JUNEC

I wouldn't sell anything you don't have - back orders or short orders can cause real heartache & hard feelings

purrfectquilts

As a customer, this is the way I would prefer it.

Judith

I am an international customer so I do have some ideas about this. If it were me, I would contact the customer and ask about the shipping. Personally, I want to get what you have in stock right away! Similarly, I do not want to have to reorder a month down the road. However, since it is not the customer's fault (nor yours) that the items ordered were not in stock, how about splitting the cost of the second shipping with the customer. That way, each party gives a little but neither bear the entire cost themselves. Seems fair to me! Also, if the major part of the order was delayed perhaps the customer would be willing to wait for one shipment and thus both would save money. In that case, I think the customer would have to understand that,as a business, you would either need to charge for the whole order before it is shipped or charge a holding fee. A final idea is to note on your ordering page which fabrics are not presently in stock so that customers can make the decision about ordering up front. If they know a particular fabric is not in stock they can either substitute themselves or make their order knowing they have to wait!

amorerm

If these fabric are for the SAME project...I'd ask the customer what she wants to do. Wait until you have both. Suppose for some reason the second fabric doesn't come in. Then she has the one fabric without the other for the project. Smile.....I'm sure she will understand.

gaigai

They may be bigger, but they are certainly NOT better. I've ordered from you and HOP. I've placed three separate orders from HOP. I have never received a confirmatory email from them for any of the orders. One order was cancelled because the items were "sold out", but I wasn't informed until two weeks after the original order. The last order was sent as a partial order, some back-ordered items, and one item (a kit) that wasn't listed as either back-ordered, or no longer available. This also arrived two weeks after the original order. When I called HOP, I told them to just cancel the back-ordered items, and the customer-service (oxymoron) rep agreed to do so. Fifteen minutes later I got a phone call saying they were going to be charging me an extra $15.00 on the shipped items, because I had received a special deal on shipping for ordering more than xyz amount, but since the cancellation dropped that amount below xyz, the special shipping rate no longer applied. Frankly, I am DONE with HOP. And no, they don't get any wine!! But I digress....

Send an email to the customer explaining that some items are back-ordered, and will not be available until approximately XYZ date. Give them a deadline to reply to the email (say 5 business days) and say that if they don't respond by then, the on hand orders will be shipped and the others cancelled. In today's world, there isn't any reason why someone can't check their email in a week if they don't want to. If they are camping in BFE backwoods, then it's just their bad luck. And I would do like HOP does, and add a little bit to your shipping costs and offer the second shipment at half or discounted price for those who want the back-orders to remain.

hexagonquilter

I used to work for a company that would sometimes have to have back orders of their items. When we received the order we would give them the option of what to do with a BO. Send out when available or cancel. They had to decide at the time of placing the order. If they didn't give that info we would cancel and tell them so.

judykay

Is there a way to change the font color and size in the area where you would put the choices so the customer can't complain that they did not see the options. Sometimes when you order on line you do not look at the entire form so if you could change the location & color on the form for the shipping information it might make it a little more noticeable and hopefully it might make life a little easier for you. It sounds like you are really trying to be fair but you also have to think of yourself staying in business.

Just my idea for a tricky situation. Good Luck with what ever you decide to do. It is nice to hear there are still small shop owners trying hard to give everyone great customer service.

MaggieLou

I would send the customer an email asking whether to ship the whole order together when the backorder came in or ship what is in stock and ship the b/o later. I would also put in the email that if you don't hear from them within a given amount of time, say 10 days, the b/o would be cancelled. You can send an email with a read receipt and then you would know if they got your email.

BettyGee

I'm answering strickly from my point of view as a customer. If I ordered A and B and was advised that you could ship A now, but B is not coming in for an unknown time I would request that you send A now. You then advise me that there would be an additional shipping charge when B arrives. Personally if I wanted B bad enough to order it I would agree to the additional shipping charge. I would want to be kept informed throughout the entire order. If you knowingly offered B when it was not going to be available then I would be upset. If, however you advise that B is in a backordered status and I still want the fabric then it is my decision to wait and pay the extra shipping charge or ask you to delete B from my order.

As I do a great deal of business on the internet I do run into the backorder situation, or demand was greater than the supply, and must make the determination if I want the item sufficiently enough to warrant paying additional shipping. Nine times out of ten if I am kept advised by the vendor then I am willing to wait and pay the additional shipping as I understand it is a part of doing business. The only time I will get irate is if the vendor knowlingly "snows" me. That will end the relationship. Communication is key to good customer service.

misseva

You know what? All of you have just proved that people don't read. You all keep saying - send e-mail. The problem as stated is: sometimes they don't get their e-mails and shipper doesn't know and sometimes they just don't bother to respond. That's the problem. If they all responded the problem would be simple - pay extra or not?