purchasing--how long to wait?

[Phisherman]

I ordered a display 7 days ago from a well-established company. I
have purchased items from this company before but this time there
happens to be a hold-up. My credit card was charged on 10/30/2006
and the item has not yet been shipped. The item must have been
purchased by October 31, 2006 to qualify for a 20% rebate. The rebate
must be post-marked by December 1, 2006 to be accepted. My credit
card company says that they will protect my purchase and I can dispute
the charge for up to 6 months. How long would you wait before
canceling the order? What's the longest reasonable turnaround time?
Four weeks? The item is an "upgrade" to existing equipment so it is
not critical. They have responded to my email, although the status
has not changed.

 

[JAD]

2 weeks max

 

[mcheu]

I ordered a display 7 days ago from a well-established company. I
have purchased items from this company before but this time there
happens to be a hold-up. My credit card was charged on 10/30/2006
and the item has not yet been shipped. The item must have been
purchased by October 31, 2006 to qualify for a 20% rebate. The rebate
must be post-marked by December 1, 2006 to be accepted. My credit
card company says that they will protect my purchase and I can dispute
the charge for up to 6 months. How long would you wait before
canceling the order? What's the longest reasonable turnaround time?
Four weeks? The item is an "upgrade" to existing equipment so it is
not critical. They have responded to my email, although the status
has not changed.

Depends on what it is, I guess, but for most hardware items, my local
computer shop has a turn around of about 1 week for getting stuff in.
Sometimes as little as 3 days if I catch them at just the right time
in their order cycle, sometimes as long as 2 weeks if there's a hold
up. Specialty items that are less popular, I'm told, can take as long
as a month. I think there was only one instance where they couldn't
get an item for me after a month's time (30 days), and they called me
up to let me know that they couldn't get it (I hadn't actually bought
anything, I had only left a deposit, which I got back). Based on
that, I'd guess that a month's a reasonable time to wait before
declaring an order a lost cause. So... yeah, 3-4 weeks is probably
reasonable to wait for a company to resolve a log jam.

 

[w01fy]

I ordered a display 7 days ago from a well-established company. I
have purchased items from this company before but this time there
happens to be a hold-up. My credit card was charged on 10/30/2006
and the item has not yet been shipped. The item must have been
purchased by October 31, 2006 to qualify for a 20% rebate. The rebate
must be post-marked by December 1, 2006 to be accepted. My credit
card company says that they will protect my purchase and I can dispute
the charge for up to 6 months. How long would you wait before
canceling the order? What's the longest reasonable turnaround time?
Four weeks? The item is an "upgrade" to existing equipment so it is
not critical. They have responded to my email, although the status
has not changed.

Well depends,if they said they had it in stock when you ordered it, or
that it would be in the next couple of days, i wouldnt wait, cancel and
reorder

So many timeswhen i have ordered from reputable companies the delays
just go on, its better to find it in stock with someone that will ship
it out in my opinion.

Cheers

w01fy 411707

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[Paul]

I ordered a display 7 days ago from a well-established company. I
have purchased items from this company before but this time there
happens to be a hold-up. My credit card was charged on 10/30/2006
and the item has not yet been shipped. The item must have been
purchased by October 31, 2006 to qualify for a 20% rebate. The rebate
must be post-marked by December 1, 2006 to be accepted. My credit
card company says that they will protect my purchase and I can dispute
the charge for up to 6 months. How long would you wait before
canceling the order? What's the longest reasonable turnaround time?
Four weeks? The item is an "upgrade" to existing equipment so it is
not critical. They have responded to my email, although the status
has not changed.

If I were to order something in town, the little mom&pop
operations can get anything in two days tops. In other words,
they are ordering it for me, and it takes the same time for
a distributor to courier it to them, as for an Internet E-tailer
to courier it to me directly. Therefore, I would personally not
be too tolerant of a long delay. With daily courier shipments
to major companies, it would take a distributor failing of some
sort (like none in the country at all), to make an item take
longer than that. Or cheaping out by using UPS ground.

Your credit card should not be charged, until the item is shipped.
Doing otherwise is bad faith, and grounds for no further business.
They should be able to deliver a tracking number, a number that
is actually in the system, as proof that the credit card charge
is legit. Some companies take great pleasure in charging the
card, and then waiting the maximum allowed time, before returning
the money if the unexpected happens (no stock available).

Some companies used to "drop ship". That means, the distributor
simply puts the final customer's address on the package, and the
package never goes to the retailer at all. This reduces the turn
around time, but I expect this practice is no longer an option,
due to the possibility of the package being redirected in
transit.

Based on what you have experienced so far, I'd give them the boot.
Some other retailer can get it for you in two or three days.
Instead of a steady stream of excuses.

Paul

 

[John Doe]

I ordered a display 7 days ago from a well-established company. I
have purchased items from this company before but this time there
happens to be a hold-up. My credit card was charged on
10/30/2006 and the item has not yet been shipped.

That's annoying. I would have canceled the order already.

Something like that recently happened when I ordered from
Skates.com. They immediately charged my card but didn't even have
the skates. So I canceled the order. Then ordered from InLine
Warehouse on Friday. The skates shipped FedEx two days ago and they
haven't even charged my card yet. The same thing happened last time.

In my opinion, stores should not charge your card until the product
ships or at least until they know that the product is in stock and
that shipping is imminent.

 

[John Doe]

Some companies used to "drop ship". That means, the distributor
simply puts the final customer's address on the package, and the
package never goes to the retailer at all. This reduces the turn
around time, but I expect this practice is no longer an option,

As far as I know, that's the way many modern/intranet
storefronts do it nowadays.

 

[matt]

hope it wasn't Tiger direct! They are the worst, threaten them w/
attourney general & they will get moving

 

[Phisherman]

That's annoying. I would have canceled the order already.

Something like that recently happened when I ordered from
Skates.com. They immediately charged my card but didn't even have
the skates. So I canceled the order. Then ordered from InLine
Warehouse on Friday. The skates shipped FedEx two days ago and they
haven't even charged my card yet. The same thing happened last time.

In my opinion, stores should not charge your card until the product
ships or at least until they know that the product is in stock and
that shipping is imminent.

That's what I think. This item was shown "In Stock" and it's been
over a week with my order status "In Process." If it were shown as
"Backordered" I would expect a delay or I may have selected another
vendor. Companies don't like to tell you "backordered" because that
is lost sales. If my package doesn't arrive this week I will probably
cancel it, then post a "warning" on pricegrabber.com. Seems like
buying from the same company can be "Excellent" or "Poor" depending on
whatever. I've always had quick turnaround, good prices, from
zipzoomfly and newegg. I'd buy locally but the selection is usually
not there.