I purchased Digital Design's Lyon from the MSFS Marketplace yesterday but received a purchase failed error message so ordered it again and it went through but I was charged twice by Steam.  When I contacted Steam they sent me this:

We cannot grant a refund at this time. In-game item purchases are not refundable if any items in the purchase have been consumed, modified, or transferred.

When I contacted MS I received the following:

We do not have access to Steam's account and billing system to refund erroneous or duplicate purchases, but Steam Support can do it on our behalf so I once again contacted Steam and attached the MS response but again received the same Steam response as above.

So guess I’m stuck paying $44 for a $22 item but lesson learned and I will never purchase another item from Marketplace.

 

 

If you paid via PayPal their Customer Protection might get Steam/MS reacting. When I bought the MS Store version of MSFS and installation didn't work, I only got money back after submitting a detailed report to PayPal.

Kind regards, Michael

2 minutes ago, pmb said:

If you paid via PayPal their Customer Protection might get Steam/MS reacting. When I bought the MS Store version of MSFS and installation didn't work, I only got money back after submitting a detailed report to PayPal.

"It is the way" 😁. I love this about PayPal.

Been there myself. PayPal got me the refund, eventually. 

I paid with Steam Wallet credits from a gift card not PayPal.

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by northtexas

 

53 minutes ago, northtexas said:

 

So guess I’m stuck paying $44 for a $22 item but lesson learned and I will never purchase another item from Marketplace.

 

 

You're not stuck by any means.  You DO have to open a ticket with Microsoft per the instructions at their MSFS website and you'll be asked to provide supporting documentation in the way of screenshots of your Steam wallet charges etc.  I went through the same thing (with the same initial responses from MS before I opened a ticket and read the instructions) and although they want 3 business days to see if the problem works itself out on the back end, got the duplicate charges reversed.

The best practice seems to be buying the Steam wallet credits prior to purchasing inside the MSFS Marketplace.  That seems to avoid the bad juju domino effect that occurs while MSFS is waiting on authentication from Steam which is waiting on authentication from PayPal.  I haven't had any issues since changing my process to match their (admittedly poor) back-end connection handling.

 

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by Stoopy

38 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

The best practice seems to be buying the Steam wallet credits prior to purchasing inside the MSFS Marketplace

This made all the difference for me.  I couldn’t complete a purchase without having to contact support before I started doing this.

1 hour ago, Stoopy said:

You DO have to open a ticket with Microsoft per the instructions at their MSFS website and you'll be asked to provide supporting documentation in the way of screenshots of your Steam wallet charges etc.

I did all of the following per MS but still received the same "We cannot grant a refund at this time." response from steam:

 

HOW TO CONTACT A STEAM SUPPORT AGENT TO REQUEST A REFUND 

1.   Open Steam

2.   Click on your username

3.   go to Account Details

4.   View Purchase History

5.   In your list of purchases, you'll need to find the receipt for the BASE GAME  (i.e. 'Microsoft Flight Simulator Premium Deluxe bundle') If you select the receipt for the DLC instead (i.e.'Microsoft Flight Simulator- XXX Credits) Steam will automatically reject your refund request.

6.   Select "I have a question about this purchase."

7.   Sum up the issue. Don't forget to include the screenshot of this email and the proof you were charged twice.

The best practice seems to be buying the Steam wallet credits prior to purchasing inside the MSFS Marketplace

Already had Steam wallet credits from a gift card.

 

 

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by northtexas

I’ve never understood the rationale behind this two-step process of buying credits to then pay the price. Is this the « why make it simple when you can make it complicated » thing ?

1 hour ago, Dominique_K said:

I’ve never understood the rationale behind this two-step process of buying credits to then pay the price. Is this the « why make it simple when you can make it complicated » thing ?

Probably something like this 😅 but seriously, I think it has something to do with a timeout in MSFS that happens when a payment takes too long, e.g. when logging in to your Paypal account is sluggish and takes a bit longer than usual... 

BTW, I didn't have problems getting a refund for a double purchase of the same aircraft. Had to contact MSFS / Microsoft service, sent them all the details such as Steam transaction ID, date, time, and they sent me the information (a code or sth, I don't remember the details) necessary to contact Steam and get a refund from them. It's a bit convoluted, but it worked twice already without a hitch. I really hope this is still the case.

Take a look here, this is the official page on how to proceed when being charged twice: https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405565721618-Purchase-issues-I-ve-been-charged-twice-for-the-same-Marketplace-purchase

So in theory they promise to give you the refund, and I'm pretty sure they're legally obliged to do that in most countries.

Edit: @northtexas Anyway, I saw you probably followed the procedure. I think you should insist and ask them how to proceed. As long as you can prove that you were charged twice for the same item, they HAVE to refund you.

Edited March 21, 20233 yr by pstrub

18 hours ago, northtexas said:

I did all of the following per MS but still received the same "We cannot grant a refund at this time." response from steam:

 

HOW TO CONTACT A STEAM SUPPORT AGENT TO REQUEST A REFUND 

1.   Open Steam

2.   Click on your username

3.   go to Account Details

4.   View Purchase History

5.   In your list of purchases, you'll need to find the receipt for the BASE GAME  (i.e. 'Microsoft Flight Simulator Premium Deluxe bundle') If you select the receipt for the DLC instead (i.e.'Microsoft Flight Simulator- XXX Credits) Steam will automatically reject your refund request.

6.   Select "I have a question about this purchase."

7.   Sum up the issue. Don't forget to include the screenshot of this email and the proof you were charged twice.

The best practice seems to be buying the Steam wallet credits prior to purchasing inside the MSFS Marketplace

Already had Steam wallet credits from a gift card.

Not that I'm defending them nor arguing for them in any way - because this sucks for the user and migod, if Microsoft cant figure out how to take people's money then all hope is lost - but this makes sense that MS cant refund you, it would have to be Steam.  I'd have to go back and look through my emails but I do recall having to ask Steam for a refund after sharing particulars of my ticket and transaction ID from the Marketplace.  

Your situation might be further exacerbated since it was paid by a gift card and not Paypal etc...

Good luck.  Considering the price of pizza these days it may seem counterproductive to spend time and effort for the sum in question, and I spent over a week going back and forth for $15 but "it was the principle of the thing".  

3 hours ago, Stoopy said:

Good luck.  Considering the price of pizza these days it may seem counterproductive to spend time and effort for the sum in question, and I spent over a week going back and forth for $15 but "it was the principle of the thing

This is what I didn't do: 

5.   In your list of purchases, you'll need to find the receipt for the BASE GAME  (i.e. 'Microsoft Flight Simulator Premium Deluxe bundle') If you select the receipt for the DLC instead (i.e.'Microsoft Flight Simulator- XXX Credits) Steam will automatically reject your refund request.

I had selected the duplicate DLC instead.  My concern now is that if I select the Base Game MSFS Premium Deluxe I'm afraid Steam will issue a $22 refund for the duplicate DLC but then delete MSFS from my PC...yes I'm now paranoid.  I'm going to just write it off as a learning experience and move on.