Dealer order delayed...

Before I heard of the Sand Is, AL light (see earlier posts), I elected to order several new FL lights and some of my wife's Harmony Kingdom boxes, neither available locally anymore, from a FL dealer with whom I had a great rapport. The Sand Key, FL LE was gone and would have to be re-ordered. He assumed he would have it in 7 days. I called at 10, 20, 30, and 60 days - it was still on backorder from H-L.

I finally called H-L - and spoke with customer service. They had a 'hold' on deliveries to that dealer - with no explanation - and the LE was never out of stock. When she did not get back to me, I called her back last Friday. The shipment had gone out Tuesday, after my call. The dealer called yesterday - it was there and they were packing my big order for delivery - over 75 days later! The representative had insisted she left me a message re the shipment - but no evidence was found on my answering machine or caller ID log. Probably reached another number... I should finally get the order Friday.

Buying H-L - and my wife's HK boxes - has been difficult at best this year locally, as most stores have dropped those lines - or just closed. I can't imagine why H-L would further damage the market by delaying a dealer's shipments it had to be a mistake or accident. I understand about billings, but stock delivery must continue. Last April, I asked a local big dealer to get me a few recent/new pieces. They arrived in Dec/Jan of this year - he insisted his salesman was at fault - in time for his closeout sale. Some of the same stock was sold this year at up to 75% off... Delayed deliveries lead to lost sales. I had considered unloading my ~200 piece collection on E-bay in the last month - the frustration of collecting the lighthouses had become too worrisome. Now the Fresnel is out - soon that lightship... how long before I will see one of those?

John

Postscript 8/21 PM: UPS left me a package today - I finally have Dry Tortugas, Mayport, and Sand Key, FL - nice! My wife loves her HK goodies, too. I also received a kind reply from Michele at H-L - thanks! More HL's are on order...

I suspect that the only reason HL would put a hold on a dealer is for a credit hold ( meaning the dealer hadn't paid their previous bills yet). I'd be careful with that dealer - particularly if you're prepaying any sales.

Larry

Have to agree with the other Larry.

Having in the past been a purchasing agent for a company with financial troubles (and thus not paying the bills, getting put on credit hold and then COD only after we paid the bills), we came up with all sorts of excuses and stories for why we couldn't provide product. Eventually the customers caught on, went elsewhere and we went belly-up.

I'm not saying that this is necessarilly the case here, but I would cast a weary eye on that dealer, while at least starting a search for a new one. I'm sure many on this forum can give you excellent leads.

I had the same problem with my dealer in town in Connecticut; shipments are suspended because bills are not paid. Unfornately I have had to go elsewhere; the dealer not paying bills was getting autoships #162-164 and I like getting the lower numbers.

There are a number of great dealers out there who ship, some don't even charge shipping and you save the sales tax.

I had a similar circumstance with the dealer that I get my autoships from. They said it had something to do with a $6 bill. I still got my normal numbers, which is what I was concerned about, but in reading these articles I am wondering if something has changed at Harbour Lights. It seems a bit unusual that all of a sudden a number of normally reliable dealers experience the same issue. Has HL changed their billing requirements in times of national financial clampdowns, and dealers that have been lax are just being hit? Has the financial market hit the dealers, and they are starting to show signs of the slowdown? Is this just one of those coincidences that should not be worrried about? Bottom line I'm still relatively happy with my dealer, and seem to be getting my normal numbers, even though it seems a little slower. one thing that I think I will do from this thread is contact HL and see what it will take to "insure" a consistent delivery of edition numbers independant of what dealer I receive it from. I would prefer, and hope for, my existing dealer, but I think it might be a good idea to have a contingency for consistency.

One of my past dealers was promising me numbers in the low 400's. It always seemed I was the last person to receive my deliveries. Then the numbers became sporadic, 4-digit instead of three digit. I later learned that my regular numbers weren't being delivered because the dealer wasn't paying as soon as he should.

Thanks to a very special someone here at the CF, I graduated to a 2-digit number and stopped buying from my other dealer. Then another very special someone got me an even lower 2-digit number. Now my deliveries come in right on time!

Bob