Why does DDD's shipping policy suck so much?
 

I pre-ordered South Park, Season 1, AOTC, and LOTR. Paid the usual $3.95 for priority shipping, on the website it lists the ship date as 11/12/02. Of course, they'll be sent early because they get them before the street-date.

Today I get an email...says "We thought you would like to know... Your order was shipped today. "

They only sent LOTR. Of course, the $4 I spent on priority only applies to one shipment. Meaning I'll get SP and AOTC roughly eight week later because they mail stuff via Nepalese steam-ship. Of course, the CC was billed the $79 for all three.

So basically I got hosed because they don't have a 'wait until all are in stock' button on their website.

This is the second time (and last ever!) this has happened. Once I ordered the original Planet of the Apes with Fantastic Voyage/Bottom of the Sea. Both were 'in stock' on the web page.

FV was not, and though I paid the $4 to get priority, I got FV- get this- EIGHT WEEKS AFTER IT SHIPPED.

WTF?

I have never had an order from them ship before the street date. Maybe you just got lucky before.

One DVD does not an order make. If you add $4 for each of the other 2 DVDs (lord knows they won't ship THEM on the same day either) I'm looking at $12 in shipping on a $75 order.

It'd be cheaper to buy retail and pay sales tax!

Call them up and tell them about your situation. You shouldn't pay for priority shippping and only get it on one item.

Why not just go with free shipping? DDD usually gets my orders to me within a week of the ship date.

Call them and tell them you're not happy. It was perfectly reasonable of you to expect that they would all be shipped together. The good thing is that their customer service is usually very helpful and they will probably take care of the problem.

I agree. I haven't had any trouble with their free shipping. It's actually pretty fast.

EVERY ORDER I HAVE HAD THROUGH ddd WAS SHIPPED PRIOR TO THE STREET, USUALLY ARRIVED ON THE STREET IF NOT A DAY BEFORE....AND WAS SHIPPED FOR FREE ..... WHY PAY WHEN THEY OFFER FREE SHIPPING ?????


NOT SURE WHERE DDD IS LOCATED . BUT IM IN CHICAGO .... MAYBE THAT MATTERS ?!?!

I've pre-ordered from DDD once, and they shipped the item several days in advance of release date. But because I pick the free shipping option which uses media mail, it arrived about a week after the release date. Usually DDD free shipping takes about 2 weeks to get to California.

You can email or call them and might get it refunded, but it does state it on the website that only the first shipment is sent the faster method.

They're in Itasca, which is just northwest of Chicago. But I'm also in Chicago and have waited three weeks for a free-shipping delivery from them. These days if I want it fast I just go to their store.

schills ......

they have a store????????


kool!!!!!

they cant ship from itasca.... i have NEVER paid tax (which is slightly illeagle) ...... naughty naughty

They do in fact ship from Itasca. And all my orders have been charged tax. Maybe you got lucky or something.

I typically receive an order 7-8 days in California from DDD using the free media mail.

Really? I wonder why the difference in shipping time with mine. What part of Califonia is your order shipped to? Mine is shipped to San Francisco bay area. Also, I compute the time not from when they send you shipping confirmation email, but the actual ship date they stated on on their web site order status page.

you wanna try ordering from them if you're in the UK :(

biggest bunch of cowboys i've ever come across.

if you get your discs at all, you're doing well, so i wouldn't worry about not getting them on the street date!

I'm another guy who always elects for their free shipping option. Sure it takes a while, but it's free. It's not like I don't have plenty of films to screen in the interim. I for one love DDD.

Kez, don't think DDD is responsible for the Royal Mail . . . I've never had mail lost while living in the US. I lived in the UK for over a year and had so many important letters lost/(stolen?) within that short time period. Had the same problem when I lived in Germany. After living in Europe, where you overpay for postage to begin with, and dealing with the poor service and frequency of lost mail, I really have no complaints with the USPS.
Don't know what slow mail has to do with DDD being cowboys, I mean I'm not a Bush fan, but Bush isn't the one walking around like Blair with his thumbs in his belt loops.

Royal Mail and the Deutsche Post sucks, but I do have to give thumbs up to La Poste in France.

Strange, as often it takes up to two weeks to Arizona from DDD for media mail and Arizona's closer to Illinois than California. It must have something to do with the route, but I haven't had problems with media mail from other parts of the US like I had with DDD.

It takes up to 2 weeks for me to receive my orders in California.

I tried pre-ordering a DVD I wanted on street date with priority mail shipping, but DDD only ships pre-orders media mail. For some reason, they consider pre-orders as backorders.

Ian

jarsim,

it's not just the issue of slow mail i have with DDD. i'm quite aware how shabby the royal mail is. although i would point out that i can order from ezydvd in australia, and have the discs quicker than ordering from the UK. now, THAT'S service!

however, i have been contacted by DDD's director of international marketing (sounds like an austin power's movie! :D) and hopefully the 'issues' will be resolved.

i'm not going to go into them here, as they have been posted elsewhere. needless to say, i wil retract any negative statements, made about DDD, if a resolution is reached :)

colossus.

If you check out their site before ordering from it, you would see their shipping policy. They only send the first part of the shipment by Priority mail, the rest of your order goes snail mail.

My free shipping got here in under 5 days from when it was sent. Tuesday to Saturday via Media Mail.. not too bad! I order on Friday/Saturday morning. Very impressed! 2nd time it happened.

(Couldn't pass up Lawnmower Man and Presumed Inncocent for 5.88 - both considered pre-orders even though they have been out)

We're in the same boat. I've ordered from them using priority shipping for DVDs that were in stock and only shipped the $9.76 single DVD priority and the rest scattered via Nepalese steam-ship. Their CS is getting worse too.

I placed my pre-order in June, the website was upgraded and the shipping policy changed in July. I received assurances via email in August (after they screwed up another priority mail order); my order(s) would be shipped priority mail. One did, but the other did not. According to their website, the order has shipped, but I have not received an email confirmation.

DDD is the only online DVD retailer with this shipping policy. It is either stupidity or just plain laziness on their part.

Ian