Is it unreasonable to expect an online store to actually have the things they list for sale?

[gogmorgo]

I’m getting pretty frustrated with online parts stores doing this. 
Honestly I would prefer to buy locally, but I live in the middle of nowhere in the Great White North, and there aren’t always dealers around, and it’s not worth it for me to make special trips to drive three hours into the city just to place an order for something that I’ll have to come back later to pick up. So I try to buy from Canadian retailers where I can, more to avoid the inconvenience and extra shipping cost and time of shipping things across the border. But this doesn’t just apply to Canadian retailers, I’ve had major American resellers do it to me as well. 
No mentions of lead times on the website. I can understand not being able to carry everything in inventory, especially things you don’t sell many of. And I can understand a manufacturer making things to order instead of carrying inventory. But when you’re a store that keeps regular inventory of most things, can you not give the customer a heads up prior to them placing the order? I’m almost up to $4,000 in cancelled sales in the last two months. Seems like everything I try to buy I get an email a few days after the fact saying something is going to take up to two months to get. Should I just be rolling over and accepting a huge unexpected delay? I’ve done that in the past and it’s 50/50 on whether the thing is actually going to ship within the estimated time frame, or if the time frame is just going to get extended repeatedly. And it feels like an incredibly dishonest way of doing business. I’m currently waiting until Monday to talk to a retailer that I’ve had good experience with in the past after placing an order on Monday and playing telephone tag all week because I’d ordered to a different address than I typically would have, only to come home to an email today saying everything I ordered was on back order with an estimate of 30-60 days. That’s not cool. Like, I’m okay with waiting a week or so before stuff ships out, but when I filtered by “in stock” on the website and then it’s going to take over a month to get inventory, and it takes you four business days to get around to telling me about it? It wasn’t even anything specific or particularly rare this time, just some XJ front shocks for a 3” lift. 

[schardein]

Not unreasonable at all.  

I recently ordered a somewhat obscure (factory Mopar) part from Jegs.  Got the email a day or two later that it would be a couple weeks.  I considered cancelling, but that was ok for me, as the price was extremely good, and I was only buying the part for research/mockup purposes.

But to order a part to complete a build, like a shock, or ring and pinion, or bumper, or lift kit, I find it totally dishonest and frustrating to order the part and find out it will be several weeks.  It should be noted on the website and I don't say that lightly.  I am a seller on eBay, so I know that it's easier said than done.  But I still say it's the right thing to do.  Not doing it is lazy at best and dishonest at worst.  And if it falls in the category of "the new normal", I reject all of that.  Saying "the new normal" is an excuse.  Integrity and customer service never go out of style.

 

I recently ordered some of the two piece D rings from Moose Knuckle.  On the website, they said certain colors were out of stock, it would be several weeks or months before the order was filled, BUT they were accepting orders at a discounted price if the customer was willing to be patient.  They notified me when the order was inbound, and included some additional swag in the box.  Perfect example of how it should be done.

[gogmorgo]

I guess this is more of a rant than anything else. 
There’s businesses I can have stuff sent to just across the border, so I can even take advantage of free lower-48 shipping that way, albeit with a half-day on the road at my end, I’m a little over two hours drive north of the border right now. There’s also businesses that will forward shipments so I don’t have to spend the time driving. But in both cases I’ll end up paying more in import duty (or import brokerage) than I would buying from a retailer bringing in wholesale goods.

Mostly it’s just that bringing things across the border is an extra step. Usually it’s not a big deal but sometimes packages get stuck there for weeks, or sometimes your car gets torn apart if you haven’t had a haircut since your last passport or driver’s license picture. 
 

If it was just going to be a week or so delay it’s really not that big a deal, I’d expect a week minimum extra shipping time to bring stuff up from the States. But I had a set of lug nuts show up this summer that turned out to be a week out, then a second week out, and when they showed up there were several layers of packaging that made it pretty clear the place I’d ordered them from had just ordered them from a different online store, that had just ordered them from the manufacturer’s online store. They hadn’t even opened the boxes before repackaging, even left the order slips inside. I could’ve just ordered from the manufacturer myself. 

 

I know it takes time to process orders, and that’s fine. I’ve also got no issues waiting for something that I know is going to take some time. But I feel like I should know that going into the sale, instead of finding it out nearly a week after paying for it.

I’m currently waiting on a bunch of stuff that had a one-month lead per the retailer, but they had a note in the description saying I should contact them about lead times before ordering, which I did do. Then I bought from somewhere else that said they had everything in stock, only to find out two days later it was going to be ten to twelve weeks. So I cancelled and went with the place that was up front about the one-month lead. Although I guess TBD on that, haha, it’s only been two weeks so far.

[pizzaman09]

I've had a lot of parts ordered then find out they don't actually have it.  Particularly when I'm shopping for parts for my 99 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight.  I had a set of control arms on that car on order for 6 months before they cancelled and said that they just were not going to make them.  The worst though is finding a site that says they have something in stock to find out that they actually didn't.

[gogmorgo]

But why has it become normal for that to happen?

I’m particularly frustrated right now because I can’t find winter tires I want to run on my longbed, so I’ve been trying to source a small lift for my longbed to make my ~31 Hakkas off my ZJ fit with zero rubbing, considering the ZJ’s going to be parked for the winter. I just want it on before the snow starts flying. I started trying to get the thing winterable again back at the end of august. But with it being a week of back and forth with suppliers before they tell me things are months away, I’m kinda wishing I’d just sucked it up the first time at this point, cause I don’t really want to be doing suspension work in my driveway in the snow. I’m kinda lucky we’ve had a late fall this year, but time’s running out.

[Htchevyii]

I agree, if it is not in stock and is going to drop ship from the manufacturer, the website should be transparent to that. I  believe that Summit and Jeg's are usually pretty good at telling you before you order. Try searching for an older OEM part. Half of the time it will show available from multiple sources only to be cancelled a day or two later when it is determined to be obsolete.

[gogmorgo]

At least they cancel the order after a few days instead of waiting all week for them to tell you it’s going to be a couple months. 
I guess it comes down to being open and honest with your customers. In most cases we can order everything direct from the manufacturer or a distributor. Retailers really just provide a convenience of ordering everything from the same place. It’s not so convenient if you have to wait for their monthly order or whatever their process is before they can ship it out. 

[gogmorgo]

I just put in an order with Rockauto, and was reminded of why they've been my go-to for the last, well... forever really. Order placed at 12:29pm, at 3:23pm I get an email with the shipping label. I don't know if that means the box is packed already or not, but that's under three hours on a Saturday, no less. Should be here by Friday, and their delivery estimates have always been pretty accurate. And in over ten years of buying from them I've only had to talk to customer service once, and that was nine years ago. Very refreshing. 

This after fighting for a month with a retailer who didn't have the things I ordered in stock, took three weeks of back and forth to actually cancel the order, another two weeks to give me any money back, and then shorted me on the refund. Got an email this morning telling me I'm basically SOL on getting the rest back. This one's going to my credit card company Monday morning, I've been waaaay too patient with them. Ironically after every interaction with customer service they invite me to leave a google review, so I did. Then I looked at some of the other recent reviews and there were far too many saying they had to go to their credit card to get any traction. So I guess... look at external reviews before you buy something from somewhere new.

[PCO6]

@gogmorgo - I've had very good luck with The Wrench Monkey which is a Canadian company located in Toronto by the airport - Auto Parts Canada: Shop Car & Truck Parts Online (thewrenchmonkey.ca) .

 

I placed an order late yesterday and will have it via Canada Post on Tuesday.   It's a minor part for my XJ that I wasn't even sure is available (headlight adjuster - Crown) and I got an immediate e-mail to confirm the order and shipping details.  

 

This summer I ordered a tail pipe for my MJ.   I ordered a Walker pipe from their online catalogue.   In about 3 hrs. I got a phone call to say that the Walker pipe wasn't available and they asked if another brand (name escapes me) would be OK.   It was a few bucks cheaper and I had it in 3 days. 

 

I've had good luck with Rock Auto and Amazon too but am more than happy to deal with The Wrench Monkey.  They have a range of shipping options and Canada Post is usually fine with me. 

[gogmorgo]

7 hours ago, PCO6 said:

@gogmorgo - I've had very good luck with The Wrench Monkey which is a Canadian company located in Toronto by the airport - Auto Parts Canada: Shop Car & Truck Parts Online (thewrenchmonkey.ca) .

 

I placed an order late yesterday and will have it via Canada Post on Tuesday.   It's a minor part for my XJ that I wasn't even sure is available (headlight adjuster - Crown) and I got an immediate e-mail to confirm the order and shipping details.  

 

This summer I ordered a tail pipe for my MJ.   I ordered a Walker pipe from their online catalogue.   In about 3 hrs. I got a phone call to say that the Walker pipe wasn't available and they asked if another brand (name escapes me) would be OK.   It was a few bucks cheaper and I had it in 3 days. 

 

I've had good luck with Rock Auto and Amazon too but am more than happy to deal with The Wrench Monkey.  They have a range of shipping options and Canada Post is usually fine with me. 

Thanks for that. I’ve been on their site a couple times but haven’t bought anything from them yet. It’s definitely nice they give you the Canada Post option, that’s by far my preference. Most courriers are finding my address by now but it’s just a pain to deal with them if there’s a hiccup when their depots are over an hour’s drive away. 
I ordered a bunch of Crown parts from ShopEddies.ca recently and they were decent. Other than not telling me they were shipping stuff from multiple locations which caused confusion when the first and second package showed up on the same day from different courriers missing stuff, and the third package wasn’t until a couple days later. But I ordered in the evening and the one thing they didn’t have they emailed me about the next morning, and cancelled and refunded it right away when I asked. 

I’m getting wary of “free shipping” now, nothing is consistent there, and it can be problematic. I’d much rather see options and be able to choose, and I’m happy to pay a little more for the convenience of going to the post office to pick stuff up instead of it getting buried in snow on my front porch.