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.

  • Destide@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    17 days ago

    • Out of warranty

    • 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.

    • daed@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      17 days ago

      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.

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        0·
        17 days ago

        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.

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
      0·
      17 days ago

      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.

    • LettucePrey@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      17 days ago

      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.