Friday came and went - NASCAR2 did not arrive. I ordered it from Sierra
within 30 minutes of receiving their offer in the mail. After I
ordered, I found out I was being charged a higher price than my racing
partners. Oh well. Then the program started showing up in chain stores
and was heavily discounted.
Back up the truck Al! What was the purpose of the pre-sale? I was a
marketing major! My employer would give me my walking papers if I
treated our customers like Sierra is treating theirs. Soliciting early
orders from a customer list requires that you offer them something in
return for their early committment. HEY, we bought it sight unseen,
strictly on trust. In return for our loyalty many of us got stuck a
higher price and have to sit on our butts this weekend while those who
chose to pass on Sierra's amazing offer are racing with copies they
picked up last Wednesday at retail outlets. FOUL!
I don't have the luxury of living in the civilized world, so I drove to
a neighboring city last night, went to Babbages (only software outlet
closer than 100 miles) and paid them $63.86 for NASCAR2. Too much
money, no doubt about it, but there is a principle envolved here and
that is worth something to me. Yes, I will send Sierras copy back to
them. I think enough of us doing so will get the message through to
Sierra marketing wizards. Sadly, they probably have accountants in
charge of marketing - sure looks that way.
ziggy
I won't bust my but looking for it. But if it shows up in the local mall
before the mail copy arrives - I will also return Sierra's copy to them.
However, let's get real. It was obvious to me that they were not going to
ship my single copy of NASCAR Racing 2 before filling the orders of retail
chains. I pre-ordered in case the stores ran out before I had a chance to
buy - fully expecting that I might buy it from a store and cancel my order
with Sierra. Who is fooling who in this deal ? Sierra is a big bucks
software giant that probably doesn't care too much about us sim fans.
However, Papyrus has shown that they do - to some degree. Let's
concentrate on getting Papyrus (via Sierra) to deliver a quality product
with new features/fixes that we all want - and stop worrying about hurt
feelings that Sierra doesn't love us anymore. They don't - but they need
us as much as we need new racing products from them. /THansen
>However, let's get real. It was obvious to me that they were not going to
>ship my single copy of NASCAR Racing 2 before filling the orders of retail
>chains.
Tom - thanks for the reasoned reply. I suspect that Sierra actually plunked
the bulk shipment to their individual orders department on the same day that
they sent out bulk orders to other distribution channels, and what happened is
that it is faster to have trucks and air cargo shipments get to their
destination
than it is to process individual packaging and shipping through UPS.
It sounds like Sierra might want to reconsider its direct sales literature,
considering
how many people interpreted the offer as if they should get their copies before
any copies reached stores ... however, I suspect the direct sales promotional
materials didn't make any such promises (correct me if I'm wrong!) ...
Chas
You be the judge:
"Order today and you'll be among the first to experience..."
"[ ] YES! I WANT to upgrade to NASCAR Racing 2.
Send it to me NOW for only $29.95 plus shipping!"
...with options of UPS Ground or 2-Day Air shipping.
That does make it sound like the product is available to ship
immediately (why bother with express shipping if it won't ship very
soon?) and that you should expect to be one of the first on your
block, IMHO. Me, I've seen how direct shipping worked with the old
Papyrus (much as you describe above), so I plunked down $40 at the
local CompUSA last Saturday. ;)
Pick one or more: Model Rockets (competition-NERCB) / PCs (even Atari!) /
Papyrus ICR-ICR2-NCR / Who needs a life when you have multiple non-lives?
