Shipping update

[Warlock]

Jokke - the answers are in my easy-to-read FAQ :-)

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...threadid=76043

[____________beagle28]

I'm trying not to get ticked off about the whole situation, but the posts by Cz and April don't make it any easier

I'm not knowledgeable in any way with software distribution, retail space on shelves or any other part of the mechanism for getting, but i have been involved in selling product and dealing with the fallout when things don't go right.

Obviously something hasn't gone right with the launch of NW, and at the end of the day, the ultimate point of blame ends up at FC's door. NW went live on the servers and many of the people who wanted to get it couldn't, and many will not be able to for days or weeks, myself included.

What i'd like to see from FC is an explanation of the following:

1) What went wrong
Not just there was a problem with the distribution network, but a concrete reason. It might seen like useless information but it would damn well make me feel like part of the loop.

2) What they are going to do about it
All i've read at the moment is there's a problem, it's out of our hands. That doesn't tell me anything, it almost as bad as just saying nothing.

3) How they are going to prevent it from happening again
If they ever do release shadowlands, whats to stop all this happening again? I missed out on the initial launch of AO (lucky me!) but i shudder to think of having to go through all this again.

Which of the following options sounds better to you?

Customer: I'd like to buy product x please
Supplier: You can't we don't have it
Customer: What? But i've seen this CGI video and it looks great and other people have it, and i'm going to miss out on the action.
Supplier: something went wrong, come back in a week, maybe a month.
Customer: Thats terrible, what are you going to do about it?
Supplier: nothing, out of our hands

Customer: I'd like to buy product x please
Supplier: you can't we don't have it because of 'x'
Customer: That sucks, when can i get it?
Supplier: We're doing 'Y' to get it out faster and reduce any problems that might be caused by you not having it. Next time we going to do it 'Z' way to avoid all these problems.

It's the lack of this sort of information that makes me hacked off.

There seem to be plenty of theories about what went wrong, what they can do about it and what they should do next time, but all i can see in reply is what didn't go wrong, what they can't do about it and why it's not their fault.

As for enjoying the game without the booster pack, I went on a guild raid on a tower last night, which stalled because no one had a shield disabler, which apparently you can only buy if you have NW installed (don't know if this is true or not) In the end we knocked out three or four missile towers (due to a bug i assume) but the general feeling of the guild was what's the point? The clanners in control didn't even turn up to give us some pvp. No xp, no loot, no real point in destroying it, except to knock a few million creds off the guild until they put it back up again.

I have NW on back order from DR, being in the UK i can only see it coming out on the 6th of December, which is a lot better than some. I don't see FC doing anything to speed up delivery times, or reducing the problems caused by it.

If downloading is not a viable option due to requiring on shelf visibility, how does that work with product ordered from DR? why not take every preorder placed, bill for the game and issue CD Keys? Then ship out all the fancy box and voice add-ons when available? This is all product that won't be on the shelf, will still count as sold from DR's standpoint. If this is not possible because people will preorder now instead of buying in the shops, then why not pick a date and only issue keys for people who ordered before then. I only ordered a week or so ago, so i'm not expecting to get mine anytime soon, but some people have ordered months in advance.

Or what about removing some of the unclaimed land areas? I don't think it's right to shut off the expansion features now, but if no-one has claimed there, then it shouldn't be a problem. There is bound to be an advantage if you can access more features of the game before other people. Keeping more areas back would allow for more room for people to fight over when they finally get NW, instead of being confronted with a full map.

AO is the best MORPG i have played so far, and you'll have to do a lot worse to make me go back to EQ, but i like to know whats going on. In the absence of a copy of NW, information is about the only thing you can offer me, and i'm not seeing too much of the real thing here, just diversionary PR.

Drexla, L52 NM MP, NBB

[______________Nelida]

I pre-ordered the first day it was offered. Mine is now backordered from DR.

I just ordered my copy from EB Games...I'm cancelling my DR order and if they try and bill me I'll refuse to pay.

As far as I'm concerned this pre-order offer was a rip-off. You got my money and I don't have your product.

Next time I'll know better...never order from the manufacurer.

FC, you owe us a HUGE appology. Many of us ordered the day you opened up the pre-orders and now we're the LAST to get our copy. How can you possibly think this is right?

Originally posted by Cz
Turin, the only thing I can think of there is that they sold out the entire first batch. It might be that they're playing it safe too, in case they don't have enough boxes, though I trust DR to know what they're talking about.

[_______________Syryx]

Originally posted by beagle_28

If downloading is not a viable option due to requiring on shelf visibility, how does that work with product ordered from DR? why not take every preorder placed, bill for the game and issue CD Keys? Then ship out all the fancy box and voice add-ons when available? This is all product that won't be on the shelf, will still count as sold from DR's standpoint.

hehe thats a good point actually

[______________Yeniur]

Originally posted by Ikegami


Well, I think I found a phone number. If it works I will post it. This is getting on my nerves. They had better be able to cancel my order.

The phone number is

952-253-1234

They said you could call and cancel. The also said they don't have any in stock and don't know when they will get it either. She told they have yet to actually receive it from Funcom. I don't know who to believe anymore. I am going to look for it tomorrow at stores locally and if I find it I am going to cancel my order with DR.

Make sure to call them and let them know how you feel :^)

[-Zagadka-]

Originally posted by beagle_28

What i'd like to see from FC is an explanation of the following:

1) What went wrong
Not just there was a problem with the distribution network, but a concrete reason. It might seen like useless information but it would damn well make me feel like part of the loop.

http://www.ao-basher.com/mem_show_lo...memlongid=1541

2) What they are going to do about it
All i've read at the moment is there's a problem, it's out of our hands. That doesn't tell me anything, it almost as bad as just saying nothing.

I've been told directly that they are going to do it differently next time, definitely learning from their experience. I'd certianly hope that is the case.

3) How they are going to prevent it from happening again
If they ever do release shadowlands, whats to stop all this happening again? I missed out on the initial launch of AO (lucky me!) but i shudder to think of having to go through all this again.

Since you asked twice, I'll put in the direct quote :-)

"You can sure that we will clear up these issues before Shadowlands. This was our 20th game, but the first time we (tried to launch all over Europe and in the US on the same day. For the upcoming release of Shadowlands we have gained some invaluable new lessons. "

[Beartwo]

What a complete pile of utter nonsense!!!

With 20 games behind them they know how to ship products in time.
A lot of us preordered and prepaid our copies up to 4-5 months ago. If its so damn hard to send things through Ireland then do those that preordered the curtesy of shipping directly in the mail.

This really irritates me, since it shows major disrespect to AO`s most loyal players.
NW is great, but why sabotage european guilds/players so they cant even place a lvl 100 tower after the americans have been all over Rubi Ka?

Their bases are now very well defended, and by the time we get our CD`s there will be even better defenses.

Last night I went on a raid with Rennesaince after they were attacked by Storm. LD after LD.. impossible to get back in since the zone is overloaded with textures.

I even tried 640x480x16...with zero view distance, but there was no way to get in.

The fighting was fun, and I agree that this is the way to go, but FC needs to look at the coding for the rendering when you log into a zone. Right now its killing my pc which is by no means slow.

[___________Randomguy]

Cz wrote:
-----------------------------------------------------
"i trust DR to know what they are doing"
-----------------------------------------------------

lmao obviously they are not!

ive cancelled my pre-order
ordered from EBgames but cancelled that too coz i didnt want to pay more for shipping than the actual game hehe
guess ill just have to wait till stores get it here in denmark.
I know that if i cept my order at DR id prolly have it the same day as stores had it ,but this have become a matter of principal.
i cannot do buisniss with a company that act in such a n00bish way.
ill never buy a product from that is distributed throug them again,
and if i wasn't so frigging hooked on this game FC would have seen the last of my money too, but i dont think ill ever b able to leave this game, god knows ive tried a few times

[Warlock]

Just thought people would like to know.

Emailed Game Customer Service yesterday after reading this on AO-Basher from FC's European sales manager, Jørgen Tharaldsen

"I expect the game to be available in retail from MONDAY ON. This is dependent on how fast our distributors can ship it out. It should be available all over no later than Wednesday next week, depending on our distributors of course. This includes UK and Ireland (Game / EBUK will receive it on Monday)"

Game are _still_ saying Friday (and thats mail order NOT fro mthe shops)

I also made my daily phone call to Digital River who as also _still_ saying Friday

[Vixentrox]

Prepaid at Babbages. Delivery delayed and delayed...and delayed again. *sigh* No one else in town has even heard of it.

[___________Catalyste]

I have seen the same, Vix...the stores here have no idea what it is....and the only one that DID have it sold its only copy to an emplyee, and they have no date from their own warehouse as to when more are coming...the story: "Sorry ma'am, no more have been received from the manufacturer. They are on backorder. When FunCom ships them to us, we will get them here within 1-2 days tops." Note, these folks had not heard of it either, and had to make a call as it was not even on their regular list.

Well, I must admit, the store cannot sell what it does not have...

*smiles broadly* I am suddenly VERY glad I do not PvP

[___________Catalyste]

I have seen the same, Vix...the stores here have no idea what it is....and the only one that DID have it sold its only copy to an employee, and they have no date from their own warehouse as to when more are coming...the story: "Sorry ma'am, no more have been received from the manufacturer. They are on backorder. When FunCom ships them to us, we will get them here within 1-2 days tops." Note, these folks had not heard of it either, and had to make a call as it was not even on their regular list.

Well, I must admit, the store cannot sell what it does not have...

*smiles broadly* I am suddenly VERY glad I do not PvP

[Warlock]

Just got off the phone from Digital River.....

They say they will be shipping tomorrow (Thurs)

We shall see....

[Zorlack]

Checked Digital River just now and they shipped my copy Tuesday, December 4.

- Z

[-Zagadka-]

At 2:30:

Dear Mr. Garcia,

We're sorry, but your order has already shipped.


At 6:00:

Your order from Funcom BV USA, a member of the Digital River Network, has been shipped and your credit card has been charged.

Bah, stupid liars. And they sent it farking UPS Ground.

/me gives in and accepts, while plotting the demise of Digital River

[Warlock]

Well it was time for my daily 'bug DR' phone call.

Got told it was shipping today

[Snuble]

Hmmm... Its now 14 days since I canceled from DR, and still have no feedback from them. Hmmm...

['sabi]

... even though I cancelled within their terms and conditions they are refusing to cancel the order stating that it had already shipped. I got the shipped/charged notification e-mail five hours later...

I've checked with the credit card company and as a gesture of good will the credit card company are willing to refund the next day delivery charge (even though they are not at fault) or if I refuse delivery or send if back (with relevent proof) and DR don't credit me back then the credit card company will refund the charge. It seems that low amount transactions are protected and are difficult to get refunds from so the ccard companies take the hit.

So, in the end I was right. FunCom and Digital River do get to regularly roger us without a damn... I am glad that the press love dirt and bad mouthing companies...

[Rep]

I sent an e-mail to digital rivers last tuesday (26th nov). I filled in a web 'contact us' form last saturday with an enquiry. I filled in the 'contact us' form Tuesday to cancel.. how many replies have I had......


0, zeo, zip, nil

I wont ever be ordering anything from them again

One of the worst customer experiences I have ever had (there may have been worse come to think of it, but still a bad one)

If they give me any hassle with charging or delivering goods I have cancelled then I am going to invoke some of the UK's Distance Selling legislation.

The happy side is game.uk.com have just sent me an e-mail saying they have dispatched NW.. w00t.. I think I might order from these guys again.

[____________AckaHeru]

YAHOUUUU

damn too, i said i wanted to cancel it...
AM i gonna get now 3 COPIES of NW pff lol (iv command it on two other sites lol)

Dear akaki isanovitch :

Your order from Funcom BV Europe, a member of the Digital River Network, has
been shipped and your credit card has been charged.

Customer Number: 27084459
Order Number: 57211417
Order Date: 23-NOV-02

akaki isanovitch
europawijk 22
geel, 2440
32-0472458646
ackaheru@mail.ru

Product Name Qty Ordered Qty Shipped Price
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Order Anarchy Online<br><p>Notum Wars 1 1 20.99 EUR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax: 4.76 EUR
Shipping: 6.21 EUR
Total: 31.96 EUR

Order Status: Complete

KICK ASS
lol
i m so happy btw lol at least gonna get one as soon as possible! TOMOROW I HOPEEEEE!