Pathfinder Playtest Preorder Update

I don't normally post, but I fely compelled to today. As disappointing as this may be, I honestly must say Paizo customer service always impresses me. It's clear you care deeply about your customers and your products. Thanks for letting us know, and doing right by us, even in circumstances out of your control! We all knew you would!

It is understandable that there are going to be some delays. Perhaps this will help get the kinks out of the system for the release of the new Core Rulebook next year.

Instead of a store credit I would prefer a $15 refund to my credit card that would offset the delivery charges since Amazon failed to meet up to its obligation.

Wow, that's very generous considering it's entirely not your fault. I mean, I'm bummed to have to wait for the hard cover, but I'll still have the pdf AND 15 bucks to buy cool Paizo stuff. Thanks!

Wow, the timing on me checking the site out is perfect. The credit are a nice touch and the virtual version of the book will still be available so it should be fine :3

Thank you for the follow up.

That's honestly very frustrating. Doubly so when people who ordered through local stores will have their books on time (or before release in some cases...).

I was looking forward to getting my books all week. Hopefully they will at least be here before my group has our first session scheduled.

As always, top notch customer service.

So I got the email about Amazon shipping. Funny. I got an email back on July 13th that said this

Shipping Method Amazon Standard Delivery
Package Tracking Shipped Fri, Jul 13, 2018 (package 1110509)
Not trackable

SO... Who is telling the truth.

Still not gotten mine so Paizo jumped the gun?

Thanks to Paizo but oi, c'mon Amazon. Is it the weather? I imagine the technical and marketing staff, let alone operations, spent a lot of effort to put all this together. PLUS they're getting ready for Gen Con!

I must admit I liked the idea of everyone digging into their books at the same time, but hey at least we'll all be cracking open those PDFs tomorrow.

So I got the email about Amazon shipping. Funny. I got an email back on July 13th that said this

Shipping Method Amazon Standard Delivery
Package Tracking Shipped Fri, Jul 13, 2018 (package 1110509)
Not trackable

SO... Who is telling the truth.

Still not gotten mine so Paizo jumped the gun?

On July 12th, Vic Wertz says:

NO preorders have shipped. The confirmation email some of you have received says "A package... is about to ship from Amazon Main Warehouse via Amazon Standard Delivery."

We are still in the process of charging cards so that we can deliver Amazon the data on the orders that were successfully charged. Amazon will then be shipping them with the target of delivering to most customers near the August 2 release date (which is when the PDF will be available).

My Order History shows it as shipped that day because their site isn't set up to account for another fulfillment service actually delivering the package, but if you check the email you received, it really does say "about to ship."

Ah boo. That stinks that I won't get the physical copy until the 9th according to Amazon. I've been watching the playtest posts come out with excitement, so i guess I can wait a few more days.

So I got the email about Amazon shipping. Funny. I got an email back on July 13th that said this

Shipping Method Amazon Standard Delivery
Package Tracking Shipped Fri, Jul 13, 2018 (package 1110509)
Not trackable

SO... Who is telling the truth.

Still not gotten mine so Paizo jumped the gun?

I think that's a notification of intent to ship. It wasn't really shipped. More like "hey Amazon, come get this" as when they put an order in with them. If you've ever gotten sent a tracking number for a package, but looking it up it wasn't available yet or it ready "waiting to be picked up" that's the same thing.

I don't believe Paizo jumped the gun, more than Amazon didn't coordinate something and/or weather maybe.

This is a huge fumble. Huge. We forked over good money in good faith for a product that can be downloaded for free, to have zero tracking info, zero amount of real feedback, and just a disappointing ‘oops’ email.

I ordered the book because I don’t like large PDFs. I like books. I ordered a book. There is no book, at least no this week. I suspect this won’t be sorted until after GenCon.

Major, major disappointment here. I will not make this mistake again, more fool me.

A bit sad, but here in NZ I wasn't expecting it for a month anyway. So it'll 100% be September before I see it now. Thanks for letting us know, rather than just hanging on, and the PDFs are there :)

Ah boo. That stinks that I won't get the physical copy until the 9th according to Amazon. I've been watching the playtest posts come out with excitement, so i guess I can wait a few more days.

Actually, this was not an email but a link that was in the email that went right to Paizo's web site. Yes the email says about to ship, but the link that goes right to Paizos site says Shipped.

Just overnight it to me keep your $15 bucks, nothing I want on the site. Besides $15 bucks doe snot about to much. I am not a fan of PDF's I cannot stand reading on a PC or a tablet. I like the old fashion book method for everything

A bit sad, but here in NZ I wasn't expecting it for a month anyway. So it'll 100% be September before I see it now. Thanks for letting us know, rather than just hanging on, and the PDFs are there :)

Have to agree. I hate PDF's Give me a book. Because when the missles fly or the zombies knock out the power, Your pdf ain't worth nothing on that tablet or PC with no power. That book at least offers me TP, a fire, or a good read.

So, wait, even pre-orders which are destined overseas (i.e. Europe and so on) have only started shipping on July 28th? That makes it basically impossible that they will arrive earlier than mid-August, given every past experience I've had with overseas shipping. :-/

IceniQueen wrote:

So I got the email about Amazon shipping. Funny. I got an email back on July 13th that said this

Shipping Method Amazon Standard Delivery
Package Tracking Shipped Fri, Jul 13, 2018 (package 1110509)
Not trackable

SO... Who is telling the truth.

Still not gotten mine so Paizo jumped the gun?

On July 12th, Vic Wertz says:

Vic Wertz wrote:

NO preorders have shipped. The confirmation email some of you have received says "A package... is about to ship from Amazon Main Warehouse via Amazon Standard Delivery."

We are still in the process of charging cards so that we can deliver Amazon the data on the orders that were successfully charged. Amazon will then be shipping them with the target of delivering to most customers near the August 2 release date (which is when the PDF will be available).

My Order History shows it as shipped that day because their site isn't set up to account for another fulfillment service actually delivering the package, but if you check the email you received, it really does say "about to ship."

This is all correct.

There is no book, at least no this week. I suspect this won’t be sorted until after GenCon.

Paizo's initial prediction was Aug 1,2, or 3. It's Amazon. They can get things places overnight if they have a mind to. So the books may be a few days later than that.

Staff have already said that Amazon has started the process, and is already shipping books.

Your statement that this won't be sorted until after Gen Con is just plain wrong. Staff have *already* sorted this.

And I'd be really surprised if all of us don't have our books by the end of the weekend, just a few days later than we expected.

1st, I want to thank you for taking the initiative to offer some sort of compensation for something that wasn't your fault.
2nd, Thank you for letting us know as soon as possible. I was a little disappointed, but the PDFs will do nicely. I ordered the books to have a piece of "history." Most of my play group can't read the same book at once anyway.
3rd, I hope to all that is mighty that you are getting some sort of apology from Amazon for this. I was planning on starting to pre-order other things through them in the future and this has me reconsidering (though I will admit we don't know the full story so it could be both Paizo and Amazon at fault).
4th, if you do decide to use Amazon fulfillment in the future, maybe look to getting tracking information? I myself wouldn't mind paying just a little bit more to make sure I know when a package is arriving. That way I can stop watching the mailbox like a sad person.

This is what happens when you put your business in the hands of another company.
I hope Paizo is all over Amazon for this foul up.
It certently damages Paizo reputation

Paizo should over night. Keep the $15, make it right'

Vic, do you know if Amazon will already have the books overseas at distribution centers and just need to ship them to specific recipients? I live in Australia, so I don't know if I should expect a few days or a few weeks.

I resisted ordering from Amazon and ordered from Paizo.. only to find out Paizo used Amazon for the fulfillment.... =(

And I'd be really surprised if all of us don't have our books by the end of the weekend, just a few days later than we expected.

Unless Amazon springs for express air shipping overseas (which costs them a pretty nickel, so few chances of that), affected customers in Europe, Australia and other continents outside of North America will 100% not get their books "by the end of the weekend".

So, wait, even pre-orders which are destined overseas (i.e. Europe and so on) have only started shipping on July 28th?

All 6 of the orders they shipped prior to today were Canadian. They did ship several dozen international orders so far today.

4th, if you do decide to use Amazon fulfillment in the future, maybe look to getting tracking information? I myself wouldn't mind paying just a little bit more to make sure I know when a package is arriving. That way I can stop watching the mailbox like a sad person.

Yes. Please. Not having tracking information is really the worst.

affected customers in Europe, Australia and other continents outside of North America will 100% not get their books "by the end of the weekend".

As Jhaeman says, it depends on whether the books are already at those distribution centers

I live 20 minutes from the DuPont fulfillment center in Washington. I can wait a few days for Amazon to get their ducks in a row. I'm sure Paizo is all over them about this. I'll make due with the PDF until my copy arrives.

Thanks for letting us know.

Paizo should over night.

These books were printed to order—Amazon has all the inventory. We simply have no choice but to wait for them. They say they are "exploring options for expediting processing/deliveries," but I don't know what that actually means.

magnuskn wrote:

affected customers in Europe, Australia and other continents outside of North America will 100% not get their books "by the end of the weekend".

As Jhaeman says, it depends on whether the books are already at those distribution centers

If that is the case, I of course retract my comment. But last I heard, Amazon was shipping exclusively from the US.

Vic, do you know if Amazon will already have the books overseas at distribution centers and just need to ship them to specific recipients? I live in Australia, so I don't know if I should expect a few days or a few weeks.

They are shipping Canadian orders from Canada, and all other orders from the US.

Not a big deal...I was planning on getting a copy from the local B&N anyway...but thank you for the information...

Instead of a store credit I would prefer a $15 refund to my credit card that would offset the delivery charges since Amazon failed to meet up to its obligation.

We have asked them to step up and waive the fees for all of these orders. I have no idea whether they will do that or not, but if they do, we will refund your shipping fees in addition to issuing the $15 paizo.com store credit.

magnuskn wrote:

So, wait, even pre-orders which are destined overseas (i.e. Europe and so on) have only started shipping on July 28th?

All 6 of the orders they shipped prior to today were Canadian. They did ship several dozen international orders so far today.

Thanks, that gives us international customers at least a slight frame of reference. No chance of the books arriving this week. Or the following one, probably. :-/

Vic,
When you say 6 order shipped, I was thinking "shipments". Did you mean individual orders? Like they had just barely begun shipping anything at all? Oh dear.

Thanks for keeping us is in the loop.

Fingers crossed the site isn't beset by a goblin ambush in the morning.

Thanks for the details, Vic. I imagine you guys must be pretty frustrated too.

I can at least confirm that some retailers in Europe already have the books. Mine was sent out today (Wednesday 1st) from a store here in Denmark, expected to arrive tomorrow (Thursday 2nd).

Well, that sad.

Let's just hope Amazon's Web Services don't bungle the download tomorrow too... (did I just jinx it?)

This is exceptionally generous on the part of Paizo and is generally awesome. I'm sure we can all get by with the online versions until amazon gets its butt into gear.

Might it be a good idea to give us a few extra days for part one of the playtest?

Might it be a good idea to give us a few extra days for part one of the playtest?

That might well be a good idea.

I ordered mine through Amazon and it shipped yesterday (arrived today).

Thank you for the head's up! I can imagine this is quite an anxious time for all of you! Thank you for the great customer service and the gift!

I posted this in the update thread:

While I still don't have a good idea of how long it's going to take, fulfillment has been speeding up; they're quickly approaching 15 percent shipped.

I don't have a good way at this time to look at orders in aggregate, but I can manually examine individual orders once they've shipped. Just to give you some idea of the timelines, I looked at 5 US and 5 international orders that shipped in the last few hours. All 5 of the US orders have expected delivery on August 3. International is (unsurprisingly) much more variable:

Destination: Japan. Expected delivery: August 7.
Destination: Italy. Expected delivery: August 3.
Destination: British Columbia. Expected delivery: August 8.
Destination: New Zealand. Expected delivery: August 13.
Destination: Sweden. Expected delivery: August 7.

To echo what others have said, this is disappointing news. However, kudos to Paizo. It seems to me that they are doing everything in their power to fix a problem that was not caused by them. And this is a generous response, IMO.

I understand those who prefer the physical books to PDFs (I want both, which is why I preordered!), but let's put it in perspective — we've waited months since this was announced, we can all wait a few more days for our physical books.

Vic,

When you say 6 order shipped, I was thinking "shipments". Did you mean individual orders? Like they had just barely begun shipping anything at all? Oh dear.

Correct—they completed 6 individual customer orders from July 28–31.

First off, to Vic and all of Paizo, thanks for your transparency in all of this. I know Gen Con and the release there must be insanity, so to have this hit now must be maddening.

The fact you're trying to have them refund shipping is good to hear. That in conjunction with the $15 store credit is pretty nice to be honest.

I won't say I'm not disappointed, but that's on Amazon, not on you guys.