Who now? looks like Allparts has dropped the ball

This has been an issue all during covid. I had this very thing happen with some items from musicians friend. Took them months and they never proactively notified me.

 

Sound Guitar Works a.k.a. Best Guitar Parts is the one. I know more than a handful of custom builders that Sound produces shaped bodies and complete necks for. We're talking $3-4K customs. They are legit.

 

Not to sound preachy, but things are not the same as they once were anywhere. Shipping companies and the postal service have 10 times or more the amount of packages they normally handle. Put the virus absent rate in there and you have a situation that isn't great. Mail sits in trucks at distribution centers. My carrier told me this. I'm sure that the same thing happens at FEDEX, UPS, and others.

Really we should have a little compassion for these folks, but instead people gripe about it. Allparts waits for their stuff too. The communication issue is a problem, so I'd probably pay another vendor selling Allparts stuff who has it in stock.

It's not just Allparts. I ordered an item from Amazon and it said it was delivered and never showed up. Apparently it was sent back because of packaging damage. A new item was delivered to me, then about 2 months later a refund for the first one was issued with the information on what happened.

We're lucky there still is a supply chain that sort of works, and we should be thanking our lucky stars we have food and necessities. That's the way I feel about it anyway.

 

let me say, I've been dealing with AllParts for well over 20 years.... occasionally a foible will surface... they have always made it right, and I put it behind me...

 

From what I understand, it is mostly a supply chain issue. Last year most of the major music manufacturers, particularly guitar companies, ordered 10% to 15% less inventory from their factories overseas due to declining sales. Then Covid hit, and a ton of people had time to kill, so they bought guitars (and keyboards, 3D printers, crafting supplies, construction / home improvement tools are supplies, etc) which quickly wiped out the inventory. It takes time for factories to switch over to making more Strats and Teles, not to mention shipping them across the Pacific Ocean, Customs inspections, unloading the containers, getting the inventory to distributers, getting the inventory to retailers, then finally putting a shiny new toy in our hands (NGD!). This inventory backlog, caused by a smaller initial order plus significantly higher than expected sales, would be a major issue by itself.

Additionally, as mentioned above, Covid has put a double strain on the shipping companies across the country. Not only are we sending more packages back and forth, but the companies are understaffed as well due to the virus. It's a perfect storm of a logistical nightmare, but it's what we're living with.

That all being said, none of it explains or excuses Allparts lack of a response or inability to updates their website. I agree that too many companies are very eager to take your money, but have no problem making you wait for their product, service, or a refund. That's just bad customer service.

 

This is happening in every industry. The same thing happened when I ordered some fishing gear. They gladly took payment for an item they claimed was in stock but in reality wasn't... now I wait. It's been 5 or 6 months.

This is strictly my opinion: The retailers won't order from the wholesalers until they have enough orders to meet an advantageous price break, which increases their margin (understandable). The wholesalers won't place their orders with the manufacturers until THEY achieve the desired price break at their level. In turn, the manufacturers won't execute a production run until they have enough pre-sold units to justify manufacturing costs. Essentially, their inventory is sitting in raw materials giving them a tax break on inventory assets.

I'm not going to pretend to know what has caused this. We can blame it on covid, the internet, new efficient business models, etc. I suspect it's a little of several factors. It does seem to be, however, the new norm.

 

I think lots of companies are having problems with supplies, production, staff absence and deliveries. Much of it thru no fault of their own and in unprecedented circumstances.

My feeling is that maybe we should make allowances and cut people some slack.

 

Many of the sources we use for the many parts, use sources themselves... and those guys use other sources.. very few get their stock directly from the manufactures, thus there can be multiple "levels" in that supply chain..

Many of those companies found that by the Summer of 2020, there was virtually nothing being sold.... thus employees were being laid off...

Those Employees couldn't sit around hoping things got better, so they moved on, taking other jobs... Many of those guys were the skilled operational employees.. When they left, that resulted in a "hole" in what remained of the supplier's few remaining employees..

So here we are today, slowly emerging from a horrid year and, going on, a half.... fortunately, many of the suppliers we depend on have managed to survive, but have found it necessary to reconfigure their operations. Some have had to find alternative suppliers simply because those previously used have dried up, completely.

I would encourage ya to revel in that they are still here, trying their best, instead of kicking them because they have stumbled while traveling a very rocky road.

r

 

Around now , stocks should again be in around EU . Last third of 2020 , finished bodies and lots of other stuff were just sold out everywhere

 

It's not just an Allparts problem. I've been trying to buy what used to be a commonly available guitar part from several suppliers (not all parts) and they have been backordered for months.