Computer Product Delays, Am I Being Unreasonable?

MasterScythe on 18/01/2015 - 19:09
Last edited 18/01/2015 - 19:11

Guys, can you tell me if I'm being unreasonable?
This is the first time I've been in this situation.
I'm actually a calm person, and if I'm wrong, I'm happy to be told so, so please feel free.

So before Christmas I ordered a laptop from LogicalBlueOne.
I still have not received it.

The only modification was a CPU upgrade, which appears to be in stock at my wholesalers (so I doubt that's the delay).

I checked their page in depth before the Christmas break to be sure of no additional delays or closures, none were listed, lead time still listed as 15 business days (plus three for public holidays, I imagined).

It has been 25+ business days. (excluding weekends).
As it turns out they did close for a period, fair enough, but the laptop in question I was told "Was meant to be delivered [to them] before Christmas" and was not.
Does this not suggest that there is already a delay, and the customer should have been told?

Looking at their site, the laptop is "In Stock Now" (as it was on the day I ordered it, and all through Christmas).
If your shipment didn't arrive, how is it in stock? I'm not annoyed by a minor clerical error, I was told in writing they didn't have stock.

I have emailed LBO twice about this issue,
First time I got told 'Expect it dispatched late [last] week'.

I took Friday off work, as my shipping was listed on my invoice as DHL Express Priority, and I live a street away from my local DHL driver, he's a great guy and I knew for once I wasn't 'out of the drivers way' lol.

At 2pm on Friday (about as late last week as you can get for dispatch), I asked for a shipping number, as I hadn't been given one.
At 5.30pm I left my house, after waiting home all day.
With no reply from my (approx) 2pm enquiry.

The delays aren't the point, per se.
The point is that I had to chase them up.

Was it too much to expect any of the following?
-At the time of my order, being a week or so before Christmas, 'Thanks for your order, we are closed from X to Y'
-Once my 15 day lead time was to obviously be broken, 'There is a delay on your laptop'
-And on the day I was told it /should/ have shipped by, something like 'Item has not been shipped as expected'?

As I said above, I'm calm and trying to be reasonable about this, but I feel like I've just lost my $1k+, and the advertised lead time was a bold faced lie.

I still want the product, I know the business is legitimate, and I know the people working there are more than polite (Ive dealt with them previously through another buyer).

This isn't a reflection of their quality, I'll judge that when the laptop arrives, I'm just feeling a little bit like a bank account right now.
Why not advertise overnight delivery if there's no repercussion?

Am I expecting too much?
Is there anything I should do?
Is there anything I should expect?
Or am I being a fusspot and should just learn to wait?

advice?

EDIT: realised, this is probably in the wrong section. Sorry mods!

Computing

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Comments

  • tonyjzx on 18/01/2015 - 20:05

    you're buying a niche product from a niche company during the holidays

    did you actually get a shipping number? if you didnt get one there's no confirmation of shipping so anything you do ie. take a day off, is on you

    if it hasnt been shipped you need to take it up with them, if it has been shipped with a number take it up with dhl

    i personally wouldnt buy a laptop off them given the logistics and anecdotal history and the reputation of clevo but the above scenario isnt too out of order as far as things go

    • elusive on 04/03/2015 - 18:18

      the reputation of clevo

      Is there a problem there? Would you mind explaining in more detail? I'm looking at Clevo laptops, and most people seem quite happy with them.

  • MasterScythe on 18/01/2015 - 20:15

    Fair enough then.

    Yeah I expected a little extra delay based on holidays, but an in stock item sent with DHL priority express would normally only account for one day. (or a weekend or something).

    No, I didn't get a shipping number, but with the lack of customer updates I didn't actually expect one.
    Yep, the day off was on me, I'm aware of that. Was simply part of the story. Was a dice roll I took based on their expected shipping date; but its still on me in the end, true.

    You feel it's not too out of order? Fair enough.
    As I said I'm happy to be told I'm over reacting, but it does lead me to wonder why advertise a wait time at all?
    As I said, it's not the delay in itself that bothers me.

    It's the lack of customer communication when the delays were no longer expected, but confirmed; and the fact that an advertised 'wait time' can be completely disregarded.

    Just frustrating I guess.

  • p1 ama on 18/01/2015 - 20:22
    +3

    I don't think you're being unreasonable. If you buy something and pay for it in a timely manner, then it's perfectly reasonable to expect it to be ready and delivered in the time frame specified.

    However, I don't think that this situation is honestly worth fretting over too much. It's a delay and delays happen, getting worked up about it won't make it arrive any quicker, I think the fact that you know they're a legitimate business and they've been polite speaks for itself. If they've been nice to you and you know they're not screwing you over, just give them a bit of time to sort things out and get it to you.

    You probably ordered it at the worst possible time of the year, so you have to factor that in as well. Most people don't even work from the 25th to the 1st.

  • MasterScythe on 18/01/2015 - 20:33

    Makes sense.
    As I said I'm not getting too worked up. They've been polite in the past yeah, not specifically this time.
    Delays happen for sure, as I said I'm mainly annoyed about the lack of un-prompted communication.

    To simplify it, without the long story;
    bought an 'in stock' item, and haven't even had it shipped near a month later.
    Just frustrating is all.

    Oh well. Thanks guys, I guess I keep waiting.

  • tonyjzx on 18/01/2015 - 20:39

    probably because there cant be more than a few guys running the place and someone has to open up the thing to do the cpu

    • MasterScythe on 18/01/2015 - 20:44

      Yeah but you could do 20+ a day. I've worked IT 13 years.

      • scrimshaw on 18/01/2015 - 20:54

        Maybe the guy who was supposed to be working on your laptop made a mistake on the config and had to re-order the parts, or maybe the parts didn't arrive on time and they couldn't work on your customized order.

        • tonyjzx on 18/01/2015 - 20:57
          -2

          if you worked in IT for more than a decade you should be fully aware how things work

          i ordered a dozen laptops from lenovo once before xmas and they didnt arrive until feb.

        • [Deactivated] on 18/01/2015 - 21:46

          @tonyjzx:

          Every business operates differently. Every supply chain is different. If errors arose, informing you would of helped explain to you why its taking a bit longer. But just because you've been in IT for many years and seen many methods, it doesn't mean you know exactly how they function. This is a common misconception made by a business.

          Is it unreasonable to want your product and be annoyed by delays with a lack of communication? No.

          Is it unreasonable to assume it should be there because "you've worked in IT for several years and know how everything in IT works"? Yes.

          Is it unreasonable for them to keep you out of the loop? Yeah, communication be key bitches. Even teenagers know that. #posteverythingonlineyoloswag

        • tonyjzx on 18/01/2015 - 23:19

          @heywes:

          its not hard to guess how LBO work since the people who buy from them tend to be pretty vocal when things are perfect

          they have one shop, i'd be surprised if theres more than half a dozen guys

          i'd say the number of people who are actually hands on techs are less than half that

          not making excuses for them because i'm aware that one person on leave can make an impact on a company like that

          its a perfect storm of expectations not met

        • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 01:10

          @tonyjzx:

          Yep, you give a deadline. If it fails, you're fired, "you should have scoped the project with a longer timeframe".
          Been there, made that mistake before. the DG wasn't happy, lol. Never under quote your time, it leads to anger.

          I hope you cancelled your contract with Lenovo over that. I did. Wonder what they did restocking a few thousand laptops.
          In QLD I've found ACER to be flawless in both scope and deadlines. Though from what I've read online the other states seem to be a little worse for wear….
          See what their contracts are like for your needs. Ordering over 1000 laptops gives you some crazy bargains with Acer.

        • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 01:12

          @heywes:

          wha? The fact that Im an IT professional has nothing to do with the order;
          only with tonyjzx' comment toward installing a CPU being the major slowdown.

          Yeah, as I said, my KEY annoyances are no communication, and what I read as 'known delays' not being forecast to new buyers.

        • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 01:31

          Both of which would be 100% fair enough with communication.

  • Davo1111 on 18/01/2015 - 22:07
    +2

    I'd be pretty annoyed tbh

    The holiday issue is their problem. They should just update the website to say that processing of orders wont occur until x date

    • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 01:19

      That's a LITTLE unreasonable, holiday period is everyone's problem (damn holidays!); which is why I was expecting an extra weekend or so.
      And why I checked so hard for any closure dates outside the public holidays.

      As I said, the people that work there are friendly enough, I've talked to them a few times. I'd hate for this to reflect on the people as individuals.
      I'm annoyed by the process, not the people.

      Their reply to my enquiry didn't even contain a "Sorry" :(
      It actually said that /I/ was confused because /I/ didn't know their closure dates.

  • Gunther on 19/01/2015 - 09:53

    A Rep frequents this forum, perhaps they can provide input?

    Personally I had a fantastic experience with LogicalBlueOne, and I even had to deal with the missing GPU on the W230SS problem.

    • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 10:36

      Well that's good to hear.

      As I said, I have no beef with the people, they're nice to deal with. But maybe they need to hire an extra PR person or something, if its a matter of time constraints, I dunno.

  • MasterScythe on 19/01/2015 - 12:48

    Our friendly Ozb LBO rep is looking into it.
    Lets see what the outcome is :)

  • MasterScythe on 21/01/2015 - 18:59

    OK so, Jack (the rep, and from what I can tell, owner?) was very good at keeping contact on here.
    We even looked into a tech question regarding heatsinks in these models I had.
    His staff may have not apologised, and even suggested the blame is on me; Jack apologised and looked into it quickly.
    He's very helpful and very friendly, Thanks Jack.

    Turns out that even though my suppliers can source the CPU's within 48 hours, I should have considered that they dont usually trade with other businesses; as such, it WAS the CPU that was taking up time.
    So whoever said the CPU may be hard to source, you were right.

    I was given a "95% chance" that he'd ship it today, but I have no updates.
    I missed a call earlier which could have been from LBO (right area code, wrong number).
    But all our correspondence has been email\OzB, so a call is unlikely.
    Besides it was driving for work so I cant answer.

    So, another day goes by of 'hopefully it'll ship' and bad luck to me :(
    Maybe tomorrow?

    So laptop? No idea. (paid in full)
    Kobo HD? No stock in the country, discontinued. (paid in full)
    RC car parts? Discontinued. (paid in full)
    Major surgery needed? Confirmed.

    My Christmas has been fvcking balls. 2015 can suck it.
    They say when it rains it pours huh?

  • MasterScythe on 05/03/2015 - 15:14

    I may as well end this story:
    So the laptop arrived, and I was very happy…. until I saw the viewing angles.

    Running SIW over the hardware showed this wasn't an IPS panel at all. and in fact a TN with a manufacture date of (i believe… 2012?)….

    Jack quickly authorised me to return it, which was appreciated, and arranged a courier who picked it up from my work.

    Someone else in his company then arranged another courier, I emailed back and said "its been delievered" to which the LBO staff said some form of 'oh, ok thank you' but clearly didn't cancel the second pickup anyway.
    I had to try to explain it was picked up yesterday when the dude arrived at my work.

    After the product was received and signed for (tracking numbers, gotta love em!), I gave them a week and returned emails to the staff member who last emailed me regarding a refund being OK (this wasn't Jack, but it shouldn't matter at this point).

    After said week, and no emails I opened a paypal dispute.
    After a day or so of that I opened a claim, paypal ruled in my favor, and Jack then emailed me saying he'd authorised the refund in paypal.

    (profanity). Absolute. Nightmare.

    Look, I'm a fair dude, I can tell you that Jack is a nice person and very willing to help. He also has the intention to have helpful staff, but clearly there just isn't enough inter-office communication.

    From no warnings about delays, to no returned emails, to having to force a refund….

    Every step Jack was involved in was smooth and pleasant, but only once I had noticed that gmail was grouping the stores emails did I notice they were from individual employee mailboxes, and clearly anyone I emailed, who wasn't Jack, never passed on any messages.

    First and foremost a more transparent mail box would be in order to ease communication.

    Second, discouraging people who aren't trained to interact with customers, from interacting with customers would be a good idea.

    Third, even if you don't email the customer, updating the "Job Status" in my LBO account would have been something; its their system afterall.

    Either way its over now;
    I thank Jack for all his help with it, but without assurances he would be the ONLY one to have ANYthing to do with future orders of mine, would not buy again.

    • sheep-flown on 24/04/2015 - 15:19

      Man I wish I had read your post earlier.

      I placed an order with them in early March. Pretty much the same story as yours, delays and delays with no warning, up until the delivery part: I never saw my laptop. 30+ business days later only to find out that according to their site they have actually ceased trading.

      May I ask how long it took for the refund to come back to you?

      • MasterScythe on 25/04/2015 - 12:40

        I was lucky. I had paid via PayPal and forced the refund by scanning my receipt, and linking them to the proof that they had recieved the item back via the couriers website; from there it was instantaneous.

        • sheep-flown on 26/04/2015 - 01:20

          Thanks for your reply.

          I should've used paypal. I paid via credit card. I contacted my bank about this and they said the investigation will take 45 days…

  • digitalterrorist on 24/04/2015 - 22:03

    Have you seen this? Seems they have gone into administration?

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2398201

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