Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Forrest
My Point was not nessesarily the shows. it`s what shows in stock or what`s not in stock, I deal in mostly 70-72 gto`s and what I see from most venders is alot of items not in stock ( going down the list in the online cat. and see ALOT of "not in stock" or just calling and asking), it`s just dissapointing and fustrating when you need certain items and may have to wait god knows how long to get a part you need to get on with a job, if the items are available please have them, or give a date (honestly!) when it will be available. When your in the resto biz and you need parts on a regular basis, it gets fustrating
|
I understand your frustration. I'm just posting some of the 'behind the scenes' happenings just so you can be informed. That in itself should help you with your parts requirement planning. The part of my post about the shows was more directed toward answering Jeff's post in this topic. The quoting of 'out of stock' lead times is the hardest part of the business. As you read from my other post, a mfg's lead time varys greatly sometimes. As a general rule, we OVERestimate the timeframe. Trust me, we have learned our lessons over the years that a quoted 2 week backorder that turns into 3 months, is a guaranteed lost customer. Still, we occasionally get a bad lead time from a mfg and consequently this scenario still exists....and we lose customers because of it.
I also didn't mention that at this time of the year, parts are coming in and going out on a daily basis much moreso than the rest of the year. So when you check online stock one day, the next day may look completely different.
Let me tell you a story that just happened to us last month with the supplier of the infamous aluminum tripower intakes that have been on backorder for 2 years. The president of the company informed us that 25 intakes were finally ready to ship. Well, we've been told that for two years so we made him take a picture of the pallet with all the intakes on it 'ready to ship'. Once we had seen the pallet of boxed intakes we air expressed 'prepayment' for this order. (Yes, that is the way some mfg's operate in this business). Upon receiving that news, we called and e-mailed approximately 25 customers with the good news. Well 1 week later we received a pallet 1/3 the size of what was in the picture. 8 intakes instead of 25. No phone call, no note. When we called asking how this could happen, we were offered a ridiculous excuse and a 'don't worry, we'll get them right out to you.' Well 3 weeks has passed and all we have been able to do is leave voicemail messages when we call.
I'm not asking for sympathy, just trying to show you how 'sh%$ happens'.