Carbatec

I have placed quite a few orders thru Carba-tec over the past year or so, as well as with other vendors, depending on either my needs or their sales specials. While some have been delivered in part due to "out-of-stock", and some parts being back-ordered, in general all have come through in a reasonable amount of time.
My last order (with Carba-tec) was picked up today and that was only because the dispatcher at Goulburn, where the packages arrive, wasn't able to reach me last week after 3 attempts. So in fact, the order I placed on the evening of Saturday the 17th of August actually arrived (in its entirety) 10 days after I'd placed it. Also, in this particular order, 3 items were from Incra which, I have to presume, were in stock at the time. So over the space of 7 business days, my order arrived intact and in full.
Checking my order's progress via their website yesterday led me to believe it was still being processed, which having checked it again before writing this entry, it STILL says it's being processed. It matters not to me that they are behind in maintaining their accounts processing, only that I have all the items I ordered in my hot little hands NOW!:2tsup:

Bob

They need to update their website/inventory/database back end. I'm not going to order something if i csn see its out of stock, ill simply go elsewhere. But the fact they take your money then tell you its on back order and your forced to wait however long really annoys me.

Also. Gift cards. Great idea i have received a few myself but when you actually order them why can't after the purchase has been finalised can't thry just email you the code, why does it have go be sent via snail mail. Then also when using it you have to wait for an email or phone call from them to ask for the gift card code. Then No notification to say that's it's been shipped nor a tracking number. Nothing but the word 'processing' even after my orders are complete they still say that.

Ah man they need to update bigtime

delbs - couldn't agree more, and have stated so on other threads frequently. The Carbatec customer management/stock control software is a huge shambles, and possibly the biggest single factor in causing customer dissatisfaction. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. Maybe it didn't matter when everyone else was still using bits of paper, but look what they are up against these days. Never mind Lee Valley - even some small local online woodworking retailers run rings around Carbatec in this respect.

How much could it cost to fix? Or do Carbatec management think that it is all working just fine? If so, then they deserve to go the way of the dinosaur.

Couldn't be easier, it's a matter of management will to change.

It's pretty clear the site had a good dose of web design and SEO at some stage, but the effort fell flat after launch.

Being a woodwork place, they probably see the site as secondary. A starved unloved child they hope will go away.

This, from my perspective, is a disaster for them as I've put an absolute motza through Lee Valley, Amazon, Incra and especially Woodcraft and Rockler. The last has won a LOT of business off me.

It's an odd thing indeed in Australia. It's so hard to get a business up and successful, but as soon as they do they sit back and rest on their laurels.

Rent seeking at its worst.

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Originally Posted by Mr Brush

delbs - couldn't agree more, and have stated so on other threads frequently. The Carbatec customer management/stock control software is a huge shambles, and possibly the biggest single factor in causing customer dissatisfaction. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. Maybe it didn't matter when everyone else was still using bits of paper, but look what they are up against these days. Never mind Lee Valley - even some small local online woodworking retailers run rings around Carbatec in this respect.

How much could it cost to fix? Or do Carbatec management think that it is all working just fine? If so, then they deserve to go the way of the dinosaur.

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There Feedback function on their website is rubbish, Do carbatech have a presence on this forum? Surely there's got to be a way to get this constructive feedback to a person instead of a disfunctional website?

Interestingly, when CT first started out it was state of the art technology. They were right up there. Nothing has changed. Therein lies the problem.

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Originally Posted by Evanism

Couldn't be easier, it's a matter of management will to change.

It's pretty clear the site had a good dose of web design and SEO at some stage, but the effort fell flat after launch.

Being a woodwork place, they probably see the site as secondary. A starved unloved child they hope will go away.

This, from my perspective, is a disaster for them as I've put an absolute motza through Lee Valley, Amazon, Incra and especially Woodcraft and Rockler. The last has won a LOT of business off me.

It's an odd thing indeed in Australia. It's so hard to get a business up and successful, but as soon as they do they sit back and rest on their laurels.

Rent seeking at its worst.

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Exactly! It's actually quite hard to keep your money in Australia when you get better customer service and an equal or better price overseas.

I sent Carbatec a link to this forum topic a while ago...no answer. When are they going to wake up?

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Originally Posted by Evanism

Couldn't be easier, it's a matter of management will to change.

It's pretty clear the site had a good dose of web design and SEO at some stage, but the effort fell flat after launch.

Being a woodwork place, they probably see the site as secondary. A starved unloved child they hope will go away.

This, from my perspective, is a disaster for them as I've put an absolute motza through Lee Valley, Amazon, Incra and especially Woodcraft and Rockler. The last has won a LOT of business off me.

It's an odd thing indeed in Australia. It's so hard to get a business up and successful, but as soon as they do they sit back and rest on their laurels.

Rent seeking at its worst.

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Visited my CT friends yesterday and got a bloke by name of Bruce who was very helpful, however there always seems to be new staff which is a dead giveaway. Its axiomatic treat staff poorly and they in turn don't treat the customer well or don't really care. I'm gob smacked they never responded to the link they got sent to this thread. :o
Thanks for the alternate supplier names. Rockler is new to me so thanks. Visited Woodcraft in Seattle last year and OMG I was in heaven. :U

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Originally Posted by rustynail

Interestingly, when CT first started out it was state of the art technology. They were right up there. Nothing has changed. Therein lies the problem.

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There is another famous woodworking supply business based in the west which also started out with state of the art technology ....... now if you visit and click on the "latest news" you get the following:

It's Almost Christmas 2008

:santa: :slap2:

The likes of Carrolls Woodcraft Supplies seem to have gone from strength to strength with a regularly updated website which in my mind instills confidence in making a purchase online.

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Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

The likes of Carrolls Woodcraft Supplies seem to have gone from strength to strength with a regularly updated website which in my mind instills confidence in making a purchase online.

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Ummm.

Running a professional site and maintaining content, prices, marketing and all the other jumbo takes a huge amount of work.

I have immense respect for CWS and the others "small" vendors, especially the advertisers on the right. They get my business every single day of the week, simply because they respond.

I emailed Jim at 2am, yes, 2am and there was a response by 8.30 after breakfast. That was this morning.

Now, this dude deserves the order, and he's getting it.

If I email Carbatec, IF I get a response, it will be 3 days late and a generic response.

This is a damned shame, as carbatec could be absolutely first class with decent order integration and tracking, a proper CRM and a CMS for users to add real feedback (like Amazon)

I won't take any crap about this being hard. Why? I've done it myself first hand. I've built multiple IT businesses, one selling retail online, and while the work was immense and a hard slog it was doable. I put most of the hard stuff in place myself...not just writing a cheque, which this task is.

Hell, I'd bet they can't tell me on a per person basis WHO visited the site and what they put in their cart before leaving without buying. Where did they come from? How much business did they loose? Etc etc etc.

As an IT guy it makes me weep.

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Originally Posted by Evanism

I have immense respect for CWS and the others "small" vendors, especially the advertisers on the right. They get my business every single day of the week, simply because they respond.

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Yes it can be done as Veneer Inlay ( Hardware for creative finishes) proved to me this week. Placed the order last Sunday night and paid by bank transfer early on Monday morning. When I came back from the Men shed at about 3.00 pm on Monday I had an email saying that the goods were sent and they arrived today.

As I was aware that they were at the Canberra Show last weekend and had to travel back I was very pleasantly surprised at the quick response, especially from a small business.

Peter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

There is another famous woodworking supply business based in the west which also started out with state of the art technology ....... now if you visit and click on the "latest news" you get the following:

It's Almost Christmas 2008

:santa: :slap2:

The likes of Carrolls Woodcraft Supplies seem to have gone from strength to strength with a regularly updated website which in my mind instills confidence in making a purchase online.

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I completely agree. I think the likes of Cws and timber bits. Can teach carbatech a thing or two in

Customer service and all around friendliness
Logistics
Inventory / stock control
Website updates

I sent carbatech an email today regarding the above and they didn't reply of course

Often a reply is unnecessary, they may decide to put your suggestions straight into practice:roll:

Easy to bash a business on here or elsewhere. Not so easy to run one to satisfy every one.

If you have a problem with CarbaTec Phone them and talk it out calmly with them. Best way to resolve most problems. Emails are a pain in the poop shoot to many businesses as not everyone has a dedicated team sitting waiting for an email to come in. Some times it takes time to get a response.

Some times products are out of stock and out of the control of the business you are dealing with.

Sometimes stuff just happens. Yes it's frustrating and more contact would definitely be a big help but often it's a 2 way street.

I don't blame Carba Tec from not responding to this thread and I doubt weather many other businesses would respond if it was them being attacked in what sometimes ends up on here as being a feeding frenzy. Crazy rants are not in the spirit of the forums especially in a thread like this and when some comments border on being slanderous.

Yes this post borders on being a rant but I've earned that right and it's not garbage.

Neil

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