Scan = Poor stock control

[jonstatt1]

Very disappointed.

I see posts saying Scan are achieving 94% of orders on time....and here I find myself being in the 6%

All was in stock when I ordered and magically at 8:23pm I am told 1 item is out of stock.

1. 1.5TB SEAGATE ST31500341AS
Estimated Lead Date = 13/10/2008



If I had known earlier in the afternoon, I could have ordered that 1 item (1 of about 7 things on my list) from somewhere else.

But now its too late to order from elsewhere and I can't even get the other items delivered tomorrow which would have been some help dealing with a hardware failure.

Needless to say, Scan's stock system seems in the stone age compared to some others and I will think twice about ordering again.

[moogle]

It's been like that for some time. I don't know how the others seem to do it but it works. Just request that one out of stock item to be removed so it can get shipped today before any of your other items appear out of stock, it'd be the quickest way to get them.

[Chris P]

jonstatt1

Apologies ....

If you can post your Invoice number I will look into this for you immediately.

Best Regards

[jonstatt1]

Thanks Chris for offering to look into this.

Invoice is 0*edited*

[jonstatt1]

I did want to make sure I got the rest of my order tomorrow (Wednesday), so I did call up in the meantime as per Moogle's suggestion to remove the 1.5TB Seagate and get the rest shipped out today.

If you could kindly make sure the rest of the order does go out today I would be most grateful. I am doing a re-build following a disc failure, which is why I am anxious to get the items ASAP.

Thanks and regards,
Jonathan

[moogle]

Good to see it's all gone well I just hope (touch wood again ) that you don't get another email with another item gone out of stock tonight. I do hope I haven't jinxed it but it's rare that it would happen.

[Chris P]

jonstatt1

I can confirm the order amendment has been made, your completed and will be delivered tomorrow for you.

Sorry for the delay

Best Regards

[jonstatt1]

Thank you Chris. I can confirm I have a picked acknowledgement now so I am very pleased that the rest of the order is now okay.

I have bought from scan for many years and I have always appreciated the "personal touch" which other vendors are still far from achieving. I have also recommended numerous people who have ordered from you. When things go normally, you always deliver. However, stock errors can be frustrating, especially when the item is urgently needed, so anything you can do to tighten up on that, would be greatly appreciated.

Also I was wondering if you could adapt your workflow so that if something like this happens, rather than pause the whole order, you attempt to contact the purchaser and ask them if they still want the rest shipped out so that an extra day isn't lost.

Thanks again,
Jonathan

[Chris P]

jonstatt1

Thank you for your patience

Stock errors are frustrating for the customer and even for us ... we are investing and working in the background to reduce these errors. When an order is placed and an item is out of stock an automated e-mail should be sent to the customer advising of the order stock issue with a Suggested replacement option.

We can always part ship an order with a second delivery charge to be applied.

Part shipments can also be selected at the ordering stage when ordering an item which shows as pre-order.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards

[moogle]

When an order is placed and an item is out of stock an automated e-mail should be sent to the customer advising of the order stock issue with a Suggested replacement option

This email always seems to get sent after 8pm or after a time when you cannot do much about it until tommorow. It's happened to me quite a few times too, but I'm never really fussed about waiting for my things. Would be nice to see it sent out earlier.

[DavidM]

Goods can be booked in until 8pm - so even up to this time, there is still chance for an order to despatched.

[moogle]

Goods can be booked in until 8pm - so even up to this time, there is still chance for an order to despatched.

Yes but we don't know that, it's great but not great when the goods don't get booked in at 8pm (quite alot of times), I would rather be notified earlier so I can make adequate changes or remove the item and get it from elsewhere.

I'm guessing the other customers annoyed by this problem would like that too.

[grimpy]

This is a ongoing problem which has happened to me before months ago and the same answers were given then as are given now that you are working on a solution but this solution doesnt seem to materialise.

[moogle]

This is a ongoing problem which has happened to me before months ago and the same answers were given then as are given now that you are working on a solution but this solution doesnt seem to materialise.

Check my join date
<-------------------

The problem was inherent then but put down to moving to a new warehouse

[Chris P]

We are looking into these isolated issues, but as I am saying these issues are isolated affecting a very small percentage of order's. It is difficult to fine tune the &#37; 6 of order's which are delayed, which also include order's delayed to a volume of order's NOT just stock issues.

We find in cases where order's are delayed due to stock issues there are 3 main reasons.....

Stock Delay: This includes order's which have not been delivered on time from the supplier's but we have forecasted for this stock.

Mis-placed stock in a large warehouse
Products which are not lost but not in the correct location, in this case the picker would enter the item onto a SQID ( Stock Query ) list.

Quarantine
Includes products, which require further checking before shipment..

We are constantly trying to improve, but to stress these issues affect a very small percentage of order's. Currently we are always shipping %90 of orders on time with NO issues.

We have options of sending the notification e-mails earlier, however this would actually cause more harm than good. The reason for this is the majority of stock related issues such as SQID lists or quarantine issues are resolved before 8PM and shipped. If we sent an e-mail immediately when we find an issue and tell the customer to change their order because of a stock problem but then the order shipped out when the issue is resolved causing confusion for the customer.

A small percentage of orders will always delayed and don't forget unlike a lot of the competition we still take order's through the counter....

I realise this does not offer a solution to the small percentage of stock delay order's but we are trying to explain considering the small percentage of delayed order's we are offering a reliable service to our customer's, whilst trying to constantly improve...

Best Regards

[moogle]

But point 1 shouldn't affect products shown as in stock shouldn't it? It's not fair being in the 6%