I’ve pre-ordered a DVD from Amazon that is to be released on Tuesday. They give an estimated shipping date of May 26. Huh? Didn’t online retailers used to try to get pre-ordered DVDs into people’s hands pretty close to the actual release date?
Anybody else seeing something like this with Amazon?
Yup. I pre-ordered both the final Harry Potter book and the Twilight DVD for my teen-age daughter. Both times we were sadly eyeing shelves and shelves full of both at WalMart for same price (actually less due to no S&H) for a full week or so before it arrived.
I will save time and money by not using this service again as local WalMart seems to understand the popularity of such items and orders them in droves. The only advantage I think is that with Twilight we were allowed to download on/right after release date…
Well, that’s just craptastic.
I ordered a DVD from Amazon.co.uk. I just checked their website, which says that it will be dispatched on May 18 (the release date) and I can expect to receive it between May 27 and June 2. I’ve ordered other DVDs from them prior to the release date and received them early enough that Amazon.co.uk must have dispatched them prior to the official release date. They must have changed their policy so that they won’t do so prior to the release date.
Perhaps you should cancel the order and just buy it locally? (I would do that, except I can’t buy Region 2 DVDs locally.)
That’s my current plan. I actually had 2 DVDs on this order originally, and cancelled the other one thinking it was the hold up.
The last thing that I preordered from them had a ship date on the date the book came out - but I received it before then. I think that they just cover their butts.
Are you using the Super Saver shipping? That automatically pushes the estimated shipping date back (even though the order sometimes arrives even before the supposed shipping date rolls around).
Their days are kind of screwy right now. I ordered two things the 9th, and they shipped the 12th, with an estimated arrival date of the 20th. I got them yesterday.
I’ve also had a little trouble with their delivery. It’s important that I know the correct date because I live alone and need to know when my delivery will be there.
Also, I somehow got dropped from their “Today’s deals” email list. After two weeks of “technical problems” and still not fixed I worked myself into a snit and closed my account. That’ll teach 'em.
Now my free iPhone Kindle app is geting lonesome. 
I just downloaded Stanza. I’ll see how that works.
Amazon is screwy with delivery dates, but it’s not always their fault. Last year, my sister ordered “Dark Knight” and it arrived the day it was released everywhere else. Previously, she had ordered some books and dvds. She had a tracking number and this is where it gets screwy. The location where Amazon sent the package was about 50 miles from her place with an estimated delivery time of 2 days. The next day, she punches the tracking number and the package is suddenly in another state with estimate delivery time of 5 days.
There’s a possibility that something was wrong with one of her items, so we shifted the order to the nearest fulfillment center who could ship the order all at once instead of breaking it up into separate packages with different arrival dates.
I’ve found the estimated Amazon ship dates are usually later than they’re actually shipped. With stuff like Harry Potter, they usually make certain to have it arrive the actual day it comes out, but with regular stuff, I find it arrives on Wednesday (when it comes out on Tuesday). However, this is with Amazon Prime, which means I get the free two-day shipping. I’m not sure how this plays out with SuperSaver shipping, though I’ve found they usually UPS the SuperSaver stuff too.
The whole thing is a scam. They have warehouses everywhere, like Newegg. They can get most things to your door the next day, like Newegg. (Hence the unlimited “Amazon Prime” service.) Unlike Newegg, they play mindgames with you, offering you free shipping as long as they sit on the item and don’t ship it to you for a week. (Otherwise you have to pay.) Except they ship it anyway. ??
I recently ordered the new game that’s coming out, The Sims 3. Since it was supposed to the big amazing new game of the summer, I pre-ordered it on Amazon. Of course, with the free shipping, it said it would ship about 6 days after the release date. But somehow, I checked it this morning and they said the item had already shipped. I’m thankful for that, but all these shipping and delivery dates are confusing. It always said “June 8th” for shipping, so I thought that’d be the date that I’d actually get it. But only after maneuvering through pages and pages of info that I realized I’d actually get the game on June 15th.
I don’t CARE about the shipping date. Just give me the godamn day I’d get my shipment!
Oh yea. I’m really not gonna use Amazon again. The game has been sitting on WalMart and Target shelves this whole time while I’m wistfully waiting for my game to deliver.
How is this a scam?
Well, they do label your order “processing”, or whatever they call it, and say you can’t cancel it.
I’ve heard they pad the ratings, but they wouldn’t do that. Would they.
I pre-ordered the new Elvis Costello CD, which was released this week, and Amazon not only got it to me on the release date (even with the free shipping), but they also knocked two dollars off the price through their “Pre-Order Price Guarantee” (I ordered it for $11.99, they charged $9.99). Amazon is definitely in my good graces!