For many years, when buying software on-line my experience has been that an order confirmation arrives via e-mail pretty much immediately, then a download link/activation key within 5 minutes at most. However, there have been marked delays the last couple of times I've done this:

- On March 1st I purchased an Outlook OST to PST file conversion utility. Purchase was through Element5/Digital River, vendor is in India. It took over 45 minutes for the download link to be available; in the meantime I was cooling my heels on-site. The vendor's web site promises immediate, "automated" delivery via download

- Today (March 10) I ordered QuickBooks Pro Desktop 2017 (for electronic delivery/download) from staples.ca for a client while I was on-site. We got an instant order confirmation. When the download/activation didn't show up in 20 minutes I did an online chat with customer support. They said it can take up to 60 minutes to process. Waited for 75 minutes, it didn't show up. Looking closely at the order confirmation, it says expected delivery is March 13 (next Monday, the next business day). WTF? I could pick up boxed product or get it couriered quicker than that. We were expecting to install the product and import company files into the new version this morning but we don't even have the product yet. I had to bail from that on-site call and now have to wait for the product to show up before we can even schedule the installation and import. What a PITA.

UPDATE: the QuickBooks software arrived after a delay of 3 hours 15 minutes from the time of order confirmation.

Takeaways:

- If you're planning significant work around the availability of downloaded software, it may need to be purchased well in advance

- If you're in an emergency situation and you need software RFN you may not be able to rely on immediate availability. It might be wise to ask the vendor in advance of purchase

As I see it, these delays eliminate one of the major advantages of online software delivery.

Anyone else seeing anything like this?