PLAY.COM and their shoddy delivery service regarding Pre orders

Harbinger_UK · 15 October 2010 at 9:42AM

In July 2010 I pre ordered a computer game, Medal of Honor on Xbox 360 which had a release date of 15th October 2010.

PLAY.COM's delivery policy is that items will be delivered between 3 -5 working days from date of post.

This means for the game to be ensured of delivery by release date it would need to be posted on Friday 8th Oct to ensure the maximum 5 working days.

I received my 'your item has been posted' email after 5pm on Tuesday 12th Oct (meaning it would not be sorted until the following working day)

It is Friday 15th and my item has not arrived!!! (again despite PLAY.COm indicating repeatedly perhaps another postal worker will be along later in the day with my game)

I contacted PLAY.COM and got the standard reply of it was posted within their 3-5 working days policy, despite pointing out that by their logic if it had been posted at 11.59pm they would still have complied with their poilicy.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and spoke to 'Aubrey' who whilst mid explanation of my gripe hung up on me, or as they describe it 'the line must have disconnected'

I again rang (this time fuming) and subsequently spoke to 'Aubrey' again who to say was disinterested is an understatement!!!

I argued my point that it is no point blaming Royal Mail as PLAY.COM were constantly doing but that it should have been posted 5 working days prior to release to ensure its delivery on time (remember I ordered it 3 months previously)

I mentioned that the service I was receiving was making me want to return the item and purchase it from a shop. This was jumped on by 'Aubrey' who shortly after my comment revealed she had already sent me the return authorisation.

PLAY.COM staff clearly do not care regarding your purchase, nor do they care about the reputation of the company or the loss of revenue.

my friend ordered his game from Gameplay.co.uk four days ago and guess what..... he had his game delivered yesterday.

DO NOT PRE ORDER FROM PLAY.COM AS YOU WILL NOT GET IT ON ITS RELEASE DATE.

verityboo · 15 October 2010 at 9:49AM

I have never had a problem with PLAY myself. All the films I have ordered over the last few months I have received on the Saturday before the Monday release, much better than Amazon (and our post is usually slower because we live in a village)

I think it unfair to critisise Play because of this one incident when the postal service also have an equal share of the blame

Kingsd316 · 15 October 2010 at 9:53AM

Play don’t offer a guarantee on their pre orders unlike other companies, if you wanted it for release date you should have gone with one of the other big players, shopto.net, Amazon (using special delivery) or you could have walked into any HMV and picked it up today,

With regards to sending it out 5 days before, they may not have recieved the game from the supplier till tuesday, which isnt uncommon as it stops shops selling it early

fozmcfc · 15 October 2010 at 10:10AM

It does seem silly to get so annoyed about a computer game arriving, but I must admit I was really frustrated when it happened to me with play.com, as I was really looking forward to playing the game.

I ordered GTA IV under the impression it would arrive on release date, I eventually received my game 2 days after release date. I wasn't the only one over on the GTA forums, many people were really annoyed about Play.

I vowed not to pre order from play.com again unless their prices were significently cheaper. Last couple of games I've pre ordered have been from Game and both have arrived on release date.

Techhead_2 · 15 October 2010 at 10:14AM

What a load of fuss over nothing. Its a game. They posted it out 3 days early. Get some perspective.

fozmcfc · 15 October 2010 at 10:26AM

Techhead wrote: »

What a load of fuss over nothing. Its a game. They posted it out 3 days early. Get some perspective.

It doesn't matter what it is, it is still disappointing when you are waiting for something and it doesn't arrive when you expect it.

In this case it appears that Play.com don't guarantee delivery of pre orders on release date. That is something worth knowing for people who are considering pre orders with them, as other online companies do offer a guarantee service.

GillsMan7 · 15 October 2010 at 10:40AM

The thing the OP is forgetting, is that Play have a duty to ensure that gamers don't receive games BEFORE the release date. From a commercial point of view it is more important to ensure that gamers don't receive the game before the release date, then to ensure everyone receives it by the release date.

Game publishers have, in the past, refused to deal with distributors who have broken this rule.

Harbinger_UK · 15 October 2010 at 11:05AM

Thabks for all the replies so far but you are kind of missing the point.

I appreciate that you may think 'chill its just a game that did not arrive for release date' but is the item itself relevant to something that you have pre ordered for a certain date that does not turn up for that date?

However tit is the customer service I then received was I found atrocious and that is what actually got me fuming enough to write this thread not just the late item.

A suggested challenge to you all, (although comments are still appreciated and I would welcome the contact details) find me where on their website I can contact their customer support as they (appear) not to have a complaints department at all or any email to submit complaints (what does that say about customer satisfaction) and as I have already found out they dont care much over the phone either.

Kingsd316 · 15 October 2010 at 11:18AM

pretty sure it all goes through customercare@play.com

fozmcfc · 15 October 2010 at 12:19PM

If you are on facebook you could leave comments as well about their service, on their page, seems quite a few people do.

Otherwise as King says [EMAIL="customercare@play.com"]customercare@play.com[/EMAIL]

System · 15 October 2010 at 1:39PM

I don't understand why you phoned up to complain in the first place? Play don't guarantee you'll receive the item on release date. They told you what day they posted the item and the amount of time it would take the game to reach you. Phoning up to complain the game hasn't arrived yet when you were within the timescales they had given you just appears to be a waste of your time and a waste of their time so no wonder the customer service rep was uninterested!