Updated: GAME: 'Super Mario Maker Pre-Order Issues'
UPDATE 2:
According to Nintendo Life, GAME have issued a statement through Charlotte Knight, the UK Retail MD. It reads as follows:
Yesterday we became aware of an issue with some isolated orders. This has impacted a number of customers who pre-ordered the Wii U exclusive, Super Mario Maker.
Customers may see, in some cases, duplicated billing for their order, which appears as a pending transaction on their account. We are working closely with our banking partners to resolve this issue urgently.
If you find you are affected, our customer service team can be contacted on this dedicated hotline number 01256 784400 or email us at customer.services@game.co.uk
Thank you for your patience and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
This is all the official information so far, but, of course, we will keep you updated.
UPDATE:
As of 12:52pm on Tuesday, we are hearing multiple reports that these repeated payments have not been refunded as promised and in some cases, have escalated.
Twitter user, Matthew Whitworth has complained that a total of SEVEN payments have been taken from his bank account; five from yesterday and two from this morning - causing him no end of trouble.
@TGK_22 @GAMEHelps @BarBigShoulders yes 5 yesterday and a further 2 this morning. 1/2
— Matthew Whitworth (@G_Obertron) September 8, 2015
@TGK_22 @GAMEHelps @BarBigShoulders got money transferred in today by family as balance was 0 yesterday. Now back to 0 again.
— Matthew Whitworth (@G_Obertron) September 8, 2015
The @GAMEHelps Twitter account has yet to post today (at the time of writing), boiling frustration further for those who have been charged multiple times and are still unaware as to the state of their orders.
Reddit users are also noting similar issues, with user /Kaihatsu having this to say:
I received 5 emails as well, and even after emailing support and phoning them several times to no answer, I have had no email saying my order was cancelled. This was the first and the last time I'm preordering with GAME.
EDIT: Woke up this morning to find they charged me a 6th time!!! WTH GAME?!
We have reached out to GAME for a statement but are yet to receive a response.
ORIGINAL POST:
GAME have addressed an issue with pre-orders for Super Mario Maker made through their website, where customers have been charged upwards of five times each for a single pre-order.
Customers have been taking to Twitter to verbalise their justified anger with the transaction(s) that have taken place.
@GAMEHelps Thanks for the update, just checked, I've got 5 confirmation emails and £234.95 of pending transactions showing on my bank!!
— Allan West (@MrFlump) September 7, 2015
@GAMEHelps are you actually charging everytime theres an email? if so I want my overdrawn charges back aswel...
— stu parkes (@parkes_stu44) September 7, 2015
GAME have said, through their @GAMEHelps customer support Twitter account, that they are aware of the issues and are “investigating.”
Hello, all. We're aware of the payment issues surrounding Super Mario Maker and are currently investigating this further. (1/2)
— GAME Help (@GAMEHelps) September 7, 2015
We appreciate the inconvenience caused and will have more information here as it lands - Thanks for your patience. (2/2)
— GAME Help (@GAMEHelps) September 7, 2015
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time GAME have had issues with Nintendo orders. Readers may remember the recent ‘lost truck’ fiasco, containing exclusive editions of Splatoon, containing the now ultra-rare Inkling Amiibo.
Stay tuned for any developments.
COMMENTS
Acelister - 05:04pm, 7th September 2015
Man, I would be quite annoyed by this...
TGK - 05:16pm, 7th September 2015 Author
You're telling me! I feel sorry for the first guy - £234 worth of payments pending - that could be truly detrimental to someone if they needed to pay rent for example!
Not really sure what they can do to rectify this, I imagine someone would be in that position.
TGK - 01:40pm, 8th September 2015 Author
This update is making things even more incredible.
Acelister - 01:43pm, 8th September 2015
"GAME, in an effort to avoid going back into administration, decided to risk charging multiple times for a single game. Their reasoning of 'Well, if you all let us get away with it, nobody would be any the wiser!' was not accepted in court, and they were ordered to return the money. The trial lasted 67 days."
TGK - 02:21pm, 8th September 2015 Author
Solid business plan.
Calmine - 08:28pm, 8th September 2015
Seriously GAME just needs to go away. Can they not they be sued for compensation due to this? Especially if people got massive amount of bank charges cause of it.
Acelister - 09:36am, 9th September 2015
If GAME go away, there will be nowhere for us to get brand new games on the highstreet...
Dombalurina - 06:23pm, 13th September 2015
There's still Grainger games, I'd expect to see them buy up loads of stores and convert them. Plus the supermarkets would almost certainly increase their ranges. Likely HMV would do the same. Maybe we might even see Boots selling games again!
In this day and age though, doesn't everyone have a Visa debit card? They can just ask for a chargeback for any duplicates and get the money instantly back in their account.