Question for experienced Play-Asia shoppers

[Never_Scurred]

For those of you who use P-A often, if an item is noted as "Usually ships in 1 week", is that a pretty good indicator that the item may end up being on back-order? Seriously, the last time I ordered anything from P-A was a few years back when Mushihimesama for the ps2 came out and even then, I got it on preorder. I'm deciding if I should take a chance with them or pay a little bit more on ebay but have some assurance that its gonna be in stock for delivery.

[Ganelon]

"1 week" may mean secondary warehouse stock or a local supplier; I've never had issues receiving an item with that status, although it's taken longer at times. From my experience, "1-2 weeks" is when it's certain they need to source the game from a supplier. I would say 2 weeks is a good average for receiving a game at that stock level (has taken as short as 1 week and as long as 1 month for me).

When there are no more definite suppliers, they change the status to sold out. Honestly, I've tried ordering from over a dozen import sites and have come to the conclusion that Play-Asia has the most up-to-date stock. When an item ends up unfulfillable, it's likely because one of their suppliers made an error.

[Koa Zo]

I have had some pretty major issues with Play Asia and items ending up on backorder indefinately.

You pretty much have to roll the dice.

[Never_Scurred]

I'm being pretty patient here, but I am aware of P-A's standard policy of stocking only 20 copies of anything Cave-related. God forbid if I wanted a LE version of something, jeez.
The item in question is Espgaluda 2 Black Label. I'm thinking I should go with my gut and snag one off of ebay instead.

[Casey120]

I got that one 3 days ago , took them 7 days to ship and another 5 to arrive !

[Koa Zo]

Im currently in the midst of a 3 month wait for a screen protector for my DSiXL.

They were in stock when I preordered Fast Striker back in November.
Despite having pre-paid in full, the item went on back-order just before fast striker shipped.
I got Fast Striker but the screen protectors have been indefinately back ordered.

Two emails to PlayAsia questioning their poor service (selling out of an item I'd already paid for in full) were answered with "We are still waiting for confirmation from our supplier."

3 months later, they're still sitting on my money.

[Ganelon]

Well, suffice to say that Play-Asia's customer service is notoriously poor. Asking them for status isn't much different than asking an 8-ball, except that most folks know an 8-ball doesn't actually have the answers. Making up answers and being entirely incorrect is the norm there. Have you specifically asked them to cancel?

[apple arcade]

how did you pay in full? in my experience they don't charge until your item actually ships.

I would say it's a safe bet you'll receive Galuda 2 in a timely fashion.

It's still in print so there should be no complication.

[Never_Scurred]

how did you pay in full? in my experience they don't charge until your item actually ships.

He probably paid via the paypal option which pretty much forwards the payment to them pronto.

As far as my order is concerned, I shot them another email asking to cancel my order and I went the ebay route instead as i've had better luck with the japanese sellers there (thus far). My first correspondence with them was on whether or not it was even worth it to wait on them to get more copies or not.
Its either pre-order or bust when it comes to importing games. Even worse if you want an LE edition.

[Koa Zo]

Have you specifically asked them to cancel?

In this instance I have not asked them to cancel. Mainly as perverse entertainment to see exactly how long they let my order sit in limbo without contacting me or providing an update. The item is only $8 so Im not needing the money or anything. (not that Im just going to forget about it either)

What is dumb is that I ordered 3 additional items together with my Fast Striker preorder.
I had to pay by Paypal since my credit card would not go through.

The three other items were "in stock" but would not ship until Fast Striker shipped.
By the time Fast Striker was available two items had changed to "Ships in 5-15 days"
My Fast Striker order was then held up for an extra week or so until one of the other items became back in stock.

...so all this was because they sold items that I had already paid for, and because I did not pay extra for "split shipment"
Well guess what? When Play Asia finally did ship my items (less the screen protectors which are still on backorder) they sent three seperate packages.
What was the point of holding my shipments if they were going to package everything seperate anyway?!

[StarCreator]

This pretty much is exactly what happened back when I ordered my J360 - I had made sure to order a Jasper arcade (which could be distinguished because the item description stated it included 256mb internal memory, rather than the 256mb memory unit that comes with the Falcon arcade). I was splitting the order with a friend, and his item wasn't in stock at the time of the order, though the Jasper was. When his item went in stock, the Jasper went out of stock, a few weeks passed, and eventually Play-Asia disabled the Jasper SKU, switched my order to the Falcon, and shipped it out.

I had to bounce 3-4 complaint emails about the matter (the first two just to reassert that I had ordered the Jasper in the first place, because apparently their record-keeping is so poor they didn't believe me), but eventually got some store credit out of the debacle.

[Never_Scurred]

I canceled my initial order and recieved confirmation of it being so this morning. My pre-order of Akai Kitana or whatever its called is still active, of course. I "might" buy my j360 from them when I get my money back up.
I read on another forum yesterday about how people were frustrated with P-A's inability to contact them in a "timely fashion", but I figure many of them are unaware that P-A's hours of operation is sorta opposite of ours (those in N. America), thus, if you sent them an email after 1pm, don't expect to hear from them 'til the wee AM hours.

[apple arcade]

I bought my j360 from them and was very happy with the service, it was shipped out fast, with tracking, and faster than expected.

...plus a J360, seriously, it opens so many doors.

[Never_Scurred]

I bought my j360 from them and was very happy with the service, it was shipped out fast, with tracking, and faster than expected.

...plus a J360, seriously, it opens so many doors.

Right now, i'm happy to just to be able to get these CAVE titles. I can hold off on a console for a while, them joints will always be around....the CAVE releases on the other hand-got to get them while their hot. God forbid I wait any longer for the importers to run out of their 20 copies of Espgaluda II