A rant about Square Enix's european online store

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#1
So, this happened to me recently, over what amounts to the last month. Buckle up, this is sort-of weird and may end up quite rant-ish, but I feel like this stuff is something worth talking about at length and since this is a Square Enix centric forum, I figured why not.

In case you were unaware, Square Enix owns their own online store in Europe through which they sell games (sometimes in the form of store-exclusive collector's editions), music as well as other various merchandise.

It was through this store that I placed an order for the then soon-to-be-released Nier Orchestral Arrangement: Special Box Edition, a collector's box featuring re-arranged tracks from both NieR and NieR: Automata about two weeks before it was slated for release on September 12, 2018. And this was already when things got... odd, to say the least. See, Square Enix will ask you to "validate" an order which means you're giving them permission to take the money from your PayPal account (in my case, I do not know if this is applicable for orders placed with a credit card as well); however this validation has to be performed manually through their website. Yet, this bit of information was not included in the mail I received when I placed my order and only heard about it two days before release through a chat acquaintance. So I validated my order and the same week, the total amount of the item price and shipping fee - roughly 80€ - was collected from my bank account.

And then, the waiting game began. Now Square Enix had stated that they intended to ship at launch date, however a few days had passed and I had not yet received any shipment confirmation. A week after release, I decided to use the store's support ticket system to ask where the item was with Square Enix stating that they would respond within 48 business hours. Five days later, I decided to send an e-mail, detailing the events of what by that point had been four weeks of next to no communication from Square Enix and demanding a reply by noon the following day with the threat of taking my business elsewhere. A few hours later I got a reply saying they were sorry for the delay, but there were issues with the production of the CD in Japan and shipment was delayed because of that and I would get notified about the item being shipped. So I thought to myself that this wasn't as big a deal, after all there was an earthquake around the time and it might've affected something in relation to said shipment. A few days later however, I received ANOTHER e-mail in response to the e-mail that I had sent on monday with the exact same wording, which was bizarre, but I thought to myself that it was fine and a quirk of their automated support ticket system.

Which brings us to today, another two weeks have passed by now. I have received no notification of shipment and with that, no tracking number for the item. Now, I'm a relatively patient guy, but you may imagine that any company - especially a company the size of Square Enix Europe - just sitting on your money and telling you nothing about the status of their side of a transaction for almost four weeks will make anyone somewhat annoyed. So I decided to purchase the CD elsewhere and cancel my order through Square Enix's online store site. To my surprise however, this was no longer possible as the website said the item had already been shipped and is en route to my flat, despite the status still only reading "validated" and me never having received any tracking number. Which makes the whole ordeal supremely confusing and I've for now decided to wait until the end of the week and then hit Square Enix up again for either a tracking number or a refund because this rubbish doesn't fly with me.

Funnily enough, this is not the first incident of me getting annoyed at Square Enix for their lackluster store. Four years ago, I ordered the Drakengard 3 Special Edition and ran into a similarly odd situation - I had asked for the item to be shipped to a parcel box (which is where I usually have my stuff shipped to) and received an e-mail stating that the address was impossible to ship to. I replied with stating my flat's address, yet there was no reply. About a week later, I was notified that there was a parcel in the box - lo and behold, it was the Drakengard 3 Special Edition. At the time, I thought to myself I would never order from the Square Enix store again.

So, why did I do it this time? Perhaps it was the - in hindsight revealed to be vain - hope of something having changed over the past few years. But that is clearly not the case. More likely it was to skip paying for customs and saving myself the trip - but truth be told the amount of money I would've had to pay at customs (if at all) may very well outweigh the amount of nerves I spent brooding over this until now. Square Enix's european online store communicates little if anything at all, is barely reachable and takes days to get an answer out of them. I'm aware that this is not their key business, but it could stand for at least some improval on the communication side. If I don't get a tracking number for an item this expensive - heck, even a notification of shipment - that is not a store I wish to take my business to.

Thanks for reading this. I'll keep people updated in the starting post via edits if something new comes out of this.
 

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
#2
had once a problem with FFXIV

their support is shit, i couldnt even use my credit card back then to buy stuff in their own store and it takes forever to receive a reply.

really sorry that you had to go through this.

PSN support is also crappy, i'm being charged with a subscription I never asked for, and despite showing the debits Sony claims there are none; fucking lol
 
Likes: AnGer-dono

Vankwisha

Chocobo Knight
Feb 25, 2018
205
372
34
#3
I personally haven't had a problem with them, probably have bought around 10 things off their website, ranging from Kai arts to games. Sucks its been a bad experience for you. I often try to buy straight from SE as I see it as they're getting my full money, rather than a middle man taking some.
 
Likes: Storm
#4
I often try to buy straight from SE as I see it as they're getting my full money, rather than a middle man taking some.
I agree with that sort of sentiment, I also prefer purchasing from developers or publishers directly, but so far, that has been limited to a few occasions in the digital realm.

Also I have an update: Sent Square Enix an E-Mail yesterday stating I'd like to know where the CDs are. Today I got an update, they've been handed over to La Poste (since SE Europe ships from France) and according to their shipping time calculator, it'll take between three and five days. So unless it gets stolen in transit, this might have a happy ending, but I'm not going to use SE's store anymore until they (or their store partner Scalefast) get this fixed. :banghead: