Making your list and checking it twice? And, if you're like me, beginning to whittle marginal names off your holiday shopping list? ("Hmmmm. What did she get me last year? Oh, yeah! Those Frosty the Snowman boxers that I can't wear to the gym in case somebody I know sees me...")

Better find out, then, which companies are being naughty and are the most likely to dash your best intentions.

For instance, if you were going to order the Sony (SNE:NYSE ADR - news - boards) PlayStation2, or if you've already ordered it and are awaiting delivery, this is probably a very good time to start making alternate plans.

On Dec. 6, Bob Gabele, the insider expert who writes for RealMoney.com, reported that Electronic Arts (ERTS:Nasdaq - news - boards), a company poised to sell about 40% of the software used in the PlayStation 2, is reeling as a result of Sony's inability to ship the hottest gift of the season on time.

In It's Electronic Arts -- and Crafty , Gabele wrote that insiders at Electronic Arts sold 175,000 shares in their company on Nov. 27, the same day Sony announced that it was further behind than expected with its PlayStation 2 deliveries. The Sony news led to a downgrade in its stock, and I'm sure some legal beagles in the employ of Electronic Arts are already beginning to look into Sony's contractual obligations.

I always love receiving books -- and therefore give many as gifts -- but you might want to read Jim Cramer's columns about Amazon (AMZN:Nasdaq - news - boards) from this week before counting on them to deliver as efficiently as Santa.

In It's Holiday Time -- Do You Know Where Your Amazon Order Is? , Cramer complained that his most recent order had not yet been filled. He considered that mostly a personal annoyance until someone sent him a note complaining about a similar problem.

That prompted Cramer to ask readers if they were experiencing the same delays, and his column on Dec. 8, Readers Irritated at Amazon, was the result. JJC's conclusion after being buried beneath an avalanche of testy email: Something is rotten at Amazon.

I haven't ordered anything from Amazon, and now I won't, but I have been waylaid by my neighborhood Barnes & Noble (BKB:NYSE - news - boards) book store in beautiful downtown Forest Hills, N.Y.

Last weekend I walked into B&N. While I was waiting at a help desk, the clerk told one caller that the store did not have any of the five titles she was asking about, and furthermore, couldn't order them.

The same clerk then told me that the store didn't carry any titles by the great Carl Hiaasen. Knowing that to be untrue, I took an escalator upstairs and immediately found a half-dozen books by him.

My gist is this: I have not yet received the title I ordered from Barnes & Noble, and I got bad information there to boot.

So the Chia Pets and the singing Big Mouth Billy Bass are looking better and better to me...