Amazon Orphans unite!

[Mercurius]

Good news for myself as well (finally!). "My Account" page says the set was shipped today and should arrive by June 18th--but the thing is, it is currently in Denver and I'm about 20 miles west of Denver, so I'm expecting tomorrow or the next day.

Now the annoying thing is--not for myself, but for pre-orderers--is that I HAD pre-ordered but cancelled and re-ordered on the 7th so that I could apply a $5 off "Complaint Promotion". June 7th isn't a pre-order, and some folks that ordered months in advance have been pushed back to July.

Now I think there is an explanation, but it is purely conjecture. Amazon has about a dozen "fulfillment centers" throughout the US. My guess is that the centers serve different regions and that shipping estimates have something to do with what your "local" fulfillment center has on hand. Maybe if, for example, Kansas (the closest one to me) has extra copies and Delaware is out, if you live in Baltimore you are out of luck--at least until some excess gets transferred from Kansas. In other words, it may be that Amazon has to do "in-house" transfers before shipping an item to a customer, rather than just shipping a copy from Kansas to Baltimore.

Of course I could be way off base; I'm just trying to figure out why I'm getting a copy this week, despite (re-) ordering on June 7th while, say, F5 and numerous others have to wait. Anyone have any other guesses?

 

[Andor]

I dunno according to my package tracking my books took 12 hours to go from Jacksonville florida to ... Jacksonville florida, and are still sitting there.

That having been said when I was in Colorado I frequently got things faster than I expected from Amazon so good luck!

Date Time Location Event Details
June 10, 2008 11:12:00 PM JACKSONVILLE FL Arrival Scan
June 9, 2008 12:23:00 AM JACKSONVILLE FL Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

 

[Mercurius]

I dunno according to my package tracking my books took 12 hours to go from Jacksonville florida to ... Jacksonville florida, and are still sitting there.

That having been said when I was in Colorado I frequently got things faster than I expected from Amazon so good luck!

Yeah, I've found that I get things quicker than expected here. I think Denver is major hub, at least for the Coffeyville, KS, center, so things get there quick and ship from there quick. I think it less likely that I get it tomorrow than Friday or Saturday, however. as you yourself are experiencing, packages have a way of "hanging out" when you don't want them to

Also, I noticed that my tracking info says:

June 11, 2008 08:21:00 PM DENVER CO Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

I didn't get the same "arrival scan" as you did, so while I just got a shipping notice about an hour ago, my guess is that it actually shipped earlier today and arrived in Denver sometime in the morning/afternoon.

In other words, Amazon isn't always up-to-date on their shipping departures and arrivals.

 

[thundershot]

Well... I threw in the towel. I need those books before the end of July (vacation week and out of town people coming, and we want to try out 4E), and Amazon is telling me they won't SHIP til mid-July. I sent them an e-mail, and they gave me 5 dollars off. Well, if you figure that they screwed me over on my preorder discount I had of 4 dollars, I made out with ONE DOLLAR. They did acknowledge and apologize that people who ordered two months after me got theirs... too little too late.

So.... since my extra PHB already shipped, and I bought a PHB at Borders, I went to buy.com and ordered the DMG and MM with the google checkout and got them both shipped free for about 30 bucks. I don't need 3 PHBs anyway, but it's not like they'd go to waste....

I also canceled my outstanding orders with amazon (except for one that I think I did get a relly good deal on that hasn't shipped yet) and will eventually get something with the 5 dollar off coupon...



Chris

 

[RigaMortus2]

Mine says "Shipping estimate: June 10, 2008". Pre-ordered it in march.

This is bull crap. I ordered mine Feb 7th 2008, and it was supposed to ship today June 10th. I get an email saying it's not getting shipped now until July 7th!!! Meanwhile, my friends who have placed orders through Amazon AFTER I did already have their copies.

What kind of customer service is this?

 

[SSquirrel]

My patience wore thin today, so I tried to upgrade my shipping. Now Amazon says I won't get my books until July! I thinking of cancelling my order and supporting my local hobby shop.

I did. Hurt the pocketbook but F Amazon if they can't supply my books on time when I pre-ordered March 1st. 3 month leadtime should be more than enough.

 

[Greylock]

Damn...

I order precious little online. When I do, it's usually older books I get through Noble Knight. I don't trust E-Bay and don't use it, and I've always gotten my new books from local stores, and not just game books. But... I've got plenty of friends who think I'm insane to not use Amazon.

I can tell you this - there is ZERO chance I will EVER order from Amazon considering the things I've read here tonight. Nada, zip, zilch. Never going to happen. And I will from here on point to this debacle as the reason why.

Wait to go, Amazon.

 

[SSquirrel]

I totally plan to continue ordering from amazon in the future, don't get me wrong. I'm very mad about them botching my order. I was fine w/not having my books till this past Monday, but waiting 2 more weeks when I can go anywhere and see them on the shelves taunting me? No way

Being told on the phone that my order was being packed as we speak and it would ship from Lexington and the next morning having an email saying it was getting delayed 2 weeks took the cake tho. I just won't pre-order from Amazon when it comes to something that I really want to make sure I get as close to street date as possible.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Just talked to a cust serve rep... They apologized, blah, blah, blah... End result, they are giving me a $3 credit on my NEXT purchase because when they moved my shipment date, they renigged on pre-order discount. Also, she upgraded me to Standard Shipping at no charge (I usually do Super Saver which is free shipping, but I think you have to wait a bit longer, not sure...).

Anyway, I'm over it. I will wait it out, but this will probably be the last time I order from Amazon. I don't care that my date got moved back, more than I care that I pre-ordered 4 months ago and those who ordered after me got their shippments already. I don't know, call me crazy, but isn't the advantage of pre-ordering that you are guaranteed the item on release day (meaning, they have one set aside especially for you?)???

In the future, if they is going to be an inventory problem, Amazon should limit the amount of preorders they accept...

 

[SSquirrel]

yeah but that would require amazon to ship a couple of days prior to the street date and that is somehow impossible, even tho it doesn't arrive till the street date. who knows.