In my most recent article on this site, I chronicled the ever growing issues surrounding the PlayStation 5 launch and in particular the way in which businesses have balanced their priorities between commercial value and customer care. GAME, one of the businesses named, have issued their response.
As you would have seen I detailed the many different traits businesses like CEX, GAME and even Sony themselves have displayed which quite rightly spark concern for your everyday consumer. Whereas CEX and Sony have kept quiet about what has been said, GAME made sure to let Vendetta know via our Instagram just what they thought of the article.
In a DM riddled with grammatical mishaps and a definite misquoting of the article title, the DM accuses myself of inaccurate coverage and promised to provide clarity on the situation had we reached out.
Then affirming that they “have strong measures in place to help ensure our “1 per customer” statement is maintained” and “all pre-orders are subject to automatic checks and order updates, such as cancellations once these checks take place”.
Okay cool so I made a mistake and did not research any evidence to support my claims. Except no, I did, and although the DM claims that orders from bots are cancelled, screenshots taken from the Carnage Twitter page indicate otherwise:
Whilst the above screenshot shows a multitude of confirmation orders from GAME the below screenshot serves as the true nail in the coffin for this attempt to discredit the validity of my arguments, as the order receipt confirms tracking and payment details have been set.
I even have my own confirmation email from GAME to compare with the PS5 resellers on eBay and Carnage (see below slideshow). There is no difference present between the supposed pre-order and order emails.
This hasn’t been the first attempt from the retailer to skirt around the issue, with the company’s Twitter account blocking another account as shown in the below Twitter thread:
There’s a clear divide between consumer and provider right now, and instead of attacking articles that provide informative and factual points in the hope that something changes, companies would be better served trying their hand at dealing with the root cause of the problem.
The social media team at GAME have clearly taken exception to the idea that they have prioritized sales to satisfaction, but when your mentions on Twitter is chock full of customer complaints about the lack of action against scalpers and their remains a large volume of resellers on eBay with GAME confirmation emails and receipts, it becomes abundantly clear that it is easier to force a narrative of care and action onto publications that have read the evidence and not the claims.
As your DM offers the opportunity why don’t you as a company build the bridge with your customers and offer more than empty words, have someone from your team communicate in an interview about the logistics and the actions you’re taking to prevent these issues reoccurring. You challenged me and I have offered evidence to support my statements, now I challenge you to reciprocate and in essence follow through with your promise.
Let us know your thoughts on the matter on our Twitter and Instagram and grab some scalper-free merch on the Vendetta Shop.
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