While I have to admit, I am quite happy with the packaging that is used to send the orders I have made with Paizo, sometimes the time between when I place my order and when it actually ships is amazingly long. Take my current order (837183) for example. I ordered the three Advanced series books from Green Ronin on November 20. I figured I might be pushing my luck with placing an order right before Thanksgiving, but I thought that at the very least the order would be filled by November 26, at the latest.
Only in the last day or so have I discovered that I have to wait nine to fourteen business days before the order is filled, then another three to ten business days for the shipment to arrive, for a grand total of twelve to twenty-four business days. That means, if I read my calendar correctly, I can expect it anywhere from December 10 to possibly as late as December 31. That's just not right.
Nine to fourteen days to fill the order? That's terrible customer service, even if you DO tell people ahead of time. My other online game store of choice, Warehouse 23, generally ships within a day or two if the items are in stock. The only time I have had an extensive wait from them is when an item was custom ordered.
My main question is, I guess, why is there such a long delay in processing the order? What takes so long for these items, but others in the same sale group take three to six days to process? I find the delay, especially this time of year, to be quite disheartening. If my plans were to give this as a holiday gift, I would have thought ordering that early would have been a boon, not the bane it appears to be.
Stephen
My last order was made on the 15th, and its status is still pending. Order #738492. What's up Paizo? You're usually more punctual than that.
CEO
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While I have to admit, I am quite happy with the packaging that is used to send the orders I have made with Paizo, sometimes the time between when I place my order and when it actually ships is amazingly long. Take my current order (837183) for example. I ordered the three Advanced series books from Green Ronin on November 20. I figured I might be pushing my luck with placing an order right before Thanksgiving, but I thought that at the very least the order would be filled by November 26, at the latest.
Only in the last day or so have I discovered that I have to wait nine to fourteen business days before the order is filled, then another three to ten business days for the shipment to arrive, for a grand total of twelve to twenty-four business days. That means, if I read my calendar correctly, I can expect it anywhere from December 10 to possibly as late as December 31. That's just not right.
Nine to fourteen days to fill the order? That's terrible customer service, even if you DO tell people ahead of time. My other online game store of choice, Warehouse 23, generally ships within a day or two if the items are in stock. The only time I have had an extensive wait from them is when an item was custom ordered.
My main question is, I guess, why is there such a long delay in processing the order? What takes so long for these items, but others in the same sale group take three to six days to process? I find the delay, especially this time of year, to be quite disheartening. If my plans were to give this as a holiday gift, I would have thought ordering that early would have been a boon, not the bane it appears to be.
Stephen
Hey Stephen:
The magic words for your delay are Green Ronin books. When Chris Pramas came up with the sale idea and asked Paizo to front the online store part, we never dreamed of the response we would get. The initial deluge caused our website to break. On Tuesday, we rented a cargo van and cleaned Green Ronin out of books. Today, two pallets stacked 5 feet high arrived with more books. And that is just a couple of things to show you the magnitude of this sale. Frankly, the entire gaming industry supply chain was strained by this reaction to the Green Ronin sale. Normally, we can order books from our distributor if we are out and get them in two days. But almost all the Green Ronin stock is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they don't have a good idea about whether a book is in stock or not. So when we start ordering hundreds of each book at a time, it breaks the system. Orders that would normally get here in two days are taking 10 days or more.
We have been working long hours to get everything out as quick as we can, but the thing that is slowing us down is the ability to get enough product to ship out the hundreds and hundreds of Green Ronin orders that we have received. They are going out as fast as we can get them packed and shipped. Hopefully the cargo van load yesterday and the two pallets today will go a long way towards clearing out any waiting orders.
Thanks for your patience! Trust me, nobody thought this sale would be this huge! But, as they say, it is a good problem to have to deal with. :)
-Lisa
My last order was made on the 15th, and its status is still pending. Order #738492. What's up Paizo? You're usually more punctual than that.See my long winded answer above. You are caught in the Green Ronin sale flood! :)
-Lisa
Thank you Lisa! I wasn't worried, and I'm not surprised when they sell books that normally go for $30-40 for $5 that there'd be some lag. Whenever they get here is fine. :-)
The magic words for your delay are Green Ronin books. When Chris Pramas came up with the sale idea and asked Paizo to front the online store part, we never dreamed of the response we would get. The initial deluge caused our website to break.
Lisa,
Thank you for your quick and friendly response to my questions. I have another one, based on the quote you see above. Knowing the fact that the number of orders you were getting for the sale broke your website, shouldn't you have put up some sort of notice that there is a possibility that order delays could mean receiving orders after the holidays? The one line of text buried half way through an items description telling a buyer that order processing could take nine to fourteen business days isn't exactly the best customer service option. I know I am probably harping on this a bit and playing the "ignorant and impatient shopper" card, but I know that if I told friends and family to buy things here for the holidays they would not be looking all through the text for shipping information. They, much like most online shoppers, look for that "Buy Now" button so they can shop and go do other things.We have been working long hours to get everything out as quick as we can, but the thing that is slowing us down is the ability to get enough product to ship out the hundreds and hundreds of Green Ronin orders that we have received. They are going out as fast as we can get them packed and shipped. Hopefully the cargo van load yesterday and the two pallets today will go a long way towards clearing out any waiting orders.
I know I am repeating myself, but if you know there are long delays on this, shouldn't the buyers know this too? Shouldn't it be big, bold, and obvious? Shouldn't it be easy to see that an item isn't going to ship within the same timeframe you tend to expect from online shopping?
I am going to patiently wait for my order, since I really don't have any other choice. I am not particularly happy about it, and I am a bit disappointed that the long delays were not as obviously shown as I think they should be. At this point, however, all I can do is sit and wait, and wait, and wait.
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CEO
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[Thank you for your quick and friendly response to my questions. I have another one, based on the quote you see above. Knowing the fact that the number of orders you were getting for the sale broke your website, shouldn't you have put up some sort of notice that there is a possibility that order delays could mean receiving orders after the holidays? The one line of text buried half way through an items description telling a buyer that order processing could take nine to fourteen business days isn't exactly the best customer service option. I know I am probably harping on this a bit and playing the "ignorant and impatient shopper" card, but I know that if I told friends and family to buy things here for the holidays they would not be looking all through the text for shipping information. They, much like most online shoppers, look for that "Buy Now" button so they can shop and go do other things.
Stephen:
Your suggestion makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way to implement it that doesn't have Gary rewriting code for the website, and unfortunately, he is booked up right now working on some really important code. Also, we didn't realize the magnitude of the ordering and some of the problems getting the product sent to us until most of the orders were already placed, so that wouldn't have helped those people, including yourself. I guess we will have to chalk this up to a learning experience and realize that we have the best of intentions. Next time around, we'll figure a way to do it better. :)
-Lisa
Lisa,
Thank you for realizing that I was not complaining just for the sake of complaining. I appreciate the honest and open responses you have made to my concerns. Part of my concerns was born out of frustration with not getting the products right away. Another part was because I do quite a bit of customer service work as part of my job, and I know how important image and customer satisfaction is in the retail market. I also grudingly admit that part of my concerns also came out of the fact that as I am getting older I swear I am becoming more of a curmudgeonly person than I have ever been in the past.
Stephen
Any news on this Lisa? It's been another 2 weeks...
Any news on this Lisa? It's been another 2 weeks...
Well, I can tell you that my order says it shipped on Tuesday, December 11. If the 3 to 10 business days shipping time is correct, I should receive it either sometime next week (since it didn't arrive on Friday, day #3), or as late as a couple days after Christmas.
Stephen
Email received and order updated. Thank you for the info, Paizo.
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I've noticed on USPS orders if its says 3-10, count on 10 being the day you get the item & this is living on the east side of Oregon. One reason why I upped my shipping to UPS.
I would rather pay the extra & get the books in 3 to 4 days then the 10 days(thou I've noticed, the Paizo subscription(see tags) ship out on Weds for me, so I have the weekend to wait, oh well what can you do, UPS no work weekends!!! ha ha) + my 5 year old son, loves seein the big brown truck at in the street as well, LOL!!
RM