Book 6: Utterly Dwarfed (+2020 Calendar) now w/ reduced shipping to Europe + Canada

[Armitage]

If it indeed clears customs on 25th, it still has to be individually packed and shipped to all of us.

Usually shipments are already individually packaged when they are put into a shipping container.

[DavidBV]

Usually shipments are already individually packaged when they are put into a shipping container.

Could be either way, I can see pallets of each item put inside the container, which would make a potential customs inspection easier and also take less room. Anyways, if you are right, we should get our stuff in less than a week across Europe. We'll see!

[Waraila]

Well I finally go a reply from Ookdook regarding the shipment.

The shipment finally has cleared customs and is expected to arrive at the freight forwarder this week and start shipping out immediately.

So lot more optimistic we should have our books by the end of next week or so.

[Armitage]

I've just got an email from [email protected] that they are going to send me stuff on behalf of Ape Games (Ook). They write about "games" but correctly list the book and calendar. So things are finally moving forward for us European pre-orderers.

[DavidBV]

I've just got an email from [email protected] that they are going to send me stuff on behalf of Ape Games (Ook). They write about "games" but correctly list the book and calendar. So things are finally moving forward for us European pre-orderers.

Same here, yay!

Maybe this week, who knows.

[Warder]

I got the email today too. What a mess this entire thing has been! I'm not blaming the Giant at all, but I will also never order anything from Ookoodook again. If I'd just gotten it from a local store I would've gotten it much sooner and much cheaper. I tried to get in touch with Ookoodook about it but all I ever got in response was more or less "we're sorry you haven't read our email updates on the books".

[The Aboleth]

I got the email today too. What a mess this entire thing has been! I'm not blaming the Giant at all, but I will also never order anything from Ookoodook again. If I'd just gotten it from a local store I would've gotten it much sooner and much cheaper. I tried to get in touch with Ookoodook about it but all I ever got in response was more or less "we're sorry you haven't read our email updates on the books".

Not a European customer so have not been following super closely, but wasn't the main cause of the delay a combination of printing issues with the calendar and problems with the overseas shipment traveling by sea (or maybe it was a customs thing)? In either case, those are issues with the printer and the boat/customs--not necessarily Ookoodook.

I understand that Ookoodook hasn't been as communicative as they maybe should have been, but I'm unsure how even daily emails would have sped up the shipping.

Not trying to criticize, of course--you're obviously free to shop where you like (and I am NOT a member of Ook, either). I would just hate to see blame cast in the wrong direction.

[Warder]

Not a European customer so have not been following super closely, but wasn't the main cause of the delay a combination of printing issues with the calendar and problems with the overseas shipment traveling by sea (or maybe it was a customs thing)? In either case, those are issues with the printer and the boat/customs--not necessarily Ookoodook.

I understand that Ookoodook hasn't been as communicative as they maybe should have been, but I'm unsure how even daily emails would have sped up the shipping.

Not trying to criticize, of course--you're obviously free to shop where you like (and I am NOT a member of Ook, either). I would just hate to see blame cast in the wrong direction.

They sent the entire lot to Canada, not Europe. ;)

Mistakes can and will happen, but it's the customer service that was the nail in the coffin for me. Just getting them to reply at all was an exercise in frustration, and the reply I finally got was dismissive and frustrating.

[Armitage]

Not a European customer so have not been following super closely, but wasn't the main cause of the delay a combination of printing issues with the calendar and problems with the overseas shipment traveling by sea (or maybe it was a customs thing)? In either case, those are issues with the printer and the boat/customs--not necessarily Ookoodook.

I understand that Ookoodook hasn't been as communicative as they maybe should have been, but I'm unsure how even daily emails would have sped up the shipping.

We're not talking about daily emails. But an email a week would have been nice. Or even an email whenever there was some major development, like, say, the fact that the shipment was sent to Canada instead of Europe. But no, Ook told us weeks later. That's not okay.

[Bloodfeast]

This was a tedious ride... when I ordered it soon after the posting, I hoped to get it around new year, and I also ordered a calendar and now it's allready march and no calendar here.
But I'm still happy to finally get a physical oots calendar and not only the pdf version and I also ordered some stickers, so I still get something that I couldn't get online elsewhere.

Ookoodook has lots of optimization potential. First of all: Communication via only one email-adress. Got mails from <Ookoodook.com> shipping @ apegames.com (what now? Ookoodook or apegames?), shippingmanager08 @ gmail.com (gmail? seriously?) and today service @ happyshops.com that seems to relay the european orders.

[factotum]

The reason for the different e-mail address is, I assume, because the way the reduced shipping works is that Ookoodook ships in bulk to the German fulfilment company, who then distribute the books etc. throughout Europe. Therefore, once the pallet of books have arrived at said fulfilment company, Ookoodook no longer have any direct information as to what's happening. Sure, the fulfilment company could send e-mails to Ookoodook who then forward them on, but that seems a bit pointless and would just introduce additional delays into the notifications, which would be the opposite of what anyone wants!

[snowblizz]

They sent the entire lot to Canada, not Europe. ;)

That wasn't Ookodook though. That was the shipper's fault if what we got informed is correct. It is kinda unfair to blame Ookoodok for not informing or knowing about it when as far as they knew the delivery was on schedule on it's way to Europe.

If you want to blame customer service do so, but at least keep it to things they actually did.

I'm surprised at how many IT infrastructure and logistic experts pop up in these threads.

[Warder]

That wasn't Ookodook though. That was the shipper's fault if what we got informed is correct. It is kinda unfair to blame Ookoodok for not informing or knowing about it when as far as they knew the delivery was on schedule on it's way to Europe.

If you want to blame customer service do so, but at least keep it to things they actually did.

I'm surprised at how many IT infrastructure and logistic experts pop up in these threads.

There's no need for that tone. I don't think anyone here has claimed IT infrastructure or logistics expertise. I'm just a customer. And, as a customer, I'm not the ones dealing with shipping companies - my business is with Ookoodook. If they picked a shoddy shipper or whether the entire thing was a series of unfortunate accidents, the end result is the same, we got our books extremely late and for a high cost. As Ookoodook are the people we've ordered from, they're of course responsible for our orders, no matter what any subcontractors might or might not have done.

But again, that stuff I'm not as bothered about as their customer service in response to all that. As I said before, mistakes happen and that's the sort of thing I can easily forgive. It's the way they handled CS that's convinced me not to do business with them again.

[Armitage]

That wasn't Ookodook though. That was the shipper's fault if what we got informed is correct. It is kinda unfair to blame Ookoodok for not informing or knowing about it when as far as they knew the delivery was on schedule on it's way to Europe.

It's a companies job to know what their contractors do. As Warder wrote: We have contracts with Ook, not with whatever shipping company they used. Ook might not have had direct control over the shipping process, but when you ship a container with whatever through the world you make sure to be kept up-to-date on progress.

I'm surprised at how many IT infrastructure and logistic experts pop up in these threads.

Would it surprise you to hear that for two years I have been shipping stuff (about 10.000 pieces) around the world (100+ countries) as a job? I don't claim to know everything about shipping, but I know a little something.
Oh, and I happen to be an IT professional for the last 20+ years.

[DavidBV]

I'm surprised at how many IT infrastructure and logistic experts pop up in these threads.

I have worked with most of the major shipping companies in the world for years and managed an e-commerce company that shipped over 150K orders worldwide (mostly in Europe, but still some amount overseas). But that's not even the point, really. It's a matter of logic.

It is highly unlikely that a company like DHL, UPS, MRW, Fedex or similar sends a container to Canada when you correctly tell them you want it in Germany. Even if a less-known company was used, they would be out of business if they made mistakes like that. These people don't think, they follow a procedure tested a billion times and transmit their information safely, nothing is manual nor prone to error. The possibility of a mistake by Ookoodook, on the other hand, sounds far more plausible, given they were clearly unprepared for the whole thing. This was the first time (that I know) that they did such bulk shipping, while moving container X from point A to point B is the day's job for a shipping company. Ookoodook people were so overworked that even replying to emails was beyond their capabilities these last weeks (they failed to reply to my emails twice). So while it's true we can't know what happened, a human error when transmitting the destination of containers is, to me, the simpler explanation.

[Throknor]

The error could have happened anywhere in the chain. It could even be the pallets being put in the wrong shipping container; no one would know that was wrong until they came out. All that would take is for someone to get sloppy, see 12 identical pallets from one place but only scan one to see where to move them all. There's a reason large-scale manufacturers would love to be able to put transponders in every box to find out just where they go missing, and that's just when shipping between their own warehouses.

I think everyone's forgetting the big picture: the shipping was cheaper. Everyone who used it should enjoy that, as with all the hassles I doubt it will be offered again,

[Warder]

I think everyone's forgetting the big picture: the shipping was cheaper. Everyone who used it should enjoy that, as with all the hassles I doubt it will be offered again,

Cheaper compared to the regular price offered by Ookoodook, definitely. If I'd just waited and ordered from a local retailer I could've gotten it much cheaper and much quicker, but I didn't know that at the time.

[Armitage]

The error could have happened anywhere in the chain. It could even be the pallets being put in the wrong shipping container; no one would know that was wrong until they came out.

Actually, that a container was missing should have been obvious when it was supposed to be transported to the ship for Europe.

I think everyone's forgetting the big picture: the shipping was cheaper.

I'm not forgetting that. And I ask you not to forget that quite a few of those packages contain a calendar for the year 2020. It's March now, and I couldn't use the calendar for a single day yet. Considering that a calendar has a limited time of usefulness one could argue that the calendar has lost 1/6th of its value by now.

"It's cheaper" is no excuse for failing to do your job. Shipping stuff is an essential part of the service that any mail order service offers. Timely communicating when problems occur is the bare minimum one can expect.

Everyone who used it should enjoy that, as with all the hassles I doubt it will be offered again,

With all the hassle I will go back to begrudgingly pay for normal shipping when ordering the next calendar, as I did in the past.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Given the amount of hassle involved with this calendar from the time Rich finished drawing it to date, I would not be surprised if this is the last year for them.

[F.Harr]

I've finally read my copy of U.D'd and How the Paladan.

And it was delicious.

:)

I think by favorite story was Lien's.

[Falkenstein]

Czech republic here and still nothing (I did get an email from a German delivery company, though, so hopefully it should be a matter of days now). While I don't care about the calendar arriving late (I didn't order it for its "calendar" value, but rather because it's OOTS stuff), I totally agree that the overall delay is a huge mess by Ookoodook. Overall I'm quite sad the Giant keeps working with them - from customer point of view we get very bad behavior (that would likely be consider customer fraud in EU), incredibly long delivery times and massive shipping costs. I remember the situation with when Blood Runs in the Family came out - it was so very similar, I also got the book around early March (and it also was advertised as arriving for Christmas). I hoped the same issue wouldn't happen twice - my bad . The ridiculously high shipping costs from Ookoodook are also the reason I'm not getting the yearly stuff such as holiday ornaments, which is probably applicable to many other people in EU as well.

[DavidBV]

Czech republic here and still nothing (I did get an email from a German delivery company, though, so hopefully it should be a matter of days now).

Since in the email they give us a chance to fix errors in our address, I would say they plan to make the actual shipping in a couple days and they didn't ship yet. Maybe they'll give us a tracking soon.

Worst case scenario would be if they use the postal service, hopefully it's not the case.

[King of Nowhere]

i hope the coronavirus outbreak isn't going to further mess with this. i heard today that some german trukers refused to do shipping in italy (as if being in your truck was at risk). living in italy, and only a few tens of kilometers from one of the quarantined zones, i worry about trade disruption.

at least this would not be ookodook fault.

[Joerg]

I just got a notification that the package will be delivered tomorrow .

[Lord Torath]

I've finally read my copy of U.D'd and How the Paladan.

And it was delicious.

:)

I think by favorite story was Lien's.

Lien's was pretty awesome! I think I liked Scruff and Tumble better, but I'm a pretty dedicated cat person. I mean, a person who likes cats, not a person who has cat ears and tail.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Given your avatar, I first thought you meant you were a cat person in the manner of Buggy Lou and his slavers.

[Bloodfeast]

Just got my delivery!

It's complete and in good condition.
(Boxed and handled by Happyshops, Merseburg, Germany)

Made my day

[Jannoire]

Just got my delivery!

It's complete and in good condition.
(Boxed and handled by Happyshops, Merseburg, Germany)

Made my day

You got a mail for that?
I'm in Leipzig and still waiting on my package...

[DavidBV]

I'm happy (and absolutely not green with envy) for you german guys.

It will likely reach the rest of the EU by monday, tuesday at most!

[Armitage]

You got a mail for that?
I'm in Leipzig and still waiting on my package...

I've got my shipping notification today. It might take them a few days to ship everything.


Update: I received the package today.
The calendar is slightly bent in one corner, but not to bad. The book is great.