I know that stuff happens. Okay. But this seems suspicious.

Ordered some spare parts online. Relatively big, well known vendor although first time for me. Put things in my cart and purchase. All seems good and in stock. I'm only buying from them because my usual places are out of stock. I would not buy from this new place otherwise.

So, couple of days later I get an email that the specific things I wanted to get (ordered some additional non-critical things just for convenience) are out of stock and backordered. No date for when the backorders will be filled.

Come one, when I put the items in my cart, they were in stock. Then when I bought the items, they were in stock, right? I guess it's possible that between placing the items in my cart and then clicking 'buy' someone else could have purchased. But then the order should have indicated out of stock when I clicked 'buy' - the computer should know, right?

I'll let it go for now. But first and last time I order from this vendor unless I'm really desperate. And next time, if I get backorder, then I'm going to cancel the whole order.

I know, first world. Still, I hate these kind of sketchy practices.

This is called the Optics Planet playbook.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
This is called the Optics Planet playbook.

Yup, I'm firmly convinced that they don't actually have anything in stock . They just take your money and have the manufacturer drop ship to you.

Not that I’m recommending Optics Planet, but when in desperation I’ve ordered from them, I have sometimes received the items promptly. I have a friend who orders from them more frequently and he usually gets his stuff without waiting forever. So they do sometimes have things in stock and seem to handle the orders well when they do.

Brownells clearly warns that sometimes items go out of stock between the time an order is placed and it gets filled for shipping. I just assume that can happen when two people are ordering something at the same time and it takes a bit for even the computer to catch up and sort things out.

I placed an order for 3 magazines at LaRue Tactical some months ago. After about 3 weeks hadn't heard or received anything. Check the order online....back ordered. The website didn't say "Out of Stock" when I placed the order. Emailed customer support...nothing. Waited a couple more weeks...finally got "back ordered due in February"...OK..please cancel the order.

I did a chargeback with Radian. Charged my account and did not respond to emails or calls. No confirmation of order. Took five minutes of my time. Chargebacks hurt a business through fees and damage the merchant relationship with the credit card company.

quote:

Brownells clearly warns that sometimes items go out of stock between the time an order is placed and it gets filled for shipping. I just assume that can happen when two people are ordering something at the same time and it takes a bit for even the computer to catch up and sort things out.

^^^^^^^^^
That is just a convenient excuse. Consider how many tasks a computer can perform.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Consider how many tasks a computer can perform.

You also have to consider how many "programmers" have no idea what they are doing, no idea of how to design a software system that can resolve conflicting orders and keep up with inventory levels in real time.

You would be amazed (or maybe not) by the companies that go with the lowest bidding software vendor, or buy systems from offshore sellers because they are cheap.

Yes, a computer can perform many tasks very quickly, but the computer is a mindless slave that does exactly what it is told to do (the software), and if it is not instructed properly, it will unfailingly follow the bad instructions.

It's not that hard to do it right. Take a look at some of our favorite vendors, for example, Top Gun Supply, or Greg Cote.

quote:

You would be amazed (or maybe not) by the companies that go with the lowest bidding software vendor, or buy systems from offshore sellers because they are cheap.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good point. Insurance companies buy from India and let us poor souls work out the glitches. It took me an hour to enter my DOB the way they wanted it. It was: d/m/yyyy. I was the fifth caller within 45 seconds according to the MSDH. They had no idea. One digit day, one digit month, four digit year. Care to guess the right answer?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

One digit day, one digit month, four digit year. Care to guess the right answer?

Simple. You just see patients for the first nine days of the month, January through September.

Take the rest of the year off.

Wrong care for another try? The answer is 2 digit day, 2 digit month four digit year. Although the / are present you must type them in yourself. I love it when the forms dictate filling in the red spaces first. There are just no red spaces.

What ticks me off is when you look at a stores website and it shows one or two in stock. Once you get the store they say they are out of stock. What they don't tell you is that the floor models count as stock and will show online. They also don't sell the floor model. Had this occur at Best Buy and Target.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Brownells clearly warns that sometimes items go out of stock between the time an order is placed and it gets filled for shipping. I just assume that can happen when two people are ordering something at the same time and it takes a bit for even the computer to catch up and sort things out.

^^^^^^^^^
That is just a convenient excuse. Consider how many tasks a computer can perform.

I work in supply chain and with inventory software systems. What is described is very possible.

THe module that reserves inventory against orders called "Available to Promise" is a lot more expensive to buy and install even for big companies with sales of $2 million a year. The regular inventory module holds the inventory until it's transacted out of the system using a ship transaction to take it out of inventory. There's a lot of time between placing an order and getting it shipped out.

I've learned to ask if there will be an additional shipping charge on the back-ordered items. Might be worth a quick call.

There is often a difference between actual inventory and inventory listed in the system. I'm always frustrated when this sort of thing happens to me so I'm not trying to excuse the behavior. But it is something that all retailers face. I've even had it happen (once) with the all mighty, all knowing, king of online sales (Amazon).

And I fell for it again. Placed another order at LaRue Tactical. Item description says nothing about the item (one of their triggers) being on backorder. Placed the order last night, this morning I get an email that my order status has changed to "Back Ordered".

Why can't you tell me up front you don't have the item in stock ? And like last time it will probably take 2 or 3 emails to cancel the order.

Lesson Learned.

Damn good to know, I was about to order some MBT2S. Bummer.

I ordered a small rug on dec2 and still haven’t received any email about anything. I log in to my order and it’s still waiting for shipping.

I ordered an in stock threaded barrel from Glock back in the middle of December, I expected delays because of the holidays and USPS just sucking. I decided to contact them a couple of days ago, no shipping notice, zero communication since order.

It took me a while to find a phone number but once I did I got right through to a real person in Smyrna, GA. He said "yeah, sorry, on back order, we are expecting them soon." I said ok, an email would have been nice, saying it was on back order, we lied to you. Something.

I went and looked at the barrel on their site, in stock in says

Tom, that is just the way Larue is. I have never ordered anything from them that didn't eventually say 'backordered'. But not when I ordered it.
Some of the reloading companies have real time inventory systems. I bought the last box (it indicated online) of a Hornady bullet from Powder Valley and when it arrived, someone left a note inside the larger box that said, you were lucky and got the last one.
Midway also seems to be a similar business. I ordered 2 items from them, one in stock and the other on backorder. They charged me for the in stock item and shipped it. A couple of weeks later they shipped the second to me, only charging me for the item, no shipping.
One suggestion if you really want something that is not in stock. Put it in your 'cart'. You will be in line when the item comes in. If you simply ask for 'notify me when available', you may not act in time to get it before it is out of stock again.

You think firearms and accessories are backordered - try ordering quality fitness equipment !!