Element 14 backorders that never arrive.

[SMdude]

So, how many of you order stuff from element 14 only to find that it goes to back order and never gets processed?

I ordered some parts over a month ago now that had to come from the UK warehouse.
Every other thing I ordered in that order has arrived except for the parts I actually wanted!
As I needed the parts, 3 days after I ordered I called up and was assured that they would arrive Friday. Friday came and went, monday, tuesday, made another call, they were going to call me back, never got the call back, 2 weeks have passed since then and nothing.

When I didn't get my call back to say that the parts were on their way, I found the part I needed from Digikey, ordered it, it arrived in 3 days.

And just to be funny, I ordered one of the part I am waiting for(I ordered 50 in the original order) in another order just to see and sure enough, it has arrived and the other 50 not.

This is not a one off thing, so many times I have had to ring up to get my parts moving. IMO there is something seriously wrong with their ordering system. I have moved a lot of my orders to arrow now days as they ship really fast and are reliable.

[Mangozac]

Yeah they're losing the plot over at Element14. Orders aren't even being processed same day now, since order processing has now been outsourced to Central Asia. Our account manager assures us it will be sorted out soon but it's taking longer than I had expected.

I agree they must be hemorrhaging customer to Digikey and Mouser - these days we're only ordering stuff from Element14 when we need it overnight (and if they continue they way they have been of late we won't even bother with that).

[OwO]

Yeah they're losing the plot over at Element14. Orders aren't even being processed same day now, since order processing has now been outsourced to West Asia.

Where is west asia?

[Mangozac]

Yeah they're losing the plot over at Element14. Orders aren't even being processed same day now, since order processing has now been outsourced to West Asia.

Where is west asia?

Sorry, I had meant to say Central Asia (i.e. India). West Asia is the Middle East.

[liteyear]

Same experience here. We regularly get assigned a new account manager, who we have to bring up to speed again. It seems their job is to manually stuff up something that should be automated. We also only use them for overnight stuff now, because if it takes any longer then we might never see it - occasionally a Element14 box turns up for some months old project and we just bin it.

The latest saga is a doozy, and might just be the nail in the coffin. Really disappointing, because I love to see some competition and aspects of Element14's service are category leading.

[digsys]

All I can add is ditto. One part now waiting 3 months, after being assured of 2-3 weeks. The final straw though was (I ONLY order ex-stock now as well) - site said 5-7 days, 200+ in stock ... placed the order, all good .. next day receive the confirmation - parts due 10-14 days, so rang up to cancel, I needed them in the time stated.
THEN got into an argument with the "idiot" support person - "No sir, when we say 5-7 days, that for transport time only, then there is "picking time", "customs clearance time", "release time" yadda yadda ... so I says "BULLSHIT ! It's never been like that - I've ALWAYS received items EXACTLY (or sooner) as per the listing" .. and that's the last 30 yrs !! Then he tells me I'm lying and he couldn't cancel the order, as it has already been sent ... "click"... well, it never arrived, so he did cancel it.
Got it in 3-4 days from Digikey I do try to support them ...

[SMdude]

For the back-order problem, when you call, insist on speaking with the orders manager Muhumad Ansaer as he is not currently aware of any problems with the orders system. However, if more people insist on speaking with him about it then he might realize that there is a problem! It has been going on for several years now.
While the people in sales can "fix" your order, they cannot fix the "problem" and that is why the orders manager is the one to speak to.

I'm glad a few more of you have noted the problem, otherwise I was going to have to take it personally!! 

[tooki]

I’ve never ordered from them, but their incompetence seems legendary. Their Swiss website is still borked as far as consumer orders. At one point, they allowed them. Then they stopped and forced consumers onto a “distributor” site that only carried a tiny (boring) fraction of the selection, at higher prices and without a usable parametric search. (Accomplished by using a JavaScript redirect to the distributor URL when you click “consumer” on the account signup page, which says “we sell only to registered companies with a VAT ID.”) Then the distributor site closed and simply said “consumers can now order directly on the Farnell site”. But you still can’t sign up, the redirect is still in place. Now the distributor site has gone completely offline (domain doesn’t resolve any more), but the redirect is still in place. I’ve done a chat with a representative, who said that it’s definitely a mistake that consumers can’t order directly now, and to cheat and just sign up a corporate account. She also said she’d report the problem with the signup page, but it’s been 2 weeks and nothing has changed.

The only reason I care in any way is because they’re the only active distributor of Pace soldering gear for Switzerland. (The only domestic Swiss distributor hasn’t updated their Pace product page for many years, still not even listing the ADS200.)

[ttt]

Another terrible experience here, ordered parts worth $700 using UPS 2nd day shipping. Warning signs popped up right at the start:

- Shipping cost and taxes could apparently not be calculated during checkout. Unbelievable that something like this is broken in 2019.
- They charged my credit card including the final shipping and taxes without my approval. Again not something I would expect in 2019.
- It took them 6 days to "process" my order, although they claimed the parts were in stock. 6 days turnover for an item in stock is unacceptable.
- I was never given a UPS tracking number. I had to contact customer service to get it. Their explanation: "Drop shipments do not include a tracking number". WTF, but you just gave me the tracking number?
- I received my parts 15 days after I ordered them.

Stuff I order on Aliexpress shows up faster and with better customer service.