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Road test hardware delays

dwinhold

Has there been anyone else who hasn't received all their order for road tests? I am still waiting for very important items for the "In the Air Challenge". I am being held up by not receiving everything, I will probably have to go and buy it myself in order to make the deadline.

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  • So I called Newark/Element14 about the delay and they told me the item is discontinued and they canceled my order. They told me that I can't request a substitute, only the one who placed the order can. I am a little concerned that they never informed me of this cancellation, my packing list only says back ordered. I have notified Christian, but I hate to bother him as he is very busy already. I am a bit disappointed.

  • in reply to dwinhold

    Dale

    That is a shame.

     

    It must be so frustrating for Christian and the others setting up these challenges.

     

     

    Mark

  • in reply to mcb1

    I do feel real bad for Christian, and hated to bother him. Newark/Element14 gave me no choice, I wish it didn't come to this unnecessary hassle for him.

  • in reply to dwinhold

    Dale, you got me curious about my order, so I checked the availability of one big ticket item on my list. Sure enough, the available stock is ZERO! When I ordered this 2 months ago, there was available stock and now the website says there won't be any more until the 23rd of February!!!

     

    Here is the item:

    http://www.newark.com/gw-instek/sfg-1013/dds-function-gen-w-display-1-ch/dp/44P2841?ost=44P2841

     

    I ordered it to test my particle counter ...

    I'm speechless.

  • in reply to mcb1

    Hi Mark (and everyone who commented here),

     

    Thanks for your understanding - and patience for those of you still waiting on products to be shipped.  As most of you mentioned that some of these delays are unfortunately out of our immediate control, but would love to hear how we can improve communications to you about delays and status of shipments. 

     

    How about a product tracker here on the Community that you could follow for the latest status of shipped products from RoadTests (and Design Challenges)?  Would this help ease frustration at all?  Do you have other ideas of what we could do to help ease the frustration (besides, being able to ship and get you the products?)

     

    Again, thanks so much for your feedback and understanding.

  • in reply to nlarson

    Nicole

    For some of the RoadTests the products are special and not available elsewhere.

    You are pretty much stuck with the Newark distribution along with the UPS issues.

     

    I've personally had mixed results from UPS on their delivery notices, so perhaps there is a discussion required with UPS.

    Lately there has been a lot of challenges, and hence a large amount of logisitics, so maybe if one person at Newark was the contact, then it would take the pressure off Christian.

     

     

    If the parts are available at the local element14 distributor, then supplying from them overcomes customs, delays and all sorts of other supply issues.

    For the Forget Me Not challenge, the Australian office was extremely helpful and very accommodating, even sourcing from another distribtion centre.

     

    Mark

  • in reply to nlarson

    Nicole,

    I do think letting participants know when shipments have been dispatched and if there are delays could improve things. It's not uncommon to see multiple members asking questions along the lines of "any updates?", or "have these shipped yet?"

     

    From my own involvement with road-tests, I can report I received the "UPS Ship Notification" emails quite a few days after the packages have actually been picked up by UPS.

    Also, I have had the unfortunate experience of twice having Element14 packages stuck at UPS for over a month while local import duties were unpaid, even though the paperwork should have been filled out at the Element14 (Newark) side to cover the charges. In the last instance, I ended up just paying the ~$500 fees myself, as I couldn't get any traction.

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  • in reply to nlarson

    Nicole,

    I do think letting participants know when shipments have been dispatched and if there are delays could improve things. It's not uncommon to see multiple members asking questions along the lines of "any updates?", or "have these shipped yet?"

     

    From my own involvement with road-tests, I can report I received the "UPS Ship Notification" emails quite a few days after the packages have actually been picked up by UPS.

    Also, I have had the unfortunate experience of twice having Element14 packages stuck at UPS for over a month while local import duties were unpaid, even though the paperwork should have been filled out at the Element14 (Newark) side to cover the charges. In the last instance, I ended up just paying the ~$500 fees myself, as I couldn't get any traction.

Children
  • in reply to tekmeister

    Yup, most times I also just pay the duties my self and work something out afterwards with Christian if needed, often I will just absorb the cost of duty and brokerage as the gear is really useful to me and the small (relative to the cost of the gear) fee is worth it to have the gear but this does not happen too often and is often a factor of where the gear is coming from (I'm not talking in or out of Canada, but which E14 or Vendor office) often will be the decider as they seem to fill out the paperwork differently

  • in reply to tekmeister

    even though the paperwork should have been filled out at the Element14 (Newark) side to cover the charges

    Found that out too ....

    It seems the NZ brokers use different phrases than UPS in America.

     

    It also seems that UPS has no centralised system for the broker to check the paperwork, which should show that information... image

     

    I'm just glad we live in an age where Technology is helping us ....image

     

     

     

    Mark