I just love Christmas - I get all sorts of things I want.

Last year, I got several gift certificates to Amazon.com. They had a pre-order set up for SOTA 2064, so I placed my order in February.

Of course, the release date got pushed back. No problem, I knew I'd get it when it came out.

SOTA 2064 was released in September, hitting the stores in October. I waited a couple weeks, then sent an email to Amazon, asking for my stuff. I got a form letter reply, saying that the book was back-ordered, and pushed out the expected delivery date. How the hell can a pre-order be backordered? This was October - new delivery date mid-November.

At the end of the delivery estimate in November, I sent another email, asking for an update. This time, I got the back-order form letter with an extension saying that there was a system glitch that prevented the updated delivery date (mid-December) from showing on my account.

A week after the new delivery date ended, I sent another email, and got another form letter. New delivery estimate is in Mid-January, but they can't confirm that because they couldn't get any re-supply info from their distributors.

Frankly, I'm more than a little pissed at this situation. I really want the book, and I really want to use this gift certificate for it, as there's nothing else I want to use it on. Amazon.com has only one contact source that I can find on their site, and every time I use it a get a form letter. Anyone know of any other routes?

Also, can anyone confirm the distribution problems that Amazon is using as an excuse? I couldn't find anything on shadowrunrpg.com, or Fast Forward's site.

You should cancel your order with Amazon, buy it from Stiggybaby (only 10 days from ordering to in-hand), and use your gift certificates to buy something else on Amazon, like maybe a bbq grill. Or a Segway.

Just Pete:

Try Lone Star Comics.

While they're primarily a comic book retailer, they do have quite a bit of RPG-related stuff, including SHADOWRUN.

Also, they're almost always on time. I placed my last order with them on December 12th, and received notice of shipment late last Monday, December 20th. My order--which included copies of STATE OF THE ART: 2064 and RIGGER 3 REVISED-- arrived this morning via United Parcel Service Ground Delivery--not too shabby, considering that they're in Arlington, Texas and I'm in Gordonsville, Virginia, as well as the time of year.

Good Luck.

Crimsondude 2.0, Kagetenshi: I agree. I've done business with Amazon in the past, and their service, while good, was never quite up to their claims.

--Foreigner

Amazon is extremely hit-or-miss. If their previous pattern with me holds, after another delay or two you'll get a message that they weren't able to fulfill your order and that it has been cancelled.

I'm going to second the Stiggybaby recommendation.

~J

Minus with Stiggybaby - my country isn't in list, while both neighbours are.
And, couldn't find the price of transportation so I could compare all in all with Amazon. This time my money goes to Amazon.

And I also ordered SOTA 2064, among couple of other books. Received nice bonus at the end of the year, and where I spend it? I really should be more accurate with budget

I ordered it from Barnes and Noble.com, and had them send it to a friend as a Christmas present (in the U.S). Three days after I placed the order, they had it in their hands.

Yeah, Amazon's no longer as reliable as they once were. Back when the dot.com crash was in full swing, Amazon realized it had to pull a profit sometime. So it closed a ton of warehouses; which means that many books it used to regularly have on-hand, they no longer have. They've tried to make up for it by being the "face" for many third-party online retailers, but that's still hit-or-miss.

I ordered from Stiggybaby once and had a great experience with them. I ordered about $30 worth of SR minis and just paid for regular ground postage. The transaction took place on a Thursday, and by Saturday I got an email saying they upgraded the postage to Priority for free and the order was sent out, by Monday night I had it in my hands. Pretty good if you ask me, they'll definitely get my service next time I'm looking for gaming stuff.

Lone Star Comics is Awsome. They're a chain out of Dallas, TX. I've been getting my SR stuff there (before moving to Boston) since 1990 and 1st. edition. They carry many of the Iron Wind Metal minis as well. They rock! The biggest store is in Arlington TX. (Lonestar also has a great selection of Reaper Minis as well. I love Reapers different monsters. They're reasonably priced and huge. There's nothing like pulling out an elemental that's two figures high to scare the willies out of runners. The usual comment is that's a "what force elemental"?)

Stiggybaby’s is also really cool. They tend to have everything you could want. I’ve ordered lots of books from them and shipping has always been top notch. I’d give them another thumbs up. They’re laid back and have a huge out of print section that blows most EBAY auctions out of the water. Otherwise Lonestar Comics is definitely legit. I’d go with either.

Wow, that brings back memories. Lone Star was my comic shop of choice years back when I lived in the D/FW area. I didn't know they'd done so well in business to have expanded this much.

Stiggybaby - 21.50$ transport cost outside States
I'm out. I must think out something else :/

Try to find some more people so you can share the postage costs between them. Makes it much cheaper.
We`ve done so and ordered stuff for about 800$ with 25 or so people. So nobody had to pay much postage. And using paypal, it is very easy.
Here in germany every three or four month people are placing posts at forums, looking for other people to buy at stiggybaby. And they alwasy find some willing to do so.

I wish Stiggybaby shipped to Uruguay...

Amazon is great for anything that shows shipping in less than a week.

Never, ever, ever pre-order. Anything. It always gets screwed up.

Interesting - amazon.co.uk have, on the other hand, been very good even with preorders.

They suck in pre-orders at germany too.

I dislike amazon alot.

They listed they had SR 3rd edition hardcover for $40... obviously I jumped on that, ordered.

Waited 4 damn months for it to arrive, when it finally does, its the standard softcover one , I was livid, I sent it back and they refused to refund the $ I paid for shipping me the wrong product.

Refused to do business with them since.

My local Barnes & Nobled ordered mine for me, shipped it to my house (from their store) for free. I got it in just 4 days too, I was pretty happy with the service.

Try www.barnes&noble.com

Their preorder system is always retarded. I've had multiple instances of problems with preorders, but not as much with regular orders.