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In Stock or Not


Frank Blank

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Please just file under general gripe. Just drove up to Northampton to drop a bass off and thought to myself on the way up that I’ll only be a 45 minute drive from Bass Direct (I know I’m going up on Monday but within a hours drive...) so I’ll pop and grab a HX Stomp, in stock after all, the website says so. As I reversed out of the traditional motorway service station bass drop off point I thought to myself that I’d best phone ahead and check. “Nope, awaiting stock”. Great, it’s still showing as ‘in stock’ 5hrs later despite being told on the phone that they were getting some in next week.

So I decided to drop in to Peach Guitars in Colchester, bit of a detour but roughly on the way home, after all they’re in stock, the website says so. Phoning ahead again, just in case, I’m told ‘No, sold out’ well, at least they’ve changed it now. 

So finally I phone Dawson’s in Reading, after all they’re in stock, the website says so. And for once the shop info matches the online info, two in stock, one on display, one unopened. I must admit during the 66 mile drive I wondered what I’d do if I got there and had been given incorrect info again. Luckily not and Dawson’s were spared my worse gentlemanly flounce, perhaps my monocle falling out in surprise. But anyway, in summary, an eight hour round trip and I’m now the proud owner of  a HX Stomp, steep learning curve ahead.

Edited by Frank Blank
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I had a Bass for sale in a well known London Bass shop for ages - they didn't sell it.

I took it back when I decided they weren't trying hard enough to sell it but they had it "for sale" on their website for months after, even though they didn't have it. Final ignominy was when they advertised it as "sold" which they hadn't.

They must have been too busy selling imaginary basses to update their website.

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9 hours ago, PJ-Bassist said:

I've been caught out by this a few times before learning my lesson.  Website reports in stock when they actually mean in stock but in our warehouse and not here at the store where you can actually look at it.

Think I read on here a while ago about Gear4music doing a similar thing, with ‘in stock’ sometimes meaning in the group stock, including Sweden! Bit of a trek from York for me ......

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Bass Direct's website appears rather old school, like each page is edited manually, rather than having it linked to a database that keeps track of what's in stock. It's fairly understandable, it's either a big investment in technology or a lot of manual work to keep stock levels on the website up to date. I'd only trust stock levels on websites from bigger companies like Thomann or Andertons.

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53 minutes ago, casapete said:

Think I read on here a while ago about Gear4music doing a similar thing, with ‘in stock’ sometimes meaning in the group stock, including Sweden! Bit of a trek from York for me ......

Yep that was me who found out the hard way... In stock’ basically means they know someone on the planet who can supply one for them. No idea what ‘out of stock’ means in this case, just imaginary equipment?

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5 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

To be fair to G4M they do state it’s not actually in the store, and the delivery time does reflect this if ordering on line DV247 are the same. 
 

I suppose, when you know where to look - I think they have a bit of an identity crisis between being an online shop or a bricks and mortar Argos type shop (if you've ever been there you'll know what I mean, you literally order on screen and an elf gets it from the warehouse while - u - wait)

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27 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Bass Direct's website appears rather old school, like each page is edited manually, rather than having it linked to a database that keeps track of what's in stock. It's fairly understandable, it's either a big investment in technology or a lot of manual work to keep stock levels on the website up to date. I'd only trust stock levels on websites from bigger companies like Thomann or Andertons.

I agree. I checked Dawsons website as I left the shop and it already had changed to one Stomp in stock, like you say, they have the tech to link their tills to the website so sold stock is instantly reflected in the stock levels online. I quite like Andertons website where it says underneath the stock ‘status’ it has a link called ‘what does this mean?’ which explains explains what is where and how long it is going to get to the shop. I suppose I should really have entitled this post Phone Before You Go Any Distance, which is something I imagine most people do anyway.

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18 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I had a Bass for sale in a well known London Bass shop for ages - they didn't sell it.

I took it back when I decided they weren't trying hard enough to sell it but they had it "for sale" on their website for months after, even though they didn't have it. Final ignominy was when they advertised it as "sold" which they hadn't.

They must have been too busy selling imaginary basses to update their website.

Similar ..

They had mine , but they put up 2 sets of identical photos, but each set had different prices. The same bass, but with 2 different prices. Weird.  Then, one of the set of photos was marked ' sold '  but it wasnt, when i checked.

I got my bass back after that.  Amateurs

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A certain musical retailer in Brighton is another offender, especially bass stuff. They have it, but in a warehouse, which they then won’t go and get for you. I now refuse to shop there. Anderton’s have a similar set up, but they will get the gear in the shop if you ask, plus their bass dept is way more impressive than the coastal crew.

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I think online stock levels still require a certain amount of manual intervention. 

Not bass related but I was after a kickboard for my kitchen from B&Q. My 4 local stores all had it in stock. I visited them all, after the second one I phoned ahead to the third one. Yes. They had one in stock. Finally it seems that the item I wanted was discontinued anyway.

 I doubt it’s done deliberately, except for PCWorld/Curry’s where they definitely stock extremely cheap PCs to get people into the store and then upsell, it’s just bad management of inventory.

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Luxury Brands don't fare any better.  I was trying to buy a Louis Vuitton bag and there was only one in the country in Birmingham according to phone calls and online inventory.  When my wife got there (we live in the SE) it was, of course, no-where to be found.

The really surprising thing was their lack of interest/concern.

Peace

Davo

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23 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

It's really easy to link stock control with EPOS, with no need for manual input.

Which makes me suspect that it’s done deliberately to get customers into the shop. 

I had exactly the same conversation practically word for word in two separate Currys stores. They really didn’t want to sell me the PC. Suggesting the next model up. Then checking stock to find that the 3 on the system didn’t exist and when I suggested I’d buy the one on display, both stores spent at least 15 minutes ‘looking for the boxes’ before deciding they couldn’t find them and on no account could they sell them without the box. 

The same happened with Bluetooth headphones in 3 stores. The £15 ones wouldn’t be suitable for me, then they couldn’t find any in the stock room.

I wonder how many people are upsold all sorts of things. 

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1 hour ago, TimR said:

Which makes me suspect that it’s done deliberately to get customers into the shop. 

I had exactly the same conversation practically word for word in two separate Currys stores. They really didn’t want to sell me the PC. Suggesting the next model up. Then checking stock to find that the 3 on the system didn’t exist and when I suggested I’d buy the one on display, both stores spent at least 15 minutes ‘looking for the boxes’ before deciding they couldn’t find them and on no account could they sell them without the box. 

The same happened with Bluetooth headphones in 3 stores. The £15 ones wouldn’t be suitable for me, then they couldn’t find any in the stock room.

I wonder how many people are upsold all sorts of things. 

Not quite the same thing with myself and Currys but still odd .

I saw a PC advertised with them online, and popped down to my local branch to buy one, to be told that was 'internet price' only. The store price was £50 more. They tried to make out they had only a couple in as well so I'd better not hang about. When I asked where the PC would be if I'd bought it online for store pickup, they said it would be from that location. Now I understand that some businesses operate separate online and store departments, but this was the same boxed PC from the same stock in the same store. Bit annoyed at this, I went back home, bought the PC online with Currys and opted for local instore collection. Half an hour later I returned to collect my item from the same store (with £50 in my back pocket), job done. Can't help thinking it was a sales ploy to maximise revenue.

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I'll always check how long the item will take to deliver - if it says "next day" then it's usually in stock, but if it's "3-5 days" or longer then it's probably at their suppliers and they're pretty confident that they can get one if you do actually order it

Andertons are my local shop and they are miles ahead with on line stock levels and managing where things need to be.  I've popped in before now to pick up something and been told to hang on while they send a minion to the warehouse to get it, and the website is very clear about whether the stock is in the shop or in the warehouse.  And there's no price difference.

I don't know if GAK have changed things yet (doesn't sound like it from some of the comments above) but a mate of mine has had issues with them not having stock in the shop that they have in the warehouse, and not matching prices, because (so they told him) the warehouse/on line shop is effectively run as a separate business

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12 hours ago, BreadBin said:

It's really easy to link stock control with EPOS, with no need for manual input.

 

12 hours ago, TimR said:

Which makes me suspect that it’s done deliberately to get customers into the shop. 

 

The Louis Vuitton bag scenario would guarentee that i'd never go back to that shop, if thats how they work

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