With record-breaking sales figures and seemingly unending demand, it's likely gamers will find it challenging to secure an Xbox One or PS4 in time for Christmas – unless they thought ahead and pre-ordered their new machine well in advance. But judging by the experiences of several Guardian readers, as well as many others hitting Twitter and gaming forums, this is no guarantee of satisfaction.

The Guardian has received reports that PlayStation 4 pre-orders, specifically through the high street and online retailer Game, have been cancelled with little in the way of explanation or notice. Last week, gamers hit the PlayStation forum to complain about receiving cancellation emails from Game informing them that they would need to contact customer services if they wanted the order to be re-instated. One customer Gregory Rasputin, recorded his own experience online, including the email from Game that suggested there may have been a problem with payment.

From forum messages, it seems that pre-orders have been taken on bank cards that later expired, but that customers were not informed when the payment was attempted and failed. On his site, Rasputin posted a list of tweets from other pre-order customers, sent to the @gamedigital Twitter feed. One says: "Can someone help me with my PS4 preorder? You have tried to take payment from the wrong card account and have cancelled it!"

Credit check

The Guardian approached Game for a comment, and received this response from marketing director Ailsa McKnight: “Demand has been incredible and since launch we’ve had thousands of satisfied gamers get their hands on a console for Christmas. There have been a small number of issues with payment processing and delivery, the majority of which have been out of our control. Our customer services team have been reaching out to customers via email, text and phone and we will continue working to ensure that all of our pre-order customers get their hands on their console as quickly as possible."

Certainly, the retailer is maintaining its presence in social media channels, but some gamers are questioning the company's follow-through with customer support. On 25 November, Game tweeted: "If you're having an issue with your pre-order don't worry we can fix it. Email us." Subsequent tweeted assurances have, however, met with frustrated responses from gamers. A request for patience tweeted five days later, was met with anger from those still waiting to hear. "Are you kidding me, I've been waiting since Thursday at 11am. Still no answer. You have my money! Where the hell is my order?"

Video game site Sixth Axis reports the experiences of another Game pre-order customer who claims to have fully updated all of his credit card details, only to have his order cancelled anyway. He told the site: "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."

Guardian reader Josh Hannaford pre-ordered his PS4 from Game in August, paying the £20 deposit and receiving an automated email that day acknowledging his order. On 19 November he received another email from Game, letting him know that the remainder of the cost would be taken from his account suggesting that he check with his payment provider that the funds would be available – which he duly did. A week after launch and he's heard nothing from Game. He has since queued several times to access the Game site's online chat support as well as applying for a call back, with no luck.

Finally this morning he received a response from the Game Twitter account, asking "can I help?" In a direct message conversation, Hannaford claims that we was told his order was classed as 'Phase Two' and would be sent before Christmas – even though he had made his order on the 'Phase One' cut-off day to ensure launch day delivery, and had been assured by live chat staff on the website that the console would be sent for 29 November. "Sorry If you have been misinformed but all phase one stock is now gone, phase two will be with you before Christmas," was the alleged reply.

Meanwhile, the tweets keep coming in to the Game account, this one on Thursday morning from Evette Parr: "Been trying to get in touch via the CS channels for a week - certainly not the quickest way & NO reply to my tweet - ridiculous." Forum posts also suggest there have been problems with Paypal payments for pre-ordered systems. The comments section beneath the Sixth Axis story, includes a post from a reader named NotHappyWithGame who provides a full transcript of his online chat with the retailer's customer support rep – here, difficulties with Paypal are blamed, even though the reader claims the account is in credit.

Game saved

It is likely the sheer volume of pre-orders taken, combined with the vagaries of hardware distribution on at such a large volume will have contributed to Game's woes – and there are plenty of tweets for customers who have received their consoles on time. The retailer went into administration last year, closing 277 stores, but was later bought out by investment firm OpCapita which saved 333 stores and has since re-opened several more. It is also not alone in its difficulty with pre-orders; readers who pre-ordered their PS4s from Amazon have also been in touch to say they are still waiting for machines.

"Almost half a million PS4 and Xbox One consoles have been sold in two weeks, and when you’re talking of numbers and demand on this scale, you’re bound to hit some problems," said Chris Dring, editor of industry news site, MCV. "I don’t know the details surrounding the current issues with next-gen pre-orders. Game said last month it had expected a seriously busy Christmas and had hired 4,500 extra temporary staff to compensate, and 100 extra people specifically for its contact centre. So hopefully they have the resource in place to help out their customers in need this Christmas, because there is going to be a lot more consoles sold between now and 25 December."

For consumers frustrated by the delay, it seems there is little recourse in consumer law if the terms and conditions of the pre-order include clauses that stress there is no guarantee of a specific delivery date. Game's online pre-order page states: "We cannot always guarantee that Limited Edition items or some Hardware will be available for delivery on the day of launch, but we will keep you informed if any issues arise." 

According to Jemma Robinson, the joint lead officer for civil law at the Trading Standards Institute, online pre-orders are not confirmed until an email is received that the goods are being dispatched. "Customers need to be aware when they're shopping online that the contracted is not finalised with the acknowledgement email, which confirms your offer to buy the product, but with the acceptance email, when the full payment is requested. Until that point both the customer and retailer are legally able to cancel the agreement. For a contract to be binding you need to have the offer, acceptance and consideration, which is basically the payment. Terms and conditions do differ between retailers though and customers should be aware of them."

Robinson suggests that aggrieved gamers should contact Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service helpline. "Customers need to ensure their payment details are correct so if they have changed cards, bank accounts or mobile phone numbers, the retailer needs to be informed. If all of that is correct, the best practice is for consumers to contact the retailer in writing so that they have evidence of a complaint. If it isn't resolved they can contact consumer services for help with their individual situation."

Christmas rush

For customers still hoping to grab an next-gen console before Christmas, many major retails such as Amazon, Asda and Argos are showing "sold out" messages on their websites, although the Guardian has been assured by retail insiders that that are machines in the channel and making their way to stores. This will, however, be little comfort to the Guardian readers still waiting for their pre-orders to be fulfilled.

"I pre-ordered a PS4 instore from Game in Belfast and was told I wouldn't be guaranteed before Christmas," says Stephen Cosgrove. "I was okay with that, given the lateness of my pre-order, but later I heard stories of consoles being sold straight through instead of filling pre-orders. I checked the store's Twitter feed (@GAME_Belfast), and saw those rumours all but confirmed."

So he tweeted them, "How is that acceptable? What's the point in me *paying* for a preorder if someone else can just walk in off the street?" The response was that sometimes customers cancel pre-orders. "Following that, they blocked me on Twitter."

• PS4 outstrips Xbox One to become UK's fastest selling console

• Sony's PS4 sells more than 2m units worldwide

• PlayStation 4 vs Xbox One: The next-gen consoles compared