Those of you who ordered through AwesomeBooks, has anybody had shipping yet?

I have used them previously and had no trouble but on this book they had 20 in stock, now 4 and when I asked when my purchase would ship they said they would look into it and get back to me. Seemed an odd response when "sorry about that, we will get it to you right away" would suffice and have not as yet got back to me with a date.

onthetrail wrote:
Those of you who ordered through AwesomeBooks, has anybody had shipping yet?

I have used them previously and had no trouble but on this book they had 20 in stock, now 4 and when I asked when my purchase would ship they said they would look into it and get back to me. Seemed an odd response when "sorry about that, we will get it to you right away" would suffice and have not as yet got back to me with a date.

Nope, no shipping notification for me as yet.

Well said Stu! ? Glad to see there are others in the Tolkien community who aren’t literally living in a fantasy world!

Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:
Those of you who ordered through AwesomeBooks, has anybody had shipping yet?

I have used them previously and had no trouble but on this book they had 20 in stock, now 4 and when I asked when my purchase would ship they said they would look into it and get back to me. Seemed an odd response when "sorry about that, we will get it to you right away" would suffice and have not as yet got back to me with a date.

Nope, no shipping notification for me as yet.

Did they guarantee the price that they quoted?

Trotter wrote:

Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:
Those of you who ordered through AwesomeBooks, has anybody had shipping yet?

I have used them previously and had no trouble but on this book they had 20 in stock, now 4 and when I asked when my purchase would ship they said they would look into it and get back to me. Seemed an odd response when "sorry about that, we will get it to you right away" would suffice and have not as yet got back to me with a date.

Nope, no shipping notification for me as yet.

Did they guarantee the price that they quoted?

I assume so. If I don't hear anything tomorrow, I'll probably cancel. Book Depository is only a couple of pounds more delivered to NZ (and they claim dispatched within 3 days, although they can also be a bit unreliable about what they have in stock).

Edit: I cancelled my order.

Switched to Book Depository and my order has shipped. Was about £2 more expensive to NZ, so no real difference in price.

I notice that Amazon are cheaper now than when I purchased the book.

AwesomeBooks have said my order is about to ship. I have also ordered elsewhere as backup and I will pass it on a Christmas gift if I end up with two.

Trotter wrote:
I notice that Amazon are cheaper now than when I purchased the book.

I've noticed that Amazon almost always to this. The cheapest price from them is usually a week or two after the publication. Pre-ordering incurs a price premium (albeit discounted from the RRP). The price then usually seems to go back up closer to RRP after they have soaked up all the price-sensitive buyers.

I'm a Tolkien fan from China, and also a great admirer of this website, though a quiet one. I enjoy collecting Tolkien-related books, and have high regards to many fellow members on this forum. Like onthetrail has stated earlier, I don't ordinarily mix my pleasures with politics, neither. I've withheld my views for quite a long time but this time I think I may just need to say a few words in defense of my country.

First of all, the "cheap Chinese products" that you, Stu, kept mentioning. Every country has companies that produce quality staff and those that provide low-end stuff. It would be unfair to assume that each and every book printed in China is rubbish and refer to them as "cheap Chinese products" in a scornful and demeaning manner. If you wish, I can send you some books of really good quality that are published and printed in China, and I believe that you will be impressed.

I wish if you could understand that it's HC's fault to negotiate and make contracts with dodgy printing companies in China (e.g. RR Donnelley's China branch and other printers that even don't want to include their names on copyright pages). If LEGO Spa gets the contracts, I'll be no less happier than you. If deluxe books are printed by certain Chinese companies as mentions above, I'll be no less disappointed than you. There are many companies in Italy and other countries including, if I may say so, China that provide high quality printing and binding, and one naturally asks oneself why HC nowadays stick to poor quality products in the case of most deluxe editions while keep selling them at relative high prices, despite all the criticism they get from serious readers. My guess would be that they are greedy and they are ripping us off.

And secondly, I assume this is a public forum and therefore it would be most appreciated if you, Stu, could withhold your political opinions to yourself. Should we started discussing about all those cliches of yellow terror, we would never live long enough to hear the end of it. BTW, honestly I must admit that I haven't heard about the political expression "the West" for many years. One can easily assume that some of us still live in the ancient days of Cold War.

Have you ever considered the possibility of you being biased by being exposed only to, if I may quote, media of "the West"? My suggestions to you, if you don't mind, would be observing the world in a different angle, e.g. trying to make some friends with people from China, and listening to their stories, if you really care about things that are going on on this land. I believe there are quite a lot Chinese students in NZ, actually several good friends of mine are living and studying there.

BTW I think Clays is an awful printer compared to LEGO, but it doesn't stop me from buying UK standard hardbacks that they produce. Of course this is just MY purchase decision. And please rest assured, fellow members from Britain, I love Britain. :D