I ordered the Rock: CC several months before the release date. It still hasn't shipped.

So on last Wednesday I emailed them to ask them why it hasn't shipped.

They apologized and stated it would ship in 24 hours, and they apologized.

When I emailed them again stating the 24 hours had passed and it still hadn't shipped they now have totally changed their tune. Here is the email I received from them:

"Unfortunately the item you have ordered has not arrived in our warehouse; we are expecting this item by April 4 which is the promise date of arrival."

What's the point of pre-ordering if a store can't deliver? What's with this promise date business too? I thought the date it was released would have been the promise date?

I am very disappointed and will never order from BN again.

Patients dude, I am sure they will miss you as a valued customer. You always take a chance of not getting your dvd ship to you on time when ordering online. Some online e-tailers are better than others. Next time buy it from a B&M and pay a little bit more but have the satisfaction than you got it on the street date. Me I rather wait a a few days and save some money.

Kahuna

A couple of days is one thing, 3 weeks is another. That is pretty sad. On the other hand, I can't imagine Barnes and Noble had a very good price on this unless you had a GC. Cancel your order and write a nasty letter to management.

That's what I would do.

Yeah BN didn't have the greatest price 32.99, but I had some flooz left over so I ordered from them. Meanwhile my friends who ordered from Amazon already have it. So I guess I will borrow the DVD from one of them and just buy it in the stores when it comes out here in Canada.

I have been patient in the past. The odd time a title I ordered online has been slower in arriving, but this is nearly a month delay and who knows if they'll even come through on that promise.

Oh well it's not a HUGE catastrophe, but I thought other people should be made aware of this shotty business practice.

i had a problem with BN when i was ordering some books - i live in nyc and if you order before 11 it's guaranteed to get there before 7 - well anyhow i had the same problem as you, and after two days i just decided to vent. i complained -actually, i really b!tched out the sales rep and told em that i wouldn't buy from them balblabla, and asked for a show of faith by BN to continue shopping with them and blablablabla ... well i ended up getting a $15gc and FREE s&h for that past order (about 3 bucks but still) ...

i don't know if it will work for you, but i'm sure that the sales reps ach have some right to give out "promo" type of coupons. maybe it was a matter of good timing but i lucked out - hope this helps.

Careful with doing that. I know that in all my retail and waitressing experiences, the people who raised the biggest fuss over things did get some kind of deal, but they also weren't forgetten. Nobody wants to graciously help a person who has a history of treating employees badly. Every single store and restaurant I've worked at has been thrilled to lose a few nasty customers. People threaten to take their business elsewhere without realizing that even the manager is thankful. Even if the problem is legitimate, nobody gets anywhere if the customer starts off furious.

AND, this week I had to call two different people at bn.com who worked in completely different departments. I discovered that they keep a record of customer interaction, because the lady in one department knew who I had spoken to in the other department, what I had said, and what had been done for me as soon as she typed in my name. So online stores are no different from physical stores.

That's why I always make a point of letting the employee know that I am not mad at them, but that I am upset at the company they are working for.

I just told them that I will never pre-order from them again because of this. They haven't done anything to change my mind so that's where I stand.

My guess is that they ran out. There was an increasingly rare $10 off $30 not too long ago (at $32.99, this was a prime candidate) coupon out and my bets are that several people used it along with their Flooz (remember the 3Com Flooz offer that got sent at this time?).

In the end, it's still their fault. They probably just didn't tell you the whole story that they didn't order enough and awaiting another shipment.

If you want to, you can order this at TowerRecords.com for $27.96 and they take Flooz. If you have something else to order, there's a $10 off coupon for orders over $40.

B&N have always been very good to me but then I have only ordered CDs. When there was once a small problem I think they offered me free shipping if I wanted to split an order - but I was actually happy to cancel the back-ordered disc (and still benefit from the promotional code).

They mark their packages as books which is also useful for UK citizens making a "large" CD order: books are not liable to sales tax over here, whereas if you buy more than two CDs you risk incurring an import surcharge at this end!

Cancel and order it from walmart.com for $23.99!

One month to the day, I received an e-mail that they are finally shipping the Rock.

I'll never order from them again either. They totally screwed up a return I had last May. I made the purchase with Flooz when it first came out and they had no f'n clue how to credit me the amount back. I called their incompetent CS every day for a week or two but still had no success. In the end, I never got a replacement DVD or my Flooz back.