Reader Justin says he bought some software from Valve’s Steam service — and was randomly charged in British pounds. This resulted in a bunch of extra charges from his bank. He’s tried to contact Valve about the issue, but he says he’s being ignored.

Justin writes:

I don’t know how widespread this is, but based on the company’s silence to my attempts to resolve the matter, it could mean there are more widespread problems.

On December 28, 2008 I purchased software through Valve Corporations’ Steam software distribution platform. The total was to be $38.23. However, the charges were processed through the company’s London offices and based on the fees that were incurred on my credit card statement, the fees were charged in British Pounds.

Based on exchange rates and exchange fees, I was overcharged by $18.41 for the charge. I contacted Valve through their customer support site, they do not publish a telephone number that I can find anywhere in any publication, on January 15 to request an investigation and refund of the money Valve made off of me through currency exchange.

My response went unanswered for 9 days and I sent a follow-up request on January 24th. Today, January 26th, I have yet to receive a response to my problem. After 11 days, it can only be assumed that my issues are being deliberately ignored, especially when multiple requests for communication went unanswered. Due to this, it is possible that the Valve Corporation could be experiencing this on a broader level and is choosing not to deal with customers on the matter, or it could be an isolated incident, but it is still being ignored.

A little Googling uncovered that Valve was doing a beta in which they offered different currency options to their various non-US customers, and we suppose you got caught up in that for some reason.

Since Valve is ignoring you, it might be best to take it up with your bank. Valve will be less likely to ignore a chargeback.

If anyone has some functioning executive contact information for Valve, we’d love to know about it: tips@consumerist.com

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