Actually, the shocks arrived today. These are made in the UK and between the supplier's summer shutdown and two Hurricanes, shipping was delayed on a couple of different fronts.
The issue is that unlike an internet only parts seller - we take and fulfill orders via phone, email, walk-ins, supply retail customers (owners and independent shops) and our dealers. Finally, we also have a service department - currently with 40+ DeLoreans in for service. When our e-commerce and inventory management/order fulfillment systems were put in place in 2007 (!) there wasn't a cost-effective method (based on the size of our company) to interface the "offline" system with the "online" system. Solutions that have been presented to do so at this time are still very kludgy based on our legacy systems.
Unlike any other internet-based DeLorean parts sellers we have more than 3,500 different part numbers in a 40,000 square foot warehouse in total quantities that exceed 3,000,000 individual parts. Not a couple hundred parts/part numbers in the spare room or basement of our home.
Faster moving items are sometimes out of stock for a few days to a few weeks based on supplier lead times. Slower moving or DeLorean-specific items can take longer based on the fact that no DeLorean parts seller is ANY supplier's best customer. In many cases, we are fortunate that suppliers are even willing to deal in these low volume parts.
In the former, where faster moving items are temporarily out of stock, we leave it as showing "in stock" in order to give us a chance to contact the customer and explain the delay and then give them to option to cancel or accept a slower delivery time.
In the latter, where DeLorean-specific slower moving items are out of stock, we will *almost* always mark it as unavailable, as sometimes we may have a refurbished or "take-off" part that we can offer them that will suit their immediate need.
Sometimes regardless of how well we plan in order to avoid being out of stock based on historical sales levels, if a supplier has to find a place in their schedule to put our "small run" of parts, that may increase their lead time based on their other, larger, customers needs. A good example is the supplier from whom we just purchased 2,000 window switches (their minimum order!) - they had to fit us around their summer shutdown and find a small enough hole in their production schedule to change out the tooling for this small run of components.
Lastly, the service department here will take parts from inventory to put on a car - these parts become part of a "work in progress" that doesn't affect inventory levels until the complete job is invoiced. If a restoration takes 2-4 months or longer, that can really throw inventory counts out of whack, as well.
Earlier this year we entered into an agreement with a new software provider that tightly integrates "online" and "offline" orders with a new inventory management and order fulfillment solution. It also introduces a new solution for the 'work in progress" problem just discussed. This has great promise to resolve these issues that you describe as "live" inventory levels - potentially for Texas and other dealers - will be represented on the site. There are many other new features that we'll be rolling out as part of this including a "rewards" program that will be of interest to many, I expect.
The timeline for this roll-out was originally October 1st. The first warehouse-wide inventory of all the parts since literally 1983 (!) is underway now and that has delayed this implementation. If the final testing runs too much closer to November (and the holiday shopping season) we will push back the implementation until the first of the year 2018.
Please feel free to call (800-872-3621) or email me (
[email protected]) with questions.
I bought a bunch of parts from Delorean.com in January. They've yet to arrive...every time I call or email them, I'm told that they are "a few weeks away".
The parts I ordered STILL show as being available/in stock on their website.
I'm...more than a little frustrated.
I'm told that they will be delivered in "a few more weeks". I will update this post if/when they show up.
To Houston - if you don't have something in stock, at least mention on the website that it isn't in stock, and don't allow people to order it!