Adorama can't track their own stock?

I ordered a lens from Adorama on Sunday. Monday evening I received a notice that it was on backorder. However, even now you can still order the lens on their site without receiving any notice it is not in stock.

B&H is my usual choice for purchasing photography equipment with Adorama being a close second choice. In this case it was only a free UV filter for the lens, saving me ~$25 or so, that made me go with Adorama. However, if I had known they didn't even have the lens in stock I would have just gone with B&H. Fortunately I am not in a rush and can wait it out if I need to, but it is still rather annoying they can't keep their site up to date with their stock.

Actually the same has happen at BH, it is all about inventory. They system showed it was instock as I called them, when I went down there. The system still show instock. But once they looked for it, it was no where to be found. It actually happens with allot of companies, including amazon. Where the inventory does not match up. That is why they do a complete inventory every so often to get the system more updated.

Yeah, that happened to me a few times. Pretty annoying.

shoturtle wrote in post #11757554
Actually the same has happen at BH, it is all about inventory. They system showed it was instock as I called them, when I went down there. The system still show instock. But once they looked for it, it was no where to be found. It actually happens with allot of companies, including amazon. Where the inventory does not match up. That is why they do a complete inventory every so often to get the system more updated.

The difference here is that they apparently have known for at least 18 hours now that they have no stock and they still haven't updated their site which implies they have no intent to do so.

I have seen site updates take forever, with all the big companies. Hate to say it but that is normal with all retailer. Updates on the website, and the in store system to do not match up allot of time.

PS

This is comman to all retailer, not just photography.

It's common, but it can be fixed.

Amazon's website can tell you exactly how many of each item they have in stock.

yes they can, but I have order books form amazon, and gotten a notice that it was out of stock the next day.

For a large online retailer If from the time a stock guy knows something is out of stock to the time your website is updated takes more than 1 minute then you have a problem with your systems. 18 hours is entirely unacceptable.

For a mom-and-pop shop this is a different matter, but for a major retailer, it just erodes customer confidence and loses you sales when your competitors can do it better. It is well worth putting a little extra time, effort, and $$ to get this kind of system working right. Especially when much of your stock sells for thousands of dollars, not just tens or hundreds.

At least you got a notice, ordered a 1d Mk4 from beach camera and paid for next day air. Called and confirmed it would ship that day. 4 days later I was told it was never in stock.

Having done data inventory work for a large company, there is alot involved in getting that information from the database to the website. Our company did site updates once a week. If it was a big enough issue that say something was crazy under priced and word spread online we would force an update. I since left that company but it had happened enough that they switch it to once a night they update the site . It isnt as simple as clicking "back ordered" or out of stock.

I never liked Adorama, they did the same think with a cf card i order thru amazon. Never bought anything from them since.

Well it has happen to me with amazon, where they still listed the book as instock when it was out Sorry but I have seen it at many different online.

arentol wrote in post #11758171
For a large online retailer If from the time a stock guy knows something is out of stock to the time your website is updated takes more than 1 minute then you have a problem with your systems. 18 hours is entirely unacceptable.

For a mom-and-pop shop this is a different matter, but for a major retailer, it just erodes customer confidence and loses you sales when your competitors can do it better. It is well worth putting a little extra time, effort, and $$ to get this kind of system working right. Especially when much of your stock sells for thousands of dollars, not just tens or hundreds.

arentol wrote in post #11758171
For a large online retailer If from the time a stock guy knows something is out of stock to the time your website is updated takes more than 1 minute then you have a problem with your systems. 18 hours is entirely unacceptable.

For a mom-and-pop shop this is a different matter, but for a major retailer, it just erodes customer confidence and loses you sales when your competitors can do it better. It is well worth putting a little extra time, effort, and $$ to get this kind of system working right. Especially when much of your stock sells for thousands of dollars, not just tens or hundreds.

Really, it erodes consumer confidence? If it happens, just move on, either leave the order alone or cancel and go somewhere else. It is a much larger logistical nightmare than you make it out to be. There are too many human elements involved to make this bulletproof. And..... before the next comment is made that would logically follow that statement, be careful what you ask for.

I highly doubt the web site and the inventory controll program are connected that well. I know our here is not. It does not update all day. It updates once at 3 am. So if you have to get an item for someone standing at the counter for an exchange you are right away off by one as it technicaly was not sold. But the system will catch it at 3am. The same if we sell out of an item. The web showes nothing different till 3am. And I highly doubt there is someone who just sits there and updates the stock quantitys on the web site. So no, i agree, they probably have no intention to "fix" it.

Is it a pain, sure. Especially if you have a last minute job and need the equipment in the morning. But it is also just the way it is sometimes. Never buy from them again if you want, but soon you will be out of places to buy from. Everybody misses once in a while.