Winter Soldier and City in Crisis Delayed, Action Required

After sending out e-mails saying that the Winter Soldier Saga and City in Crisis/Spider-Man Saves the Day sets would be shipping out on August 20 (and after we congratulated them on the far more reasonable policy of keeping the order on file in the event of a delay, instead of the puzzling policy of canceling delayed orders AFTER the products have been shipped) Hasbro has sent out the following e-mail...

ITEM(S) NOT YET SHIPPED
Item number: 78452
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – City in Crisis: Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Green Goblin and Sandman
Quantity: 1
Estimated ship date: 8/26/2008

Item number: 78453
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – Winter Soldier Saga: Captain America, Falcon, Winter Soldier and Crossbone
Quantity: 1
Estimated ship date: 8/26/2008

We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions regarding your order or would like to change your order, please call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-408-0052. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO WAIT UNTIL THE DATE(S) INDICATED ABOVE TO RECEIVE YOUR ORDER, YOU MUST CONTACT US TO CONFIRM THAT YOU STILL WANT THE ITEM(S). IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU, THE ITEM(S) WILL NOT BE SHIPPED, AND YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED FOR THEM.

Which means that yes, once again, if you don't want your order canceled, forcing you to re-place the order and ending up at the end of the queue, you must contact them and waste your time dealing with customer service.

While we were on the phone, we asked them if they had any insight into the logic of making customers waste time in phone queues (I'm assuming e-mail will work as well) confirming that they want what they want, when it's Hasbro's fault they couldn't provide the figures on time. The answer got? "That's just the way the system is." Truer words, my friend. Truer words.