Shaun Stuart
11-30-2005, 07:35 PM
I will apologies in advance for the length of this rant as it may seem minor to many people but I feel that I have to get this off my chest and some of the visitors here will understand. :(
Many of you will remember the "Expansys Benq P50 problem" of last year. This, as you may recall, is where Expansys advertised the device's availability months prior to its actual arrival and at a much lower price than it eventually sold for. 8O
I actually ordered mine in October 2004 and believe it or not got a fairly curt message from Expansys around six months later when the device actually became available saying they could not complete my order because my credit card had expired (It only expired because I had waited so long). I obviously chose not to complete the transaction as the price had changed and I had bought something else.
Many of us felt let down, a few argued the case with Expansys hoping to get the device at the advertised price but most of us, if not all, eventually gave up on the issue, moved on and probably bought an Imate Jam, M500 or any number of new device released in 2005.
You would think that with all the bad press Expansys got around that one issue that they would learn from the mistake and make some changes to how they deal with preordered items - wouldn’t you :?:
Fast forward to November 2005 - what’s on my gadget wish list this year? It’s the 02 Atom pocket pc phone of course. This looks like a great device, smaller than the Jam but with a load more features and the latest WM OS. I have been waiting for months for this device to be released, checking the press, websites and forums almost daily. I checked a number of online stores including Expansys a couple of weeks ago but there was no mention of it at this time. I then checked Expansys early last week to find it was now listed - great. Unfortunately no availability date was given, but while I expected to see "preorder" as the order option it read "ordered on request".
What does "order on request" actually mean then? I was intrigued. I had actually read that the 02 Atom was to be released in Asia in the last week of November - i assumed that there was a possibility Expansys may be able to get this product in small quantities at the same time. Should I place an order?
I thought about it but rather than risking another BenQ P50 fiasco - I wrote to them first asking about the Atom and what they meant by "order on request".
This was the response I received....
Dear sir,
This is an 'on request' item and therefore we never hold stock. Once an order has been placed we place one with our suppliers. This can take up to 2 weeks to source in.
Regards
expansys
Up to TWO WEEKS to source in - great :D - I could live with that – I will have my new device before Christmas – So on the back of this information I decided to place an order. I received the standard confirmation email and was happy to go about my business thinking that if I get the device in two or even three weeks I will be satisfied.
I was browsing a web forum yesterday where I picked up that Expansys were now advertising an "in stock date" for the Atom of the 19th January. That’s 7 weeks away.
My initial thought was this must be for general orders and those that had "ordered on request" before this date was announced, would probably get them earlier as advised in the Expansys email "up to Two Weeks" right ?
Wrong!
I decided to check my order status - which now reads item to be available on the 19th January. I wrote to Expansys Customer Services to clarify the situation –
I had an "order on request" item does this mean you will source quicker than your normal bulk stock supply - if this is not the case can you explain the difference between preorder and order on request ? This is the response I received.
Dear Sir,
As stated on the website we are expecting stock on the 19th January.
We do apologize for any inconvenience that this delay has caused.
Regards
Expansys
Thanks for the time taken to explain and consider the response :evil:
Now keep in mind Expansys didn’t even bother to email me to tell me that the "up to Two Weeks" they advised last week has now changed to seven weeks - I feel pretty pissed off with them - again. :twisted:
Now maybe the availability date has changed, its beyond their control and I should be more understanding – but if it did why didn’t they contact me to let me know – is this too much to ask?
Maybe I’m being cynical but perhaps they could actually still source smaller quantities of the device earlier – within the two weeks - but choose not to because they get a better deal on the larger shipment in January and have to exert less effort.
The moral of the story for me is that I will never use Expansys again unless it is absolutely the only option left available. I will in fact in the future be prepared to pay a premium just to avoid using them.
End of Rant
Thanks for listening
Many of you will remember the "Expansys Benq P50 problem" of last year. This, as you may recall, is where Expansys advertised the device's availability months prior to its actual arrival and at a much lower price than it eventually sold for. 8O
I actually ordered mine in October 2004 and believe it or not got a fairly curt message from Expansys around six months later when the device actually became available saying they could not complete my order because my credit card had expired (It only expired because I had waited so long). I obviously chose not to complete the transaction as the price had changed and I had bought something else.
Many of us felt let down, a few argued the case with Expansys hoping to get the device at the advertised price but most of us, if not all, eventually gave up on the issue, moved on and probably bought an Imate Jam, M500 or any number of new device released in 2005.
You would think that with all the bad press Expansys got around that one issue that they would learn from the mistake and make some changes to how they deal with preordered items - wouldn’t you :?:
Fast forward to November 2005 - what’s on my gadget wish list this year? It’s the 02 Atom pocket pc phone of course. This looks like a great device, smaller than the Jam but with a load more features and the latest WM OS. I have been waiting for months for this device to be released, checking the press, websites and forums almost daily. I checked a number of online stores including Expansys a couple of weeks ago but there was no mention of it at this time. I then checked Expansys early last week to find it was now listed - great. Unfortunately no availability date was given, but while I expected to see "preorder" as the order option it read "ordered on request".
What does "order on request" actually mean then? I was intrigued. I had actually read that the 02 Atom was to be released in Asia in the last week of November - i assumed that there was a possibility Expansys may be able to get this product in small quantities at the same time. Should I place an order?
I thought about it but rather than risking another BenQ P50 fiasco - I wrote to them first asking about the Atom and what they meant by "order on request".
This was the response I received....
Dear sir,
This is an 'on request' item and therefore we never hold stock. Once an order has been placed we place one with our suppliers. This can take up to 2 weeks to source in.
Regards
expansys
Up to TWO WEEKS to source in - great :D - I could live with that – I will have my new device before Christmas – So on the back of this information I decided to place an order. I received the standard confirmation email and was happy to go about my business thinking that if I get the device in two or even three weeks I will be satisfied.
I was browsing a web forum yesterday where I picked up that Expansys were now advertising an "in stock date" for the Atom of the 19th January. That’s 7 weeks away.
My initial thought was this must be for general orders and those that had "ordered on request" before this date was announced, would probably get them earlier as advised in the Expansys email "up to Two Weeks" right ?
Wrong!
I decided to check my order status - which now reads item to be available on the 19th January. I wrote to Expansys Customer Services to clarify the situation –
I had an "order on request" item does this mean you will source quicker than your normal bulk stock supply - if this is not the case can you explain the difference between preorder and order on request ? This is the response I received.
Dear Sir,
As stated on the website we are expecting stock on the 19th January.
We do apologize for any inconvenience that this delay has caused.
Regards
Expansys
Thanks for the time taken to explain and consider the response :evil:
Now keep in mind Expansys didn’t even bother to email me to tell me that the "up to Two Weeks" they advised last week has now changed to seven weeks - I feel pretty pissed off with them - again. :twisted:
Now maybe the availability date has changed, its beyond their control and I should be more understanding – but if it did why didn’t they contact me to let me know – is this too much to ask?
Maybe I’m being cynical but perhaps they could actually still source smaller quantities of the device earlier – within the two weeks - but choose not to because they get a better deal on the larger shipment in January and have to exert less effort.
The moral of the story for me is that I will never use Expansys again unless it is absolutely the only option left available. I will in fact in the future be prepared to pay a premium just to avoid using them.
End of Rant
Thanks for listening