Force4 and it is 2013! ****!

T

TonyBuckley

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Joined
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689
Location
Boat is in Brighton Marina
www.icloud.com
Why in this modern age, are online chandlers unable to say what they have in stock and what they do not!

Ordered quite a cheap item from Force4 and order accepted. Then an email saying out of stock, so I had to bother them to cancel the order. Since then no comms confirming order cancelled.

Surely it would be easier for all to present the stock levels and expected delivery times except for drop shipping maybe.

This is very simple stuff.

Disappointed by Force4 and they have been crossed off my list of ordering from in the future! The snotty woman on the phone did not help!

Tony
 
TonyBuckley said:
This is very simple stuff.

Disappointed by Force4 and they have been crossed off my list of ordering from in the future! The snotty woman on the phone did not help!

Tony
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Life is never simple tony. Stock gets nicked, stock gets lost, incoming deliveries arent correctly recorded. Stock gets broken. Sales for cash wrongly recorded. All good reasons why the auditors insist on a physical stock check. I tried for years to do away with this problem in my business and failed because staff simply cannot be relied on to follow the system.
 
I think most retailers will use the cheapest software available and not wish to "waste" staff on regularly updating the website. I now work for a Homestore who are the biggest load of cheapskates I've come across. It does make them popular with customers as their barely legal practices keep costs and prices down - but like your experience, until you arrive in store you have no idea of what is available on the shelves.

I'm always impressed by websites which do give stock details, though. Along with a projected delivery date it definately encourages one to buy from them.

Rob.
 
TonyBuckley said:
Why in this modern age, are online chandlers unable to say what they have in stock and what they do not!

Ordered quite a cheap item from Force4 and order accepted. Then an email saying out of stock, so I had to bother them to cancel the order. Since then no comms confirming order cancelled.

Surely it would be easier for all to present the stock levels and expected delivery times except for drop shipping maybe.

This is very simple stuff.

Disappointed by Force4 and they have been crossed off my list of ordering from in the future! The snotty woman on the phone did not help!

Tony
Click to expand...

At least they let you know it was not in stock. One often mentioned mailorder chandlery would probably not have done so if true to their reputation.

I use one of their shops from time to time. Recently when after something inexpensive not in stock they were able to get it in within a few days for me and phoned to tell me that it had arrived.
Previously when ordering something by phone they phoned around the branches and had what I wanted sent directly to me from a branch that had it in stock.

They will definitely remain on my list for future orders.

I agree though being able to check stock on line both for collection at branches or for mailorder would be a step forward. Trouble is that service like that costs and ultimately its the customer who pays
 
Well I have developed systems for small and large suppliers. You need not expose stock levels. Bottom line is they have lost a customer - not that I used them that much. If your staff have a problem following process and procedures then deal with it and explain the fall out.

I was polite and to the point in cancelling my order - not even asked why? Poor systems and staff training.

Force4 is off the list!
 
rob2 said:
I think most retailers will use the cheapest software available and not wish to "waste" staff on regularly updating the website.
Click to expand...

Well, Force 4 clearly have a company-wide inventory system, as I live within striking distance of at least three branches, and if the one I'm in doesn't have something I'll ask them to look up who does. It should be fairly simple to wire this up to the online ordering system (obviously you wouldn't employ someone to do this manually!) but we don't know whether or not they have done this. As Bosun Higgs says, maybe the website is hooked up to the inventory, but the inventory was wrong when it thought the OP's item was in stock because the real world had intervened.

Pete
 
The chandlery/marine biz is way behind the likes of Amazon - in my experience Force 4 are very much one of the better ones!
 
omegajames said:
The chandlery/marine biz is way behind the likes of Amazon - in my experience Force 4 are very much one of the better ones!
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Urm.... that's probably because Amazon's monthly spend on its website almost certainly exceeds the entire annual UK marine chandlery market size!!!!

Online stock shouldn't be that hard though if they already have an inventory system.
 
Got to stick up here for Force Four. Having had trouble with expensive electronic items their service and attitude was simply excellent. When the problems were first advised I was offered a full refund, but when I insisted I simply wanted the issues sorted they bent over backwards to do just this.

Will use again, especially for expensive techy items.
 
omegajames said:
The chandlery/marine biz is way behind the likes of Amazon - in my experience Force 4 are very much one of the better ones!
Click to expand...

In that case God preserve us from the worst ones. I placed an order two days ago, and a check on progress just says "awaiting authorisation". I paid by Paypal and the Paypal website shows the amount on my account as authorised (but evidently not withdrawn by Force4) What does that mean? Do Force4 really take more than two days to decide whether they actually have the items in stock?
 
Sadly, even in 2013 and with mega-whizz-bang internet stock-linked systems, disappointment is rife.

In addition to my chandlery guise, I also have a persona who works for a well known DIY super mega corporation - The amount of people who go online, see the big green tick that shows it's in stock at the local store, press the "reserve and collect" button and then turn up BEFORE the advised 24 hours, and then get very upset that the item isn't there... (Because yes, even super-mega-power internet stock updating systems are wrong, more often than you would think! - that's why there is the 24hr waiting period, so someone can scurry around the shop floor and check it out - we even get a time period where the customer MUST be contacted within.)...is quite substantial.

I think it speaks volumes for a retailers' service when they are prepared to contact you within a short time frame to inform you that there is a problem with your order to give you the option to go elsewhere or discuss an alternative, there are plenty that will leave it until the last minute, and F4 don't seem to be the type to do that....
 
I have to say, I have received excellent service from Force 4 both via Internet and ordering on the telephone.

Perhaps I have just been lucky, but others in my club have reported similar good service.
 
I've found F4 fine for bog standard items but I think they list items they don't ever hold in stock but order on demand.

Last year I needed a spare for a Taylor's paraffin cooker - urgently, since I couldn't cook without it and was on passage. I ordered online, paid extra for 1st class postage (with a poste restante address) and got an email the next day saying it was 'out of stock'. I rang them, explained why I needed it urgently, and asked if they could get Blakes Lavac Taylors to send it direct. "No, we can't, the supplier won't do that". I couldn't wait the week they were quoting to get the part so cancelled the order, found online a firm called Spares Marine who do BLT parts amongst others. I rang them - they didn't have the part in stock but said they'd ring Blakes Lavac Taylor and get it sent direct - exactly what F4 had told me BLT wouldn't do. I got the part the next day. For anything out of the ordinary, I'd recommend finding a specialist supplier. I've used Spares Marine since for BLT parts and found their service excellent.

What I really object to is F4 lying to me about whether the supplier would send the part direct - I reckon they have too much of the market and have become lazy.
 
It turns out that Force4 did not have the Lewmar clutches that I ordered, but received them either last night or today and have sent them to me today according to information I obtained by phone. Their website still says "awaiting authorisation" though I have checked with Paypal and found that they have now collected payment.
 
I have had nothing but excellent service from the Chichester branch of F4, including telling me their stocks of items on the phone and ordering in whatever they hadn't got enough of.

They also phone me whenever the items come in, and I remember a member of staff carrying an inflatable dinghy to my car without being asked then guiding me out among awkwardly parked cars - and they were very busy at the time.

I worked in an old style chandlery years ago, any enquiry to the manager there was likely to result in being told to **** off !

Funnily enough not in business any more...F4 do the job brilliantly in my book, good prices too.
 
FishyInverness said:
Sadly, even in 2013 and with mega-whizz-bang internet stock-linked systems, disappointment is rife.

In addition to my chandlery guise, I also have a persona who works for a well known DIY super mega corporation - The amount of people who go online, see the big green tick that shows it's in stock at the local store, press the "reserve and collect" button and then turn up BEFORE the advised 24 hours, and then get very upset that the item isn't there... (Because yes, even super-mega-power internet stock updating systems are wrong, more often than you would think! - that's why there is the 24hr waiting period, so someone can scurry around the shop floor and check it out - we even get a time period where the customer MUST be contacted within.)...is quite substantial.

I think it speaks volumes for a retailers' service when they are prepared to contact you within a short time frame to inform you that there is a problem with your order to give you the option to go elsewhere or discuss an alternative, there are plenty that will leave it until the last minute, and F4 don't seem to be the type to do that....
Click to expand...

Reminds me of when I did a "Reserve and collect" with PC World. (Yeah, I know, usually I wouldn't go near them with a barge pole, but I was in a rush to get an item and they actually had a decent price, for a change!)
I think they asked for a couple of hours between placing order and turning up at the store. I gave them the required time, then turned up. Lady behind the counter went into the shop, grabbed the item off the shelf and came back with it. I'm just glad they hadn't sold it in the meantime! But then, I really should have expected this kind of lack of service from said store.
 
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