@David_D, EXACTLY! I do not think sharing my experience/providing "testimony" is worthy of ANY comments - agree, disagree, or otherwise. A person asked for experiences with online comic book providers. I provided MY experience. Others provided THEIR experience. I did not agree, disagree, or whatever on any of THEIR posts because I do not feel it is my place to do so. I can only share MY experience. The person who requested that others share their experience, it is up to THAT person to read everyone's post and then make her/his own decision as to which company she/he prefers to use. THAT person gets to judge and have her/his own experience, but that judgment does not include agreeing or disagreeing, etc. THAT person can/should thank the rest of us for sharing our knowledge & experience so she/he has now gotten a variety of experiences from us to make her/his decision. I am glad that you had a positive experience with DCBS, and it is perfectly acceptable for you to share that experience. It is not my place to agree or disagree with that. How can I agree with YOUR experience? How can I disagree with YOUR experience? Our experiences HAPPENED, regardless of what others think of it, and I feel it is rude to place a judgment of any kind on one's experience (vs one's opinion) as it looks like an attempt to co-opt that person's experience. I thought I was being a nice forum member, helping out another forum member by responding to her/his request for help. If I had had no experience with DCBS at all, I would not have posted anything. But, since I HAVE had years of experience with them, AND she/he ASKED for this to be shared with her/him, I did so. I had no idea that people on forums feel compelled to like, dislike, agree, etc with EVERYTHING, including someone's experience. It's like if I shared that I went to the beach this weekend, and people disagreed with that. Really?
@CourtOfOwls - Sorry to hear of your bad experiences with DCBS.
I've only had one problem with DCBS, and it might just be part of the problem of getting books at the end of the month and dealing with something that was a printing problem.
Back when that Silver Surfer mini-series was going on in 2011, the copy of #3 that I got had pages that looked like they were either pasted together and pulled apart or there was a a pretty bad printing error, either way, a good third to half of the book was completely unreadable.
I notified DCBS as soon as I went through the book, and they were not able to get me a new copy. I didn't get an explination as to why and a refund or credit was not offered, I was only told that the issue was no longer available.
Whenever I have had to contact DCBS by phone, I have always gotten a live person, I have only had to leave voicemail once and was called back about an hour or so later. Response time for emails though has been about two days, sometimes longer.
The only reason why I don't use DCBS anymore is because I want to support my LCS. The shop has been open a year now and I have not had any bad experiences of any kind and with the number of books I'm getting there isn't much of a savings for me.
@Greg, I wish I had DCBS phone number! What is it? Can you share it? I have only ever been able to contact them via email. Of course, my account is now closed, so it won't do me any good, but others have posted that they also have been stuck emailing, so having their phone number could be helpful to them.
@David_D, EXACTLY! I do not think sharing my experience/providing "testimony" is worthy of ANY comments - agree, disagree, or otherwise. A person asked for experiences with online comic book providers. I provided MY experience. Others provided THEIR experience. I did not agree, disagree, or whatever on any of THEIR posts because I do not feel it is my place to do so. I can only share MY experience. The person who requested that others share their experience, it is up to THAT person to read everyone's post and then make her/his own decision as to which company she/he prefers to use. THAT person gets to judge and have her/his own experience, but that judgment does not include agreeing or disagreeing, etc. THAT person can/should thank the rest of us for sharing our knowledge & experience so she/he has now gotten a variety of experiences from us to make her/his decision. I am glad that you had a positive experience with DCBS, and it is perfectly acceptable for you to share that experience. It is not my place to agree or disagree with that. How can I agree with YOUR experience? How can I disagree with YOUR experience? Our experiences HAPPENED, regardless of what others think of it, and I feel it is rude to place a judgment of any kind on one's experience (vs one's opinion) as it looks like an attempt to co-opt that person's experience. I thought I was being a nice forum member, helping out another forum member by responding to her/his request for help. If I had had no experience with DCBS at all, I would not have posted anything. But, since I HAVE had years of experience with them, AND she/he ASKED for this to be shared with her/him, I did so. I had no idea that people on forums feel compelled to like, dislike, agree, etc with EVERYTHING, including someone's experience. It's like if I shared that I went to the beach this weekend, and people disagreed with that. Really?
... that you went to the beach is a fact. I could see how it might be surprising if someone disputes a fact.
If your experience of the beach led to the conclusion that, 'this is a poor beach. It sucks. I would not recommend people go to it.' Then other people who went to that beach may choose to agree or disagree with that recommendation and conclusion based on their own experience.
That is part of what makes it a discussion. And it is a discussion. Some may decide to add their own review or recommendation, too. Or they might use a simple system that is in place that allows people to also express whether they agree or disagree with what you are putting forth.
That you were a DCBS customer is a fact.
That DCBS "sucks" and should not be recommended to others is an opinion. Same as whether or not someone would recommend reading a book. It is an opinion rooted in experience, of course. No one is invalidating that. Rather, a click on "agree" or "disagree" is one of several ways that people can express THEIR OWN opinion.
You can choose to see that as an attempt to invalidate your experience or call you a liar or something like that. It is your choice to see it however you want. But I honestly don't think that is how many other people- including those clicking on those buttons, as we have heard from a few- see it. I think you are choosing to see the worst in it, and getting upset by an "agree" or a "disagree" is not worth it.
And, at the end of the day, with my moderator's cap on, if your responseses to clicks on "agree" and "disagree" continue to be things like this:
My experience with DCBS was not posted as a "discussion", or something that needed critical review, dislike, or disagree . . .
To get your panties in a bunch & "disagree" because your little fanboy ass is hurt for poor DCBS, well all I can say is you need to get yourselves a little self reflection time, and step the fuck off my shit! DCBS SUCKS! I WOULD NEVER USE THEM. Disagree with THAT mo-fo's!
. . .Then you will have to go be not agreed or disagreed with somewhere else. Because that doesn't fly here.
This is not any one person's blog. These are discussions. The original poster even chose to start this as a "discussion" rather than a "question" (as those are options when you create a thread.) When experiences and opinions are put forward, on a service, on a book, on a movie, etc., they may get discussed and commented on. So let's not lose our temper with those that respond to what we say. Thanks.
@Greg, I wish I had DCBS phone number! What is it? Can you share it? I have only ever been able to contact them via email. Of course, my account is now closed, so it won't do me any good, but others have posted that they also have been stuck emailing, so having their phone number could be helpful to them.
Remember that post from @Trev that you criticized for negating you and not meaning as much or being as factual as what you posted?
And to get back to continuing the discussion-- I have been using DCBS every month since June 2006. In those nearly seven years, I can only remember maybe two times that a single comic got missed in a shipment, and those were replaced and a sincere apology was given. When I emailed them about those errors, I got a quick response. More recently when I emailed to add something or drop something, or ask a question about an unshipped item, I got a quick response. I understand and believe that others' experience may be different, but my experience with them has been consistent and great. I would and do recommend them to people. Especially if you buy enough comics and trades that the savings beat the shipping cost.
(Though sometimes a pre-order price on Amazon beats their price when it comes to trades and OGNs, especially if you have Amazon Prime for free shipping like we do, so I don't get trades from them as often as I used to,) But for my single issue buying I find their prices to be excellent, and have been a big savings over time.
@David_D it is very clear that we see things differently - which is OK. I disagree that, because I have had a factual experience that sucked, this makes it an opinion now rather than a fact. Like the beach analogy, other people may have had their own experience with the beach & feel it is a good beach. Good for them. They are free to share their experience with others. Again, that does not negate my experience or opinion. Rather than having the beach lovers label and/or judge my experience, let them post their own and trust that the objective reader of ALL the posts will judge for themselves if they want to go to the beach or not. I say DCBS sucks. You say it doesn't. Let the person who started this discussion thread decide for themselves without undermining one another's experiences.
@Greg, thanks for re-posting what @Trev posted with the DCBS phone number. I did not read @Trev's post because it was not my intention or plan to read anyone's post. When I saw the thread asking for people to post their experience with online comic book retailers, my intention was to just post MY experience. I wasn't all that concerned with reading anyone else's post because I wasn't planning on discussing, debating, or judging what anyone else chose to share. I didn't think the discussion thread required that, because it was just looking for help. It wasn't until people started judging & labelling my experience post that I realized that no good deed goes unpunished - AKA everyone seems to feel compelled to judge you rather than just let their own words speak for themselves. Seeing people "agreeing", disagreeing" etc with my experience caused me to engage further & respond to those who responded to my frustration. I feel that, if someone "disagrees", "likes", etc something a person posts, it is far better to just write a post themselves and, in that post, state what they feel and why. So often people hide behind their "disagree" clicks, without ever backing it up. They feel all so brave in their anonymity rather than being open, honest, and direct in owning their opinions and judgements. Anyway, I missed @Trev's post. Thanks, @Trev, for posting the number. I am sure it will be helpful to others who still choose to use DCBS.
@David_D it is very clear that we see things differently - which is OK. I disagree that, because I have had a factual experience that sucked, this makes it an opinion now rather than a fact. Like the beach analogy, other people may have had their own experience with the beach & feel it is a good beach. Good for them. They are free to share their experience with others. Again, that does not negate my experience or opinion. Rather than having the beach lovers label and/or judge my experience, let them post their own and trust that the objective reader of ALL the posts will judge for themselves if they want to go to the beach or not. I say DCBS sucks. You say it doesn't. Let the person who started this discussion thread decide for themselves without undermining one another's experiences.
Yes, we do see it differently. I see these at discussions. And I don't see the reactions as attempts to undermine, or hiding. Rather, they are simply more speech added to the discussion.
If you quote someone else's post and respond to it without even reading it, as you did with @Trev earlier, then we see the whole intent of this discussion board very differently.
This is not just a place to be heard. It is also a place to listen, to respond, and to discuss. If the reaction buttons are that troublesome to you, ignore them. It seems you have no problem engaging in a thread with the intent to hear about the opinions or experiences of others, so why let an "agree" or "disagree" get to you? It seems like wasted energy. Especially if you see it as a monologue rather than a dialogue.
I really did not expect this to turn into a "bash DCBS" thread. Seems a bit unnecessary... to put it mildly.
I took a few people's advice here and made my first DCBS pre-order this afternoon. Since I hadn't pre-ordered in a couple of weeks from TFAW, I went ahead and purchased my last few there (such as Thor God Of Thunder #9, Star Wars #6, Captain America #8, Thanos #3, Superior Spider-Man #11 & #12, Morbius #6, Hawkeye #11 & #12, etc) simply because they were no longer available at DCBS on preorder. Saved only around 20% off cover, but hopefully that will be my last TFAW order. That of course depends entirely on DCBS's fulfillment, which has been discussed here ad nauseum.
Simultaneously, I pre-ordered my "pull list" from DCBS, and other than a somewhat rocky start of getting used to their shopping cart and ordering system, I pulled the trigger and saved a longbox worth of cash. So I hope this works out.
I'll follow-up when Thor #10, etc arrive in a few weeks.
Again, thanks to everyone that shared their thoughts and the few that also shared some noteworthy alternatives. I checked them all out and bookmarked a few of them.
Simultaneously, I pre-ordered my "pull list" from DCBS, and other than a somewhat rocky start of getting used to their shopping cart and ordering system, I pulled the trigger and saved a longbox worth of cash. So I hope this works out.
Try their excel order form. I find it way easier and you get an easy record of what you ordered.
the excel sheet is really the way to go. I'll put in everything that catches my eye then trim it down to what I want to pay. There are always tough choices, but it lets me go through my order really easily.
the excel sheet is really the way to go. I'll put in everything that catches my eye then trim it down to what I want to pay. There are always tough choices, but it lets me go through my order really easily.
I use the excel sheet, too - it's nice b/c you can also search it to make sure you didn't miss things. also, if you end up wanting something from the previous month, you can clip and paste it into the next month's spreadsheet, and easily order it that way.
For the very reason Bralinator states, I avoid the Excel sheet! :) My order is high enough as it is each month!
Plus I enjoy that "kid in a candy store" feeling I get when I kick back for an hour or so and just go through the site and pore through each section looking for the good stuff! :)
I do worry a bit that I might miss something so I downloaded the Excel sheet.
I've also set myself reminders to search for the preorder pages in a few weeks for a few upcoming titles for August, such as Marvel's Infinity limited-series and BOOM studios' new Frank Miller Robocop series. Is there a feature for this on DCBS website? There is such a feature on TFAW's, sort of a search term alert feature.
@CourtOfOwls, reading through this thread it occurs to me that there is a real possibility that DCBS might have actually broken up with you instead of the other way around.
Which is to say, I disagree with your perception of your experience.
I missed this thread originally and was reading it as brand new today. And then I couldn't find the disagree button that was mentioned so much and it finally dawned on me what was going on. My first DCBS shipment had a couple comics that hand a bent corner and I was worried that it was going to be like that for as long as I used the service, that was the last bent corner I have ever gotten.
I missed this thread originally and was reading it as brand new today. And then I couldn't find the disagree button that was mentioned so much and it finally dawned on me what was going on.
I reread the thread this morning, and it got crazy ridiculous really quickly didn't it? It also made me miss the dislike/disagree buttons. Thanks Matt ;).
I've tried other guys, and they've all gone away. DCBS sticks around, and offers terrific deals.
I wish their actual website was a bit better (I feel like they've had the same design for at least eight years), but I happily come back month after month. The savings is unbeatable and so is their customer support.
BTW, I just finished episode 1469 and there was a comment made in the beginning about DCBS fulfilling FCBD book orders. I dealt with that on my last order, emailed them, and they placed the order for the books I wanted! Great service, good people. They have my business for as long as they do business this way.
Anyone know what happened to Fearless Readers? I guess it's down to Atomic Avenue or EBay for back issues online. The much ballyhooed price reductions from Mile High still don't appear to have manifested themselves...
Anyone know what happened to Fearless Readers? I guess it's down to Atomic Avenue or EBay for back issues online. The much ballyhooed price reductions from Mile High still don't appear to have manifested themselves...
Comments
I've only had one problem with DCBS, and it might just be part of the problem of getting books at the end of the month and dealing with something that was a printing problem.
Back when that Silver Surfer mini-series was going on in 2011, the copy of #3 that I got had pages that looked like they were either pasted together and pulled apart or there was a a pretty bad printing error, either way, a good third to half of the book was completely unreadable.
I notified DCBS as soon as I went through the book, and they were not able to get me a new copy. I didn't get an explination as to why and a refund or credit was not offered, I was only told that the issue was no longer available.
Whenever I have had to contact DCBS by phone, I have always gotten a live person, I have only had to leave voicemail once and was called back about an hour or so later. Response time for emails though has been about two days, sometimes longer.
The only reason why I don't use DCBS anymore is because I want to support my LCS. The shop has been open a year now and I have not had any bad experiences of any kind and with the number of books I'm getting there isn't much of a savings for me.
If your experience of the beach led to the conclusion that, 'this is a poor beach. It sucks. I would not recommend people go to it.' Then other people who went to that beach may choose to agree or disagree with that recommendation and conclusion based on their own experience.
That is part of what makes it a discussion. And it is a discussion. Some may decide to add their own review or recommendation, too. Or they might use a simple system that is in place that allows people to also express whether they agree or disagree with what you are putting forth.
That you were a DCBS customer is a fact.
That DCBS "sucks" and should not be recommended to others is an opinion. Same as whether or not someone would recommend reading a book. It is an opinion rooted in experience, of course. No one is invalidating that. Rather, a click on "agree" or "disagree" is one of several ways that people can express THEIR OWN opinion.
You can choose to see that as an attempt to invalidate your experience or call you a liar or something like that. It is your choice to see it however you want. But I honestly don't think that is how many other people- including those clicking on those buttons, as we have heard from a few- see it. I think you are choosing to see the worst in it, and getting upset by an "agree" or a "disagree" is not worth it.
And, at the end of the day, with my moderator's cap on, if your responseses to clicks on "agree" and "disagree" continue to be things like this:
. . .Then you will have to go be not agreed or disagreed with somewhere else. Because that doesn't fly here.
This is not any one person's blog. These are discussions. The original poster even chose to start this as a "discussion" rather than a "question" (as those are options when you create a thread.) When experiences and opinions are put forward, on a service, on a book, on a movie, etc., they may get discussed and commented on. So let's not lose our temper with those that respond to what we say. Thanks.
That had the phone number in it.
(Though sometimes a pre-order price on Amazon beats their price when it comes to trades and OGNs, especially if you have Amazon Prime for free shipping like we do, so I don't get trades from them as often as I used to,) But for my single issue buying I find their prices to be excellent, and have been a big savings over time.
If you quote someone else's post and respond to it without even reading it, as you did with @Trev earlier, then we see the whole intent of this discussion board very differently.
This is not just a place to be heard. It is also a place to listen, to respond, and to discuss. If the reaction buttons are that troublesome to you, ignore them. It seems you have no problem engaging in a thread with the intent to hear about the opinions or experiences of others, so why let an "agree" or "disagree" get to you? It seems like wasted energy. Especially if you see it as a monologue rather than a dialogue.
I took a few people's advice here and made my first DCBS pre-order this afternoon. Since I hadn't pre-ordered in a couple of weeks from TFAW, I went ahead and purchased my last few there (such as Thor God Of Thunder #9, Star Wars #6, Captain America #8, Thanos #3, Superior Spider-Man #11 & #12, Morbius #6, Hawkeye #11 & #12, etc) simply because they were no longer available at DCBS on preorder. Saved only around 20% off cover, but hopefully that will be my last TFAW order. That of course depends entirely on DCBS's fulfillment, which has been discussed here ad nauseum.
Simultaneously, I pre-ordered my "pull list" from DCBS, and other than a somewhat rocky start of getting used to their shopping cart and ordering system, I pulled the trigger and saved a longbox worth of cash. So I hope this works out.
I'll follow-up when Thor #10, etc arrive in a few weeks.
Again, thanks to everyone that shared their thoughts and the few that also shared some noteworthy alternatives. I checked them all out and bookmarked a few of them.
Reason has no place in politics, the internet, or society. Kneel before the DISAGREE and the DISLIKE.
I may try it next time though. Thanks for the pointer @Trev
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Plus I enjoy that "kid in a candy store" feeling I get when I kick back for an hour or so and just go through the site and pore through each section looking for the good stuff! :)
I've also set myself reminders to search for the preorder pages in a few weeks for a few upcoming titles for August, such as Marvel's Infinity limited-series and BOOM studios' new Frank Miller Robocop series. Is there a feature for this on DCBS website? There is such a feature on TFAW's, sort of a search term alert feature.
Which is to say, I disagree with your perception of your experience.
I wish their actual website was a bit better (I feel like they've had the same design for at least eight years), but I happily come back month after month. The savings is unbeatable and so is their customer support.
Anyone know what happened to Fearless Readers? I guess it's down to Atomic Avenue or EBay for back issues online. The much ballyhooed price reductions from Mile High still don't appear to have manifested themselves...