If I remember correctly this was two years ago. I don't remember the specific case contents but I ordered it three months in advance and then watched EE move the ship date four times before giving up and finally emailing them to cancel my order and have them remove me from their mailing list. That case ended up being peg warmers at walmart that year. This was unfortunate because I bought many things from them over the years. There record of delivering on time became very hit and miss over the years. Why preorder for something that rarely gets delivered on time? I found I had better luck at the stores. I even put up with the rude lady in their "will call" desk. So I gave up with their poor customer service.
Maybe this has changed but they lost me as a customer.
Well, I'm sorry to hear you had that experience. I will say that the person in question most likely is no longer at the company, and there are times where (for some reason or another) a case does get pushed back a lot. (The latest EU case being a fine example. I believe that started at November '09.)
Pre-orders are up not just to "get it on time" but to "get it." Items used to pre-sell out a lot more frequently, and some assortments do come and go pretty quickly. For example, we weren't able to get as much of Legacy Wave 11 as we would have liked, and that seems to be pretty true across the board. It's a service we offer and for some, it's great-- and for some, not. I've seen items hit retail first myself from time to time, unfortunately it's all part of the business. (TRU gets LEGO like a month and change early, for example.)
Anyway, I'm sorry we lost you, but I'm glad to hear you found your figures. If you try us again and hit a snag, let me know-- providing the best customer service is a big deal to us, and if anyone is ever unhappy with our service, I absolutely want to hear about it. (Although when it comes to delays, I'm sorry to say, there's not much I can do.)
Thanks for replying!