Unsatisfied

[Foxer2373]

Called in as always to confirm my order 5 boxes of 45-70 and a Used Vortex 1-6x Strike Eagle with mount. Sales person on the phone said he collected it all and it was at the front waiting to be shipped on Monday. At this time I sold my other optic in anticipation of this arriving...

As always my order arrived next full business day, missed delivery, went to town to pick up my order and to my suprise no scope, and was not even on the invoice. Called in waited on hold her 15min after explaining and was told we don't have an answer and we no longer have the scope.

I understand mistakes happen and I was not charged and needed to wait for a refund. However when I confirm an order and a business cannot even tell me what happened or offered anything in place of (I understand it's a used one off optic). I just felt that it was a case of you were not billed so too bad situation.

Happy to retract once contacted with a reasonable explanation.

Thank you for your time,

Kevin Nagle

[epps]

12 May 2016

Kevin:

The issue seems to have arisen due to the Vortex scope you were seeking being sold through our online system.

Our website lists all of our new and used firearms, as well as accessories such as riflescopes, magazines, stock, ammunition, etc. Those accessories are posted on the parts pages of our website, and are listed live and in real-time. This means that any customer can purchase that item at any time without the need to contact our store.

What appears to have happened is that sometime between your telephone call and the time your order was physically processed, the Vortex scope you were seeking was purchased through our online system by another buyer. This happens quite frequently, which is one of the reasons we are strongly advising customers to place their orders online whenever possible in order to avoid just this type of overlap on one product, and the disappointment that comes with missing out on a specific product you were hoping to purchase.

What should have happened was the salesman who handled your order should have contacted you to advise that the scope had been sold to another buyer and would not have appeared on your order. Obviously this was not the case here. I will ask our manager to speak with the salesman who put that order together on your behalf so that we can minimize this sort of error in the future.

As you noted, you were not charged for the scope, therefore all I can do is offer my apologies for the confusion with your order, and the unforeseen omission of the scope from that order. I will, however, advise you to keep a watchful eye on our website listings to determine if we do receive another Vortex Strike Eagle scope or some other model that might be of interest to you in the future.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our store directly, either by telephone (705.689.5333), or by E-mail (info@ellwoodepps.com) at your convenience.

[Rascal]

Good explanation.

[Sherlock Gnomes]

Good explanation but they need to refine the system. If I have a phone order that just "bought" that scope by agreeing to purchase and giving CC number then it should have been tagged and removed from online inventory. Understandably it is hard to reconcile lists between such a large store inventory but that leads to this frustration. Alternatively quit taking phone orders if they can't be tagged properly at end of call.

The above wasn't meant to come off as harsh. I work in sales and cam see both sides of the coin. It was meant as constructive.

[Foxer2373]

The main problem I had was exactly what you have stated, I was never informed, never asked if I would like to subsitute to avoid additional Shipping charges by ordering another item sepratly. The other frustration was either someone did not want to tell me what happened or honestly couldn't track what occurred (in my opinion equally as bad) when I called in to sort the issue.

I accept your appology and will move on and will probably order in the future I just wanted an explanation and the other method I tried did not Satisfy.

Thank you,

Kevin Nagle

[Harrier .45]

Kevin:

Again, I apologize for the situation as it unfolded with your order. When we first introduced the online purchasing method, we saw this sort of overlap on an almost daily basis. In the time since, both our customers and our staff have become more familiar with the system, and the possibility of being undermined by another customer who manages to secure an item on an online order while a phone request is still being processed. Even today we had a customer at our gun room counter looking to purchase a shotgun barrel while that same item was being sold by another staff member by telephone at a different part of our store.

Good explanation but they need to refine the system. If I have a phone order that just "bought" that scope by agreeing to purchase and giving CC number then it should have been tagged and removed from online inventory. Understandably it is hard to reconcile lists between such a large store inventory but that leads to this frustration. Alternatively quit taking phone orders if they can't be tagged properly at end of call.

The above wasn't meant to come off as harsh. I work in sales and cam see both sides of the coin. It was meant as constructive.

Sherlock: Contrary to what many other customers will claim to the contrary, telephone sales are every bit as much an important part of our business as online orders or walk-in customers. To abandon telephone orders would mean abandoning more than 40% of our sales on any given day. You claim to work in sales, therefore you will understand that any such measure as you propose would be tantamount to business suicide.

There will always be an overlap between the time that a telephone order is taken and processed, and the far shorter time required to complete an order through the online system. This type of issue will continue to arise from time to time, and when it does, our staff does normally contact the buyer who is not going to receive the item they were expecting to explain the situation to them. Most often that situation is accepted by the customer, who then chooses to search for another item that meets their needs.

In this case, without making excuses, the salesman who handled Foxer2373's order is still new in our store and was likely dealing with more than one customer or request at that particular moment in time. Whether the delay in completing Mr Nagle's order was five minutes or five seconds, it is 100% certain that the order that eventually won the scope he was looking to purchase was put through at exactly that same moment in time. Once an online order is complete, that order wins precedence over any other orders placed for that same item. By the time our newer salesman had a chance to process Foxer's order and retrieve the Vortex scope from our parts page, I had already processed the online order for that item placed by the other customer.

Kevin, if you have any further questions or concerns regarding this or any other order, please feel free to contact me directly at info@ellwoodepps.com. I will be happy to assist you as I am able, at any time.

[Aries-]

Good explanation but they need to refine the system. If I have a phone order that just "bought" that scope by agreeing to purchase and giving CC number then it should have been tagged and removed from online inventory. Understandably it is hard to reconcile lists between such a large store inventory but that leads to this frustration. Alternatively quit taking phone orders if they can't be tagged properly at end of call.

The above wasn't meant to come off as harsh. I work in sales and cam see both sides of the coin. It was meant as constructive.

The system is set up as a first come first pay system. If the person online has it up to the "confirm order" and clicks it as the person on the phone is saying il Take it. The person online gets it as it is paid for then.

There will always be a overlap of phone, in store, email, and online orders. Whoever gets the web system past the "confirm order" first gets the item.
We have had to take guns from people in store as someone online has purchased it.

[Sherlock Gnomes]

Fair enough and your points are valid. I know you guys handled this professionally and it comes through on the forum. Yes I understand abandoning telephone Sales would be fatal as I know you guys get many old people who won't use the Internet to complete a sale. A sale in any method is the goal. Does out of curiosity but is there a way you can "hold" the item temporarily in your inventory while you complete the sale so ot doesn't happen and it would disappear off the online inventory or am i overthinking this? Is this a common enough occurrence to warrant a change?

Thanks for your responses.

[Sherlock Gnomes]

The system is set up as a first come first pay system. If the person online has it up to the "confirm order" and clicks it as the person on the phone is saying il Take it. The person online gets it as it is paid for then.

There will always be a overlap of phone, in store, email, and online orders. Whoever gets the web system past the "confirm order" first gets the item.
We have had to take guns from people in store as someone online has purchased it.

That is one problem with having both brick and mortar as you mentioned and I am sure you guys are experts at handling it. I have always had good experiences shopping at your store.

[Harrier .45]

Fair enough and your points are valid. I know you guys handled this professionally and it comes through on the forum. Yes I understand abandoning telephone Sales would be fatal as I know you guys get many old people who won't use the Internet to complete a sale. A sale in any method is the goal. Does out of curiosity but is there a way you can "hold" the item temporarily in your inventory while you complete the sale so ot doesn't happen and it would disappear off the online inventory or am i overthinking this? Is this a common enough occurrence to warrant a change?

Thanks for your responses.

Unfortunately, there is no hold system available for our online inventory. The problem with holds is this: How long do we hold an item before putting it back on the shelf when a sale is not completed? Many of our products are in high demand, and have multiple buyers seeking those items -- as was the case here. If you essentially freeze a product for any length of time (2 hours? 12 hours? 24 hours?), that would stop another individual from being able to complete a purchase of that same item at once.

We have a large number of customers who purchase in bulk. Imagine if they froze 10 or 12 items for multiple hours so that we ended up with half of our inventory on hold with no commitment of payment or sale, while other customers are lined up to buy those items with money in-hand.

The system either recognizes the products listed as Available or Sold, with no in-between. Products placed in your Shopping Cart are not secured until you complete your order. If you log out of the system before completion, those products remain listed in your cart as items you have reviewed and check marked, but they are still on the open forum for other customers to purchase until you finalize your order.