Play.com, Zavvi and Asda-Entertainment are off my shopping list for good. If you are interested here's why...
I have ordered the Alien Anthology Egg edition twice now from Zavvi and Asda-Entertainment and neither have arrived. Zavvi spun me some yarn about it being sent back to them "because of a security check" so I waited another few weeks (I ordered it November 4th) and it still didn't arrive so then they said "it must be lost in the post". To get a refund, they mail you a form which you have to fill in and mail back or send a scanned copy. I only recently got my refund.
I tried again, this time from Asda-Entertainment and the same thing has happened.
There are 2 possible causes:
1) They are not actually shipping the products.
2) Irish customs think there is an actual alien in the egg.
If there was an issue with the package, customs would have mailed me so #1 is the only answer I can think of. I doubt I was unlucky enough to have both stolen.
I couldn't find any U.K-based company that would ship it to me, so I doubt I will ever get this for less than a small fortune
I also pre-ordered the limited edition of Assassins Creed: Brotherhood from Play.com (Exclusive to play.com unfortunately) and that never arrived either, so I had to pay a steep price for it on ebay (even after factoring in the inevitbale customs charges). In a way I'm glad I ordered from ebay because I knew in advance I was getting a copy that wasn't smashed or damaged. Forums were flooded with people who were very angry with Play.com who shipped their expensive, fragile editions in nothing but a plastic bag (some were lucky enough to get 1 thin sheet of bubble wrap not big enough to cover the side of the box!) and others who never got it at all. My brother in-law ordered the standard edition which never arrived either, but the dvd that was posted on the same day arrived 1 week later with customs charges.
So yea,
over!
.
If you are ordering anything bigger than a standard dvd, I highly recommend avoiding these companies based in tax havens such as Jersery and Guernsey. If they even send you what they say has been despatched, they will package it as cheaply as possible. If you don't receive it, you will be waiting a long time for your refund. Oh and remember to factor in the 21% customs charge if the order is worth more than £20 or so (and if you live in Ireland you will also be charged €6/7 "paper work" charge, don't know if Royal Mail does that).
Maybe this will prevent some frustration and disappointment!
Regards,
Bobby.