Play.com

confused88 · 03-09-2009, 3:53 PM

How reliable is this site? I ordered a dvd last week that was supposed to be in stock and would dispatch withing 24h and still nothing. The website says "packing" for 3 days now... and there is no way to get any more information.
Any bad experiences to share?

namuk · 03-09-2009, 4:00 PM

Never had Issues with them, been using them for years..

mjcairney · 03-09-2009, 4:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namuk

Never had Issues with them, been using them for years..

Likewise.

Cheers,

Martin.

t1m103 · 03-09-2009, 4:09 PM

phone customer services 0845 800 1020
ive never had a problem either.

confused88 · 03-09-2009, 4:27 PM

I did and they said it is about to dispatch. Let's see.

yelnek · 03-09-2009, 4:54 PM

Bought loads from them over the years with no problems

Progeni · 03-09-2009, 4:56 PM

Spent literally thousands with play.com and never had a single problem, its the first place I go when I want a Bluray or 360 game.

UPLOADER · 03-09-2009, 5:12 PM

Been using play.com for the past 12 months,
play have sent me the incorrect items on two occasions.

play do refund the cost of returning incorrect items but not the full cost. I was sent a Nintendo DSi by mistake and it cost me £7.00 to repost it and only got £1.50 refunded to my account

Cooney · 03-09-2009, 5:53 PM

I've used Play.com for years. Occasionally some titles may not be as 'available' as they suggest but I put that down to perhaps a slight lag with updating stock info on their site.

When I have encountered a delay with Play, I usually find the same item in stock eleswhere for the same money or less, cancel at Play and re-order from the other site (usually DVD.co.uk who are not on comparison sites but are the cheapest on some titles).

Play.com do however let themselves down badly on after sales service. I have had problems with discs, cancelled orders or returned them, asking for a refund. Their right hand does not know what the left is doing and they often send out replacements. I have tried to resolve the issues until I am blue in the face and always end up with discs that I neither wanted or paid for.

On the positive side, you are never out of pocket. Mad men season 1 is the last one that was refunded but re-sent twice! I informed Play that if they sent a replacement I would not pay postage to return it and reclaim costs - their advice is "just keep it"!

When all is said and done they are a good site and I continue to use them providing they turn up cheapest on a comparison.

Ian182 · 04-09-2009, 10:45 AM

Play's shipping process has been getting gradually worse.

When I first started using them, and for several years since, an item would go from "processing" to "packing" to "posted" in the same day.
Not any more. My Gladiator steelbook started processing on Wednesday. It's now almost midday on Friday, and it still has been posted - it was "packing" yesterday afternoon, and still is. Even if it does ship today, its unlikely I'll see it before Tuesday now. It's the same for a CD that I also pre-ordered.

As a test, I cancelled a CD I had on pre-order with them (the new Cribs album, out on Monday), and pre-ordered with HMV yesterday morning. They shipped it yesterday afternoon.

I fail to see why it should take 2 to 3 days to process and ship pre-orders, so I think I'll switch my custom to HMV for the time being.

Ian.

pixelpidgeon · 04-09-2009, 12:03 PM

From my recent experience play.com takes on average alot longer to deliver than hmv. dvd's take forever. ive just cancelled a dvd i ordered from play mid august!

MrFred · 04-09-2009, 12:38 PM

I've been a customer of Play since 1998 when they mainly dealt with Region 1 DVDs and you had to call orders through (gawd I feel old now!

) and you received a catalogue update through the post each month.

The service was beyond great and in a lot of cases, got the DVDs before the actual released date.

I have to agree with a lot of other people that Play are their own worst enemy now. They have expanded to take on the likes of Amazon to include books/games/toys etc but I just don't think they have the resources sometimes to deliver, especially around the holiday time.

Do I still use them? Alas no. It got to a point where I ordered 3 films that were in the "sale" and in stock. I placed my order on the first day of the offer and after 5 days I checked my order status as nothing had been received and found they had all gone out of stock. Three months of "awaiting stock" later, I emailed to them to complain. I never got a reply.

A week later I found Amazon doing the same disks at a cheaper price and so I ordered from them and cancelled my Play order. Again I wrote a stern email complaining about the service. This time I got a reply back saying they would address my concerns and write back in a couple of days but imagine my surprise when I heard nothing back.

Now I either use Amazon or Movietyme and have no problems with these suppliers.

Sorry Play, you were good but you seem to have lost of something...customer focus.

confused88 · 04-09-2009, 1:00 PM

Thanks all for sharing you experiences with Play.com.

My order has been in the status "packing" since Tuesday. I called them again today and they told me that some of the stock has moved to a new warehouse and as result they wouldn't be able to tell me whether my order had in fact dispatched but the system was not updated or whether it was not even in stock. As for canceling I wouldn't be able to do so until the 22nd of September! Incidentally a new thread started today with the same problem" http://www.avforums.com/forums/movies-tv-programmes-disc-downloaded/1072824-play-com-delivery.html"

I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt while the warehouse problems are sorted out and since many of you have posted positive feedback going a few years back, but I certainly wouldn't order anything from them anytime soon.

midknight · 04-09-2009, 2:11 PM

I have just canceled over 20 pre orders with Play and will now no longer use them.

Charged me £16.99 for Outlander Blu Ray then the day it is released sell it for £14.99 and refuse to refund me the £2 - point of principle with all the money I have spent with them over the years - so all pre orders cancelled and return policy instigated for Outlander.

Lost me forever I'm afraid

Ian182 · 04-09-2009, 7:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midknight

I have just canceled over 20 pre orders with Play and will now no longer use them.

Charged me £16.99 for Outlander Blu Ray then the day it is released sell it for £14.99 and refuse to refund me the £2 - point of principle with all the money I have spent with them over the years - so all pre orders cancelled and return policy instigated for Outlander.

Lost me forever I'm afraid

That's amazingly bad business on their part.
Most e-tailers make it clear that if the price drops after you pre-order, you'll pay the lower price. Even if they have made an error on this occasion, how much would it have hurt them to send you a £2 voucher ? Instead, they've lost a customer, and rightly so.

As my orders are STILL packing, this will be the last business they get from me for a while as well.

Ian.

shaunthedude · 05-09-2009, 3:25 PM

I have been using Play for around 10 years. I must have ordered about 600 dvds and lots of other things like cds, books etc with no problem. However this last month has been awful. Had a dvd go missing, Ordered one which arrived yet on my order history it says PACKING?? Tried to e mail them but ive had no reply. So this last month i have used AMAZON. I must say they are great. postage is free if you choose super saver option and is quicker than Play. prices are the same and if they arnt its only by 1 or 2p. Yip im with Amazon now. Play can whistle

confused88 · 06-09-2009, 1:55 PM

It seems that "packing" takes its time with them... Maybe the new warehouse is indeed the root of the problem as you didn't really have issues with them in the past. What is frustrating though is their inability/indifference to help. They told me maybe it has dispatched and if you don't get by the 22nd you can claim a refund ????
I have used Amazon for 2-3 years. Very reliable. Usually first class means next day delivery and if something does goes wrong once you contact them (and yes the do respond to emails and if its urgent you can call them) they will sort things out. For more expensive items they have a very good return-refund policy (1 month, no questions asked.)

nwgarratt · 06-09-2009, 3:37 PM

I have used both Play and Amazon for over 10 years now. I hardly use Play anymore due to incorrect items being sent and they not refunding full return postage.

Even the last thing from Play was the Rocky DVD boxset and the first film is non anamorphic version from 9 years ago !!

yelnek · 06-09-2009, 4:18 PM

I did state earlier in this thread that Play were very good with no problems, I've since ordered more blu-ray discs from them. I ordered them on 30 Aug and I've just checked my cart (6th sept) and it still says "order taken" even though they are shown in stock on their site. Not good.

I've also used
TheHut.com: online shop | Cheap DVDs, Blu-ray, Games | Free UK delivery with no problems at all to date and are very often cheaper than play.

Find DVD - Compare DVD prices from dozens of UK retailers is handy for finding the cheapest sites.

confused88 · 07-09-2009, 5:22 PM

In their terms and conditions (general, 31) they state :
" Credit and Debit cards are debited on the day of shipping by Play.com. "
Yea right...

mooperman · 07-09-2009, 10:57 PM

i have always been a huge fan of play.com but have stopped using them recently, a few days "packing" is to be frank utterly rediculous for a DVD or whatever and its not like its an isolated case for me. The last few items have all taken over a week to get to me and they have only been DVD's.

vtrmart · 08-09-2009, 9:50 AM

I recently ordered the Hot Toys Batmobile (£300), expecting them not to actually have it in stock (havin been let down in the past over similar HT stuff). To my suprise, it did arive,took 4 days ,although it was ''Packing'' for 2 of those days (Not sure why it was packing as it comes in its own cardboard box!),but i have had a similar wait over DVDs and suchlike.

jayden28 · 09-09-2009, 1:44 PM

Ive stopped using play.com all together now,ive had way to many problems with them,delivery times are the worst ive encountered,i get stuff from the states arriving quicker and ive had so much stuff not arriving from PLAY its mindblowing,then you have to wait a few weeks before they can even do anything about it and the worst bit was they suspended my account for a month because of things not arriving like that was my fault

,so i emailed them and told them to

off and keep my account supended as i wont be using them again ever,its hmv for me now,great prices and good delivery

.

martysport · 09-09-2009, 2:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by confused88

In their terms and conditions (general, 31) they state :
" Credit and Debit cards are debited on the day of shipping by Play.com. "
Yea right...

******

They debited me 5 days before they posted them last week!!!!!!!!

There are some bargins on ebay.

y2k · 09-09-2009, 2:31 PM

I have had play cancel 8 items on me in the last year so don't know how so many people give them glowing references. They had a special on last bank holiday weekend for the G25 logitech steering wheel and it was advertised everywhere for £99, I ordered mine on the morning the promotion started and waited about 4 days and it didn't move from "order taken" so I rang them up and they told me that they had no stock and wouldn't be getting anymore in, they informed me that they would be canceling my order so I canceled it first. It used to be a good site but they now have a habbit of saying that they have stuff when they don't.

Jim Morrison · 11-09-2009, 8:47 AM

Is anyone else having trouble viewing their order history at Play? I can view 'Outstanding orders' no problem but when I click on 'Order history', there's nothing there!

martysport · 11-09-2009, 9:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Morrison

Is anyone else having trouble viewing their order history at Play? I can view 'Outstanding orders' no problem but when I click on 'Order history', there's nothing there!

OK here.

mjcairney · 11-09-2009, 9:59 AM

Absolutely fine here too, all the way back to my first order with them on 27/08/2001.

Cheers,

Martin.

yelnek · 11-09-2009, 12:22 PM

no probs with order history.
Still waiting for a blu ray disc that was ordered 3 weeks ago though even though it was "in stock" apparently - now states it is "packing"

confused88 · 11-09-2009, 2:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yelnek

no probs with order history.
Still waiting for a blu ray disc that was ordered 3 weeks ago though even though it was "in stock" apparently - now states it is "packing"

If it's been 3 weeks you should be able to cancel your order now and get it from somewhere else.