Never pre-order from Play.com (HL2 woes)

[StooMonster]

After the UT2004 fiasco with Play.com I swore never to use them again for timely releases or pre-orders; have used Amazon.co.uk since who have been excellent and even delivered things like Star Wars Trilogy DVDs on morning of release even though I've opted for their free shipping.

On 2-Jun-03 I relented and pre-ordered Half-Life 2 from Play.com for a fixed price of £26.99; thought I'd give them another chance.

How did they do with that second chance?

In the time leading up to 16 November 2004 release date I've contacted Play.com who assured me that it would go out as soon as they received it from their suppliers.

Imagine my delight on Saturday 13 November when they billed my debit card and their system reported Status as "Posted on 13/11/04"; however, I was now unable to cancel the pre-order.

My delight turned to suspicion when no confirmation email turned up until Monday afternoon, this said "Posted on 15/11/04" and "may take 3-5 days"; even though they'd charged me on Saturday 13th.

Annoyance really set in when nothing arrived today 16 November, and when checking Status page it says "Posted on 15/11/2004" but an addition this afternoon is a Recorded Delivery tracking number.

If it was posted on 15th via Recorded Delivery, wouldn't it be here on 16th? Oh, and the link for tracking number goes to an erroneous page too.

But that's semantics, bottom line is that Play.com have not delivered Half-Life 2 to me on day of release despite their reassurances and billed my card days ago and I have no visibility of when I will receive it.

They've changed "posted" dates on their system, futhermore, if they did post it yesterday was that the day they received stock or did they misrepresent "as soon as we receive from suppliers"; you can not believe a word they say.

I will never, ever, pre-order a title from Play.com again, and would suggest that no-one else does either because the service is terrible.

StooMonster

 

[mikekirk]

If it was posted on 15th via Recorded Delivery, wouldn't it be here on 16th? Oh, and the link for tracking number goes to an erroneous page too.
StooMonster

Play despatch from Jersey, so deliveries generally take 3 days, sometimes 2 if you're lucky.

Sending Recorded Delivery makes no difference to the speed of delivery, unless you're out when the postman wants you to sign for it of course. :O

 

[Sean]

If you're going to buy it online anyway, why not just go through steam?

 

[HUGEkebab]

playt is in jersey, they do state their delivery times as such, they are cheaper because of this. what on earth made you think theyd get copies before everyone else.

totally your fault, next time read the small print.

 

[mikekirk]

If you're going to buy it online anyway, why not just go through steam?

If you only want the Bronze edition, buying through Steam actually works out more expensive in the UK.

Bought mine through Steam though.

 

[m0nkeyy]

Gameplay is a decent place to get games from
pre-ordered mine from there - arrived on the day of release

£26.99 + £1 first class postage

 

[LucaZone]

Sorry to hear your experience, but i must disagree. Ive had better service with Play than anywhere else. Other than preloading and ordering over steam

PC Games, Console Games, DVD Movies, Music have all arrived when stated, and when releases are involved, on the morning of that release.

Amazon I dont touch with a barge pole, as they have been known to advertise stuff based on press information and not hard fact or confirmation from suppliers. Some people pre-ordered HL2 and TF2 from them and have not recieved any refund for the fact TF2 still has no release 6 years on!

 

[mikekirk]

Sorry to hear your experience, but i must disagree. Ive had better service with Play than anywhere else. Other than preloading and ordering over steam QUOTE]

Just to contradict myself, I'll stick up for Play also, their service is generally excellent. Prices are cheap, delivery is free and I've never had any problems with them processing returns efficiently.

I just accept their delivery takes a day or so longer, and so if I want to ensure delivery on release day make sure I order from Gameplay.

 

[BigDaz]

They'd said they'd post it as soon as they recieve it, and from what you've said they have done just that.

I haven't had any problems with play.com, pricewise they're hard to beat and generally things have come on release day. Far Cry was a couple of days late but at £17.99, I'm not complaining.