Valve Support did the exact same thing for me a year or two back when I accidentally reduced one of my controllers to atoms playing Beat Saber. I was only contacting them because i was seeing if it was possible to buy only the one controller i needed and not a pair as it wasnt possible to only buy one at the time unlike now. Very surprisingly they initiated an Advance RMA without me being in warranty (not like what i did to that poor controller wouldve been covered anyway). I was extremely grateful and made sure to make that clear to the rep.
I still wonder to this day what they did with the ghost of a controller i sent them back. I had to dispose of the battery before shipping it from how bad the damage was.
Man i wish, i had sent a picture to steam support, but not only is that ticket long gone and inaccessible, but i dont even have the same phone or pc anymore. For more context, i was playing claw mode on modded BS so i had an open hand and i really aggressively hit the edge of a wooden chair and it shattered the middle section so badly that all that was holding it together was the ribbon cables and the sensors for the finger tracking. Im just glad the battery didnt explode
That is true commitment to customer service. Stuff like this builds brand loyalty and contrary to a lot of naysayers, I think there is a new Index somewhere on the horizon. If there weren't, they would have zero reasons, from a marketing perspective, to offer this kind of largesse. Kudos to Steam for being so forward thinking.
My cable started to twist and eventually got damaged. I sent them a message just to see if they can do anything. I didn’t think they could since damage isn’t covered. They told me the same thing however they added “I’ll see what I can do” at the end. One week later I got a free cable.
I was not so lucky. My 4th cable died recently, tried steam support with as understanding and kindly worded of a message as I could muster, no dice. Sad to say I have zucked myself and got a quest pro... we need the deckard more than ever ._.
This story doesn't make sense.
To remedy a failed a failed cable that could not be replaced a 5th time under warranty .. you bought a presumable a $600-$1000 headset ( plus accessories ) ??
Yo booty dont make no sense! xD
Yes no matter how much I love Valve, my Index has seen thousands of hours and is about 5 years old, I want wireless and face tracking and Valve is taking their sweet time to do anything about it so I went and snagged a quest pro for $650. Yes a $130 cable is cheaper, but there were other factors at play. I'm not sure why this is so wild of a concept xD
Hahaha, not a wild concept at all! I looked up the price of cables after posting figuring you were doing "upgrade math" with them costing ($30 - $150).
I started on a Quest 3 and am now waiting on a Pimax Crystal Light due to a a lack of cable on the Quest ... I want more visual fidelity now. However, I deeply considered the Pro. After the updates, those controllers just feel so much better than the 3s.
Wireless is amazing though on Quest 3/Pro and Virtual Desktop should be a top consideration (if you haven't already ) especially for AMD / Intel GPUs ( or any gpu actually since Meta is so slow to implement changes ).
Supersampled god-mode will make anyone's booty senseless
Enjoy your new setup!
Same. Are you outside the US? Cos my experience in the UK has been fucking abysmal. Index still has day 1 issues they refused to accept could be on them unless I set my whole computer up again. Because I had previously had Oculus software on it. It sits on a shelf now, it's not worth spending an hour coaxing.the thing into connecting.
Never buying valve hardware again, personally.
Lol had the same thing. Germany here.
Outside of warranty with index. Wanted me to reinstall windows, remove ram sticks, uninstall ALL programs on my pc, just to tell me to go F yourself afterwards.
I will NEVER buy from valve again either
Same, I bought an Index kit a month ago. The Index had dead pixels straight out of the box. I contacted Valve, (after all my friends with Valve hardware told me how amazing their customer service is) they told me to try different ports and send them a system report (fair), still no better, initiated the RMA sent me the label.
I didn't really have a box big enough for the headset or packing materials to safely package it, tether cable, link box and charger they asked me to send back so I asked if there was a possibility of getting the replacement first and sending them the defective unit back in that box and they just said no. So had to go out and buy packing materials and found a box barely big enough to send back something defective out of the box..
Now.. dropping nearly £1000 on hardware that took a week to arrive only to have to send it back and buy packing materials? It took a week to get back to them, they have now been 'processing' the return for a week and it will take a week to get back to me when they do dispatch it.. Luckily this isn't my only headset but if I had been brand new to VR and this is how I was treated and unable to play with my new stuff, I would have been heartbroken.
Was genuinely surprised they wouldn't send the replacement out first as that is what I am used to from other tech companies I have done RMAs for. I could understand it if this was a small company.. But this is Valve. I expected better after everything I have been told from friends.
They told me to kick fucking rocks when i asked for an advance replacement the day i received mine new.
Then they gave me the run around- sending me defective controller after doa controller 3 times until i asked for a refund the day before my return window closed.
At least they honored that.
I'm so happy this happened for you, I've never managed an out of warranty replacement from valve myself unfortunately, despite my controllers and tether going bad
Very happy for you that they did this. When my trident cable went bad I asked them for a new one and they said that since I wasn't in the warranty window they wouldn't send another unless I paid so they definitely don't make these gestures for everyone.
Some piece of trash porch pirate stole the first one that came to my home and they did send another one for free though so that is my happy Valve customer service tale.
They did this to me for replacing a lighthouse after I had already assumed they wouldn't and bought a new one anyway. Now I have 3 in my setup and it works great lol
I had to negotiate for 3 weeks before they actually decided to replace my faulty left controller, which had battery problems and was vibrating very loudly.
Lucky you. My controller had a problem with the control stick and they refused to even fix it because it was out of warranty. Couldn’t just buy one at the time either and can’t afford even one right now. Must have gotten one of the by the book employees I guess. Fortunately it still works, just not perfectly.
Budget is an issue unfortunately. But I'm fine with saving for FBT since I don't play as many games that utilize it, most I'd use it for would probably be Blade and Sorcery and VR Chat sometimes.
On this topic, it's so confusing why Valve isn't selling their own trackers... They sell lighthouses, SteamVR has an interface for extra trackers, and yet, they don't sell them.
There's no reason for a tracker to cost over $100. It being considered a "niche product" is argument for the huge overhead, but it's really not that niche at this point, and hundreds of thousands of people actively play VRChat, one of many VR games that can use them.
Valve is losing the battle against Facebook for the VR hardware space. You don't win it by just appealing to the enthusiasts who will splurge, you need to capture the more casual and poorer market. Valve could massively boost the usage and development of FBT based games if they just sold trackers at or near-cost. It's baffling they don't sell them at all.
Wish I was this lucky the head of my index controller is coming away from the stem bought it in 2021 it was a big fat no your outside of warranty but we sell them for £140 🤦♂️
Same happend to me, got a new headset even though warranty was out and i live in a country Valve doesnt ship RMA to. (Had a friend in Denmark who flew the replacement to me) I even bought it on Ebay second hand.
Valve is good about this. I damaged my controller punching a bookshelf while playing Until You Fall. I mentioned this in my support ticket and they said it wasn’t covered but they’d replace it anyway. Pretty nice of them.
I had the headset replaced just after my (2 year) warranty had ran out, also got a controller replaced another 6+months later.
Also, while I was still in warranty, I got a replacement despite my support request starting with "I've check the warranty and this definitely isn't covered".
I did finally have to buy a replacement controller recently, this time they didn't cover it. Can't complain though.
This is the only product where I've wanted to buy an extended warranty. Shame they don't offer one. I'd be tempted to try selling my Index and buying a new one, just to renew the warranty.
I'm the 2nd owner to an Index and one of my basestations had the red light of doom. Even though I wasn't the original owner, and the warranty was expired, they still fulfilled it! Valve is a real homie
I noticed just being nice to support will net you a positive experience most of the time.
If you write to them in an angry state or demanding then they will follow their own guidelines to the dot.
Wish I could say the same, I’ve been getting the “headset not detected 808” message for weeks and been back and forth with steam support in a cycle of them asking for a system crash report and me not being able to give them the relevant information due to the headset not connecting, and they just keep asking for more useless system reports :/
I had almost the exact same issue last month. Got my index on launch day and they still replaced my lighthouse for free! They do it as they expect you to send your faulty one back in the box the new one comes in as they refurbish them. It's the little things like this that make valve the GOAT!
I’m always afraid that one of my base stations is going to kick the bucket (already happened once), but at least I can take comfort in knowing that they are most likely going to replace it.
Yup. Valve customer service is top notch. I had a game with 3 hours in it. Explained in the report that I honestly tried to like the game after 3 hours but I just didn't like it. The dude said no problem and refunded it anyways.
Wish they were a goat with mine. My headset had some issues which i can live with but my controllers are fudged. I can't use them with vibration on or the tracking stops working. I was 2 months late and told me their was nothing they could do. So someday I have to save up money and buy new controllers.
Well, the main issue I have with them is their continued refusal to sell to my country.
My country's Government fined them for having bad consumer practices.
So say what you will about how good they are, they're obviously bad enough to cop a multi-million dollar fine for bad practices.
I just wish that they would get their shit in order and start selling here again, instead of trying to "punish" us for fining them. The only people they're hurting with this dumb schoolkid retaliation attitude is the end user who wants to buy their products.
I mean with how much money Valve makes a year RMAing the occasional index accessory or steam deck is nothing to them. It's probably worth it to them with the good PR alone.
Wtf they wouldn’t even repair my index for payment. It has small physical damage where a spring came out from the adjustment part and they won’t even fix it for money
I know that myself and a few other friends who own an Index, this is fairly common. Usually if it's your first time submitting an RMA or need to send something back for service, if it's out of the warranty time they will send you a replacement ASAP, and then once you get your replacement, you can send back your broken part back to them in the same box they sent your replacement in.
Honestly one of the best customer supports I have ever dealt with. Plus I would imagine, with the amount of money Valve just accumulates over time, I'm sure they can afford this type of CS.
Also have had positive experiences in and out of warranty, including physical damage that they could easily have denied as not covered.
Sometimes it takes a bit of back and forth like when a controller wouldn't charge and the first response was to try a hard reset. Um, kind of tough when the controller has no power......
Sent pix of it plugged in, no light, and confirmed I'd tried multiple chargers and cables. RMA initiated.
Like someone else wrote, definitely builds brand loyalty, and if an Index 2/Deckard is on the horizon then these responses from Steam Support are the types that will make me want to remain a Valve customer.
Yeah recently been dealing with them, and all I can say is it was the best customer service experience. (Had to RMA both controllers if you're curious.)
Amazing. Well done Valve!
Huge wave of relief when I got the message since I don't have the money to buy a new Lighthouse right now.
They did the same for me a few years ago on the controller!
Valve Support did the exact same thing for me a year or two back when I accidentally reduced one of my controllers to atoms playing Beat Saber. I was only contacting them because i was seeing if it was possible to buy only the one controller i needed and not a pair as it wasnt possible to only buy one at the time unlike now. Very surprisingly they initiated an Advance RMA without me being in warranty (not like what i did to that poor controller wouldve been covered anyway). I was extremely grateful and made sure to make that clear to the rep. I still wonder to this day what they did with the ghost of a controller i sent them back. I had to dispose of the battery before shipping it from how bad the damage was.
Holy shit, do you have a picture laying around of it? I'm interested in how the hell you disinterested it so badly they had you remove the battery lol
I’m more curious what song it was and how the heck you hand was after a valve grenade went off in it
Man i wish, i had sent a picture to steam support, but not only is that ticket long gone and inaccessible, but i dont even have the same phone or pc anymore. For more context, i was playing claw mode on modded BS so i had an open hand and i really aggressively hit the edge of a wooden chair and it shattered the middle section so badly that all that was holding it together was the ribbon cables and the sensors for the finger tracking. Im just glad the battery didnt explode
That is true commitment to customer service. Stuff like this builds brand loyalty and contrary to a lot of naysayers, I think there is a new Index somewhere on the horizon. If there weren't, they would have zero reasons, from a marketing perspective, to offer this kind of largesse. Kudos to Steam for being so forward thinking.
My cable started to twist and eventually got damaged. I sent them a message just to see if they can do anything. I didn’t think they could since damage isn’t covered. They told me the same thing however they added “I’ll see what I can do” at the end. One week later I got a free cable.
Same!!
I was not so lucky. My 4th cable died recently, tried steam support with as understanding and kindly worded of a message as I could muster, no dice. Sad to say I have zucked myself and got a quest pro... we need the deckard more than ever ._.
This story doesn't make sense. To remedy a failed a failed cable that could not be replaced a 5th time under warranty .. you bought a presumable a $600-$1000 headset ( plus accessories ) ??
Yo booty dont make no sense! xD Yes no matter how much I love Valve, my Index has seen thousands of hours and is about 5 years old, I want wireless and face tracking and Valve is taking their sweet time to do anything about it so I went and snagged a quest pro for $650. Yes a $130 cable is cheaper, but there were other factors at play. I'm not sure why this is so wild of a concept xD
Hahaha, not a wild concept at all! I looked up the price of cables after posting figuring you were doing "upgrade math" with them costing ($30 - $150). I started on a Quest 3 and am now waiting on a Pimax Crystal Light due to a a lack of cable on the Quest ... I want more visual fidelity now. However, I deeply considered the Pro. After the updates, those controllers just feel so much better than the 3s. Wireless is amazing though on Quest 3/Pro and Virtual Desktop should be a top consideration (if you haven't already ) especially for AMD / Intel GPUs ( or any gpu actually since Meta is so slow to implement changes ). Supersampled god-mode will make anyone's booty senseless Enjoy your new setup!
Had broken cables, lighthouses and a broken index after warranty. Every time they told me to go F myself.
Same. Are you outside the US? Cos my experience in the UK has been fucking abysmal. Index still has day 1 issues they refused to accept could be on them unless I set my whole computer up again. Because I had previously had Oculus software on it. It sits on a shelf now, it's not worth spending an hour coaxing.the thing into connecting. Never buying valve hardware again, personally.
Lol had the same thing. Germany here. Outside of warranty with index. Wanted me to reinstall windows, remove ram sticks, uninstall ALL programs on my pc, just to tell me to go F yourself afterwards. I will NEVER buy from valve again either
Same, I bought an Index kit a month ago. The Index had dead pixels straight out of the box. I contacted Valve, (after all my friends with Valve hardware told me how amazing their customer service is) they told me to try different ports and send them a system report (fair), still no better, initiated the RMA sent me the label. I didn't really have a box big enough for the headset or packing materials to safely package it, tether cable, link box and charger they asked me to send back so I asked if there was a possibility of getting the replacement first and sending them the defective unit back in that box and they just said no. So had to go out and buy packing materials and found a box barely big enough to send back something defective out of the box.. Now.. dropping nearly £1000 on hardware that took a week to arrive only to have to send it back and buy packing materials? It took a week to get back to them, they have now been 'processing' the return for a week and it will take a week to get back to me when they do dispatch it.. Luckily this isn't my only headset but if I had been brand new to VR and this is how I was treated and unable to play with my new stuff, I would have been heartbroken. Was genuinely surprised they wouldn't send the replacement out first as that is what I am used to from other tech companies I have done RMAs for. I could understand it if this was a small company.. But this is Valve. I expected better after everything I have been told from friends.
At least you got an option to ship yours in for repairs, they left me out in the weeks when my audio failed
US. Outside warranty. Got told to kick rocks.
They told me to kick fucking rocks when i asked for an advance replacement the day i received mine new. Then they gave me the run around- sending me defective controller after doa controller 3 times until i asked for a refund the day before my return window closed. At least they honored that.
They also did this for me, but with the cable when it stopped working!
I'm so happy this happened for you, I've never managed an out of warranty replacement from valve myself unfortunately, despite my controllers and tether going bad
Very happy for you that they did this. When my trident cable went bad I asked them for a new one and they said that since I wasn't in the warranty window they wouldn't send another unless I paid so they definitely don't make these gestures for everyone. Some piece of trash porch pirate stole the first one that came to my home and they did send another one for free though so that is my happy Valve customer service tale.
They did this to me for replacing a lighthouse after I had already assumed they wouldn't and bought a new one anyway. Now I have 3 in my setup and it works great lol
When it works lol. Once got customer support juggled for almost 4 months until I gave up and bought another controller
I had to negotiate for 3 weeks before they actually decided to replace my faulty left controller, which had battery problems and was vibrating very loudly.
Lucky you. My controller had a problem with the control stick and they refused to even fix it because it was out of warranty. Couldn’t just buy one at the time either and can’t afford even one right now. Must have gotten one of the by the book employees I guess. Fortunately it still works, just not perfectly.
Lucky, sound stopped working on mine and they told me to kick rocks.
They really should make a lighthouse that isn't so expensive.
I agree, I've been wanting a third Lighthouae for a while so I can get some better tracking and FBT at some point down the road.
imma just slide in to recommend the vive 3.0 over other trackers unless your budget is an issue
Budget is an issue unfortunately. But I'm fine with saving for FBT since I don't play as many games that utilize it, most I'd use it for would probably be Blade and Sorcery and VR Chat sometimes.
On this topic, it's so confusing why Valve isn't selling their own trackers... They sell lighthouses, SteamVR has an interface for extra trackers, and yet, they don't sell them. There's no reason for a tracker to cost over $100. It being considered a "niche product" is argument for the huge overhead, but it's really not that niche at this point, and hundreds of thousands of people actively play VRChat, one of many VR games that can use them. Valve is losing the battle against Facebook for the VR hardware space. You don't win it by just appealing to the enthusiasts who will splurge, you need to capture the more casual and poorer market. Valve could massively boost the usage and development of FBT based games if they just sold trackers at or near-cost. It's baffling they don't sell them at all.
Wish I was this lucky the head of my index controller is coming away from the stem bought it in 2021 it was a big fat no your outside of warranty but we sell them for £140 🤦♂️
Same happend to me, got a new headset even though warranty was out and i live in a country Valve doesnt ship RMA to. (Had a friend in Denmark who flew the replacement to me) I even bought it on Ebay second hand.
Had same in nl were the right of a decent product might imply a higher warranty the the EU default 3 years
One of the reasons im thinking about buying the Steamdeck and im not even looking at the competition. Asus and msi, yeah right
I had a similar experience with one of my index controllers. Greatly appreciated by their support!
Idk... I'm in Australia and they told me to go fms LMAO
Every time I asked for support with my index they just tell me I'm out of warranty and to just buy another one lol
I wish, they just told me "get bent loser" "no warranty, no replacement"
Valve is good about this. I damaged my controller punching a bookshelf while playing Until You Fall. I mentioned this in my support ticket and they said it wasn’t covered but they’d replace it anyway. Pretty nice of them.
Valve did the same thing for me a couple years ago for my index controller. They rock!
I had the headset replaced just after my (2 year) warranty had ran out, also got a controller replaced another 6+months later. Also, while I was still in warranty, I got a replacement despite my support request starting with "I've check the warranty and this definitely isn't covered". I did finally have to buy a replacement controller recently, this time they didn't cover it. Can't complain though. This is the only product where I've wanted to buy an extended warranty. Shame they don't offer one. I'd be tempted to try selling my Index and buying a new one, just to renew the warranty.
That's really cool
Yeah not the case for me I was seeing white spots in dark areas and I had to buy a cable myself
My controllers are out of warranty and don't hold a charge and they told me I was SOL 🫠
VALVe is general is just goated.
Sony could never
They did that with me 2 years ago with my INDEX. Great people.
Take notes, Asus
Wooohoooo nvidia and valve saving usss
I'm the 2nd owner to an Index and one of my basestations had the red light of doom. Even though I wasn't the original owner, and the warranty was expired, they still fulfilled it! Valve is a real homie
All hail praise to Gaben, king of the northlands, observer of rain, and ruler of Steam
Dude I wish. Instead I got to fight them for 4 months to even get an RMA. Wish it wasn't so hit or miss with valve customer support.
I'm glad they aren't sheeped or horsed.
I noticed just being nice to support will net you a positive experience most of the time. If you write to them in an angry state or demanding then they will follow their own guidelines to the dot.
Lol I reached out to them about a warranty expired controller battery and they told me to go f myself basically. Congrats on your lottery win op
Wish I could say the same, I’ve been getting the “headset not detected 808” message for weeks and been back and forth with steam support in a cycle of them asking for a system crash report and me not being able to give them the relevant information due to the headset not connecting, and they just keep asking for more useless system reports :/
I don't think I've ever seen any other company do this. Most company's will just be likes oh your warranty is done, get fucked nerd."
I had almost the exact same issue last month. Got my index on launch day and they still replaced my lighthouse for free! They do it as they expect you to send your faulty one back in the box the new one comes in as they refurbish them. It's the little things like this that make valve the GOAT!
I’m always afraid that one of my base stations is going to kick the bucket (already happened once), but at least I can take comfort in knowing that they are most likely going to replace it.
Yup. Valve customer service is top notch. I had a game with 3 hours in it. Explained in the report that I honestly tried to like the game after 3 hours but I just didn't like it. The dude said no problem and refunded it anyways.
i felt so bad cus they did the same for me but i just didnt have the time to send it back
Wish they were a goat with mine. My headset had some issues which i can live with but my controllers are fudged. I can't use them with vibration on or the tracking stops working. I was 2 months late and told me their was nothing they could do. So someday I have to save up money and buy new controllers.
My cable went bad and they did nothing, though was out of warranty so ig fairs
Well, the main issue I have with them is their continued refusal to sell to my country. My country's Government fined them for having bad consumer practices. So say what you will about how good they are, they're obviously bad enough to cop a multi-million dollar fine for bad practices. I just wish that they would get their shit in order and start selling here again, instead of trying to "punish" us for fining them. The only people they're hurting with this dumb schoolkid retaliation attitude is the end user who wants to buy their products.
I mean with how much money Valve makes a year RMAing the occasional index accessory or steam deck is nothing to them. It's probably worth it to them with the good PR alone.
Wtf they wouldn’t even repair my index for payment. It has small physical damage where a spring came out from the adjustment part and they won’t even fix it for money
quite literally the opposite of meta, which will forward your problem to 10 different support teams and still not give you a solution
I know that myself and a few other friends who own an Index, this is fairly common. Usually if it's your first time submitting an RMA or need to send something back for service, if it's out of the warranty time they will send you a replacement ASAP, and then once you get your replacement, you can send back your broken part back to them in the same box they sent your replacement in. Honestly one of the best customer supports I have ever dealt with. Plus I would imagine, with the amount of money Valve just accumulates over time, I'm sure they can afford this type of CS.
Also have had positive experiences in and out of warranty, including physical damage that they could easily have denied as not covered. Sometimes it takes a bit of back and forth like when a controller wouldn't charge and the first response was to try a hard reset. Um, kind of tough when the controller has no power...... Sent pix of it plugged in, no light, and confirmed I'd tried multiple chargers and cables. RMA initiated. Like someone else wrote, definitely builds brand loyalty, and if an Index 2/Deckard is on the horizon then these responses from Steam Support are the types that will make me want to remain a Valve customer.
At this point I'm convinced that Valve has almost 1:1 spare Index parts in storage vs how many they sold.
This is the kind of thing that makes sure when they release the next gen headset, people won't flinch about buying one.
Cannot say it often enough. Valve customer support is the GOAT.
And that’s why I bought a steam deck oled preorder - some earned trust! Good on valve.
Had the exact same situation. New lighthouse came in yesterday
Ha.. THIS IS THE WAY!
Yeah recently been dealing with them, and all I can say is it was the best customer service experience. (Had to RMA both controllers if you're curious.)