ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On 12 Jul 2006 08:19:19 -0700, "
wrote:

Nice people! Old school customer service. The web ordering isn't
"modern". But they don't make a lot of money at this, I'm sure. So
I.T. people are probably out of the question. But your order gets
underway in about 48 hours.....

------------ REPLY SEPARATOR ------------

Bull. SS of N is one place I will never buy from again. They do not
remove out-of-stock items from their website when sold out, but they
continue to take orders for them. In a couple of days, they notify you
the item is no longer in stock, thereby wasting your time you could
have spent looking elsewhere. This has happened to me several times.

Actual phone conversation:

Me: Can you check stock on part number xxxx?
Them: No.

No explanation, no "sorry", nothing but "no". These are not my kind of
people.

Bill, W6WRT

Bill Turner ) writes:
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On 12 Jul 2006 08:19:19 -0700, "
wrote:

Nice people! Old school customer service. The web ordering isn't
"modern". But they don't make a lot of money at this, I'm sure. So
I.T. people are probably out of the question. But your order gets
underway in about 48 hours.....

------------ REPLY SEPARATOR ------------

Bull. SS of N is one place I will never buy from again. They do not
remove out-of-stock items from their website when sold out, but they
continue to take orders for them. In a couple of days, they notify you
the item is no longer in stock, thereby wasting your time you could
have spent looking elsewhere. This has happened to me several times.

Actual phone conversation:

Me: Can you check stock on part number xxxx?
Them: No.

No explanation, no "sorry", nothing but "no". These are not my kind of
people.

Bill, W6WRT

I find it odd that the original poster felt a need to post about the
company to three different newsgroups (likely bad enough that he
felt the need, made worse by doing multiple posting), especially
given that the company has been around for decades.

I remember when I first saw an ad for the company years ago, and thought
"wow". But when I got a catalog, I felt the prices were outrageous.
Maybe if you want to rebuild a KWM-2 to out of the box standards you're
willing to pay large prices for the exact knob, but as a surplus outlet
I felt there were better prices elsewhere.

Because when you see the word "surplus", you immediately think of
low prices compared to new stock.

Michael VE2BVW

Bill Turner wrote:
Bull. SS of N is one place I will never buy from again. They do not
remove out-of-stock items from their website when sold out, but they
continue to take orders for them. In a couple of days, they notify you
the item is no longer in stock, thereby wasting your time you could
have spent looking elsewhere. This has happened to me several times.

Actual phone conversation:

Me: Can you check stock on part number xxxx?
Them: No.

No explanation, no "sorry", nothing but "no". These are not my kind of
people.

A lot of old-line surplus businesses do not fare well with the
expectations of the modern order-it-today-get-it-tomorrow-morning
world.

Some other businesses (e.g. Digikey, which was not always a big
business, think back to their QST ads 30+ years ago where their only
product was - gasp! - a digital keyer) have made the transition
remarkably well and are in fact the benchmark of a modern catalog parts
house.

I think it is still valuable to have the "not really sorry" surplus
places remain in business though. I've dealt with them long enough that
even when I don't get a "sorry" I think I understand where they're
coming from - and in many cases I also know who to ask for who knows
the real story. The part-time help at the order desk is unfortunately
not as good a resource as the guy who's been running the business for
30 or 40 or 50 years.

Tim.

I agree, I would only shop there if I had surplus dollars and surplus
time. I don't have either. Their stuff is extremely expensive and
there is always an alternative if you look hard enough. Mike K8MB
Apache Junction, AZ




Bull. SS of N is one place I will never buy from again. They do not
remove out-of-stock items from their website when sold out, but they
continue to take orders for them. In a couple of days, they notify you
the item is no longer in stock, thereby wasting your time you could
have spent looking elsewhere. This has happened to me several times.

Actual phone conversation:

Me: Can you check stock on part number xxxx?
Them: No.

No explanation, no "sorry", nothing but "no". These are not my kind of
people.

Bill, W6WRT