I purchased a PS3 network card online on 22 October 2009. I chose the Economy Air Bubble shipping option as the delivery time was stated on the website to be between 5 to 10 days. After I made the purchase, I emailed PlayAsia and was informed that delivery could take up to 30 days. This is clearly contradictory to the shipping time represented on the website, making this at best misleading to the customer and at worst a blatant misrepresentation. If I had known the delivery time was going to take up to 30 days, I would have chosen another shipping option or may not have even purchased the product at all.
What happened after was even more frustrating. I complained to PlayAsia via email no less than 3 times. Despite my numerous and varied explanations, each of the persons replying (i.e. Match, Michelle and Kasel) either did not understand the issue or was avoiding it, as evident from the repetitive and unhelpful answers. I wonder if some of the customer service personnel actually read complaint emails before replying. For example, Match merely sent an identical one-sentence reply on 2 occasions stating that the actual delivery time will take between 5 to 21 days. I'm NOT asking how long the actual delivery time is; I'm ASKING why this was not stated on the website before I purchased the product! So far, none of the persons I'm corresponding with seem to understand my question.
This is very disappointing and unprofessional. Not only was an erroneous and misleading statement made, the after-sales service was also unintelligent and way below par. If this is not resolved satisfactorily, it will be the last time I purchase anything from PlayAsia. I will also have be happy to share my unpleasant experience with other online customers as well.
Problem:
* Today 25th Oct 2009(41 days to be exact).Pl note:they mention 5-21 Days required for delivery- Current State: ITEM NOT DELIVERED.inspite of all payment made on 14 Sep itself
*More than 10-12 reminders but no action apart from reassurances
*On 8th Oct was assured that address you mentioned is correct so investigation at post office will begin which takes 3 weeks(17 days gone by)
* I begin to doubt that any action is going in this direction and the time being taken is not justified.
*The least they can do now is ship it if they have not that till now or do something that makes me recieve the item at the earliest.I can't tell you how frustrating this has been so far..
Looking forward to atleast some action from your side.I reiterate it has been 41 days and still waiting for my item for which i have already paid for..
Ayush(ayush.singh8@gmail.com)
This review was modified by its author, ayush, on
10/26/09 1:10 PM.
DO NOT USE THIS ONLINE STORE! It is a total scam. I ordered 2 games totalling $138 on Dec. 31st 2008. I received an e-mail that they were shipped on Jan 2nd 2009. I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE GAMES AND THEY ARE REFUSING TO REFUND MY MONEY! They respond to all my e-mails with the excuse that the post office is still checking it out. Do they really think we believe that it takes 8 months to check out if a parcel is missing or not. I am posting this warning on every possible site I can and have begun checking out the legal action I am entitled to take. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I've heard from some friends that play-asia is one of the best online retailers on the internet, so I decided to give it a try. This purchase was for a Sony Traveler Case for the PSP. The delay time posted on the website indicates a 5-15 day waiting time. So I had no choice but to patiently wait for the item. On June 23, I contacted them, saying that it was already 15 days and I asked them what seemed to be causing the delay. They promptly replied with:
"Thank you for contacting Play-Asia.com.
I am very sorry for the delay in shipping your order. There is a sudden
delay in restocking. We regret the restocking date is still not
confirmed. We will try to get the stock and ship your order as soon as
possible. If there are any news, we will contact you. For the time
being, we kindly request for your patience.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask."
And so I waited again, sent them a couple of e-mails during the past month, and to no surprise, I got the same "generic" response. I even asked them why they still list the item as "Available" if they don't have any stock at hand, and they replied, aside from the usual generic BS, that "Our colleague would update the website soon if required.".
Today is July 25 and still no word from play-asia. And I must say, considering the fact that this is my first purchase with play-asia, it has been one terrifying and very disappointing experience for me.
This place takes god damned ages to ship. I ordered a standard game, nothing special, it took them 8 days to even get the item out the door, and now 8 days since then I still haven't gotten it. Completely unacceptable. Their competitors (such as ncsxshop) have had orders to me within 2 days of placement.
Earlier I had ordered the NECA Ninja Gaidan figure from stock.. Play-Asia shipped it in 20 days! I was very happy. And I appreciate them for that! Highly excited I Pre-ordered few Series 3 NECA Gears of War Figures!
Waited for the Release date....
On 23-Feb-2009 I get a mail that my Credit card Transaction was rejected!
I mailed them immediately:
asking why the Credit Card was rejected? Also I was not able to view and make changes to the Credit card details.
I mentioned that I had used the same credit Card order a toy from them!
Also asked them if I am still getting what I pre-ordered after giving new credit card details?
Then I get a reply that my credit card is rejected because the bank decline the transaction. I can contact your bank for more information about the transaction. Since all
items in your order has been sold out, They have cancelled your order!!!
I used the card so often for Online shopping for many years, it never had any problem, Until Play-asia tried to ship me a Pre-Ordered toy!
--------------------------
Moral
--------------------------
DON'T MAKE PRE-ORDERs at PLAY-ASIA!!!
I think Play-Asia had never got the figures in stock in the first place! This is just a CHEAP LAME EXCUSE by them to tell they do cannot ship the pre-ordered figure! Whats the point of pre-ordering when Play-Asia DOESN'T SAVE OUR FIGURE WHEN IT COMES INTO STOCK! Why did they Cancel the order and not BackOrder the figures or give me option to change my payment method?
While I waited here, the figure went out of stock in my other favorite online retailstore! I cancelled all my Pre-Orders after this! Had Enough!
Play-Asia should limit the number of pre-ordrs and freeze the pre-order once set number of orders are placed.
This review was modified by its author, samroshan, on
4/24/09 1:53 AM.
Afer a number of purchases and a general good experience I am thoroughly dissappointed with play-asia's order splitting policy. I originally ordered RB2 and the guitar - using UPS for shipping as it is a large item. After a number of weeks was told that the guitar was on backorder and the game would be shipped by itself with the postage split. I was charged $15.40 US for postage for the game only to Australia and given no option to send by economy (usually $3). Now I've cancelled the guitar since it is now over 2 months since I ordered I'm out of pocket for this ridiculous postage cost. Tried to explain the situation to play-asia over email and was dismissed - "The game has already been shipped by UPS. This fact cannot be changed." - couldn't believe it - no offer of a coupon compensation or a simple apology. Very poor customer service and I would recommend not buying from this retailer if you have a multiple item order when one or more items aren't in stock. I myself will not be ordering through them again.
I was expecting a fast reply from the site and also quick shipping. They took about four days to reply to my order, which was nonsense compared to all those fast one-day replies and whatever that I heard, and I'm still waiting for it to be shipped(supposedly today). When I contacted them and queried if they were still preparing to ship my order or have already shipped it(because it was supposed to be shipped today, but the order status was preparing order). And now they told me that they have problems restocking the order. Shouldn't that have been mentioned on the page of which product I ordered? And the product's page still isn't mentioning it... I think we have a communication problem some where here.
I am very disappointed with Play-Asia, they used to be pretty good, now sadly they are like many other online retailers and send you whatever they feel like and in whatever condition they feel like sending, once they have your money a return or refund is like a lottery depending on who replies to your email.
I purchaed an item and as a games collector I was not happy that it was damaged, so I returned it registered post over a month ago, only to be told last week when I emailed them to be patient they would get back to me.
I do not see them getting back to me and now have nothing to show for it no refund and no game.
Save yourself the hassle and buy close to home where you can see the product and be happy with it.
OK, good prices and by reading other reviews, fast shippings I think.
But I'm really sorry to tell about their customer supports are ABSOLUTELY not making sense that get me mad...
poor understanding to questions(English?), canned replies, at last they disregard my query.
Here is my story,
I oredred a SF4 fightpad with other 4 games(one was a discount title and one with bonus goods) in the mid-term of February, and I chose ship once when all goods are being collected.
As most of you know,the fightpad is officially in a shortage recently, but all the other games are ready to go and be waiting for a month.
so I decided to ask for first shipping the games to me.
First they told me the shipping fee may increase by sending more than once.
OK, that's reasonable,then I asked them to list me up the prices and arrivals, thier reply is
"If you want to ship the order separately and both partial order delivered by Fedex, you have to pay for the extra shipping cost for separate
shipment. If the unavailable item is shipped by regular airmail, then no extra shipping cost is needed."
I just thought, have I read this sentence somewhere before? I asked for a LIST of AMOUNTS & DATES! did they read my question? After 2 e-mails asking for it, they finally tell me how much each shipment cost(BUT WITHOUT DATES)...
I asked them to split and ship things which are ready to go.Then they modified my order.
Here comes another problem, I found the discount price raised up to normal and the bonus goods disappeared from my order!
I asked for reasons then they modified the raised price, but not about the bonus goods...
They told me that "We are very sorry that while we were adjusting your orders and separating them, at the very same time the bonus edition was sold out.That's why we had to change it back to the normal version."
What the hell!? sold out at the very same time!?
that's a silly answer,Obviously that my bonus edition was sold out while waiting for the fightpad...shouldn't it be preserved to my order?
I asked for futher reason and what action they will take for this case, but they do not response...
now I am really disappointed.
although I am still not being charged for even a cent, I'm writing here to tell all of you that be aware if you are trying to contact their CS!
Play-Asia is only good for who never ask and never get trouble with them!
(For reference the original order number are 14411464, 14969399)
Unfortunately, my experience with Play-Asia has been gradually downhill over the last year.
I believe that Play-Asia.com was quite a good store when they competed actively with LikSang.com. However, Sony's lawsuits put LikSang.com out of business two years ago (October 26), and since then, Play-Asia.com has slowly ratched up their prices, increased their automated/canned responses, and stopped showing any extra effort in satisfying their customers.
Two years ago, an order would show up with a printed invoice, a "Play-Asia.com" sticker, a $5 of $50 coupon that lasted for months and whatever I ordered. These days, I get a hastily cut coupon that lasts for six weeks and a game, not even an invoice.
It's strange that they've been able to go from an average selling price of $39.90 to $59.90 for the Asian version of a AAA game over the last two years, and yet their service and effort have declined greatly.
The last issue I had with Play-Asia was regarding their affiliate system (I have generated over $2000 in sales for Play-Asia over the last two years, a large chunk of that because I'd highly recommended them to my friends after LikSang.com was gone.) A friend/coworker actually had me place the order for her to make sure I got credit, and bizarrely enough, I did not. After e-mailed Play-Asia, I received the following reply:
"Thank you for contacting Play-Asia.com.
Please do not worry it is because we are enhancing our website so there
maybe some problem. It should be fine later.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask."
Later follow-up e-mails would tell me that the order was placed through another link (which I know to be untrue), and despite seven e-mails back and forth (4 from me, 3 from them) there has been no effort on their part to give anything other than a canned response.
Two years ago, Play-Asia was cheap and great service, now they're neither.
I live in Indonesia & made Play-Asia.com order #10114994 with total value US$ 91.80, shipped on Mar 19, 2008
Order arrived damaged so I claim them,
on April 15, 2008 Play-Asia (Bryan) write to me:
No worry, we could refund the product value and shipment cost once received your returning.
If you accept this offer, please return the faulty item for exchange to
Play-Asia.com
Attn: Exchanges & Returns
P.O. Box 661
Texaco Road Post Office
Tsuen Wan, NT
Hong Kong
[PACS-690192] Questions regarding an order - Ref: 10114994
On April 19, 2008 I shipped back this order by EMS EE126068246ID and it arrived at Play-Asia on April 22, 2008
http://ems.posindonesia.co.id/index.php?param=inq
On July 3, 2008 they emailed:
Sorry for the delay reply. We regret that we can only compensate 10.00USD store credit for this case. Please feel to provide us one of the coupon
code to add the compensated store credit for your next purchase.
I lost my temper and demand them to keep their words (I mean, how can they only offer USD 10 comparing to order value US$ 91.80 + returning shipping cost)
But I still haven't received my refund or replacement untill now, Play-Asia also never reply my emails since then.
I am highly dissapointed. I ordered a black giratina silicon skin for my ds, and pre-ordered a Venusaur battle scene figure. The figure was to be released at the end of the month. I waited, only to find it had been pushed forward another month. I waited one more month. The figures were popping up on ebay all over the place, yet on Play Asia it was still set to "to be released in June" It was baffling. I waited to the end of June, only to get an email saying it was to be released in July! The figure is already out and has been for many months! I emailed them, asking if this was just a mistake, only to get "sorry, we do not know the final release date of this item" I don't understand. Not only did I pay double what it's worth, but I could have bought it on ebay for a fraction of the price with shipping. I would use Play Asia as a last resort for an item, but I would NEVER pre order from there again!
My partner ordered an XFPS keyboard and mouse converter for my XBOX 360 and paid for UPS delivery. UPS didn't even knock or ring the bell but just put through a "we tried to deliver" note while I was in the house, and we've just been informed we are being hit for customs charges to the value of an additional 50% of the original order!
Play Asia do say this, buried at the bottom of their terms and conditions, but I think it is extremely cynical not to make buyers clearly aware there will be significant additional costs to pay on delivery. With the customs charges it would have been cheaper to have bought fom a domestic reseller. I find the lack of transparency totally unacceptable and would not recommend Play Asia to anyone, as you have no idea what the final cost of your purchase will be.
Reseller Reply
Posted
by
9/24/08 2:32 AM
It seems that you missed this important information regarding the "customs duties imposed by your country" in our website. There are at least three places that you can find this information:
1) On checkout, on the very last page where the customer has to click "confirmation of order" just above it, there is written that there may be import duties for foreign countries;
2) Our help section (link:http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-helpcustoms-49-en.html).
It states that "you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a shipment reaches your country. Additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you; we have no control over these charges and cannot predict what they may be";
It is been a month an haven't received my product yet. Very dissatisfied with this company. Disputing the charge now with American Express. I'm glad I just order something small so I wasn't burned for a lot of money.
