Scan Prices??!!

[Vanquisher]

On September 25th I priced up a completely new system as I have £1500 to spend on a new PC. Being a price conscious person (and in this financial climate rightly so) I'd shopped around all over the net for the most competetively priced components. My search lead me to Scan.co.uk once again. I've built a few computers for myself and for other people too over the years and 9/10 times have turned to Scan in the past to supply quality items, quickly and at a brilliant price.

My new system with identical components was some £208 cheaper than Overclockers. "Wow" I thought. Scan have done it again. Now a few items were out of stock and I also wanted to acquire a case that Scan didn't stock and also a monitor too. I liked the idea of getting everything under one roof and since I'd always had good service from Scan in the past I thought I'd see if they could source the two items too and I could put extra business there way as I was reluctant to hand my money over to Overclockers for being greedy b@$t@rd$ IMO.

I'd emailed Scan regarding the two items and Carl was apparently checking into what was in stock and if the sales department were able to source the case and monitor also. So I waited and I waited and I still got no reply from Carl. I purposely held off ordering until I knew what was happening and also the lead times on the Powercolour 4870 1GB GFX card. In the meantime, I noticed the Asus Maximus Extreme motherboard I wanted to purchase had jumped up in price £20 (that was out of stock too). "Damn" I thought.

So on 1st Oct, I emailed Carl to find out if there was any update on the case and monitor. No reply came and to date, I've still not received one some 2 weeks later. Tonight I was reading through a thread on here regarding the arrival of the afore mentioned Powercolour 1gb 4870 graphics card. That'd gone up too by £10 and was more expensive than Overclockers as was the motherboard and it was still out of stock to boot . WTH??

So I decided to go through and price up the systems again. Guess what? That £208 price difference has all but disappeared and most of the items are still out of stock. I find this highly interesting that since I posted on another thread the price difference between Scan and OcUK of the two identical systems, that Scans prices have rocketed on all these items.

Personally, I think this is pretty bloody poor show on Scans part, especially as I held off ordering until I was waiting for a reply from Scan which never arrived. I've been out of sales and marketing for a while know, but whoever came up with the bright idea of bumping prices up to those above that of OcUK and Ebuyer, while at the same time not having the items in stock, in an economic climate in which people are tightening their purse strings - needs their head examining!

The thing that annoys me the most is that I really disliked OcUK because I'd been forced to use them in the past for items and received faulty goods and paid through the nose for my trouble too. It did amaze me that they did such a roaring trade as their prices were steep. I suppose this was offset against their forum, which no one can deny is what underpinned the company and developed a huge loyal customer base. Now I find that Scan has adopted and even exceed their prices!

As I said early, I had £1500 that I had set aside for a pc and Scan were going to be the ones to get it. Due to poor stocking, poor communication and what in my view boils down to greed, I really can't see me doing business with Scan.

[moogle]

Scan always have had out of stock problems, as for the prices they say that their suppliers log into their site and update the buy prices of items which in turn update on the website, so their suppliers are selling the items you want at a higher price. Is that the only item that has increased in price? If so I can see why it's increased as since it's out of stock Scan have got the new buy price and have had to adjust the price online. Can't expect them to buy and sell to you at a loss can we now?

What case and monitor were you after? If Scan didn't stock an item I can't see them specifically sourcing one for you just so you can order, we've been asking for items for ages and we still don't see them. So do like others and buy it elsewhere. Post on the forums about your shopping list and all the helpful users will show you where else you can get it from.

[Carlh]

Vanquisher,

I dont appear to have recieved an email however if you can provide me with a reference number I shall look into this further for you.

Regards,

[Chris P]

To clarify the situation, firstly SCAN has NOT always had stock problems.... We order stock as we require it due to the recent economic state this is essential so we can always offer the best pricing without loosing out when the $ fluctuates...

The stock issues mentioned in this case are simply down to the supplier NOT SCAN - We ordered the stock, which the supplier could not ship because there was no free stock in distribution at the time..... Because of this stock shortage once stock became available I guess the suppliers increased their selling price to us and ultimately us having to increase our Retail price to keep our already low margin.

We can specially order products, however we make an intelligent decision based on actual demand for the product and other factors to help us make the decision if it is worth selling. Individuall order's of 1's or 2's are not feasible as won't get a good price from the suppliers becuase we havn't bought the volume, meaning we wouldn't be competetive and we won't order the volume unless the purchasing Manager / Directors feel the product will sell and be attractive to OUR market, which could be different to other Retailer's.

I can understand for dissapointment, however there is nothing underhand here simply a fact of our buy price increasing not simply an increase to our margin.

If you re-contact Carl Horan he will work through the specification for you and possibly suggest alternatives that can be shipped without delay.

Best Regards

[jimbouk]

The stock issues mentioned in this case are simply down to the supplier NOT SCAN

I do like Scan, but passing the buck to the supplier doesn't really help the end customer at all. Do you want customers to email the supplier and ask them to hurry up and stock?

[moogle]

To clarify the situation, firstly SCAN has NOT always had stock problems....

Reworded: Had stock problems for me on many occasions due to me falling in the 6% of orders which get that 8pm+ email stating an item is out of stock when it was shown as in stock when ordered. Even when ordering on my friends account to get parts for him I still fell in that 6%, talk about unlucky eh

The stock issues mentioned in this case are simply down to the supplier NOT SCAN - We ordered the stock, which the supplier could not ship because there was no free stock in distribution at the time.....

Well then the suppliers make you look bad in turn then. It's just like me saying "I was late for school today because the bus was slow", my teacher wouldn't take that as an valid reason for being late. I know it happens to other retailers (eBuyer with the Antec 1200 and ETA's being pushed back months at a time), but they don't make the item appear as in stock when it's not even there even if it is going to be booked in today. Maybe thats where the problem lies. If I could have an option of turning off that function where the items show as in stock because they're due to be booked in today then I would.

I can understand for dissapointment, however there is nothing underhand here simply a fact of our buy price increasing not simply an increase to our margin.

As for that it's not a big deal but some people still don't understand how your system works and they think that you hike the prices up for more profit (Nintendo Wii Fiasco last year remember that? )

You guys are still great and these issues are that major to me but it'd be nice to be in the 94% club

[Chris P]

We understand the stock problems are not ideal but an unavoidable consequence affecting any Retailer, deliveries get delayed causing problems for the customer and SCAN... It is unfortunate we can't give a detention to the supplier like a teacher to a naughty school child

Take on board the fact that the parts were shown as out of stock through our web site and the customer was aware of this coupled with the fact the order had not actually been placed and no payment had been taken.

Our web site only updates once stock has been booked in not as a prediction of when stock may land, ETA's are listed separately. The few instances where products show as in stock when they are not is due to stock discrepancy's ( items lost in a large warehouse ).

We have offered to work with the customer to hopefully come to a solution

If you re-contact Carl Horan he will work through the specification for you and possibly suggest alternatives that can be shipped without delay.

Regards

[slypie]

Scans allocation system can be really bad at times. I've ordered in stock items and received the email saying the said item is out of stock. It wouldn't be so bad if an email was sent early but you usually receive them at around 8pm so it messes up arrangements in having someone stay in for delivery. It would be a good idea if on an order that there was an option to ship all in stock items and ship the rest when they come in stock. This may solve a lot of issues.

[Mossy]

I am glad my thoughts on the matter were appreciated, unfortunately this will make me think twice before ordering from scan again.

I only think Chris removed your thoughts because again a thread to which the OP has not replied to has become a Scan stock bashing thread when this issue has been explained countless times in full. Basically it is not useful to this particular thread. Please do not take offence but its hard for us to keep on answering the same questions over and over again so we try our best to keep the thread clear so we can answer the Op's quieries.

Regards

[Chris P]

Scans allocation system can be really bad at times. I've ordered in stock items and received the email saying the said item is out of stock. It wouldn't be so bad if an email was sent early but you usually receive them at around 8pm so it messes up arrangements in having someone stay in for delivery. It would be a good idea if on an order that there was an option to ship all in stock items and ship the rest when they come in stock. This may solve a lot of issues.

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...k-control.html

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 % 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]

I only think Chris removed your thoughts because again a thread to which the OP has not replied to has become a Scan stock bashing thread when this issue has been explained countless times in full. Basically it is not useful to this particular thread. Please do not take offence but its hard for us to keep on answering the same questions over and over again so we try our best to keep the thread clear so we can answer the Op's quieries.

Regards

We're just reminding you so you don't forget about us litle guys

Offtopic - Are Lee and Carl brothers?

[Lee H]

Offtopic - Are Lee and Carl brothers?

Indeed we are

[Funkstar]

Indeed we are

I feel sorry for every other Scan employee

[Carlh]

Funkstar,

I aint that bad me and Lee are nothing alike you shall be glad to hear

[Mossy]

i explain we are trying to keep this thread clear then Scan employees start going on about their brotherly love!!!

They are alike both techno Geeks but nice guys saying that Carl you should know better!!!!

Lets try and keep this thread clear now if you want to start another thread regarding Carl and Lees releationship Im sure the generl threads need updating

[icemantaz]

i can back scan up on this. I have a computer store and component prices have gone up recently due to the slight gain for the dollar over the pound. Unfortunately most of the distributors do work on the dollar rate and so prices will fluctuate.