Croker
Established Member
Hello!
First off, sorry if this isn't the correct forum for such a thread, but I wasn't sure which one would be most suitable, and as a lot of forum users seem to source their HTPC parts from Scan, I decided that this would be the most appropriate. Mods, please feel free to move this somewhere more suitable (should such a place exist! )
Anyway, those of you who read my "Help me before my head melts!" thread here will be aware that I have recently been planning to build an HTPC. Having finalised the spec, I ordered all of the parts on Wednesday evening - basically everything except the case is coming (or rather, was coming) from Scan. Free delivery, too, thanks to the AVForums offer.
Although I placed the order on Wednesday night, I didn't get any confirmation emails, which I found unusual, as these things are usually sent automatically. A bit worried, I called Scan direct this morning to see if my order had gone through. The girl on the phone assured me that, as they only work from 09:00-17:30, the order would only just be getting processed. She was very helpful, and said I should get two emails, close together, but added that I should call back if I hadn't had them by 09:45 or so. Typically, as soon as I checked my email after getting off the phone, the emails she'd mentioned had arrived, so off I went to work.
I didn't get any more emails throughout the day, but presumed that I'd just get a "your order has been dispatched" email at about 6pm, or suchlike. Come approx. 7:30pm, I started to get a bit twitchy...you see, my mate is assembling the HTPC on my behalf, but can only do so this Saturday. He goes away on business after that, and won't be back for a month. Sadly, I don't trust my own "abilities" (an overstatement there if ever there was one!) to not destroy something expensive whilst assembling it.
Scan's website wasn't telling me anything else, either, other than that they'd taken payment for the items. At 8:15pm, I got this email:
"Please regard this email as a notification of delay in your order due to unexpected volumesin our warehouse...Your order has still been booked for a next working day delivery from the point of despatch and we will send further emails to confirm this."
To be honest, I knew I was taking a bit of a gamble ordering on Wednesday night and hoping for delivery by Saturday at the latest, but the company I've ordered the case from don't seem to have had any problems! That's beside the issue, though - there are two things about this situation that really stuck out like a sore thumb.
First of all, their excuse is so vague as to be ridiculous. "Unexpected volumes in our warehouse"? Unexpected volumes of what? Killer bees? Zombies? Porn? I'm assuming they actually mean that they've unexpectedly run out of stock of something I've ordered, but why not just say that, and even - shock horror! - tell me what it is that's out of stock?
Second, as of right now, every single item I ordered from Scan is showing as in stock on their website. When I ordered the stuff on Wednesday night, I even had to order the OEM version of the dual format drive I'd ordered, because the retail version that I wanted to buy was out of stock (and the OEM version was not only about £2 more than the retail bundle, but it then dropped in price after I ordered it to about £2 less than the retail bundle! Talk about unlucky!)
Something else struck me as odd, too. There was no-one there on Wednesday night to email me with confirmation of my order, because they don't work after 5:30pm, according to the girl on the phone. However, there was someone working there at 8:13pm tonight to email me to say that my order was delayed?? Make your minds up, eh?
So, has anyone else had HTPC kit delayed in a similar fashion when ordering from Scan? Can anyone else shed any light on potential reasons for the delay (seeing as the excuse used in the email is incredibly vague, and all the items I ordered are still showing as being in stock, some 3 hours after they emailed me to tell me that it would be delayed)?
Cheers!
PS: I've decided to call them first thing in the morning to see what the situation is. I'm prepared to drive to Bolton on Saturday morning (it's not that far from me, in Sunny Liverpool) to get the gear, provided it's either (a) all there or (b) something non-necessary is out of stock, e.g. the replacement case fans I ordered. Obviously, this isn't ideal, but I'll do it so I can get the HTPC assembled sharpish. I'll let you know how I get on - assuming anyone here cares, obviously!
First off, sorry if this isn't the correct forum for such a thread, but I wasn't sure which one would be most suitable, and as a lot of forum users seem to source their HTPC parts from Scan, I decided that this would be the most appropriate. Mods, please feel free to move this somewhere more suitable (should such a place exist! )
Anyway, those of you who read my "Help me before my head melts!" thread here will be aware that I have recently been planning to build an HTPC. Having finalised the spec, I ordered all of the parts on Wednesday evening - basically everything except the case is coming (or rather, was coming) from Scan. Free delivery, too, thanks to the AVForums offer.
Although I placed the order on Wednesday night, I didn't get any confirmation emails, which I found unusual, as these things are usually sent automatically. A bit worried, I called Scan direct this morning to see if my order had gone through. The girl on the phone assured me that, as they only work from 09:00-17:30, the order would only just be getting processed. She was very helpful, and said I should get two emails, close together, but added that I should call back if I hadn't had them by 09:45 or so. Typically, as soon as I checked my email after getting off the phone, the emails she'd mentioned had arrived, so off I went to work.
I didn't get any more emails throughout the day, but presumed that I'd just get a "your order has been dispatched" email at about 6pm, or suchlike. Come approx. 7:30pm, I started to get a bit twitchy...you see, my mate is assembling the HTPC on my behalf, but can only do so this Saturday. He goes away on business after that, and won't be back for a month. Sadly, I don't trust my own "abilities" (an overstatement there if ever there was one!) to not destroy something expensive whilst assembling it.
Scan's website wasn't telling me anything else, either, other than that they'd taken payment for the items. At 8:15pm, I got this email:
"Please regard this email as a notification of delay in your order due to unexpected volumesin our warehouse...Your order has still been booked for a next working day delivery from the point of despatch and we will send further emails to confirm this."
To be honest, I knew I was taking a bit of a gamble ordering on Wednesday night and hoping for delivery by Saturday at the latest, but the company I've ordered the case from don't seem to have had any problems! That's beside the issue, though - there are two things about this situation that really stuck out like a sore thumb.
First of all, their excuse is so vague as to be ridiculous. "Unexpected volumes in our warehouse"? Unexpected volumes of what? Killer bees? Zombies? Porn? I'm assuming they actually mean that they've unexpectedly run out of stock of something I've ordered, but why not just say that, and even - shock horror! - tell me what it is that's out of stock?
Second, as of right now, every single item I ordered from Scan is showing as in stock on their website. When I ordered the stuff on Wednesday night, I even had to order the OEM version of the dual format drive I'd ordered, because the retail version that I wanted to buy was out of stock (and the OEM version was not only about £2 more than the retail bundle, but it then dropped in price after I ordered it to about £2 less than the retail bundle! Talk about unlucky!)
Something else struck me as odd, too. There was no-one there on Wednesday night to email me with confirmation of my order, because they don't work after 5:30pm, according to the girl on the phone. However, there was someone working there at 8:13pm tonight to email me to say that my order was delayed?? Make your minds up, eh?
So, has anyone else had HTPC kit delayed in a similar fashion when ordering from Scan? Can anyone else shed any light on potential reasons for the delay (seeing as the excuse used in the email is incredibly vague, and all the items I ordered are still showing as being in stock, some 3 hours after they emailed me to tell me that it would be delayed)?
Cheers!
PS: I've decided to call them first thing in the morning to see what the situation is. I'm prepared to drive to Bolton on Saturday morning (it's not that far from me, in Sunny Liverpool) to get the gear, provided it's either (a) all there or (b) something non-necessary is out of stock, e.g. the replacement case fans I ordered. Obviously, this isn't ideal, but I'll do it so I can get the HTPC assembled sharpish. I'll let you know how I get on - assuming anyone here cares, obviously!
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