Not a rant. A vent maybe.

I know this has the potential to turn into another one of "those" threads / posts, but i need to vent.

I ordered a few small tools, in-stock, at a familiar large local&online tool retailer that we all know on Monday. I figured it wasn't unreasonable to expect delivery by Friday / today.

Well I just got an email saying "your items have shipped" this morning. In the meantime, my friend ordered a tool from a retailer in the UK on the same day and he now has his item.

If a local retailer is going to charge more for their products, then they really need to at least focus on adding value through superior service. Shipping items quickly is probably one of the major potential value-adds and sources of competitive advantage that local retailers have vs international online sellers. It can't be that hard, surely.

Now, some if not most Australian retailers are really good, particularly the smaller ones, but this isn't the first time this major retailer has taken a long-time to ship goods and I think it's hurting their business more than they think.

I'm happy to pay a premium to buy local for the same overseas-made item, but not if it means receiving worse service on top of the premium price - I'm then paying more for less.

Ok, rant over. Sorry. Needed to vent.

I hear you and I'm afraid that if the gov decides to stop us from using international sellers to help prop up the domestic market things may get worse as we then become captured clients. Their theory will be "where else are you going to go?"

At least your order has been shipped, I can't even get that far. I sent two emails to different suppliers about three weeks ago, one took two days to reply and the other has never replied.

We heard good things about an on-line pet food supplier (Pet Circle) located in Sydney and started buying through them.
Our first couple of orders arrived within 5 days.

Following our last order of a large (17kg) bag of dog food, after 7days it had not arrived so I emailed them a gentle enquiry about our order and 10 minutes had a reply they would look into it.
Less than an hour later they had emailed me an (OTT) apology and a response confirming the order had been shipped.
The item arrived two days later.

If someone can do this for bloody pet food why can't tool sellers?

I ordered and paid for a part over 1 week ago. They said they'd ring when it came in. Still waiting.
I personally don't mind if the Aust Govt adds 100% GST on imports - I'm not paying the 12.5% Goods and Services tax when I order for England so if I pay 10% here it's still less and the items retail prices are still cheaper than buying here.

In the UK the Value Added Tax (VAT) is actually 20%, in some European countries it is higher than that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe...alue_added_tax

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with Australian retailers. It's at the point now where if I need something that's not available locally in Perth I'll almost always buy from overseas. Last shipment from Axminster in the UK arrived in just over 48 hours and was 60% of the price I would have paid locally ($850 vs $500). Packages from over east usually take 3-4 days minimum and 1-2 weeks maximum and I'm paying through the nose for it. I'll support local retailers where I can but (am at Timbecon a couple of times a month minimum) but there's only so much money I can wave goodbye to in the name of supporting locals.

Another thing that annoys the HELL out of me is online ordering. Both Carbatec AND Timbecon have online ordering capabilities but no option for local pickup in Perth. So any potential savings I might have made buying with them are out the window because I have to add on shipping. And I know I could just go in an buy it at the counter but that doesn't account for their online only sales and issues with stock not being available in Perth when I need it (a FREQUENT PROBLEM HERE). Other companies will happily take my money and have the stock shipped between branches so I can pick up, if they're out of stock it's either pay for shipping or miss out entirely.

Which leads me to stock levels. You know how long I've been trying to get some of those cheap panel clamps that Carbatec and Timbecon sell? 6 FREAKIN MONTHS. Every time I go in they have no stock. Even called ahead once, got the A-OK and then arrived to find nothing. Could have had them months ago if I was willing to pay shipping on them, nearly ordered them on sale a few weeks ago but I just couldn't justify paying shipping on something that I know should be available locally. It's infuriating.

I rang Timbecon some time ago inquiring about availability and found that not everything they stock is on their website and CT are the same if not worse in that regard. What is the use of having product that no one knows about?

That's it guys let it all out haha. Sometimes you just need to vent :)

If we let the company know of our dissatisfaction, then we get to rant & rave.
That's why I always tell 'em.
Coz I love ranting & raving. [emoji1303]

I still don't know why these mobs think its acceptable...

We pay a higher price to buy local, the least they can do is offer good customer service.

I went into a big woodworking retailer last week, heaps of staff, not one of them offered any help, I brought the product online through a different company in the end.

I wrote and complained as i have spent over 15k buying stuff through them in the past and the reply was sorry, try coming in the afternoon are are aren't as busy!!!

I can only see it getting worst over time... together with this attitude from Aus retailers and Australia Post, we will be still better of buying overseas after the lower import GST rate and getting DHL, TNT or Toll to deliver faster than what we get here.

I read an article the other day, if i recall rightly, it was going to cost the gov 900 Million to per year to operate and the GST collected was expected to be 300 Million? i'll have to find the article to see if that is right.

Yeah, I'm not sure if the GST on imports below $1000 thing is going to happen this July. There are a lot of implementation issues and concerns and I wouldn't be surprised if they delay it for another year to straighten it out.

They are expecting overseas retailers who export more than $75000 per year into Australia to charge us GST and collect it for the Australian tax office. Also, they are demanding that online market-places like ebay and amazon etc do the same, even though they are not actually the "seller" of the good, just a provider of the marketplace or link between seller and buyer. Ebay is saying they may stop Australians from being able to buy from overseas sellers if that is the case, as they are not set up to collect GST and they haven't been given enough time or consultation to do so before July 2017. Guess we'll wait and see.

20% premium over international price including shipping is about my limit for buying local, particularly if online. When I buy from overseas I typically do it around $800-950 at a time so as to minimize the cost of shipping per dollar spent. So for me, buying local has the advantage of not feeling pressure to buy more than I need at a given time and I'm happy to pay a premium for that. However, I also expect packing and shipping time to be less than from overseas; which it typically isn't and that's not really excusable.

Just want to second Bobs recommendation for Pet Circle.
Now if they want to diversify into tools etc?!
Not so sure about DHL I had an exhibition piece shipped back from the US by them.
I unpacked it at a mates workshop near the airport and as it was damaged took it back to their depot so they could acknowledge it was damaged and I could claim on the exhibition organisers insurance.
they refused point blank to have anything to do with it.
The mate who's workshop I'd unpacked it at was a JP so no probs in the end even took out people's choice at the W.W.W show.
This piece had been to 8 different venues in the states no probs but the clowns here had to chuck it off the plane.
maybe the mods better transfer this to rants and raves.
H.

Placed my order, shipped the same day. Auspost 8 days from Sydney to Brisbane, Sometimes you just can't win.

Never had a problem with this...until recently.

Ordered (and paid for) a part on 19th May. This is a blade setting tool for a Ryobi thicknesser, for which they charged me (don't laugh) $30.59 plus $10.00 for postage and handling. Got an email to say it had been dispatched (from Vic) on 29th May. Emailed them saying I was less than impressed with their turnaround time and was told it was within spec!!! Followup email requesting the email address of their MD so that I could escalate my complaint was ignored.

I know Gerry Harvey will argue that the reason Australian businesses are disadvantaged is because overseas online businesses are exempt from GST. Rubbish! Australian businesses are disadvantaged because they routinely provide this level of "service".

Compare this with my experience a number of years ago of buying a HT projector from the PriceJapan.com website. Ordered on the Tuesday, arrived Brisbane on Thursday morning. Two days. From Japan.

It's now 1st June and my part still hasn't arrived...

Tony