Shackled City Shipping Apology

[Keith Strohm]

Brian Barrington wrote:

Just as I expected this pre-order was a disaster. There is no excuse for stores to be getting the book before the majority of pre-order customers. Once you saw how fast you were getting pre-orders in last month you should have notified the printer that the first shipment of x copies goes to you first and no one else. This was my first pre-order purchase from you as well as my first purchase from your online store other than subscriptions. This will also be my last.

In regards to Paizo's shipping of Shackled City preorders, Brian (and others) have expressed legitimate frustration regarding the arrival of the book, and I wanted to take a few moments to respond officially.

Coordinating the shipping and delivery of product so that it is available through multiple channels at the same time is a fairly complex undertaking. Add in to that the vagaries of shipping delivery schedules (and the U.S. Post Office), and it becomes even trickier. That being said, many companies (both smaller and larger than Paizo) manage to do it with every release.

The fact of the matter is--we made a mistake. We underestimated the volume of pre-orders that would come in during the final weeks of pre-sale, and when those numbers came in higher than what we had quick-shipped to us, we relied on average shipping times from our vendor to arrive at the conclusion that we didn't need to quick ship any additional product. Based on our calculations, the remaining preorder products which were being regularly shipped should have arrived in time to get everyone's preorder out.

That didn't happen.

And believe me when I say that we were very frustrated in the office. We sent frantic emails and calls to our print vendor's shipping department, trying to track the progress of our shipment.

The bottom line is, however, that many preorders didn't reach customers on the release date. At Paizo, we strive to create high quality products and offer the best service that we can to our customers. We fell short of the service mark on the Shackled City Preorder and are deeply apologetic.

On a personal note, I understand that there may be some of you who won't preorder anything else from Paizo because of this situation. That kind of reponse makes complete sense given your experience with this pre-order. However, I would ask that you give Paizo another opportunity to deliver world class customer service. Looking back at the history of our company, one thing that we have committed to doing is learning from every success--and every failure. Now that we have analyzed the breakdown that occurred on the Shackled City Preorder, we will make sure that it doesn't happen again.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to call me [phone] or email me at [e-mail]. Once again, we apologize for the delay in getting our preorders out to everyone in time for yesterday's release.

Keith Strohm
Chief Operating Officer
Paizo Publishing, LLC

[Marc Chin]

Speaking strictly for myself...

I've never preordered anything from Paizo (or anyone else, for that matter)... but the level of grass-roots contact that the Paizo staff maintains with the consuming public, I find quite unique and commendable.

I'm not the kind of guy who would complain about my ordered book being delivered a day or two after it goes on sale at stores...but the fact that the issue was addressed, explained and apologized for in a timely fashion speaks volumes about the integrity of the staff.

Kudos,

M

[Archade]

Keith, you and every one else at Paizo are a class act. What other company would apologize for a delay of a couple of days?

I look forward to receiving my Shackled City HC in Canada when it gets in.

Thanks for all your hard work, guys.

[Solomani]

So I am not the only one whose pre-order still hasnt shipped according to the order history "awaiting shipment" ?

[Vic Wertz]

Solomani wrote:

So I am not the only one whose pre-order still hasnt shipped according to the order history "awaiting shipment" ?

I'm not at work, so I can't check, but I *believe* that the only orders that should currently still show as "awaiting shipment" are from a small number of people (I think I heard four or five) whose credit cards were declined when we went to actually charge them, despite our obtaining authorization from the credit card system when the order was originally placed. We'll be contacting those people as soon as we get a moment.

-Vic.
.

[Solomani]

Vic Wertz wrote:

Solomani wrote:

So I am not the only one whose pre-order still hasnt shipped according to the order history "awaiting shipment" ?

I'm not at work, so I can't check, but I *believe* that the only orders that should currently still show as "awaiting shipment" are from a small number of people (I think I heard four or five) whose credit cards were declined when we went to actually charge them, despite our obtaining authorization from the credit card system when the order was originally placed. We'll be contacting those people as soon as we get a moment.

-Vic.
.

That would be me. Any idea on when it will ship? Starting the campaign tomorrow but the first adventure will be my own intro module.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Craig Shannon]

Thanks for that explanation Keith. I did actually try to cancel mine yesterday as it was still awaiting shipping. However, by the time they got my e-mail it was too late. I had also at that point ordered another copy within the UK. Doh! Birthday present for the DM of another group right there then.

However, Paizo Customer Services were excellent. I found out from them I could return it if I wished, but it was coming with a cool one off bookplate. No idea what a bookplate was but it impressed me :) Turns out it's a bookmark (that's what we call them in the UK) which given what a large book it is will be ideal. I was also going to cancel my Dragon compilation advance order but clearly Paizo have learnt from this so I will give it a second chance.

Right I am off to moan about the fact the 3FoE clearly needs an errata, sooner rather than later.

[Vic Wertz]

Solomani wrote:

That would be me. Any idea on when it will ship?

I expect we'll ship it as soon as we can process your payment!

Craig Shannon wrote:

I found out ... it was coming with a cool one off bookplate. No idea what a bookplate was but it impressed me :) Turns out it's a bookmark...

Looks like the cat's out of the bag on that one. Wednesday morning, before the truck with the books arrived, we were trying to figure out how we could do something nice for the people whom we failed to get their books on the release date. So we came up with the idea for a limited-edition Shackled City bookplate. (A bookplate isn't a bookmark, by the way; it's a sticker that you place inside the book, traditionally inside the front cover.) It has the Dungeon logo, the Shackled City logo, and the D&D logo, and it has been individually numbered and signed by Erik Mona and James Jacobs.

Of course, we won't punish people who got their books on time - we'll be mailing bookplates out to those of you who received your books in the first shipment. Everybody who ordered a copy of the book from us from the moment they went on sale right up to the end of the day on Wednesday will get one.

-Vic.
.

[Craig Shannon]

Oops (looks for bag to put cat back into into it whilst animal lovers aren't watching). Sorry about that, the way I read the e-mail from Paizo CS was that it was something all advance orderers got but I had been too dopey to notice. They did not infer that last bit by the way, it's just me being honest about myself. I will also no longer believe the first thing I read on the internet when entering "Bookplate" in Google :)

It has occurred to me that now people who have the book already might get uptight because those who didn't get it on time are going to get placatory apology gift from Paizo (yay!) but they won't. But then again they already have the book from other distributors. I am prepared to bet that some of them will complain about not getting the Bookplate though, even though they didn't order it from Paizo directly and got it on the release date :) There is nothing quite as darkly fascinating as human nature, particularly amongst gamers :)

[Neomorte]

So how do I get one? I pre-ordered from my local game store, it would be cool to get one.

[Craig Shannon]

Sometimes I'm so psychic I scare myself :) You don't as you didn't order from Paizo. Let's see how long it takes for people to become upset :)

Edit: Actually that sounded a bit gloaty, so I best clarify that it's not meant to be. The fact is local game stores etc had copies of the book on release date but Paizo had a problem with a truck so it couldn't get it's direct orders to their direct customers so they have chosen to include a nice little gift as an apologetic gesture for those that did not get their advance order on the release date. Clearly in this case you got your book on release date from your local games store and thus are owed no apology from Paizo and thus no gift from Paizo.

Think on. If Paizo gives everyone one of these then it undermines their apology and would start another round of complaints. It would never end :)

[Onathrin]

I have to say, I'm impressed. Usually when I preorder something and I'm given a specific date for it to arrive, I'm happy if it shows up within a week of that given date.

My Shackled City book showed up yesterday (the 28th) with a letter apologizing for it not showing up on the 27th.

The folks at Paizo are top notch and will definitely continue to receive my support (and most importantly, my money!) just for the extra mile they seem to go for the customer... even over something as minor as a 1 day delay.

Way to go guys!

[Neomorte]

Yeah, my comment was made more in jest than anything. However, I commend Paizo for their great support. Reading the forums, it has been a rough week for them. However, they seem to have corrected most, if not all the issues in a friendly and timely manner.

Neomorte

[Todd Schumacher]

Is there a way to get tracking info? The order is listed as Fufilled in "My Account" but I don't have the book in my hands...it'd be nice to see where it is.

[Vic Wertz]

Todd Schumacher wrote:

Is there a way to get tracking info? The order is listed as Fufilled in "My Account" but I don't have the book in my hands...it'd be nice to see where it is.

Honestly, right now, obtaining tracking info is a troublesome process for us. If you really, really want it, you can ask customer service to get it for you, but you might find that you get your shipment before you get your tracking number.

We know this sucks, and we're hard at work on tools for our website that will let us send you tracking numbers when your order ships, and track packages through our website or through ups.com, but it'll be a couple more weeks before that's ready.

-Vic.
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[Craig Shannon]

Got my order this morining and I'm in the UK, along with a very apologetic letter. Oh, and a bookplate. Paizo laso did something else which was very nice and most unexpected, unless it was a mistake although HMRC might see it otherwise :)

[evilash]

Since I live in Sweden I didn't actually expect the HC to arrive on my doorstep the 27th, so I'm not upset even though my pre-order wasn't listed as fulfilled until the 28th. Hopefully the HC will arrive this week, so I can start preparing the next adventure of my campaign (The Demonskar Legacy). In my opinion the customer service at Paizo has always been top notch, even during the breakdown of the European distribution a while ago.

[wraith2021]

I just got my copy of the book today. Even though it was late I have to say that it was worth the wait! The level of detail in it is amazing. I'm also grateful that the handouts are available for download so now I don't have to cut up the book ;-) I have to say congrats on a job well done and I can't wait for the hardcover version of the Age of Worms adventure path *hint hint*.

[Sean Halloran]

I did not pre-order but rather ordered this previous Saturday. I choose the slightly faster (but more expensive) 2-3 day shipping option assuming it would arrive on Wed. (with a Monday ship date). As of Tusday morning it still appears to be awaiting shipping. Is this part of the same shipping problem y'all are having? I need the book by Friday so I would simply like to know if that is possible at this point. If it is not is there a way I can cancel the order so I can go to a different vendor in order to get the product faster?

[Vic Wertz]

Sean,

Check your e-mail.

-Vic.
.

[Tramarius]

Just wanted to say that my copy has been in my hands for just over 2 hours now. I'm in Canada and it arrived at 2PM Mountain Time. Pre-ordered it on July 20th, it was sent on the 28th, and arrived today, August 2nd. I presume that it would have arrived yesterday, except that was our Civic Holiday, so the delay is understandable and I count only 3 business days in transit. Not bad at all.

I've flipped through it and will add my kudos to the Paizo staff. The book looks wonderful! You guys have done a fabulous job, and have overcome the the distribution hassles with great dignity. Certainly you've all earned a slew of bonus XP in addition to that already hard-won.

[Todd Schumacher]

Just wanted to say that I got the book. It looks great.

[Ganzalas]

Todd Schumacher wrote:

Just wanted to say that I got the book. It looks great.

I got my copy yesterday and I can tell you that I'm impress. Extra details added in it and the design of the book is wonderful. I showed it to one of my friends (which he's a DM since we were young) and he was amazed. He also said that it was the best thing that Paizo published. Really nice HC. Hope to see more of these in the future.