PreOrdering Policy rediculous

[roustabout]

I wish I'd realized these were hitting stores as early as they are;  I preordered the 18th and won't be getting delivery until tomorrow sometime.  If I'd known, I'd have signed up at the stores.

That said, though, I think that the wait list was being handled correctly, especially last weekend - the OP was annoyed that he couldn't buy a device which was reserved for another customer and was in the store before the announced launch date.

If I'd reserved one, planned to buy it on the announced date of first availability, budgeted accordingly, and went to the store to find it'd been sold out before the release to someone insistent?  I'd be frustrated, and I bet the OP would have been as well.  

[akaCat]

---

techiegirl wrote:

I put my name down within a few days of announcement.  When I read here that some people had picked up their GlowLights from the store, I called the store and was told that they did have it available.  I went to pick it up the same day. That was Friday. 

It's now Tuesday and I still haven't received a call that the one I actually reserved is available for me.

---

Unless you picked it up at a different store, it's quite likely that they took your name off the list when you got it. Mine was still in the backroom when I picked it up; the employee who brought it out made a point of handing the reserve slip over to the checkout clerk. I got the email notification that evening.

[keriflur]

Nevermind... I just said the same thing as akaCat.

[techiegirl]

---

akaCat wrote:

Unless you picked it up at a different store, it's quite likely that they took your name off the list when you got it. Mine was still in the backroom when I picked it up; the employee who brought it out made a point of handing the reserve slip over to the checkout clerk. I got the email notification that evening.

---

It's possible but I'm not sure how they would know who I was or that my name was even on the list in the first place.

[akaCat]

---

techiegirl wrote:

---

akaCat wrote:

Unless you picked it up at a different store, it's quite likely that they took your name off the list when you got it. Mine was still in the backroom when I picked it up; the employee who brought it out made a point of handing the reserve slip over to the checkout clerk. I got the email notification that evening.

---

It's possible but I'm not sure how they would know who I was or that my name was even on the list in the first place.

---

That's strange, I assumed they asked your name before they handed it over. Before I got mine they checked my name to make sure I was actually on the preorder list, and that I was high enough on the list to get one of the few they'd received.

[northlite]

I put my name down at the store within a few minutes of the announcement. I am first on the list. As of Wednesday night my store still says they haven't gotten them. I've called every day. I have to go into town tomorrow so I'll just stop in there (which I've also done, three times). Not sure why they didn't give them to all the stores at once but it is annoying. I put my reservation in at the store because for the tablet I ordered online the second the order page went live, and I got it 10 days after the store got them. This time I wasn't going to wait around for B&N to send it and have it sit for a week close enough I could have gone and got it. (I watched tracking on the tablet and it sat for a week 90 miles away). This time I was going to fool 'em and get it at the store. Joke's on me.

[Jadjuka]

---

Painterroy wrote:

They way B&N handles sales of new nooks is silly. You go into the store sign your name on a list and that's it. You're not pre-paying. So my B&N has a bunch of new nooks in the store, but if you didn't sign your name up and just walk into the store like I did, they won't sell you one. They said they have to hold them for the people who signed in advance. Now even if you signed up, there is no guarantee that these people will show up to buy them. I was there with money in hand and they wouldn't sell me one. They should not take in names unless people are actually paying in advance. They should just sell them 1st come first serve. I checked again today & they still have a bunch but people have yet to come in & pick them up. As a person in retail, I would sell it to the 1st person with money ready.

---

Is this your first time pre-ordering anything or is this just your first time pre ordering from BN? I have to ask because I've done pre-paid and pre-orders before with various companies and even then there have been times where the store would sell the items on a first come first serve basis regardless of pre-order or pre-paid. 

The way BN does reservations is so much more better. It's really hastle free and if I don't get paid till 3 or 4 days after the release date I'm at least guaranteed mine when I have the money and can walk into the store. 

I wonder if you're one of those people that had the cash in hand and bought something that was on the reserved list leaving other people who did pre-order, or pre-paid out in the cold and stuck waiting for the next shippment to come in.... Still wanna run your business like that?

[Painterroy]

Did you read the previous post from the person who was first on the list & still hasn't received it. Since the lists arn't posted in the store, how are you sure that they are adhering to the list & not selling them to whoever they feel like first (friends & relatives maybe) & just telling you that they haven't received them yet. You don't know. I just think it's funny that a week after the first batch showed up in my B&N, they still have not received any more. Even UPS ground would only take a few days. Just seems funny IMO. I have a friend who went in on April 29 & they sold her one and she never signed up. She just walked in & they sold her one. 

[akaCat]

---

Painterroy wrote:

Did you read the previous post from the person who was first on the list & still hasn't received it. Since the lists arn't posted in the store, how are you sure that they are adhering to the list & not selling them to whoever they feel like first (friends & relatives maybe) & just telling you that they haven't received them yet. You don't know. I just think it's funny that a week after the first batch showed up in my B&N, they still have not received any more. Even UPS ground would only take a few days. Just seems funny IMO. I have a friend who went in on April 29 & they sold her one and she never signed up. She just walked in & they sold her one. 

---

I assume the bottleneck is manufactoring, not distribution. For whatever reason, someone decided that they should start selling the stock they have before they had enough to even fill all the preorders.

Since they're dealing with limited stock, there are a lot of possible reasons why some stores don't have enough to fill all the preorders, and others have more than enough.

Maybe every store got enough to fill 2/3 of the orders placed through April 20 (date picked randomly), and some stores had a lot of people cancel.

It's also likely that the allocation was based on a combination of the store's sales history, and their preorder list. A store that regularly has Nooks flying off the shelves may have gotten enough for their entire preorder list plus a couple more for inventory, while a store that struggles to sell its stock may have received none.

Unless someone high-up in the B&N distribution department decides to spill some (probably Internal-only) info, we'll probably never know the specifics.

[Steph0690]

Well I'm sad to hear that many people havn't received their pre-orders. Hopefully you guys will get them soon  I see myself having to wait a very long time as I'm waiting to purchase one from Best Buy (as I have a gift card & need the accidental coverage Best Buy offers.) I'm assuming it will take much longer to get the NSTG out to other retailers considering there is a limited quantity. I feel like B&N may have rushed the release of the NSTG in order to get extra sales during mothers day and graduation dates. Just a thought since B&N announced that there were very limited quantities. 

[marsdog]

I'm getting real frustrated here as it seems so many have their new Nooks for maybe a week. I know I must have been the first one at my store to Pre-Order, as I did it within the first hour of opening on the day of the announcement. I saw the BN new release about a week and a half ago, saying Pre-Orders were shipping early, and yet I've been calling my local store everyday and they still can't tell me when they'll arrive. I don't understand why other stores have them and mine has no idea when they are coming! I'm going away this weekend and will have alot of time on my hands to read. I was really looking forward to having it in hand by now but alas, I'll have to read analog

Sorry, just venting here!

[Byteguy]

---

marsdog wrote:

...Sorry, just venting here!

---

We understand and agree.

Unfortunately, it's not just B&N that struggles with "how many to send where and when" issue.

I pass 4 Targets on my drive home.  More than once, I've wanted a new CD the day of release.  I'll check on-line and call.  One store will always still be waiting to get some, another will get just a couple copies, and a third will have tons of copies.  It's never the same from CD to CD.

It certainly sucks when you're the person stuck waiting.  Especially when you have such a great opportunity to use the Nook that hasn't shown yet.

[Loyd]

I'm still waiting on the store too. I think it would be nice if Barnes and Noble sent an email with a brief apology and explanation. People will imagine reasons for the delay that are probably far worse than the truth.

[keriflur]

Official release date isn't until May 7.  So, while it's nice that some folks got theirs early, I don't think B&N needs to apologize or explain...yet.  Give them until release day to get them in.

[lisat96]

I didn't order mine online until the 1st, and they just updated the shipping date from the 7th to today and assigned the tracking number, so hopefully it won't be too much longer until the stores have the rest of the pre-orders in stock.

[Loyd]

---

keriflur wrote:

Official release date isn't until May 7.  So, while it's nice that some folks got theirs early, I don't think B&N needs to apologize or explain...yet.  Give them until release day to get them in.

---

Thank you, Keriflur, I didn't know that. Somehow I was under the impression it was set for release May 1. It turns out there's nothing to worry about. Some people just got their Nook early. 

[marsdog]

I'm pretty sure the original date was 5/1 on the day of the announcement. It was later revised to the 7th. However, BN made an annoucement that pre-orders would ship sooner than estimated, that was the week of the 26th, and as we know, some lucky few got their's way early. I suppose for me it will be the 7th, however, my local store won't even commit to that.

[Newcraft]

Just have to chime in with my disappointing in-store pre-order experience:

More than two weeks ago, before the Glow was even on display in the Nook "nook" at my local B&N that my family has frequented for more than a decade, we put our name on the pre-order list, the clerk told us "you're all set" and that the expected date was May 1, we'd come in and pay when notified it was in.

So we wait.  And I read that the ship-to-store dates may have changed, but we've received no e-mail or phone call.  We go in to the store to inquire in person.  Meanwhile, every Glow poster in the place has a banner on it saying "Sold Out - Pre-Order Now"

We explain to the first clerk that we had our name on the list, and we're simply checking on status since we hadn't heard anything, we were told May 1 was the arrival date.

"We don't have any.  We only had six shipped."

What?

She consults the Nook sales clerk, the same person who took our pre-order information and told us it was set.  He takes out a printed roster with more than 20 names and addresses crossed off - which meant they've had more than six in the store and have gone home with their owners. 

Our name wasn't on the list.   He checked in the computer.   We're not listed.  The same man who told us two weeks ago that we were "set."

Now we're mad.  He offered to put our name on the list for the next shipment, but he could not tell us when that order would be made or when they'd be in.  Then we asked about ordering it online.  First clerk proceeds to declare that online could only register to pre-order.  Which we knew from consulting this and other threads wasn't true.

We left after voicing our dissatisfaction with both the pre-order policy and the ineptitude of both clerks.  We're not picky people, we go with the flow.  Things happen.  But the sales staff were lying to us, and this Glow was to be a birthday gift.

Bottom lline, we came home, placed our online order, and the Glow will be arriving at my home in time for the birthday, with free shipping.

Lesson:  don't lie to customers, and customer - don't take the clerk's word that you're on the list - get a written receipt.

If you want to purchase a Glow, do it online.  Don't reward a poor policy decision.

[Newcraft]

The local stores are intentionally keeping themselves in the dark.  See my experience posted below.

They didn't even have our name still listed on the pre-order list, and there have already been 20+ that have gone home according to their own roster sheet.

I don't know why B&N wants to make the in-store pre-order experience so difficult, but it would not surprise me if it were an attempt to create a "run" on devices and create the impression of lack of stock.

It's not May 7 yet, and they have printed poster ads plastered in their front window this weekend "Sold Out.  Pre-order now."   How can that even be possible?

I'll be getting mine shipped via online ordering faster than my local store can get their act together.  They couldn't even give me a straight answer about when their second order might be going out.

[robdrob]

I think the stores are holding them intentionally.  When I called yesterday to ask about having in stock I was told a two week delay. When I mentioned that I had reserved it I was told "Oh then we should have them in by Tuesday and you will get a phone call as well as an email"  

Seems suspicious to me.