"Dr Horrible" continues to significantly outsell big media DVDs on Amazon, and it's a genuine joy to see.

gossi | January 02, 16:22 CET

You may want to correct the headline for this post. There is no such thing as Canadia. :D

[ edited by Nalliac on 2009-01-02 16:26 ]

Nalliac | January 02, 16:26 CET

I was wondering if it will appear on The Numbers' DVD sales chart but nothing has come up yet.

Simon | January 02, 16:27 CET

Simon, I think it's because it's not a 'retail' release - i.e. it's on demand pressed, so appears off the retail charts radar.

gossi | January 02, 16:34 CET

The CD, however, for whatever reasons, hasn't been cancelled/delayed. ETA: Okay, maybe they were going to fulfill outstanding orders (I haven't received a cancellation notice for the CD, just the DVD, and they haven't removed the CD from my order yet), but the CD is no longer available for order from .ca either. What's going on ?

And why does Amazon.ca panic people saying it's cancelled if it's only delayed ?

That was a bit of a downer, opening my e-mail this morning to see that. I was hoping it would be in the mailbox today or early next week. I wonder what's up with it. Of note for some Canadians who ordered:

Y'know the whole, "Order over $39 worth of stuff and Amazon.ca gives you free super-saver shipping" ? Well Amazon warns in their cancellation e-mails, "Please note, if you took advantage of a promotional offer when placing this order, this cancellation can affect your order's eligibility for that offer. To view the current status and the costs associated with your order, please visit the Your Account page at http://www.amazon.ca/your-account"

I had ordered the Dr. Horrible DVD, the Dr. Horrible CD, and a comic book to push it above the $39 mark so I wouldn't have to pay for shipping. The cancellation of the DVD took it back to $30.80, so now they've added a $6.89 shipping charge that wasn't there before. Yet they'll still ship it to you automatically when the other items are ready without making more of an effort to get in touch to ask you to confirm the modified order. What would happen if I didn't check my e-mail for a couple days and the items shipped ? Surprise shipping charge plus no Horrible DVD in the mail, nice !

[ edited by Kris on 2009-01-02 17:27 ]

Kris | January 02, 17:11 CET

Bummer, but oddly enough I still haven't placed an order for this yet (for good reasons). So I guess I've lucked out again. I'd still rather order from .ca than .com, so I'll keep waiting it out, at least for a little while longer.

Nolan | January 02, 18:10 CET

Just got the email as well so I cancelled whole order and will get serenity at the mall since I have $250 worth of gift cards for there anyways

Doerr007 | January 02, 18:15 CET

Long time reader, first time poster. Got the email this morning about my Dr. Horrible DVD being cancelled. Experienced the same problem Kris mentioned above about my order dipping below the required amount to receive free shipping. The remainder of my order was now set to cost me an extra 5 bucks in shipping and it said that I could not modify the order since it was due to be shipped soon. I emailed Amazon complaining that I was now paying for shipping when THEY made the call to cancel the Dr. Horrible DVD rather than delay it and they've already written me back with a note to credit my account. If anyone else experiences this problem with their order, it's worth complaining.

mermista | January 02, 18:26 CET

Yeah, but the Canadians won't get upset.
In fact they might apologize to Amazon.
Those Canadians are just a really polite people.
Of course they are also afraid of the dark! :)

Jayne's Hat | January 02, 19:24 CET

LAWYERED!

gossi | January 02, 19:31 CET

I really hope amazon.ca or someone clears this up soon and explains what's going on because it makes no sense and it's very frustrating.

joey_breizh | January 02, 20:13 CET

Deleted because I misread a comment entirely.

[ edited by Sunfire on 2009-01-02 20:38 ]

Sunfire | January 02, 20:37 CET

Thanks for the info mermista. I just checked and the rest of my order had shipping added too. I sent an email and hope I can get a refund or credit as well. I really don't want to pay the ridiculous fee amazon.com charges to ship to Canada. Dagnabit!

redfern | January 02, 21:23 CET

I wanna buy Canadian and I want the free shipping, those're the main reasons I'm still resisting buying from .com. Also, a dude made a comment on the Horrible fansite this thread links to that makes a good obvious point:

"If they want foreign purchases, they should be making it an issue to get it into the appropriate foreign stores. When an audience will jump through hoops to get a product, the companies will no longer jump through hoops themselves - so stop jumping through the hoops."

I try to go with that, but I admit I would still be willing to buy from Amazon.com if it doesn't look like it's coming here after a while. In the past I've bought rare soundtracks, art books, and comics from .com, but I haven't used them for a few years now. Amazon.ca's warehouse is right in Ontario, I often get my orders two days after I place 'em.

Heh, Jaynes Hat that might've been funnier if at least two Canadians hadn't already posted before you with upsetty/complaintyness. Actually, we've got a reputation for being a nation of complainers too, but then I see that across all the nationalities on the internet, so it's barely noticeable in that context.

I see the politeness thing (well, I worked in a bank for a year and a half and probably experienced some of the least polite Canadians there, despite most of our regular business and personal customers rocking), and I know we tend to use the word "sorry" a little more than some of the rest of the world, but I don't think we apologize that much.

I'd say I don't really get much out of jokes about the stereotypes/misconceptions of Canadians anymore, but I just remembered that I saw the the last episode of Royal Canadian Air Farce (socio-political satire sort of in the vein of Saturday Night Live or MadTV maybe) on New Year's Eve and it was rife with Canada jokes that worked. Probably because we were making fun of ourselves and we tend to know and lampoon ourselves better than other countries do.

[ edited by Kris on 2009-01-02 21:49 ]

Kris | January 02, 21:44 CET

Kris, Jaynes Hat's post is a direct refrence to an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshall takes Robin to bar where all the patrons make fun of Canadians by saying they are afraid of the dark. Of course, not everyone watches that show and would get it though. Especially if it isn't airing in other countries. (Is it?)

NYPinTA | January 02, 22:33 CET

I got an email from amazon.ca saying the item wasn't canceled, just delayed, but that if I wanted to cancel, I could do so. I wish I had stuck with my original order from .com, because then the DVD would already be on its way to me rather than shipping on Monday.

LadyeJayne | January 02, 23:57 CET

As of today, Dr. Horrible is #1 on the most wished for item in Movies & TV.

LadyeJayne | January 03, 00:01 CET

Someone help me out: Didn't the Amazon listing used to say "this product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media"? Because now it says "this product may be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media".

The One True b!X | January 03, 00:08 CET

Well, these are uncertain times ;).

Saje | January 03, 00:46 CET

drhorrible tweet: "Canadians. Sorry, we're as confused by this amazon.ca situation as you are. Trying to get to the bottom of it."

skittledog | January 03, 00:52 CET

b!X this is from a previous thread:

Lioness | January 03, 00:56 CET

The "may" recently inserted into Amazon's "may be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media" may (too many "mays!") have to do with the seeming fact that some of the DVDs shipped are not DVD-R. Mine, for example. Mine has a silver backing and comes in a box marked DVD-video. Mine does not have the purplish or bluish DVD-R backing. A theory is that an initial number of guaranteed-will-sell DVDs were pressed in the usual commercial way. I put in my order as soon as orderable and it came to me asap.

Some others (not me) have gotten DVDs with the purplish DVD-R backing. As saje says, these are indeed uncertain and unpredictable times. Speaking of which, "Horrible" is now at #3 on Amazon's best-selling DVDs list. It's selling remarkably well. Wow.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2009-01-03 01:10 ]

phlebotinin | January 03, 01:09 CET

Thanks mermista. I didn't realize that I'd be charged the shipping for the rest of my order, but I realized when I checked my account that I was. I cancelled the whole darn thing (the Naveen Andrews movie was on delay anyway, and the book was a month later than the original estimate).

redeem147 | January 03, 06:06 CET

phlebotinin It WAS at #2 (as per the OP) it's knocked back to #3 today because the Die Hard set was yesterday's Amazon Deal of the Day so it shot up to #1 very quickly. I still think we just may see Dr. Horrible reach #1.

Beth | January 03, 09:41 CET

amazon.ca is now saying "to be released on Jan 13 - available to pre-order".

Does anyone have insider knowledge re what the heck is going on?

redfern | January 03, 23:14 CET