Ordering from Fentens

[chris190]

Seeing Whulsey's post today re GPM prompts me to ask if anyone is having any problems with Fentens i.e. is something amiss with european suppliers and publishers.

I ordered the GPM SMS Gneisenau from them on 23rd September when their website stated that it would be in stock in 13-15 days; they now say 12-14 days i.e. negative progress in over three weeks!

What is their way of operating? I'm quite content to wait but this seems a bit hopeless. I ordered from Fentens as I had misgivings over direct ordering from Poland or the Ukraine but despite enquiring on 8th October as to when I might expect to get my order, nothing is happening.

Much of their naval stock appears to be in the same state showing similar delays and unavailability.

[bailey]

I know from their website that Fentens have problems with sourcing kits from Eastern Europe - GPM is Polish?
However, I’ve used Fentens for years now, and they have always been very helpful. In the last couple of months I’ve received two separate shipments within a week or so to my UK home. But both items were HMV products, which are German.
They’ve always responded to my English requests, although sometimes a few days later. Good luck! Bailey

[Positive_Rate]

I put in a huge order with Fentens in May and agreed with them to send what they had now, the rest later. Quite fair enough.

I made the order in May but likely there are still shortages. Actually its on my to do list to check back with them, see how it going. I know it was difficult getting stuff from the UK.

I'll PM you a few tips.

Regards,
Alan

[chris190]

Thanks for the responses gentlemen; I have to say that I really wouldn't be at all happy with still waiting for an order from May!

Don't get the issue here, seems like straightforward misrepresentation to advertise on the web that the product is in stock and then on the actual website to say that it isn't but it will be available in13-15 days time; worse still to not be able to even fufil that promise!

Can't understand this; I was reckoning that I should order before the UK bids a "fond" farewell to the european superstate to avoid any potential border control/customs issues that might arise but it looks as if all is not as it should be abroad. The possibility that a german company should have difficulties getting stuff from Poland didn't occur to me at all.

Will await a reply from Fentens but at present am reckoning that cancelling would be best for me as my dwindling reserves of patience are best saved for model making!

[Benjamin Fentens]

Hi Chris,

I hope you have heard back from the German office. But I'll certainly check on that and of course on the status of your order. Give me a bit of time as right now every body is still asleep there.

I might have misunderstood, but did you see the model available in our shop when ordering? This would surprise me as we actually have our available stock synchronized automatically to the shop. If that really happened it must have been some double order at the same time or within only a few minutes. That almost never happens but is still possible.

Regarding the delivery date quoted on the website: Well that delivery date is for when you order now. Your order is processed and most likely already ordered and on its way to our warehouse in Germany. But for example - if we have ordered another 5 Gneisenau from GPM and already have 5 orders on file than these 5 are of course not available for a new order.

Unfortunately delivery times have taken a very hard hit due to the current situation world wide. As a matter of fact we never know how long it takes to get a parcel. The time quoted on the website is based on experience of the past. We do have now sometimes significant delays.

Alan mentioned that he's still waiting for an order from May. Please contact me, Alan. I'm happy to find out what the status is. Well, sometimes we do have to wait quite a while until we get a certain item back in stock. But we do have a powerful warehouse solution so no order gets lost. That means if you're really keen to have a certain product and you have ordered it at our shop you will get it as soon as we get our hands on it. And as soon as your order is completed it is delivered. That is an automatic process and works like a charm.

Please reach out to me if you have questions or concerns. We live in interesting times and running a small business like ours with about one hundred suppliers from all over the world isn't exactly easy at the moment. But we put a lot of effort in this to get it done.

Cheers, Ben

[Benjamin Fentens]

Hi Chris,

I just saw that you have cancelled your order. Sorry for that delay. I can understand of course if you don't want to wait any longer. I'll try to find out why the model you ordered is still not back in the warehouse.

Hi Alan,

I have just checked with Niels, there are still two items missing which we can't get for the time being. He'll contact you and send everything we have. Let us know if you want us to keep the order or if you want to cancel those two items. You'll get the email today.

Cheers, Ben

[chris190]

Thanks for your reply Ben and for the quick responses from your colleagues who have now refunded me on the cancelled order.

I hope you manage to sort things out; for me the issue is always what is promised at the time of order which was "available in stock" on my initial google search on the web and then "out of stock, available in 13-15 days" when I got to your actual site, which didn't seem too bad.

The last email from you yesterday was to say that you still don't have a delivery date, so I decided to cancel and try again later.

In fact, I've now ordered direct from GPM - with what result I don't yet know! Will I ever get this kit??

Bets wishes

Chris

[Benjamin Fentens]

Ah, ok - I understand. We have no influence whatsoever on what google shows on their search results. Those are cached pages - cached by google.

I hope you get your models this way then.