Thousands of orders canceled as Best Buy plagued with BioShock Infinite preorder bug [UPDATE]

Did you preorder the special Limited Edition of BioShock Infinite at a major retailer? You may want to grab the phone and check your order status, as I discovered last night. Late Monday evening Best Buy sent an email notice of my order being canceled and my deposit refunded.

“We’re sorry, the item below remains unavailable and the order has been canceled’.” the email read.

The game was listed as “backordered” in the email instead of as a preorder. Naturally, I gave Best Buy customer service a call to try and work out the issue. According to the representative on the phone, it seems to have happened all at once last night and to predominantly online-based preorders. The issue popped up in “3000 customers”, and was not necessarily limited to any specific console; both Xbox 360 and PS3 orders were affected, I was told. It’s important to mention that the Best Buy preorders include a $20 Reward Zone bonus certificate and exclusive DLC, which is the reason that many have opted to purchase through the retailer.

After thoroughly checking the order, the representative was able to fix the issue and noted that an email would arrive within 24 hours confirming the re-processed order. The company is also issuing $10 gift cards to those affected, which should arrive via snail mail within 7-10 days.

Customers are being asked to check their emails (and spam folders) and call Customer Service at 1-888-237-8289 to follow up if their order has been canceled. Our suggestion: call anyways. Technology isn’t always great when it comes to online orders.

I should note that I also received a separate email about my Dead Space 3 preorder, noting that it has been delayed in shipping to the specific Best Buy store where I had asked it to be delivered.

Best Buy currently has no clue as to why the preorder systems seem to have a bug right now, so my only guess is that they forgot to give it the flu shot this Winter.

This story will be updated as it develops.

[UPDATE] We can confirm that not everyone who calls is being offered the $10 gift card. Make sure to ask for it, as this may have only begun this morning and not last night.

[UPDATE 2] We’ve spoken to a Best Buy representative, who informed us that the company had oversold the Premium and Songbird editions of the game, and are working towards a resolution.