Don't buy anything from game.co.uk (don't worry, not spam)

Hi Giantbombers,

I like many others have ordered GTA V from the aforementioned company, game.co.uk. I don't live in the UK, but I thought I might save myself some trouble of getting the game by preordering it on Wednesday 11th of September, 6 days before release. Before confirming the order, I have made sure that the "expected delivery" column says "September 17th", the release day. It did. On Friday 20th, still GTA V-less, I wrote an email, asking about the delivery. I didn't receive an answer to this day (26th). They have drawn money from my account and gave my nothing so far. I have later learned that GTA V was shipped to all customers (not just UK customers) on 16th of September, not earlier. Had I known that, I wouldn't have ordered it via Game.co.uk. I'd buy it in my homecountry. They obviously wouldn't tell their customers about the late shipping, because a lot of people wouldn't order the game at their webstore, knowing that it would take much longer to deliver it. Still, 10 days have passed, it's the 26th of September and I still don't have my GTA V. I've decided to return it when it eventually gets here (probably sometime in 2020). Summary:

15 days have passed since the preorder

11 days (it probably won't arrive today) have passed since the alleged shipping (but God knows when they have actually shipped it)

Still no game

Money drawn from account (obviously)

I live in a European country roughly 900km from the UK. I could hitchhike this distance in less that 15 days. If you don't want this to happen to you, avoid game.co.uk. They don't even provide you with a package tracking number (unless your package is worth more than a 100GBP, which most packages aren't). They don't reply to your emails and the staff on the "live-chat" forum only provides you with basic information. It's a waste of time and money.

Possibilities:

1) Game.co.uk is lying about the shipping date. They sent their first batch of games to UK customers and thought "screw the abroad deliveries, they'll wait". No, we won't. I won't.

2) Game.co.uk is lying about the shipping date, full stop.

3) Game.co.uk is actually making money on the 3GBP fee for shipping by ordering super-cheap postal service and thus saving money.

4) The package got lost somewhere on the way. Still, it would help if I had a package tracking number which they don't provide unless you order goods for more than a 100GBP.

I've only ordered a few things from GAME's websites (because usually they're more expensive than everywhere else) but I haven't had a problem myself. A few days ago I bought Ni No Kuni from their site and it arrived the next day. Can't speak for their delivery service outside of the UK, though.

@mracoon: Yeah. I think what happened is 1).

Eh if you're buying from a UK games retailer but don't live in the UK I'm not surprised you've had delivery problems. I regularly buy from Game and they've always been fine.

All of the UK online retailers shipped the Game the day before release. I imagine thats the best they can agree with the publisher to avoid people getting early copies.

Both Game and Amazon warn you that the only way to get release day delivery is to select next-day or first class shipping. Those shipping options are not available to customers outside of the UK.

Also there was a lot of talk about Rockstar insisting nothing be shipped until the day before to avoid early copies etc. Don't really like game much though, their employees love selling mothers Iron Man games.

@mattf87: That's not what they were saying on the 11th of September. I have checked that thoroughly. Still, fine, I wouldn't get the game on 17th but say Friday 20th. Another week has almost passed since then and nothing. Plus, they don't even bother to reply to my email (EDIT: email, not emails; how many does one have to send to get at least one reply?) . They have awful customer service.

I used to use to pre-order everything from game a couple years back. They used to ship games out early so you'd normally receive them the day before the actual release date.

@embryonic: This isn't my first purchase at their store either and most other games I did receive on release day or the day after. With GTA V I think they simply fucked up completely and misinformed most people. Let's be real here. GTA V is a big title and whichever store gets the most customers makes the biggest profit. Instead of being honest and telling it how it is, they lied about the delivery date. I have found nothing about the game being shipped on 16th on their website. Again, had I known that, I wouldn't have ordered the game there. Does anyone here think that 10 days (if they deliver it tomorrow, which I think they won't) is an acceptable delivery time within the EU? What are they using, horses?

@acella123: Oh, don't get me wrong, I wasn't defending them. Ever since I saw they were trying to pass off copies of Mass Effect 2 as the third game I've been avoiding them like the plague.

I'm surprised Game actually still exists. I used to buy games from Game in Australia cause they had pretty good deals (until I found Ozgameshop anyway).

I dont want to sound harsh, but if you order from a UK based company called Game stores UK plc you are taking a risk if you are not in the same country as them. I dont rate Game myself but thats for totally different reasons, i have for the most part had stuff on time and on the day of launch. When i order games from playasia i understand that there is a chance that i will end up paying extra customs on it and worst case scenario it gets siezed completely. Is there no one you can buy the game from locally?

@kagato: Couple of things

1) There's a massive difference between buying a game from Play Asia (thousands of kilometres away, not in EU) and an EU based company around 1000km away. Let's start with that.

2) Even if what you're saying were right, I'd still have the right to be informed about this risk the second I enter a non-UK delivery adress. If they choose not to inform me about this risk, they're the ones to blame. The customer is always in right and right.

3) I'm getting absolutely no replies from game.co.uk so I have no idea where my package is. Why dont they allow tracking for all packages and not just the ones over 100GBP? Are they saving money there as well?

There are plenty of stores I could buy the game in (and I'm going to later today). I just thought that I would save some time (and about 4GBP) by buying it from them. How hard is it to send the damn game across about 30% of Europe? How does international trade work if all the parties involved are so incredibly incompetent?

Shopto.net

@acella123: Once the game has been sent out by GAME they don't have any control over how soon it will arrive. Their help section also does inform you that the delivery dates are simply estimates and that you may have to wait longer. WIth international delivery you're also going to have to wait longer anyway.
I know that it gets frustrating when you've been waiting for a game for ages and it feels like it'll never get here but that's a risk you take when ordering online, and especially from abroad.

I suggest going with Amazon UK for your next pre-order. I'm in Denmark and still got my copy of GTAV on the day of release, and that's even with me being cheap and choosing the free Super Saver Shipping option. Amazon's prices always seem pretty competitive with other UK online retailers and I've never experienced anything close to the trouble you've described with Game UK.

Also, even with the free shipping option I was given a tracking number and was able to track my package with pretty up-to-the-minute updates.

That's shitty but like other people in the thread I'm not surprised you've had this kind of trouble seeing as you're an international customer.

I thought Game UK went bankrupt last year?

4) The package got lost somewhere on the way. Still, it would help if I had a package tracking number which they don't provide unless you order goods for more than a 100GBP.

This probably happens all the time. Doesn't take much to take a peak inside a package and know how Game.co.uk does things (not send out tracking numbers), it would be easy to steal a copy of the game in the mail and have it be tied up in months of shoulder shrugging/ "who knows?" like your dealing with now. Amazon.UK buddy.

Go digital, esé.

Now it sucks that the package has been lost somewhere, but I think it goes without saying that if you want your game on day 1, you don't import, since it usually takes 4-5 days for it to arrive.

@audiobusting said:

They were bought up by the company OpCapita so they're still around.

To acella, it sucks that happened, but when you're buying from a UK retailer outside the UK, you're taking a bit of a risk. Personally, I've never had any trouble with Game and when my brother got his copy of GTA V shipped to him in the UK from them, it came very quickly.

A few things. You preorder 6 days before release for THEE biggest game released, there was high demand before your order and you ordered from another country, the postal systems of most countries were put on pressure to deliver. On date or any date, so ordering from another country means you are going through several different postal services than UK.

The only thing you could have done to make the order more awkward is to have moved house at the same time.

I ordered from game, I live in Scotland which is the UK and I pre ordered a month in advance, and received my copy 1pm Tuesday the 17th. It went fine for me.

Never pre-order a game abroad i guess, you should have known that they send the game out a day before release. all webshops do that.

Don't go cheap when you want a game like GTA 5 on release.

@acella123: Hi acella I'm just wondering If your pre-ordered game was delivered yet? And how long will it take for them to credit the money back into our account once we return the game !!!

This thread is over a year old...I would certainly hope they got their game.

@zella: thanks so much zella!! am just curious to know about the details regarding the game returns..

@praveeny: Why don't you try calling their customer service? They should be able to tell you what's up with the order and what their return policy is.

I was hoping it was going to be OP, finally receiving his copy of GTAV.

I know this is a necro but i'm surprised Game are still around, you get such shit value for trade-ins it's ridiculous. Granted there arent many stores where you can buy physical games new but look virtually anywhere on the internet and you can get games cheaper.

You mean you don't wanna trade in your PS4 for 20 quid? What's wrong with you