Play.com leaves Modern Warfare 2 buyers empty handed

Online retailer Play.com has failed to reach out to many Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 buyers it left in the lurch after failing to live up to its guaranteed launch-day delivery promise. While many retailers, including supermarket Sainsbury’s, slashed the game’s price to around £26 ($43/€29), Play promised “guaranteed delivery …

[M Bison]

Play constant failures

Well this comes of no surprise - I was in the same boat when after pre-ordering 4months in advance they let me down delivering DJ hero. So I bought the game from game.co.uk and as promised it was in store the next day ready to collect.

Play continually preaches about which.co.uk award this and online choice - if they win this year after all the c*ck ups you know it’s a fix...

I have been a customer for 9+years (over £5000 in purchases) enjoying the low prices and premier service which has now obviously been long forgotten....

Here I am 16 days after the game was supposed to be delivered still waiting for my £129.99 refund getting pushed from pillar to post by the poorly speaking CS staff they now employ...the best part was telling me "as a gesture of goodwill" they would refund my money as the delay for delivery had already been 11 days - how nice of them after I cancelled it 11 days prior..

For anyone in the same boat I'd recommend googling say 'no to 0870' as found the number listed gets you through to the Jersey/UK call centre not the lip service only proficient remote call centres...

Use shop.to or game.co.uk they are obviously the new kings in town.....

[lansalot]

me2..

Strangely, I got an email saying it had shipped on the 5th... Still no sign, 8 days later....

Might buy it in Tescos and if/when it ever turns up, I'll just return it for a full refund.

[Anonymous Coward]

People who must have things immediately

The "must have it on the day of release", obsession seems to be something that people grow out of, with age and experience. Paying extra or going to extra effort (like queing for hours), at what is an arbritary date, rather than just walking into a store and buying it with ease a day later soon becomes something you wouldn't even consider doing.

[D@v3]

not the first time this has happened

i pre-ordered ODST from Play. Nearly a month after release, and still no delivery, i cancelled the order and brought it in town. Never again. Got my MW2 from sainsbury's good and cheap and morning of release.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

I'm not sure what is more surprising...

That anyone believed that Play would honour their guarantee, or that anyone in their right mind would pay £45 for a derivative of a Doom type game.

[Ade_C]

Play looking stupid now

yup, regardless of their late delivery, Play were completely outmanouvered by practically everyone else in the market over this.

They appeared to me to be sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "na na na" refusing to acknowlege others cutting prices and breaking embargos. They shot their load and went with a courier before Royal Mail announced 'no more strikes'. Game pre-order customers for example had their COD6 on Monday 9th.

I had pre-ordered the game via play.com. It did get delivered on release day, but didnt turn up until after 3 pm. I had already had enough of waiting and got it in Tesco that morning.

Play's copy has been returned for a refund and i'll never pre-order a game with them again.

[Anonymous Coward]

not responsible for their delivery partners my arse!

Given that i cannot choose which delivery partner THEY get the best deal from, it is THEIR responsibility.

Vodafone tried that one me once, they failed to deliver a phone but said it was my responsibilty from the point it left the warehouse. A few choice words about legal stuff and they soon backed down.

[Shaun 1]

Switcheroo

Was talking to someone at work that ordered from Play (and received it on time).

Apparently it was advertised as being shipped by courier but he received it through Royal Mail

[Tom_]

Not all bad

They got mine to me on launch day for 30 quid. :)

[Bassey]

It's a game!

FFS - get some perspective, kids! It's a game! It'll still be a game tomorrow or next week. If your copy didn't turn up, take it as a sign. Open the curtains. Open the window. Breath in the air. Heaven forbid, maybe even step outside - but not for too long. I know it's winter but that sun is still way too string for your kind.

[Edwin]

Horseshit

"Play take no responsibility for late delivery due to ... failure on the part of the delivery partner."

I can't think of many countries where that statement would stand up, especially if they GUARANTEE delivery on a specific date.

If the party to whom Play subcontracts fails to make good, then that's Play's problem. Not the customers'

Weasels.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can also add

That working for another big retail chain (cant say who as I'll get fired!) they have also failed on delivery with many customers having forked out the high end price for gauranteed day of release delivery. Plus added to the fact people dont seem to understand that they paid £45 and even though the price has dropped in the shops they seem to think it's unfair they paid a premium, try explaining this to mums and dads around the country!! Tried telling them it swings in roundabouts sometimes it works the other way....

[Anonymous Coward]

'Guaranteed'

How can a company guarantee delivery on the day of release when it admits that it has no control over the delivery process?

Sounds like a dodgy advertising claim to me.

It's been a long time since the likes of Blackstar (remember them before they morphed into the entirely shite SendIt?) used to post stuff a couple of days ahead of release and it wasn't uncommon to get titles BEFORE release day.

[richard 69]

morrison's

£25.99!!

yep, it is great but i didn't know anything about the airport slaughter level so was quite shocked when i came across that one!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Play not alone

I had a problem with coolshop. Chatted with them on day prior to launch, they claimed a card failure but Mastercard saw no failure and the card works everywhere else.

I got up the next day at 06:30, went to Sainsburys for an 07:00 opening and saved £12. Marvellous.

[The Original Ash]

What was that?

“Play take no responsibility for late delivery due to card failures, incorrect address details or failure on the part of the delivery partner.”

Then Play shouldn't make the promise.

[Paul Hates Handles]

So...

...when they say "Guaranteed delivery" they mean "Guaranteed posted by..."?

[Daren Nestor]

In fairness...

"Play take no responsibility for late delivery due to ... failure on the part of the delivery partner."

Does not mean that they take no responsibility for non-delivery. In fact, if it takes more than 2 weeks to arrive after being dispatched, they will send you out another copy free of charge. This has happened to me a couple of times, and I've always got the second copy, and sometimes the original copy turns up a month or so later (usually covered in footprints and with a stamp from Vancouver, for some reason!)

[Martin Lyne]

@ 14:04

Some people can't really wander down to a shop so having it conveniently plop into your mailbox on the day.. very nice.

I had a similar experience with Steam and Dragon Age recently, some shops were selling it cheaper 2 days before it unlocked on Steam (where I pre-ordered with full price). Such is life though.

As an aside: Steam claims it can't sell games for cheaper than X because the publishers say so - does that mean they have to ask permission before running a sale? Is it legal to demand a shop to sell your product at a certain price? Stifling competition much?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares?

Until they fix the PC version, I'm not buying it anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

To rub salt into the wound

I ordered my copy with GAME and it arrived a day early!

Mine is the one with the AK47 and riot shield.

[Wellard]

Got mine on release day...

.. from PC World! o_O ... Same price as Play.com!

[caffeine addict]

No more play for me...

I used to use Play all the time. Then I started having the same problems everyone else is talking about.

Then I ordered £125 worth of hardware through them. It sat is 'packaging' for a week, then got shipped by HDN. 2 days later the internet announced that it was in a 'secure location' at my house.

When I got home it was sat in the rain, outside my kitchen door (visible from the road), blocking the cat flap so one of our cats crapped on the kitchen floor.

Never again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy into the hype...

All big games are like this, they all promise the moon on a stick and cock up big time on delivery.

Get used to it, it's not going to stop.

Not while everyone throws their cash at people selling games that haven't even been released yet.

It's consumer muppertry of the highest order and I laugh at you all.

Also since we are on the subject, software houses used to count sales over a period of time after the launch as an indication of success.

Then they focussed on sales at day 1.

Now they focus on the pre-launch sales and people are falling over themselves to hand over their cash before the game is even available, all based on a couple of video clips, screen mockups and other faked hype.

What's the deal with that? it makes the pre-release hype more important that getting the game sorted out properly for release.

UTTER MUPPETS!

[Red Bren]

Feeble ASA

Guaranteed Delivery = Don't hold your breath

Unlimited Broadband = Capped if you use it

[M Bison]

Play spin doctors wont save them this time

"We would like to apologise to any of our customers who have experienced delays in receiving CoD:MW2. This title has been the largest single release in the history of gaming with over 1m units selling on the first day. With such huge number, a very small proportion of customers who pre-ordered the game have been affected and we are doing our utmost best to rectify the situation and quickly as possible."

What complete tripe - I'd reccomend any customers to head to shop.to or game.co.uk where the call centres are uk based and they acctually care about your custom - or more importantly actually deliver...

[Anonymous Coward]

Really disappointed in Play

Unrelated to Modern Warfare, my girlfriend ordered a PS3 last Thursday for my birthday (on Tuesday) - now Friday, 8 days later and it still hasn't been delivered (apparently it's in the delivery van today)...

[Subban]

Re: Play Look stupid now

"I had pre-ordered the game via play.com. It did get delivered on release day, but didnt turn up until after 3 pm. I had already had enough of waiting and got it in Tesco that morning."

........

...... Speechless....

It was delivered, when they said, on day of release, and you already went to the shop that day to buy it........ I'm.... I don't know what I am... In awe of your impatience or something.. in a bad way, not a good way.

Your title is:

"Hello Pot, Kettle is on line 2"

[paul 150]

Boo hoo...

For fuck sake, it's a bloody game, not the lost cure to brain cancer!

Who gives a shit if it's late arriving.. Get off your arses, and turn the bloody PS3 / Xbox off!!

[Fruitloop 1]

I got mine and that's all that counts

Ordered mine from Play a couple of months back and it was sitting there waiting on the door matt when I got home on Tuesday. Completed it already, good game.

That said they did switch the delivery service from Royal Mail to a courier at the last minute

[Aortic Aneurysm]

Play.com are terrible.

I got a copy for £22 in Sainsburys on launch day (my old work, so I got a mates discount - 15% off £25.99 is pretty good)

Another mate ordered from Amazon - Got it on the day it was due to release, as promised.

Apparently shopto.net have had issues too.

[James Halliday]

I'm not a corporate shill

But I put in my order with Play.com last week in response to a, I think, last chance to pre-order mail. I stumped up my £45 and it arrived, on launch date, delivered by "Citipost DSA"

The Citipost sticker on the jiffy bag is attached over the corner of a pre-printed label with my address , and a bit of pealing back shows that the original sticker with my address is a Royal Mail pre-paid label. Would be interested to know if the 'late' copies are still trying to get distributed with the original Royal Mail sticker.

To be honest I was VERY pissy about paying £45 when I saw the Sainsburys advert for £26 the day before release (I mean a fiver-a tenner I could maybe swallow - but £19?) Had every intention of returning the play.com copy and picking one up from my local sainsburys on launch day - except they'd sold out by mid-morning when I swung by on my way to work. Actually the printed note didn't say 'sold out', merely they'd sold their days allocation and might have more in tomorrow - but they couldn't be sure. No idea what the reasoning behind this underlying statement was, but seemed a little weasily-worded and manipulative.

I don't know half a dozen people who all independently tried to buy from Sainsburys - so if you're looking for a MW2 story - maybe gauge the number of people who went to supermarkets to buy the game and walked away empty handed. I know nobody who's actually managed to buy a mythical £26 copy from them either in-store or on-line.

Anyway - if I have a comment to leave, it's that I got my copy, from Play.com, on release date, as they promised.

[mdoc0]

Play.com

I was very upset with Play.com i ordered modern warefare 2 from them, 6 months before the games release date.

No game came on 10.11.09 so I phoned customer services to ask were my game was. I was then informed i wouldn't get my game on release as my order was after midnight on the 8.11.09. I explain i havd this game on pre-order for over 6 months but my complaints fell on deaf ears.

I then looked at my on-line banking to find out play.com had debited my account on thursday the 5.11.09, i phoned them back to explain the situation. To ask why i had been lied to about the situation. I got pasted from pillar to post in play.com customer services.

I never got a real anwser why i hadn't received the game and no appology. I went and bought a copy at a diffrenet retailer and will be sending play.com copy back.

I will never use the site again.

Mark (Bognor Regis)

[Anonymous Coward]

@richard 69

"yep, it is great but i didn't know anything about the airport slaughter level so was quite shocked when i came across that one!!"

Really? I was too busy throwing grenades at injured "people". I think it was more of a kindness to finish off the injured in such a quick manner.

[adam payne]

Pre-orders

I pre-ordered my copy with play.com a couple of months ago and it was delivered on release date. Play.com usually gets new releases to me on release day or just before. Sometimes they've missed the release date but that's just life.

[Stu]

Jeez, rip off britain strikes again

Why are there so many people above who bought it from GAME? They're amongst the same shower of shits in retail who charge full whack for the title, claiming their £45 is actually a bonus because it should retail at £60 or something. Its just crap.

I ended up paying Amazon a perfectly respectable £32 on day of release, free delivery, and got it today. Delivered promptly by my RM postie. And nobody can tell me Amazon are making a loss selling MW2 at that level! Goes to show how much retailers charging full whack rip the nation off.

,

Sainsburys where I live sold out of all their copies it seems the first few minutes, so no more copies at £26, although I didn't know Morrisons did the same. It seems the BBC and other news sites - yes you El-Reg included - are hyping up the title something chronic. As I stood in Sainsburys looking for it there must have been a few non-gamer types stood around talking about buying MW2 as well! Could the BBCs three separate news articles about MW2 the morning of release (plus TV items?) have prompted these million plus sales of the title on the first day!?

.

Agreed about the feature losses - it seems to be able to get far in this world you make an anticipated sequel with less and less features and substance than the previous CoD title and it makes an absolute mint for infinity ward and Acrivision. Selling more and more the dumber it gets. "Dumbed Down Britain".

[MJI]

No problems with PSP games

Two ordered on Tuesday, one arrived yesterday, one today.

COD MW2 looks over rated anyway

[MrM]

@ paul 150

I would imagine that most people give a shit when they dont get what they've have paid for - perhaps you dont? perhaps you have money to waste on products that are not as described but most people dont.

Capital C to the hump!

[Aortic Aneurysm]

@James Halliday

I can show you at least 3 people I know that bought it fron Sainsburys, aswell as myself. As I said, £22 with staff discount from my mate.

[John70]

What do you expect...

...with these postal strikes and also a large demand for the game?

After saying that Play.com did email me saying that they would try to get the game to me on launch date by using a courier.

And they lived up to their promise. A courier did deliver the game on launch day.

Also on a side note, I've very rarely have any problems with Play.com

Out of the number of years I've used them only 2 items have gone missing in the post which Play.com sent out a replacement with no hassle.

But it's just like any other company, a majority of people have no problems where as a handful have nothing but problems.

[David Neil]

Play.com - Useful, but not reliable

Only time I ever pre-ordered with them, the game failed to appear when advertised, was passed from pillar to post and told to wait 21 days and they would reship if it didn't appear.

21 days later, sorry, we don't have the special ed in stock anymore and don't know when we will get it back in.

All in all, my card was out £45 for over a month before I finally got my refund.

Now all I use them for is the odd PS2 or DS game on special offer, the rest I'll head into town for

[Anonymous Coward]

Simply awful service

Placed a pre-order for Windows 7 Professional on that fateful morning in July when it was available. Play.com charged me for it several days before release. It didn't actually arrive until 31st October, having spent 11 days in the hands of some cowboy outfit called Citipost.

Earlier in the year, it took 4 weeks to get a keyboard out of them, after they sent a mouse at the first attempt. Admittedly, Royal Mail delays were involved, and they did refund my return postage promptly.

A second order for a keyboard from a PlayTrade partner was fulfilled with a (much) cheaper substitute. Apparently, it wasn't the first time the supplier had pulled that trick; Play.com said they would be booted.

But there you are - 3 orders, every single one completely messed up. Life's too short to waste on such nonsense, and these monkeys won't be seeing any more orders from me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bunch of criminals who hide offshore

I bought two acer netbooks for my kids birthdays, one worked, one had a duff microphone.

Spoke to Acer, they said no problem, send it back to play, they will send it to Acer and a replacement will be shipped.

Send it back to find that Play wont do there part and I have to accept a refund.

Told them the goods where my property and I wanted them fixed and they basically laughed and said there was nothing I could do legally as they are offshore.

If they treat people spending £400 like that what chance has someone spending £45 got, they just dont give a shit.

Flames, for obvious reasons.

[Si 1]

Lies

I had this email from Play.com:

"Dear MR [redacted]

We’re writing regarding your order for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (COD).

To ensure we get your order to you by the release date of Tuesday 10th November we will be dispatching this with a courier and not Royal Mail, eliminating any risk of it being delayed by the ongoing industrial action.

If you do have any questions regarding this or any other order please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0845 8001020

Thanks for shopping at Play.com.

Kind Regards

Play.com"

And yet my game arrived by post not courier. Seems to me Play.com cancelled the expensive courier delivery at the last minute and sent it through the post when they heard the strikes were off. Using the Royal Mail is probably why so many people haven't received their game yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Suckers

Months ago it struck me as obvious it would be sold cheaply on the day in supermarkets. Hence no pre-order by me.

At worst I was going to be wrong and pay the same as everyone else and get it a day or two later.

But in the end I got it for £26 from Morrisons without queueing. (Mind you, gotta love Morrisons for being inept enough to not advertise it the day *before* like all the other shops. Hence: they had loads in stock.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Pre-order on popular stuff, is always a ripoff!

I don't see the point in pre-ordering, it's just a scam for online firms. Anything really, really popular like this, the high-street shops, looking for a way to get one over on the online stores, will buy in huge bulk and slash prices.

When the Harry Potter books came out, local supermarkets couldn't drop the price fast enough, under cutting Amazon by 2-3 quid on a 10 quid item. Same with the last Coldplay album my missus bought, local supermarket had it 2 quid cheaper than Amazon on day of release.

I only pre-order niche stuff like hard to get documentaries and books, that the high street would never carry. Popular stuff like the latest big game or music release is always available at midnight down the local TESCO and always cheaper than the online price!

[miknik]

SNAFU

Saw this coming a mile off and cancelled my pre order. It was obvious this was going to happen. I picked it up 5 days before release in Camden and been pwning n00bs ever since.

[A 31]

re:Boo hoo... #

totally agree , this amount of moaning for a console game

"Bunch of criminals who hide offshore "

"Lies"

for a war game :D

pa-the-tic

get a life, go out, get on your bike, run around a lake, go trekking, go see a play, go to the restaurant, learn something new

[Anonymous Coward]

Missing in the Post

I pre-ordered Windows 7 Home Pre from Play.com and it never turned up! Waitng for 21 days what planet are they on? 21 days I know post can be slow but 21 days anywhere in the UK after posting is just crazy!

From now on it TheHut.com for me they site says they will do something after 3-5 working days after they posted the item.

[MEI7]

Blinkered old idiot

A 31:

Welcome to the 21st century this isn't 1954 anymore. Just accept a lot of people would rather be playing games than meeting idiots like you preaching your ancient pastimes.

I bet in your old ,twisted and bitter mind you think that the only people who play games are either kids or white teenage males but face it Modern warfare two was the biggest first day entertainment release ever.

And seriously "go see a play".... LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

get some perspective

I agree with the 'get a life'-type comments. I've ordered about 10 or 12 times from play and every time except 1 was fine and on that occasion I told them the item hadn't arrived and it was there 2 days later. I honestly think they do everything they can to keep us customers happy.

All shops have problems occasionally. Just as many problems seem to come with the obsessive behaviour from certain customers. Kind of like little boys and girls that always got what they wanted, when they wanted it, and threw a tantrum if they didn't. I'd say some of the people commenting here sound like those spoilt brats that took themselves a little too seriously when they were 6 and haven't grown up yet.

[Stuart Elliott]

Boycotted play.com ages ago

Been let down twice by them, so switched to coolshop.co.uk - I had the PC edition of MW2 on the Saturday before launch for a paltry £24.99 p&p included, so my only gripe was with Steam not allowing me to install it until the Tuesday.

[Anonymous Coward]

@MEI7

Well, I'm guessing that that blinkered old idiot will live longer than you do, you tw@t. Games are great (I have been playing since Space Invaders was new in the arcades)., but need to be tempered with other activities. I can honestly say, that no matter how good the games are, even now, I have had much more fun doing other activities. The trouble with the current generation of hardcore gamers, is that because they NEVER try anything else, they don't realise this until its too late.

Go on, try something REAL. Like a real guitar, or a real race car, or a real gun (not against other people though!). All of which are much more fun in real life.

[Steve Swann]

The following post may contain sarcasm...

"I'm not sure what is more surprising...

That anyone believed that Play would honour their guarantee, or that anyone in their right mind would pay £45 for a derivative of a Doom type game...."

Why yes! Why didn't I see that before! I mean surely buying new software for any reason is just stupid? I mean, who in their right mind would pay over £150 for a copy of MSOffice which is just a derivative of Wordstar?! Or how about buying Windows 7 when thats just a derivative of Windows ME? How stupid we all are! Now, please go away you well named backwards horse.

To all of you "Get a life" preachers - Please just be quiet. I have NO intention of taking up any of following mindless activities - Jogging (Trainers cost more than PC Games), going to the pub (costs more EACH time than a PC game), Watching/Participating in sport (Turns you into a neanderthal as far as I can tell and will certainly cost you more to participate in than PC games). You are not holier than anyone, and you are not special or morally superior because you can whack a ball with a club or sink 20 pints in a single evening. Now, please just jog on and leave us to enjoy OUR chosen, harmless pastime.

To the critics of the game - have you actually PLAYED it? No? Well, I'm suprised. Not. I will freely admit it's not the most flexible FPS gameplay of all time, but I did enjoy it's pace and variations in setting, particularly enjoyed the Ice Climb/Snowbike sequence. My biggest criticism is that it was over within a day or so of playing.

kthxbai. (goes back to pwning all your bases).

[Jay 2]

21 days!

Have been using Play for quite a while now. Generally they're OK price-wise (though Amazon are usually 1p cheaper, though super saver delivery takes a bit longer). One thing that does annoy me is that when an item is 'lost' you have to wait 21 days from the original dispatch date before they'll do anything about it (could have sworn it was 14 days before). So recently due to the posties playing silly buggers I had to wait a month to get hold of a 4GB Memory Stick. Still at least the pre-order Windows 7 turned up more-or-less on time (strikes permitting).

[Sweeping Brush]

Cheap in Ireland

Got it from Smyths in Ireland on day of release for 40 euro, which has now been bumped up to 54 euro.

Is this a new tactic, launch day have it about 25% cheaper and then bump it up, as its the first time I've seen it.

I will of course be taking advantage of this tactic next weekend for Assassassassassassassassins Creed :)

Paris (her price is always low)

[Ed Azzopardi]

Still empty handed

It is the 17th and, despite an email from Play.com saying that the game was dispatched, I am still waiting anxiously. They had also sent me a previous email saying they'd dispatch by courier to ensure delivery on release date. I must admit that I live in Malta but, even if the courier were walking backwards, he'd have made over in ten days.

[MEI7]

Misunderstanding...

"Well, I'm guessing that that blinkered old idiot will live longer than you do, you tw@t. Games are great (I have been playing since Space Invaders was new in the arcades)., but need to be tempered with other activities. I can honestly say, that no matter how good the games are, even now, I have had much more fun doing other activities. The trouble with the current generation of hardcore gamers, is that because they NEVER try anything else, they don't realise this until its too late.

Go on, try something REAL. Like a real guitar, or a real race car, or a real gun (not against other people though!). All of which are much more fun in real life."

Now this is a person who I can respect. I was pretty annoyed when I wrote the first post so it didn't come across to well... First of all you don't knock games as a some medium for teens and actually play them yourselves but crucially all the things you list to do are actually fun to do.

The other person didn't seem to understand the appeal of games and listed a frankly lame list of alternatives apart from the all encompassing "go out".

Hope this clears things up I don't want to be seen as some hardcore elitist gamer or the polar opposite of that person in a bad way because I'm not.

[sanderg]

still no game......

Ordered 3rd Sept 09, still not here 18th November !

Didn't even dispatch the game until after 4pm on the day of release and that fact was confirmed both via email and via a customer rep on the phone, so quite how it was going to reach me by release day I have no idea. And yet PLAY are still blaming (and I email them everyday, just to make myself feel better) the courier service? They haven't got back to me regarding how they expected it to arrive GUARANTEED on day of realease if they didn't dispatch it until the day of release, but I expect that's an excuse they are finding hard to conjure......

Fortunately picked a copy up at Morrisions for £26, so if PLAY's ever does arrive it'll back in the post the same day (however I bet mine gets back quicker than their's gets to me, if it ever does.........)