I feel that the USPS sucks but not DDD. That said I wish DDDs other shipping options were more reasonable. I prefer Dvdempire - they ship the same day. The one time I had a problem with DDD they were very helpful.

excluding prime, amazon is the opposite of DDD for me....kind of..

DDD *appears* to ship quickly, but the item takes a long time to arrive.. We don't get any tracking information /w DDD so we really don't know when it goes out, unlike Amazon..

Amazon (free shipping over $25) takes a while to ship, but arrives quickly for me..

granted amazon ships a bit closer to me, but still, it's a lotttttt quicker than DDD ...

I get the exact same thing as pilot.

As such I only order from DDD during the sales and from Amazon when I have gift certificates from my credit card or Keynote Evaluations to burn.

My thoughts exactly.

It does but this is how the mail service defines business days. The easiest way to tell if it is a business holiday is if the local government offices are open.

Yes, you'll probably say the post office is a government office. The point is that you can keep making all the reasons why Saturday is a business day you want, but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't.

Sometimes the post office is slower than normal due to the monkeys that work there. I've had stuff show up a couple of days after the 10 business days. That's why they are letting some extra time pass in case it shows up so they don't send you another one for no reason.

The word is 'patience'. Yes, we have all had stuff that doesn't show up on time but sometimes, just sometimes, the USPS doesn't live up to it's own standards.

The people at DDD know this because I'm sure they get calls all the time on the 10th day saying it hasn't shown up yet, so they get asked to wait a few more days, the exception if you will, just in case your package was a little slower than the package that doesn't have to ride the short bus.

My shipment came in a week before it was scheduled to, and 5 days after I ordered it. No complaints here, but I don't order very often.

If the mail runs that day, it's a business day in the sense that it counts against the scheduled number of days it takes to get here. I wouldn't count Sunday even though people are working behind-the-scenes at the Post Office.




Patience is fine. 18 days (counting weekends) is not fine. I suppose I could keep waiting to appease some here who feel DDD can do no wrong, but I would rather have what I paid for. In the end DDD has corrected the problem, but I was right and the extra days I waited were for nothing.

Historically, business days refer to the 5-day work week and I find most places still consider it as such even if there shippers can deliver on an off-business day. Also, if I remember right, I think I've had an email conversation in the past with DDD where they confirmed the above.

FYI, you can get mail delivered on Sunday if you pay extra.

All the items I sell on eBay are sent out USPS Media Mail, so I know from first-hand experience that the delivery time can vary wildly, from a few days to a few weeks.

Knowing that, whenever I order from DDD I do so with the realization that I can't expect to be watching my new DVDs this coming weekend. I always have a handful of unwatched titles sitting around, and a substantial collection of movies I love, so it's not as if I'm left with nothing to watch but a blank screen.

Never a problem with the shipping. I always assume it will take forever with them.

But really bad customer service has made me rethink how much business I do with them.

In one of the sales I got a dvd that was a "floater", so I called ddd about 5 times asking for a pre-paid label to send it back for only an exchange, each time they said the emailed me a label and never got one, finally on the 6th call I got one emailed before I got off the phone with them. Then I send it back, 2 months later, I call to check status and they say they haven't received it and then just send me the new dvd anyway???

I understand with free shipping it would suck, but there is no reason for the customer service to be sooooo bad. my 2 cents.

hi i recently recieved a set from DDD and one of the discs was dislodged and was "floating around in the case... i emailed them to see what can be done ... very sad I had been waiting for this and was disappointed to say the least. anyway I didn't know it was called "floater" LOL learn something everyday.

The discs did have scratches on it too... ;(
well let's hope i get fast CS response.

If you don't get an email back, call them. I much rather talk to the CSR and explain the problem. They email a return lable while I am on the phone with them so I know I got it.

Looks like i will have to call them I did get a response saying to return etc and that label was emailed to me but I haven't seen anything yet I just don't want to wait another two weeks for it to be returned and then another two weeks to finally get the DVD SET ;(

thanks

My experience so far has been pretty good, although when a disc is released, it does take a while for them to send it. When I use free shipping, I know it's not going to be there next week but I figure I can watch one of my 600+ DVDs or something on the numerous movie channels...

Great cs got my return label and now sent off package already now have to wait for them to collect it and then send out replacement (the CS was going to put in the new replacement order but the item i wanted was backordered ;( so she gave me 2nd day shipping on an order i was waiting to put through those 5.99 dvds will get to me by Monday YAY...
Thanks

I have had more broken discs (holders) come from DDD than anywhere. They must use them for frisbees or something. Other than that, they work for me- although Amazon is my online etailer of choice more often. DDD's coupon sales rock though.

I know DDD used to be 'the absolute cheapest', but they are not like that anymore are they?

^DVDPacific is cheaper for many DVDs, but I have found the customer service to be seriously lacking. Around Christmas I ordered 4 movies from Pacific, with the shipping option to wait until all are in before sending. Two of the DVDs were in stock soon, but weeks and months wents by without any movement on the other two. After about two-and-a-half months I emailed, enquiring about the remaining two. I didn't get a reply. Two weeks later I sent a brusque request to cancel the order, which was heeded. I'm patient, but at least have the courtesy to reply to your customers, especially ones who are polite and wait a long time without bleating. I have never had that problem with DDD.
CDUniverse and DigitalEyes (now merged with Planet) are two other merchants I trust implicitly.

I've placed over 200 orders with them in the past four years and have never had a problem with their shipping. I always use free shipping and always receive them either before the expected arrival date or the first day of the arrival range.

i think it is reasonable for DDD or any other company to ask you to wait a little bit more when something doesn't arrive on time. i'd bet the 95% of the time something is last becuase of the mail which is out of their control. so what is the big deal? wait a few more days. i do sympathy for you, when i have ordered things online, i want them asap! and begin to wonder what is going on if i don't get them by when i was expecting it. however, i still wait it out. i don't post and complain and say such company is going downhill. (for the record, i haven't ordered from DDD in over a year, so maybe they have gone downhill, which would suck, but i'm not gonna believe that just from your post.)

at any rate, it has been known for ever that DDD is slow in shipping. attribute it to them and their wherehouse or media mail, whichever, it doesn't matter. but you get, usually, the lowest price anywhere (online atleast, prior to first week B&M sales, usually.) but that has always been the price, cheap price, to pay.

if you're living by a timeline or need a dvd in hand, yesterday!, it should of been common sense to take your business elsewhere. DDD has always been slow, so i've doubt they have become slower.

Yes, the free shipping is media mail. Even though the U.S.P.S. says it is 4-10 days, it can take up to 21 days. Overstock list their free shipping as taking up to 15 days. DDD just needs to change their information to meet reallity.

How long is a "little bit more"?



Guess what? If I listened to all the people like you...I would STILL BE WAITING! Did you even bother to read all the posts? If you had you would see that it NEVER ARRIVED. They re-shipped it and I got it, however the original shipment NEVER GOT HERE. That's the "big deal".




Good for you. If you do have a problem though maybe you should take your complaints elsewhere since you don't believe anyone here. Or maybe it's just me you have a problem with? Of course, I'm not the only one who complained about DDD in the past few months am I?


I didn't need it yesterday, but if I had been like you I still wouldn't have it MONTHS later. As to whether or not they are slower, I don't know as I haven't done any business there since then although once I got past the 'entry level' CS things got done right.

As I have said more than once since the original post I have no problem with DDD, but they need better customer service from the start.

You guys who use media mail as a defense for DDD is BS. i get media mail from places like NY and NJ all the time, never takes longer than 5 days. I also send a lot of stuff out media mail across the country and i usually receive my feedback within a week. Whenever I order something from DDD, it's always at least 2 weeks before I see anything, sometimes it's so long I forget about it entirely and it's like christmas morning when it shows up.


DDCD is even worse, their CDs take close to a month every single time. Amazon's free shipping is incredible, i've received DVDs 2days later, and NEVER takes longer than 4-5 days. And lately Amazon's prices have been within $.10 of DDD's, and their single discs are usually $2+ cheaper. Only thing DDD is good for anymore is the 20% off sale (where they jack up the prices and say "oops" when caught, or the occasional box set.

And their CS sucks as well, i've accidentally ordered 2 things of an item in an order, called to get it fixed, but they said the shipping was "in process" and they couldn't. I didn't get my shipping notice till 4 days later of course. 2 WEEKS later I get my DVDs. Just for the hell of it, I attached a tracking sticker to my return shipment back to DDD and sent it media mail. Time to DDD? 4 days!!

In reading this thread, I just wanted to voice a couple points of clarification for those of you that shop with DDD; we ship with the USPS twice each day but have no control over the goods once they get into the mail stream. 95% of orders on instock items are filled complete within two business days, with most going out within one business day.
Secondly, in order to keep our prices low we have highly automated shipping methods that are only used by extremely large shippers and we believe that the processes sometimes occasionally confuse handlers at certain postal centers, resulting in longer delivery times. We are surveying customer delivery times and enhancing or changing our ship processes in areas that seem to have recurring delays. Since we bear the expense of lost packages, unlike some of our competitors, we usually request that the customer wait an additional five business days before we issue a replacement. This helps keep our prices low and enables us to continue to ship free all the time.
Lastly, we don’t charge until we ship. If we are out of something for an extended period, it is generally because the studio is out of it and cannot fill our orders until they manufacture more stock—sometimes they also miss promise dates to us, which makes us miss the dates that we give to our customers.

Media Mail is notoriously variable though. I've recently shipped two movies to a friend and both took over two weeks to arrive. They both went the exact opposite direction, sat for 6 days and then headed towards its destination at a snails pace.

I only order from them now during the 20% off sale. I figure it is worth the extra time to save the money. Outside of that, they are too slow for me to use unless they have SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than someone else.

-p