More Info about Pink ATGs & i-rock Tool

OK, here we go again.

Let's start with the Pink ATG:
I just found out today that the vendor did NOT ship me every single Pink ATG that I ordered, even though I was told otherwise earlier in the week.  Apparently, once again, they are parceling them out to the rest of the retailers, so that they can fill yet ANOTHER order from the largest craft store chain in the country. GRRRRR!!  Yes, I KNOW I ordered a LOT of them, especially for a smaller retailer, but I really did expect to get ALL of them that I pre-ordered sooo long ago, but when I saw the final invoice for them today, it reflected most of them, but not all of them.  In addition, I've actually placed a few more orders for more Pink ATGs within the last couple weeks (including another one yesterday) because I've suddenly had another large amount or orders that have just come into me within the last week or two. Unfortunately, none of those additional orders that I placed will ship out to me until the vendor receives THEIR NEXT shipment from overseas, which they say they will receive by the end of this month (they say they should receive it by Aug.30th).  So, please know if you are placing orders now, or maybe even within the last couple weeks, there's a good chance that your order will not be shipped to you until I receive my next shipment from the vendor (after Aug. 30th).  All throughout this entire process, I have been as up-front as possible and have been sharing any and all information from the vendor/manufacturer as soon as I receive it.  I want to make sure that all of you know exactly what is happening with your orders. Please know that the moment I get these in my hands, they are going to start shipping out.  Any back-orders/pre-orders/re-orders are absolutely my #1 priority right now!!

Now, onto the i-rock Tool:

The majority of my back-orders for the i-rock Tool shipped out to me today. YIPPEE!!!!!  However, somehow part of my back-orders for the i-rock Tool got canceled & no one can tell me why or how that happened (Grrrrrrr!!), but I went ahead ordered that same amount of them again today, so hopefully those other ones will ship out to me tomorrow.  The good news is that even without the the ones that mysteriously got canceled, I still should have enough to fill all the back-orders out of the shipment that went out to me today.  But any new orders will be filled from the shipment that should go out tomorrow, (so it will be 1 or 2 more business days difference from all the rest of the i-rock orders).

This seems as good a time as any to also reiterate my philosophy about refunds for pre-orders/re-orders/back-orders.  Let me say it again LOUD and CLEAR, if there is a delay for products being delivered to me because of the manufacturer's inability to fulfill the orders, I would NEVER hang onto someone's hard-earned money if they needed to cancel.  I don't care if it's over 45 days, or 60 days or anything else (which are time frames that are guidelines within PayPal)--under these circumstances, I will cancel and refund a customer's order--no matter how long ago the transaction occurred.  And FYI, I am the ONLY one who will financially get hurt if it goes past a certain amount of days within PayPal and I end up issuing a refund, because when that happens (after a certain amount of time goes past the original transaction date) and I issue that refund in PayPal, I do NOT get a refund for the fees that are taken out of my Merchant account for that transaction.  But the customer will get refunded the full amount they paid on that transaction. 

I am always more than fair to all my customers; that is how I choose to run my business and it is the ONLY way I would ever want to do so.  The only thing I ever ask in return is for my customers to also be fair with me. 

This whole delay mess with the Pink ATGs as well as the i-rock Tool are NOT the first manufacturer's delays we've ever had and sadly, they will not be the last.  In fact, I fully expect that this is going to be more the "norm" going forward, especially since almost everything in our industry is now being manufactured overseas (mostly in China).  When a company/manufacturer sends their work to be done overseas, that means that in exchange for receiving less expensive costs to get that product manufactured, they are giving up the day to day "hands on" ability to shepard their products through the manufacturing process, which means they giving up control of that process to the manufacturing facility overseas.  So in effect, they no longer have complete control over what's going on with the manufacturing process of their product, so they may have had the best intentions when they gave us a deliver-by date, but then they end up as surprised as we are when the product is not completed or shipped by that date!!  And it's not as if they can just walk out on the floor of the plant and get things moving along, because that manufacturing facility is thousands and thousands of miles away in a country that operates on their own laws (not ours!), and their own processes.

It's really too bad for all of us, but it's the price we all pay for having the products we want having lower price points on them now than in the past.  It's what we, the buying public demand and what we now expect, so with that, we must understand that along with those lower prices also comes other costs, which are the delays and the unmet commitments that are now the norm for the manufacturing process of those products.

Which is why when you see new products posted here going forward, you will usually see me tacking on at least 2 more weeks as the expected shipping date over and above what the manufacturer tells us, so you might see other sites showing earlier expected delivery dates from mine.  I would much rather error on the side of caution and not have my customers be disapointed!!  And if things show up earlier or actually show up on time, I will ALWAYS ship them out as soon as they arrive here!!!!