Selling Air!

[jonclox]

Last year I ordered a couple of items from a firm around the Welsh borders and sat back and waited. They 'promised' about a months delivery (not a problem for me)
Eventually I mailed to ask what was happening and was told the item was on order from their supplier. By now I knew who their supplier was so checked their stock because they also supplied direct to the public. They were out of stock and a £1 or 3 more expensive than where my order was placed but the item was on order from the manufacturer and would be (another ) month till it was delivered....soooooooooooo............I checked the German manufacturers site and found that they would sell to me directly......woooopeeee
Then came the crunch........the item was not even in production.it was still in the development stage.come back in approximately 2 years time and recheck please.
What a waste of time all round
I no longer deal with anybody but the manufacturer and pay any import vat etc....its worth it

[1936ace]

My threas from last year sounds familiar with another topic. I too am annoyed when shops show items for sale even if they don't have it in stock. I was wanting some things from Cheltenham model centre and their site shows heaps of items but shows 0 in stock.a quick email to them got a reply that those items can be ordered so at least they show what's available and what's in stock.
Living in oz placing an order can be fun if then you order a few items and only one is in stock so they send that and then the others later, you end up paying double postage .
The other day I placed an order with rails( thanks ollie) and a quick email asking if they would hold items until all in stock as I'm after those mk3's, and I got a great reply saying they will hold each coach as they come in and then send as one parcel. How good is that.
At least with hattons you can see what is actually there, McCain now do the same too. Re assuring for us who can't get to a model shop
Bart