On April 18, while at Knit Night at our local B&N, Em noticed one of the books we'd pre-ordered actually on the shelves. We came home and checked the order status (not yet shipped, expected shipping date of 5/8), plus the status of the other book. Both books had been released early.
The next morning, I emailed B&N customer service, asking whether the order had shipped since all the books were available. The reply--
Dear Shannon,
Thank you for writing. We expect your order #BN88100763 will be shipped by 05/0/8/2007.
When you placed your order, you chose the "Ship Everything Together" shipping option rather than our "Ship Items as Available" option. Because your order included items with different available-to-ship times -- for example, a 24-hour available-to-ship title along with a 2-3 day title that we acquire from a partner warehouse -- your order is being held until it is complete.
If your order contains a pre-order item to be released at a future date, your entire order will not ship until that release date. If you would like to receive the available items sooner, we recommend that you cancel those items from the current order, and place a new order for them at your convenience.
Sincerely,
A.
Customer Service Representative
Barnes&Noble.com
Um. Yeah. Apparently "A." has reading comprehension problems. I attempt to make myself more clear for poor, dumb A.--
I understand that I chose "ship everything together" and that the items will not be shipped until all of the items are available. As I stated in my original question about this order...THE ITEMS ARE ALL AVAILABLE NOW.
I can walk into my local Barnes and Noble and purchase "Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale" (which had the latest--May 8th--release date, the date the shipping was based on) off the shelf TODAY. The other book I pre-ordered, "Bec, The Demonata Series #4" (release date was supposed to be May 1), is no longer showing up as pre-order...it also appears to be available NOW.
If both of the preordered items are available right now, why haven't they been shipped?
And then, I decided the hell with emailing illiterate A. I called customer service instead. A very nice man checked the availability of both books, agreed they'd been released early and were, indeed, available now, now, NOW. And then, he flat out lied to me. He told me he was notifying the warehouse to remove the hold on the order for immediate shipment--even as we spoke.
Today, at least five days after the books were supposedly shipped, I checked the order status again. Still showing "not yet shipped, expected shipping date of 5/8."
WTF?
Boychild #3 is on the phone with his girlfriend so I'm back to emailing--
I called customer service on 4/19 after receiving this reply (quoted above) and was told the order would be shipped immediately, since all items in the order are AVAILABLE NOW (as I explained in my original email). However, the order status is still showing "not yet shipped."
Has the order been shipped and just not noted?
I really don't want to cancel because my daughter used a gift card for part of the payment. We no longer have the card so I'm not sure how a refund would work.
Thank you,
Shannon
Two hours later, the following arrived in my in box--
Dear Shannon,
Thank you for contacting Barnes and Nobel.com
As per our previous email, when you placed your order, you chose the "Ship Everything Together" shipping option rather than our "Ship Items as Available" option. Because your order contains 2 pre-order items to be released at a future date, your entire order will not ship until those release dates.
If you would like to receive the available item sooner, we recommend that you cancel those items from the current order, and place a new order for them at your convenience.
The following are the pre-ordered items, along with the expected release dates:
"Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale" 05/08/2007
"Bec (The Demonata Series #4)" 05/01/2007.
We apologize for any confusion this matter has caused.
Sincerely,
Z.
Customer Service Representative
Barnes&Noble.com
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
Ha, now I've been through their entire customer service department from A to Z. "Z" seems to suffer the same reading comprehension issues as A. My crazy caps lady, yet still polite, reply--
As stated in two emails and my phone call...these pre-order items HAVE BEEN RELEASED. They are no longer pre-order.
They are available at my local B&N--and other bookstores-- RIGHT NOW.
I don't know how to make this any more clear.
PLEASE SHIP MY BOOKS.
Thank you,
Shannon
An hour and a half later, this shows up in the old in box--
Dear Shannon,
Thank you for your email. We have researched the items ordered, and we do see that they are available at this time. We apologize for any confusion this has caused.
We have contacted our warehouse partners with a request that this order be released and shipped.
Again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused by this matter.
Sincerely,
Z.
Customer Service Representative
Barnes&Noble.com
So. Has the apologetic Z. actually, finally, gotten it? Will Em ever receive the books her friends have already read? Will I get the lace book I threw in to bring the order up to the minimum for free shipping anytime soon?
Stay tuned.
Update 5/1: The books have arrived! Unfreakingbelievable.
1 comment:
Amazon did the same thing to me, saying that the Yarn Harlot's book wasn't available yet, when it's been out for a month. Argh is right. Arrrrrgh! I'm not doing pre-orders anymore, frankly. I still have Charmed in the queue, and I do want that, but I'm going to buy Harry Potter the night it comes out.
Btw, it was great seeing you gals at the guild meeting. You would've had fun at the Starbucks meetup last night. Odd night.
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