Twilight Time Announces January/February 2014 Releases (1 Viewer)

[cocophone]

Thanks for the info. I'll set a reminder.-----------------"Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?" - Wings of Desire

 

[cineMANIAC]

I hate to bring up the Screen Archives shipping woes but I really will think twice before ordering anything further from these guys. It'll have to be something I truly desperately desire, which rules out the casual splurge. I ordered 2 Twilight Time titles last week and still have not received a shipping confirmation - and this is for 2 older releases that should be in stock. I usually got an email a couple of days after placing an order but over a week and nothing? It's not something I want to put up with, frankly. The premium prices I don't have a problem with but shipping should be free if it's going to take weeks to get orders delivered.

 

[ahollis]

I don't think I have ever received an email for shipment from Twilight but I seem to get my orders about a week after the release. Poor Twilight. They lose so much love. 1. I won't order anything from them because of their business plan. 2. I won't order anything from Twilight because of their Price Point. 3 I won't order anything from Twilight because of their Shipping policyGezzzzzzzWAC uses UPS Innovations and I usually get those titles in a week. But even last week Amazon sent an email saying orders would be delayed due to weather. So some of these Sinbad titles might have gotten caught up in that. Waiting now to order Khartoum and Zulu on the 26th.

 

[BPullen]

I hate to bring up the Screen Archives shipping woes but I really will think twice before ordering anything further from these guys. It'll have to be something I truly desperately desire, which rules out the casual splurge. I ordered 2 Twilight Time titles last week and still have not received a shipping confirmation - and this is for 2 older releases that should be in stock. I usually got an email a couple of days after placing an order but over a week and nothing? It's not something I want to put up with, frankly. The premium prices I don't have a problem with but shipping should be free if it's going to take weeks to get orders delivered.

Yeah. You'll order for December and expect perfection. And then not order the rest of the time when demand and weather don't matter? Sir. I never get my stuff early. Ever. I always wait a week from release. Its a fact of life. I love the product. So what should I do? Stop buying?For me, that's not an option. If you value what they do, you owe it to yourself to keep going. If enough people give up, there goes the ship. The idea is worth fighting for. Thanks.

 

[BPullen]

Note: Cost is cost. Shipping is shipping. SAE and TT don't have the means to swallow the cost. If you want free shipping, expect a $40 Blu-Ray. Would you rather pay more for the disc? Give me knowing over hidden expense any day. Anger gets us nowhere. Cheers.

 

[cineMANIAC]

A week or more after ordering just for a shipping notification, plus another week, minimum, for delivery. Figure up to 3 weeks to receive the product. Two separate orders nearly a month apart, same issue. Totally unacceptable.

 

[Persianimmortal]

SAE is not Amazon.com. They're a small operation that is probably operating on thin margins, and can obviously get physically swamped by the volume of orders at times.

We clearly have different definitions of the word unacceptable: waiting a week or two (plus add another 1-2 weeks for me, given I live in Australia) to get a desirable movie is not unacceptable in my opinion. Last time I checked, there is no pressing need to have a Blu-ray movie in your hands by a particular date.

 

[schan1269]

IF you are complaining about the time it takes to get a TT from SAE, you could always order the UK version from Amazon...

 

[Persianimmortal]

Except for the majority of titles for which there is no UK version on Amazon...

 

[JohnMor]

My only real complaint with SAE is that they are bad on communication. The website is poor and the shipping info is poor. I get that they're a small operation with a very small staff, but that's all the more reason to have a better website and improved tracking info for customers. Take that pressure off the overworked staff! I don't mind waiting for my order, as long as I know it's being processed. Don't just charge my credit card, give me little or no information and then tell me to "wait 4-6 weeks before making an inquiry." That's absurd. Once you take the money, you need to be a little more forthcoming with info.

 

[Persianimmortal]

I can agree with that to a certain extent. Their website could be better, especially with automated notifications. But I'd wager their site is linked directly to an older backend system, and revamping the whole lot would require significant investment in time and money. If they're already under pressure, the last thing they'd want is to deal with the inevitable teething issues of a new system.

 

[JoHud]

The only criticism I have regarding the shipping is that UPS Mail Innovations is a definite step down from USPS in terms of shipping service. But as long as they provide tracking it's not a huge deal.

 

[ROclockCK]

I can agree with that to a certain extent. Their website could be better, especially with automated notifications. But I'd wager their site is linked directly to an older backend system, and revamping the whole lot would require significant investment in time and money. If they're already under pressure, the last thing they'd want is to deal with the inevitable teething issues of a new system.

Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm currently working for a company trying to accomplish that very same task. It isn't pretty.

The thing is Koroush, SAE's target market for most of its history has been veteran fans and collectors of obscure movie soundtracks, who naturally skew older, and frankly, in my experience, tend to be more practical about this stuff. I mean, many of us grew up with the vagueries of snail-mail order - especially during the Laserdisc era - which were often purchased via lowest-of-low-priority bulk fanfold pamphlets or crudely Xeroxed and stapled seasonal catalogues. Now that such boutique sales have moved to the 'Net, I think it's easier for customers like us to have more patience in our dealings with micro-staffed and funded shops supplying such specialized products. We are simply grateful such boutique sources exist at all to serve our arcane interests, and do not require a whiz-bang Flash and Java 'experience' to seduce us...we're just trying to purchase some hard to find vintage media. So as long as the vendor's site works...well enough...enough of the time...then that's good enough. Just as those often cheesy snail-mailed pamplets were good enough.

Heck, SAE could invest hundreds of thousands (or millions) in creating a state-of-the-art customer service 'experience', and still end up with almost squat positive impact on their bottom line...or improving the buying habits/satisfaction of their core customer base. These guys aren't Amazon, never were, and don't pretend to be; they're just doing their best to fulfill as quickly as humanly possible what sometimes amounts to thousands of orders received practically overnight. With merely a handful of staff, how could they be expected to instantaneously turn around spike volumes like that? FIFO they certainly are not...SAE no doubt groups their shipping runs by region/country for optimal processing efficiency.

If its any consolation, up here in Canuck dogsled country I am typically the last to receive my TT orders from SAE each month. I'm up against a quadruple-whammy: an International addy, out in the hinterlands, and a Box # no less, with orders usually requiring boxed packaging. Despite that shipping handicap, sure to delay delivery, all I really care is that SAE picks my order correctly and packs it well, and gets the paperwork right, which invariably they do. On those rare occasions when there has been a problem, just a single, brief, unhysterical e-mail to Ed has always been met with a prompt, no fuss response. Always.

So considering SAE's scale of operations, I think they do a fine job with their CS, and I'll go even further...I actually like the vibe of their site. Truth be, if they ever do decide to reskin it, I think I would actually miss that endearingly-retro 'bulk 'pamphlet' style.

 

[JohnMor]

There is a HUGE difference between having a "state of the art" website and what SAE has. There is no info on stock in most cases, so if you place an order for a title that happens to be on backorder, you probably won't find out about until after a few weeks of your order remaining in "Pending" status, then you email them, then they MAY respond saying that what you desired is backordered. Most online stores had website capabilities much better than that 10 year ago. Forget state of the art. Just plain everyday basic stock and shipping info is all that's desired. ESPECIALLY when they charge your credit card immediately, whether they have the item in stock or not. You can't tell me it's less work to enter "On Backorder" once on a item page than it is to answer 20 separate emails asking why a couple of weeks after their credit card was charged their order still hasn't shipped. This is all just common sense for any business.

 

[JohnMor]

On those rare occasions when there has been a problem, just a single, brief, unhysterical e-mail to Ed has always been met with a prompt, no fuss response. Always.

You're luckier than I. Of the three times I have had to email SAE over the last year, one was ignored and two were answered by Ed in a VERY curt and surly manner. And there was NOTHING in my emails that would warrant that. I was always very polite and to the point, and included "please" and "thank you." Ed acted like it was inconvenience to have to deal with the paying customer.

 

[ROclockCK]

There is a HUGE difference between having a "state of the art" website and what SAE has. There is no info on stock in most cases, so if you place an order for a title that happens to be on backorder, you probably won't find out about until after a few weeks of your order remaining in "Pending" status, then you email them, then they MAY respond saying that what you desired is backordered. Most online stores had website capabilities much better than that 10 year ago. Forget state of the art. Just plain everyday basic stock and shipping info is all that's desired. ESPECIALLY when they charge your credit card immediately, whether they have the item in stock or not. You can't tell me it's less work to enter "On Backorder" once on a item page than it is to answer 20 separate emails asking why a couple of weeks after their credit card was charged their order still hasn't shipped. This is all just common sense for any business.

But in this world of limited releases John, there's no such thing as "backordered". SAE either has remaining stock from TT's limited 3000 run that they can sell to you...or they don't. "Backordered" is a meaningless term in this context.

Both TT and SAE always let customers know when remaining stock on a title drops below 500. Once that stock zeroes, not only can you no longer complete the order but the listing itself vanishes from SAE's site. Occasionally, some sellouts will reappear briefly after cancellations and returns have been accounted for. And of course, TCM has its own fixed allotment, as evidenced by the residual availability of The Egyptian on DVD and The Fury on Blu-ray months after selling out on SAE.

My point is that many of the features common to modern online retail sites simply don't apply to sales within a limited release model. It's much simpler...you just start counting down from 3000 and stop when you hit 0.

 

[Twilight Time]

Just as an fyi, SAE has been in business successfully since 1976, so they must be doing something right. Incidentally, SAE told us today that the new shipping methods they had tried as an experiment ("Innovations") has not worked well for them, so as of last Monday they have reverted to the prior First Class / Priority mail shipping arrangement they had in place before…trust that will ease the minds of some anxious collectors…

 

[Twilight Time]

Perhaps as a caveat to the above we should state that SAE clarified that for collectors in the USA, the old shipping methods will apply, but for international orders the new system will remain in place.

 

[JohnMor]

But in this world of limited releases John, there's no such thing as "backordered". SAE either has remaining stock from TT's limited 3000 run that they can sell to you...or they don't. "Backordered" is a meaningless term in this context.

Both TT and SAE always let customers know when remaining stock on a title drops below 500.

They sell OTHER discs besides TT blu-rays. They also sell cd's. Believe me, "Backordered" is NOT meaningless when it comes to SAE, as I have found on 2 separate occasions.

I'm glad you have always had excellent experiences with SAE, but that is not true for all of us, much as you might like to dismiss our experiences.

 

[ROclockCK]

I'm not dismissing anything John; I've just never encountered the problem you're describing...even with soundtrack CDs, of which I've ordered my fair share over the years.

To be honest, until your post, I had no idea SAE even had "backordered" items...although 99.9% of what I've purchased from them has admittedly been 'limited' editions on CD, DVD, or Blu-ray.