Uh-oh! Sounds like Walmart has goofed on gamers who pre-ordered copies of SWTOR from the retail giant. Great concern surfaced today from customers who had preordered their copies of SWTOR from Walmart only to find out that the retailer had cancelled their status but failed to notify buyers of the news.
The official forums for the game were set ablaze overnight with complaints from gamers who say they preordered from Walmart but that when they went to check on their order it said they were cancelled on Saturday “due to a lack of product availability.” You can imagine the panic that ensued as gamers worried whether or not they would be getting their copy of the game, especially with the launch date quickly approaching.
Bioware’s Online Community Manager Stephen Reid also acknowledged the issue on the Old Republic forums:
“Hello everyone,
We will investigate this issue ASAP, although we may not have further details to share before Monday.
I obviously cannot speak on behalf of any retailer, however I would like to let people know who have pre-ordered and redeemed their pre-order code, that their Early Game Access is still secured. You may apply any Game Code from any edition of The Old Republic to your account.
As of right now, it seems that Walmart is the only retailer to cancel The Old Republic preorders. With the story breaking over Saturday night and into Sunday morning, it’s likely that an official explanation / mea culpa is impending.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is slated to release for the PC on December 20, so any preorder disruptions at this juncture are a major issue for all involved. Let us know if you’re experiencing the same issue and what the response has been so far from Walmart in the comments or in our forums.”
As it turns out, there should be nothing to fear if you preordered from Walmart.
A user on The Old Republic’s official forums reported speaking to Walmart customer service agent named “Quintia,” who said:
1) A data error was discovered in the system that effectively forced them to cancel “nearly all” (This phrase was stressed) pre-orders of the product.
2) A manual override was used to kick-start the system into evaluating the amount of orders, which bypasses the automatic reporting function. As explained, this is to “Not worry the customer in the case of an error, as most people do NOT check their order statuses”
3) For Paypal payers only: The system does indeed take immediate payment from Paypal due to the PP Resolution process. It is “easier” to issue refunds than it is to keep an extended hold on Paypal funds.
And finally, a comment on StickSkills.com report of the issue said:
“It’s Ravi from Walmart’s media relations team – I want to clarify and hopefully ease any confusion about this. Please rest assured, no orders or pre-orders have been canceled due to this issue. We did have a technical error that unfortunately caused some customers’ order statuses to show their pre-order had been canceled, but that is not the case. Customers who previously pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic will still get their game when it launches later this month and we’re in the process of emailing all customers within the next 24 hours to let them know. In the meantime, they’re invited to contact us if they have questions. We apologize for any confusion or disturbance in The Force this created.”
So the bottom line is the data is supposedly still in Walmart’s system even if it is not showing up when you go to check on your order. It caused a mass panic for those who used the large retailer to place their orders but it seems all is a-ok. Now, who needs to change their undies?
