Bgrigg
I deplore these kinds of threads, where an online merchant gets bad publicity without the means to rebut. There have been numerous posts about Lucky Model and ordering only those items that show as "in stock" as opposed to "available". In fact, Lucky Model has a policy page that states the difference:
3. Product Availability
The product availability estimate refers to the time it will take the item to leave our fulfillment center once you place your order. The product availability will be shown on each detailed product description screen. The product availability will show as:
In Stock
Available (available to order)
Backorder
Preorder
The listed availability might not be applicable for sudden increase in demand for an item. If any items in your order proved to be unavailable, we will inform you for details. All items from an order not in stock and with uncertain availability or discontinued items will not be backordered.
Your failure to read the policy of the online store you have chosen to order from is not the merchant's responsibility. You inquired about the delivery and they responded quickly and respectfully, and you resort to slandering them online using foul language. The consumer has a responsibility to fully understand their part of the process, which you have failed to do.
I have used Lucky Model many times, and they have been an excellent and economical source of models and supplies. I will happily continue to use and recommend them. And I don't have to resort to expletives to do so.
They're free to reply and rebut at anytime...certainly they have the means if they're doing business on the internet. If I were them, I'd be paying attention to what gets said on the various modeling boards...if they're not, that's their problem, and I'd take that as an indication that they're not all that concerned about it. I know for a fact that lots of vendors do keep up with the various discussion boards (including this one), and will often promptly reply to user complaints. I'm sure not going out of my way to offer them the opportunity by sending them a link, since they didn't extend me the courtesy of notifying me short of my inquiry that it would be 2 mos. to get my order, after taking my money for merchandise that isn't available to ship.
Two months is an absurdity, as is taking a customer's payment for items they don't have available for immediate shipment. Employing ambiguous terms in the ordering process, and expecting the customer to navigate rather arcane explanations about them before committing to an order isn't on the high-end of business practices IMO. It's just an example of a poorly-designed web ordering system.
As for my choice of language, you really need to get off your self-righteous high horse and get over it. My choice of language has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand, and if it offends your sensibilities please know that I don't particularly care or apologize for it, and don't intend to.
I will however comment on your choice of language, specifically the accusation of slander against LM. Like LuckyModel, if you're going to employ a language it's usually a good idea to know how, i.e. what words mean. In this case, slander isn't applicable since nothing I said was untrue. Dictionary.com is only a click away.
Their ordering system is rather byzantine, a description I've read others use (should have listened to them). Other vendors like SprueBros. don't employ this stupid gray area called "availability"...they either have it to ship immediately or don't, and they don't take your money if they don't have it to ship, or take it then fail to proactively notify you that it will take 2 mos. to get your order. I don't care if LM has a policy page explaining all this...the point is that it should be more straightforward, and they especially shouldn't be charging customers for merchandise they don't actually have in stock.
Getting back to the subject of language, it appears that you have failed to read and understand their policy within the current context, not to mention having failed to understand some basic terminology and definitions (from your quote above):
Available (available to order)
Backorder
Taking 2 mos. to fulfill an order is hardly making it "available"...that's a backorder. "Available to order" is a ridiculous nonsense concept and misleading. It's either available to ship, or it's not. Either they have it or they don't. If they don't have an inventory item in stock ready to ship that they normally carry, but have to order it from elsewhere, that's a backorder. Frankly I'm not sure their command of english is particularly accurate with regard to the definitions of these particular terms.
Also:
"The listed availability might not be applicable for sudden increase in
demand for an item. If any items in your order proved to be
unavailable, we will inform you for details. All items from an order
not in stock and with uncertain availability or discontinued items will
not be backordered."
O.K. so why would they notify you if it's "unavailable", but not notify you (short of you sending an email asking why they're taking so long to fill your order) that it would take months to get back in stock? And again, a 2 mo. window for shipment is not what I would consider "available"...that's a backorder, and it definitely doesn't qualify as anthing close to certain availability in my book, in terms of being actually available after I've paid for something. That's not me debating semantics, there are commonly-accpeted notions of what constitutes "available" and what is really a "backorder". This is sheer mystification on the part of the vendor, and arcane policies are not only needlessly confusing they're also usually a sign that the vendor is employing some possibly dubious business practices (as in the case here). Such policies are also more likely to result in miscommunication and misunderstandings...is that in their best interests? I would think not.
That anyone would actually defend this sort of policy and practice is just amazing to me, and indicates that some people just aren't as discerning in who they choose to do business with as others may be. If your experiences have been more positive than mine, well that's great. I'd say you've just been lucky (no pun intended), because I've read quite a few comments about the negative experiences in dealing with LM, in particular concerning their practice of charging customers for items they don't have available for immediate shipment, not to mention the frequently lengthy wait times. Oh, and they charge an extra 4% for PayPal transactions...that's the first time I've heard of (or more specifically dealt with) a vendor that did that, and I know SprueBros. mentions that some vendors do this on their site (they don't do that).
Should I have navigated the site more carefully to fully understand the ordering process and terms?
Maybe.
Or maybe it shouldn't have to be as byzantine as it is. Possibly someone ought to revisit a dictionary to understand what "available" and "backorder" actually mean in the business sense. Like perhaps this definition of backorder:
"An order that cannot be currently filled or shipped, but is requested nonetheless for when the item becomes available again."
I wouldn't have ordered from them had I scrutinzed their policies more carefully, and they would have lost a sale anyway because I need those paints in the near future...2 mos. is too long for me to wait and would hold up the progress of the project I need those paints for. So in this case, their policies would have worked against them had I more fully explored their system.
My point is it shouldn't and doesn't have to be that arcane and should be more straightforward, and they sure as hell shouldn't be taking money for stuff they don't have available for immediate shipment and then expect the customer to wait 2 friggin' months without even notifying them of such an eventuality short of an additional inquiry on the part of the customer, and then confusing the whole matter by employing language in their policies that's not appropriate for the context. Only after they took my money, and then after I sent an email asking why after more than a week the order was still "in progress" did they inform me about the order taking 2 mos. That's just bad communication. Maybe they should work on that. Doesn't really matter from my perspective, because I absolutely won' t deal with a company that takes customers' money for stuff they don't actually have available to ship when the order is placed, and then confuses the process with bad use of english that IMO is a deliberate mystification calculated for their benefit, not for the convenience and benefit of the customer.
Unfortunately, the Gunze Aqueous paints aren't being exported anymore and the overseas retailers appear to be the only ones that carry them (SB has them, but the selection is very limited because of the export issue).