We all know about Steam - if we didn't, we wouldn't be reading a news site dedicated to PC gaming - that most convenient way to buy and play games without having to leave your desk. During it's 11 years of operation, Valve have had to deal with a number of issues, but these days it's mostly problems of quality control and the issue of refunds.

Well, those issues are coming to a head here in the Great Southern Land, with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (read: our people that make sure businesses are acting in a legal manner) instituting Federal Court proceedings against Valve in regards to their consumer quality guarantees and refund policy, alleging that Valve have made false or misleading statements by saying that:
consumers were not entitled to a refund for any games sold by Valve via Steam in any circumstances;
Valve had excluded, restricted or modified statutory guarantees and/or warranties that goods would be of acceptable quality;

Valve was not under any obligation to repair, replace or provide a refund for a game where the consumer had not contacted and attempted to resolve the problem with the computer game developer; and
the statutory consumer guarantees did not apply to games sold by Valve.

Despite the fact that Valve has no physical presence here in Australia, they do sell their products here (obviously), and are thus bound by our consumer laws - which state that goods have to be of a certain quality to be put on the market in the first place, and that a full refund must be offered in the event of a faulty product, or when a consumer is not satisfied that the product meets expectations.

The lawsuit is expected to appear in court for first hearings on October 7 in Sydney. Valve has told Kotaku that they will be 'making every effort to cooperate with the Australian officials on this matter.' We'll be reporting when more information comes to light, and hopefully this will force Valve to make changes that make it easier to obtain a fair outcome when trying to obtain a refund through Steam.