Suppliers that sit on your orders

Ever order something online with the idea that you are going to get prompt response and service, item shipped out right away, order tracking, alerts from the shipper, then boom – there it is at your door and in your hands. Sounds great! Like Amazon, or a dozen other reputable businesses out there doing right.

But every now then you get Mother Goose, sitting on that golden egg you just paid for. Half-day later a cryptic robot-spawned email arrives that says:

[pre]“Thank you for your order.
Your order number is XYZ-AlphaBeta,
placed 4/22/2010 at 4:22PM.”[/pre]

Looks like a receipt. Smells like a receipt. Has receipt-like qualities to it which your credit card number blotted out except for the last 4 numbers, and your mailing address. It has all the dirt on you and about your order. But there’s no tracking number.

Welcome to the machine.

So here I yam, exploring my navel, prospecting for lint, waiting for this awesome thing I found online, that must-have item I went half-neurotic over, chewing my toenails fretting, slumming for the best price, and finally – finally finding that killer deal! Yeah, I want it! Here’s my Jackson’s, er… plastic. Give it to me: Gimme gimme Now();



Days go by.

It rains.

Spiders build a new web.

…next to the old web.

I decide to shower, but all the time I am listening for the doorbell: Pleeeeeeeease ring!



I can’t take the suspense anymore and I dial the 1-800-USUCKA number attached to the bottom of the cryptic email. Guy on the phone answers “Yeah?”

Not a good sign. Honestly the sound of a square-nosed shovel dragging on the sidewalk would be more comforting than the musak produced on the other side of the line while on hold as the guy checks on your order. When you finally get the courage to reach for the Advil the guy pops back on and announces “Delivery’s tomorrow!” you sigh with nervous relief, thanking him yes, yes, while contemplating naming the next puppy after his mother…

Miller Time!

Next day comes… and goes. After dinner another robotic message arrives, equally cryptic:

[pre]YOUR ORDER HAS SHIPPED.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR BID’NESS.[/pre]


And it hits you… He was talking about delivery to their warehouse.
It’s that kinda thing that makes you go…

You must be a bit younger. Us old farts remember when everything was said to take 6-8 weeks for delivery, and lucky you if you got it in 12! Any kind of project took years. The only retail items actually in town were a few clothes, toys and food. Everything else was mail order.

I especially hate it when you get a tracking number and for the next four days of checking the UPS web site, it still says "tracking information received, the actual item for shipping? Not so much"

~you hear that Niagara Cycle Works? I want my 16 items that I bought from Amazon at awesome prices that are shipped from you.~

yopappamon, Do you have a problem with Niagra Cycle? I cannot complain, have ordered thru AMAZON a few times and they have been super!? Now the real stroke is ECITY / BMSBATTERY when it comes to sending you useless infomation that really doesn't mean crap. Just a stall till they get the product tot when thy get to it. I really shouldn't complain too much, I did get my orders some took 8 to 10 weeks from China and that was DHL shipping. So it wasn't the shipping co just the seller.
Dan

Not really a problem, they just take a while to ship and they send the tracking number a bit before they actually ship it.

@Kingfish: You had me laughing half way thru, and practically rolling on the floor by the end of it. It is all too true, though like dogman I also remember the two or three month long wait to get anything.

By the time it arrived it was like getting unexpected presents, because I'd always forgotten completely about it by then. :lol:

amberwolf said:

@Kingfish: You had me laughing half way thru, and practically rolling on the floor by the end of it. It is all too true, though like dogman I also remember the two or three month long wait to get anything.

By the time it arrived it was like getting unexpected presents, because I'd always forgotten completely about it by then. :lol:

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It must be 30 years ago we first heard the term "Cash Flow Scam" It started on TV and then rapidly spread as the internet evolved. Find a supply of a popular item and with an LC (letter of credit) get a locked in price for a large quantity. Get the cash up front, sell the item for your cost, plus shipping and handling and earn 10-15% interest per annum on your bank balance, while you stall the shipment. You don't need a markup. You live off the interest you earn on your bank balance. When the interest rate tanked so did the cash flow scam. A few years ago we witnessed what might be the ultimate cash flow scam. A very rich fellow arranged financing for the takeover of a large supermarket chain. Once the deal was done, he advised all suppliers that he would no longer pay the invoices on 30 days. Everything was now 90 days. Within 90 days, he had enough cash from shoppers, to pay off the bank. Any suppliers that objected were cut off.
Until us dummies quit looking for the cheapest supply, we will always get caught sending our money into a black hole, with the hope of an undamaged part that actually works, coming out of the hole some day. Or we will go to the GiO Auction where we are constantly solicited for second chance offers and end up paying a $50 auction fee, plus $180 shipping even when you live a block away from the warehouse. Welcome to 2010.