Games do not download on Steam

I have just bought Civilization 5 online through Steam as they had a promotional weekend. They were quick enough to take my money but the game does not download and now they won't respond to my mails to the support desk.

Any ideas? Do I simply call my CC provider and block this?

Does anybody who went through a similar experience have a solution?

Solution 1:

Sometimes deleting the ClientRegistry blob and having Steam rebuild its cache of games helps.

From the ClientRegistry.blob answer on Steam Support:

Windows XP/Vista/7

• Completely exit from the Steam client.
• Go to C:\Program Files\Steam (or the Steam directory that was specified during installation).
• Locate ClientRegistry.blob and rename this file to ClientRegistryOld.blob
• Restart Steam to allow the file to be recreated.
• Test the issue once more.

Mac OS X

• Completely exit from the Steam client.
• Go to /Users/[Username]/Library/Application Support/Steam
• Locate ClientRegistry.blob and rename this file to ClientRegistryOld.blob
• Restart Steam to allow the file to be recreated.
• Test the issue once more.

Solution 2:

I've bought 10+ games on steam and they've all downloaded without problem.

• Have you read the FAQ? There might be something there about it or what to do
• Perhaps your firewall is too strict
• Perhaps your ISP doesn't allow it
• Perhaps your CC is from another country then you're trying to download too
• How long have you given them to respond? 1 day 2 days? 1 week?

I've personally found Steam to be fairly efficient, and if something isn't working they do what they can to fix it. Also why block on your CC? WHy not just ask them for a refund? If you block on your CC you are just giving yourself a bad record with steam, if you ask for a refund because x doesn't download IMO that's a lot better and makes more sense.