Forum

[steve hunt]

Hi,all on 31 July I ordered some bits from our hosts just after lunch, I then ordered some piston rings for a bsa b40 from another supplier no names etc the enfield parts fell on the mat next day the first august.no sine of piston rings, I rang the supplier on tues the fourth to chase them up and was told they may come thro dispatch today or tomorrow. Is it me or am I expecting too much of them.What do you think. steve

[Chris [Stockport]]

Over the years,I've often allocated a weekend to do various jobs... so, ordering in parts ready, from a number of suppliers for car, house and bikes. Ordered at the same time but virtually always Hitchcocks are there the next day and without excuses/reasons why they can't do it. Others, less so.

I think it's what you said..... a lot of people sort of expect a delay. I know sometimes at work I get confused when someone asks me to do something, so I start and they say Oh, I didn't mean now... So I think, should I spend my time making lists of things to do? In fact I tend not to make the list and just do it which I find much simpler. Can't stand paperwork ; (

[Scalyback]

The site says it's in stock, you order it, they go select it, pack it, send it, it arrives next day. (uk mainland, longer to France)



Simple but unfortunately becoming more and more rare as 'other suppliers' seem to have a multi day delay built in automatically, even for one item that they could go get off the shelf and bung in the post.

I can't guarantee it of course, but my experience says, "Order it thursday, expect it friday, have it on your bike ready for Saturday morning!

[papasmurf]

I rarely have problems with delays to mail order, however I did have long delays on two deliveries from China, but both stated at the outset the delivery time would be a month to six weeks.
One was a special tool, which was obviously hand made on a forge and has a wooden handle turned on a small pole lathe.
A thing of beauty and fits the hand like only hand made tools can.
I needed that to help me make a deer skull and antler head-dress which I had to cut the jaw off and attach to a Swedish tank drivers helmet. (Don't even bother to ask.)
The other was 10 screw together brass "rivets" I needed to strengthen the buckle attachments on a cheap leather tool roll I usually carry strapped on the back of the Enfield.

[Chris Tindal]

Successful businesses understand the needs of customers and make this a priority. Its a simple business model that Hitchcocks is very good at. Large stock range, friendly service, rapid postage, keeping peoples bikes on the road, happy customers, good reputation, repeat business. Unfortunately many other companies don't get it.

[Adam]

I believe that many of the suppliers out there carry little or NO stock but get sufficient orders that they can get ‘bulk’ discounts from their suppliers. The supplier that you ordered your B40 rings from probably had to wait for a certain number of ring sets to be ordered on him before he qualified for his discount and placed his order on his wholesaler. Good news for your supplier in as much as you (and others) had to pay for the goods before he himself had to pay for them. Nice work if you can get it. Posted by Adam.

[Adam]

... Or that he needed to reach a certain gross value before getting his discount. Posted by Adam

[Nettshubby]

Evev if you go to the shop to buy a part, they usually don't have it in stock and have to order it in. Then it becomes a "special" order and you have to pay up front for it and can't return it if you decide you didn't need it after all. I recently went to a local bike shop to buy a bar end mirror to fit on the other end of the bars on my Enfield. The guy there hunted through his catalogues to find it, and said if I wanted it quickly it would go in as a special order, but pay delivery charge or I could wait a few days and have it delivered as part of a normal order and pay only for the item. At least he explained and gave me the choice! And it came through in about 3 days.

[Exile]

I'm at the mercy of the postal system over here in Denmark. Our system has been better.. Even so, parts arrive within days. I know they are shipped the same day as I order (and weel done H's for that!) but really it is the carriers and/or postal system that should get the credit (or the hammer). Once it's out of the warehouse the suppliers have little or no influence on delivery times.

[jefrs]

I made a phone call to H around 4 o'clock hours p.m. and received the goods first post the next morning.


Wow!


What's not to like?