namehater

so i made an order on 2/21 with drs foster and smith. the order was for a new filter, a master test kit, and a hydor in-line 300w heater. well, i happened to catch the heater on sale, but was noted to be on backorder, with an expected date of 2/25.

i thought, no big deal, it will give me time to play with the filter. well, the 25th came and passed, i rechecked the website and now it shows an expected date of 3/5. i called them up and complained, getting me a $10 credit, NEXT time i make an order. i was satisfied with that, but now its 3/6 and the website shows date of 3/13....

i just got off the phone with them and the lady was semi-rude and told me theres already been a credit to my account and theres nothing more that she can do other than to cancel the item, which btw i havent paid for yet.

im pretty angry right now about the whole thing, mainly because i work in a warehouse and know how delays and all that work. theres no reason why a date should be pushed back multiple times, somebody is lying to somebody!

sorry about the rant, but i wanted to hear your thoughts on it, i think everytime they push the date back i should get compensated.

MissMTS

I understand how delays and backorders can be frustrating. I own my own business and I have to deal with orders a lot. Honestly, I have to say that it was nice of them to give you a $10 credit when you hadn't even purchased the item yet. I could understand being really angry if you had paid for the item and it was gauranteed to you by a certain date, but you haven't even paid for it yet. You could easily purchase it from somewhere else if you need it so quickly. However, also keep in mind that you don't know what is going on with their suppliers. Personally, I have had great experiences ordering from Drs. Foster and Smith, and I think that their customer service is superb.

mathas

You seem to be operating under the assumption that the delays are the choice of DFS. Why on earth should they continue to give you free credit every time their supplier has a problem? I'd be glad I got anything out of it, personally.

If you're not happy with the delay, cancel your order and purchase it elsewhere.

I checked MarineDepot and BigAls, both of which were also out of stock on the 300W ETH, so there seems to be a supply issue across the board right now. Again, how is this the fault of DFS? Also worth noting, BigAls has both a 200 and a 201 model, so Hydor could be in the middle of a product refresh.

Shawnie

delays can be frustrating for sure...especially for something like a filter...can you get another one? theres many to choose from ...but id be greatful for the $10 credit without even paying for the order yet!!!

namehater

the only reason i think i deserve something for each delay is that by them giving a date, i see that as a bit of a commitment. if its not in stone, they shouldnt post a date.

thanks for the opinions, i understand what everybody is saying. what really set me off is how rude the last customer service rep was. she basically gave me no compassion, instead gave me an ultimatum i felt, if i dont like the delay i can cancel the order, which isnt how customer service should be lol.

mathas

Last time I checked the DFS website (which was about 60 seconds ago ), when a product is on backorder the site explicitly says "Item on backorder. Expected in on...", not "Guaranteed by...".

I can certainly understand feeling irritated by a rude customer service rep, but that's not really a valid cause to expect free money when a product that you haven't even paid for yet happens to be out of stock.

namehater

i dont really feel like arguing with you about it, i just wanted to get it off my chest.

capekate

Its always frustrating when items are back ordered or orders get mixed up. I guess I can consider myself lucky that the order I recently placed with them on a Saturday arrived at my door the following friday.
I am guessing they were not going to charge for the item til it was shipped out.
As I said, it is very frustrating for sure and I would probably be upset as well if my order was messed up. Back orders are hard to calculate for sure, but for the most part at least with my experience in the past with Dr F & S, they were good ones.

Mike

I've had nothing but good experiences (knocking on wood) with DrsF&S. Decent prices, fast shipping and great customer service. There are lots of decent online retailers to shop from though. MarineDepot is right up there too as far as shipping and customer service goes (been my experience anyway).

aquarist48

I use Dr.s Foster and Smith as well and I'm very pleased. I've had to wait a time or two on back order but it eventually arrives. Too, I use thatfishplace.com. Another wonderful source for supplies.

sirdarksol

I know it's frustrating to have things like that happen, but I don't think anyone was lying to anyone. As the economy gets worse, it becomes less and less viable, business-wise, to ship small amounts of stuff to warehouses, especially when you're not dealing with perishables (which need to arrive in a timely manner, of course). The company that shipped the heaters likely didn't have enough stuff to make a shipment to DFS worthwhile.

What's more frustrating is when call center employees are rude without reason. That doesn't happen often at DFS (you'd be the second complaint I've heard about here), so it's likely that employee is going to change, either by being taught what is expected of her or by not working at DFS anymore.

galvatron3000

Sounds like bad customer service, unless you left out your asking for more money that is,lol.


Other than that, they've been great to me and very timely actually most of my items come a day before the expected date and I love that even if they do it on purpose which I know is done to exceed customer expectations, lol.

namehater

just to update the thread, my heater is still on backorder! im not angry with them anymore tho. i made another order, with yet another item being on backorder (why dont i learn...) i got the shipping info and it arrived on the correct day, then magically the next day i had a mysterious box on my porch. i had super high hopes that they had slipped me the heater, but it was the backordered item from the second order. kinda weird that they never contacted me with shipping info, but oh well.

i like DF&S again

catfishtabbi

Sorry, i placed orders that were on backorder and my card was charged but i was shipped the item free of additional shipiing and they shipped my order the same day i placed it.I will be even sorrier if i hear about them giving $ away for no cause and prices go up.