Digital Eyes....arghhh! (1 Viewer)

[Thane]

I'll start by saying that in the past I have bought literally hundreds of DVDs from Digital Eyes...when they were good, they were very good! Now, however, it's a different story, and despite Mark's lengthy post of a few weeks ago, they don't seem to be back on track yet. I stopped ordering from them when shipments starting arriving much later than the street dates. I called several times to see if they were back on track yet and was assured each time that they were...that they had changed distributors or whatever...but shipments stilll arrived late so I switched permanently.
Now I'm having major trouble trying to get reimbursed for 4 separate used DVD shipments that I sold to them using their QuoteMachine. The first shipment was made at the end of January, and the last was in late March. I called a few weeks ago and was told that a check "should" go out that Friday. This answer didn't seem definitive enough so I emailed Mark and received this (rather terse) reply on April 19th:
"You talked to me on the phone when you called in. I told you that we would cut you a check on Friday. We will send you a check on Friday. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.
Thanks,
Mark
Digital Eyes
ps We will get the last quote in on the check."
Well, that means the check should have gone out on April 20th...guess what...no check yet! So...I have called, I have emailed & still nothing. My patience is wearing a bit thin, to say the least!
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MY DVD LIBRARY

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Checked their website a couple of days ago for M. Hulot's Holiday. Website said it was in stock, so I ordered it.
Next day I got an email saying it was backordered. I check the website again. Still said "In Stock".
Sent an email asking íf the website info was not reliable. No answer so far. And b t w, it still says "In Stock".
My faith in D E is rapidly dwindling...
/Gunnar

 

[Mark Harrill]

Thane,
Just called the office and Rob says he let the check slip through. He is sending the check out today and you should see it in 2-3 days.
Gunnar,
I show that we received the order for M. Hulot's Holiday on on Tuesday. We have temporarily run out of the title and will have more in stock tomorrow and your disc will ship at that time. The site has not been updated due to us filling in a large amount of data into our database which will make the site much more desirable. We are having to tune the web-site to accept the new data structure. As a result, the stock levels are not currently correct. This should all be fixed in the next 24 hours.
Mark
Digital Eyes

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Ok, but I really think you should make the customers aware of things like this. If I go to a web site and see "In Stock", I really expect the item to be in stock.
This may seem insignificant to you, but if it hadn't been for your quick reply here, I would not know if I could ever trust your web site when it said "In Stock".
Not all of your customers use the HTF, so how many have had the same experience that I just had, but did not get an explanation for it...?

 

[Mark Harrill]

Gunnar,
The inventory status is accurate for probably 95% of the listed items. The site will hopefully be updated completely by tonight. Please be assured that we are working very hard to complete the transition.
Thanks,
Mark
Digital Eyes

 

[Ian C]

Well, I tried them out for the first time a few weeks ago. I placed an order for:
Mummy: UE
Spartacus: CC
Cowboy Bebops 1&2
...and still Spartacus and the Cowboy Bebops have not shipped. I did call to have them go ahead and send The Mummy so I could be sure to have the free ticket in time(that was about a week and a half to two weeks ago) and they sent it promptly and were very nice on the phone (I think her name was Kim).
I understand they may be having some problems, but Cowboy Bebop was listed as "available in 2-3 days" and Spartacus was in stock when I called, so apparently I am waiting for Cowboy Bebop. However, I placed my order almost three weeks ago now.
EDIT: Well, it shows on their site now that they have shipped my stuff. So it all turned out good.
Ian Connors

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Mark,
I trust you when you say that your working hard. But customers coming to the web site can't see that. If they see that something is In Stock and then finds that it is not, they're more likely than not to go somewhere else in the future.
"Getting new customers is easy. It's keeping them that's the hard part." (Don't know who first said that, but it's oh so true)
Ian,
It seems that anything that is not in stock and is not outright out of print is deemed "Available in 2-3 days". Or so it seems when I look at the web site. (I'm sure Mark will correct me, but that's the way it looks...)
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[Jeff_P]

I ordered "Lord Stanley's Cup - Hockey's Ultimate Prize" from Digital Eyes in October and never received it when it came out on Oct 10th. After sending an email out a week later questioning where my DVD was did I get an email statng that the item was shipped. I received the item 13 days after the release date and I already purchased another one since it was late for being a gift. I kept the extra one for myself. But if it was another title I would have been pissed.
Anyway, after that I cancelled my pre-purchase orders.

 

[Gunnar Syren]

We have temporarily run out of the title and will have more in stock tomorrow and your disc will ship at that time.

That happened - NOT! Well, at least it no longer says "In Stock" on the web page...

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[Ali B]

I ordered from DE on the basis of recommendations from this forum. Thankfully 3 of the 5 orders have shipped on time, but 2 of them have not. I have sent repeated emails to both their sales department and to Mark, but I have had no reply. Their fax machine also seems to be either engaged or out of paper all the time. The 2 items ordered were Psycho SE and the Irresponsible Tylor boxset. Both were ordered at the end of February, and neither have shipped. Psycho is even listed as 'In Stock'. I would cancel if I thought they'd even actually read the email....
ali

 

[Mark Harrill]

Gunnar,
Your M Hulot's Holiday shipped today.
Mark
Digital Eyes

 

[Jeff_A]

Serious issues at Digital Eyes. As a consumer, however, I appreciate the way you have "faced" the fire, Mark!!!

 

[David Werner]

We'll see how this one goes. I purchased Dinosaur CE new from Digital Eyes March 14 and received it. I placed the DVD on my shelf as I had heard the many complaints of the authoring of the disc. I did not open it and have been waiting for Disneys reauthoring. I grabbed the "still sealed" disc from my shelf and noticed it did not have a title/upc sticker on the top of the case, also the wrapping did not appear to be the crisp factory type but the soft shrinkwrap. I corresponded with Rob on this and he checked their stock, the copy they had did have a title/upc sticker. Traded a few emails back and forth, sent them jpg's of the DVD and the receipt. Ultimately I felt when I open it if it appears fine no problem.
Tonight I unwrapped the DVD (As my patience for this ever being redone by Disney is over). This copy has obviously been opened or used, as the edges around the disc had smudge fingerprints, a few light scratches and only the leaflet inside the case (I think all Disneys I've opened include battery coupons and a bunch of other junk). Also had that telltale gouge in the plastic on the case where someones fingernail tried peeling away the original title/upc sticker. Anyway I emailed them to inform I would like to return this for a FACTORY SEALED replacement or refund.
I have had pretty good luck with Digital Eyes in the past, a few late shipments

but a few fast ones also.

We will see how it goes

UPDATE 5/13/01Mark has returned my email and I can return the disc for an exchange. All right, at this point I am satisfied. When I receive the disc I will post here.

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Your M Hulot's Holiday shipped today.

OK, if you say so. However, it still shows as open order on the web site, and I haven't received any shipping notification email.
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[SteveMc]

I was going to try them a couple months ago and had similar "web" problems. Basically a communication problem i guess. Ordered Robocop: CC and The Rock:CC and they both said available 2-3 days. I was ok with that and placed the order. The next day i got an email saying that RObocop was extremely in demand AND out of print, and that they could NOT guarantee shipment of EITHER disc. So it sounded to me that they might not get them at all, so much for the available in 2-3 days. I wrote them an email because i was rather upset that their website says one thing, and they say something different, so i cancelled and ordered them from someone else. Then I got a response saying that both discs WOULD be available in 2-3 days!!! I cancelled anyway...i am hearing 2 different things and don't appriciate the run around. I was disappointed as I heard great thing about them in the past and this happened to me first time out.
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Crash
"Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus TWO plus one plus one..."

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Got this email from Digital Eyes today:
This note is to let you know that the following item(s) ordered from Digital Eyes Laserdiscs and DVD have been shipped to you.
Order Number: 60247
Ship Date: 05/14/01

I thought Mark said it had been shipped 05/12...?
I don't understand why Mark can't just say "Sorry, it's been delayed", or whatever, rather than making promises that he can't keep. You'd think he would have learned by now that making empty promises just makes things worse.

So just to recapitulate:
- When I ordered it said "In Stock", so I expected it to be shipped the next day. It wasn't.
- On 05/09 Mark said "It'll ship tomorrow". It didn't.
- On 05/12 Mark said "It shipped today". Did it?
- On 05/15 their email says "It shipped 05/14". Let's hope that it has in fact been shipped now.
Ok, so it took maybe a week longer than anticipated. That's not the end of the world. But getting all these runarounds is unsettling.

 

[Dan Keefe]

i must reply that I have had very good luck with DE. Only on one occasion was something late. Other than that I have had excellent customer service. All of my preorders have been on time or EARLY! Mark, the only complaint I have is the search engine leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, I haven't seen anyone with that kind of selection and prices.
Gunnar I hope you get your DVD. I will continue to use Digital Eyes until I run into these problems
Peace
dan

 

[Gunnar Syren]

Well, maybe I'm stupid, but I'll continue to buy from DE in spite of these problems.
I believe that Mark's basically a good guy. I think he's just a bit overworked and doesn't always handle problems the best way.
Still, DE has a very good selection at very competitive prices. I'd buy more from them if things like this didn't happen, but I'm still buying...

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[Gunnar Syren]

Just thought that I ought to mention that the disc arrived here today. That's quite Ok for Air Mail to Sweden.
So I got my disc just a little later than I originally expected, but not that much.

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[David Werner]

Update to my post above. Received a factory sealed replacement today 05/21/01. Good job Mark, thanks. I will continue to patronize his establishment