I am awaiting a colour printed version of The Elements in a perfect bound paperback form. It's very exciting. I am using a Print on Demand (POD) service called Lulu. Other people in the RPG business seem to think Lulu is ace, so I set up the Icar core rules on there and clicked to buy. I wanted a test one before I start publishing openly. It says on the site that it takes 3-5 days to print and then 10-15 days to ship 4internationally. After 7 days, they had not shipped it so I sent this email:
From: Rob Lang < >
Subject:
Where is order #xxxxxxxOrder number #xxxxxx hasn't been shipped yet. I placed the order 7 days ago (24th July) and it still hasn't been shipped.
When will it be shipped?
Also, your site seems to be broken as this form doesn't appear to work.
Regards,
Rob Lang
To which they replied:
Ticket ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Please use this ticket number in any correspondence with us.Dear Rob Lang,
Paperback books must go through the print on demand manufacturing process before they ship via the method you select. They usually ship 3-5 business days after your order date. Once your order ships, you can expect the shipment time associated with the class of shipping you selected. You will receive an e-mail from Lulu when the item ships.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.
Please use this link to rate the response you received in this email.
Regards,
Jean P
Lulu Support
http://www.lulu.com/helpIn case this email does not fully answer your question, or you would like to contact us for any reason, simply reply to this email.
Now can anyone see the problem with this? I KNOW it's 3-5 days. It's ALREADY been 7. These sorts of Boilerplate messages really irritate me. I have sent this one back:
Hi Jean P,
Please read the below a little more carefully. It's now 8 DAYS since my order was placed. I sent the support request after 7 DAYS. You boilerplate reply says 3-5 DAYS. So, my questions still stand:Why has my order not shipped yet?
When will my order ship?Please, no more boilerplate replies.
Regards,
Rob Lang
We can only wait and see what happens.
I always hate it when
I always hate it when companies do that. I've already read the FAQ/support pages, if I hadn't I wouldn't be contacting you...
You could have a machine do the 'support' they give you when you email with a problem.
Much as I hate to point it
Much as I hate to point it out, they do say 3-5 business days, which would make today day 6...
Still overdue though.
I've ordered a book from
I've ordered a book from them before but to be honest I don't remember how long it took to turn up. Since it was coming from the states I treated it as likely to take ages so it was pretty much fire and forget.
Byrn, yep, they said the
Byrn, yep, they said the same thing. Good point. It is still overdue and they're chasing it up.
It's dispatched now, which
It's dispatched now, which is a bit late. Makes me a bit suspicious about the service. I might try some others too.
OH MY FUCKING GOD. I can't
OH MY FUCKING GOD. I can't describe it. I came over all emotional when I took it from its box. I'll take some pictures when I get home before Icar tonight.
Must have been printed in London as it arrived next day after it was registered as dispatched.
On a picky-picky note, I might have to increase the resolution of some of the images inside. They are a little pixelated. It would make the book too big for download but for print only, it would be no problem. For all of the complex images, this isn't really a problem as they are rendered, so I can load the scene and re-render higher. The drawn arty ones don't really look too bad at all.
The cover. Oh my god, the cover.