Your experiences with dealing with Play.com

For anyone who has dealt with Play.com (Or any other online website such as HMV or Amazon etc) how did you find their overall service?

Reason I ask is, I have a genuine dislike for dealing with faceless online webstores such as Play.com. But, at the same time, I am fed up of constantly missing out on their exclusives - Both games and Dvd's - And want to start using them to get hold of things I can't get anywhere else. Already i've missed out on the Transformers Steelbook (Play.com exclusive), and there's at least three others I want that are currently listed that are also Play.com exclusives (Iron Man; Hulk; There Will Be Blood), not to mention a heap of LE /CE games that are exclusives!


In my past experience, I have not had very good luck with such online services, and prefer to buy off eBay where I can communicate with an actual person regarding such things as condition and packaging preferences. With online stores you don't get this, and as a result you take a risk everytime you order. Now I am very picky about the condition of what I buy, and where possible I like to browse shop shelves and check out condition before I buy. Obviously I can't do that on Play.com, and neither can I speak to anyone directly. Also, I have found lately that some sellers are cashing in on the fact that Steelbook's are collectable, and are selling them for double their RRP when they are still available from the websites!

I was wondering what their return policies are too, and how good they are at accepting things back, and refunding / shipping out another copy? Obviously if something they send me doesnot meet my expectations, then I would wish to send it back. In the case of Steelbook's, they are easily damaged during storage and can also suffer damage during transit too. To them, they just don't care because the products are inanimate objects, and they'll treat them with absolutely no respect, regardless of whether it's a hard to find collector's edition or a ten-a-penny vanilla


I have heard many stories on here alone of people who order a Steelbook and receive a standard edition, or people who have been unhappy with what they have bought and had to return them.

Play.com was once the best online gaming and DVD store. I have put thousands of euros on that site. I have used their site from the year of 2003.

But everything has gone for the downhill for some time. The currency isn't accurate. Also other online stores offer better deals, like dvd.co.uk. Their return policy is good. I ordered Final Fantasy X from their shop. There was original and the Platinum version at the same time, but the original cost 30£ and the Platinum about 10£ so I thought that I would receive the black label release but received the Platinum instead. Emailed to them and sent the game back. Received my money and the postage cost very soon. It was the only time I have returned games to them but it was really good service. I hate that sometimes they don't say if the game is Platinum or not. It has happened over ten times to me and I had sold the Platinums in my country.

Good layout, good service and good prices. Still it could be better, like it was before.

Sadly, despite being a PAL retailer, they only ship to the UK and continental Europe. They won't ship to Australia, and like you, that means I have to miss out on Limited Edition exclusives that they do (and there are a lot), or head over to eBay.

Gemini-Phoenix wrote:I have a genuine dislike for dealing with faceless online webstores

I prefer it. I don't have to search through mountains of crappy games that I don't care about to find a new release that they only bothered to get two of, I don't get pestered by minimum-wage clerks about buying extended warranties or offers to give me pennies if I sell the games back to them after I'm finished with them, and most of all, I'm much more likely to get the game actually sealed. Most local stores (here, at least) unseal their games to store the disks and instructions in a secured drawer behind the counter, separate from the box on the shelf. There is no shoplifting and therefore no advantage to unsealing games with online retailers. Also, they're very unlikely to be dealing in second-hand or damaged stock, as their online stores become too inefficient to be profitable if they start having to individually inventorize every single item they have - you just can't do that and have the turnover you need.

Also, I find that online retailers tend to take a lot of care with their packaging, as there is a significant cost to accepting a return of damaged stock. Furthermore, the staf wrapping your item do it as their entire job, all day. They get good at it, and don't care if they use too much bubble-wrap or sticky-tape :-)