Why can’t Great Models and Lucky Model just SAY that the item is out of stock?? Instead, Great Models just doesn’t say anything and Lucky Model says apparently says “available”. It’s like a trick . I’m not a online ordering connaisseur. Perhaps the experienced orderer would know to look for the “in stock” message. But with no “out of stock” message, one fooled me into ordering, then the other did also.
First, I tried ordering Eduard PE color Luftwaffe seatbelts from Great Models. It didn’t say it was out of stock, so I went ahead and ordered. A few days later, I checked the accound and noticed that it said they were still “searching” for the item. I thought that was odd. I looked the item up again and it didn’t say it was out of stock. I searched for a kit I wanted and noticed on it that it say “in stock”. I contacted Great Models and they said that the seatbelts were out of stock and they would ship the order when the seatbelts came in. Grrrr… I then looked up Lucky Model. Low and behold, they had the seatbelts also and it said “available”. Plus they were slightly cheaper. I cancelled the order with Great Models. I was going out of town for a couple of weeks and have a Bf-109 that is ready for those belts. So even with their 7-11 day shipping, I figured I should have them when I got back.
Got home, no package. Grrr… I look up the account and it still hasn’t shipped!!! I look up the belts and they still say available. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, so I looked up a random kit. Sure enough, the damn thing said “In Stock”. Therefore, apparently “available” means something other than “in stock”. I would ASSUME that if available does not mean “in stock”, it would mean they could get it relatively soon and ship it to you. But I placed the order on July 13th, it is now July 28th and it still hasn’t shipped! When I look up my order status, it doesn’t even explain WHY it hasn’t been shipped. And to add insult to injury, they charged me on July 17th! Don’t most places wait to charge you until the freakin items are shipped?
Sorry for the rant. As you can tell, I was very disappointed when I got home today. I was really looking forward to continuing my work on my 109 when I got home. Now I don’t know when that will happen.
I know with greatmodels when you got to manufacturer search, you can check the box that says in stock items only. I don’t know if lucky models has the same thing.
If an item is in stock, the status will display “In stock”. If the item is out of stock, but available from their supplier, it will display “available”. Usually this means that your order will be held until they restock.
Yes, they do charge immediately on receipt of the order, BUT on the other hand, if it becomes necessary for them to split an order (ie partial delivery) there are no additional shipping charges for the partial deliveries.
I’ve ordered from them twice previously and have an order “in progress” (entered 2 nights ago) at the moment. So far I have no complaints about their service.
Phil - Are you sure they won’t charge extra? I had it where it would only ship if all the items were there, but then again, I thought all the items were there. I can still change it, but I don’t want to get charged more. I have an email in to them, but I don’t know if or when I’ll get an answer.
I know the feeling. I’m waiting for a particular paint so I can finish off the P-40 I’m building, and have had it backordered by two places so far. It’s tough to sit around and stare at my naked plastic model and know there’s nothing I can do about it except wait for the cirrect paint to arrive.
I guess I COULD start on another model, but he point is, I know how you feel.
Also, I’ve ordered from Lucky Model a few times and have had all positive experiences. I word of advice, having “been there, done that”, is don’t go the path of saving a buck or two with surface mail. When they say 9-12 weeks, they mean it.
Have you tried Sprue Bros. Models yet? They are the guys I go to when my LHS doesn’t have what I need.He updates his website daily with what he has on hand.If you go to look up something,when it comes up it will tell you how many are available that day.This might be a problem,say if there is only one package left of the item you need and you ordered it 3 hours after Joe Dude ordered the same thing.But overall Sprue Bros. are outstanding on service and availability.Just my [2c]
I know how do you feel…but in with this two stores I had satisfactory experiences.
Try this.
With great models (nice for me), only search items by “in stock” and only buy “in stock”. If the item don’t show anything, maybe this is out of stock. But when I buy "out of stock"item, I wait around two weeks and they get the item. In short the work fine for me.
With lucky models (a little more cheapper), it’s the same. In stock is “in stock”, avaible is “possible in stock”. I get from them 2 items “available” and only wait for a couple of days more. With them the answers from they support team by email is more faster than great models. They works fine for me.
I live in Panama, in central america, and the average for get my models in my hands from USA it’s arround 2 weeks, and from china it’s one week and half.
Plastic models, (a little expensive), only show the in stock items. and rolls models too.
According to a recent post from Raymond Chung (owner of Lucky Model) on Track-Link, they won’t charge for additional shipping if they need to split an order. See his explanation here,
[tup] I agree!! I have never had a problem with Sprue Bros! I usually get an email the same day I place the order letting me know that the order is boxed and here’s the tracking number. By late that night I usually know when UPS estimates the delivery. I believe that the only time I got that information the following day is when I ordered when it was late in the evening. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I don’t remember ever having a backorder either.
Sprue Bros is one of the best, fastest turn around of any mail order shop. My only gripe with Sprue Brothers is that I wish they would use better shipping boxes. Last two shipments were partialy crushed. No damage to contents, but the shipping boxes were flimsy compared to the ones Great Models or Squadron uses.
Welcome to the newest business model…“Just in time inventory.” All web-based warehouse merchants do it. I’m still a GM web store fan, but Sprue Brothers is highly recommended. Ow well, go work on a model and try to forget about it.[:D]
Squadron is also very good about back ordered items…I had an Osprey aircraft book on order that took a while to come in and they shipped the available items and then shipped the Osprey book at no extra charge. Their packing is also top-notch, too.
Like Dave23 posted, my experience, too, with Sprue Brothers was that they were fast and had product in stock. I ordered two Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat kits from them (a -B and -D) and they were quick to get to the house.
My experience with Roll Models was OK, no better than that. It took almost a month to get something, and they are not real clear about the lengthy shipping times until after you have committed to order. They seem to have a good inventory and decent prices, but the shipping time experience was very offputting for me.
I feel your pain! I have had similar poor service from GreatModels and RollModels. I ordered from RollModels on July 3 and it only supposed to be delivered today. It’s a good thing the items were nothing needed immediately.
I’ve had excellent service from Squadron - usually receiving any order within a week of the order date. I’ll have to give SprueBrothers a look - I’ve never been out to their site.
I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with Great Models. One was having an order on hold for 6 months! When they finally shipped I had long since forgotten the order and no longer needed it. The other was when I ordered 2 decal sheets. I was charged $8.00 shipping for EACH sheet, but they were shippied in the same envelope, thier cost…$1.75 total shipping…my cost, $16.00 shipping…[:(!]
That is why I quit using greatmodels.com I mean, if its out of stock, just say it, don’t let me order it and make me wait forever and a day cause you guys can’t get it in, then cancel it on me, that just doesn’t seem like a good way to do business to me. I use squadron and hobbylinc now, and I have never had a problem with either, and I have been ordering from them for quite awhile now. I think I still have an order in the “search” status at greatmodels, and its been 6 months, I mean c’mon!
Having my own webstore I maybe able to provide an explanation. You may not be aware of the this but most webstores don’t have the kits on the shelves. They relay orders to the manufacturer who ships the kits either to them, then they get sent to you or the manufacturer uses the ordering company’s labels to forward to you. This is done on an as needed basis.
There is no way for a company to accurately gauge how much of a new stock to keep on shelves. For instance today I received the other half of an order I placed to Hannants back in late April. The order was for two of the same kit. I rec’d one back in early May the other arrived today. Same kit. Most people would have cancelled the order but the facts are that it doesn’t pay for webstores to over order for any item. This is business as usual today in cyberspace. Now understand, Hannants stocks kits but the more popular subjects are what gets stocked because the move fast. Lesser selling subjects (such as biplanes and etc) get less shelf space to begin with.
For me its easy. I sell downloads and expanded subject discs along with the excess that I get from estate sales. The subject matter is kit reviews I do with intergrated images of the builds. My whole storage and work space is confined within a 10’ X 15’ X 8’ area of my basement. But I have over 140 items up for sale at any given time.
I’ve had good luck with Hobby Link Japan (www.hlj.com). They have good prices with the exchange rate and a color-coded listing of In-Stock, backordered, etc with a definition of how long it will take to come in if it is not physically in stock. I’ve also had good luck with Hobby Easy out of Hong Kong.
