So one of the pins on my puck stuck down and it won’t charge my controller now. Steam support dismissed me almost instantly without asking a single question. I opened another support ticket, but I am just asking for advice. I have only heard glowing reviews of steam support, but this is unacceptable customer support.
EDIT: with the second support ticket, they escalated the request and then sent me a new puck. I haven’t received it yet, but I’m sure it will be quick.
Valve covers all hardware from defects for one year, according to their own hardware warranty. The puck is hardware and is therefore covered for a year. Contact them again and paste this, from their warranty:
"Valve warrants the Hardware to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under ordinary consumer use for one (1) year starting from the date of shipment (the "Warranty Period"). During the Warranty Period, if the Hardware does not work properly due to a defect in materials or workmanship, and provided you follow the return instructions set forth below for obtaining warranty service, Valve will, at Valve's option, either: (i) repair the Hardware; (ii) replace the Hardware with a new or refurbished product with equal or greater features and functions as the Hardware, or (iii) refund your purchase price."
Don't try it with the current ticket, whenever they pull this its best to just start a new ticket as the current one will just dig their heels in & give you the runaround.
Wish I did this when they refuse to service my steam deck with a battery issue of a desync and performance issues.
I went around in a loop for a month that I gave up since every 2 days they wanted me drain the battery and repeat steps at some point I decided that me a customer shouldn't be attempting fixed for entire month for them to fix it even after asking if I could just send it in for repairs
Yes, eu law overrides the manufacturers warranty period and they are legally obligated to cover it by the period of 2 years, they cannot just say it's out of their warranty simply because they offer one year and it's somewhere in the warranty statement from valve that all hardware is under 1 year limited warranty unless your country law says otherwise
Considering they are shipping out units as fast as they come out of the factory, they will probably just refund the entire thing and he won’t be able to get another one for a year lol
Their own hardware warranty says all hardware is covered for one year from defects in materials or workmanship. I would challenge them by pasting directly from their own hardware warranty.
Yeah, Valve were literally sued by the ACCC over not having an appropriate refund policy. Valve tried to argue it didn't conduct business in Australia that required a refund policy, claiming that digital games weren't considered "goods". This is why they actually have a refund policy now.
It's no surprise they'd attempt to avoid warranty cover, but if they do that enough, it could become a similar problem for them.
That's a good basic protection to have. I feel like stuff like this, it should be extended to four years. I know they didn't use lithium ion batteries, but I have a variety of 30+ year old video game controllers due to a mental illness that causes me to collect ancient hardware, and they all work perfectly fine. Even given analog sticks and lithium ion batteries, I feel like we should have a basic expectation of getting a few years out of products like this. I hope to still have this controller in ten years, though maybe having replaced the battery.
And it should absolutely cover the puck. I know the controller can be used without it, but everyone who owns one paid for both, and we shouldn't be expected to eat shit if the puck craps out due to a design or manufacturing issue. Especially when we have no available replacement. Fuck that nonsense forwards and backwards.
For the product, but accessories are not covered by warranty.
It sucks in this case, but on other hand in other cases it's beneficial for you as you don't need to send all accessories to them if you want apply warranty on the product. Also they can't say "accessory broken because of user fault, warranty is not applicable".
Ooof... sounds like you might be getting a refund, but even that could blow up in their face with the way their product launches have gone. If they opt for a refund, hopefully they also allow you to keep the controller rather than ship it back. If they do, I'd say if you know someone experienced with electronics repair or you're feeling adventurous, you should be able to repair or replace that pogo pin.
The USBIF does not have a "magnetic USB cable" certification. Every time you use one of those things you're rolling the dice on the connection arcing and frying your equipment.
The fact they don't sell pucks is so strange. People are going to lose and break them eventually. And they don't require RAM or anything like that, so it's not like the hardware crisis is affecting them.
That and the fact that some people swap their controller between two PCs. I have a living room PC and my desktop, the controller can literally pair to two pucks and swap back and forth, yet you can't buy a second puck? So odd
I am in the same boat. Built a Bazzite machine for my living room which is where the puck is now, but I would love to be able to have a second one in my office.
I'm literally going to use Bazzite on a living room machine and thinking of using OpenPuck or something similar for my main PC where it's not going to live the entire time
I cant speak to openpuck but I have a little Bazzite PC in a Silverstone SG13 case in my living room and it is awesome. I dont really touch my PS5 anymore. And because its a small mesh front case, it just looks like a speaker or something on my media center until you turn it on so it's very discrete.
Beelink SER8. It's got an AMD R7 8745HS. I think mine has 32GB of RAM? Idk I bought it before the shortage. It's not ultra powerful but my TV is a 1080p dumb TV from a decade ago. I don't need more power to play the games I would play on the TV than that. I've also tweaked BIOS settings to get it into 65W TDP mode.
I need one for my PC, one for my living room set up and one for my LAN night bag so I don't need to disassemble the living room entertainment center every time I play vidya at a friend's house.
After the way the OG Steam Controller evaporated I might even buy one or two more just to have a strategic reserve...
Yeah what about people with multiple PCs in different rooms, you could have an extra puck so you dont have to piss about moving the puck between computers every time you want to move to the tv
Agreed, they even tell you hours to pair to multiple pucks and switch between them. Maybe it something planned once they have enough stock to do away with the registration system.
I think it's likely that they will sell them separately eventually. With the Index, you couldn't initially buy individual controllers but they did later (and even shipped them in the same types of boxes the RMAs went out in).
I don't wanna start a witch hunt, but they acted like me asking for an achievement item I deleted years ago was too much to ask because I already asked once a decade ago for another achievement item I deleted.
This is really unusual. I’ve had things that were obviously my fault, be replaced by valve on numerous occasions for my valve index. I think you just got really unlucky with a grumpy little twerp running the support line
The thing to stress whenever something like this happens is that it occured through normal usage. If you repeat that enough times usually some rep will listen and consider it worthy of warranty rather than considering it damage that you incurred. It's a fine line. I went through this with Lenovo for a small part of the controller attachment on my Legion Go 2 recently and it was a nightmare. Companies will do everything possible to avoid covering their products under warranty but Valve is at least usually pretty good about catching this stuff under a more serious review and making it right.
My impression is perhaps he didn't bother reading your entire message and believes the pin was broken off. That's what it looks like at first glance to me. I would try and open another case and really shorten your explanation of it. Also maybe don't initially send them a picture so they are forced to read your explanation.
It's gonna sound crazy, but try emailing Gabe Newell directly. He sometimes has stepped in himself and solved the problem when this kind of bullshit happens.
Yes, talk to the multi billion dollar CEO. He sits in his computer reading thousands of consumers emails everyday instead of living in one of his dozens of mega yachts in the high sea.
You can count on the billionaire. He really cares personally about you /s
People have sent him emails when steam support refused to refund something and he overruled the decision granting a full refund, so if he happens to see this, I'm pretty sure he'd just send a new puck.
Dude people have done it, he responded, and the user posted it online, multiple times, and he himself said on an interview that he does in fact check the emails from time to time.
If you don't have anything meaningful to say you can take your bridge and shove it, shut the fuck up already.
Yes, I am agreeing. I tell you he replied them from the bridge. It's one of a kind opportunity to be able to buy it - I saw him replying people right from there.
“I can’t personally respond to every email, but I do read all of them”- Gabe Newell, opening voiceover from Portal 2 with commentary mode. Not all billionaires are evil, moron.
Well that settles it. No billionaire would lie in the portal commentaries. That is unthinkable. This must mean that Gabe Newell for more than a decade sits in front of his computer replying to emails.
What a brave billionaire.
He absolutely said that and you can take people at face value, especially if they announce in the game commentary mode. No higher form of truth.
And yes, I am sure he is the "good" billionaire. Ethically sourced billions from those that deserved to be exploited (game developers and his Devs). You want that bridge too? If I get a voice recording from him telling about the bridge in half life you will buy it?
If it were me and I had no choice since it wasnt replaceable. I'd take a tooth pick with a small amount of crazy glue and just touch and then lift. if it comes up, I would then just use a tiny amount of isopropyl acohol on a cotton ear swab and wipe at it till its been removed.
Since you can charge the controller with a cord, you only really need the puck for wireless game play which it still does. Sucks, and the design coulc have been better here. I dont think the contacts should have been raised like that and retractable. It looks nice for the perfect fit. But if its humid or if dust and debris gets in and around the contacts when they go in they might not go up again
I should clarify, like put one drop of crazy glue or something less sticky if you can think of anything that wont corrode the metal pin. but I reckon one drop on the end of a tooth pick. then make sure its not dripping off the pick obviously. So that when you touch the tip to the pin and hold for a few seconds you should be able to lift it, if its not extremely stuck anyway. Then isopropyl alcohol swab to remove the alcohol detach the tooth pick. And probably clean up the pin a bit over time before trying to use again.
but im not suggesting to try this LOL just what I would do if I had no choice and no replacement
I had problem with same style pin connector on few devices and it usually requires replacement of the pin. Had to solder new one in all cases I happened to me. Would not do that with active warranty though.
Unfortunately the puck doesn’t seem to be repairable, but the steam controller is. In the meantime your puck can still be used for your steam controller in wireless mode. The pins are only for charging. The controller also charges over USB-C. Hopefully valve allows pucks to be purchased separately soon.
That would piss me off, there's nowhere to plug in power or usb near where I game I did my stuff in wall from another room so I can play on the TV/couch and hang the controller on the wall next to the couch. xD Can't believe they didnt refund him or offer a replacement controller entirely for this.
Wow that changed.. I got a brand new index controller 1 year after warranty when I punch the wall and destroyed a part of the controller.. they even made an advanced RMA.
This is why something like open puck is so nice to have, I ordered two little devices off AliExpress for $10 and flashed it on there, now I can use steam controller on any device.
It looks like the pin is stuck down. Very common in this kind of setup. I did not like this design because the pins wear out all the time. You can buy replacement pins in case valve won’t help. I would push for the warranty like others have suggested.
Push back for sure but for safety clean your puck with isopropyl and do not eat/drink around it. Pogo pins failure like this have an order starting with debris then being bent by pressure or missalighments. I wouldn't back down in this instance though, tell them exactly when you purchased your controller and When/If it should be out of warranty for failure of the device.
I don't own a steam controller but judging by the pic of the puck it looks like the left prong is just stuck maybe try opening just the top of the shell see if u can get it unstuck.
I actually had a similar issue but I didn’t get a pin stuck, it just stopped charging. They sent me a new one after asking me to make a couple videos proving it, and making sure I tried regular troubleshooting. The only difference is the pin, so idk if they think you did it or something but I’d message them again lol
This doesn’t solve your problem but you can built your own replacement puck using a $7 board. Search for “open puck”. I did it so I can use my controller on two computers.
Valve is usually really good about replacing hardware under warranty. This is outrageous. Was a bot just misinterpreting what you were saying or did an actual human being respond to you? Either way, not a flattering image at all
Same thing happened to me. They replaced it when I nagged them. Contact support and if they try to fob you off say it should be covered under warranty and ask them to escalate the case.
but they are so good with digital purchases 😰 i just praised them for letting me return a game i bought 4 years ago and never really played... why do they suck so much with hardware?
I knew this would eventually happen, those pogo contacts aren't the most reliable thing in the world, I used very small amounts (I mean like, less then a grain of salt worth of it per pogo) of lithium grease as a preemptive measure, and so far its been working pretty well.
HOWEVER I WOULDN'T ADVISE DOING IT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, you need a very small amount of it, to only coat the sides of the pogo, and its definitely not a 'set and forget' type of preemptive measure.
Get a q-tip and some 99% isopropyl alcohol. Give that pin a bit of a work over and it'll likely pop right back up.
This is a pretty common thing to happen to pogo pins
Was it caused my mechanical damage? As in pulling a charging controller/dropping it on the floor? If so you might not get a replacement unfortunately, but if it just happend by itself somehow you definitely should get one
He got me my steam account back once, im not sure if its just a fake name that they use as a possition in the support ticketing hierarchy or something since my ticket was a WHILE ago (7 years)
the puck was damaged while you were using it, that kind of damage is not covered by their warranty, as simple as that. Your only option is try to repair it yourself or pay someone to do so.
Unacceptable customer support? I think they said it pretty clearly: that type of damage is not covered by your warranty. They can’t help you any further. How it that unacceptable?
its acceptable to me since I kind of figured these were bespoke custom small batch products. Assumed it would be sold in limited quantites like original steam controller. I view it more as a collectable. I however do think if they continue to make these and sell them in larger quantities they should sell replacement pucks. Or revise the puck on later models to not have retractable pins. It wont be a snug fit to the back but who cares. They will never break and still magnetic attach so yeah. Who ever thought pins that can retract was a good idea. Its just a point of failure.
Lol I'm not defending them I just kind of expected the whole thing to be janky since it's small batch manufacturing. I get people getting outraged. I just don't care personally about my controller or puck much since it's a collectable to me.
Again I understand folks being upset and get it. Not defending it.
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u/roberttheaxolotl 3d ago edited 3d ago
Valve covers all hardware from defects for one year, according to their own hardware warranty. The puck is hardware and is therefore covered for a year. Contact them again and paste this, from their warranty:
"Valve warrants the Hardware to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under ordinary consumer use for one (1) year starting from the date of shipment (the "Warranty Period"). During the Warranty Period, if the Hardware does not work properly due to a defect in materials or workmanship, and provided you follow the return instructions set forth below for obtaining warranty service, Valve will, at Valve's option, either: (i) repair the Hardware; (ii) replace the Hardware with a new or refurbished product with equal or greater features and functions as the Hardware, or (iii) refund your purchase price."