Abnormal Freak

To those mentioning an outlet for other sales:

This is actually the fourth label-specific sale from HME in the past couple of months. There was a Synapse sale, a Code Red sale, a Shout! Factory sale primarily focusing on Roger Corman movies, and now this Blue Underground sale. All of the sale prices have been crazy, but none quite as crazy as this current BU sale.

I don't know how often he does big sales—I've only been a customer for a little over half a year now—but he offers other items at discounted prices and has single-item "deals of the day" and that. For example, I pre-ordered the Frankenhooker BD for $15 and got it a whole month before release day, and in April, he had the UK Hammer Collection DVD box set for 34 bucks, which is the cheapest I've ever seen it. :)

A lot of people over at the Blu-ray.com board (I post there as Kriztoffer Swank; I tend to alternate usernames every time I register someplace, ha ha) were getting pretty antsy, saying they'd file PayPal claims and the like if their stuff didn't ship within the next week. Demetrios just wants to keep the customers, so since he couldn't get the orders out quick enough on his own, he went for the Amazon option. The recent sales have really brought a lot of attention to his site (hence him being completely swamped with orders and not shipping them out within 72 hours as per his policy), so he's happy for that alone, hoping that people will be pleased with the experience overall and shop again.

I do think some people on the other board were being rude, impatient, and obnoxious, but, y'know, when you order from somewhere for the first time, some can get worried they won't get their stuff nor see their money without being aggressive. But surely people ought to show more patience and understanding. To be perfectly honest, that Hammer box I mentioned above? My first order. A whole month later and I still got no shipping confirmation. I emailed him. No response. An online buddy of mine was a regular customer, so he told me to hit up Demetrios on Twitter and I got a quick response. He looked into it; he had sold out and somehow missed my order. So what'd he do? Ordered one from Amazon.co.uk and sent it out to me, at an obvious loss for him. It was slow—I got my order a whole two months after I had placed it—but he got it to me eventually and I appreciated the extra effort to get it out to me as soon as possible once he was aware of the problem. I've since placed numerous orders and gotten most of those (still waiting on a couple and a backordered item from a few weeks ago), and have used the layaway program a few times now.

If you have the patience and understanding to realize everything's being handled by one guy—someone who's a full-time dad in addition to running this business and attending horror conventions left and right to get the word out about his online store and to sell more merchandise—I think it's a great site. And NO one else I've ever bought movies from is so cool as to shoot the $#!7 with me on a regular basis on Twitter. Which, by the way, he uses on his phone, so it's on the go with him wherever he is. Someone made the comment on the Blu-ray.com board, "he should get to work and quit being on Twitter all the time," but he works hard and isn't always at the office to check up on orders.

Damn, I feel like a spokesperson for HME or something, ha ha. Maybe I should get paid. B) Nah, j/k, I support, recommend, and defend the store on my own accord.

dan31655

Yeah got my first order from the shout sale today. It indeed came from amazon, so it was a nice thing for him to do but wasn't needed. I have patience. Nice gesture nonetheless and will be buying from again.

joe_b

I believe you're referring to me on this board (see post #12). Although I don't think my wording was quite as harsh.

I never suggested he wasn't working to fulfill everyone's orders. I'm not trying to give this gentleman a hard time, especially if he delivers at these prices. As a customer, it's understandable to be frustrated by the lack of e-mail communication people on the blu-ray.com forum were reporting. I don't do The Twitter and had no idea his situation prevented looking up order status while posting messages there. However, I did get an apologetic response from him and a shipping notice a couple days after my initial e-mail. That was for an order where payment cleared about a week ago. Shipping orders via Amazon seems entirely unnecessary - but it's admirable he's gone beyond the call of duty to prevent further delays and is trying to build a loyal customer base.

riotinmyskull

i ordered ZOMBIE...little nervous to order more than that. i'd like to fill in some BU gaps though.

Jaymole

As long as all my titles eventually ship, I don't mind the wait.

Phibes

Ditto. Placed a Corman order that was a pre-order (Last Hard Men/Sky Riders), but had to order Zombie and Dead and Buried on Blu. For $10 each I can wait.

Dude tweeted that he's considering a Severin sale next, be still my wallet.

Cheers.

novaadage

I originally stumbled onto his site a little over a month ago during one of his Code Red Sales. He had some pretty good titles and I ended up taking a chance and ordered 3 different DVDs. It came to around 20ish bucks with free shipping. I was charged and everything went through.

A week passed and I still hadn't received a shipping email or anything. I contacted him through his website but received no answer the first time. I tried again a few days later and he responded saying "Sorry for the delay, but it will be shipping tomorrow." I waited a few days and never got the email. Communication with him has been pretty sparse. Sometimes he responds and sometimes he doesn't. I tweeted to him and asked him if there was an issue and he said the same thing "that it would be shipping tomorrow".

Still waiting and it's been over a month (ordered 11/17/2011) Paypal has a 45 day max to file a dispute and I just hope it doesn't come to it. I really wanted an alternative place to order some movies.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

That's why you use a credit card instead of Paypal, whenever you can.

Plus like others said, it's a one man operation and then consider how many orders he's getting for the movies at this price. You either have to pay more elsewhere to get faster shipping or you pay less but need to have patience.

efordvt

Yeah, but over a month, with multiple promises of "shipping tomorrow" is beyond the normal realm of patience.

junglalien

code SCREAM is giving 10% off

clckworang

Damn. I guess I should have waited another few days before making my order. This guy is going to be swamped for the next month trying to send out Blue Underground discs.

joe_b

I agree, that does makes me a bit wary. Hopefully I'll receive my stuff from the previous order tomorrow.

My payment already cleared for the Blue Underground sale. I bought quite a few titles, so I really want it all to go smoothly. I know he's reported some difficulty with accepting payment, but the funds have been withdrawn on my end. Three weeks without notification would be the maximum I'd wait before getting in touch with PayPal.

I know, right?

Can't complain much, though -- these are still the lowest prices I've come across for BU titles. After shipping, I figure he'd barely be breaking even.

junglalien

Especially since Blue Underground themselves just advertised the sale on facebook and twitter.

joe_b

Just about to post this myself. Certainly reassures me about paying in advance for the Feb/March pre-orders.

clckworang

Yeah, that's why I placed a really big order. If what others have said is true, I would be surprised if he's even able to break even considering he has had to apparently resort to Amazon during past sales to fulfill everyone's orders.

Yeesh. I wasn't *that* worried about receiving my order until I heard that. This guy is going to be buried. Or if we want to continue the BU theme of the thread, he's going to be Dead & Buried.

Phibes

NoirFan

"Come, let me fix it for you!"

Holly Martins

I'm thinking of doing a 500 dollar binge buy while the gettin's good but need some reassurance first.

Is this guy legit???

clckworang

Reddye5

I need therapy! I order a ton of BDs from this sale. Most of which are just upgrades from the DVDs I already have. I don't know why, but I couldn't help myself at these prices to upgrade, even on the BDs that are only a modest step up from the DVDs. Oh well.

Only after ordering did I start seeing the posts about sketchy shipping.
Now I've traded DVDs on boards for about 10 years. In all that time, I've never been ripped off. I've gotten a few discs that were not in the condition promised, and a few that skipped, but never have I gotten ripped.

I even made a trade at another forum with a guy who had ripped off over 15 people at multiple forums under different names. After a few brief psychological PMs sent to guilt him into shipping, I received my end of the trade brand new from buy.com. Let's just say, it's been a fun 10 years.

That being said, this sale worries me. Unless he is robbing trucks leaving BU, how is he able to do this. . .and with free shipping?! I really hope that this isn't going to be the first time I'm ripe for the rippen. On the bright side, I ordered with a credit card, so I'm not too worried.

And the wait begins.

akiramole

I ordered with paypal because I was hesitant to give my credit card info to a website I was unfamiliar with. Looks like I might regret that.

DVDude!

I went ahead and placed my order. Thanks for the heads up on this BU sale and the 10% off coupon, junglalien. I'm more than willing to try this site out for those prices. Based on all the chatter in this thread, he seems to care about customer service and horror. I anticipate no issues.

Dead & Buried $10.00
Zombie: 2-Disc Ultimate Edition $10.00
Intruder: Director's Cut $22.99

Subtotal $42.99
Less Coupon SCREAM ($4.30)
Subtotal $38.69
Tax $0.00
Shipping (FREE Standard) $0.00
Balance Due $38.69

Jaymole

Why regret it...paypal has buyer protection so you will get your money back if the seller never ships.

joe_b

Blue Underground posted a link to his website on their Facebook page, so they are aware of the sale and are advertising it.

Phibes

He keeps tweeting that he's sending out shipping notices but I've yet to get one