Surprisingly Digital Depot :(

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B1ts

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Ordered a 70 200 2.8 is mkii on the 7th, free del of 4-7 days, just rang to chase and they are out of stock, even though their website did not say so (as it does for other lenses) at the time and indeed is still showing as in stock, albeit at a higher price (not a lot, £50 so not me taking advantage of a misprice or anything)...
Said they had to order it in for me and hope I 'should' get it by the end of the week, almost a fortnight for an apparent in stock item, not good as far as I am concerned.
Surprised as they were up until recently a forum sponsor and had no reason to doubt them as a supplier until now :(.
 
Surprised really. I have dealt with them in the past and found them to be superb. Maybe it's just one of those 'human error' things? I know that doesn't help you, but it does happen sometimes.
I hope you get it soon and enjoy the lens.

Kev.
 
I bought my D7000 from them....even though I bought it body only it came as part of a kit so they have obviously taken the kit lens out to sell it separately. It obviously doesn't really matter but still not great IMHO. They forgot to include the invoice which I have had to chase them twice for which was more of an issue.
 
Hi,

Its a shame to see this on the forum as we dealt with this via telephone today.

A lot of our Canon stock is shipped direct from a distributor and there was a delay in getting the item in.

The lens should be here tomorrow and should be with you on Thursday/Friday

Regards

Stuart
 
Beardy said:
I bought my D7000 from them....even though I bought it body only it came as part of a kit so they have obviously taken the kit lens out to sell it separately. It obviously doesn't really matter but still not great IMHO. They forgot to include the invoice which I have had to chase them twice for which was more of an issue.
Click to expand...

We dont like splitting kits but to get the lowest price for you we have to do this.

You would not have got as good as a price if we hadnt of split the kit.

Regards

Stuart
 
DigitalDepot said:
Hi,

Its a shame to see this on the forum as we dealt with this via telephone today.

A lot of our Canon stock is shipped direct from a distributor and there was a delay in getting the item in.

The lens should be here tomorrow and should be with you on Thursday/Friday

Regards

Stuart
Click to expand...

Stuart,
Since you wish to debate this let us do so.

Yes it is a shame to see this here, as per your pm I am dissapointed I felt the need to post about my experience here too. Equally I am dissapointed you felt the need to pm me as well as post here with equally odd reasoning from a customer perspective.

Firstly, in response to your points above, you did not deal with this by telephone today at all, today was Tuesday as Monday was the 7th day of the promised 4-7 days delivery I rang you to be asked for the order number, (then after a few miutes what it was for, then eventually my name, so some difficulty had obviously arisen with your end.).
I was then told that you were 'ordering it in' for me and it 'should' be here sometime later on this week, bear in mind this was the last day of promised delivery, I was also told that someone had emailed me earlier that day, again the last of seven days, although i never received it, nor is it in my antispam system.

Now, this lens was showing on your website as in stock, you have other lenses showing as not in stock so it would not be unreasonable to think you actually update this information? Well, as I said on the phone on Monday, your site was STILL showing it in stock, and having checked just now, guess what? yep, still saying it is in stock.

This brings me to your pm'd comment, which for sake of transparency I will coment on here since you opened a debate.


"I saw your post on the forum and am dissapointed that you felt you needed to write about it on here.


***As was I, but since this is a feedback area for both good and bad service this is where it belonged in my opinion and to be honest your response thus far has done little to change that opinion***

There was a bit of a delay in getting the lens into stock

***It was showing as in stock on your site both on the 7th when ordered and the 14th when chased and again today***

and as you opted for free delivery we hoped that there would be no issue in getting it to you in time.

***Wow, what an excuse, so you are saying that choice of delvery affected your stock? You choose who to sell to based on their delivery choice? If I had opted for next day delivery it WOULD have been in stock?
Sorry but that is a very weak argument and one I am shocked you would use.
As said already, ordered on the 7th, del promised of 4 to 7 days and by your own admission you failed to communicate anything until the 7th day (and that I have still not received) and then to tell me it will be another few days, you think that is fulfilling the customers requirements? wow***


I had already emailed you this morning with an update before you called.

***That was yesterday (Monday not today Tuesday), I never received the update, which I assume to be same as by phone "sometime later in the week hopefully" and even so leaving it until the last day of promised delivery when you would clearly have known before the weekend it would not be delivered Monday is not really good is it?***

We expect the lens to arrive tomorrow so you should get it Thursday or Friday.

***Lets hope so***

Really sorry for the delay."


***To be bluntly honest, if that was sincere I don't think you would have made the comments you have as though I was at fault for the way i ordered or something rather than you as the supplier have behaved in this instance.***

As I said in my original post I was surprised to be having these issues with you as a supplier, unfortunately the way you have chosen to reply to it on here has reinforced my doubts.:shake:
 
Really surprised as I would not think twice about using them again next time I have a Nikon purchase. Lots of great feedback, but lets put things into perspective... EVERY business will have an unhappy customer or mess up from time to time. I know that I have in the past, and am sure there are people who have had a bad experience with John Lewis who are consistently one of the best companies in terms of service.

Just got to put this down as one of those times when nothing does right I guess.
 
Not to start anything but isn't there 5 delivery days in a week - most places don't count a Saturday as a delivery day & certainly not a Sunday so then in reality, the 6th & 7th day would then take the delivery into the following week to say a Monday - Tuesday or even a Wednesday as if you count the the 1st day as the ordered date - then they have to process the order on that day (some wont till the next day depending on when the order was recieved - hence some have a cut off time) so lets say Monday you ordered, then surely the Tuesday would count as the 1st day of the "4-7" so making the Friday the 4th delivery day (start of the delivery within 4-7) then Sat/Sun dont count thus making Monday the 5th day then wednesday the 7th delivery day....

Or have I totally missed something here :shrug:
 
I can't see what the problem is here, Stuart has explained that the delay was outwith Digital Depot's control, these things happen...

As for the "issue" with the D7000, the profit margin on Nikon stuff (and a lot of other photo gear) is miniscule, if you want stuff at the cheapest price possible you need to accept that there will be some compromises, whether it be split kits or grey market stock, something has to give.....
 
The site is still showing as in stock because as I said the stock is shipped direct from our supplier if we dont have stock in-store and they have it in stock. It is not showing as in stock in-store which is correct. I understand what you are saying in response to timescales and will look into trying to stop this sort of thing happening in future.

I sent you a private message in case you had not noticed that I had responded to the thread and I wanted to reply out of courtesy as we have offered very good service to forum members for a long time now and am always disappointed when something goes wrong and wanted to offer an explanation.

I can cancel your order if you would like to purchase elsewhere?

Stuart
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I can't see what the problem is here, Stuart has explained that the delay was outwith Digital Depot's control, these things happen..............
Click to expand...

Come on now, Graham, the website definitely states......

" Available for home delivery.
Available for Click & Collect. "

........when it clearly isn't and wasn't !

Now whilst the OP may have been a wee bit quick out of the blocks, he most certainly has a point.


I do however, think the last post by Stuart, puts the genie back in the bottle!
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Come on now, Graham, the website definitely states......

" Available for home delivery.
Available for Click & Collect. "

........when it clearly isn't and wasn't !

Now whilst the OP may have been a wee bit quick out of the blocks, he most certainly has a point.

I do however, think the last post by Stuart, puts the genie back in the bottle!
Click to expand...

I've updated the site so it now shows out of stock for both now to stop any further confusion.

Regards


Stuart
 
cambsno said:
Really surprised as I would not think twice about using them again next time I have a Nikon purchase. Lots of great feedback, but lets put things into perspective... EVERY business will have an unhappy customer or mess up from time to time. I know that I have in the past, and am sure there are people who have had a bad experience with John Lewis who are consistently one of the best companies in terms of service.

Just got to put this down as one of those times when nothing does right I guess.
Click to expand...

As I had, once I had posted originally here, being an ex or current site sponsor should not exonerate any company if they perform poorly, however rarely, think of it this way, what were the chances I was a poster here, how many other people felt like I have that we never hear of?
Not meaning Digital Depot in particular just suppliers generally, if we do not post when these things happen all we will have is the praising posts which help noone if we are to feel like we should not post when something negative, however rare, happens.
 
Trig's said:
Not to start anything but isn't there 5 delivery days in a week - most places don't count a Saturday as a delivery day & certainly not a Sunday so then in reality, the 6th & 7th day would then take the delivery into the following week to say a Monday - Tuesday or even a Wednesday as if you count the the 1st day as the ordered date - then they have to process the order on that day (some wont till the next day depending on when the order was recieved - hence some have a cut off time) so lets say Monday you ordered, then surely the Tuesday would count as the 1st day of the "4-7" so making the Friday the 4th delivery day (start of the delivery within 4-7) then Sat/Sun dont count thus making Monday the 5th day then wednesday the 7th delivery day....

Or have I totally missed something here :shrug:
Click to expand...

A few things, most companies state when it is 'working days' or not, I rang as I had Monday as the earliest the 7 days could be over, to hear that it was still an uncertain timeframe before available for an in stock item, even by your stretched version it will not be here HTH.
Add to that the message I received here that seemed to suggest it was my ordering free delivery that meant it was delayed etc, had I got the answer on Monday 'will be with you wednesday' then no problem, that was not the case.
I got a large impression it had been overlooked, order number, goes away, comes back, what did I order, goes away comes back, who am I , goes away etc, then told it will be some time later in the week hopefully is certainly not the process you seem to be wanting to paint of what happened.

It was not until after posting here that Stuart gave me a firm idea of delivery.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I can't see what the problem is here, Stuart has explained that the delay was outwith Digital Depot's control, these things happen...

As for the "issue" with the D7000, the profit margin on Nikon stuff (and a lot of other photo gear) is miniscule, if you want stuff at the cheapest price possible you need to accept that there will be some compromises, whether it be split kits or grey market stock, something has to give.....
Click to expand...

Sorry Graham but if you cannot see what is wrong with the way this has been handled I do not know what to say, if you think to order items shown as in stock and not be notified of delay until a week later, and then no firm date can be given is the normal way to conduct business then I am very surprised.

These things do indeed happen,, and that is why I felt it important that we let each other know here when things are not correct, whoever the supplier may be, I fully admit that Digital Depot have an excellent rep here, I even headered my post with my surprise but we all know that sometimes things suddenly change direction with companies and if people like me do not post how is anyone to tell?
After all the idea of this forum is to discuss both when things go right and wrong AFAIK, if we just want a praise fest and disparage others from posting it will make it useless for it's purpose really.
 
DigitalDepot said:
The site is still showing as in stock because as I said the stock is shipped direct from our supplier if we dont have stock in-store and they have it in stock. It is not showing as in stock in-store which is correct.

***How am I supposed to know that as a website customer? It does not differentiate between store or not, simply out of stock or not, you should really make that clearer if by in stock you include your suppliers stock.

You say above that it should be delivered direct, earlier that it was coming to you, then me? If they have/had it in stock why has it not been delivered to you or me yet? Does it take over a week to deliver from them to you usually?
Sorry, I am just confused now if it is being sent direct to me or not?***

I understand what you are saying in response to timescales and will look into trying to stop this sort of thing happening in future.

***Thank you that is all it takes to improve things, feedback used constructively can help a business, even a contact the day or two after ordering to tell me it was not in stock after all and had to be waited for would have avoided all this***

I sent you a private message in case you had not noticed that I had responded to the thread and I wanted to reply out of courtesy as we have offered very good service to forum members for a long time now and am always disappointed when something goes wrong and wanted to offer an explanation.

***In that case I am sorry I misread it as it seemed to me to be you suggesting I should not have posted and that since I chose free delivery I had made the situation for myself somehow***

I can cancel your order if you would like to purchase elsewhere?

*** If I had wished to cancel I would have done so on Monday, as it happens I am able to borrow a colleagues 70 200 2.8 mkii tomorrow to do my shoot, as I said it is not so much the fact it will have taken almost two weeks but the lack of communicating that it was not as your site sold it, i.e. in stock and available, I appreciate you feel I maybe should not have posted here but as I said I feel this forum, in part at least, is here for both when things go right and wrong and if we are to feel we should not post to avoid hurt feelings it would not serve its purpose for long.:shrug:***

Stuart
Click to expand...
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Come on now, Graham, the website definitely states......

" Available for home delivery.
Available for Click & Collect. "

........when it clearly isn't and wasn't !

*** Precisiely***

Now whilst the OP may have been a wee bit quick out of the blocks,

***Sorry, I appreciate you are posting in my defence but I still think there is a misunderstanding here, I was not demanding it should have been here Monday, when it got to Monday afternoon, being the earliest interpretation of 7 days, having heard nothing since the initial order, and then only the payment acceptance not in Digital Depots name btw they were mentioned in the text and from address so assumed it was not a scam site but the page itself was branded MAgento or something,, I called to make sure that all was ok and see when it would arrive, at that point I was told it was unknown but'should' be sometime this week and it goes on from there, I fail to see how I jumped the gun to be honest in making the initial enquiry?
If it had been your best part of £1,800 with no official Digital Depot comms apart from the Magento payment confirmation (to be fair Stuart says they emailed me Monday morning although that has not arrived at my end as yet), even at point of order, would you have waited as long?***

he most certainly has a point.

***Thankyou***

I do however, think the last post by Stuart, puts the genie back in the bottle!
Click to expand...
***Mostly yes, although there was no need to create the genie in the first place IMHO, it was a simple case of selling items out of stock as in stock and failing to communicate the delays involved thereafter until it became debated as to the whys and wherefores, as Graham, Flashinthepan says, when prices become pressured something has to give, hence why I went with, as I understood at the time to be about as reputeable company as we know of in here, rather than importers or other companies that may 'drop ship.
 
Stuart, Just to clarify, you say you have now set it to show as out of stock for both.
You do realise that site visitors do not seem to get any indication of this stock split?
I ask as this would peerhaps explain your position thus far to me more clearly, if you were under the belief that it was shown that way to us as customers?

Additionally, again for clarity, the choice of words so far makes it look like I somehow chose free delivery as opposed to some form of reccomended alternative, just to be clear your site says this on the delivery page:

Our Standard Delivery is FREE for orders over £50 but you can choose to upgrade this at checkout.

Standard Delivery under £50 is at a cost of £2.99.
48 Hour Delivery at a cost of £6.99
Express Delivery at a cost of £8.99 - Next Day if Ordered Before 2pm


Two points from your earlier about me choosing free delivery, if there is a benefit to being allocated stock based on delivery choice this should perhaps be shown on that page, rather than promoting that free delivery is your standard, secondly had I chosen 48hr or express delivery how would this have changed the circumstances in this instance, if at all?
Sorry, I do not mean that to be argumentative, I genuinely want to know if upgrading delivery method in future will help me avoid this type of issue?
 
B1ts said:
Stuart, Just to clarify, you say you have now set it to show as out of stock for both.
You do realise that site visitors do not seem to get any indication of this stock split?
I ask as this would peerhaps explain your position thus far to me more clearly, if you were under the belief that it was shown that way to us as customers?

Additionally, again for clarity, the choice of words so far makes it look like I somehow chose free delivery as opposed to some form of reccomended alternative, just to be clear your site says this on the delivery page:

Our Standard Delivery is FREE for orders over £50 but you can choose to upgrade this at checkout.

Standard Delivery under £50 is at a cost of £2.99.
48 Hour Delivery at a cost of £6.99
Express Delivery at a cost of £8.99 - Next Day if Ordered Before 2pm


Two points from your earlier about me choosing free delivery, if there is a benefit to being allocated stock based on delivery choice this should perhaps be shown on that page, rather than promoting that free delivery is your standard, secondly had I chosen 48hr or express delivery how would this have changed the circumstances in this instance, if at all?
Sorry, I do not mean that to be argumentative, I genuinely want to know if upgrading delivery method in future will help me avoid this type of issue?
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with Amazon when ordering a 8gig cf card at the end of November. I was given a expected delivery time and near the time I received an email saying there was a delay with stock so the delivery date was put back. This happened three times and during all this time it was showing in stock on their site and they were still offering next day delivery. I like you had opted for free delivery which I had never done before and had always had good service and prompt delivery.
I sent them emails stating my displeasure in no uncertain terms. After finally getting in touch by phone and asking a few probing questions,I was virtually told that customers paying for delivery had first choice of stock,which I had suspected. I finally received my cf card in the first week of January,nearly six weeks after I put in my order. After reading of your experience it would seem that if you need something you have ordered within a reasonable time you need to pay for delivery no matter who you are buying from.
Since having a bad experience with the cf card I paid standard delivery for my next purchase from Amazon and it arrived within two days.
 
Irishman said:
Talk about getting your knickers in a twist!! :D :lol:
Click to expand...

Lol, not really, I was happy enough to just report my initial post, since then I have replied to those wishing to debate what happened, if it had not been suggested that I was at fault for both posting and having ordered the way I did there would have been nothing to respond to. :shrug:
I presume you are another in the camp of only wanting positive experuence posting here then?:shrug:
 
I'm not going to comment on who I believe is right or wrong but I have to say that Stuart is a decent bloke and tries very hard to please all customers.
I was after a Tamron 17-50VC when they were first released, I asked Stuart if he could do a price match, he agreed and I'm sure he was lucky to have made a fiver on the lens.
Stuart had a deal on a MK1 version version of a Lowpro backpack that I wanted but I discovered that there was a newer version that could hold a tripod and SRS had it at a very good price and the cheapest I could find in the UK.
Again Stuart said he would price match so I went to pick one up but rather than do it at the same price, he did at the same price as the offer on the MK1 version and saved me another £20.

He has always been totally honest and when it comes to Canon kit and always admits that it's very difficult for him to compete because he is not (not sure if things have now changed) he was not an authorised seller.
This was down the the previous owners of Digital Depot upsetting Canon and I have always maintained than Canon suck for not accepting that Stuart is totally different.
Anyone who knows the history of Digital Depot knows how he has turned this company around and turned it into a far better place.

Stuart knows I am always looking to save money and is well aware I will buy elsewhere if it's cheaper than he can do yet every time without fail he has given me a quote.
A while back the Digital Depot crew came to one of our meets in St. Albans with loads of goodies for us to try.
Obviously this is good buisness potential but it's a great way to try the kit before you buy it.
In my case I tried the lens I wanted at the time but I ended up getting a good deal on a used one via ebay.
Otherwise there is no doubt that I would have gone to Stuart for a new one.

If you visit the shop, he will put the kettle on and spend a fair amount of time talking to you if he has the time (it's his business and if there are customers waiting to be served you can't blame him for serving them).
He will be open and honest about kit, he'll go through every tripod explaining the pros and cons.

I just didn't want everyone who reads this thread to thinking that Stuart and the boys make constant mistakes as I am sure this is very rare for this to happen.
No, Stuart is not personal friend (he's just a very decent guy), no I do not have a stake in Digital Depot, I'm just a customer.

Oh and one more thing, reading this thread.
Unless I am mistaken, Stuart is using a 'linked in' system with his suppliers that is supposed to show real time stock on his website.
Great idea until the distributors stock level is wrong.
I could write a list as long as my arm with companies I've tried to purchase from who use similar systems and have let me down on 0 stock at the distribution end when stock is showing.
You could call Stuart and ask if the stock level is correct and I am sure he'd be happy to call the distributor to find out but the sales rep will be looking at the same system and all they can do is say yay or nay unless they are prepared to go and do a physical stock check.
 
Beardy said:
I bought my D7000 from them....even though I bought it body only it came as part of a kit so they have obviously taken the kit lens out to sell it separately. It obviously doesn't really matter but still not great IMHO. They forgot to include the invoice which I have had to chase them twice for which was more of an issue.
Click to expand...

Oh come on, most companies split kits if need be.
I bought a Canon 50D fro Kerso and it was obvious it was orginally a kit with a lens.
Ian also told me the 24-105 lens I bought from him was 'white box' so again, I knew it was from a split kit.
Why would I be bothered?
It's the same product, same warranty without the fancy packaging in the case of the lens.
Fine, I agree with you 100% on the invoice but mentioning the packaging will only make potential customer think this is bad thing to do.

Customer walks into a big companies shop to buy a body or lens but oh no, because they only have kits in stock and they won't split them, he can't buy a body!
Customer leaves without the kit, company has lost out on a sale.
I know what I and many others would say about said big company..
 
Last edited:
Well, I've learned from this that when internet shopping with any supplier, I need to understand whether "In stock" means "Yes, sir, I'm holding it in my hand right now" or "The importer has one on his inventory, we can call it down for you (but don't ask long long it might take)".

It becomes an issue if I want my purchase to arrive within a tight deadline.
 
I've ordered a lot of gear from Digital depot and would recommend them wholeheartedly. They got me a D3s when no-one else could at a price that was lower than anyone else as well.

I would suggest that this seems like a simple error thats upset the OP, but is more of a one-off than a general occurrence.
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
Well, I've learned from this that when internet shopping with any supplier, I need to understand whether "In stock" means "Yes, sir, I'm holding it in my hand right now" or "The importer has one on his inventory, we can call it down for you (but don't ask long long it might take)".

It becomes an issue if I want my purchase to arrive within a tight deadline.
Click to expand...

I'm not entering into the debate on DD (I have used them once and they were excellent but that's not exactly a scientific test) but I do share the frustration on the point of "is it REALLY in stock", in my experience online retailers too often claim stock holdings just to secure your order when in reality they don't.
But perhaps I'm just too demanding as a consumer :shrug:
 
I'd like to +1 Barney on this, as a side-issue I've ordered from DD countless times and their service has been awesome and I really mean that.

HOWEVER, 'In stock' to me at least means it's physically residing in the shop. 'In stock at distributor, est delivery <2 working days' would be a better way of representing this?.

What I do know is that Stuart will always take on feedback so it's good to voice these criticisms publicly!

Cheers,
James
 
I think many here are showing their naivety with regard to 'in stock' in this and similar industries where high-tech and/or expensive kit is involved. Especially kit that quickly becomes outdated.

Most online shops will quote items as being 'in stock' when they are confident their UK based wholesaler (usually a dropshipper) has the stock. It just isn't feasible for the vast majority of tech suppliers to hold stock 'in their hand'.

Get real peeps.
 
2blue4u said:
I think many here are showing their naivety with regard to 'in stock' in this and similar industries where high-tech and/or expensive kit is involved. Especially kit that quickly becomes outdated.

Most online shops will quote items as being 'in stock' when they are confident their UK based wholesaler (usually a dropshipper) has the stock. It just isn't feasible for the vast majority of tech suppliers to hold stock 'in their hand'.

Get real peeps.
Click to expand...

Which means even more dummy-spitting when the items are eventually found to be not in stock or subject to late delivery.

Nowt less REAL than that!
 
never dealt with the guy but when i was asking for quotes he was very honest and polite.

its a shame as there are other sellers on here i find blunt and rude

if he had of had the items i wanted id of bought from stuart
 
It's is a bit of a bug-bare of mine, when companies say a product is 'in-stock'....and what they mean is the product is in-stock (hopefully, in some cases) somewhere else, If a company advertises a product as 'in-stock' it should be in the advertising companies stock, unless otherwise stated.

I know, many companies use the 'in-stock' phrase to get the business, sell the item, then order the gear from their supplier.....which is totally different from keeping stock of the item, therefore I agree and understand the OPs grievance.

Like he says, he wasn't making a big thing of it, he was just making people aware of the situation regarding his transaction, that's what this thread is for isn't it ?

Russ
 
BigRuss said:
It's is a bit of a bug-bare of mine, when companies say a product is 'in-stock'....and what they mean is the product is in-stock (hopefully, in some cases) somewhere else, If a company advertises a product as 'in-stock' it should be in the advertising companies stock, unless otherwise stated.

I know, many companies use the 'in-stock' phrase to get the business, sell the item, then order the gear from their supplier.....which is totally different from keeping stock of the item, therefore I agree and understand the OPs grievance.

Like he says, he wasn't making a big thing of it, he was just making people aware of the situation regarding his transaction, that's what this thread is for isn't it ?

Russ
Click to expand...

:IAGREE: with everything you say Russ and that comment has zero reflection on DD which as I've said I've used once and found to be excellent.
 
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