Thread: Interesting tactic from supplier

So, finally got some parts I ordered months ago from a supplier I have used many times (oh, not talking cars here by the way, no one who advertises on this forum or anything). Usually, they dispatch quickly and their website shows what parts are in stock, so a good and efficient system they have. One of the bits I ordered this time was out of stock with an expected date about 2 weeks away for more stock. I wasn't in a hurray so ordered what I needed. The expected date came and went - still no dramas, as I wasn't in a rush. After about 2 more weeks I sent them a polite email asking for an update. I got an automated responce appologising for the slip in the delivery time and it said we'd contact the supplier in next week for an ETA if they oarts hadn't showed by then.

2 weeks later, I sent another email and got the same auto responce back. I emailed back with slightly stearner words and eventually got a reply saying they'd look into this.

2 months later we have been playing this game ever other week and just this week the parts turned up - yay!

Normally when I get delivery confirmation on an email I get another a day later asking me to rate their service - I normally give 5 stars as they are pretty briliant on stocked items, but this time I was going to mark them down a bit with some constructive critisism on how they coukd improve things a bit. Well, a few days later I haven't been invited to keave a comment or rate the order, so I guess their "4.8 out of 5 - Industry best" is based on feedback from customers they wanted to hear from.

Pretty **** poor IMO and have sent them an email telling them this. Wonder if I'll get the link sent to rate my order now? I'm not holding my breath...

Funny thing is, if they had just kept me in the loop without me having to pester them all the time it woukdn't have bothered me at all about the timeframe - that was never an issue, just the poor service from a company that usually excellent.

Will be reviewing my descition to use them going forward based on this slight of hand alone...

Originally Posted by Homestar

It's the way they claim to have an almost 5 start rating when I can't leave feedback that would be lower than this. I doubt my review would put a dent in their numbers, but it would have been nice to let others know to be careful about ordering out of stock items.

Had a similar experience on fleabay, had no communication from a seller when item didn't turn up, raised dispute with fleabay, was ruled in favour of seller...and when I tried to leave feedback re their lack of communication...fleabay wouldn't allow it. So that also makes me wonder how accurate feedback ratings are there.