Have any pre-order horror stories? (7+ years old)

So after witnessing some nasty pre-orders and hearing Vinny be amazed at how Gamestop does not fulfill their pre-order bonuses I was wondering if anyone has some pre-order horror stories. I have only pre-ordered once in my life, for Killzone 3, and although I got the code a day later everything was ok. My friend however had a horrible experience and I witnessed it ( wish I had my flip video back than so I could have recorded it).

My friend pre-ordered Persona 3 Portable at my local Gamestop, I decided to buy it off PSN because I didn't want to deal with a UMD. The only reason he was getting it there was they were offering a Junpei hat. So we go in 5 minutes after the store has opened so he can pick up his order. There was a girl and a guy working there. He asked the girl for his game and hat and she says," Sorry we ran out of hats, we only got 3 in." Now unless three people came in in those 5 minutes of them opening, which is unlikely because we were at the coffee shop next door and saw no one walk in, they were keeping the hats for themselves. My friend went on a little bit of a rant, " Listen the only reason I come to this store instead of Best Buy is you sometimes have pre-order bonuses. Now I know you guys like to keep those bonuses for yourself sometimes but the only reason I pre-ordered here was to get a freakin hat. You already said you got three in so unless you want me to call your corporate offices and complain I would like my hat now." The guy went in the back and got the hat.

Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence. Pre-ordered that as soon as it was available to pre-order.
 
I ordered the Red Limited edition. Waited at the mall all day for GameStop's shipment to come in.  
And when it finally did, turns out, they didn't order enough. Still pissed off because of that. 

No, but I did have a bad experience on a midnight launch once.

Preordered Bad Company 2 from the GS website. Then I changed my mind and tried to cancel it but it wouldn't let me (we're talking months in advance of the release here). After about 2 hours of dealing with their god-awful customer support, some guy informed me that I couldn't cancel my preorder because I had recieved a beta code. First of all, when I preordered the game, the beta had been over for a good month and second of all I never even got anything remotely close to a code. 
 
However they said that was their policy so I couldn't cancel my preorder. So I figured I'll just return the game when it arrived, but the fucking asshole behind the counter wouldn't accept the goddamn shipping invoice as a receipt! I kid you not, I couldn't make up this shit up if I tried. I pulled up my email confirmation on my iPhone and the dickwad wouldn't take that either, so I just told him to go fuck himself and I walked out. My foot hasn't stepped inside a Gamestop since then.

It's worth keeping in mind that most gamers are petulant shit-heads. They will become indignant at the drop of a hat if their sense of entitlement is not immediately shared. I've had many of the same initial problems that other people mention. Rather than throw a self-righteous tantrum in the store, I simply talk to the regional office. When there are codes or other bonuses, they usually have spares. Not once have I had a problem that a clam, rational phone call didn't solve. It doesn't make for as good a story as telling clerks to go fuck themselves over matters they have no control over, but it works. Acting like an adult once in a while does have its benefits.

" Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence. Pre-ordered that as soon as it was available to pre-order. I ordered the Red Limited edition. Waited at the mall all day for GameStop's shipment to come in.  And when it finally did, turns out, they didn't order enough. Still pissed off because of that.  "

Well there was that one time I pre-ordered Beyblade Super Tournament Battle and Sam Goody got it so late that I found it Gamestop before my pre-order arrived. I got my 10 dollars back though so its ok. :P

Pre ordered a blue 3DS -- arrived to pick it up and was asked "did you order a blue or a black one? Because we only have black"

Why ask then?

Then tried to purchaee Street Fighter IV to be told the games were released until midnight...

"so they released the console the day before the games?" i asked

Thats the last time i pre-order to save a bit of money. Stupid Morrisons.

Ive never had any issues. Only time i would preorder things were when I got the limited edition of something, and everytime it was there and I got the preorder bonuses. For the past couple years though ive basically bought everything from amazon and havent had an issue with that either. Sounds like people just live around shady gamestops. 

Just one, but it was enough to stop me from pre-ordering anything except from Amazon and only then if the bonus is a $10-$20 off next game purchase.  It was from Gamestop like most complaints.  Anyway, I pre-ordered some game, gave them my money to secure the order and came back a couple of days later to pick up the game.  The problem arose when they lost my pre-order in their computers.  The Gamestop employee who was at the counter at the time remembered me and remembered taking my pre-order and my money!  He even said to me "I remember the pre-order", but because it wasn't in the computer system it was as if it didn't happen.  I complained but they said there was nothing they could do without the owners approval.  I didn't have the receipt on me and I wasn't even sure where I'd put it.  I had never needed it in the past.  I'm going to assume my Gamestop is like a lot of Gamestops and there is a high rate of employee turn over, so no one cares about doing the right thing, just about not doing anything which might reduce their hours.  In this case, the employee knew he'd taken my money for a pre-order and admitted it to me, but wouldn't satisfy my pre-order benefits.  I can't say I haven't shopped at Gamestop since, but I've never bought anything new there since and that was about 4 years ago.

Nah, I never pre-order stuff.

I had ordered the first Gears of War and was ready to pick it up during midnight release.  When I called to confirm, the Gamestop employee told me that the plane carrying their shipment had to make an emergency landing somewhere in the country and we would have to wait.  The worst part about it was the fact that I took off work for the first two days so I could enjoy the game.  Busted...

Pre-ordered Cataclysm and got it two days after release date. Didn't have the opportunity to pick it up at a store this time so I couldn't start playing day one. 
That's rather minor and my only real pre-order "horror story".

The worst thing that's happened to me was when I went to Gamestop to pick up my Rock Band 3 keyboard bundle, and the guys couldn't find it in their storeroom. It took them about 15 minutes to figure out where they'd put it, since they'd only gotten three or four of them delivered to the store. No biggie, but it was a slight annoyance that they didn't know how their stock was organized.

About 2 years I decided never to pre-order at Gamestop because I would always have a number of problems. Once they didn't have the game I pre-ordered and had me come back the next day.

I remember when I was a young, young man I was ridiculously excited for the preorder bonus of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. It was a soundtrack CD spanning the entirety of Castlevania, and an art book and timeline to show when the games took place and whatnot. It was almost like you'd get for a special anniversary of the series or something. I couldn't just go to the store because I was too young to drive, so I had to wait for my mother to take me, which wound up being about 5 or something in the evening.  
 
When I got to the Gamestop, I was waiting in line with my receipt and watched as the person in front of me walked up and got a game. I didn't hear what it was, but the guy behind the counter took out a special box along with the game that looked like, you know, it had a CD and artbook inside of it and gave it to the guy. They walked out, I go next, give them the receipt, and sure enough, they're all out of them. That guy in front of me took the very last one. I was a very sad boy that day. 
And then I was even sadder after playing Portrait of Ruin (snap)

Not counting all the times I got screwed out of my pre-order bonuses, the biggest one I can think of was when I showed up to find out my pre-order never existed according to their computers. I can't remember what game it was, but what had happened was that I went in to pre-order two games that I had paid in full, but a few months later I came back and cancelled one of the preorders but the idiot cancelled both instead of just the one. It turns out that he put the money on my EB Games card but never told me what he did. I thought it only had $2-$3 on it, but it turned out it had something like $120. 
 
The best part was that when I went to pick it up there was only two low level guys working there and a huge line up behind me. The poor guy had to print out the last 2-3 months worth of orders while I tried to remember the date that I came in so we could narrow it down and try to figure out what happened. There was a line of about 10-15 people consisting of moms, spoiled kids with no attention span and a couple douche teens that were all very angry because I was holding up the line. It took about half an hour before they figured it all out. I was lucky they had a couple extra copies, and that I didn't throw out the EB Games card thinking that it was empty or I would have been pissed.  
 
The only reason they went above and beyond for me that time, was because it was during a time when I was a regular customer there and it wasn't that long back when I went on one of their big super extra 75% credit deals and traded in a crap ton of my old games and left with like $1000 credit from trade ins. I guess I was famous in the store after that because they never knew someone who had done that before. I think that was the last time they had that big a sale too. lol 
 
Unless it's on Steam I don't pre-order any more. The closest store is an hour drive away, and I don't feel like driving for 2 hours to pre-order a game, and all the online stores suck balls and can't delivery games to you the day they come out. I don't feel like waiting 2-3 weeks after a game has launched to play it. Doubly so when it's been paid for in full for months a head of the fact.

" Just one, but it was enough to stop me from pre-ordering anything except from Amazon and only then if the bonus is a $10-$20 off next game purchase.  It was from Gamestop like most complaints.  Anyway, I pre-ordered some game, gave them my money to secure the order and came back a couple of days later to pick up the game.  The problem arose when they lost my pre-order in their computers.  The Gamestop employee who was at the counter at the time remembered me and remembered taking my pre-order and my money!  He even said to me "I remember the pre-order", but because it wasn't in the computer system it was as if it didn't happen.  I complained but they said there was nothing they could do without the owners approval.  I didn't have the receipt on me and I wasn't even sure where I'd put it.  I had never needed it in the past.  I'm going to assume my Gamestop is like a lot of Gamestops and there is a high rate of employee turn over, so no one cares about doing the right thing, just about not doing anything which might reduce their hours.  In this case, the employee knew he'd taken my money for a pre-order and admitted it to me, but wouldn't satisfy my pre-order benefits.  I can't say I haven't shopped at Gamestop since, but I've never bought anything new there since and that was about 4 years ago. "

Pre-ordering is dumb because they are just collecting interest on your money. Granted it isn't a lot, but you factor in a bunch of pre-orders it is free money for them. Basically a loan, on which you get nothing.

Not exactly a horror story but none of the codes I got with my Gears of War 2 limited edition actually worked. I got onto Amazon and they sent me another map pack code but, alas, I never got that gold Lancer.

" It's worth keeping in mind that most gamers are petulant shit-heads. "

still waiting for my brother hood pc version

Amazon said it would take two weeks to get a Dead Space 2 LE. 
 
I bought the normal one instead.

I pre-ordered the 360 version of Alone in the Dark from my local EB Games. I went there day and date of release only to find that they received no 360 shipments. I was pissed. I then went hunting around town to other places and found no 360 versions of the game in ANY store. I chalked it up to a fuck-up at shipping, and not their fault. 
 
I then waited a few days, and sure enough, Future Shop had the game. I bought it then and there. A week later EB Games called me to tell me my pre-order for Alone in the Dark had arrived, but at that point I had already finished the game and did my achievement whore blitz through a second run. I don't think it was their fault, and I don't fault them for it. Sometimes this shit happens, but I was kind of salty for awhile. That said, I still do business with that store, and I've never had a hiccup since that pre-order. I've since pre-ordered Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Super Street Fighter 4, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2, and many other titles without a single missing pre-order bonus or other shady goings-on. Maybe I've been lucky, but the EBs I've been to in Canada have always had polite service and enthusiastic staff. Never had a problem beyond the AITD hiccup.

" @crusader8463:  Yeah, that occurred to me especially when I wrote what I wrote, however I don't know of another reliable source of cheap PS2 JRPGs (the only thing I do buy from them).   "

I also had a problem one time pre-ordering a copy of the first Monster Hunter for PSP. When I was in college a classmate and I decided we would both get it and play together, and when we went over to pick it up it turns out they only got 1 copy in and sold it to some idiot off the street. We were the only two people in the city to pre-order the game, it was a tiny ass college town and the EB Games was literally less then a month old, but boy were we pissed. We had to wait something like three weeks before they got more in stock, even though we had both paid for our games in full several months back. 
 
That store was run by idiots though. Every one who went there were constantly having pre-order items going missing, pre-orders never being fulfilled and having credit on their EB Games card magically not be there. Not to mention the store never had good stock.

I pre-ordered Skate 3 for the code to the Black Box skatepark, but when I got there the dude said they ran out of codes. This is when it got weird, the guy did the weirdest mixture of wanting to help me, yet too apathetic to care. It resulted in him just spitting out random numbers and letters to trick me into thinking I was getting a real code. It wasn't till I got home did I notice that he gave me an uneven number of characters, or a bunk ass code. I came on here and whined, and then a really cool Giant Bomb user PM'd me their Black Box code for free. Moral of the story is Gamestop sucks and the GB community is dope. 
 
Edit: Fuck I forgot, my girlfriend per-ordered the Guitar Hero Metallica game from Gamestop because she heard I wanted the double bass pedals. It was for my birthday so I didn't know she was ordering it, otherwise I would have mentioned that the double bass only works if you have the GH drum kit, and not the RB kit. The guy at Gamestop told her it would work for on everything (even my computer?) and on my birthday when I went to pick it up, they had sold my pedal AND copy of the game to someone else. I gave the cashier one of those "No, I don't want to wait, I know you will just fuck me over again" and walked out of that store like a BOSS.

" @crusader8463: Completely off-topic, but your mention of Freelancer made me die a little inside. I really wish someone would do another one, or at least another space pirate game like that. "

I've only got one real small one and it wasn't that bad. My Gamestop is mostly awesome as pie.
 
I pre-ordered GTAIV and when we got there to go pick it up(Like an hour after they opened) they had actually sold out of every copy they had for PS3 and then they told us that they have no record of us pre-ordering at all. I was like WTF. They gave us $5 in store credit, but still. No GTAIV. Thankfully though, that was back before I paid off my games in full, so all we put in was $5 anyway.
 
Then, my aunt actually found a copy for PS3 in some also awesome game store the next day. So it wasn't bad.

I almost had one? Preordered the Signature Edition of Dragon Age 2 (fuck all you haters) and got to the Best Buy 5 minutes before opening. Got in line for customer service slash pickup and noticed there was only ONE Xbox 360 Signature Edition. 3 people in line ahead of me. I had heard horror stories of people not getting their copy. When I got up to the counter, I asked for my preorder; The guy seemed to hesitate and looked confused as he walked over to pick it up. "We only have this one..." He haltingly said. "That would be mine." Got it and got out.

In MUA2 I pre-ordered to get the juggernaut (bitch) and then the code that gamestop gave me had already been used.  So I could never ever play as him unless i was online with a buddy who had him.  It was a nightmare. 

Yep, I've had a scenario happen to me a few times. I pre-order a game a month in advance. Come in the day of release only to find out that they sold my pre-order. All because I didn't go to the midnight release. This was for Grand Theft Auto IV, Killzone 2, and God of War III. Last time I would pre-order anything from anywhere. Either way, I just went to Wal-Mart in the same parking lot and found many of the games still there. So, I still get my game.

As someone who never pre-orders the fact that some people don't get the bonus was a revelation to me.  How can they "guarantee" you something and then not provide?  Some breach of contract shit right there.

I always preorder from Gamestop.  Over the last 10 or 15 years, the only problem I've ever had was during the original WoW release. 
 
We had preordered 2 copies of WoW, and had later (close to release) upgraded those to Collector's Edition preorders. 
 
When my husband went to pick them up at 10AM the day they were released, he was informed the store only had 3, but he had like 10 preorders for Collectors Editions.  My husband said to the guy, "I'm here.  They're not." 
 
We got our two Collector's Editions.  But we almost didn't.

This story is pretty epic. I had pre-ordered Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Limited Edition from Best Buy. I bought it online but elected to "Pick Up In Store" because I was off and didn't want to wait until 6 pm (when UPS usually delivers stuff). I get out of class at 9:15, get over to the Best Buy and wait about 20 more minutes for them to open up at 10. When I go to enter the store, there is a sign outside that says "We are temporarily closed due to no power". I go home and figure I'll try again in a few hours. I get back around 12:30, go to the pick up area and what happens? They can't find my game. Now this wasn't even a pre-order, I paid in full and they are supposed to hold it for me. Apparently the kid who "picks" the games and puts them aside for these orders forgot to get my game. II wait there for about 45 minutes while they search the store, try to call the kid who was supposed to put it aside for me, call other stores to see if they have another copy. All the while some old douche-bag behind me is getting pissy and giving the girl at the counter an attitude about waiting and not helping him. Clearly there is a problem and it is not this girl's fault. I hate people.
 
Eventually, they say they need some time to figure out what to do because every store in the area is sold out. They tell me they will call me later in the day. They actually do this, but they said they couldn't find any so a manager will call me the next day to let me know what is up. I never get the call. I even give them 2 days. No call or anything. I cancelled my order and never again will I pre-order or have Best Buy hold anything for me.
 
But, there is a happy ending. The Friday after the game came out, I walked into a Target, found the LE and bought it. 
 
If I pre-order something now, it's from Amazon. Occasionally GameStop, but only if they have an exclusive bonus that I really want. Pre-ordering a game without a bonus is stupid. GameStop usually runs out of them if you get there late, and Target or Best Buy will have tons of copies.

Game Crazy didn't give me the promised limited run Pokemon stylus for preordering Pokemon Diamond, even though I arrived at the store, as I remember, before it had even opened. I still bought the game from Game Crazy that day to absolutely secure a copy, I went over to GameStop afterwards and the manager there gave me both styluses and a special stand; both the extra stylus and stand were supposed to be given out only to those who pre-ordered both Diamond and Pearl and picked them up together. 
 
Crisis averted, I guess. 
 

I've had a lot of problems with them never giving me the preorder codes at Gamestop without asking for them. When I do they always seem to act like they have no idea what I'm talking about before trying to find them for me. It has worked both ways for me in the past though, since I've also convinced them to give me preorder codes for games I buy first day without actually preordering it. So I guess I can't really complain.

I havnt had a horrible Pre-order bonus just yet. Sonic Colours in the UK had a figure when you pre-ordered the Wii or DS version and most people did not actually recieve the figures. I decided not to pre-order due to funds but in the cataloge yuou could order the figure for £30 (I guess they had to have it in the cataloge for scanning it through the till with a huge price so nobody would buy it!) I ordered the figure into my local store and canceled the order once t arrived and picked up the two together! I beat most! I also pre-ordered Bayonetta to get the free gun from Gamestation and had to cancel the order and i got the Exclusive Limited Edition from Play.com but they still sent me the gun! I might have stolen someone elses gun!

" Pre ordered a blue 3DS -- arrived to pick it up and was asked "did you order a blue or a black one? Because we only have black" Why ask then? Then tried to purchaee Street Fighter IV to be told the games were released until midnight... "so they released the console the day before the games?" i asked Thats the last time i pre-order to save a bit of money. Stupid Morrisons. "

no, i never had preorder bad happen to gamestop. the only thing was i didn't get a code for preordering a game. it was for some other game i don't remember what it was but i remember i didn't get a code. i was just like o well on that.

not gamestop related but i preordered forza 3 on amazon. i was hoping that i got it in the morning but instead i got it in the later after noon, i was a little mad about that. i could have bought it somewhere to play it during the day.