Farnell/Element 14 and UPS: you suck!

[MrSlack]

So I ordered a pile of ICs and inductors on the 21st expecting next day delivery, you know like it's plastered all over their web site.

On the 22nd, no dispatch notice. "Processing"

On the 23rd, I get a half assed automated email saying it wasn't dispatched. "Processing"

So on the evening of the 23rd, I call the customer services line at 19:40 and am promised that they will look into it. I said, no, forget it. Cancel the order and hit the RS trade counter tomorrow, fortunately only 10 mins away from me, as they have what I need in stock. I am told the order is cancelled.

On 23rd evening at 20:40, I get a dispatch notices and UPS tracking number. Cancelled - clearly not!

So I just checked the UPS tracking page today and what can I see:



Well yes it was indeed dispatched earlier at 17:15. No updates. Origin scan done way after the dispatch.

Annnnnd... UPS miserable failure "due to operating conditions, your package may be delayed".

Argh muppets! Now due to Easter here, I've got to wait until 29th of March at least for something I ordered on the 21st next day. But no, I need this today so I've got to hit the RS trade counter and then argue this later. FFFFFffff...

[daqq]

Funny, we have yet to have a problem with farnell - every order was there the next day.

[MrSlack]

Possibly but still a crap thing to do on a "next day" package. If I order from RS, they ship using the incumbent idiots that are Parcelforce who always deliver on the mark but have a 50% hit rate with either leaving it at the post office instead.

[XOIIO]

I know how you feel, though not from farnell/element 14, I have 5 packages that were supposed to be here by the 18th at latest (some a week before then), and there is still not a damn sign of them. Granted they are from china, I've never had any that late, but all the ones I've recently ordered have had bad delays. I'm stuck waiting on parts for two or three different projects with everything else set to go and it's driving me insane. 

[Towger]

I have had them cancel part of an order with no communications. When contacted their excuse was there couriers can no longer handle dangers products. A can of air or Ipa in this case. When asked why a XLR plug was also cancelled, I got no response. I also got no response from their complaint Web page.  I tried the air couple of months or so later and they had no problems. 

Again in this case I just re ordered from RS.

To be fair the above happened with the CPC flavour of Farnell, but their systems appear to be the same and I assume all the backend is the same.

[MrSlack]

Definitely same system as you can't register a user account with both with the same name.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I generally find Farnell and UPS to be fine, maybe one problem a year on an avarage of an order a week.

[Digibin]

Never had problems with Farnell or RS really, always very quick delivery.

Mouser and Digikey take longer to deliver. Mouser have even sent me the wrong parts before. The parts were labelled on the bag as the parts I ordered, but inside they were actually different. They were the same series but wrong spec so I didn't notice until I'd built up my board and started testing some weeks later. That was really annoying.

[bookaboo]

Never had problems with Farnell or RS really, always very quick delivery.

Mouser and Digikey take longer to deliver. Mouser have even sent me the wrong parts before. The parts were labelled on the bag as the parts I ordered, but inside they were actually different. They were the same series but wrong spec so I didn't notice until I'd built up my board and started testing some weeks later. That was really annoying.

I generally find Farnell and UPS to be fine, maybe one problem a year on an avarage of an order a week.

Likewise, of course murphy dictates which order the 1% delay will be the critical one.

[MrSlack]

Yep and this is the critical one... typical. First professional job in about 15 years and I get shafted at step 1 

[MrSlack]

Well the hopeless peons managed to bounce the package around the UK for a week then tried to deliver it while I was out. Instead of doing anything sensible like actually leaving it with a neighbour, they tried to dump it at the local UPS collection poiny (Londis dodgy shop) who were also closed so it's being returned to Farnell.

Fuuuuuuuuuuu... Muppets. Fired!

[gamalot]

Tonight I got this "Urgent Order Information" from Element14, I swear when I placed the order, all items were in stock and can be shipped immediately!!!   

Thank you for your recent purchase order which we have processed on the reference number listed above. Regrettably, some items required on your order are currently out of stock. The following items will be immediately despatched once we have receipt from our supplier

[MrSlack]

Infuriating isn't it!

RS from now on even if it's more expensive.

[rich]

Murphy always makes sure critical orders get delayed 

Did you choose the free 'Standard' next day delivery or pay for UPS Express?  I'm interested because I always thought that Standard was just best-effort with good statistics (e.g. >99% delivered next day) and Express had in-built guarantees/compensation - however I may be totally mis-remembering or confusing it with another distributer or courier.
 
My usual gripe with Farnell delivery is early evening orders, still before the 8pm cut off, sometimes don't get dispatched until the following day.

[MrSlack]

I didn't get to pick a carrier. Farnell shipped it via default next day. Usually turns up via royal mail but this was a bit heavier than my usual orders so they probably cut costs.

[SeanB]

Means that they had the parts in stock, but that some bigger volume customer wanted that stock, so you got dropped to the bottom of the pile till they restock whenever.

[FrankE]

I ordered from RS on Thursday and they sent it Parcelforce, though it could have gone small packet RM. Unfortunately although Royal Mail were delivering on Friday (not a public holiday here) Parcelforce weren't.

I placed an order yesterday well before 20:00. Though it was dispatched in time for the trunk the tracking ref number is as yet unrecognised.

We are currently unable to confirm the status of your parcel. Please check the number and try again. Please note that items sent over 4 months ago cannot be tracked online. If you are tracking a parcel sent from outside of the UK, we may not have received it yet. Please try again or visit our Help and Information pages.

Pfft, nuisance, I want to go out.

Edit
Perhaps they picked it locally or didn't scan at Corby so it made the overnight trunk.
30/3/2016   9:55   Aberdeen Depot   Out for delivery
30/3/2016   9:12   Aberdeen Depot   Prepared for delivery
30/3/2016   9:01   Aberdeen Depot   Received at delivery depot

[MrSlack]

Ironically it took less than 24 hours for my package to get back to Farnell. Dicks!

I've got to say it but the best supplier I've used is bitsbox.co.uk. No good for huge volume but always next day RM delivery.

Also eBay sellers are working out better than the big disties. Even the ones in China running drop shipping operations are better.

[NilByMouth]

My experience with Farnell CPC and UPS was that it took 3 attempts to get a components cabinet to me undamaged. The first box was ripped open and a scratch down the side of the cabinet. The second had a hole that looked like someone kicked it and the top of the cabinet was severely bent. The third was mostly okay but still a little bit bent at the bottom. I was told to keep the second for UPS to come and inspect and collect it - they never turned up so CPC told me to dispose of it. I managed to straighten it to make it usable so a win, but still very frustrating.

[mikeselectricstuff]

CPC have always been bad at packing.

[MrSlack]

CPC have always been bad at packing.

Yeah definitely. They sent me a Wisher breadboard in a massive box about 30x the volume of the breadboard. Incidentally it didn't fit flat or on end still so they just jammed it in the bottom of the box and bent all the packaging.

[MrSlack]

So I just called them up again and asked what the hell is going on. Received back at Leeds and signed in.

So I ask, so when am I going to get a credit back to my card for this?

"We're still processing stuff from the 22nd of March"

I understand people fuck up but to not resolve it quickly and efficiently is EOL for me. Farnell/Element 14/CPC are permanently added to my shitlist.

[MrSlack]

RS seem to have that covered. Plus I'm not adversed to hand winding the odd toroid

[SteveyG]

I generally find Farnell and UPS to be fine, maybe one problem a year on an avarage of an order a week.

You're lucky. I regularly get orders placed well before the cut-off delayed by a day or two, despite my account manager giving guarantees it won't happen again. I'd say I get delays 4 or 5 times a month 

[Koen]

Same as Mike, we order three times a week and only once a year are they late on delivery.