| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I just opened up my e-mail client and found ‘these orders have shipped’ messages for orders #2880198 and #2906882. I placed the first of these orders in early November, and the other a couple of weeks later, and I’ll admit there were a couple of times when I was tempted to follow the example of others and post a rather testy “when will my gear ship?” thread.
But then I would remember that the website headline throughout November, including when I made my orders, had explicitly declared that the Great Golem Sale was projected to involve order-volumes that would bury the warehouse staff up to their eyebrows, so I held my peace and had faith in Paizo’s people and protocols. I believe my thought process boiled down to
Now my patience has been rewarded — my orders are on their way — and nobody involved, on either end, has created any unnecessary drama about the process.
So, to those Paizo staff who have been working hard, fast and furious to fulfill that avalanche of orders completely, correctly, and as quickly as humanly possible, I say a sincere “Thank you!” for all your efforts and wish you the very best for the holiday season. ;D
CEO
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks for your patience and understanding. I have personally been putting a bunch of XP into Profession: Warehouse Picker over the past three weeks. It is amazing how long it takes to pick orders that contain 10, 20, 30 or even five hundred items! But the staff has been steadily plugging away and we are gaining ground. I expect a new level tomorrow when I help out again. Thanks again for keeping the faith!
-Lisa
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have to second Trace's sentiments.. although I'm still waiting for mine, I expected it.. because of hte sale.. but the warehouse folks don't get enough good karma.. so ..
Keep it up guys.. I used to work warehouse for Nordstrom.. I know how it goes.. and with only 5 people.. that's gotta be tough.. keep it up guys!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've seen a good few posts now on the delays during the recent sale.
I've seen some by people complaining there wasn't any communication. As Trace says above, it was plastered all over the top of the site that there could be long delays, and at least once I saw 20 working days (might as well say a month) stated by Customer Services.
Paizo isn't Amazon. They don't have a bunch of giant warehouses with huge teams of pickers and packers. They're also not dealing with only a hundred or so orders a day (at least, not if their order numbers are strictly consecutive - I've seen the sort of difference a few days made between two of my orders and it quite frankly scares me.) and throwing a few extra people at the problem (as some have suggested) wouldn't really make much of a dent. If you reach the point where 20 extra warehouse staff are just tripping over each other then there's not much point simply throwing resources at a short-term problem.
On the other hand, I also expect Paizo have learned from this and don't duplicate it again without better preparation. I'd hope they either keep their next sale to a shorter span of time (allowing them to repeat it the next week if they still have capacity, or cut it off if not), or are already looking into expanding the warehouse facility for the future, and/or updating their system to provide more ongoing updates to customers during delays.
All in all, being a victim of your own success isn't the worst fate for a company. I have every sympathy for both the affected customers and Paizo in this situation, and am happy to see the majority just accepting that things were going to take a while, as we were told it would, and keeping to polite queries to customer service.
(And of course, a big thank you to everyone involved in getting our orders processed and shipped out!)
Yep, that's right, our community is different from other companies and what would be unacceptable from a big box is ok by me from Paizo. My order is late too, but the warehouse and customer service people are working hard and learning from this exercise and that's good enough for me. I will defend them, it's a company that's learning and growing, they're trying to do the right thing as evidenced by the OGL gaming info you get for free without ever buying a single thing from them, and for that I'll stand by them through thick and thin. This thread is for showing some appreciation and that's what I have for this company, Thanks Paizo, don't worry if my order is late, I know you're trying and I'd rather get a late order from you than a timely order from a big box company.
incredible.
That sums up Paizo right there.
I didn't partake in the sale this time around, but from what I saw it was... incredible. I wouldn't have minded a delay at all.
|
The main reason for such good will: Problems like this are rare. They are usually very good at getting things out on time. It's only in unusual circumstances; like a big sale being even bigger than they expected, or a big rush due to a convention; that cause big delays like this.
They're also very good at listening to their customers and treating them well in other ways, for the most part. There are always occasional problems, but nobody's perfect.
So, in short, they have that customer good will for a reason.
The main reason for such good will: Problems like this are rare. They are usually very good at getting things out on time. It's only in unusual circumstances; like a big sale being even bigger than they expected, or a big rush due to a convention; that cause big delays like this.
They're also very good at listening to their customers and treating them well in other ways, for the most part. There are always occasional problems, but nobody's perfect.
So, in short, they have that customer good will for a reason.
Yeah. I've placed around six hundred orders and had issues with maybe a dozen. All of those were rectified quickly and beyond what paizo were obligated to do.
The warehouse and CS crews are terrific 95% of the time and stupidly busy the other 5% of the time, making them late, possibly but still terrific - my orders during this insane period have all been packed with the usual, stellar care (thanks Cassidy and Mika!)
If I'd placed my first order with paizo in the last few months, I'd probably be concerned too. In context though, this is just a minor, temporary glitch. It's obviously a genuine problem, but they'll work it out. :)
|
I'm still seeing my order "Pending" and it's my first one with Paizo... but honestly, I expected it and I probably made it worse when I placed a second order and selected to put it together with my first pending order. Oh, and that second order contained 23 items to add to the initial 2.
I just wish there was another shipping option. Why can't there be a "I Live in Seattle, just send it with some one going to G&G this Saturday" option? :P