APEX MODELS :(
 

Has anyone else had noticed with Apex Models that supposedly in stock items actually aren't in stock.

Last two orders with them - ordered at the start of the week so plently of time to get them before the weekend all items shown as in stock.

By Thursday orders still showing as pending shipment:confused:

Ring them to be told on first order oh the item hadn't been delivered by their supplier:blush: to be fair after I pointed out I ordered it from them because their website showed it was in stock they arranged for it to be shipped direct from their supplier to me.

Ordered again this week as they were the only website showing all the items in stock, guess what order is still showing pending shipment.

Why show items as in stock when they are not:mad:

there stock isnt live so its a totally gamble!

stick to mbmodels, insideline and jespares they always delivery as promised :thumbsup:
(not needed to use any one else)

Lesson learned then ! Stick to one of the sponsors of this site :)

Don't forget "Number 5 " too !

Ordered Sunday night , arrived Tuesday morning , brilliant !

To be fair it doesn't actually state the words in stock on the apex website. So i don't think its very fair to slate them on a public forum.

I have had the same issue and had to cancel my order after a week and purchase elsewhere.

The site says "currently out of stock" for items that I presume are out of stock and allows you to "add to cart" for items I presume are in stock!!!

I can't fault Number5Designs, JEModels or Inside Line Racing, amazing service from all :thumbsup:

you are right james, however it does either show "out of stock" "on back order" or add to cart which after the first two would lead you to believe that it's in stock

Yep, same thing happened to me years ago. Only happened once though and that was enough to not use them again.

I only use the stores with livestock now.

When the website show 'add to basket' this means it is either in stock or in stock with the supplier. If it shows 'out of stock' or 'back order' this means Apex can't get the parts in at this moment in time.

Hope this solves some peoples confusion.

Sam.

I had the same issue, order a MRT pt some wires and connectors, or a dispatch email and stuff didn't arrive until 2 week later

I've been done by them a couple of times recently too. Only use them when nowhere else has what I need. Their delivery is slow too.

Some shops offer a 'shadow stock' of their suppliers, but if they don't have enough of an order to make the shipment worth it, then it is pointless.

I have always found them to be great with me, only ever had one issue and that was with a team orion battery pack (90c) which they replaced no questions asked. Mind you I always order over the phone so they tell me if its in stock or not so makes life easier.

I've not had issues with Apex. The website used to be pretty rough to navigate and that was a put off, but it's fine now.

Just like everything else...For every individual that publicly mentions an issue there are usually dozens if not more who are very happy about stuff :thumbsup:.

J

In my opinion Apex Models has a lot of postives, good website (stock issue aside), good product range and good prices, but I have to agree in my recent experiences the delivery isn't as realible as JE Models or MB Models.

I ve had issue aswell i ordered a orion charger few years back paid them after week 1 nothing so phoned apex, week 2 nothing so phoned apex, week 3 nothing phoned apex for refund they stated refund had be paid week 5 bank statement came it had not been refunded so contacted the bank they said they need it to be 6 weeks from payment date to apex before they could get involved week 7 refund :thumbsup: in to bank.

I have used Apex before with no problems, it is just in the last year.

Yep I use JEmodels, MB models, Demon never had problems as they actually show what is in stock, orders picked, packed & dispatched very quickly, that used be how Apex was, but it seems no more.

As stated ordered this time from Apex as they were the only website that everything was "in stock" as the website leads you to believe, as it was about 8 items felt was worthwhile taking the chance rather than having to order from 3 different sites.


As others have said other sites show items as "shadow stock" with a longer delivery time for items in manufacturers stock, so at least you know the position.


I think Apex should make clear which items they have in stock and those that they can order from the manufacturer.

Sorry Apex but in future it will be 3 different sites that I order from.

I've been caught by this. Not by Apex tho. But its a pretty shoddy way of showing stock.
You can control how accurate your stock is, in your warehouse, but relying on another company to keep your stock up to date, when they may not have live stock levels, and may be supplying 100 other shops as well, is a bit rubbish.

I got my money back and don't use them anymore.

I on the other hand think it's entirely fair to name and shame, i've had parts turn up from the USA and Japan quicker than some things i've ordered from Apex and they're not the only ones either.

"Radicool RC":thumbdown: have an ebay listing for every HPI part ever made ("GENUINE PART!") but they don't have a single thing in stock, they just order it from HPI when you pay online and it turns up 10 days later, i've had to miss race meetings due to this because I ordered something the preceding Monday expecting it to arrive in good time to rebuild the car. They've also set up their ebay shop so it's impossible to request postage discounts for multiple purchases.

Taking someone's money for something you don't have in stock is basically lying, anyone reading this is a person who willingly gets up at 5AM on a Sunday to go racing and shouldn't have to put up with being treated like this, it's an insult. Plus the fact it seems it's only in the UK where such poor service is deemed acceptable. Why should the inhabitants of a country who stood alone against Hitler and basically saved the world in 1940 put up with this? Vote with your feet.

Personally I sometimes find myself ordering from abroad just to avoid dealing with UK model shops at all which is a shame for 2 reasons:

Some of them like Inside Line and JE Models try very hard and deliver an excellent service, I can't recommend these two highly enough:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Ordering from abroad takes money out of the UK economy.

If you're reading this and you run a model shop, be honest with your customers or they'll shop elsewhere. Apex actually used to be excellent back in the late '90s when Graham and Marc (MK Racing) worked there, they were the world's largest Schumacher retailer and everything used to arrive the next day without fail but since then somebody somewhere has made the decision to deliver poor service for reasons unknown.

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...