Amazon and preordering console games

MrsBartolozzi

My 2 boys preordered Halo 3 ODST which arrived fine yesterday. As an incentive to preorder with them, Amazon offered a free code, only with preorders, for a special downloadable in-game character. My boys were eager to get this character so I placed an order for 2 games (this was in June).
Yesterday I was emailed one code, and I mailed them back to request the other one as I thought they had made a mistake.

An email came through this morning to say that they were subject to availability (well yes, that's why I ordered ages ago)
and that they were issuing these subject to one per customer.
Firstly my beef is that nowhere on the product page does it mention this - (my OH has an account so I'd have ordered one in his name). Their email directed me to a page devoted to preorders, one which I am not sure even existed when I preordered, so it's not very clear to buyers.

I'm not sure how I am going to let the kids know when they get back from school, that they have been left to have to fight over who gets the character. I admit, this does seem a bit of a storm in a teacup to me, but apparently this Sgt Johnson is a big deal in the world of ODST and I feel very let down by Amazon in this respect.

If anyone has any ideas I would welcome them.

But I just wanted to let people know that preordering games with special freebies for doing so might be subject to special terms not noted on the item page.

mrcol1000

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

My 2 boys preordered Halo 3 ODST which arrived fine yesterday. As an incentive to preorder with them, Amazon offered a free code, only with preorders, for a special downloadable in-game character. My boys were eager to get this character so I placed an order for 2 games (this was in June).
Yesterday I was emailed one code, and I mailed them back to request the other one as I thought they had made a mistake.

An email came through this morning to say that they were subject to availability (well yes, that's why I ordered ages ago)
and that they were issuing these subject to one per customer.
Firstly my beef is that nowhere on the product page does it mention this - (my OH has an account so I'd have ordered one in his name). Their email directed me to a page devoted to preorders, one which I am not sure even existed when I preordered, so it's not very clear to buyers.

I'm not sure how I am going to let the kids know when they get back from school, that they have been left to have to fight over who gets the character. I admit, this does seem a bit of a storm in a teacup to me, but apparently this Sgt Johnson is a big deal in the world of ODST and I feel very let down by Amazon in this respect.

If anyone has any ideas I would welcome them.

But I just wanted to let people know that preordering games with special freebies for doing so might be subject to special terms not noted on the item page.

Have you tried explaining the above to Amazon or the makers of the game? Or whoever is running the promotion providing the downloadable character. I can understand why they keeping it to one per customer rather than order so its not abused. However if you explain the above to the organisation responsible for providing the content they may be able to help.

MrsBartolozzi

Just came off a lengthy telephone conversation with nice Amazon girl, who could copmpletely understand my problem but was unable to help. She went to check and claimed that the terms and conditions were in place when I ordered, but was unable to give me any proof as "the web pages change all the time". Even my order page which definately mentioned the code has changed and I can't refer to it to check either.
This sucks big time. It's gonna be a war zone at 4.30 in my house lol, but I don't know who to try contacting next - if anyone has any ideas?

geordieracer

Do you know if the code will work for both copies of the game on different consoles?

MrsBartolozzi

geordieracer wrote: »

Do you know if the code will work for both copies of the game on different consoles?

No, they are one time things sadly. There is even a market for them on ebay right now, but I'm not paying £5 for something I should be entitled to!

trevormax

a similar thing happened a while ago when a new MMO game called Age Of Conan came out. People who pre-ordered the game got a code which allowed them to get a free in-game mount (animal to ride on) which would not be available to people who hadn't pre-ordered.

Many people who had ordered two or more copies of the game only got one code. The same happened with people using play.com also. Seems like it must be a common thing. If I were in your place, I would probably tell the kids there were no codes available so that they wont argue over the code.

MrsBartolozzi

trevormax wrote: »

If I were in your place, I would probably tell the kids there were no codes available so that they wont argue over the code.

Too late I'm afraid! The reason we bought from Amazon was because of this code, other retailers didn't have it, and the kids are well aware there was only one code sent yesterday. They are expecting the other one to come today.
Oh well you live and learn and all that...

trevormax

Although I agree that you should have gotten 2 codes, if you need another code, you can get them from ebay and they are going for £5 each (i'm guessing it is the Sgt Johnson code).

Chambece

I know this might be a bit late now but....

If you only have one XBox, I am sure that both of them would be able to access it.

If they have one each, get one of them to use the coupon on the other one's xbox; The xbox that originally downloads it will always be able to access it, whoever plays it, and the the one who used the coupon will be able to use it on any console their profile is logged in on.

Problem *almost* solved!

Edit: Oh, by the way, this works for most things, arcade games, maps and the like, but does not work for the premium Avatar Marketplace stuff, which is just for the person that buys them....