EU Pre-order mess up??

[chrislocalboy]

Yeah seems odd they wouldn't actively try and sell their own game on their own.

It's like going to a Ford dealership (for example) to be told then don't have any Ford cars in!?

 

[trinket]

I spoke to Play.com on the phone about an hour ago. After some time of the guy going off and talking to his HQ, he told me they currently had no plans to send out beta keys to preorder, but think this might change come Late May / June time, but they have no confirmation of this yet.

I also then phoned up HMV (uk). They told me they didnt know what I was talking about, they hadnt heard of Warhammer Online, they had no plans for Preorder packs on their website or in their stores, although they thought it came out in September 08 and maybe I should look in the stores nearer then.

Game UK told me they had heard nothing about a Preorder pack at all.

So, it seems someone has messed up somewhere. I have a preorder in with Play.com for the CE, but don't expect to get anything anytime soon

 

[Chrismorris]

So no stores have even heard about the codes, How is this cock up possible :s

 

[Binky the Bomb]

So no stores have even heard about the codes, How is this cock up possible :s

Welcome to real life. Leave your dreams at the door.

 

[Chrismorris]

Welcome to real life. Leave your dreams at the door.

The real world?
Not everyone in the world does things harf arsed. Its not alot to ask for this to be done well. and its no way near it.

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Its not alot to ask for this to be done well.

Apparently, it was.

 

[Reza]

Nope EA Europe are the distributors for WAR throughout all of Europe.

To the rest of it:

I've just had a word with our marketing people here and the confusion seems to stem from some cross comunication between the distributors and the retailers.

Here's how it works:
There is a collector's edition which has the miniature, graphic novel, artbook etc in it.
There is a regular edition which has the game.

You can preorder either of those versions in the normal way from practically any gamestore or webmerchant (as they get around to updating their stock systems and websites etc) and you'll get it sent to you for release in the usual way.

In addition we are offering a special pre-order bonus set which includes the open beta access, the headstart on live servers and so forth. That applies to either edition of the game - it isn't limited to just the collector's edition. It is limited however to our specific pre-order partners. In the UK, it's Play.com and HMV. The Play.com link was removed last night because it was inaccurate, the HMV link will be coming as soon as they update their site to include it.

The correct link for Play is this one and our marketing team are checking with the distributors today to ensure that all the other links are up to date and to try and sort out the confusion that seems to have occurred.

Some sites are offering the pre-order for 8 euro/5 pounds. What that means is that you will pay that amount in advance for the pre-order kit and then the balance for whichever version of the game you buy when it is released. You aren't paying extra for a pre-order.

Hopefully that clears up most of the queries.

Am I right in thinking some of the above quoted information is incorrect?

Specifically that you can preorder the regular version of the game and then separately purchase the bonus set which includes open beta access and headstart.

I ask this having read the following post by Rahim Attaba:

Warhammer Forums - View Single Post - The Big Fat Bumper Pre-Order Thread

Hi all,

I’m Rahim Attaba working at GOA as European Senior Product Manager for Warhammer Online.

Wanted to correct Iain’s post regarding the actual pre-order campaign.

The pre-order started today and it is only for the Collector’s Edition. You can find all the details on www.war-europe.com/collectorsedition if you are pre-ordering from Europe. There is currently no official pre-order program for any other version.

The benefits and extras detailed for the Collectors Edition are currently only planned for this version.

Again, this pre-order is not for the regular edition (not yet announced), this will be done later in the year. Stay tuned for more details.

Thanks in advance
__________________
Rahim Attaba / GOA
WAR European Senior Product Manager

Any clarification on this would be appreciated.

 

[IainC]

As Rahim said, the pre-order bonus pack is limited to pre-orders of the Collector's Edition from our pre-order partners. If you pre-order the CE from another supplier or if you pre-order the regular edition from anywhere at all, you won't get the exclusive ingame items, the headstart on live servers or the open beta access.

When the regular edition is announced, there may be another pre-order bonus program associated with that but for now the only product you can pre-order officially is the CE.

Ignore the sentence that goes 'That applies to either edition of the game - it isn't limited to just the collector's edition.' and it's all good.

One final correction, HMV are purely a brick-and-mortar partner. You can place your pre-order in their stores but not on their website.

 

[Reza]

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Arrandor]

One final correction, HMV are purely a brick-and-mortar partner. You can place your pre-order in their stores but not on their website.

Thanks Iain, unfortunately 3 days after the launch HMV still doesn't know anything about this pre-order; I rang the Oxford Street, London branch of HMV again this morning, for the 3rd time this week and he said that as it's not on their computers it definitely won't be on their shelves, and he wasn't aware of any deliveries.

Given that there is no guarantee you will receive your order from Play (the order receipt is not binding, and they will probably be oversubscribed as they are still taking orders against their allocation, which is unknown), and HMV haven't got the game listed 3 days after its launch, what other avenues are open to the UK player?

Is it possible to say how many of the 55k units were shipped to the UK because it looks like half of them have gone AWOL?

Any help is appreciated

 

[samhainpl]

well, in Poland there was no problem to buy a preorder, so its wierd that in other countries there are problems with this...

 

[Camillo]

well, in Poland there was no problem to buy a preorder, so its wierd that in other countries there are problems with this...

Same here in Germany, ordered at Amazon and the preorder's already on its way, should get it on monday/tuesday.

 

[Lexa]

I am getting totally confused.

I understand that the DVD and box wont be arriving until launch. However are we suppose to get a pre-order pack delivered straight after ordering?

As has already been pointed out people are placing these orders against nothing. Play have no contract binding them to sell this product where as if they can send out the pre order package (assuming one exists) we at least know we have secured one.

Is this simply a distribution problem?

 

[Arrandor]

I am getting totally confused.

I understand that the DVD and box wont be arriving until launch. However are we suppose to get a pre-order pack delivered straight after ordering?

As has already been pointed out people are placing these orders against nothing. Play have no contract binding them to sell this product where as if they can send out the pre order package (assuming one exists) we at least know we have secured one.

Is this simply a distribution problem?

Yes and no, the rest of the EU and US are getting a solid confirmation that they have purchased because they are getting their special pre-order codes.

The problem for the UK at the moment is there is only one distributor that is actually taking orders or that has these in (that we know of), and that is Play - HMV don't know anything about this yet, although I would expect it to magically appear on their shelves in the next week or two. Play will probably keep taking orders beyond their allocation of the special pre-order and as you have stated the order with them is NOT contractually binding.

Unlike the other distributors Play are not distributing the special pre-order codes until at least May, at which point you will find out if you have been successful or not (so it is a kind of lottery), and if you have not you won't be charged, OR they will offer you the standard game. The problem with that is it will probably be too late to select an alternative distributor as the special pre-order is limited to 55k (of which an unknown amount is allocated to the UK) and will probably be completely sold out.

A pointer from GOA or Mythic as to when HMV will have them on their shelves would be great, as it would take the unknown out of all this and we could pop down to them and just pick it up rather than have to wait until May for something we may not get.

 

[Kremlik]

Problem i've seen with 'brick and mortor' pre-orders is that the staff of the store could get first dibs on them, so sending 20 to a store may end up with only 5 actally on the shelfs.

Like I said before it's not only the gamers that are after the game itself it's the WHF fans and certainly the collectors that will be after as many copies of the model as well. 55K wont be enough at all, I suspect triple that could pre-order by time they actally get dispatched.

 

[Mcflury]

well, if they let me have the game and read the comic once they can have the comic and the statue, no biggy

That is if I would buy a CE of course, which I won't.

 

[Kremlik]

It's not really a 'satute', it's an actal playable model within the tabletop game.. if it's anything like 'The White Dwarf', GW's offical magizine's mascot, then it's highly powerful and highly wanted by the greenskin players. which like i said it's a very good lore to get the tabletop players that have not actally tried MMOing before to at least have the game for the 30 days for 'free' by their point of view, it's kinda the reverse the players are looking at it.

 

[Mcflury]

well, the way I see it: check ebay in a few months and you'll see those littl'uns for sale, probably over-priced but still less than the £60 they'd have to pay for it now. (because I'm quite sure many people will just buy the CE for the game and/or comic and/or headstart and/or beta-access, but will try to get some money back by selling the statue (which idd will be wanted by many tabletop game players) )

 

[chipper]

hell yea

 

[cHodAX]

I don't understand all this, I just want a simple answer.

If I order the £60 CE set that comes with the pre-order pack from Play.com am I 100% guaranteed to get the pre-order bonus? If so then why do I have to wait till May for the confirmation codes when people not in the UK are already getting them?

Also can you confirm how long the head start period is? I am not prepared to spend my money until I get more detailed information, right now it all seems very grey and Play.com are doing nothing to make the situation clear.

 

[Arrandor]

I don't understand all this, I just want a simple answer.

If I order the £60 CE set that comes with the pre-order pack from Play.com am I 100% guaranteed to get the pre-order bonus?

Simple answer is, No!

If so then why do I have to wait till May for the confirmation codes when people not in the UK are already getting them?

Because Play, in their infinite wisdom have chosen to keep them back until they have a gazillion orders in.

Also can you confirm how long the head start period is? I am not prepared to spend my money until I get more detailed information, right now it all seems very grey and Play.com are doing nothing to make the situation clear.

EA Mythic haven't announced how long yet.

 

[cHodAX]

That isn't what I wanted to hear.

I am happy to pay the £60 but I want a guarantee that I will get all the extras, surely that is what they are charging the extra £20 for anyway?

 

[Amadeus]

From Mark on the WHA forums;

"Folks,

I'll say it again, as far as we are concerned, you bought a CE, you get the codes, period. If some retailers have messed up, we'll deal with them and the situation whether it is in NA or Europe. And as far as I know, the retailers were sent the correct number. If their employees messed up either on purpose or by accident, we'll work with them to get things straightened out even if it is not our fault that their store employees didn't do what they were supposed to do.

Mark"

 

[IainC]

That isn't what I wanted to hear.

I am happy to pay the £60 but I want a guarantee that I will get all the extras, surely that is what they are charging the extra £20 for anyway?

Ok to clear up a few things:
If you buy a pre-order pack for the CE from one of our official pre-order partners, you will always get the codes. That's the point of the pre-order pack. There are as many pre-order packs as there are Collector's Editions so there should be no reason that one of our partners will sell you a pre-ordered CE without the pre-order pack.

I've asked if we can double check with the distributors that Play.com are not overselling their allocation. I'm confident that they aren't but I understand that some of you may be nervous. At the very least we can try to lay those fears to rest.

Secondly you aren't paying any extra for the pack. The RRP is what Play.com have it listed as. Game seem to have their own idea of what the RRP is and frankly, looking at the box and the contents you have to have some doubts about the price they are charging. In any case that's down to Game and I'm sure they're happy to lose their margin. In some cases merchants are charging you a small fee for the pre-order pack (10€ or £5 usually). This is redeemable against the price of your CE so if you have paid 10€ for your CE pre-order from Amazon, you'll pay the balance when the actual boxes are in stock and despatched.

As an FYI, the 'pre-order pack' consists of a flyer with all the codes on it and an empty DVD box. Don't ask me why they are sending out an empty DVD box, that's just one of those mysterious supply chain things I guess.

 

[cHodAX]

Ok to clear up a few things:
If you buy a pre-order pack for the CE from one of our official pre-order partners, you will always get the codes. That's the point of the pre-order pack. There are as many pre-order packs as there are Collector's Editions so there should be no reason that one of our partners will sell you a pre-ordered CE without the pre-order pack.

I've asked if we can double check with the distributors that Play.com are not overselling their allocation. I'm confident that they aren't but I understand that some of you may be nervous. At the very least we can try to lay those fears to rest.

Secondly you aren't paying any extra for the pack. The RRP is what Play.com have it listed as. Game seem to have their own idea of what the RRP is and frankly, looking at the box and the contents you have to have some doubts about the price they are charging. In any case that's down to Game and I'm sure they're happy to lose their margin. In some cases merchants are charging you a small fee for the pre-order pack (10€ or £5 usually). This is redeemable against the price of your CE so if you have paid 10€ for your CE pre-order from Amazon, you'll pay the balance when the actual boxes are in stock and despatched.

As an FYI, the 'pre-order pack' consists of a flyer with all the codes on it and an empty DVD box. Don't ask me why they are sending out an empty DVD box, that's just one of those mysterious supply chain things I guess.

Ok bud thanks for clearing that up, I shall place my order and hope that Play.com get thier act together.

 

[Anar]

Ok to clear up a few things:
If you buy a pre-order pack for the CE from one of our official pre-order partners, you will always get the codes. That's the point of the pre-order pack. There are as many pre-order packs as there are Collector's Editions so there should be no reason that one of our partners will sell you a pre-ordered CE without the pre-order pack.

I've asked if we can double check with the distributors that Play.com are not overselling their allocation. I'm confident that they aren't but I understand that some of you may be nervous. At the very least we can try to lay those fears to rest.

Secondly you aren't paying any extra for the pack. The RRP is what Play.com have it listed as. Game seem to have their own idea of what the RRP is and frankly, looking at the box and the contents you have to have some doubts about the price they are charging. In any case that's down to Game and I'm sure they're happy to lose their margin. In some cases merchants are charging you a small fee for the pre-order pack (10€ or £5 usually). This is redeemable against the price of your CE so if you have paid 10€ for your CE pre-order from Amazon, you'll pay the balance when the actual boxes are in stock and despatched.

As an FYI, the 'pre-order pack' consists of a flyer with all the codes on it and an empty DVD box. Don't ask me why they are sending out an empty DVD box, that's just one of those mysterious supply chain things I guess.

Thanks for that Ian , shed's more light on the situation :worthy:

 

[Arrandor]

Ok to clear up a few things:
If you buy a pre-order pack for the CE from one of our official pre-order partners, you will always get the codes. That's the point of the pre-order pack. There are as many pre-order packs as there are Collector's Editions so there should be no reason that one of our partners will sell you a pre-ordered CE without the pre-order pack.

I've asked if we can double check with the distributors that Play.com are not overselling their allocation. I'm confident that they aren't but I understand that some of you may be nervous. At the very least we can try to lay those fears to rest.

Secondly you aren't paying any extra for the pack. The RRP is what Play.com have it listed as. Game seem to have their own idea of what the RRP is and frankly, looking at the box and the contents you have to have some doubts about the price they are charging. In any case that's down to Game and I'm sure they're happy to lose their margin. In some cases merchants are charging you a small fee for the pre-order pack (10€ or £5 usually). This is redeemable against the price of your CE so if you have paid 10€ for your CE pre-order from Amazon, you'll pay the balance when the actual boxes are in stock and despatched.

As an FYI, the 'pre-order pack' consists of a flyer with all the codes on it and an empty DVD box. Don't ask me why they are sending out an empty DVD box, that's just one of those mysterious supply chain things I guess.

Thanks Iain, if you can confirm Play can satisfy all of their orders, I and many others will be a much happier bunny, until then I remain nervous, because a) they have the following clause in the order you place with them, and b) we won't know if we will be successful until they send us the box. which by all accounts won't be until May at the earliest at which point it will probably be too late to get another copy from elsewhere.

"Please note: This is an 'open' order and has not been processed by our dispatch department. No contract for the sale of any product will subsist between you and Play.com until Play.com dispatches the product(s) ordered. We will confirm that the product(s) have been dispatched by a confirmation email. This confirmation e-mail amounts to an acceptance by Play.com of your offer to buy goods from Play.com or a third party supplier that is engaged on your behalf by Play.com (whether or not you receive that e-mail)."

 

[Arrandor]

If you could find out when HMV will have it on their shelves that would be the icing on the cake!

 

[mightybunny]

I'm now seeing on the play.com website

"Only available to customers with a UK billing address"

Does this mean i wont get my CE?

 

[Raes]

If you could find out when HMV will have it on their shelves that would be the icing on the cake!

After going to four HMV's over the last few days, the Games Dept Manager at the Trafford Centre (one of the largest shopping centres in europe) confirmed they had the "special" packs, but they were not on "the system" yet, so they wouldn't be available for a week or two.

The other three HMV's all had staff who looked at me like I'd just asked, in binary, if I could buy the moon.