Originally posted by Richard Holt on February 27, 2002 at 14:38:43:
In Reply to: Re: Dark Shadows Memories Video and DVD posted by Dean on February 27, 2002 at 14:08:57:
Well, in that case MPI should never have had it listed on their website with a pre-order date of Feb 6th and a release date of Feb 26th. Not only are those dates used by individuals interested in buying the tape from MPI or other sources, but by retail outlets, such as Amazon and others who intend to carry the video. Based on what MPI is telling them, by accepting pre-orders, they believe it will be available for sale by the street date given. They in turn offer it to their customers on a pre- order bases. If the delay is only a few weeks or so, where a new date can be given, then it doesn't hurt business for the product that badly, but a delay like you are talking about, after getting everything to the point it was at....where store and customer think it is about to be released really does hurt business and interest in the product. The trust factor is gone. The customer doesn't trust that the product will be coming the next time a date is given and neither do the retailers. Not only is it embarrassing to the retailer because it makes it look like they are offering something that was never going be available but like they don't know their business. It also makes them leary of carrying any product by that manufactorer. They have lost sells and potential revenue and why gamble on dealing with an undependable company, when most others are quite dependable and you can definitely bank on what they say and the dates they give. This kind of business practice causes fewer and fewer outlets to want to risk carrying their products and considering that MPI is planning (being the operative word here) to release the DVD editons of the episodes in the near future, this latest situation doesn't give retailer or customer either one, much reason to depend on seeing those DVDs as scheduled either.
A delay that far in the future, after carrying it as far as they did with this one, is either poor planning or poor management by whoever produces the video or by MPI. There is just no excuse for a delay like that and even less of an excuse for it being a constant habit. I had forgotten how little you can depend on what said about the DS material, especially new video releases.
Raholt
