InkjetArt warning

[Ed Richards]

This is just a warning for those buying from InkjetArt. I have generally been pleased with their service, but I just found a problem with the inventory control. For stuff that is drop shipped, they will indicate that it is in inventory, but they actually have no idea of whether their shipper has it, and no way to check. So if you need something from them in a defined timeframe, watch out.

Anyone know of a dealer with Harman Glossy in stock?

[Donald Miller]

Tempe Camera (Az) had it a week ago...you might check with them.

[John Brady]

Hi Ed,
Try www.climaxdigital.com for Harman.
jb
____________________
www.timeandlight.com

[fstop]

I grabbed some sheets from Calumet but am having a hard time finding 24" rolls.

[Greg Lockrey]

Hi Ed,
Try www.climaxdigital.com for Harman.
jb
____________________
www.timeandlight.com

I second climaxdigital. I recieved an order for 17x25" from them about a week ago.

[Kirk Gittings]

I was wondering what was going on over there. I had some poorly boxed paper packages show up with dinged corners into the paper. It didn't effect the actual prints as they were a bit smaller than the apper size, and I had to use it anyway as I was up against a deadline, but subsequent inquiries went completely ignored.

[chrisbair]

Actually, I don't "run the place now" - my job is technical support, making sure the phones work and keeping the website running (on occasion I take sales calls when the other sales people are busy) among other things.

Kirk: sorry about the dinged corners - your message from Oct 11th was passed on to the shipping department and the returns department. I don't know why they never responded - I suspect they took it as more of an informative message that they didn't need to reply to. If you'd like I can have our returns lady contact you.

Van: I have yet to achieve incontinence, though I do still have my two youngest children in diapers.

Dakotah: you know as well as I do that's not what was said. If you'd like I'll look for your caller ID and when asked a question I'll lie and make up answers rather than telling you the truth, I know some dealers do that. I don't have a background in photography - though the broken-now-fixed D70s I picked up is changing that somewhat, my darkroom experience will only ever be limited to making making plates for an ABDick press. I suspect if you look back at the actual questions and answers of that conversation we probably started out with questions about your printer and using papers - maybe you were even experiencing clogging issues or something. You likely then asked something about, I dunno, how a certain paper corresponds to a darkroom process and I said that unfortunately I don't have a photographic background so I couldn't answer that.

Other people here *do* have a background in photography, but if I didn't offer to get you down to them it's likely because I understood that the question wasn't terribly important to you and was more of a "hey by the way" - I can say for certain since I don't have a recording of whenever this conversation took place.

Ed: now for the real issue at hand - availability of dropship items. Looks like you've ordered quite a few sizes of the Harman Glossy now that your question about the paper color has been resolved. The first time you ordered the 17x25 we did have it in stock - looks like it shipped out the same day you ordered. When you ordered it on Nov 2nd it looks like we were out of stock on the 17x25. There are a few issues: although the website did (and still does) indicate it is a dropship item - it's not supposed to be. When we very first start carrying an item we usually wait until we have it before putting it on the web but with the Harman Glossy everyone was clamoring for it before the manufacturer woke up and stated shipping. We put the glossy up on the web site as "dropship" - there was a breakdown in communication though: the purchasing department is tasked with making sure that flag is removed from each item once we start receiving it into the warehouse, but that didn't happen with this product. Likely by the time you read this the problem will be taken care of and it will no longer say it's a dropship product but will list as out of stock until we get more in.

now, as far as not knowing when it's going to be in: I think I know who you spoke with and I've been working with the management to have this person respond to question like this in a more "soft" manner. The fact of the matter is availability of Harman papers are spotty - I think most are aware of this ("Anyone know of a dealer with Harman Glossy in stock?") - incidentally we have many sizes of it in stock, just not the 17x25 right now. We actually ordered, from Harman, the 17x25 size back on October 29th but they can't tell us when we will actually be getting it.

The biggest problem was your question possibly wasn't answered in a very diplomatic fashion, which makes all the difference in the world. The facts won't change (the demand is huge and Harman isn't shipping it in a timely manner, so we have no real ability to say when it will be shipping), but it's essential to "talk nice". Now, it is entirely possible that they were quite cordial and it was misinterpreted - once again I don't have a recording of the conversation so I can't say. At any rate, it's something that we are always working towards - I doubt is possible to "perfect" but that's what customer service is about.


Excuse the rather long and drawn out reply - It seemed quite necessary (especially in light of the somewhat personal attacks).

[cdgrand]

In dealing with them you might have the unlucky experience of dealing with Royce Bairs son... he runs the place now.Asking him about some photo related concerns on their papers I got the snotty reply "I'm a webmaster. Don't bother me with photography questions." .....LOL, this guy in diapers doesn't even yet know which business he is in.

[cdgrand]

I just wanted to say that I know who the owner is and its not Chris or Royce. The new owner is great and has gone out of his way for me many times. I have tried other vendors and Inkjetart has always been good to me even though I realize that they are not perfect, but who is. I wouldn't let your experience with Chris ruin your dealings with Inkjetart. Just ask for someone above him and they will take care of you as they have for me.

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks for getting back to us. Your business has been a valuable resource for many of us for many years.

For myself, though I did not need to be remedied, because I was able to make the paper work, I did expect a response as normal good customer relations. But as a business owner, I also understand how things can fall through the cracks. I am satisfied by your responses here and Dan's personal communication. I look forward to doing business with you in the future.

[Kirk Gittings]

Weird, it looks like the moderators deleted the post by Chris Bairs that I was responding to?????

[chrisbair]

Weird, it looks like the moderators deleted the post by Chris Bairs that I was responding to?????

here's a mirror: http://www.inkjetart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8260

[Ed Richards]

I am not sure what is going on with the mirror, but Chris has answered my question. The problem I have is that I put a specific request in my order - Let me know if there will be a delay in shipping - to get back to me if there was a problem. So we have two systems failures. I hope both are attended to, so that even if the there are failures on the WWW site, they will be caught later.

The big issue for notice is the assumption that telling a customer an item is drop shipped is not the same as telling the customer that you have no inventory info and that they cannot expect delivery in any particular timeframe. That needs to be an explicit part of the dropship info screen - you cannot depend on drop shipments if you are in a hurry.

What I would stress with all of the venders is that accurate inventory status is critical. I have given up on Adorama because they list stuff as in stock, then days later you get the out of stock notice. BH is great on stock - you know if they are out of things and you can count on getting the things they have in stock.

[chrisbair]

one aspect of the site has been changed, the area you put your comments is only for packing and delivery info (stuff like "leave at side door if no answer" or "don't use packing peanuts") the shipping guys that get those actually don't see a product on their picking ticket if it's out of stock. I've clarified the verbiage above that box to avoid future confusion.

[Ed Richards]

Chris,

I just did a test order for Harman 17x25. The cart says "In stock", and below that, Drop Ship. When you click on drop ship, it says:

"This product is shipped directly from the warehouse that is closest to your shipping address, in most cases this is faster than items shipped from Salt Lake City location."

This is what you need to change. You need to do away with the In Stock field, and you need to change the drop ship notice to something like this:

"This product is shipped directly from the warehouse that is closest to your shipping address. While this can be faster than items shipped from Salt Lake City location, we have no information on whether drop shipped products are in stock in the shipper's warehouse."

[chrisbair]

like that?

it's worded a little differently but more accurately reflects the situation.

I'll take helpful criticism all day if it's offered!

[Michael T. Murphy]

Nice replies Chris, good attitude. Hang in there!

One book that I used with my team on customer service was "Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service." Nice short chapters, helps folks to understand a true customer service perspective (re: your reference to being softer, etc. for some folks.)

I am also a certified 6 Sigma Black Belt (quality certification.) Keep the focus 100% on fixing the process. Things always fall through the cracks, but you will get there!

The drop ship situation reminds me of Dell. They do a fantastic job on their own products. But folks complain all of the time about the shipping and lack of communication on cameras, lenses, etc. that are sub-contracted out.

Good luck! Great place! Now, do you have any Cave Paint stuff you are dumping since the recent rulings? :D :D

[chrisbair]

we have some bulk ink but all the systems were drop-shipped once we saw ruminations of the coming storm so we wouldn't get stuck with un-sellable stuff. The bulk ink we can still sell.

[Michael T. Murphy]

Thanks! I may go that route, still trying to figure out what I will do with my older Epson 7600.

I may also try to upgrade it to the K3 inks, or K3 Vivid. I've been chatting with one guy who did that. In which case I am going to be ordering new ink, plus I will be bugging you guys for some profiles for that odd beast. :)

I was partly kidding about the Cave Paints. I knew you had stopped selling all of the systems. Glad you didn't get stuck with excess stock in that mess.

[Preston]

I just received my first order from InkjetArt; paper and K3 inkset for my 2400. As a new customer, I am pleased with the service, my order was delivered as sheduled, and my order was nicely and securely packed.

I'll be be back, Chris!

Thanks,

-PB