Items going out of stock? Grrr

[pauleden]

I accept that sometimes, items go out of stock, but this particular incident has annoyed me.
On the March 26th, I placed a order for the parts to an entire pc (except the memory) and selected it to be delivered on Friday the 30th. When I placed the order, all of the items were in stock.
On the 29th, I get an email saying the motherboard has gone out of stock and the whole shipment is delayed.
On Saturday 31st. I call Scan and ask them if they know when it's back. Carrie tells me it's back in now and I will all ship next week. Fantastic.

Today I get an email. The graphics card has gone out of stock and the entire shipment is delayed.

So, my question is, why wasn't my order picked the day I ordered it and set aside? It was all in stock at the time! Twice now, items have gone out of stock because you won't pick the order until the day you dispatch it.

Not good enough. I spent £850 on this one order alone. This is not acceptable. Everything has to be in stock the day you dispatch it. If not, it all falls down and with big orders like mine, it's happened twice now. How many more times?

[Lucio]

Check out this thread http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=97377, it shows that they're aware of this issue and taking steps to rectify it in the future but unfortunately it takes time to remodel an entire warehouse.

It also explains why picking and holding is damned difficult.

[IAmATeaf]

Check out this thread http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=97377, it shows that they're aware of this issue and taking steps to rectify it in the future but unfortunately it takes time to remodel an entire warehouse.

It also explains why picking and holding is damned difficult.

That's supposed to have started in the first week of March but you still see posts like this one. I appreciate it must be difficult to remodel the entire system that Scan have previously been using but most other online suppliers work on the basis of allocation when payment has been taken if the item was in stock at that time.

[Chris P]

pauleden

Apologies for the inconvenience,

If you can PM me your invoice number I will speak to CS and sort this out for you

Best Regards

[Lucio]

That's supposed to have started in the first week of March but you still see posts like this one. I appreciate it must be difficult to remodel the entire system that Scan have previously been using but most other online suppliers work on the basis of allocation when payment has been taken if the item was in stock at that time.

True, but electronic allocation only goes so far, all it takes is someone to either mispick a line or two (after all who'se going to mention if they get a better card than they intended) or for a short delivery by a couple of units and that item you've reserved for someone suddenly isn't there.


This kind of situation is very similar to those I encounter at work currently, and have ran into previously in my job as stock controller for a chocolate company, without 100% real time stock tracking via an RFID system or similar, this kind of thing is bound to happen.

[pauleden]

PM sent.

I called CS today and changed the order of the GC for another that is in stock and the entire order has shipped. I asked for a full refund of shipping as I took a day off work to receive the shipment on the original date. The nice girl I spoke to said she couldn't do a full refund but would do a partial refund. I'd still like a full one as my wife now has to take the day off tomorrow to receive the delivery.

I appreciate that you don't have space to part pick and set aside orders and I know, from personal experience, that one can never have a big enough warehouse. (my former employers had half a million square feet and we used to regulary have it at 99.5%) I would say that you don't need to physically pick orders that are due for dispatch some time in the near future, but you can 'pick on paper' as my boss used to say. Assign an item to an order, reserve it and decrement stock, but don't actually pick it until the day before dispatch. It works for *unamed international bluechip company* so I'm sure it could work for you.

I'd also like to say at this point that overall, Scan are fantastic. They are a miles better than many if not most in the same field. Keep it up!

[Defenestration]

Very disappointed myself, as my order (and PC build) has just been held up due to a....... 5m RJ45 crossover cable not being in stock. I also ordered a LiteOn DVD writer at the same time, and because it was currently on pre-order I chose to have the in-stock items shipped immediately rather than wait for the LiteOn. I picked a Wednesday delivery, and everything was hunky dory until I got an e-mail at 20:10 this evening saying

"Thank you for your custom. We're writing to give you an update on your order and the out of stock item(s) listed below:

5m RJ45 **CROSS-OVER** CABLE

As detailed in our previous email, the estimated lead date given to us from our suppliers was 02/04/2007.

Unfortunately we've been informed of a further delay which means we're not able to fulfil your order as soon as we'd hoped...."

This implies that it was known there was no stock in the first place, and that they were waiting for stock which should have been delivered on the 2nd April. So, why did it show as being in stock and why is it still showing as In stock ?

I also never received the previous e-mail that talks about this problem.

Had I know about this earlier, I would have said go ahead and ship the rest of the components and so could no doubt have still received the rest of my order on Wednesday. Instead, my PC build has been held up as the rest of my order contains crucial components like the CPU and HD.

A suggestion to Scan - if somone adds an out of stock item or pre-order item to their basket and chooses to ship the items separately, then if one of the supposedly in-stock items is found to be out of stock the remainder of the order should automatically still be shipped.

Most disappointed with Scan this time around.

[katgra]

Exactly the same thing has happened to me @ 20.10 this evening, all my components were in stock when I ordered, now they have held up shipping my entire order because they have run out of freezer 7Pro's, and the e-mail I got was word for word what yours said apart from the Item listed, too late to do anything at 20.10 so will have to ring them tomorrow to see what can be done.

Scan, come on guy's this really needs sorting!!!! I will have to sort out another day to be at home for delivery as it ain't gonna come tomorrow.

[Chris P]

katgra

I can understand your dissapointment,

Please PM me your invoice numbers so I can look into this for you

Best Regards

[Chris P]

Defenestration

PM received I am looking into this for you and will contact you by reply

Regards

[Chris P]

pauleden

PM sent

[katgra]

ChrisP

PM Sent.

[Chris P]

katgra

PM sent

The freezer 7 pro LN 13080 has been showing as out of stock and added to our re-order list since the 13/03/2007. Please you confirm the item actually showed as in stock ?

Chris

[Defenestration]

Thanks Chris.

Order dispatch confirmation e-mail has been received.

The Scan Easter bunny has been kind to me

[pauleden]

Chris,
It all arrived today. Many thanks.
This issue does need looking into. It's the fly in your ointment at the moment.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to bolt it all together now.

[Avalon]

I Don't like jumping in with 'and me' but I had the same issue with the first order I put your way last month, at first it didn't bother me that much but when it came time to order kit this month despite wanting to use scan from a price and personal service pov I went back to my old supplier despite them being more expensive - at least untill you can confirm the stock allocation is fixed. They say they'll deliver on a certain day and 97%+ of the time they deliver perfectly... City link loose it 3% of the time