Quite agree - unfair complaint
 

I rang Apex to order a part not generally stocked elsewhere, was told it would be a couple of days before dispatch, Ordered the part on line, Two days later received dispatch notification e-mail and arrived First class today.

If you need a part in a hurry call to confirm stock or expected dispatch. :thumbsup:

This applies to ANY on line trader and it's not really fair to slag off a legitimate business publicly without taking up your complaint/concerns with them :bored:

I think its in breach of some part or other of either the Distance Selling Regs or sale of good act.
A few bigger retailers have changed process to cover this.

No one thought of phoning up a shop where stock levels are not explicit then?

This could be avoided by picking up the phone and asking "Do you have x in stock?"

You shouldn't have to, the whole point of online shopping is to make it easier for the consumer.

If Inside Line, JE Models and all the other good shops mentioned understand the value of live stock levels why don't all the others? It comes down to the same old problem, the system is only as good as the people setting up and using it.

Having to ring them up defeats the object of having a website in the 1st place.

While you may in essense be correct - the point remains, picking up the phone may well have given a more satisfactory outcome.

Why do model shops put thier phone number on their website?

To contact in event of problems, issues and queries, not to check stock levels.

They'd be knackered if we all rang to check stock levels on everything we ordered.

Model shops managed to answer the phone before the internet and I'm pretty certain they'd manage now.

All I'm saying is that unless they specifically mention say "In Stock" and you really need something then phoning to check is the safest option.

Very true....

Depends on if it is actually a model shop or an internet retailers warehouse, processing hundreds (?) of orders a day.

Justlean, I can actually see the point you're making, it's no great hardship to pick up the phone but we have so much technology at our fingertips these days, and yet so few people in the UK seem willing to use it to its full potential. The internet is an amazing tool which we in this country invented.

The fact that some shops are able to display live stock levels shows that it must be quite easy to achieve.

I think what's needed from the hobby industry (amongst others) in this country is a willingness to accept that people value good service and efficiency. I recently ordered a part from Inside Line despite their website showing they didn't have it in stock, as I was more comfortable ordering it from them than dealing with someone who listed the same part but didn't have live stock levels.

Likewise with ebay sellers, most guys I deal with in the states are truthfull about what they have in stock and have their ebay shops set up to calculate the shipping discounts automatically (in other words they're making full use of the ebay seller tools). In contrast I once ordered four diff cases from Radicool RC and found I couldn't request the postage discount for some reason so I messaged them. About four days of emails going backwards and forwards later I managed to back them into a corner whereupon they were no longer able to evade the question and they refunded me the princely sum of £1.00. This got my back up and consequently I now find myself on oOple slagging them off. This entire situation is very negative and doesn't need to be.

You're right to say it's not difficult to pick up the phone but equally it's not that hard in this day and age for retailers to put a system in place so customers don't have to.

Incidentally it would be good to hear from some of the shops who have been spoken highly of in this discussion. How much does a website showing live stock levels cost to set up and use? Is it harder or easier to maintain?

Depends how "good" and professional you want the system, anywhere from £2K to £25K and then there is a huge issue if you take your stock away for the store (say trackside selling or supporting meetings etc, when the stock you sell is vulnerable to being sold twice effectively). It is ironic that some of the best known shops with the most accurate live stock systems do not support the meetings trackside, maybe this is why...