GAME pre-order customers left in limbo, as Metaphor and Silent Hill 2 launches loom
Chain acknowledges delays as Eurogamer hears of orders now a month late.
A month on from Eurogamer's previous report, GAME customers say they are still waiting to receive games they paid to pre-order, without the ability to cancel these orders online.
Eurogamer continues to be contacted by customers who handed over money for games due to launch weeks ago that are still waiting to receive their orders.
And now, with the autumn season of big game launches set to kick off properly with Silent Hill 2 and Metaphor ReFantazio, there's concern that pre-orders for these games will also fail to materialise.
GAME customers tell Eurogamer that questions about outstanding pre-orders - some now more than a month late - are falling on deaf ears, with queries to the brand's customer support on social media and its website going unanswered.
The problem appears to originate with GAME switching over to systems owned by its parent company, Frasers Group, at the end of August. As a result, any pre-orders made on or before 19th August no longer show in customers' online accounts. As Eurogamer reported previously, this also means customers have no way to cancel orders that are weeks late, or pre-emptively cancel orders for upcoming releases to purchase a product elsewhere.
Head to GAME's customer service website and there's an update, dated to September, acknowledging "some" orders are now late.
"Following some important system changes, customers are currently experiencing delays with some of their orders," GAME's website notes. "These delays also affect some of the recent video game releases.
"We're working closely with our fulfilment teams to get the outstanding orders out as quickly as we can and apologise for the current delays."
The website also notes that contacting its customer service team is also experiencing delays due to a high volume of issues.
"We're a little busier than usual right now, so it's taking us longer to reply," a warning message on the site states. "Our Customer Services team are working hard to reply as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience, and we apologise for the delay."
Eurogamer contacted Frasers Group about customers' continued wait today, but has not heard a response.
A month ago, a spokesperson for the company told Eurogamer that the GAME website was "currently undergoing upgrades" which it was working to resolve "quickly".
"We are aware that some customers are experiencing issues accessing their GAME accounts and order details," a Frasers Group representative told us in September. "We are working to have these resolved quickly and encourage customers to get in touch with our customer service team if they are experiencing issues. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused."
This year has seen GAME end the ability to trade-in products and buy pre-owned games, pre-order games in stores, end its GAME Reward and GAME Wallet offerings, and halt support for Xbox All Access. The chain has, however, denied a report online that claimed it would stop selling physical games outright.