Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Is GW selling stuff they don't have?

Anyone order stuff from GW and get an email that says something like this. Of course I had to email them since I didn't receive tracking info or an order update:

We have encountered a longer than average delay with your order.

The item below is currently out of stock and may be unavailable for a while whilst we make more.

Sadly we do not yet have an estimated date for a restock but it could be longer than 10 working days.

I ordered a Sisters of Battle Collection set. As far as I know there can't be a restock on a limited print item. Sometimes I hate you GW for pulling this BS on people.


.

This happens to literally any online store, stocking systems are not perfect.

Backorders are not an uncommon thing, physical counts and digital counts are very hard for any business to match up perfectly. I wouldn't say this is something Games Workshop is doing to personally spite you, it's just the nature of having an online store.

There's also been delays in production with the Pandemic and them trying to get a second factory up to meet demand.

Also GW only recently underwent a massive upgrade of their UK warehouse and stocking system and parts of that update are likely still ongoing.

Couple that to the natural inaccuracies with warehouse to website stock systems and the fact that GW is snowed under with higher than normal orders and vastly lower production and shipping problems (mostly all as a result of covid in various forms) and you've a recipe for many delays.


There also appears to be some errors with their website, Forgeworld is regularly showing "sold out" instead of "out of stock" which, as they share the same website system, is likely an endemic error on the system. Something that likely didn't get spotted much before because things fell fully out of stock only rarely; but now is far more common and getting noticed.

Nurglitch wrote:
There's also been delays in production with the Pandemic and them trying to get a second factory up to meet demand.

Separate issue. Op's issue is system allowing sell of item they don't have. Usually it doesn't even　allow putting those to cart.

Doubly annoying in op's case where it's limited item aka more isn't coming period

jaredb wrote:
Backorders are not an uncommon thing, physical counts and digital counts are very hard for any business to match up perfectly. I wouldn't say this is something Games Workshop is doing to personally spite you, it's just the nature of having an online store.

This isn't a backorder. There is only one iteration of a limited edition item. Once it is out of stock it isn't coming back.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

tneva82 wrote:

Nurglitch wrote:
There's also been delays in production with the Pandemic and them trying to get a second factory up to meet demand.

Separate issue. Op's issue is system allowing sell of item they don't have. Usually it doesn't even　allow putting those to cart.

Doubly annoying in op's case where it's limited item aka more isn't coming period

This. 100%

It gets better. These <removed> can't accurately track 1000 books in inventory? So in fact, they are now selling stuff they absolutely don't have.

Response from GW:

I apologise for this inconvenience but I can confirm that this item will not be making a return. In this case I will need to request this order to be cancelled and you will receive a refund.

Supply Chains everywhere are fethed thanks to COVID.

Ones for GW are especially fethed thanks to Brexit too.

Even if it wasn't covid or brexit or whatever, errors happen. Like, it's unfortunate that it happened to you with a limited item, but that's just blind luck, not any sort of malice.

 amrogers3 wrote:
It gets better. These <removed> can't accurately track 1000 books in inventory? So in fact, they are now selling stuff they absolutely don't have.

All it takes is one order where they pick and ship the wrong book, and the inventory is out. Barring a stocktake happening in between that point and your order, nobody is any the wiser until they come up short. More complex computerised inventory systems make it harder to make that sort of error, but they still happen.

There's also the possibility of stock being damaged in transit to them, or while in the warehouse, and so no longer suitable to sell. And given that it's a book and not made in-house, there's also the possibility that a carton came from the publisher packed short.


It's frustrating, certainly, but it happens.

I have had this happen to me with a graphics card and what happened is that they shipped it to the wrong location and well... they aren't getting that back so I had to get all my money back, then with GW this happened to me and some Knight Azyros and a few other models which all sold out. It happens especially with big stores and online groups. IT sucks but alas its the business.

 amrogers3 wrote:

jaredb wrote:
Backorders are not an uncommon thing, physical counts and digital counts are very hard for any business to match up perfectly. I wouldn't say this is something Games Workshop is doing to personally spite you, it's just the nature of having an online store.

This isn't a backorder. There is only one iteration of a limited edition item. Once it is out of stock it isn't coming back.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

tneva82 wrote:

Nurglitch wrote:
There's also been delays in production with the Pandemic and them trying to get a second factory up to meet demand.

Separate issue. Op's issue is system allowing sell of item they don't have. Usually it doesn't even　allow putting those to cart.

Doubly annoying in op's case where it's limited item aka more isn't coming period

This. 100%

It gets better. These <removed> can't accurately track 1000 books in inventory? So in fact, they are now selling stuff they absolutely don't have.

Response from GW:

I apologise for this inconvenience but I can confirm that this item will not be making a return. In this case I will need to request this order to be cancelled and you will receive a refund.

1,000 items, more than 1,000 orders all at once....
Yeah, someone's getting these messages.

I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you guys who are claiming it's difficult to track inventory these days. The vast majority of warehouses/retailers use digital inventory methods - this was rolled out in my stores YEARS ago, we use Workplace Inventory Systems (WIS) for all of this. When one item is scanned, one is subtracted from the inventory. It's not difficult software to implement. Aside from consistent loss (shrink from breakage, theft, etc), the system is pretty solid if it's implemented correctly.

I find it hard to believe an operation like GW has clumsy inventory management. No, this isn't just a recent phenomenon after their 'upgrades', this has been going on for a while, that's why you see the disclaimer on the top of the web page for so long. They are blatantly telling us they are way behind on the work.

GW is definitely taking orders for items their factories haven't produced yet. Their production capacity is down so they are doing this. My buddy bought me a gift a little while ago and it didn't even SHIP for like two weeks. My local game store has also mentioned they are getting VERY limited numbers of things from their GW rep - they wouldn't be rationing inventory if they had enough, so it stands to reason they are simply low on stock.

I would like to add to what UFO is saying. I agree with what you said 100. Also, it's isn't like a typical retail box store that sells online where you have to track both in-store items and online purchases. GW is strictly online and much simpler to track. Additionally, LE items are already preproduced. They make 750, 1000, 1500, etc copies so they already have those items on-hand. And for the argument GW couldn't fulfill my order because copies got damaged, GW had plenty of extra copies to send to the Citadel here in the U.S. So instead of fulfilling my order which I already paid for and was waiting on, they basically gave a paying customer the middle finger and shipped those books to the retail store. Piss poor logistics and management all the way around.

GW are having to integrate new warehousing systems with their current garbage tier webstore/website which they paid over the odds for due to nepotism (allegedly).

OP...I'm not sure what to say. Historically GW have not deliberately sold product they do not have available. You are unfortunate but not part of some conspiracy to mislead you.

They are not giving you the middle finger.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

They are not giving you the middle finger.

lol, they literally gave me the proverbial middle finger. I paid, they didn't acknowledge there was any issue until I emailed them, laughed and sent the book they could have sent a customer who paid, to the Citadel instead. So yeah that is the middle finger.

It's no conspiracy against me. I am sure they screwed a lot more people not only on this order but I am sure on other LE orders, I am only one who posted about it.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you guys who are claiming it's difficult to track inventory these days. The vast majority of warehouses/retailers use digital inventory methods - this was rolled out in my stores YEARS ago, we use Workplace Inventory Systems (WIS) for all of this. When one item is scanned, one is subtracted from the inventory. It's not difficult software to implement. Aside from consistent loss (shrink from breakage, theft, etc), the system is pretty solid if it's implemented correctly.

I don't think anyone said that tracking inventory is difficult, just that mistakes are possible. Digital tracking ensures (usually) that the right product is picked off the rack, but any system still leaves the chance for user error, particularly when staff are cutting corners (and warehouse staff will always find ways to cut corners...).

My last workplace had a system where the product was scanned off the shelf, scanned into a box, and they still managed to occasionally send the wrong product, or send it to the wrong customer. When you're picking multiple orders at the same time (which is usually the case, to save time) those sorts of mistakes are really, really easy to make. Likewise, even with stock scanned into specific locations, stock goes missing in a warehouse. Sometimes it's because it's picked wrong, sometimes it's moved without being recorded and gets buried under something else, sometimes it's in the back of someone's car. No inventory system is 100% error proof.

 amrogers3 wrote:

 Mr. Burning wrote:

They are not giving you the middle finger.

lol, they literally gave me the proverbial middle finger. I paid, they didn't acknowledge there was any issue until I emailed them, laughed and sent the book they could have sent a customer who paid, to the Citadel instead. So yeah that is the middle finger.

No, they sent your Citadel the amount they'd already allocated to them.

 amrogers3 wrote:

 Mr. Burning wrote:

They are not giving you the middle finger.

lol, they literally gave me the proverbial middle finger. I paid, they didn't acknowledge there was any issue until I emailed them, laughed and sent the book they could have sent a customer who paid, to the Citadel instead. So yeah that is the middle finger.

It's no conspiracy against me. I am sure they screwed a lot more people not only on this order but I am sure on other LE orders, I am only one who posted about it.

There was no malice in this, no one at the warehouse decided to personally slight you. It's an error, not "middle finger".

Or, GW is looking at Wizards' sales model vis a vis the Secret Lairs: wait until people order a certain number of an item, make a print run, and ship them all out.

 insaniak wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you guys who are claiming it's difficult to track inventory these days. The vast majority of warehouses/retailers use digital inventory methods - this was rolled out in my stores YEARS ago, we use Workplace Inventory Systems (WIS) for all of this. When one item is scanned, one is subtracted from the inventory. It's not difficult software to implement. Aside from consistent loss (shrink from breakage, theft, etc), the system is pretty solid if it's implemented correctly.

I don't think anyone said that tracking inventory is difficult, just that mistakes are possible. Digital tracking ensures (usually) that the right product is picked off the rack, but any system still leaves the chance for user error, particularly when staff are cutting corners (and warehouse staff will always find ways to cut corners...).

My last workplace had a system where the product was scanned off the shelf, scanned into a box, and they still managed to occasionally send the wrong product, or send it to the wrong customer. When you're picking multiple orders at the same time (which is usually the case, to save time) those sorts of mistakes are really, really easy to make. Likewise, even with stock scanned into specific locations, stock goes missing in a warehouse. Sometimes it's because it's picked wrong, sometimes it's moved without being recorded and gets buried under something else, sometimes it's in the back of someone's car. No inventory system is 100% error proof.

Not computerised admittedly, but the RAF managed to do that with four Rolls Royce Olympus jet engines - 3.2 metres long and 1.6 tonnes each.