Series 5 DVD/Blu-ray hard to find?
Yesterday (Nov. 9) I found myself picking up the only Blu-ray copy of the Series 5 box set that seemed to be in stock at a Best Buy here in Calgary (and even then only because of a lucky glance at the stocking trolley). Turns out I might have been one of the lucky ones.
The US-based website TV Shows on DVD is reporting that a number of retailers—both stores and online sources—were reporting shortages of stock of both Series 5 and the other Steven Moffat series released on Nov. 9, Sherlock. In some cases the DVD sets were available, but not the Blu-rays. I know that as of last night Amazon.ca was indicating a 5 to 7 WEEK wait time for orders of the Blu-ray and a 7 to 12 day wait for the DVD sets.
Retailers are now reporting (in the US anyway) that the sets are now in, and I saw a fair stack of them at another Best Buy here in Calgary a couple hours before I wrote this. But I just checked Amazon.ca’s listing for the Series 5 Blu-ray and it still shows that 5 to 7 week/7 to 12 day wait times. This might be one case in which making the hike down to your local brick-and-mortar shop might be preferable to ordering online.
One silver lining in all of this is according to the TV Shows on DVD report, BBC Video is claiming high demand as a reason for the shortages, which is a vast improvement over way back in 2006 when many of us found it almost impossible to track down copies of The Complete First Series set!
So sound off - anyone having difficulty tracking down a copy of Series 5 in their part of Canada?
Posted by Alex on Wednesday, November 10 at 11:46 pm
17 Comments...
interesting .. now i know why i haven’t received my amazon order of series 5 .. saying that, even the 2 cybermen dvd’s, revenge and silver nemesis still have not been delivered by amazon, even though they were officially released on the 2nd, amazon says they will ship on the 16th or something??
are the cybermen stories also short of stock due to demand? are classic episodes selling that well now in north america thanks to the new series? does anyone know?
Thanks for the info Alex!
Posted by Ian on 11/11 at 04:45 AM
For the longest time the Cyber stories were listed on Amazon to be shipped on November 2. I started a rewatch of the fourth Doctor at the end of September and expected to have a little break until I could get Revenge. Around the middle of October I went in to place my order and was surprised to see they’d changed the date to November 14th. Curiously, Best Buy in Toronto also took forever to get Planet of Fire and The King’s Demons.
I got impatient and er, took Revenge from elsewhere…
Posted by Scott on 11/11 at 01:17 PM
I pre-ordered my Series 5 DVD from ChaptersIndigo, and it still hasn’t shipped. The website now says “1-2 week delivery”. So I guess we’ll see what happens!
(I usually go Amazon - but I refuse to use them in Canada anymore now that they almost exclusively use UPS for domestic orders…which as I live in an apartment and they have NO pickup centres in the city of Toronto, is absolutely useless to me. Pity.)
Posted by Julie on 11/11 at 02:13 PM
Re: Ian & Scott - I had no idea the others were even being released today. I definitely haven’t seen any of them at Best Buy (which is usually good at bringing them in) but to be fair I wasn’t looking for them either and Best Buy tends to put regular-series releases straight onto the shelves rather than in the New Releases.
Re: Julie - I’m in a similar situation but they usually deliver here no problem. I just have to make sure I’m home when the UPS guy arrives. Since Amazon Canada ships everything from Mississauga have you asked them if it’s possible to pick up shipments direct from their distribution centre? Also, I do find that at least to here in Calgary they still tend to use Canada Post for multiple-item shipments and (until they lowered the threshold a few weeks ago) “free delivery” orders.
Posted by Alex on 11/11 at 05:25 PM
Re:Ian and Scott - according to Best Buy here in Calgary the two Cyber stories aren’t being released until Nov. 16, so maybe there was some delay on those.
Posted by Alex on 11/12 at 03:57 AM
I canceled the Amazon order on Tuesday when it didn’t come after I went to Future Shop which had a few but only a few on BR. There were more DVD’s there. They also had 2 Sherlock’s in the back catalogue area. Always good to check there for new releases of BBC releases which might not get a slot on the new releases shelf.
Posted by Ryan on 11/12 at 12:09 PM
Re:Ryan - Ironically I’m going to need to go in the other direction regarding obtaining a copy of The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who (which was released either this week or last) and turn to Amazon (or Book Depository) as none of the Indigos and Chapters bothered ordering it in out here (and it’s not the type of book that would turn up at one of our remaining independents).
Posted by Alex on 11/12 at 03:59 PM
Hi Alex, thanks for the suggestions but no, unfortunately (as I don’t have a car), even if Amazon did allow p/u from their distribution centre it would literally take me hours to get there on transit - which is the issue with the UPS pickup centre…it’s in Vaughn - another city north of Toronto. I’m at work all day so I’m not home for deliveries, the notification thingy they leave usually ends up on the floor somewhere in the lobby and we aren’t allowed personal deliveries at work…I’ve been through all the options!
I’ve talked to Amazon and according them, although they still sometimes use Canada Post, there is currently no way to determine or choose what the method will be ahead of time…and from talking to friends and co-workers they’ve all reported it’s almost always UPS now for any size of order, here anyway. So I just can’t risk it - the last order I got from them (which was UPS) was an absolute nightmare to finally get rerouted elsewhere.
So that’s why Chapters got my order, they still use Canada Post.
It’s a real pity because I love Amazon, they have the best prices, the best selection, and used to have the best delivery. Oh well. I sent an email explaining the frustration and perhaps if they get enough complaints they’ll come up with an option to choose at checkout - even if I have to forgo free delivery it would be worth it!
Oh, and I was in Best Buy downtown Toronto last night, and they didn’t have any - Blu-Ray or DVD on the shelf. At this point I can’t be bothered to scour everywhere else - or pay HMV prices even if they have it in, so I’ll just wait for my Chapters order. Anticipation will just have to be half the fun!
Posted by Julie on 11/12 at 04:27 PM
Ryan: You are right about new releases of BBC stuff on the shelves at Future Shop (and usually Best Buy as well) - I got the Being Human Series 2 there a while back when it was released, and only $3 more than the Amazon price would have been.
Posted by Julie on 11/12 at 04:33 PM
The problem is more about Warner’s distribution according to Steve Manfred of the Doctor Who DVD FAQ:
Earlier this year Warner made a business decision to switch to a different distributor from the one they had been using. This new distributor has been having teething problems in getting BBC stuff out on time. In some areas or in some store chains, they’re doing OK, but in others (particularly in Canada it seems) they’re missing by up to 2 weeks.
They’re also late in getting review copies out. I didn’t receive my Cybermen classic titles until this past Saturday, 4 days beyond the street date (and I had to go and buy copies to be able to update my website in something like good time), and I’ve yet to receive anything for the Fifth Series set.
Basically Amazon can’t ship what they don’t have!
Posted by Ryan on 11/12 at 05:08 PM
Re: Julie - I never even bother looking for classic series DVD releases in the New Release sections of Best Buy or Future Shop. They always go into the regular stock. Unfortunately that also means they rarely get the “new release pricing” discount. The cover price for the BD edition of Series 5 was $99.99, but because it was in the new release section, I only paid about $75 or 76, which was on par with Amazon. The DVD version was in the $50-60 range (I’m still surprised the two formats still have that pricing disconnect. If they ever want BD to really take over they need to fix that).
As for the ordering issue, with Toronto being such a huge market and right on their doorstep, you’d think Amazon would realize they’re cutting themselves off. Here in Calgary it’s almost required by law that we have cars and I have no problem crossing the city to pick up an order if I have to (so far I haven’t had to). I hate to say it, but Canada Post might have brought the issue on themselves. I’ve had to do a number of returns to Amazon in the last year or so because of packages damaged in shipping via CP and that costs Amazon money each time, so maybe UPS is considered a better option in that regard.
Posted by Alex on 11/12 at 05:10 PM
Re: Ryan
This isn’t the first time Warner has had these problems. I cut my teeth on ordering DVDs online about 5 years ago when Warner releases were sometimes being delayed by weeks (including major releases). And I had to special order Doctor Who Series 1 and 2 because of the local shops not being able to get them. However, this is the first time I’ve actually encountered delays if you’re saying they changed distributors earlier this year. All the other recent BBC releases here in Calgary have been on time, whether Doctor Who or Tennant’s Hamlet or Being Human. I have my fingers crossed this is just a one-time goof, especially since next year we’re supposed to start getting classic series releases at almost the same time as the UK.
Posted by Alex on 11/12 at 05:29 PM
Wow! thanks to everyone .. you guys really did your research! Until recently the Amazon orders were always on time for me, but starting with the last batch of classic releases “Planet of Fire” and “King’s Demons” were late, but delivered together. Then about a week later, “Creature from the Pit” arrived, although all 3 titles were released o the same date!
I’m not bothered, I know I will get them eventually, be it a few days or weeks later, but if its to do with this new distributor, wouldn’t 2Entertain or the BBC be concerned about this? I wonder if they even know about the North American distribution problem. For me at least it is only a recent problem in the last couple of months .. I never had any delays before.
Posted by Ian on 11/13 at 02:08 PM
Hi Alex,
In all the years I used Amazon.ca I never had one damaged package via Canada Post…mind you, living in basically the same place it’s shipped from probably has a lot to do with that lol - I’d almost always recieve my items literally the day after they were shipped, even on just regular shipping. But you may have a point, going anywhere else in the country on planes, trains and additional automobiles no doubt has a bearing on the condition they may arrive in!
And out of interest I just checked my Chapters order again - it still says ‘awaiting shipping’ and the item page still says 1-2 weeks. At least it hasn’t (yet!) changed to something like 6-8 weeks, I can tell you if that happens I will be searching every shop in the city for a copy and cancelling that order!
Posted by Julie on 11/14 at 01:02 AM
My local HMV doesn’t have Series 5 in yet. No idea about the other locations in Winnipeg as I haven’t been to any of them since the release date, nor have I been to any of the other box stores to have a gander.
Posted by Rachel on 11/17 at 03:01 AM
Just got my copy yesterday (nov 19). I would have tried sooner but I just got back from a trip to Cuba. $80(??!!!) was the best price around here in Oshawa. (HMV Best Buy Future Shop) All were $79.99. My wallet is still choking. Btw, blue ray and regular DVD were the same price at best buy.
Posted by Doug Grandy on 11/20 at 05:08 PM
...got the last one out of the New Glasgow FutureShop for a penny under seventy bucks. They’d only shelved three (two DVD, one BR), and are still having problems selling their classic Whos. Ah, well, I have news for Maritime Whovians…go thee to New Glasgow Future Shop. They have a pile of modern and classic Who for decent prices (the classics are in the movie section ?!? but they’re there.).
Posted by Clayton George on 11/20 at 05:53 PM
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