Archery shops - Are they taking the mick? (Online orders)

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
In truth, no. I just told them it was unacceptable & they'd never get my custom.

With the odd added expletive.

I did find similar pricing to you when I checked the only other shop which lists the Shibby fibres though.

Figured it wasn't worth worrying about on a Saturday night anyway, as sod-all will happen til Monday or Tuesday anyway, and it isn't a rush job, just a wee mod I'm thinking of having a go at.

Incidentally, if Clickers did the Shibby fibres, postage would be £1.92 which to me is reasonable. A Shibby DX button from them would be £3.36 P&P. Proves to me that some shops are just taking the mick.
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
Maybe the Decut button comes in chunky packaging. Like a big plastic bubble. It doesn't take much change in thickness to jump into the parcel pricing ranges.
 

Finch

Member
So, I am not going to name names, but in my last "blog" post I mentioned I was looking for new limbs. Well, I found some in a UK based online (they have bricks and mortar too) shop and the listing said "Available". When I checked other products they would say either "available" or "special order". These limbs were shown as available.

Fantastic I thought and I placed the order, along with a new armguard to get me over £100 for free shipping. They took my money. Confirmed that they had accepted my payment.

That was Wednesday 09 October. I have heard NOTHING since. No phone calls, no emails, nothing.

I need these limbs so that I can shoot as my current limbs are too heavy and I am not shooting. I have a comp on 03 November and I need a working setup.

I am going to phone them today and see what they say and I may well suggest they stick their limbs where the sun don't shine. I will then do what I should have done in the first place and go to the local bricks and mortar.
 

Timid Toad

Moderator
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Ironman
That was last Wednesday...so two working days plus Saturday and the courier/postal service isn't fast enough for you?
 

Finch

Member
That was last Wednesday...so two working days plus Saturday and the courier/postal service isn't fast enough for you?
I have no problem with waiting for the stuff to arrive, but I have had no communication at all from the company on the status of my order. I don't know if they have the stock (the website just says "available"), or they are waiting for a shipment from their supplier, whether they are waiting for a courier/postal service (both of whom (DPD in this case) email updates or if my order has been lost in translation.

Perhaps we have been spoiled by the likes of eBay and Amazon and our expectations need to be managed better.
 

Finch

Member
That was last Wednesday...so two working days plus Saturday and the courier/postal service isn't fast enough for you?
As a serious question, what would you guys think is a reasonable time to wait before contacting a company about your online order? I am genuinely interested because I have no idea what to do right now.

I can wait as it's (obviously) not life or death but I currently see no point in going to the club on a Wednesday or a Friday as I have nothing to shoot.
 

brman

Member
As a serious question, what would you guys think is a reasonable time to wait before contacting a company about your online order? I am genuinely interested because I have no idea what to do right now.

I can wait as it's (obviously) not life or death but I currently see no point in going to the club on a Wednesday or a Friday as I have nothing to shoot.
A good question and one I have asked myself a few times. From general online shopping is that more than a couple of days without communication is unusual and starts to get me concerned. However with archery supplies it would appear 3 or 4 days is not unusual and often the parts arrive without any communication beforehand. Whether that is ok or not is down to individuals but, as I think I said earlier, we can always vote with our feet......

It does appear it is a matter of attitude rather than capability though. I have had orders from large archery suppliers that get good status updates. Some from other large suppliers that are poor at communication but the smaller ones I have used so far have all been good.
Best being from Shire Archery where Trevor fixed a problem I had with my order (caused by me! ) on a sunday night, while he was on a break in the highlands! Ref my comments about voting with our feet - you can guess where I will be ordering my arrow shafts etc from in the future! ;)
 

Finch

Member
Well, just as an update, in the last 10 minutes I have received an email from the supplier saying that my items have been shipped.
 

Timid Toad

Moderator
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Ironman
I'm not sure I want archery shops to work like Amazon - where staff are expected to be faceless unthinking robots and are appallingly paid, and the company doesn't pay it's taxes where it makes it's profits - in order for me to know my order is on it's way a day earlier.
 

Finch

Member
I'm not sure I want archery shops to work like Amazon - where staff are expected to be faceless unthinking robots and are appallingly paid, and the company doesn't pay it's taxes where it makes it's profits - in order for me to know my order is on it's way a day earlier.
I have no problem with that. So, to repeat my previous question:

What would you think is a reasonable time to wait before contacting a company about your online order?
 

Emmadragon

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
Depends - there's one supplier I use where I know that it takes a phone call from me to get the order moving, so I generally wait no more than a week for that one, and I'm in the middle of a query cycle with an ebay seller at the moment where I've received the goods, but a small part was damaged, and I can only assume that the shop (and it is an archery shop) manager is frightened to call me, because he simply isn't answering the messages I'm leaving with the nice shop girl who's answering the phone. For most archery suppliers I use, the goods have normally arrived around the same time I'm starting to think about calling. So, 4 days, maybe for those ones.
 

malbro

Instinctive Archer
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
I have bought a lot of items online recently and if I haven't heard anything at all tend to check within 7 days otherwise I tend to rely on their responses for delivery dates and only check if they are late.
I ordered a set of wooden arrows with custom feathers and matched in weight on the 4th of this month, I had an email on the 8th to say he was swamped with orders and there would be a small delay, and an email on the 10th to say they were dispatched. They arrived this morning. and needless to say I will certainly be using them again with that type of service.
 

Finch

Member
Thanks for your input folks.

Emmadragon - I was going to chase this afternoon after work that's 4 working days (total) plus Saturday so, we're about the same. Thankfully they dispatched them this morning and I have just had an email from UPS that they will be delivered tomorrow.

Malbro - That's some cracking service. As I said, I have no problem with waiting for something but some form of communication is nice.
 

LionOfNarnia

Supporter
Supporter
To add to the previous bit on postage charges for the Decut ZX229 plunger:

My fave shop charges £2.50 (large letter) whereas the shop I didn't mention ;) charges £8.50 - Can we agree that some shops are very definitely taking the mick when it comes to these charges?

************************************

Would summarising our collective criticisms on this whole issue thus be acceptable?

1) More honest advertising of 'availability'

2) Better communication of order status

3) P&P charges - see above
 

malbro

Instinctive Archer
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
I paid £5.00 for delivery of 12 wooden arrows, arrived via Hermes packed in a very stiff cardboard tube (about 30" long), dispatched Friday arrived Monday so two working days, £8.50 for a plunger seems steep in comparison.
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
I'm not sure I want archery shops to work like Amazon - where staff are expected to be faceless unthinking robots and are appallingly paid, and the company doesn't pay it's taxes where it makes it's profits - in order for me to know my order is on it's way a day earlier.
I've heard that some of their jobs are pretty well paid but mind numbingly boring. Hence a high turnover.
 

Emmadragon

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
To defend the charges a little (but not a lot) - I can use two different post offices on my way home from work. One of them will try his darned-est to squeeze anything through as a large letter, while the other one just treats anything fatter than an empty jiffy bag as a parcel...guess which one gets my custom? It can make a substantial difference in the postage costs, so maybe the archery shop with no name has a slightly lazy postmaster...but I wouldn't expect to pay £8.50 for a plunger.
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
To defend the charges a little (but not a lot) - I can use two different post offices on my way home from work. One of them will try his darned-est to squeeze anything through as a large letter, while the other one just treats anything fatter than an empty jiffy bag as a parcel...guess which one gets my custom? It can make a substantial difference in the postage costs, so maybe the archery shop with no name has a slightly lazy postmaster...but I wouldn't expect to pay £8.50 for a plunger.
Apparently they get charged the extra if they put it through as one thing and the central depot or whatever disagrees. I do find that some try harder than others to get a package through the slot in the gauge though.
 
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