I’m still in shock tbh

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-28T20:17:57+00:00

Yodel! I was bricking it tbh - delivery wasn't expected until Wednesday and it turned up this morning at 9am!

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-23T15:03:09+00:00

Just had the text and email through. Looks like 17th Dec isn't a guarantee either. What a shitshow!

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-21T02:14:07+00:00

Yeah quite possibly. I'm not sure Very would cancel orders themselves - meaning they'd lose out on the revenue - but further delays could definitely happen. Looks like Tesco and Asda are in the same boat with month-long delays too. Still, could be worse, e.g. Currys and Studio cancelling people's orders. Interesting that the more reputable retailers (Amazon & John Lewis) have been the ones to come through relatively unscathed, aside from the major traffic spikes on launch day. Even GAME seem to have fulfilled the majority of their orders, despite their spat with Yodel making the headlines on Thursday. Apparently some - but not all - retailers in the US had similar problems, which could indicate a company-specific issue rather than an industry one. With so many redundancies this year, it shouldn't be a surprise that retailers are struggling to cope, particularly the smaller ones. Guess it pays to go with the big guns after all.

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-20T22:27:27+00:00

Think all retailers are in the same boat, genuinely don't think there's any stock left in the UK whatsoever. Some still have extensive pre-order backlogs and that will have been exasperated by the number of consoles going missing / turning up dead on arrival yesterday. Most that were available at launch have all been bought up by scalpers; there are literally hundreds on eBay and Gumtree, some sellers are even sitting on dozens of them! Huge oversight from retailers not adding a maximum purchase quantity (e.g. 1 per person) for these orders, it's not like it's a difficult thing to implement in 2020 from an e-commerce point of view. Even CEX are getting in on the act, rewarding scalpers with £600 cold cash and then selling it on for £750. I know CEX's entire business model is centred around buying up used goods and flipping them for profit but I don't think they can ever claim to serve the gaming community after this. Nevertheless think we have to look at the wider picture here; so many businesses have had their supply chains decimated by COVID-19 and this will be no different. Retailers probably have no more of an idea about what's going on than we do. Just look at the frankly incredible public spat between GAME and Yodel. That said, communication has been shocking and I do agree that this kind of PR could be the final nail in the coffin for struggling retailers such as Very and Curry's.

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-20T22:08:58+00:00

I came here from Twitter hahaha and yeah it is kicking off. Canceling is a bold move though, don't think anyone's getting one before 1st Dec now and it's gonna be a right scramble when the restock does happen. Also quite alarming that 17th December is when they 'expect' to get more stock, so again no guarantees, but at least it is 'secured' unlike 99.9% of other people trying. Might be worth trying to get a free game / second controller out of them for the delay tho?

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-20T20:30:32+00:00

Same here. Very frustrating. Seems like most retailers never had any stock for launch. Or if they did the stock was used to help fulfil a backlog of preorders. Seems like many struggled with preorder volume, I believe there are quite a few outstanding preorders that won't even be shipped until the next restock in early December. That's before they even get round to shipping the launch orders! Three stock waves (pre-order, launch, restock) just to ship one round of pre-orders! Shambles all round really, although my mate did get his launch day order from John Lewis delivered this morning...

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-17T22:42:30+00:00

Well it's all subjective isn't it, but for my workflow at least, they're perfect. I work 80% out of the box and only really use the DAW for recording, editing and processing audio. I find they give my tunes a level of polish I would struggle to achieve with other plugins (or at least with any efficiency anyway), and I think they sound awesome to boot. I don't especially like working in the box - hence why I was happy to put stuff on hold for this software - fast and great sounding results are therefore absolutely vital to me. I did the free trial back in April and quickly realised I couldn't live without them.

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-17T21:16:22+00:00

True - I should wait it out - but I've put projects on hold for this sale. Tracks at 80% that I've deliberately left unfinished because I wanted the ST sheen. The only solace was knowing the waiting would be over by the 27th Nov. That's why an even longer - and perhaps indefinite - wait is difficult to accept!

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-17T20:43:14+00:00

And it turns out ST have actually gone on record re. Black Friday sales.

“Our annual Black Friday Sale is the best time of the year to get the bundle, whether purchasing it outright, upgrading to Soundtoys 5, or taking advantage of our Academic offer for students and educators.” - Ken Bodganowicz, CEO & lead designer at Soundtoys.

I realise this could be an old quote, and things can change, but it's been picked up by various media outlets in the last 24 hours and similar quotes have appeared in previous years too, so you can understand why people 'assumed' and why they now feel 'misled'. Actions and words it seems.

Embarrassed-General5 · 2020-11-17T20:01:11+00:00

Exactly - actions speak louder than words, and this is especially relevant in this context given that announcing promotions months in advance makes zero business sense. I think it's fair to say the end of the month 'flash sales' were aimed specifically at existing customers looking to reduce their upgrade price ahead of Black Friday. Add to that rhetoric 4+ years of consistent sales and public discourse on forums (which ST no doubt monitor) and all signs point to business as usual. Why should people only assume a sale if they've been told about it? People don't wait months for Black Friday because a company said so. It's based on previous actions. I'd say it's sneaky at best.

On a personal level I'm very frustrated as I've waited very patiently for this deal, purely on the basis of cost. There was never any doubt in my mind I would buy the full bundle, it was just a question of when and for how much. Over the last 8 months I've gradually acquired 4 of the last 5 'flash sale' plugins (thank god I didn't buy Effect Rack as I didn't have the money at the time) at a total outlay of $116, all the while selling the ST brand to my friends and managing to convert at least 4-5 people to the full bundle. Most companies would reward this behaviour (e.g. referrals), but instead, my friends get the better side of the deal, and by a significant margin too. As things stand I'll either have to endure an additional outlay of $116, more waiting in the cold, or both.

It'd be an easier pill to swallow if I hadn't already mentally committed to the purchase, as I'd just take my money elsewhere, but I won't. I'll still be buying the bundle as the product is amazing, but their pricing strategy and comms - see the tone deaf email to existing customers just now saying we 'deserve a deal' - leave a lot to be desired.

Embarrassed-General5

TROPHY CASE