Checkpoint: Griping About Amazon.ca Edition

Update: After a quick e-mail to Amazon.ca, my Killzone 2 order was shipped post-haste. They were experiencing “technical issues”.

All good things come to an end and Amazon.ca is no different. For the past year or so, I’ve been recommending Amazon.ca to everyone I know and with good reason. There was the $10 off coupon, free shipping for orders over $39 and relatively speedy shipping service. Now, it seems like everything I enjoyed from the online retailer is no longer valid.

First off, the Amazon.ca $10 off coupon which enabled new accounts to save a small bit of money from their orders was invalidated. The reason for this? Some suspect that Visa simply stopped offering the deal to Amazon.ca. Whatever the case may be, it quickly turned Amazon.ca from my premier destination to just another online retailer.

My next gripe was directly related to my Street Fighter IV: Collector’s Edition which I pre-ordered weeks in advance. Unfortunately, Amazon.ca was not able to fulfill the order. Some speculated that Capcom didn’t produce enough orders and retailers took too many pre-orders, but I’m not discontent over not receiving the Collector’s Edition. I am discontent with the fact that Amazon.ca waited 2.5 weeks after the game’s launch before cancelling my order. In fact, they had their system generate an e-mail four days after the launch date claiming that they were looking into fulfilling my order. You would think that they would be able to ascertain whether or not they could fulfill their orders within a week.

What is the point of pre-ordering so early if I am not able to get my copy?

This brings me to my next point concerning the inexplicable prioritizing of orders from Amazon. A friend of mine placed his order for Killzone 2 after me, yet he already obtained his copy. I had assumed that Amazon worked in the usual “first come, first served” basis, but it has become apparent that this isn’t the case. Killzone 2 is still not here and I have yet to receive an update. At the time of writing, my order status still reads:

• Shipping estimate: Mar 1 2009 – Mar 2 2009
• Delivery estimate: Mar 3 2009 – Mar 5 2009

The lies continue on their product page which shows the game as being “In Stock”. If it’s indeed “In Stock”, where is my order?

Fortunately for Amazon.ca I am a patient individual. Their prices are still generally lower than other retailers – even without the coupon. And they still have their free shipping policy in place. Aside from those two positives, Amazon.ca quickly fell from my high praise.

As you may have noticed, I finished Persona 4’s review. I’ve been playing a ridiculous amount of Street Fighter IV and I’m working on a write up of it. It’s a fantastic game, but it is not perfect — even for a Street Fighter die-hard like myself.

I’ve watched two out of the three Matrix movies. The first is still as amazing as ever. The second? It’s entertaining, but I did notice that it showed more of its age with the heavy use of CGI. Just watch the fight scene on the freeway. It’s laughably obvious. Oh, and the architect conversation is less of a confusing mess the second time around.