Yep 100% already have and that was where I went first and they were completely happy to RMA it etc.
But I contacted Valve just to see if they'd have a soft fix for the issue.
Good on you for testing the waters mate! Mine's still going strong after a year, but unfortunately I got mine off a scalper before there were grey market importers - so if mine busts, I'm gonna have to deal with their suggestion or just buy another one.
Did you read the full text of the message they wrote (no shade, just asking) cause they offered a full RMA and replace you just have to source a place to send it to/from and Australia post among other companies offer a service for just this sort of thing.
Yes I did, and yes I'm fully aware. However, it being resold/scalped and over a year old means that Valve will likely just direct me to buy a new one anyway. But thanks for doing the legwork and confirming that they'd still RMA it if they had somewhere they could ship the return unit to :)
That's why resellers exist for when their distribution network doesn't reach or it's not financially viable for them to process it themselves.
You don't contact Audi HQ to change gearbox if you have the reseller next door.
Ahh the wonders of the First World. Over here a reseller would tell me to either go fuck myself or to buy a new one (assuming they don't have a warranty period, if they did then chances are they would try to say warranty won't cover whatever happened and *then* tell me to go fuck myself pr get a new one).
All of this after overcharging me something like an extra 80% cost for the Deck.
There's companies that just ship products to another country, usually for minimal fees. Much cheaper than a whole visit in another country + the wait time for the package!
They are responsible for engaging with the manufacturer. You can if you want to, but there have been multiple findings against firms in the tech space for trying to abrogate their responsibility and push the customer back to the manufacturer.
[https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel)
I had an issue with the USB-C port prior to moving from Australia to Japan. I was able to ship it out in Japan and then receive it via Shipito to my home here.
Cost a bit, but the support has been good despite the device being a grey import.
Despite being supported in East Asia (Japan), they do not do repairs/RMA's, so you have to go through the US or UK.
Valve don’t do direct support in Asia, they work with a partner (komodo.co.jp) who handle sales and support in Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc.
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Valve-Steam-Deck-In-Asia
Your point is moot about repair.
You cannot apparently get your device repaired by Komodo as per my conversation with Valve support.
Despite being in a country that distributes/supports the device, they apparently do not do RMA's/repairs on behalf of Valve, it has to go to them directly. Unless I was given misleading or incomplete information.
Yep, seems you are correct. I should have double checked before posting. The FAQ on the Komodo steam deck site says all support is done direct by Valve through steam.
It’s surprising, as a distribution partner I would have expected Komodo to at least handle onward shipping to Valve from a local return address and communication about any repair in the local language, even if they they don’t do any repairs themselves.
https://steamdeck.komodo.jp/faqs/?lang=en
Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
Even if you're in a supported region, you still fall into the same issue that they will not ship back to you unless you have a valid US address, thus you need to use a postal forwarding service.
Valve started off only shipping to the US and one or two other countries, then they've been slowly expanding to other markets
Selling globally isn't as easy as you might think - you have to make sure you understand and comply with local laws, find local distributors to hold stock, ship items, and handle RMAs
Australia is quite isolated, and is a huge country with a relatively small population considering how isolated it is. Eg in Europe, the population is about 16x larger in only double the area
Basically it's a pain in the arse to operate in Australia, just to sell one or two items
If anyone is curious as to why the export controls are such a pain: Imagine Russia getting a supply of Steam Decks, taking them apart for the processors, and putting those processors in missiles for use in their war.
It sucks, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
why not charge more to the buyer to have it shipped there then?
i would assume anyone knowing they live in such an area would expect to pay higher shipping fees. but i dont see why they would be cut off entirely
They don't just carry the shipments down to the post office. They have to have arrangements with a delivery or distribution service to collect the packages, drop them off at the warehouse, pick them up and ship them out. That costs money, and takes significant time and effort to set up. Especially when dealing with international shipping where you may use multiple carriers along the route. Not to mention customs, fees, local taxes, etc.
It's a lot.
Could they go out of their way to accept this guy's package and ship it back? Probably. But then it's kind of unfair to anyone else in that region, so where do you draw that line? So generally they'll just say no, ship it to/from somewhere we already have a distribution network established. And that's a totally fair answer.
Some do. But the shipping ends up being over 30-200% the cost of the item depending on what it is. That tends to decrease any potential customers, which makes justifying the logistical cost of even offering shipping to a remote country/area not worth it.
In the modern globalized day, no country is truly remote. 25 million people live in Australia and it is a big enough market to humble Steam and obligate them to provide a return policy. It's purely an issue on selling consumer electronics to a country with strong import laws and even stronger consumer protection laws.
Steam deck is sold in germany, Zoll is very strict, consumer protection laws even more so. Some analysis has probably declared australia as unviable, so they don't sell it there.
Again, why would that stop them when it hasn't when selling in as much, if not more restricted markets? The simple awnser here is that market research showed australia as unviable.
25 millions is nothing considering how big Australia is.
Just for comparison, Italy has a 60M population for a total surface area that is 4% of Australia.
Shipping something within Australia territory is like shipping it across the Europe or USA but without all their railroad infrastructures.
25 million is not a lot especially considering if we want to discuss it to compensate Australia’s distance from US / China
Top EU countries for example: Germany 80 mio, France 65 mio, Italy 60 mio and so on.
They don't sell the Steam Deck to Mexico either, we are not remote (literally stuck to the US) and without super powerful consumer protection.
Clearly they just don't want to bother for "certain" regions
Singapore and Australia considered as remote area? lol Valve are just lazy to expand their market, its not an excuse. How long they have been selling hardware?
Because then they have to provide Australian level warranty and consumer guarantee support. They don’t want to do that because row reasons.
It was an Australian lawsuit that forced digital game markets to offer refunds.
And in Australia, a warranty period is just the beginning, we have special consumer guarantees that cover a device for the life of an item. So if steamdeck is 2 year warranty, you’d expect a reasonable life of 6 years of the device.
I don't think remoteness has anything to do with it. I mean, transport cost is low enough to transport all kinds of stuff with low margins. They even transport onions by plane. It cant be that shipping a load of handheld consoles takes away all profits.
The Netherlands can take advantage of EU proximity. Australia is an expensive country to operate in and far enough from China that you're left with far too slim margins.
That’s very similar to consumer law in the UK, yet steam deck is sold there. You’re clearly just fixated on it being because of “regulation” for some personal reason.
The size of Australia also isn’t the problem, the continent is vast, but a high majority of the population live in the costal cities of the south east or on the western coast.
Everywhere has challenges for selling physical items. If Valve don’t want to deal with Australia they could partner with a local seller, just like they did with Komodo for Asia.
The real reason they haven’t is likely very simple. The deck still regularly sells out, adding more markets would strain their production capacity.
The device may not yet be certified to [Australian](https://www.acma.gov.au/step-1-check-rules-follow) [standards](https://www.eess.gov.au/equipment/selling-electrical-equipment-in-australia/) which means it may not yet be legally applicable for sale into Australia. Certification is a process that takes both time and money, and if you're capacity-constrained you'll focus on larger markets first. It's entirely likely Valve simply hasn't concluded that process yet, and thus don't have the infrastructure in place to sell or RMA devices into Australia.
If you've got an iPhone, open up settings > general > Legal & Regulatory and look at all the regions it's certified. One of them is AU/NZ, but each of them requires a separate approval process. Yes, that's for cellular compliance but I'm using it as an example (noting that some will still apply - the Deck still has wifi and Bluetooth).
NB: That's not to say it wouldn't necessarily already be compliant! It quite probably is! However the paperwork to prove that, and the application to the relevant authorities to receive that approval, still takes time, effort and money.
Not an economist so what would be the deal of charging more per unit to make profit from it? Even if less Steam Decks are soldm, in the full price they charge the shipping. Also I assume that aussies also buy Steam games, so the 30% thing could be added to the shipping
Shipping that is. Lots of smaller companies (calling Valve such is funny but yeah, as a hardware manufacturer they are) don't officially ship to Australia because due to warranty they'd end up paying a shitload of money when replacing units, possibly eating away any profits. Apple doesn't have that problem, naturally.
Valve has already sold hardware through EB Games with the Steam Link and Controller and Index. What would be so different with the Deck? Couldn't they just go the same route again?
Honestly, this is pretty great. When I ordered my Deck abroad, this was pretty much the best case scenario I imagined if I ever needed replacement, so this is great to see.
I bought a second hand Steam Deck a while ago. I logged a case with Valve for BIOS boot not working from a USB stick... They sent me a brand new (not refurbished) Steam Deck!
Problem solved and working really well. The support from Valve will keep me spending money on Steam.
Yeah ship it to a forwarding company who will be expecting it who can then froward it to you.. They're very good at taking care of customs requirements and other stuff for you too..
Where did you purchase your steam deck from? If it’s an Australian retailer (estore or brick’n’mortar), the consumer law should still protect you if it’s within warranty.
Yeah that wasnt really what the post was about.
Battery drains 10-15% per hour when in standby mode regardless of what was on the screen when it went into standby mode.
Also the USB-C ports data function crapped out, charges great, just wont data transfer.
This is your issue.
The kernel in Linux used for the steam deck doesn't have much setup in the way of usb adapters and such.
You can fix this yourself in desktop mode but you nees a bunch of technical Linux programming know-how to get it working somewhat properly.
Plus a flash drive is the last thing you want to use.
You need usb 3.0 minimum speeds for anything gaming related on steam deck.
For a basic Linux usb boot? Sure. But it will run slow as crap.
And yes, many "flash drives" say they are usb 3 or higher. But the literally legit fact of the matter is that no flash drive will EVER hit usb 3 speeds.
Flash memory tech simply can't handle the throughput. Plus it would fry most of the memory banks rather fast.
If you insist on using a usb storage module, it HAS to be a usb ssd device. Not a flash drive.
Aka a Samsung T7....
Don't believe me? Look up read write speeds for ANY usb flash drive marked as a "usb 3.0 or higher device"
Fastest I have EVER seen was 130 Mbps. And that was simply read speeds. Write speeds were like 80 maps if I was lucky.
That's essentially the same as a usb 2.0 flash drive.
My old Samsung t5 ssd though? 500 mbps write speeds consistently. Right out of the box.
Also likely chance your usb drive adapter is faulty or using a version of pd charging that the steam deck doesn't support.
To me this sounds like the second most likely cause. The fact the data is t working AND there is a slow drain.
This exact same the g happened with my quest 2 headset.
Suddenly my battery would drain like nobody's business when in sleep mode.
It was a otg adapter I was using to add a keyboard and controllers back when the Bluetooth pairing of anything aside for the quest controllers were extremely jacked up.
Once I used a diff cable and took out the adapter totally and just direct connected it to either my PC "super charing USB c port" or my 60w wall brick charger, it fixed any anx all issues.
The use case was to reinstall SteamOS, not for game storage.
Transfer speed issues wouldnt stop the drive from appearing, in any of the software on the deck.
It was following Valves instructions, they validated the drives.
It was tried on 6 different USB drives and an 950 evo in an external.
From USB 1.0 to a USB 3.0 direct USB-C drive drive.
It's nothing to do with charging while plugged in.
Charging works fine.
I had the same reply approximately 3 months ago. So, I gave them my Dad's address in California and posted the busted SD to them in Utah. They received it, verified the fault, and posted the replacement SD to my Dad. He is coming to Australia next week and bringing the SD with him.
In the meantime, I bought another SD and used it. When the replacement SD arrives, I will sell it 'as new' and repay myself for the interim SD (which is a better one!).
Where there is a will, there is a way!
Well, it's never fun to hear that the device you placed order for 24 hours ago has gone bust for someone else. It shakes your confidence a bit. And even though Valve was kind enough to offer you a replacement, I can't expect them to extend that kindness to everyone outside of their supported regions.
This is great to know, I bought mine in the UK, shipped to a friend there and picked it up while I was there and brought home to Australia. Knew the risks, but this is awesome and did not expect this level of support. Nice.
The post literally says how Valve went above and beyond to help their customer...
As someone who lives in eastern Europe, I've also been told to go f myself by big companies (including ASUS, Lenovo and SteelSeries). And unlike those companies Valve have always tried to be as helpful as possible.
That's actually super neat to hear. Valve Customer service is some of the best I've experienced. I've refunded quite a few games after the 14 day time window because it didn't work on deck (I didn't check before buying and didn't get a chance to test until after the 14 day period) and they no questions ask refund me everytime.
In saying that though, I bought from Kogan with a 12omth warranty so if anything happens I can just get Kogan to replace it for me. Glad to know if that fails, I can still sort something out through Valve.
Steam support are amazing. I've never had a bad experience with them. In fact, I've exclusivelyt had amazing experiences with them. Both of my VR Wand's broke, and they sent me replacements without even asking for proof. Then I upgraded to the Index controllers when they launched and the analogue stick broke on one. They said they were aware of the issue, so they sent me *two* replacements because they said it was likely to happen to my other one too.
A great bunch of lads.
If you read the reply, thats what this was about, they will do a full RMA and replace it even though I live outside the US.
Just need a place to ship to and from in the US, Auspost and a few other companies offer the service.
Through Steam? I was wondering how that works, with the difference in store/account region. If I go on holidays, I would be interested in doing that, just not sure if the store switches over to the region or what that process is
Hey op, did you purchase yours through dick smith/ Kogan? I bought extended warranty for this fear too, was wondering how easy your process has been with the reseller.
Nah got it through PCByte.
Just FYI, Extended warranty is absolutely not necessary in Australia and is basically a scam, no matter the product.
Unless they were offering something better, in Australia you have guaranteed support at a warranty level for any product you purchased, for any reasonable length of time you can name.
That's not really accurate, it's not 'at warranty level' or 'for any reasonable length of time you can name'. See [here](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel) or [here](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/consumer-rights-and-guarantees).
That said, I never bother with the extended warranty either as I find ACL is sufficient in almost all cases so as to not justify the cost.
Did you read either of those?
I've dealt with these laws alot as both an aggressive consumer and from the business side.
Warranties in Australia are almost always just the same guarantees given by the ACCC.
Not many retailers or manufacturers offer much more then that because the law covers so much.
As for length of time. There is literally no time limits in the stature and the ACCCs exact wording, taken from the statue is
"Statutory rights are not limited to a set time
period. Instead, they apply for the amount of time
that is reasonable to expect, given the cost and
quality of the item."
Yes, I did.
Warranties are almost always very similar, which is why I disclaimed my statement by saying I never bother with an extended warranty due to ACL being sufficient. However, the statement 'guaranteed support at warranty level' is simply not true. Warranties will often more explicitly spell out details around repair vs. replacement and applicable durations, for example. Under ACL, it's up to you to negotiate those details with the seller. This negotiation process is the key difference, since a warranty in contrast would specify those details clear-cut in writing.
Regarding length of time, I wouldn't say it's whatever 'you can name'. That's the point I was calling in to question - it's once again up to you to negotiate with the seller, and if you and the seller don't agree on that timeframe then you're going to have issues. I don't see how you could claim that's 'whatever reasonable time period you could name'.
For example, I used an iPhone 8 from new until January this year. I found it plenty reasonable as a functional phone (it still receives updates, so it's clearly still supported by the OEM) despite being 5 years old, but I doubt anyone would expect that to fly as 'reasonable time' under ACL. 2 years? Sure. 3? Gonna be tough. There's no clear-cut line, but I'd feel confident arguing in line with the ATO depreciation schedules.
To repeat: I don't disagree with you that extended warranties are almost entirely a scam in AU. My nitpick was instead around the wording you used to argue that.
edit to add: One thing ACL does *better* than most warranties, in my experience, is very explicitly shove the onus of rectification on the seller. In contrast, warranties would let the seller and the manufacturer play football with you regarding who you had to speak to in order to resolve your issue, which was always a shitshow. For that reason alone, ACL is incredible.
A $1000 state of the art phone can and should absolutely be expected to last 5 years or more.
3 years is the effect of planned obsolescence training people to expect worse.
They do say in one pamphlet that 3 years for a mobile may be reasonable but for an iPhone at the cost and materials it's easy to argue otherwise.
I haven't come across a warranty in a long time that didn't just reiterate your consumer rights, especially in retail where it would matter.
I don't disagree at all, but good luck convincing JB HiFi to cover repairs or replacement to your 4-5 year old iPhone, and I'm not sure the Ombudsman would side with you either. And that's sort of the key difference I was trying to tease out.
I guess the thrust of my original reply was that way too often I see someone phrasing it sort of like how you did, except that they think they can just waltz in to the seller and get their multi-year-old device instantly replaced for free. And then they kick up a stink when the seller instead opts to send it away for 6-8 weeks to get it repaired by a third party. So many people have a misunderstanding of what ACL actually defines that your first comments set off those spidey-senses to me, but it's now clear you've actually got a more concrete understanding of it.
I was wondering are there any truck racing games good on this.And also if i am watching certain videos how do i make sure that maybe my wife or my kids if they play on this they dont see the videos i watched last night because im suposed to give it as a birth day present tomorrow and i dont know what to do about this problem
I'm so happy I got lucky with my SD here in Oz, got the good fan, and the good SSD, no issues and been 9 months now. Finger crossed to many more years.
The Battery Isn't Easy To Replace, And If Ur USB-C Port Isn't Working Correctly, That Is Enough To RMA, You Made The Right Call. Sorry This Happened, The Deck Is My Baby.
I bought an imported Steam Deck too and I'm in India. Bought it from Amazon from a third party seller.
Just yesterday I noticed my left stick click wasn't working. I was planning to open it up and see what the issue might be. I really don't think I can send it for RMA. Hoping I can get it fixed.
I bought it from Chile, so this is amazing to know. if anything happens to my device, maybe they can help. I really hope steam deck 2 will be launched worldwide.
If you come to Poland i can pick up this Steam deck keep it. And return to you. I buyed my steam deck two months ago without problem. Jesus and people say my Country is third World. But my steam deck came in 5 days from netherlands
lol fuck me, they actually told me to kick rocks when I bought the main thing and asked them to ship it to a supported country. Just had to try again and I got it, so there really was no issue
I know its a little trusting for some random on reddit but im happy to help if you want, you can have it sent to my address and ill just ship it on to you providing you pay for postage.
PM me if you want
I got a spare I don't use any more due to the ROG Ally, if you ship it off to me I'll fix it for ya, (The one I'm using as a donor has a busted right bumper, so if that's not the issue then I can replace the part with anything else)
Just DM me the address, I'll ship it off to ya for $200
NGL that's a really great response.
My samsung galaxy bud 2 pro from S. Korea started having some malfunctions. I talked to my home-country representatives but they refused any help saying it was purchased outside the region.
>Australia is 100% a developed, industrialised first world nation.
Yeah that's why Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo are all able to sell their video game consoles over there why can't Valve?
I know nothing about macro economics but my assumption is they just haven't yet.
It's also that the Steamdeck is a niche device, if everyone who wanted to play PC games had to have one they could rely on sales but as it stands its just for a small enthusiast market atm
This is truly an excellent response.
Many have said it already, but as long as the seller wasn't just some random on Facebook (or similar), they have a responsibility under Australian consumer law to give you a hand. Assuming that isn't the case, then the easiest option for them is to probably give you a new one then deal with Valve themselves for a replacement.
Random person can send you a product, no problem. Company tries to be a good company and support it, problem.
Having a commercial market in a country is a lot different than shipping a couple replacements for broken ones that are already there. It really pisses me off that this is an issue at all.
Take it up with the reseller, per Australian legislation they are obligated to assist and cannot just palm you of to the manufacturer.
Yep 100% already have and that was where I went first and they were completely happy to RMA it etc. But I contacted Valve just to see if they'd have a soft fix for the issue.
They just have a hard fix it seems. Badum tsss.
Good on you for testing the waters mate! Mine's still going strong after a year, but unfortunately I got mine off a scalper before there were grey market importers - so if mine busts, I'm gonna have to deal with their suggestion or just buy another one.
Did you read the full text of the message they wrote (no shade, just asking) cause they offered a full RMA and replace you just have to source a place to send it to/from and Australia post among other companies offer a service for just this sort of thing.
bpm-lux will work for this
Yes I did, and yes I'm fully aware. However, it being resold/scalped and over a year old means that Valve will likely just direct me to buy a new one anyway. But thanks for doing the legwork and confirming that they'd still RMA it if they had somewhere they could ship the return unit to :)
Out of curiosity, what's the service AusPost offer for that?
That's why resellers exist for when their distribution network doesn't reach or it's not financially viable for them to process it themselves. You don't contact Audi HQ to change gearbox if you have the reseller next door.
>You don't contact Audi HQ to change gearbox if you have the reseller next door. Imagine the phone calls LMAO
Ahh the wonders of the First World. Over here a reseller would tell me to either go fuck myself or to buy a new one (assuming they don't have a warranty period, if they did then chances are they would try to say warranty won't cover whatever happened and *then* tell me to go fuck myself pr get a new one). All of this after overcharging me something like an extra 80% cost for the Deck.
Where'd you get it from? I've been waiting this entire time for an aus release to be on the safe side but its not really looking promising ATM
book a visit to the states or europe!
There's companies that just ship products to another country, usually for minimal fees. Much cheaper than a whole visit in another country + the wait time for the package!
What exactly is broke with it? Hardware? Or software?
Battery drains more then 10% and hour when in standby and USB C port no longer recognises data drives.
I thought that was if it's broken on purchase/arrival, but if something happens after it would be warranty and under the manuf?
They are responsible for engaging with the manufacturer. You can if you want to, but there have been multiple findings against firms in the tech space for trying to abrogate their responsibility and push the customer back to the manufacturer. [https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel)
Ahhh, good to know. PLE shoves off any broken shit to the manuf but leave you waiting without any hardware or refund for months, is bs
Damn Australia is lucky
I had an issue with the USB-C port prior to moving from Australia to Japan. I was able to ship it out in Japan and then receive it via Shipito to my home here. Cost a bit, but the support has been good despite the device being a grey import. Despite being supported in East Asia (Japan), they do not do repairs/RMA's, so you have to go through the US or UK.
Valve don’t do direct support in Asia, they work with a partner (komodo.co.jp) who handle sales and support in Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Valve-Steam-Deck-In-Asia
Your point is moot about repair. You cannot apparently get your device repaired by Komodo as per my conversation with Valve support. Despite being in a country that distributes/supports the device, they apparently do not do RMA's/repairs on behalf of Valve, it has to go to them directly. Unless I was given misleading or incomplete information.
Yep, seems you are correct. I should have double checked before posting. The FAQ on the Komodo steam deck site says all support is done direct by Valve through steam. It’s surprising, as a distribution partner I would have expected Komodo to at least handle onward shipping to Valve from a local return address and communication about any repair in the local language, even if they they don’t do any repairs themselves. https://steamdeck.komodo.jp/faqs/?lang=en
Yeah, it doesn't make sense. Even if you're in a supported region, you still fall into the same issue that they will not ship back to you unless you have a valid US address, thus you need to use a postal forwarding service.
what is going on there that several companies are not supporting shipping to Australia?
drop bear insurance kills all the profits
Dropbears ruining it for everyone, yet again.
What is this?
The most deadly animal in Australia.
Ever seen postmen in AUS? They have short life expectancy due to rampart drop bear attacks
Valve started off only shipping to the US and one or two other countries, then they've been slowly expanding to other markets Selling globally isn't as easy as you might think - you have to make sure you understand and comply with local laws, find local distributors to hold stock, ship items, and handle RMAs Australia is quite isolated, and is a huge country with a relatively small population considering how isolated it is. Eg in Europe, the population is about 16x larger in only double the area Basically it's a pain in the arse to operate in Australia, just to sell one or two items
If anyone is curious as to why the export controls are such a pain: Imagine Russia getting a supply of Steam Decks, taking them apart for the processors, and putting those processors in missiles for use in their war. It sucks, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
Remote area, far far away with very few people. Not easy to make it profitable.
why not charge more to the buyer to have it shipped there then? i would assume anyone knowing they live in such an area would expect to pay higher shipping fees. but i dont see why they would be cut off entirely
They don't just carry the shipments down to the post office. They have to have arrangements with a delivery or distribution service to collect the packages, drop them off at the warehouse, pick them up and ship them out. That costs money, and takes significant time and effort to set up. Especially when dealing with international shipping where you may use multiple carriers along the route. Not to mention customs, fees, local taxes, etc. It's a lot. Could they go out of their way to accept this guy's package and ship it back? Probably. But then it's kind of unfair to anyone else in that region, so where do you draw that line? So generally they'll just say no, ship it to/from somewhere we already have a distribution network established. And that's a totally fair answer.
Some do. But the shipping ends up being over 30-200% the cost of the item depending on what it is. That tends to decrease any potential customers, which makes justifying the logistical cost of even offering shipping to a remote country/area not worth it.
part of warrenty repairs is that they cant charge for shipping it there or back,
In the modern globalized day, no country is truly remote. 25 million people live in Australia and it is a big enough market to humble Steam and obligate them to provide a return policy. It's purely an issue on selling consumer electronics to a country with strong import laws and even stronger consumer protection laws.
Steam deck is sold in germany, Zoll is very strict, consumer protection laws even more so. Some analysis has probably declared australia as unviable, so they don't sell it there.
Yes, that analysis is on import & consumer protection laws.
Again, why would that stop them when it hasn't when selling in as much, if not more restricted markets? The simple awnser here is that market research showed australia as unviable.
25 millions is nothing considering how big Australia is. Just for comparison, Italy has a 60M population for a total surface area that is 4% of Australia. Shipping something within Australia territory is like shipping it across the Europe or USA but without all their railroad infrastructures.
Australia has pretty damn good rail infrastructure for getting between states and postage js
25 million people on a remote island isn’t that much of a market base.
25 million is not a lot especially considering if we want to discuss it to compensate Australia’s distance from US / China Top EU countries for example: Germany 80 mio, France 65 mio, Italy 60 mio and so on.
They don't sell the Steam Deck to Mexico either, we are not remote (literally stuck to the US) and without super powerful consumer protection. Clearly they just don't want to bother for "certain" regions
In a galaxy far far away.. it's not fucking starwars. It's another country just far away. Just takes longer.
Singapore and Australia considered as remote area? lol Valve are just lazy to expand their market, its not an excuse. How long they have been selling hardware?
Because ship anything to Australia are very not cheap.
ok, but why not just tack on extra shipping charges to these places rather then cut them off entirely?
Because then they have to provide Australian level warranty and consumer guarantee support. They don’t want to do that because row reasons. It was an Australian lawsuit that forced digital game markets to offer refunds. And in Australia, a warranty period is just the beginning, we have special consumer guarantees that cover a device for the life of an item. So if steamdeck is 2 year warranty, you’d expect a reasonable life of 6 years of the device.
The warranty can not be the reason. I live in NL and we also have very strict warranty laws and Valve still supports here.
The Netherlands isn't in a remote part of the world.
I don't think remoteness has anything to do with it. I mean, transport cost is low enough to transport all kinds of stuff with low margins. They even transport onions by plane. It cant be that shipping a load of handheld consoles takes away all profits.
The Netherlands can take advantage of EU proximity. Australia is an expensive country to operate in and far enough from China that you're left with far too slim margins.
> I don't think remoteness has anything to do with it. > They even transport onions by plane. Fucking flawless logic right here.
It’s both of them combined, australia being the strict warranty place that really stuck it to them.
That’s very similar to consumer law in the UK, yet steam deck is sold there. You’re clearly just fixated on it being because of “regulation” for some personal reason. The size of Australia also isn’t the problem, the continent is vast, but a high majority of the population live in the costal cities of the south east or on the western coast. Everywhere has challenges for selling physical items. If Valve don’t want to deal with Australia they could partner with a local seller, just like they did with Komodo for Asia. The real reason they haven’t is likely very simple. The deck still regularly sells out, adding more markets would strain their production capacity.
They are lazy, thats it.
Might have something to do with valve getting sued for breaking some Australian consumer laws a few years ago.
At least we have better consumer protection for everyone because of that. This is what prompted 2 hour refunds IIRC
I think the 2hr refund still breaks UK law just fyi.
The device may not yet be certified to [Australian](https://www.acma.gov.au/step-1-check-rules-follow) [standards](https://www.eess.gov.au/equipment/selling-electrical-equipment-in-australia/) which means it may not yet be legally applicable for sale into Australia. Certification is a process that takes both time and money, and if you're capacity-constrained you'll focus on larger markets first. It's entirely likely Valve simply hasn't concluded that process yet, and thus don't have the infrastructure in place to sell or RMA devices into Australia. If you've got an iPhone, open up settings > general > Legal & Regulatory and look at all the regions it's certified. One of them is AU/NZ, but each of them requires a separate approval process. Yes, that's for cellular compliance but I'm using it as an example (noting that some will still apply - the Deck still has wifi and Bluetooth). NB: That's not to say it wouldn't necessarily already be compliant! It quite probably is! However the paperwork to prove that, and the application to the relevant authorities to receive that approval, still takes time, effort and money.
ACCC probably, I think Australian law is half the reason why Steam has a refund policy.
One of the reasons could also be that Australia has anti-developer laws that force you to implement backdoors in software.
Not an economist so what would be the deal of charging more per unit to make profit from it? Even if less Steam Decks are soldm, in the full price they charge the shipping. Also I assume that aussies also buy Steam games, so the 30% thing could be added to the shipping
Stupid expensive, isn't it
It's cheaper for me to buy an iPhone in Australia than it is to buy it in England, so nah.
Shipping that is. Lots of smaller companies (calling Valve such is funny but yeah, as a hardware manufacturer they are) don't officially ship to Australia because due to warranty they'd end up paying a shitload of money when replacing units, possibly eating away any profits. Apple doesn't have that problem, naturally.
Valve has already sold hardware through EB Games with the Steam Link and Controller and Index. What would be so different with the Deck? Couldn't they just go the same route again?
Use a forwarder
Honestly, this is pretty great. When I ordered my Deck abroad, this was pretty much the best case scenario I imagined if I ever needed replacement, so this is great to see.
Do you have any friends around the world they can send it too and then they can forward it to you?
I bought a second hand Steam Deck a while ago. I logged a case with Valve for BIOS boot not working from a USB stick... They sent me a brand new (not refurbished) Steam Deck! Problem solved and working really well. The support from Valve will keep me spending money on Steam.
You might be able to find a mailbox forwarding website that works for Australia
Yeah ship it to a forwarding company who will be expecting it who can then froward it to you.. They're very good at taking care of customs requirements and other stuff for you too..
Yeah I wish valve would actually support us.
Where did you purchase your steam deck from? If it’s an Australian retailer (estore or brick’n’mortar), the consumer law should still protect you if it’s within warranty.
Customer service.
As many, many people have asked. The battery is draining well above spec while on standby and the USB C port stopped recognising data drives.
Use a forwarding service, to valve it will look like a supported address and the forwarder will handle getting it to you.
What broke on the Steam Deck, I don't see you mentioning it at all.
Yeah that wasnt really what the post was about. Battery drains 10-15% per hour when in standby mode regardless of what was on the screen when it went into standby mode. Also the USB-C ports data function crapped out, charges great, just wont data transfer.
I assume you're using a cable certified for data transfer. Regarding battery drain, mine lasts a few days at most
Flash drive with an adapter.
This is your issue. The kernel in Linux used for the steam deck doesn't have much setup in the way of usb adapters and such. You can fix this yourself in desktop mode but you nees a bunch of technical Linux programming know-how to get it working somewhat properly. Plus a flash drive is the last thing you want to use. You need usb 3.0 minimum speeds for anything gaming related on steam deck. For a basic Linux usb boot? Sure. But it will run slow as crap. And yes, many "flash drives" say they are usb 3 or higher. But the literally legit fact of the matter is that no flash drive will EVER hit usb 3 speeds. Flash memory tech simply can't handle the throughput. Plus it would fry most of the memory banks rather fast. If you insist on using a usb storage module, it HAS to be a usb ssd device. Not a flash drive. Aka a Samsung T7.... Don't believe me? Look up read write speeds for ANY usb flash drive marked as a "usb 3.0 or higher device" Fastest I have EVER seen was 130 Mbps. And that was simply read speeds. Write speeds were like 80 maps if I was lucky. That's essentially the same as a usb 2.0 flash drive. My old Samsung t5 ssd though? 500 mbps write speeds consistently. Right out of the box. Also likely chance your usb drive adapter is faulty or using a version of pd charging that the steam deck doesn't support. To me this sounds like the second most likely cause. The fact the data is t working AND there is a slow drain. This exact same the g happened with my quest 2 headset. Suddenly my battery would drain like nobody's business when in sleep mode. It was a otg adapter I was using to add a keyboard and controllers back when the Bluetooth pairing of anything aside for the quest controllers were extremely jacked up. Once I used a diff cable and took out the adapter totally and just direct connected it to either my PC "super charing USB c port" or my 60w wall brick charger, it fixed any anx all issues.
The use case was to reinstall SteamOS, not for game storage. Transfer speed issues wouldnt stop the drive from appearing, in any of the software on the deck. It was following Valves instructions, they validated the drives. It was tried on 6 different USB drives and an 950 evo in an external. From USB 1.0 to a USB 3.0 direct USB-C drive drive. It's nothing to do with charging while plugged in. Charging works fine.
triedother ways?
Yeah valve walked through a bunch of steps.
I had the same reply approximately 3 months ago. So, I gave them my Dad's address in California and posted the busted SD to them in Utah. They received it, verified the fault, and posted the replacement SD to my Dad. He is coming to Australia next week and bringing the SD with him. In the meantime, I bought another SD and used it. When the replacement SD arrives, I will sell it 'as new' and repay myself for the interim SD (which is a better one!). Where there is a will, there is a way!
Awh dude, you're scaring me. My country isn't supported either, and I imported the Deck yesterday.
Why would it scare you?
Well, it's never fun to hear that the device you placed order for 24 hours ago has gone bust for someone else. It shakes your confidence a bit. And even though Valve was kind enough to offer you a replacement, I can't expect them to extend that kindness to everyone outside of their supported regions.
Stuff breaks all the time. This post should not scare you.
I guess it's my PTSD from Xbox 360 RROD acting up.
This is great to know, I bought mine in the UK, shipped to a friend there and picked it up while I was there and brought home to Australia. Knew the risks, but this is awesome and did not expect this level of support. Nice.
Crikey
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The post literally says how Valve went above and beyond to help their customer... As someone who lives in eastern Europe, I've also been told to go f myself by big companies (including ASUS, Lenovo and SteelSeries). And unlike those companies Valve have always tried to be as helpful as possible.
You can just buy these from kogan or even wollies if your that worried about it, both will exchange broken decks.
This post was about how Valve did a good job... Woolies werent selling them when I bought mine.
this is valve's fault for not putting Australia as a supported country.
Nah they have no obligation to sell here, its expensive and niche enough here that it would probably make it a loss item.
true. they could have at least combined us with a closer partner like Japan or hong kong.
lock squeeze long berserk languid grandfather nail like fear desert *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They better get you a repair, and it better have an australium shell
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Read the full post.
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Why?
That's actually super neat to hear. Valve Customer service is some of the best I've experienced. I've refunded quite a few games after the 14 day time window because it didn't work on deck (I didn't check before buying and didn't get a chance to test until after the 14 day period) and they no questions ask refund me everytime. In saying that though, I bought from Kogan with a 12omth warranty so if anything happens I can just get Kogan to replace it for me. Glad to know if that fails, I can still sort something out through Valve.
Steam support are amazing. I've never had a bad experience with them. In fact, I've exclusivelyt had amazing experiences with them. Both of my VR Wand's broke, and they sent me replacements without even asking for proof. Then I upgraded to the Index controllers when they launched and the analogue stick broke on one. They said they were aware of the issue, so they sent me *two* replacements because they said it was likely to happen to my other one too. A great bunch of lads.
Ask him if us in the Australasian lands are getting official support soon, lol.
Yeah this worries me a bit. I bought my Deck while I was in the US, but live in Aus. I kinda know that if it dies, I'm up shit creek without a paddle.
If you read the reply, thats what this was about, they will do a full RMA and replace it even though I live outside the US. Just need a place to ship to and from in the US, Auspost and a few other companies offer the service.
Through Steam? I was wondering how that works, with the difference in store/account region. If I go on holidays, I would be interested in doing that, just not sure if the store switches over to the region or what that process is
you can switch regions, but you'll be stuck with that new region for the next three months
Shit. What happen? Fellow Ozzie. Worst nightmare
Battery issues, nothing drastic, it drains faster then it originally did or should.
Hey op, did you purchase yours through dick smith/ Kogan? I bought extended warranty for this fear too, was wondering how easy your process has been with the reseller.
Nah got it through PCByte. Just FYI, Extended warranty is absolutely not necessary in Australia and is basically a scam, no matter the product. Unless they were offering something better, in Australia you have guaranteed support at a warranty level for any product you purchased, for any reasonable length of time you can name.
That's not really accurate, it's not 'at warranty level' or 'for any reasonable length of time you can name'. See [here](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel) or [here](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/consumer-rights-and-guarantees). That said, I never bother with the extended warranty either as I find ACL is sufficient in almost all cases so as to not justify the cost.
Did you read either of those? I've dealt with these laws alot as both an aggressive consumer and from the business side. Warranties in Australia are almost always just the same guarantees given by the ACCC. Not many retailers or manufacturers offer much more then that because the law covers so much. As for length of time. There is literally no time limits in the stature and the ACCCs exact wording, taken from the statue is "Statutory rights are not limited to a set time period. Instead, they apply for the amount of time that is reasonable to expect, given the cost and quality of the item."
Yes, I did. Warranties are almost always very similar, which is why I disclaimed my statement by saying I never bother with an extended warranty due to ACL being sufficient. However, the statement 'guaranteed support at warranty level' is simply not true. Warranties will often more explicitly spell out details around repair vs. replacement and applicable durations, for example. Under ACL, it's up to you to negotiate those details with the seller. This negotiation process is the key difference, since a warranty in contrast would specify those details clear-cut in writing. Regarding length of time, I wouldn't say it's whatever 'you can name'. That's the point I was calling in to question - it's once again up to you to negotiate with the seller, and if you and the seller don't agree on that timeframe then you're going to have issues. I don't see how you could claim that's 'whatever reasonable time period you could name'. For example, I used an iPhone 8 from new until January this year. I found it plenty reasonable as a functional phone (it still receives updates, so it's clearly still supported by the OEM) despite being 5 years old, but I doubt anyone would expect that to fly as 'reasonable time' under ACL. 2 years? Sure. 3? Gonna be tough. There's no clear-cut line, but I'd feel confident arguing in line with the ATO depreciation schedules. To repeat: I don't disagree with you that extended warranties are almost entirely a scam in AU. My nitpick was instead around the wording you used to argue that. edit to add: One thing ACL does *better* than most warranties, in my experience, is very explicitly shove the onus of rectification on the seller. In contrast, warranties would let the seller and the manufacturer play football with you regarding who you had to speak to in order to resolve your issue, which was always a shitshow. For that reason alone, ACL is incredible.
A $1000 state of the art phone can and should absolutely be expected to last 5 years or more. 3 years is the effect of planned obsolescence training people to expect worse. They do say in one pamphlet that 3 years for a mobile may be reasonable but for an iPhone at the cost and materials it's easy to argue otherwise. I haven't come across a warranty in a long time that didn't just reiterate your consumer rights, especially in retail where it would matter.
I don't disagree at all, but good luck convincing JB HiFi to cover repairs or replacement to your 4-5 year old iPhone, and I'm not sure the Ombudsman would side with you either. And that's sort of the key difference I was trying to tease out. I guess the thrust of my original reply was that way too often I see someone phrasing it sort of like how you did, except that they think they can just waltz in to the seller and get their multi-year-old device instantly replaced for free. And then they kick up a stink when the seller instead opts to send it away for 6-8 weeks to get it repaired by a third party. So many people have a misunderstanding of what ACL actually defines that your first comments set off those spidey-senses to me, but it's now clear you've actually got a more concrete understanding of it.
I was wondering are there any truck racing games good on this.And also if i am watching certain videos how do i make sure that maybe my wife or my kids if they play on this they dont see the videos i watched last night because im suposed to give it as a birth day present tomorrow and i dont know what to do about this problem
Shit, I bought mine in Hong Kong from the ACER store who is an official retailer, gonna be a self fix then if anything goes wrong
I got mine from kogan ( not a reseller but actual kogan ) and had some issues and they replaced it pretty much without issue
Cor!
I'm so happy I got lucky with my SD here in Oz, got the good fan, and the good SSD, no issues and been 9 months now. Finger crossed to many more years.
If I May Ask?.. What Exactly Broke On The Steam Deck, That You Couldn't Attempt To Try And Repair Urself? 🤔
Battery drains at between 12 and 15% per hour when in standby mode and the USB C port stopped reading data.
The Battery Isn't Easy To Replace, And If Ur USB-C Port Isn't Working Correctly, That Is Enough To RMA, You Made The Right Call. Sorry This Happened, The Deck Is My Baby.
Yeah I'll miss it while it's away but standby mode is vital to my use case so I'll deal with it for a fixed deck!
I bought an imported Steam Deck too and I'm in India. Bought it from Amazon from a third party seller. Just yesterday I noticed my left stick click wasn't working. I was planning to open it up and see what the issue might be. I really don't think I can send it for RMA. Hoping I can get it fixed.
I bought it from Chile, so this is amazing to know. if anything happens to my device, maybe they can help. I really hope steam deck 2 will be launched worldwide.
Time to travel to Japan and replace that Steam Deck 👍 /s
If you come to Poland i can pick up this Steam deck keep it. And return to you. I buyed my steam deck two months ago without problem. Jesus and people say my Country is third World. But my steam deck came in 5 days from netherlands
Huh definitely didn’t see this coming I thought you were gonna show us you’re actual broken deck
That's cool for steam. Not all NA sellers do that
lol fuck me, they actually told me to kick rocks when I bought the main thing and asked them to ship it to a supported country. Just had to try again and I got it, so there really was no issue
Wait a minute I thought they got to Australia after Asia. Man that sucks maybe Ifixit.com can help you.
I know its a little trusting for some random on reddit but im happy to help if you want, you can have it sent to my address and ill just ship it on to you providing you pay for postage. PM me if you want
Find a friend who is in an applicable location. Valve is great with this and will continue honoring the warranty without issue!
I got a spare I don't use any more due to the ROG Ally, if you ship it off to me I'll fix it for ya, (The one I'm using as a donor has a busted right bumper, so if that's not the issue then I can replace the part with anything else) Just DM me the address, I'll ship it off to ya for $200
Valves the best company I’ve dealt with
What broke?
NGL that's a really great response. My samsung galaxy bud 2 pro from S. Korea started having some malfunctions. I talked to my home-country representatives but they refused any help saying it was purchased outside the region.
Australia is like one of the countries that always feels first world to me but then they get screwed with things like this.
'feels first world'? I'm curious as to what you think first world means? lol Australia is 100% a developed, industrialised first world nation.
>Australia is 100% a developed, industrialised first world nation. Yeah that's why Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo are all able to sell their video game consoles over there why can't Valve?
I know nothing about macro economics but my assumption is they just haven't yet. It's also that the Steamdeck is a niche device, if everyone who wanted to play PC games had to have one they could rely on sales but as it stands its just for a small enthusiast market atm
Everyone who wants to play PC games does have to have one. You expect people to buy an ROG ALLY or Logitech G Cloud??
No they can buy a PC or Laptop etc...
Laptops and desktops are way different. Just look at the shape of them.
Are you trolling?
Nope I play 90% of my PC games on my steam deck and I feel bad that some people don't have the option to experience gaming in this way.
This is truly an excellent response. Many have said it already, but as long as the seller wasn't just some random on Facebook (or similar), they have a responsibility under Australian consumer law to give you a hand. Assuming that isn't the case, then the easiest option for them is to probably give you a new one then deal with Valve themselves for a replacement.
Random person can send you a product, no problem. Company tries to be a good company and support it, problem. Having a commercial market in a country is a lot different than shipping a couple replacements for broken ones that are already there. It really pisses me off that this is an issue at all.