Steam refund not working? Users report error when trying to request refunds

Some Steam users say they cannot submit refund requests right now, with the support tool throwing a generic error after they select their refund reason.

One user posted about the problem in the r/steamsupport subreddit, and it quickly filled up with people confirming the same issue. When users click the “It’s not what I expected” or “I would like a refund” options, the system spits back “An error occurred trying to handle that request. Please give us a few minutes and try again.”

For some users, it has been doing that for hours. One commenter said it had been happening for three-plus hours straight, on both the Steam app and in a browser.

The affected games span pretty much everything. People in the thread mention trying to refund Battlefield 6, Conan Exiles, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, S&box, and others. This is not one game’s issue.

One user posted on X that they were hitting error code -379. Another tagged @Steam directly asking for a fix.

Luckily, there is a possible workaround that might help. You skip the automated refund flow entirely and open a manual support ticket, describe the game you want to refund, and include a screenshot of the price. The same user who had tagged Steam on X reported that it got them through successfully.

Meanwhile, one commenter on Reddit noted they still received an email confirmation that their request was received, even after the error screen appeared, which suggests the backend may have processed some requests even when the frontend showed a failure. Not consistent across everyone, though.

Valve has not put out any statement on this as of writing. Users are speculating that it is a server-side issue with high traffic volume, causing the automated refund pipeline to choke.

Separately, if you were one of the people who picked up the new Steam controller earlier this week, you may want to check out our piece on the accidental tax break some buyers scored during checkout.

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