd the it was in warranty. Yeah that is not just out of warranty, if it was a few days or even a week or two out of warranty you would have a point.
The cost doesn’t even seem all that unreasonable given a 3 hour repair time. Since Valve makes sure its employees are well taken care of and you have to cover the cost of the broken part(s).
This is just an unlucky issue that cropped up after your warranty ended. Not really on Valve to solve it for free and they gave you a quote on what it costs to have them fix it. You are free to ask 3rd party repair companies what they think the cost of the repair is. But I’d wager it’d be pretty similar given Valve has the parts easily available for purchase at fair prices.
- The 18 months post was a guesstimate. I bought it in November of 2023 which was 16 months ago
- It’s $185 + tax which is $197
3 month new warranty was offered after the repair was completed
This is not correct, it was a 3 month guarantee on repairs. (A 3 month extended warranty would be far more generous, but not what I was asking for).
Whatever the repair was, the battery doesn’t need drained for it anyway. You disconnect the battery when upgrading or repairing the Deck. Even a dead battery has some charge.
My launch deck still runs fine, what did you do to it?
I’m sorry that you’re getting less than sympathetic replies here. I don’t know what the original was since you’ve edited the post and I don’t have anything constructive to add as I assume you’re in the US, but in the EU/UK goods have to last “a reasonable amount of time” regardless of the warranty term.
Some cheap plastic tat might reasonably be expected to last a few months, a washing machine maybe 10 years provided it’s not misused. The further out you get from the warranty period, the more the onus is on the customer to prove it’s a manufacturing defect, and the less you can expect in monetary compensation.
For a high value item like a computer, TV, or the Steam Deck no reasonable person would consider it a good run, shrug their shoulders, and rush out to buy a new one when it unceremoniously died 4 months outside of the warranty period. If that happened to me in the UK I’d be throwing the consumer rights book at them.
Sorry, I know none of that helps if you’re not in the EU/UK, but contrary to what other are saying I don’t think you’re being unreasonable in complaining at all.
Personally I think most of these sorts of things should have a 3 year warranty - but very few offer that. If you can’t handle the 1 year you need to plan on the reality in the US IMHO. This isn’t a Valve thing, its a USA thing. So ranting against Valve feels a little disengenuous. AFAIK there’s no competitior that’s better. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo would say the same thing.
So - in the future buy with a card that extends the warranty by a year or buy an extended offering from the company or square or whatever, if you can’t self insure the 200 repair or 600 ish replacement costs.
This is why I always buy electronics on my Amex card. They add an additional year of warranty past the manufacturer’s expiration.
I don’t think there’s many companies that I’ve heard of that are willing to repair or replace something that far out of warranty.
“Buyer beware”
I’m not here to provide Valve with free advertising, but what do you want buyers to be wary of?
Dork. If you can’t do that repair yourself then you shouldn’t be playing video games and should be practicing reading instead. Google and a screwdriver would have you sorted out in like 30 minutes except that you’ve learned to be helpless. Now you are pretending to be the victim of the company instead of the victim of your own wasted life.
Since my Steam Deck broke I’ve been reading a lot more, so unironically a great suggestion.
The best part is that I actually get to own my books and pass them to other people after I’m done with them. Oh, and they’re not funded by underage gambling. And I can support a local shop down the street from me.
If this is being a dork and having a wasted life, I don’t want to change a thing.
I hope you’re able to practice talking to people more, as you clearly need work.
