The preorder penalty? Not very "premium"

[juliusb]

So I ordered a bunch of Apocalypse stuff from GW's website and my tracking # tells me it will be delivered on Tuesday? Yes, I read their preorder shipping policy but it's unacceptable for a "premium" product. Here's the thing; I never complain about GW prices because IMO they are worth the premium cost. However, if you're going to play that premium card you better have your stuff together.

Normally I have patience and I'm really chill about customer service. For instance, if I were waiting for some cheap thing from China, I wouldn't be upset if it took a while to get here or if it had a problem; that's the deal when you go cheap. Same with food; if Taco Bell gets my order wrong I don't sweat it because it's cheap and the workers are high-school kids who aren't exactly motivated to give you the best experience (I worked those jobs too). But if I'm dropping $50 on a steak I have a right to expect premium service.

So it make no sense that GW's policy to punish preorders by making them wait beyond the release date. If anything, they should ship early enough to guarantee on-time delivery and if some people get it a day or two early consider it a thank-you bonus.

At bottom, GW can't have it both ways; do they have a premium product or don't they?

[eldargal]

So you want a premium service, which GW do not offer, to go with the premium product. Because those are two separate things. Krug champagne is a premium product but if I buy it I don't expect to have it delivered to my door unless that is a separate service offered by the retailer.

I think it is stupid that pre-ordering doesn't get you the items earlier too, but as GW don't make that claim they don't have to do it and wanting them to do something when they don't is not the same as them failing to provide a service.

[Pssyche]

I have to agree with Juliusb here.

Last year, when the Rulebook was released, they e-mailed me that my copy had been despatched, as they had advertised it would, on the Friday.
When it arrived by the following Tuesday, the courier's documentation showed that it had not been despatched on the Friday but on the Monday.
So they had lied to me and I wasn't best happy.

Last August, I made an order that was to be delivered to my local GW Store.
Again I was notified by e-mail that my order had been despatched.
That package took a fortnight to arrive by courier.
I never found out the actual despatch time for that one.
GW Manchester had "thoughtfully" removed all the documentation for me.

This time around, I'm told my Apocalypse Order was sent yesterday by courier, yet the automated tracking says it was sent at 04:19 Saturday morning.
Yet again, they've lied to me and I'm fecking sick of it.

As Juliusb says, I don't get on Games Workshop's case over prices.
But I do object very strongly to constantly being lied to.

[juliusb]

I see what you're saying Eldargal but I disagree a little bit about the Krug. As far as I know Krug doesn't encourage you to buy from their website as opposed to the store so I wouldn't expect them to ship it to me either. GW on the other hand does encourage the use of their website in 2 important ways: 1. They restrict other websites as much as they can (no images, check-out baskets etc.) and 2. GW offer products that are online only.

The bottom line is that preorders are good for businesses; it locks-in sales early. I remember the days when I used to play videogames that the retailers or publishers would offer additional content, swag or even early access to games if you preordered them. I remember getting a call from Electronics Boutique telling me that my copy of Street Fighter II for the SNES was ready for pickup 2 days before it went on the shelf and that little gesture gave me a lot of excitement and gave them a lot of goodwill.

So in reality it's not a big deal whatsoever that I have to wait until Tuesday but it would've been nice to have the book this weekend. There's no additional cost to GW ship on Wednesday instead of Friday and it's not some 'extra' that I'm asking for. I usually go to my FLGS at midnight and get the stuff at 20% off but that wasn't an option this time.

This just goes to a point that I've always felt about GW that's kind of weird: they seem to act like a Defense Contractor in their secrecy and practices and I think they forget they're a hobby company that, at bottom, sells fun.

[Cpt Codpiece]

yeah i have got to the point of just getting my pre orders sent to the shop, if the order aint there it comes from shop stock. simple.
GW's policy over the last year on releases has been stupid, 2 weeks advance on coming products is not good business. and the glimpse into FW that you get in the £5.50 advert they like to call white dwarf is usually 2 months behind what's actually out.
i know they are trying to get back to the 90's heyday of pre internet and the wow factor of new minis, i remember the release of calgar and the librarius and chaplains, it was exciting.... (not just because of the step up in quality from the RT era minis)....... but the game, the industry and the world has changed and moved on.

[Gotthammer]

I'm not overly impressed by the pre-order penalty. Especially annoying as the local GW is closed Sunday and Monday so if, like me, you work Saturdays you can't even pick stuff up the first few days after release.
Not the end of the world, true, but recently I got a pre-order of a band's new album on the day of release with the post coming from Europe. And given basically everything was leaked on Thursday people getting books on Friday before release wouldn't hurt much (not to mention it would be an incentive to pre-order from GW online if you get it in the mail a day before release, no?). I'd potentially pay a (little) more for some items to get them "on time" with an online order.

[Wolfshade]

I agree with EG, if it isn't Krug, don't bother..

[magickbk]

I gave up on preordering books after the last 3 I ordered all arrived damaged. It is worth the wait for me not to have my book battered before I get the chance to open the cover.

[Defenestratus]

I stopped pre-ordering when my Eldar order arrived 2 days after everyone else just picked it up at the store. I missed out on a whole weekend of gaming thanks to the fact that GW can't get me my book the same day as the people in the stores can.

Then today I went in search for an Apocalypse book.

I went to three LGS' to try and find it. ALL THREE of them told me that their orders were delayed for some reason or another - all of them were pissed about it and one of the LGS owners flew off into a tirade saying that now he's going to be stuck with 10 apoc books that he'll never sell because everyone went to the GW store at the mall that MAGICALLY HAD a pile of at least 30 of them sitting on a table ready for sale.

Every day GW gives me more and more reason to loathe and despise them. To think that a mere year ago I was one of their biggest apologists.

[DarkLink]

I understand why companies offer pre-orders. I don't understand why consumers are dumb enough to bother in most cases, though.

[jgebi]

Should we all just change hobby? I have never pre-ordered from GW and properly never will I will always pre-order their video games though as I get the tome set with all the goodies where are the goodies in GW? I would rather order of Black Cultist and save a little money and wait longer then have this bull**** you guys are saying about. also is it just me or do their re-sellers have better customer service?

[Mr.Pickelz]

I do find it a bit weird when my Gamer's Ed. says it was shipped (GW-E-mail) on July 3rd, But I didn't receive a tracking number till this past Thursday, July 11th, Of which shows that it was "dispatched" on Thursday, July 11th, and not on July 3rd as the GW E-Mail implied...

This leads me to believe that on July 3rd, at GW, the contents (Gamer's Ed.) was set-aside and ready for shipping, but wasn't sent out. It was as if it was in a "Waiting Area" or something. I am of the understanding this might have to do with the July 4th holiday delivery delay that we have here in U.S.A.


Edit: I would like to note that I'm not overly concerned with shipping time on this item, as an Apoc game for me won't be happening anytime soon, I'm mainly concerned with the confusion over shipping details that have been provided by GW.

[Mr Mystery]

People didn't read the terms and conditions (or T&Cs as us professional types call them)....


And that's the fault of the provider because..........

[Pendragon38]

People didn't read the terms and conditions (or T&Cs as us professional types call them)....


And that's the fault of the provider because..........

Ding ding ding.....you hit the nail on the head. When I read it that's when I stop Pre-ordering from them.

[jgebi]

becuase we are lazy and you should do what we want as it is out money. I know I am properly missing logic here but screw logic

[eldargal]

People didn't read the terms and conditions (or T&Cs as us professional types call them)....


And that's the fault of the provider because..........
Yep. The policy may be stupid but they deliver what they promise, the only convenience of pre-ordering is picking it up from a store on release day which is fine if you have a store. It's what I do, it's not as good as getting things early if you pre-order but whatever.

[Pssyche]

It isn't a matter of early or late, although I'm not keen on getting things late just the same as everyone else.

As my post made abundantly clear, It's a matter of being lied to.

[eldargal]

In your case, yes, you should have complained really.

[Wildeybeast]

It's not like GW are doing anything different to many other retailers. Many major computer game release puts harsh penalties in place for retailers who ship early, forcing them to offer day specific courier services on pre-orders or collect from store options. MTG also stops all retailers from shipping early. GW would actually look a bit amateurish as a business if they were shipping stuff early by both losing control on the release of their product and missing an opportunity to get people into their stores.
It would be nice if GW offered a guaranteed Saturday courier service, but they don't and that will either be because a) they figure there wouldn't be enough take up on it to make it viable or b) (more likely) they want people in the shops buying extra plastic crap. Either way, that's their call. People seem to be under the misapprehension that by pre-ordering, you are doing GW a favour and should get something in return. You aren't. You could cancel that pre-order, so until the product is actually dispatched, GW has no guaranteed sale. It's simply a bonus for you that you can guarantee getting your product on the day of release and not having to fight with the rest of the great unwashed for whatever stock they have in store.

[daboarder]

The difference being that if you pre-order a computer game you are pretty much guaranteed to get it on THE DAY OF RELEASE.

[Wildeybeast]

You are with GW. Admittedly you have to go into store to collect it, but you are guaranteed. The only aspect GW lags behind other companies in is by not providing a release day courier service, but they want people in stores which is fair enough.

[daboarder]

You are with GW. Admittedly you have to go into store to collect it, but you are guaranteed. The only aspect GW lags behind other companies in is by not providing a release day courier service, but they want people in stores which is fair enough.

No your not and the 6th ed release is the perfect example thereof, nevermind the eldar release or the tau release, all of which were accompanied by situations where pre-orders were delayed in shipping with regular store stock being readily available.

[Magpie]

The only aspect GW lags behind other companies in is by not providing a release day courier service, but they want people in stores which is fair enough.

Release day is pretty much always a Saturday? No couriers deliver on Saturdays where I live.

[Wildeybeast]

No your not and the 6th ed release is the perfect example thereof, nevermind the eldar release or the tau release, all of which were accompanied by situations where pre-orders were delayed in shipping with regular store stock being readily available.

Those are problems to do with supply of products. They are significant ones which need addressing and which shouldn't be happening for major retailer/manufacturer (though they do from time to time). However they aren't relevant to the the issue of dispatching pre-orders in time for release day deliveries. Those supply issues would still have been exactly the same if Gw posted stuff out on a Wednesday or Thursday. Putting up pre-orders a few weeks in advance would give them a much better idea of demand.

@Magpie Where do you live? Most of the big courier services in the UK will deliver on a Saturday (for extra cost of course). Hell, even our standard postal service delivers on a Saturday. I'm sure most other developed nations are the same, so unless you are living way out in the wilds there should be one to deliver to you on a Saturday.

[daboarder]

I think you missed the point, pre-order implies priority, in that first come first served, not frak it we've already sold it to you so you can wait.

[Renegade]

Much complaint about nothing much.

The dispatch date is no doubt when the item was put aside, ready for dispatch, which is common practice.

You are going pre-order so you don't have to queue up wit the rest of the rabble and risk disappointment, it is not as if you are charged a higher rate.

[Wildeybeast]

Orders should be fulfilled on a first come first served basis, but when they don't have enough stock to do so, they can't. Live stock updates on the website would help greatly with that. Once they put themselves in that position, they had to make the best of a bad situation and their duty to run the business to the best of their ability meant they had to have some product out on the shelves for launch. It would have done massive damage to their share value if they had gone to launch with nothing on the shelves, it does significantly less if they don't meet all the pre-orders by the promised date. They effed up with their stock and their should be some form of recompense for those who had to wait, as well as significant lessons to be learnt, but I still don't see how that affects the OP point of wanting stuff shipped early.

[Magpie]

The only guarantee of a preorder is that you will have your order filled, if that is a little bit later than the guys who bought it in store too bad.
Get a box of tissues and be glad that you didn't have to compete with anyone to get your stuff, you're paying for the security of getting your items from the first shipping run nothing else.

"@Magpie Where do you live? Most of the big courier services in the UK will deliver on a Saturday (for extra cost of course). Hell, even our standard postal service delivers on a Saturday. I'm sure most other developed nations are the same, so unless you are living way out in the wilds there should be one to deliver to you on a Saturday."

Australia and last time I checked we are ranked number 2 on the worlds most developed nations. We don't however get couriers or post on a Saturday.

[daboarder]

The only guarantee of a preorder is that you will have your order filled, if that is a little bit later than the guys who bought it in store too bad.
Get a box of tissues and be glad that you didn't have to compete with anyone to get your stuff, you're paying for the security of getting your items from the first shipping run nothing else.

Wait do you realise that this makes no sense what so ever.

You have the guarantee that you will have your order filled.....But if its not filled until later you should stop winging and deal with it.......

that is what you just said.....WOW!

[Magpie]

Wait do you realise that this makes no sense what so ever.
You have the guarantee that you will have your order filled.....But if its not filled until later you should stop winging and deal with it.......
that is what you just said.....WOW!


Removed. See http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/faq.php?faq=termsmaster#faq_termsuse section 7

"Pre-orders are the best way to ensure you get your hands on new releases. The first place you can get this product is in your local Games Workshop Hobby Store or Trade Stockist.
One week before releasing a product we will put it on our webstore and allow you to pre-order it.
If you place your order on the Saturday or Sunday of the weekend before the release day and ship it to your local Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we guarantee that it will be there for you to pick up on the day of release. What's more, it's always free to ship to our Hobby Centres.
If you choose to ship to another address and place your order by the Wednesday before release we will ship this on the Friday (i.e. the day before release). Please refer to the "Delivery of your order" page for the time it will take for your order to reach you."

If you can't be arsed to go and pick it up then you have to wait.

What doesn't make sense is "I read the terms and conditions and accepted them and paid my money and they did what they said they would do and now I'm pissed that they did that"

[daboarder]

and here we come back full circle.


we guarantee that it will be there for you to pick up on the day of release

No they don't, there has been plenty of incidents where such things did not happen, most notably and worryingly with the 6th ed collectors where those who order for in store delivery got the ultimate shaft.

either way none of that addresses your previous brain backwards statement, which you responded to in true internet style by calling me out on a misplaced vowel....well done magpie, well done!

[Magpie]

either way none of that addresses your previous brain backwards statement,

What part of "if you get it delivered to the shop it will be there on the day if not it will be there sometime after that" is it so hard for your brain to process?

I'll type this slowly for you; pre-order is to ensure you get your order but not when you get your order if you do not have it delivered to the shop.

Sure there are some instances when that performance guarantee is not met, however that is a separate issue as the OP is taking exception to the terms that are clearly stated on the website.

[daboarder]

The part where you state that you are paying for the items to be from the first shipping run....but then you admit that they can arrive AFTER the regular stock?

[Renegade]

"Pre-orders are the best way to ensure you get your hands on new releases. The first place you can get this product is in your local Games Workshop Hobby Store or Trade Stockist.
One week before releasing a product we will put it on our webstore and allow you to pre-order it.
If you place your order on the Saturday or Sunday of the weekend before the release day and ship it to your local Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we guarantee that it will be there for you to pick up on the day of release. What's more, it's always free to ship to our Hobby Centres.
If you choose to ship to another address and place your order by the Wednesday before release we will ship this on the Friday (i.e. the day before release). Please refer to the "Delivery of your order" page for the time it will take for your order to reach you."

If you can't be arsed to go and pick it up then you have to wait.

What doesn't make sense is "I read the terms and conditions and accepted them and paid my money and they did what they said they would do and now I'm pissed that they did that"

Couldn't agree more.

There are very few areas where GW is a let down, and very few companies have better or same level of customer service.

[Magpie]

The part where you state that you are paying for the items to be from the first shipping run....but then you admit that they can arrive AFTER the regular stock?

Edit: Ignore this bit

I said nothing about the order being guaranteed to be arriving before or after the regular stock hits the shop.

However,

Typing slow again for you:

If they are dispatched to the shop then they are available on the same day as everyone else, that means they have arrived as part of the first shipping run.

If they are sent to a different address then they are dispatched on the day [I]before the release and will arrive at an indeterminate time later due to the unpredictable nature of a door to door delivery service, that also means they have been dispatched at the same time as all the other items in the same shipping run, the slight delay is the sacrifice you make for door to door.

[daboarder]

http://natfka.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/games-workshop-pre-order-not-filled.html

You we're saying.......read it as slow as you like mate.


I didn't actually state anything about shipping runs tho' did I. You're just making up stuff again.


WOW it must be late..... did you type this too fast?


The only guarantee of a preorder is that you will have your order filled, if that is a little bit later than the guys who bought it in store too bad.
Get a box of tissues and be glad that you didn't have to compete with anyone to get your stuff, you're paying for the security of getting your items from the first shipping run nothing else.

edit: for the sake of transparency magpie, why the hell are you bother to call me out on missing a o in too.....do you not have a better point to make?

[Magpie]

http://natfka.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/games-workshop-pre-order-not-filled.html

You we're saying.......read it as slow as you like mate.


Sure there are some instances when that performance guarantee is not met, however that is a separate issue as the OP is taking exception to the terms that are clearly stated on the website.

I'd also add to that this from the GW pre-order terms:
"One week before releasing a product we will put it on our webstore and allow you to pre-order it."
and
"If you place your order on the Saturday or Sunday of the weekend before the release day and ship it to your local Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we guarantee that it will be there for you to pick up on the day of release. "

Yet Faeit says:
"The order was placed on Wednesday."

So a week before the release is the previous Saturday yet this guy didn't order until the Wednesday, too late for the release day guarantee.
Pre-ordering it later than the cut off date does not allow you to go and take the minis that are there to be sold to the guys who haven't pre-ordered.

I'm quite sure Faiet would be carrying on like just a big a ***** if the story was about a mate who went to the shop on release day and couldn't get his minis as all the shop stock had been used to fill late pre-orders.

They should have typed it slow for you too; you'd have seen to story isn't about pre-order performance but really about shop stock being kept as shop stock and suggesting that people who ring in should have stock reserved for them and anyone who walks into the shop with money in hand should miss out.


WOW it must be late..... did you type this to fast?


Removed. See http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/faq.php?faq=termsmaster#faq_termsuse section 7
As I have shown however the items are in the first shipping run.

[Magpie]

WOW it must be late..... did you type this too fast?

edit: for the sake of transparency magpie, why the hell are you bother to call me out on missing a o in too.....do you not have a better point to make?

I was answering your question. Did I type it out to fast? No it didn't go anywhere much less to fast, it was too fast.

[The Girl]

Folks.... there was a amiable discussion going on; I suggest you return to it.

[Magpie]

My apologies to the community, the matter is closed.

[Pssyche]

Well, my Mail Order Experience continues to gather pace and knows no bounds.

I've had to take a day off work at short notice in order to receive my Apocalypse Book, Cards and Templates.
But what with Apocalypse being my favourite form of 40K, that's cool.

I've now just found out that it's been sent to Carlisle, which is only 130 miles away.
Oh, and overnight it was around fifteen minutes drive away.
Fecking Brilliant, I really didn't see that one fecking coming.
I'M LIVID!

[Magpie]

Sounds like GW need to sack their courier company.

[daboarder]

its cool though magpie, he totally got first dibs amd had it arrive on time, or baring that had it filled with store stock......OH!

[Magpie]

its cool though magpie, he totally got first dibs amd had it arrive on time, or baring that had it filled with store stock......OH!

Drop it.

[daboarder]

out of curiosity pssyche, do you get paid hourly? if so how much additional cash did that little event cost you? or the petrol you spent? would you pre-order again or just pick the items up form a store?

[juliusb]

People didn't read the terms and conditions (or T&Cs as us professional types call them)....


And that's the fault of the provider because..........

I read the policy and I only preordered because I had to this time; I was at my cottage all weekend and it would've been nice to read the book on the boat. I never said I was surprised, I said it was a dumb policy for a supposedly premium product.

[eldargal]

If GW sent the order to the wrong store then that is something you should take that up with customer service.

[Magpie]

Sounds like it didn't go to a shop but rather to a private address.
As I said before it sounds more like a courier issue if they "miss" the address by 130 miles?

[juliusb]

I appreciate the discussion; many of you have stories about shipping errors etc. and that is welcome. But my original post was more about how dumb the policy is when everything goes right.

I contend that GW should ship preorders on Thursday or even Wednesday. Here are the 2 sides as they effect GW:

1. Ship earlier: Some customers might get their stuff a day early which GW apparently doesn't want because of leaks. On the other hand, it builds good-will with customers because getting stuff even a day early is awesome.

2. Current shipping policy: ensures that no one gets their stuff early, theoretically preserving control over information for 1-2 days before the release. Downside is that it really annoys customers who have to wait 3 extra days.

Again, I realize that this is just a game and I'm not really upset about it because it's nothing compared to real problems. But that point goes against GW too; it's a game about fun, stupid entertainment. Do they really need to be so uptight about it?

[Psychosplodge]

Assuming they're using Royal mail theoretically if they ship first class on the Friday (and actually ship it then) you should get it Saturday 95% of the time. If they're using a different courier and not paying the premium for a Saturday delivery it should come Monday, again assuming they actually shipped it Friday.


And I've wrote that and noticed you're in detroit. I have no idea how your postal system works

[Pssyche]

My order turned up today, late afternoon.
The days off have each cost me more than the value of the order.
It did eventually come to my home address.
I would not have pre-ordered for home delivery if I had been in a position to go in and collect it, but I was working away over the weekend in a town that doesn't have a Games Workshop.
The upshot is that I'll never knowingly use UPS again.
Their Customer Services are shocking.

Anyway, now it's here I can start planning for our next big Apocalypse Battle on the Bank Holiday Weekend in August.
We've got a meeting on Friday evening to discuss the changes that have occurred and how they will affect our battle.

[magickbk]

And I've wrote that and noticed you're in detroit. I have no idea how your postal system works

From good to poorly to terrible, depending on the location and person. At my current location, I've never had a single problem. At my mother's house while I was growing up I would constantly have shipments disappear, and I would watch the mailman sit in his van outside and look through everyone's mail way too closely. There is almost no way to fix a situation with a bad mailperson.

[Magpie]

I appreciate the discussion; many of you have stories about shipping errors etc. and that is welcome. But my original post was more about how dumb the policy is when everything goes right.

I contend that GW should ship preorders on Thursday or even Wednesday. Here are the 2 sides as they effect GW:

1. Ship earlier: Some customers might get their stuff a day early which GW apparently doesn't want because of leaks. On the other hand, it builds good-will with customers because getting stuff even a day early is awesome.

2. Current shipping policy: ensures that no one gets their stuff early, theoretically preserving control over information for 1-2 days before the release. Downside is that it really annoys customers who have to wait 3 extra days.

Again, I realize that this is just a game and I'm not really upset about it because it's nothing compared to real problems. But that point goes against GW too; it's a game about fun, stupid entertainment. Do they really need to be so uptight about it?

Why is doing what they say they will being uptight?
If you want your stuff on the day like everyone else, just pre-order it for shop delivery.
As others have said the Royal Mail system should get to you on the Saturday anyway but as we've seen somethings go astray with one off deliveries so they don't want to gie an undertaking they can't keep so they say it will leave Friday and get to you ASAP.