Amazon email: Preorder Edition is on backorder

[KingSponge]

I called earlier this morning to check status of my preorder (placed on Oct 4th) and was told it would ship on the 29th but I just got this email update:

I have researched your order further and learned that "Sid Meier's
Civilization IV Presell Edition" is now back-ordered, and our
supplier has not been able to let us know exactly when they expect
to have more in stock. "

It goes on to explain that it *may* arrive sometime between Oct 31-Nov 1 but there is absolutely no guarantee this will happen. They may not get it for weeks for all they know. Basically, it's a crapshoot.

So if you have the Presell Edition preordered at Amazon you may want to call and verify shipping status.

 

[baboon]

I'd cancel, buy the game in a shop and never use Amazon again.

 

[KingSponge]

I'd cancel, buy the game in a shop and never use Amazon again.

I'm heading to Gamestop on my lunch break in 45 minutes. They said I can still order the Preorder Edition today and pick it up tomorrow. They had better have enough copies on order or I'm gonna choke somebody.

 

[CTM]

Call? Bah. Can't you just email them?

My order says it's due November 1 (ordered on the 6th, originally supposed to ship on the 26th). I'm just hoping what I get is indeed the Presell Edition.

 

[Shillen]

You obviously got a moron to respond to your email. It can't be on backorder if they haven't shipped out a single copy to anyone yet. They could still be waiting for the first shipment to arrive, though.

edit: What is their phone number? I've searched their site and all I can find is the email form thing. I hate when companies try to hide their phone number.

 

[bio_hazard]

My Amazon order still says its estimated shipping date is October 24th! (it has not shipped yet)

 

[Shillen]

My Amazon order still says its estimated shipping date is October 24th! (it has not shipped yet)

Same here. I emailed them (since I can't find their phone number) asking for them to at least have the common courtesy to update the estimated shipping date so I can plan accordingly.

 

[jeffelammar]

My amazon order is saying estimated ship of Oct 29 with a delivery date of Nov 12?!?

This is pretty typical of Amazon though. I'm going to go ahead and be patient here. When Amazon is unsure of their stock, they greatly inflate their estimates in order to avoid promising something and failing to deliver.

In the past when I've seen dates that far ahead from them, they have come through much quicker. Besides I can use the extra week to get my bills paid for next month so when Civ4 does arrive I have nothing to keep me from it

 

[Varelse]

You obviously got a moron to respond to your email. It can't be on backorder if they haven't shipped out a single copy to anyone yet. They could still be waiting for the first shipment to arrive, though.

edit: What is their phone number? I've searched their site and all I can find is the email form thing. I hate when companies try to hide their phone number.

That's better than I did, I cannot even find the email thingy.

 

[Dun Malg]

FWIW my Amazon pre-order says:
Shipping estimate: October 25, 2005 - October 26, 2005
Delivery estimate: October 26, 2005 - October 27, 2005

 

[Outlaw_Rudy]

So, should I cancel my amazon preorder and get it from ebgames instead?

 

[Varelse]

http://clicheideas.com/amazon.htm

contact info for amazon

 

[Varelse]

The email address is useless. You just get an autoresponse linking you to your "My account" page on Amazon. They really do not want you to contact them it seems. lol

 

[Shillen]

The email address is useless. You just get an autoresponse linking you to your "My account" page on Amazon. They really do not want you to contact them it seems. lol

I've used it three times now and never gotten an automated response. It's been pretty helpful, overall.

 

[Harry Haller]

The same thing happened to me with Civ 3. I had pre-ordered it from Amazon.com, and then discovered that it was back-ordered in the days before it was supposed to ship. [They can say that something is back-ordered even if it hasn't shipped yet, if demand outstrips their ability to ship copies.] I waited a couple of days after the in-store sales date and it still hadn't shipped from Amazon, so I cancelled the order and bought it in a game store. It was for this reason that I didn't bother to pre-order it from Amazon this time.

 

[KingSponge]

You obviously got a moron to respond to your email. It can't be on backorder if they haven't shipped out a single copy to anyone yet. They could still be waiting for the first shipment to arrive, though.

Perhaps. But that's not the gist I got from the email. It could be that all of their incoming stock is accounted for already and they're back-ordering to fulfill the remainder of the preorders. IOW, it's going to be a first come, first serve basis when their shipment comes in and when they run out, there's gonna be a whole bunch of people waiting for the backordered stock which could be days or weeks. I wasn't willing to take that chance so I went to Gamestop and preordered and I'll pick it up tomorrow.

I'd call and confirm that you will indeed have a copy reserved from their initial shipment.

 

[Varelse]

I've used it three times now and never gotten an automated response. It's been pretty helpful, overall.

Which address did you use?

 

[Shillen]

Well Amazon finally updated my order. It was originally shipping 24th, delivery 25th. Now it's:

Shipping estimate: October 27, 2005 - October 28, 2005
Delivery estimate: October 28, 2005 - October 31, 2005

And considering I ordered over a month ago and I'm an Amazon Prime member, I'd say no one is getting theirs shipped to them from Amazon before Oct. 27. So I'll be searching around the local stores tomorrow.

 

[JakeCourtney]

OH man lol that really sucks.

 

[Dun Malg]

The same thing happened to me with Civ 3. I had pre-ordered it from Amazon.com, and then discovered that it was back-ordered in the days before it was supposed to ship. [They can say that something is back-ordered even if it hasn't shipped yet, if demand outstrips their ability to ship copies.] I waited a couple of days after the in-store sales date and it still hadn't shipped from Amazon, so I cancelled the order and bought it in a game store. It was for this reason that I didn't bother to pre-order it from Amazon this time.

You're probably right. Their ability to ship might also be limited by the number of copies the receive on day 1. I placed my order Sep 29 and Amazon still says mine is going out today or tomorrow. So far no one who's gotten a "shipping delayed" email has stated an order date earlier than mine, so it might be a "first ordered, first served" thing.