Chutist Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 Not really a "hate" item more and “ irritates the crap out of me” item.... I live at the far end of the middle of nowhere so I end up doing way more “mail order” than the average bear… Bought new sights for my G35 from the manufacturer of the sights. Web site seemed well designed and easy to use. In theory ordering by Internet should be FASTER and less error prone than by phone. During checkout there were the normal shipping options: Ground, Next day, two day, three day. Its Monday, so I pick three day - gives them a day and a half to process the order and I still get my stuff for the weekend. It's a few bucks extra but worth it.... Order goes off and is statused as "received" on Monday - Wednesday I get an email saying they shipped and I'll get the stuff the next MONDAY. I could have gone regular ground if I wanted the stuff MONDAY. You'd think they'd look at the shipping and figure it out.... “Hey this guy ordered on Monday and used AIR shipping. I bet he wants his stuff for the weekend.” I guess even in this day of Hi-Tech you're still better off using the PHONE! If I would have called I could have asked, "Will this go out today?" - With a sale in the balance I bet the answer would have been YES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 I feel your pain. I ordered a 12 pack of batteries from Surefire and when I was checking out I noticed that 2nd day air was only $2 more so I got that. Well the bozos didn't even ship my order for FOUR DAYS! Of course that made a weekend happen so I got my 2nd day air package 7 days later. Are Dillon and Brian the only business people who understand good service anymore? -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Chris, Man, that is seriously irritating. If you like that, try having a giant stack of orders that customers have prepaid (including yours), been patiently waiting well over two weeks to get, then having your vendor push out your production, not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR freaking times. Talk about a reputation killer.... I don't have stomach issues ever, and as of Wednesday I was headed for ulcer city in a bad way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Eric, Go drink some Milk and eat some yoghurt. No worries on this end --- I figured there were bound to be production delays, and have been really impressed with the volume of information coming out of your one man-I presume-shop, especially at finals time.... Thanks for all your hard work, now quit stressing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 After working in the mail order camera biz for a while, it's my opinion that all AIR orders received by 2 p.m. local should make it out the door that day, especially if you're dealing with a company that can be expected to have a shipping department/mail room.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bulm5 Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 the worst ratiler I 've ever dealt with was Botach tactical. I ordered a hydration from them and paid extra fro shipping and did not get my order for 3 weeks. I have to call them 4 times to see what was up. Repeated e-mails were not answered. Their reason fro the delay was that one of the items I ordered was backordered. Did they bother to e-mial me, NO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twix Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Jhgtyre- add Chuck bradley of Shooters Connection to your great service list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chutist Posted May 1, 2004 Author Share Posted May 1, 2004 Chris,Man, that is seriously irritating. If you like that, try having a giant stack of orders that customers have prepaid (including yours), been patiently waiting well over two weeks to get, then having your vendor push out your production, not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR freaking times. Talk about a reputation killer.... I don't have stomach issues ever, and as of Wednesday I was headed for ulcer city in a bad way. Eric - No worries here. I knew I was getting in during development and I would bet the rest of the guys realize this as well. This was on the shelf item that they had on special! They should have been ready to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Jhgtyre- add Chuck bradley of Shooters Connection to your great service list. Oh yeah! Chuck is DA MAN! Ordered bullets Tuesday, they were on my doorstep Wednesday!!! (I've been meaning to do what I like about this - in Kalibanfornia it was a 7 business day delivery time!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Chris,Man, that is seriously irritating. If you like that, try having a giant stack of orders that customers have prepaid (including yours), been patiently waiting well over two weeks to get, then having your vendor push out your production, not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR freaking times. Talk about a reputation killer.... I don't have stomach issues ever, and as of Wednesday I was headed for ulcer city in a bad way. There are five things you can to to help with your reputation when you are out of stock due to vendor issues: 1. Notify the customer IMMEDIATELY, giving them a chance to cancel the order. 2. Do not charge the customer's card until you have the merchandise and are ready to ship. 3. If a partial backorder results in multiple shipments, do not charge the customer any extra shipping - just work it into the cost of doing business. 4. Update your web site regularly so that there is an accurate "in stock" status on all parts, and make sure the ordering process warns people of they have selected backordered products. 5. If you are out of stock, but expect the part "soon" tell the customer. Don't try to slip a delay under the rug because is "only a couple of days." Customers will appreciate the honesty, and you'll be in a much better situation if your supplier delays. If you do all of the above, you'll find that customers will understand. Remember, your supplier situation is not excuse to leave the customer hanging - they should have information on out of stock status within one business day if you are doing your job as a merchant correctly. You can't make your supplier delays go away, but communicaiton and honesty will go a long way with your customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Rob, You obviously missed most of the posts and all of the emails I've made in the last two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulder Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 What I hate is when you are quoted postage for an item and when it arrives the postage is nowhere near the amount you were quote. I will give an example :- I was quoted $45 US to ship an item to Australia. The item arrived and the postal cost on the sticker was just under $18US, this is a gap of $27US. Taking into account that the item was not wrapped up ( it was in its original box) and only had an address sticker placed on the outside there would have been no extra for packaging and I would have imagined that they would have posted other things at the same time as mine I think that $27US petrol money was pushing it. Yet again there is always a bright side. I purchase things from Dillon Precision on a regular basis. Postage ( indicated on the postal stamp) is normally only a couple of dollars less than quoted. I can understand this seeing they have to wrap my order and have to pay someone to do it and process my order etc. In my opinion Dillon has got it right. Thanks Dillon and Steve Chavez David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Rob,You obviously missed most of the posts and all of the emails I've made in the last two weeks. That I did - I check "new" ona semi-regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 What I hate is when you are quoted postage for an item and when it arrives the postage is nowhere near the amount you were quote. Interestingly enough, I beleive the post office is offering a shipping option designed to not display the shipping charge on the package for exactly this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulder Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 If you want to know the postage just go to the US postal site and look it up. Sneaky taking off though. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 What I hate are the E-tailers like Heartland who advertise super low prices and then nail you for high shipping and handling charges. What they are really doing handling boxes not selling merchandise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 brownells too add more to the shipping charge as the dollar value increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratochief Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I kept getting the runaround from a well known gunsmith/USPSA retailer in Texas about a C-More, kept getting told it would ship this week at the very latest. This went on for about 3 weeks, every week it was a different story, ended up getting told it would be 2 more weeks because they were being made at the factory. Well as a last resort, I called up Chuck at Shooters Connection and he told me "No Problem, I have 10 in stock" I had my scope in 2 days.......Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 It bears saying again: Chuck's good people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 I've had extremely fast shipping and reasonable rates from Brownells. The more items you buy, the shipping goes up do to the way they calculate weight.... and insurance on some itmes. Love Brownells. Chuck at Shooters Connection is top notch!! I've had great luck with Montana Gold - just ordered 2500 bullets Saturday, recieved Wednesday. Pretty quick for about 40 pounds! Blade-Tech on the other hand..... lets just say don't get in a hurry to get your item... charge you up front, ship 2-3 weeks later. It is disclosed on the website that is how they do business, its just irritating. Also had billing issues that took several phone calls and a fax to resolve... SV doesn't win any awards for promptness either - nice folks, great products, but man they get behind sometimes. I don't mind waiting for some things, but don't sugar coat it - if its going to take 6 months, don't tell me 1 month. Just sets up false expectations. Long list of other retailers I could go on about in the bad category, but I don't want to drag on in a negative way, I'd rather reward the good ones with my continued patronage and word of mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 Shooter 40 I am with you. If I want something, I don't mind waiting for it. Even a long time. But don't blow smoke up my dress and tell me 6 weeks when it is three months. Tell me UP FRONT what the real wait will be then ship the darn thing on time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 7, 2004 Share Posted May 7, 2004 What I hate are the E-tailers like Heartland who advertise super low prices and then nail you for high shipping and handling charges Man do I hate that as well. I was shopping for padded mailing envelopes online... Basically, all the sites sell the same product, so found a couple with good prices, but it was impossible to figure out the shipping charges until you actually placed the order. Then their prices were not so good. Matter of fact, the "shipping" charges were outrageous. Over $100 to ship $250 worth of envelopes! That's nuts. I finally found a site that basically said - call us, we always answer the phone, and ALL prices inc shipping. So I called to order from this nice friendly lady, and when I asked here when the order would ship she said, "well, probably tomorrow." Well, turned out they didn't ship for three weeks, and that was only because I called. Turned out they were having vendor problems, and no one (two different vendors for the two sizes of envelopes I ordered) could seem to ship product. When I finally got the bill/shipment though, they included a 10% discount for my next order. And the funny thing is after all that, I found a warehouse literally a block down the street with competitive prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 I ordered a model McLaren Grand Prix car from a retailer. Car was $60. What I HATE is that this store ships based on the amount of the product, not weight/dimension. The model is maybe 8" long and weights about 10ozs, yet I was charged $10 to ship it via US mail. When the package arrived, the metered postage on the box said "$1.10". I bitched to the company and told them I was never ordering from them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpty1 Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 As a customer, I can certainly share some horror stories about waiting for product, overpaying for shipping, etc. As a relatively new "retailer", I've learned that there are a variety of options available when it comes to shipping, and I'm not simply talking about the different carriers that are available such as USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. You can calculate and apply shipping costs via flat rate by product, by weight, by category of product, incremental increase based on total dollar amount of sell, etc. Some of those options are much easier to implement and maintain than others, especially, the flat rate based on dollar amount sold application. However, in our sport, there are some pretty expensive products that don't weigh very much and aren't very large, such as fiber or tritium sights, custom gun parts, etc. I was tempted to use the flat rate method as it was the easier of the options to implement IMO. I had one product however, that skewed that approach. It was the dry fire kits. They're somewhat large, don't weigh that much, but still cost $4.50 to ship minus the packaging. To use a flat rate model for everything meant I had to charge way too much for everything except the kits, or lose money on shipping those...which obviously isn't an option. I didn't have a good way to combine any of the available options to take care of that problem. I ultimately decided that the most fair approach, though labor intensive, was to pre-determine the weight of every product, calculate shipping costs, then pass on those exact shipping costs to the customer. Even that approach has faults, such as when someone purchases several items. The shipping costs for each item is added to the total as if that was a singular purchase and shipment. You lose the economy of scale when the opportunity arises to ship several small items as one shipment. The only true way to fairly apply shipping would be to get the order, then calculate exact costs based on weight, method of delivery, and destination, and communicate that back to the customer, who in turn would later submit the required payment amount. That approach would certainly slow up the process and makes it much more labor intensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Shipping charges are just a nightmare from hell. I've been down the same road as Chris. Eventually, I'd like to have an e-store that calculates shipping charges on the exact model. Until then..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now