So what do I do? I jump on Twitter to figure out what’s up. Emilie from A Beautiful Madness, a Montreal book blogger, confirms that she tried 7 stores in her area only to come up empty. I check out Chapters’ website and sure enough their inventory shows 0 copies in stock. Ok… don’t panic. There must be a logical explanation for this, right? A few minutes later I receive an apology from said merchant’s Twitter account; apparently there’s been a shipping delay but copies are being couriered out to all stores and should arrive the following day. I hate waiting but ok. I don’t have much choice in the matter anyway.
Today, I call Chapters just before my lunch break to check if it’s in stock. The answer? NO! *starts hyperventilating*
SERIOUSLY? How come Canada’s biggest book retailer doesn’t have copies of a best selling Canadian author’s latest book? If anything, there should be a gigantic display by the door, posters in the windows, the whole nine yards. There’s one for the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy after all.
Avery from Avery’s Book Nook informs me that Walmart has it in stock so I jet over there on my lunch break and sure enough there it is. SOLD! Sorry Chapters, you just lost my business and I’ll think twice before buying from you again in the future. I’m still steaming over this whole ordeal. What ridiculousness! I had to go to a US retailer to buy a book by a Canadian author because someone goofed at Chapters.
F.Y.I. fellow canucks; if you want to buy Kelley Armstrong’s latest book, don’t go to Chapters.
On a side note, the Women of the Otherworld series is also available from Audible.com. That is, except in Canada. REALLY!? WTH! Apparently they no longer have the rights to sell it to Canadians.
I didn’t realize what a monumental task it is to buy a Kelley Armstrong book here in Canada.
Update: Chapters Indigo has since issued an apology and is offering Thirteen at a discounted price. Read the full post here.
About the Blogger
I review Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance books with a focus all things werewolf. Based out of Ottawa, Canada
Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
The whole situation is ridiculous – but I also know that my local bookstore announced today (I saw it on FAcebook) that they have copies in stock today. Still way too late, and this seems to come up far too often for them.
I am standing up and clapping at this. This is becoming a running issue with them: having NOTHING in stock of something that you would think is going to be big or at least cause a little ripple in the big lake of books. Time and again they have nothing of what I want in stock OR there’s one copy in some obscure Coles in the middle of Northern Ontario. I’m still livid. I angry tweeted the crap out of them and honestly, they’ve lost me as a customer unless I really cannot wait for a book to ship to me from TBD and I know they have it. I’ll be definitely going back to WalMart for 13.
Aww *hugs* I feel your pain when I head into Chapters and see their stock is 0. It’s happened way too often, and sad to say I have to go to an American retailer to get it. I find it appealing that it’s harder to release books in Canada then in the states EVEN if it’s for a Canadian author. I think they ought to prioritize it.
@Brenna It makes me sad. I go out of my way to not buy from Amazon and this is the thanks I get.
@Becca H LOL I appreciate the applause! I angry tweeted them too and was disappointed with how they’re handling the situation.
@Giselle from Book Nerd TV and radio stations have Canadian content quotas that they have to meet; I think the same rule should apply to books!
Wow.. that is pretty crazy. You’d think that we would be the first to get our hands on a copy, eh? 😉 Thank goodness you were able to get a copy, but totally sucks that you had to go elsewhere to get it.
Incredible. I can’t believe that Chapters did not have the book. Did you let the author know that you had difficulty purchasing the book?
@Chrystal I’m really disappointed in Chapters over this mess.
@ahz1 I didn’t but Chapters was getting bombarded by angry tweets this week because of this and she was roped on most of them. I didn’t think it was necessary to add more fuel to the fire.
That has happened to me on other books. I wait for the book release (and I want the paper because I started reading in a series) and I go there on launch day and they only have 2 in stock and they havent put them out yet….or they dont have them at all.
This is why I love Kindle. I just download them. No waiting for the original. Now there are times where the new release isnt even available for CANADIANS on Kindle. GUH! We get the short end sometimes I swear.
Michelle
@AnotherLookBook
Hi Carmel,
We understand your frustration. And you’re right; we goofed. We know the delay in getting 13 to stores was a big disappointment to our customers and to Kelley. We posted about the situation on our blog yesterday:
http://blog.indigo.ca/fiction/item/1136-kelley-armstrongs-13.html
We are truly sorry about this frustrating situation, and we hope to make it up to Kelley’s fans by offering 13 at a special discounted price.
If you have more feedback, we do want to continue the conversation. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at socialmedia@indigo.ca or @chaptersindigo on Twitter.
Roisin Bonner
Social Media Specialist, Indigo
@Michelle Kelly eBooks are great for that but I agree with you, they’re still not always available on the release date.
@Indigo Thanks for following up, I appreciate it.