Why does it take so long for Paizo to process and ship out orders? I placed an order last August 10, and it's still pending. Am I being unreasonable? If something is temporarily unavailable, shouldn't it say so on the website?
It's not typical, except during August. It's their biggest shipping month of the year by a long shot and everything gets delayed - from subscriber shipments to one-off orders.
When you place an order, you're given an "estimated time to ship from the warehouse". Outside of August, they are generally near the low end of that range in my experience, although when it's items from another publisher there are sometimes delays.
If you post the order number (or send their customer service an email) they can track down your specific item and see what the holdup is.
To be honest, it hasn't been ever this bad, but apparently the combination of giant shipping schedule + GenCon has FUBAR'ed the shipping process this year. I hope Paizo learns from this for next year.
It was pretty bad last year, unless I'm misremembering (the RotRLAE, the associated PF Battles cases and the comics were the 'big things' then). Of course, the same people may not have been caught last year as this year, so it may not have seemed as bad.
I seem to remember not getting my subscription shipment until a week and a half after GenCon. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I remember.
Alright, maybe I just got mine on time and never noticed. But I've been a suscriber for some years now and I think I would have noticed if GenCon makes such problems every year.
No doubt it's getting worse as Paizo is getting bigger and the scope of products broader.
Quite apart from any potential GenCon delays, it's also worth flicking customer service an email just in case. Especially if it's a non-Paizo item - they dont keep stock on hand for a lot of those products and occasionally there can be substantial delays getting things from their distributors.
Nah, I just got my AP suscription and this time The Worldwound from last months releases. It's just that apparently my order must be at the bottom of their stockpile. ^^
Which is a bit ironic, given how I joked a few weeks back how my complaints over the Wrath of the Righteous Player's Guide would put my order just there, but there you go. :p
Patience is all I can say. I have been a subscriber since basically the beginning and I still haven`t gotten my shipping notice. I`m not worried at all. Put it into perspective, this month is a hardcover release which is usually more work, plus the card game release (seen the boxes on the gencon blog they are big), so more work on top of the hardcover, plus the Skull & Shackles minis release which is another huge workload, and on top of all that the biggest industry trade show is going on and they had to send all their development staff plus a couple warehouse employees and a couple customer service folks to help out. Under these normal circumstances I have heard of paizo staffers from the development team and Vic and Lisa going to help out with these massive shipping months, but all these folks were away for a week and a bit. So delays are only natural yeah I know it sucks to have to wait, but most of the time we don`t get to see the other side of it, and what`s going on.
True, true. But I hope lessons are learned for next year. :)
Quite apart from any potential GenCon delays, it's also worth flicking customer service an email just in case. Especially if it's a non-Paizo item - they dont keep stock on hand for a lot of those products and occasionally there can be substantial delays getting things from their distributors.
Nah, I just got my AP suscription and this time The Worldwound from last months releases. It's just that apparently my order must be at the bottom of their stockpile.
I was speaking to the OP.
If its a non paizo item they've ordered, I'd ping customer service, just in case.
Steve, thanks for the info. I will give them some more time.
True, true. But I hope lessons are learned for next year. :)
I doubt it honestly. They always save huge releases for Gencon mainly because it boosts their sales, they have something new shiny and cool to show off at the show. Not to mention as Paizo gets more popular the more staff they need on hand at the Con. However hiring more employees isn`t economically feasible in the long term. I just have to say again patience patience patience.
Customer Service Dire Care Bear Manager
|
After the Gen Con madness dies down for Customer Service and the warehouse, we will be looking over the current process to see if there is room for improvement. This August we have more new releases than EVER before, over 20 new products getting sent to distributors and customers at the same time. In addition to the warehouse having a couple people out at Gen Con, there was also a delay with getting some items so we couldn't ship until the 12th.
CEO
|
really, you guys should deadline your gencon releases earlier so they can hit your warehouse and begin pulling and packing before GenCon
We do! All GenCon releases are scheduled to hit the warehouse in early July. But you know what they say about best laid plans.... Especially when you are dealing with printers and shippers who aren't you. Every year, we schedule the releases to come a week earlier. And, still, Murphy's Law strikes again.
Lisa
|
really, you guys should deadline your gencon releases earlier so they can hit your warehouse and begin pulling and packing before GenCon, so that the shipments can be made just before GenCon to arrive shortly thereafter, rather than waiting for after the show. My order hasn't been billed and living in Canada it means my subscriptions won't arrive until the middle of September. In my opinion this is a massive failure in service to those who are most supportive of Paizo
I feel your pain. (Alberta.)
For me the frustrating bit was non-subscribers being able to pop onto the site, buy Mythic Adventures, and read it before many subscribers. I wasn't able to download until a couple days ago. Extra frustrating as I had received the "we'll be shipping your order within the week" email two weeks prior.Still waiting on half of a big order myself. Put some low urgency items on my sidecart for when my Mythic Adventures shipped. It shipped last Friday with one item and the other half-dozen are in limbo somewhere. Most are Paizo products so not sure why there's a delay...
For next year, I wonder about shutting down the store for a couple weeks. I've seen a few posts from confused and upset people who ordered and didn't realize they were in delay season.
Even having a "warning, there might be a delay" before buying might help.
A maximum size to sidecarts for August might also help. Or requesting people empty their sidecarts during June or July.
Maybe a small sale at that time with discounted shipping to encourage people buying then rather than saving purchases for August.
|
|
I live oversea, for me the postage cost is a important factor. Getting a single large package cost less than several smaller packages. If the package is larger than a specific value it reach me even faster as it is sent by DHL instead of the post service.
So, for me, this kind of delay isn't a problem. Au contraire, it is an advantage.
What people don't seem to realize is that, if you want to pay less in postal fees and ask to receive your material as a single monthly shipment you will have to wait until the last item is printed, get to the warehouse and is ready for the distribution to have it sent.
Paizo need to consider the wants of all the costumers. In this specific instance I am advantaged while you are annoyed, but on the average I thing it even out.
|
Customer Service Dire Care Bear Manager
|
This is pretty much the same conversation happening in the August Subscriptions thread. To consolidate things, I am locking this thread. If you have additional comments, or concerns regarding this topic, you can post over there. Thanks!