Hope You Didn’t Pre-Order from GAME in Australia

Posted 14 May 2012 by Flux

Grim news from Kotaku Oz, as they report that GAME, a software store that’s gone into receivership (basically the same thing as bankruptcy), is broke, is not receiving many copies of Diablo III, and is not offering refunds on the money they received from software pre-orders.

They’re still delivering the pre-ordered games that arrive, but customers who placed orders that don’t get stocked (as has become very common with the worldwide shortage of D3CEs to fill preorders) are simply out of luck. No game, and no refund.

Due to the appointment of an administrator to our business this morning, it is with regret that I inform you all that our stores will not be receiving any stock of diablo 3. Because of this, we regrettably will be unable to fulfill any pre-orders. Also, we will be unable to refund any deposits paid towards a pre-order of diablo 3. If you need any more info, please email customerrelations@game.com.au

The only option for defunded customers is to apply to become a creditor, just like all the other companies and individuals that GAME owes debts to. Sadly, such creditors are generally paid in pennies on the dollar — naturally; if the company could pay their debts, they wouldn’t be going bankrupt. The Kotaku article provides a link to useful legal information in Australia, if you are among the victimized in this matter.

Tagged As: | Categories: Controversy, Release Date
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44 Opinions have been expressed on “Hope You Didn’t Pre-Order from GAME in Australia”
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  • Additionally, GAME is charging for cancelled orders – that’s what happened to me.

    • I’m not Australian but if you tell your bank to not accept the charges, you should be able to.

      • I don’t know how AU law works but in US you just call up the credit card company and say “Hey, these are fraudulent charges, I never received the product!” and they say “OK, we’ll remove the charges.” Then within a couple weeks they will do a limited investigation (usually calling the company, or finding out they’re going bankrupt and doing this crap), and then credit the money to your card on the next statement.
         
        If it’s a debit card linked directly to your account you’re going to have to do a lot more legwork to prove it was fraud.

        • The problem with this is the AU law states they cant refund the money. Also I am sure the sum of money involved most likely means the Credit Card protection don’t apply (theres a minimum sum of money before the credit card protection kicks in, here in the UK it needs to be £100+ in a transaction).

  • That really sucks… Feel bad for anyone who gets screwed by this.
     
    While I doubt anything would come from this, maybe emailing Blizzard about the situation, maybe they would gift a free digital copy. I know Blizzard in the past has been very generous with 3rd party issues and their products.

    It’s a long shot, but who knows…

  • You can’t dispute credit card charges in Australia?

  • Molotov cocktails anyone?

  • you cant sue them? you cant put these people in jail??? please tell me someone is goona happen to the people who run the store

    • ^ nothing can happen as it gone into administration = what happening is what the AU government says got to happen sadly.

      • Its so stupid the all the government defends those companies. The bankruptcy wasn’t some unlucky event that couldn’t be prevented, every company knows about their own financial situation and they really knew they were in a ****ty situation, yet they still took advantage of the situation and offered the preorder so they could get more money because a lot of people wanted to preorder. That’s simply a scam and not a unfortunately event.
        Australia is well known about the poor way their gaming population is treated, especially about the increased prices, but its still better than the country I live (I won’t even mention it). I don’t dare making a preorder in any store here, if I need game I buy it direct from the source and in a digital format to avoid all the problems.

  • Forgive my ignorance, but this sounds illegal as ****. How the hell can they refuse to refund customers who aren’t receiving their promised product and get away with it legally? My mind is blown right now.

    • Because the whole point of bankruptcy is that you can’t pay your debts. Put another way, that you have a negative amount of money. That’s why they can’t refund customers.

      • Oh, derp, I was so pissed that there are people who weren’t getting D3 like they were expecting to that I glazed over the bankruptcy part :P

      • sell their houses cars etc.

        Lehman brothers bank also bankrupted, but do you think they ar penniless now? No, they bot billions still. 

  • Game stores are still open in the UK, think they just closed all the AUS ones

  • Is it possible for me to gift someone a digital copy?

    • A very generous offer.

      I’ve re-ordered so I don’t need the gift but a guest pass from someone would be appreciated.  

  • Amazon UK didn’t deliver today either so I’ve had to resort to a digital download from Blizzard, and then will just return the box when it arrives tomorrow for a refund. I think they’re going to be getting a LOT of returns on this one :/

  • i ordered from game and my CE has been shipped,

    also they don’t charge you until the game ships, so not sure about people being charged already 

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