talkmagic.co.uk

There are too many magic dealers taking your money without letting you know that they don't have stock at the time of purchase. You are then left waiting wondering when your purchase is going to arrive. They don't contact you and you don't know it's out of stock and won't be getting it for weeks.
Put on your sites that the product is out of stock or let your customer know it's unavailable before hitting the pay for button.
This has happened to me 3 times in the last month and to someone else I know, and that's just me.
Stop tricking (pardon the pun) us to thinking the stock is there in order for you to get the sale and take our money.

Know that feeling sir.. This happened too me a few months ago.. In fact still waiting for one of the 4 items I ordered?? Should name and shame, but that not my style..
Regards Garry..

Perhaps we need to ask the question and get specific assurances before placing any orders?

Years ago (so things may be different now) I phoned in an order to Davenports. Virtually nothing was in stock but I only found out when chasing up later. On the plus side, they dissuaded me from buying one thing that was out of stock and recommended a more versatile item that was available. Unfortunately, when I visited the shop to pick up the order, another item was still missing.
So in some respects a pretty poor service, but if it had been a smooth, internet-only order I'd not have bought an ID rather than a brainwave deck.
T.

In order to check if the stock is there then you have to call them. This is defeating the purpose of a shopping cart on the site. Which is what they want you to do. That way they get the order no matter what. They then rely on the fact that most people wont cancel and will wait, ignoring the fact that what they did was let down a customer who may not return.
Why can't they be honest , keep the site up to date, and sell what they have.
Then people will use them even more knowing that if it's showing available then they will have no problems getting it.
I wonder if any of the suppliers on here will listen to what their customers think and take heed. Hhhmmmm

Interesting thread!

I have no doubt that suppliers will be able to give us another point of view on this. Whilst they show a wide range of items, not everything wlil have arrived from the wholesaler, there may only be a small amount of stock to start with to minimise the risk of being left with stock which doesn't sell and there could also have been a rush on orders thus selling out just prior to your order. It's not always possible to immediately update websites to reflect this, especially as packing and despatching orders will take priority.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending any supplier who takes money and makes promises knowing that they can't despatch as promised but I do think we need to bear in mind that the caveat of Let The Buyer Beware is still in force. I've placed three orders recently with different online suppliers and, because of supply disappointments in the past, each time I emailed first to check that the goods were available.

It's not nice when suppliers take the money and don't, or can't immediately, supply but I'd have thought a refund for items which will take more than, say, a week to despatch would be a polite thing to arrange.

A lot of smaller dealers are simply a man with a lock up, and so hey drop ship their sales to keep stock costs down. The customer places an order, the dealer sends the order to the drop shipper (usually the owner or maker of the goods), who then fulfils the order. The problem for the dealer is that he never knows what's technically "in stock" at the drop shipper and has no control over the supply chain.

When a dealer phones a Naked Mentalism order through, I place an order directly through Lulu and have it sent to the customer. For eBay orders, I keep a stock of books here. I also always carry a stock of subversive products, but if it's a big item like a Spirit Galvanometer that needs building and can be modified to the customer's tastes, I'll give a lead time. If it's going to be a while, I offer a refund.

Yes a refund is a polite thing to offer. However you were purchasing something because you wanted or needed it.
To get a refund takes another week to go into your account again and bye then the product might have been with you.
I understand about stock levels and how hard it is to control them.
My gripe here is this....
I put an effect on my Santa list. I have found out that my brother decided to get it for me so he ordered it on the 3rd of dec just to make sure he got it and wouldn't let me down. He waited and waited and waited but nothing came in the post. Just on Wednesday there he thought he would drop them an email asking about the order. He was told it's not in stock and won't arrive until January. They didn't even bother dropping him an email to say it was out of stock, going to be delayed, or being delivered next year. They would have just kept him waiting. That's not good. He now will never buy a magic effect again. Customer service was shocking he said.

mindpaul wrote:Just on Wednesday there he thought he would drop them an email asking about the order. He was told it's not in stock and won't arrive until January. They didn't even bother dropping him an email to say it was out of stock, going to be delayed, or being delivered next year

Appalling state of affairs, communications have never been easier or quicker than they are these days, emails cost very little. During my working life I always found that giving a customer any bad news immediately is far preferable to saying nothing and letting them find out. If you tell them right away they will still be disappointed but they can't say that they didn't know and will usually appreciate being advised of the true situation. Saying nothing just makes the inevitable far worse.

Yes. Communication is very important. Customers can be quite forgiving if they know what is going on. I have only taken pre-orders once when I didn't have the goods to send and I hated every minute of it. I knew they would have to wait quite a while. I did make sure, however, that they knew what was going on and that made it easier. It is when you say nothing and leave the customer wondering is when trouble starts. I actually feel very ill at ease when I have people's money and they don't have the goods even if it ISN'T of stock! I have to send it immediately so I feel better.

I have heard of a lot of respected names getting behind on orders and sometimes not delivering them at all. I would be a nervous wreck if I got in that situation. That is why I drop everything even if it is important to send out the order. It preys on my mind a trifle if I don't do this. I am far too tense about this but it is certainly a good thing for the customers.

My father mostly deals in mail order from our shop. We do not process a payment until we know the merchandize has been shipped even if drop shipped from the supplier. And we do get confirmation from the supplier that the item has been shipped.

I don't think there is any good reason for a dealer to process a payment until the item has been shipped. (of course if a check then we have to be sure the check clears and that could take time. And once it clears we will send the item. However we don't start the process of depositing the check unless we have the item available for you. And we will hold it for you during that processing time.

It is not hard and the process is simple.

First step if there is a problem contact your dealer and see what is up. Sometimes it is as simple as a postal strike and your item was in midshipment. Sometimes the item gets lost in the mail. Stuff does happen. But if the situation in question is not resolved in a reasonable period of time then name and shame because sometimes it is the only way to correct the problem for future customers. With social media and sites like this and given the nature of this business a respectable business should not be using the above mentioned practices. It is shameful and lazy and not the way to do business.