From: sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com (Steven J. Edwards)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: A sad story: my order for _Advances in Computer Chess 6_
Date: 23 Nov 92 20:27:35 GMT
Reply-To: sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com
Distribution: rec
Organization: Bull HN, Worldwide Information Systems, Billerica, Mass., USA

A long flame follows; read on only if you're interested in single copy
specialty book ordering.

About every three years a collection of helpful and significant papers
about computer chess research is published in hardcover.  The title is
_Advances in Computer Chess X_ where X equals the release ordinal.
The most recently published is _Advances in Computer Chess 6_ and it
purportedly came out late last year (1991).

Earlier volumes were published by Springer Verlag (German for
"Knight's Press") and I have several of these.  However, ACC6 was
handled by Prentice Hall and the ordering process appears to be
significantly more troublesome than it was for earlier releases.

I have been trying to get a copy of this book for the past year and
have nothing to show for it except long distance telephone bills.  The
first attempt was made at a nearby Barnes & Nobles bookseller.  They
had a number of problems with their computer ordering system and asked
me to wait a month or two while they "straightened it out".  A couple
of months later, they said that they were temporarily refusing orders
like mine as something in their computer system allowed some orders
but disallowed others.  However, they did give me the New York phone
number for Prentice Hall and wished me the best of luck.

The number did connect to Prentice Hall, but the person that answered
disclaimed any knowledge of single order support and gave me another
number to call.  This second number in turn did not handle single
orders, but gave a third number to try.  The third number was answered
by someone who did understand about single quantity orders.  Well, I
think they did; the person's non-North American accent was much in
evidence and I may misunderstood part of the response.  Anyway, the
story was that Prentice Hall was no longer going to handle quantity
one orders ot of their New York office.  I was given a number in Des
Moines, Iowa to call.  Couldn't the New York office relay my request?
No, they didn't do that for such orders.  The New York office also
told me not to bother calling the Des Moines office because the Iowa
operation was not yet in operation and would not be handling calls for
at least six months!

As summer approached, I finally got a response on the Des Moines
phone.  I placed my order for the book giving the title, author, and
ISBN.  They specified a price of about US$47 (the book is about 300
pages long as I recall) and took my credit card number.  They said I
should wait for about two weeks.

As the months went by, I started to get a series of computer generated
post cards from the Des Moines office.  Interestingly, each one seemed
to contradict the previous one concerning the status of my order.  In
some, the order was to arrive soon and so not to worry.  In another,
the book was listed as permanently out of stock.  Another denied the
out of stock and claimed that it was really just backordered.  Several
more cards appeared, each with a different story.  I have taped all of
them up on the side of a floor to ceiling bookcase in my home lab and
I show them to guests for a few laughs.

I tried the local bookseller again to see if they have finished their
computer system upgrade.  It looked like they had as there were plenty
of nifty computers, CD_ROM drives, microfiche readers, and so forth in
the customer service area.  But my hopes were dashed when they said
that they really weren't interested in ordering single copies of books
that weren't mainstream sellers.  They said that they had since
reduced the number of distributors (i.e., middlemen between publishers
and retail outlets) to three from well over a hundred and that they
would henceforth use only those three.  Did these distributors handle
Prentice Hall books?  Yes, I was told.  Could they then order my copy
of ACC6?  No, I was told.  Why?  It seemed that none of the
distributors were interested in handle single copy orders for
non-mainstream books.  Therefore, none of the fault was Barnes &
Nobles; it was all the fault of the evil, mean distributors.  Didn't
B&N share some of the blame for picking such distributors?  Perhaps
there didn't have time to think about that because the last day I was
there to talk to them about it they were all too busy handling sales
of a US$50 book wrapped in Mylar titled _Sex_ by a middle-aged
peroxide blonde who, if she were really that good looking, wouldn't
have to take off her clothes.

But I digress.  A staff member at the B&N tried to local a distributor
who, while not meeting the grand standards for dealing with B&N, would
be suitable for dealing with me.  A scan of the super-duper CD-ROM
database located such a distributor by the name of "PUBNET".  Could I
have their contact phone number?  No, said the staffer, because they
had no idea how to get in touch with (at least) this non-sanctioned
distributor.

A few days later, I placed several more calls to the P-H Des Moines
office and tried to find out what was happening.  I was assured that
people were working specifically on the problem.  All I have seen from
this are just more computer generated postcards.

I think it's time to reconsider publishers for the ACC series.  There
are many computer chess researchers in the USA and we shouldn't have
to run the gauntlet for a simple book order.

 [The above opinions expressed are my own; not necessarily held by others.]
      == Steven J. Edwards           Bull HN Information Systems Inc. ==
      == (508) 294-3484              300 Concord Road         MS 820A ==
      == sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com     Billerica, MA 01821          USA ==
"That Government which Governs the Least, Governs Best." -- Thomas Jefferson