It appears that UK retailer GAME has cancelled a number of PlayStation 4 pre-orders without any explanation.

The issue was raised on the PlayStation Forums and since then many gamers have found their PS4 pre-orders have been annulled. A Twitter search reveals the problem is widespread.

It appears that GAME is trying to take money off old credit cards. TSA regular Cameron Brewster pre-ordered his PS4 in June and paid a £20 deposit at GAME and £4.95 delivery “just to make sure it got to me for launch day on November 29th”. Then, during the Eurogamer Expo he upgraded to the Killzone Mega-bundle for £429.99.

“On November 25th, I get an email to say my PS4 pre-order had been cancelled. No prior warning, no previous attempts at taking the money. They just instantly cancelled because they couldn’t get any money off of me.” “However, I checked the night before that my GAME account had my new and up-to-date card registered with it, which it did. I also made sure my old debit card was deleted, which it was. They had tried to take my money twice using my old, now out-dated, debit card and didn’t even consider trying to use the new one linked to my account. My bank account also has the funds available to fulfil the order, so it wasn’t that the money isn’t there to be taken.”

GAME gave him 48 hours to contact them and get the order reinstated. He tried phoning them “only to be greeted by some automated rubbish which is only used for product and store information.”

He was told to use the GAME customer services via a web chat “only to be disconnected once I’d got to the front of the 175+ strong queue.”

In the end he had to bombard the GAME Twitter account with tweets before they finally responded. He sent the information they requested but says, “Since I sent that DM, I’ve heard nothing from them, and time is ticking.”

“I’m afraid to say but this fiasco has resulted in me deciding to never use GAME again once I’ve finally got the PS4 in my hands (whenever that might be),” he added.

GAME seems to be aware they have a problem and posted the tweet below, and have also created a contact form for those experiencing problems, which you can access here.

#GAMEPS4Launch PS4 pre-orders. If you're having an issue with your pre-order don't worry we can fix it. Email us: http://t.co/bA0LTYBQth — GAME.co.uk (@GAMEdigital) November 25, 2013

TSA’s Peter’s pre-orders both dispatched this morning, after payment was successfully taken from the card linked to the order. In that case, there was an email almost a week prior reminding him to check his order and ensure the payment details were correct.

This latest issue with PS4 pre-orders follows a weekend in which reports arose of ShopTo cancelling their customers’ orders without notice. Sufficed to say, if you’ve got a preorder with anyone, it would be wise to check up on it today.

If we hear anything from Game on this issue, we’ll keep you posted.

Many thanks to Cameron Brewster for his help with this item.