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In I guess another unsolicited blurb for criteriondvd.com, I received an email this morning that Seven Samurai and Playtime have both shipped. Nearly a week before release - not bad...

Men you're lucky. I guess from now on, I'll use Criteriondvd. A few bucks won't kill me. Did you order Brazil and Amarcord also?

They just shipped my copy of Amarcord. I used DVDPlanet for Seven Samurai and Brazil because the price was too good to pass up, but needless to say CriterionDVD.com will be getting the bulk of my business from now on.

gigimonagas wrote:Men you're lucky. I guess from now on, I'll use Criteriondvd. A few bucks won't kill me. Did you order Brazil and Amarcord also?

No, I didn't order the other two. Maybe someday. At any rate, I guess I should've specified - my entire order shipped this morning.

My order for Brazil (3 disc reissue), Seven Samurai, and Playtime shipped today (Thursday) via 2 day. If I'm lucky, I'll have it Saturday, which is what's happened in the past (very nice).

I hope this is the case; I'd like to dig into that Seven Samurai set on the holiday weekend.

Just got a shipping confirmation from DVDPlanet for all the Sep 5 titles except Brazil. Weird!!!

I got a shipping notice for the non Sept 5 titles I ordered, but not SS, PT, or Am

arsonfilms wrote:

bjeggert82 wrote:I guess I didn't specify in my original post, but my Brazil, PLaytime, and Seven Samurai disc shipped today from DVDplanet.com.

If you don't mind my asking, when did you order?

EDIT: Actually, my Seven Samurai just shipped, amazingly enough, but I haven't heard anything about Brazil, despite the site saying it's in-stock.

Like two or three months ago, a day or so after DVDplanet listed them on their site. That's what I usually do; that way, they ship the Thursday before and at LATEST I get them on the actual release date.

I usually pay the extra $3 or $4 for 2 day shipping though, as I it's worth the couple of bucks to not think about it.

EDIT: I don't think I mentioned that the Brazil 3-disc set shipped separately that the Seven Samurai and Playtime....

I received the Brazil set today! Which was one day shipping... What the hell!? I fell like I'm in bizarro world. DVDplanet is actually doing something right; beyond even.

Although, check out my comments in the cover art discussion for my problem with the new 3-disc set...

I can't seem to win. Due to the problems I had with dvdplanet I gave up on them completely and decided to spend the extra couple bucks over at dvdempire to obtain the better service and faster shipping. Unfortunately as of today they are showing all of the september criterions as being on order. To me this sounds as though image entertainment's distribution is very unreliable and uneven as other online retailers are showing the items as in-stock.

nick wrote:To me this sounds as though image entertainment's distribution is very unreliable and uneven as other online retailers are showing the items as in-stock.

I suspect you're right. Image's rather erratic stocking and distribution habits are the main reason Milestone cut ties with them, for example.

DVDPlanet shows Brazil 3 disc on order with manufacture now. Nobody has any pics yet. Anybody got their copy yet?

gigimonagas wrote:DVDPlanet shows Brazil 3 disc on order with manufacture now. Nobody has any pics yet. Anybody got their copy yet?

I got notice that my copy shipped today, but that's all I've got. I'll know soon, but hopefully someone else will see a copy before me.

finally got my shipping notice for Amaracord and the Seven Samurai but not Playtime

The Spirit of the Beehive is available for pre-order at DVDEmpire for $25.55. This is lower than the price at DVDplanet, $25.97. Free shipping when at least 3 items are ordered, as usual.

Given the recent speculation as to the best way to order online, I decided to try a few different sources to see who was best.

CriterionDVD was the first to ship, and Amarcord arrived on street-date in a padded envelope. Fortunately nothing was damaged (the rain hadn't soaked through yet), but I wasn't thrilled.

DVD Planet shipped Seven Samurai a day or two later via UPS at the standard shipping rate. Tracking numbers were included. This arrived today in a cardboard box. Rather than waiting for Brazil to come in, they shipped Seven Samurai seperately, and used UPS again for Brazil at no additional cost. Add to this experience that DVD Planet sells its discs practically wholesale, and even offers $5 off orders of $60 or more, I'd say they're making a huge effort to regain lost business.

Anybody else have similar or conflicting experiences?

arsonfilms wrote:Anybody else have similar or conflicting experiences?

I hadn't had much trouble with DVDPlanet until recently. They've cancelled two of my orders in the past month, most recently today. I placed a $100+ order on Tuesday and they shot me an e-mail today informing me that an item had been discontinued and that my entire order had been cancelled. The order included four Criterions and all were "available" when I placed my order.

After receiving the e-mail, I checked my order details and apparently Playtime is now "out of stock" and is the official snag in my order. Why the entire order was cancelled is beyond me. In the past they've done exactly as Arson described, send the available item(s) and send the other(s) later. I sent a pretty nasty e-mail to their orders department and am now waiting for a reply. I don't expect any semblance of customer service, but I'm curious as to what happened.

Like Arson said, it's hard to beat the wholesale prices DVDPlanet offers. But after my two recent encounters with that company, I'm considering paying the extra few bucks for some reliability. I've had problems with DeepDiscountDvd (DVDPlanet's sister company) too. I only take a chance with them when that 20% off sale rolls around. I'm pretty sure this will be the last time I deal with DVDPlanet though.

dave41n wrote:I sent a pretty nasty e-mail to their orders department and am now waiting for a reply. I don't expect any semblance of customer service, but I'm curious as to what happened.

My experience is that they never respond to emails. I would give them a call if I were you, that seems to be the only way to get any type of response.

I finally got an email from dvdpacific that my single-disc "Brazil" has been shipped. It's about time, dammit!!!

at what point in november will that DDD sale be. I'm saving a lot of recent releases and some old ones for this.

blindside8zao wrote:at what point in november will that DDD sale be. I'm saving a lot of recent releases and some old ones for this.

Probably the week before Thanksgiving.

On another note, the three November Criterion releases are discounted an extra $1.50 to $2 at DVD Planet right now.

finally got my shipping notice for Playtime

I placed an order for Playtime from CriterionDVD.com on Sept. 1 and my order is still pending, eleven days later. For more frequent users of this website (this is only my third order and first delay), does this happen often with them? How long does anyone suppose I will have to wait before getting a shipping confirmation?

Thanks!

- Greg

Fesapo wrote:I placed an order for Playtime from CriterionDVD.com on Sept. 1 and my order is still pending, eleven days later. For more frequent users of this website (this is only my third order and first delay), does this happen often with them? How long does anyone suppose I will have to wait before getting a shipping confirmation?

I haven't ordered from them in a while, my past experience had always been that they ship within days of placing the order. Perhaps they've changed that.

There's been somewhat of slight delay on the Playtime discs. Not as far as release date is concerned, but I think there was a little delay in distribution. At lease that's something akin to what DvdPlanet told me. Already got my 7 Sam and Amarcord yesterday with my Gojira and Pretty Poison. Came by way of UPS which I found strange for DVDPlanet.

I received my confirmation that "Playtime" shipped today from DVD Planet, so they are now in stock.