It’s been a huge couple of weeks for EA Games after reporting record-breaking FIFA sales with the launch of its new 2017 edition – with retailers selling out in seconds online and on the high street.

But now angry buyers have taken to social media to express their fury, after one retailer reportedly cancelled orders on a PS4 FIFA 17 bundle deal – and another is accused of not honouring the deal at all.

A number of complaints arrived from GAME shoppers – where the PS4 Sony console along with FIFA 17 game and a two month unlimited NOW TV movie pass was on sale for £150.

But just hours after purchasing this deal online, some customers said they had their orders cancelled, despite the retailer sending out confirmation emails and delivery details.

One extremely disappointed customer said their deal was cancelled by GAME – and later offered £20 off the full price £249 bundle instead – that’s £80 more than the original cost.

Over the weekend, a number of PS4 fans took to deals blog HotUKDeals to air their disbelief over the situation.

 

User Inkedshell wrote they had received an email to say their order had been cancelled, less than 24-hours after placing the order.

“I managed to get my order of this accepted at 2pm today but after seeing all these oos (out of stock) msgs I am worried I did something wrong or my order will be cancelled,” the user wrote.

Another member replied: “If you got your nowtv digital code then I don’t think it will be cancelled. Fingers crossed”, to which Inkedshell confirmed they had received the code.

But all was seemingly not fine.

Just one day later, Inkedshell reported: “Mines been cancelled but offered £20 off the £249 bundle”.

User Gordonator spoke to a customer services adviser via online chat and posted: “To paraphrase, my order is currently in payment authorisation, and I can expect it to be completed shortly.

“I then questioned whether the item would still be available given that it’s now out of stock on the site and they said it should be fine, and to expect a dispatch this evening or tomorrow.”

Colinnicklen3 added: “Got an email yesterday to say mine had been dispatched but just got another email today to say it has been cancelled but offered an alternative more expensive option. Very poor!

“I can’t understand how a ‘shipped’ order can be cancelled!”

Jamesdzackon added: “So they took my money, cancelled the order, gave me a £20 off code for a bundle that is far more expensive, then say that is will take TEN WORKING DAYS to refund my £150. I never agreed to giving them a two week interest-free loan.”

Mirror Online contacted GAME, and received the following statement. A representative also confirmed all refunds have now been processed.

Game statement

Unfortunately due to unprecedented demand, the PS4 Bundle containing FIFA 17 and a Now TV pass sold out extremely quickly and we were unable to fulfil a number of orders. We’d like to apologise to customers affected and have refunded orders in full.

Any reward points used were automatically credited back to accounts and customers will also keep the Now TV three month subscription free of charge. The bundle will not be available to purchase in the future.

By way of an apology to those customers that are affected, we offered a £20 off voucher code* against our £249.99 PlayStation 4 New Look 500 GB console bundle plus a free copy of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End should they have chosen to purchase.

This bundle includes:

  • The brand new PS4 New Look Console 500GB
  • PS4 FIFA 17 standard edition
  • Plus an additional Now TV 3 Month Pass

And it seems it’s not just GAME that’s been confusing customers and leaving them without their bargain.

Argos deal questioned

On 2 October, Mirror reader, Consumer Champ, wrote in to claim some Argos stores are allegedly not honouring a PS4 and FIFA 17 £149.99 combo deal – despite stating online the offer expires 13 October.

The customer wrote: “Customers that have sourced stock in store are being told the console is full price and the deal is not being honoured. A number of customers have attempted to collect the items from a local stores (correct catalogue numbers) but are being told they need to pay £259.”

Thankfully Consumer Champ’s deal was eventually honoured. However it appears these deals were being managed by store discretion – rather than the advertised price – with some members on HotUKDeals claiming their deals were not honoured.

Consumer Champ wrote: “Some customers like myself had the deal honoured by the stores, so even Argos doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Argos have confirmed in a statement;

The level of customer demand for the PS4 bundle deal launched on the Argos website on Thursday 29th September has far exceeded our expectations and we have worked hard to offer it to as many customers as possible.

We sincerely apologise to customers who have been disappointed.