I don't understand this shipping process

[Shay Carriere]

I've been waiting patiently for a camera for more than a year, and a month ago I finally paid for my order and eagerly anticipated it's delivery.

RED sent the first shipment, which included the Red touch, EF mount, and Mini-mags, and it was a huge pain to get it through Canada Customs, moreso because RED sent the completely wrong shipping paperwork which made it look like it was a $120,000 order.

So, I contacted my rep and said why don't you just wait until all pieces are ready and send the remaining order at once, since we were waiting on a V-Lock expander.

Today, I get an email from the rep saying that while the item I was waiting for is now available, they had given MY camera body away in a different order as well as a PL Mount and additional accessories!

And that since I had requested that my order be shipped at once, I had to wait until this magical moment when the stars align, and they have each item available and in stock, otherwise they would just keep giving pieces of my order away to other customers!

Is this not an insane way to deal with the shipping process for a customer who has paid for their order in full?
I could theoretically never receive my order because they don't have all the pieces at once!

I don't know what to do... I can't reach my bomb squad reps, and I feel really frustrated right now....

 

[Brent Carter]

Shay, this does not sound right. Let me look into it...

But, yes, "ship complete" means when everything is in stock. Hence, we default to partial shipments. Otherwise, if we "held" some allocated items until we had the final piece of a ship complete order, we would have a ton of inventory tied up and waiting, instead of going out to customers.

/later on/

Shay, I looked into this with our sales manager. You are 100% percent correct that there was a paperwork error in your shipment and I apologize for that snafu.

As to not being able to get ahold of your rep, I am checking the logs and see communication between you and your rep (Johnny) both this past Friday and today before your post. Actually, Johnny is home with the flu and still replying. I assume you mean via voicemail, which is understandable since he is out of the office. Please always feel free to give our main line a call if your rep is out of the office if you need an urgent update.

Lastly, I am glad to see Johnny's reply as to ship complete versus partial reinforced my comments above. One of the reasons a vast majority of folks choose partial shipments, but I can understand how the paperwork error made you leery. Please feel free to PM me if I am incorrect on any of the above.

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

But, yes, "ship complete" means when everything is in stock. Hence, we default to partial shipments. Otherwise, if we "held" some allocated items until we had the final piece of a ship complete order, we would have a ton of inventory tied up and waiting, instead of going out to customers.

Brent, RED, I have no horse in this race but you should definitely NOT send someones camera out to someone else with all the frustration and waiting going on.

The inventory would be waiting—yes, but not tied up. It's already sold to someone and that person is just waiting for the remaining items to arrive. If you're not prepared to handle the logistics of keeping his box until it's complete you should just send it without offering any other options. (without adding costs to the customer, but I guess it already works this way).

The way it works now, it sounds like there is always a risk of something not being 'in'. What once WAS 'in' might be gone when what was previously missing is 'in'. Makes zero sense to me.