Strathwood problems?

[Dan Griffin]

Good evening. 
 
i am posting this in the hope it gets somewhere with Strathwood. 
 

i have been buying your books for years,  directly from you, and i placed an order (worth over £65) almost two weeks ago, monies taken and then nothing. 
I have messaged on here, to no response, and i have phoned the warehouse twice.
 

Yesterday on my second phone call i spoke to a very polite and apologetic lady who said one of the books on order was currently out of stock, fair enough, but she ensured me the rest would be sent via DPD for delivery today, as one book was a gift for someone else. 
 

i have had nothing, no parcel or dispatch email. 

In all the years i have bought from Strathwood this has to be the worst customer experience i’ve had. They are usually very good and fast delivery. 

Are there bigger issues going on at the warehouse? Or have i just copped an unlucky order? 
 

i do have a couple of questions though, 
firstly why promise a next day delivery if thats not going to happen, and second, why does the website allow books to be bought if they are not in stock?

 

i do still want what i have ordered but i feel like i’m going around in circles trying to get a straight answer.  

any update would be appreciated 

 

regards

 

dan

 

 

 

[AY Mod]

If you tag @Strathwood it will flag up that they've been mentioned.

[Dan Griffin]

10 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

If you tag @Strathwood it will flag up that they've been mentioned.

Thanks, i didn't know i could do that. 

[Strathwood]

Hello Daniel,

 

Firstly, apologies as I have been trying to get a short holiday in personally, in-between the public holidays that everyone else has been enjoying, I was forced to work during those holidays.

 

Now to your order and your public complaint that you feel we have given you, your worst customer experience. To be specific, you ordered during the Easter break on Sunday evening on 30th April, with our 3 for 2 offer for four books one of which had gone out of stock over that same Easter break which we did not realise until everyone had returned to work on Tuesday 2 May, after the public holiday. We then ordered replacement stocks which only came in I am told late on Friday 12th May, having disturbed one of our staff at home to enquire specially for you. The delay most likely again thanks to yet another long weekend in the middle for the coronation, most likely delaying the fold at Crecy in getting our order away and then through the courier network to us (they are normally very prompt it has to be said.

 

The polite staff member you spoke with in our warehouse obviously hoped that the out-of-stock title would have come in quicker, as we had promptly re-ordered fresh stock from the other publisher. As your order was within the 3 for 2 deal there is not enough margin to send out two parcels to you with FREE postage & packing and to give you a FREE book as well, I am afraid. So, although she was very polite as you say, she was wrong in saying you would get it next day as she could not be sure we would actually receive the replacement stock that day when you say you called us.

 

Although we carry over £850,000 worth of stock in our warehouse across over 1500+ lines, out of stock situations will always occur from time to time. As everyone is so used to our speedy turnaround, they quickly assume the worst (wrongly of course) if they do not get their order within a day or so. Yes, we do offer a next day shipping option for which we charge £6.95 (it actually costs much more that that as books once packed are very heavy). But in this case Daniel, we have given you both FREE postage & packing and a FREE book with an RRP of £28.95 for your £64.45 spend, surely not such a bad deal and worth waiting for?

 

So, to answer your questions publicly which you requested here on a forum not really suited to such matters for individual order tracking.

 

"Firstly, why promise a next day delivery if that's not going to happen, and second, why does the website allow books to be bought if they are not in stock?"

 

I have to accept your word that you were promised next day delivery (in the circumstances you shouldn't have been), secondly while we do have a computerised website linked to our stock control in the warehouse, this cannot take into account automatically those orders we get through the post after a long weekend (remember that as some of our thousands of customers still prefer to do their ordering by post or telephone, which we then process through our stock control system) therefore the website sometimes thinks we have copies in stock but once the mail is opened we then don't, if we get a run on particular title. Then because we have to order replacements from other publishers if it's not one of our own titles, we are at their mercy to get our orders away from their warehouse and through the couriers as fast as they can, all at a time when we get two consecutive four-day weeks to slow such matters down!

 

If this reply seems harsh I am sorry, but as it's a Saturday evening I normally work 60 to 70 hours a week to keep Strathwood's service second to none and this public open question gets flagged up to me by email, during a week when I was trying to grab some much needed time off, however you demanded a response Daniel as soon as possible so I have taken the time tonight to bring you just that, publicly in order that everyone can see we take everyone's orders very seriously at Strathwood right to the top of the company, even when the boss (yours truly) is supposed to be on holiday himself.

 

I am back to work starting at 7am on Monday Daniel, and I will personally see if we can get your order away complete by courier on Monday afternoon as I understand the stock has arrived thanks to making the call to disturb somebody else's weekend.

 

Is this really the worst customer experience? You have chosen a public forum to express yourself in, so I am doing everything I can to deal with it for you and making sure I am seen to do so publicly too.

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend Daniel, forgive me I am off to rejoin my family and to put my feet up again until early Monday morning if I may.

 

Kevin

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Strathwood

[Dan Griffin]

12 hours ago, Strathwood said:

 

 

Thank you for your response Kevin, however, it is unduly harsh in my opinion. 

 

The way money is these days, if you had placed an order for over £60, for anything, and then had no update, despite trying after 7 working days, twice, would you not enquire? I had started to assume the worst, but not of Strathwood, of the courier services who have a habit of leaving parcels in full view outside the house, or indeed as one did, leave it in a bin that was clearly out on collection day!

 

"the public holidays that everyone else has been enjoying, I was forced to work during those holidays." I too have worked all the recent holidays, 70+ hours a week,  Christmases included, so you have my sympathy there Kevin. i do appreciate the long hours company bosses put into their (your) work. 

 

regardless when i ordered, bank holidays aside, i still waited 7 working days before phoning the warehouse. it is not as if i have posted, or phoned the next day 'demanding' an update, A simply 'we are awaiting stock' explanation or email would have sufficed as an update. It was clear having spoken to your staff at the warehouse they were aware of the out of stock items from when they picked the order up, so would a simple email to that effect be possible?

 

"we have given you both FREE postage & packing and a FREE book with an RRP of £28.95 for your £64.45 spend," 

This really is not relevant as its not an offer you have given me personally, this is open to all customers. 

 

"to answer your questions publicly which you requested here"

writing a post on here was a last resort after going around in circles on the phone and after having sent a personally private message (since deleted as I have a 'public' response on here)  which was not in the public domain. As mentioned i was told by your staff they would send it next day, and as nothing had shown up, enquiries have to be made. 

 

"however you demanded a response Daniel as soon as possible"

This is wholly unfair and incorrect, if you read my initial post, at NO POINT have i demanded a response, what i actually said was 'any update would be appreciated'  

 

"Is this really the worst customer experience? You have chosen a public forum to express yourself in"

Yes, with Strathwood, this IS the worst experience i have had. Having been buying books directly from yourself, either via online, or when you used to attend shows over the past 15 or so years, this is the only time i have had no update on an order, or had to contact the warehouse number in enquire about an order after 7 working days. Again, you say i have chosen a public forum, but as a last resort after getting nowhere. 

 

Like i said in my initial post, an update was all that was needed, as one of the items was a gift for someone else. 

 

thank you for your thorough response, even though it does come across as slightly harsh.

 

I too am back at work at 7am Monday for a long spell of 12 hour days, lets hope our respective working weeks are as hassle free as possible. 

 

enjoy the rest of your weekend Kevin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roy Langridge]

To be fair, if you read the Strathwood website it states "Please allow up to 7 working days for dispatch during busy periods, delivery within 7 days of shipping." - so delivery should be within 14 working days.

 

I concur with Kevin that your public statement was OTT for the situation, could you not have simply asked if anybody has had delivery problems with Strathwood recently?  

Roy

Edited May 16, 2023 by Roy Langridge