Anybody waiting on a recent order from Futurlec?

synthmonger

For those of you that have placed an order recently with Futurlec, does it seem like your package is taking a lil extra tooooo long? I used express shipping on an order in mid Feb and still nothing, not even an email response.
I have a friend who has been waiting on a package forever too ;X

Shocked

Makes me worry Shocked

fonik · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:52 am Post subject:

mmmh...
i placed an order two weeks ago choosing express and it took 2 days for processing the order and two more days from bangkok to my home via FedEx.
i even received a FedEx tracking number!
i ordered from futurlec several times and it never took more than 10 days.

synthmonger · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject:

Yeah same here! I've had many orders the past couple years and their shipping was always been decent. Just lately it's sluggish :X

fonik · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

i mean: when they shipped your order with FedEx you should have received a tracking number, or: since you got no tracking number it's not shipped Shocked

i never got in touch with the costumor support - os there one?

synthmonger · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject:

Oh yeah no tracking # The order page still hasn't been updated heh ;x Their support line is just their orders@futurlec.com email addy. Still no response from them.

fonik · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 1:11 pm Post subject:

quite annoying (and definately not good for their reputation)...

hope it all works out well for you. the money is drawn from your creditcard, i bet.

synthmonger · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 1:18 pm Post subject:

Yep! Ah well I'll give it some time.

amos_joseph · Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 50 Location: Lincoln, NE

My last order from them took over 4 weeks from the day I ordered until the day the package arrived. Only about 1 week of that was shipping time. It seems to take them them from 1-3 weeks just to process an order before they ship it, so paying for priority shipping doesn't really mean you'll get your order that much faster.

I love the prices, but hate the turnaround. It's hard to turn down 50 cent pots.

synthmonger · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:17 pm Post subject:

CJ Miller · Joined: Jan 07, 2007 Posts: 368 Location: 127.0.0.1

I placed my first order with them in january, it took about five weeks to arrive. If this was a domestic company like Mouser or Digikey I'd be climbing the walls, but I heard about Futurelec being slow beforehand so I wasn't worried.

shawn · Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 209 Location: savannah

Well my view is you get what you pay for. There's a tradeoff on buying $.50 pots from futurlec. If you don't mind waiting then kudos. I've ordered from them a few times, always received them in a timely manner but I always expected the worse due to their business model.

synthmonger · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:09 pm Post subject:

YIKES! I just got a reply from them and they said the reason why my order is delayed is due to a back-order on ROT2P6P (2pole 6pos rotrary switch) and will be unavaliable for 2-3 months. Heh I certainly did not want to wait THAT long.

Man I really needed those switches too ;X

etaoin · Joined: Jun 30, 2005 Posts: 761 Location: Utrecht, NL

synthmonger · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

Just 3 for now. I'm going to place a much larger order by mid april

ultra · Joined: Dec 04, 2006 Posts: 55 Location: oshkosh, wi

i've ordered from futurlec four times with various results. a couple of the orders came within two weeks. another took about three weeks, and another hadn't yet been shipped after a month so i sent them a message telling them i wanted to cancel.

the first time i needed to contact them, it took three e-mails to get a response. fortunately when i wanted to cancel an order they confirmed it immediately. i have also never received a tracking number from them because they always shipped standard USPS and only once did i receive an e-mail telling me my order has been shipped.

i've complained about their customer service on forums before, and people have defended futurlec because they receive your order, then place your order from various companies and ship when it arrives. to me, this is selling items you don't even have without giving the customer any idea of what their stock looks like ahead of time. despite the prices, i will never order from them again. i consider their lack of communication, long "processing" times, and lack of stock information to be poor customer service.

in the end, you get what you pay for. mouser, digikey, and allied electronics have yet to disappoint me. a good futurlec alternative would be http://www.allelectronics.com. their shipping is a few bucks more, but it's very fast. also, they're in the united states and actually have a phone number where you can contact them.

synthmonger · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:01 am Post subject:

Yeah I use allelec for 1/4" jacks and a few other things, but their variety on pots can be misleading and futurlec's prices on alpha pots are better. At least the ones I use, I mean.

sneakthief · Joined: Jul 24, 2006 Posts: 569 Location: Berlin

I once put in a big order, including some stereo 1/8" to 1/4" adapter plugs. When I received them, they were actually mono, even though they had trs.

I emailed them about this and they refunded my money without me even asking.

My orders seem to take between 2-4 weeks. No problems here!

mikeb · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject:

Does anyone have a reliable way to contact Futurlec? it's been 3 weeks since I ordered stuff to make 2 soundlabs and the order hasn't shipped yet. I've dealt with them before and things have been fine, but.. 3 weeks is pushing it for me.

I'd at least like to know what they are waiting for, if something stupid is backordered.. I'd like to tell them to just ship what they have, etc.

synthmonger · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:44 pm Post subject:

sales@futurlec.com is the only way to contact them about orders as far as I know. It took a little bit for them to respond to my inquiry. About a day.

If they have something backordered they can ship whatever they have instock now and ship the rest later, or you can swap out the backordered stuff for something else of equal value.

amos_joseph · Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 50 Location: Lincoln, NE

I've found that the more stuff I order, the longer my order seems to take. So if you ordered enough parts for a couple of Sound Labs 3 weeks doesn't sound too crazy. I've had a couple of larger orders take around 3 weeks to ship.

I always look at an order from Futurlec as a lesson in patience. If I want it fast, I'll go to Mouser or Digikey. If I want it cheap but I'm not in a hurry, it's Futurlec. Hell, sometimes I forget stuff and I place a new order from them before the old one even shows up.

etaoin · Joined: Jun 30, 2005 Posts: 761 Location: Utrecht, NL

That's my experience as well. I sometimes even deliberately break up my order into smaller parts to get it quicker (and to keep customs from taxing it).

By the way, I'm starting to receive other parts than I ordered. Heatsinks completely the wrong size, BC107's in TO92 instead of TO18, 221k resistors instead of 7k68. Hopefully this is just coincidence and not a new trend...

ultra · Joined: Dec 04, 2006 Posts: 55 Location: oshkosh, wi

it's a pathetic company, that's all. you get what you pay for.

mark_olson · Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 177 Location: Lawrence, Kansas

I've hesitated to post on the topic of Futurlec because I wasn't sure I could really add anything but thinking back I realize there was a wrinkle to my experience that might warn others to steel themselves before embarking on the Futurlec adventure.

I placed an order for about $80 in goods on January 1 and received a confirmation message a day later.

On January 4 about half of the funds were withdrawn from my bank account.

On January 5 the rest of the funds were withdrawn.

On January 16 I emailed Futurlec to ask what the status of the order was. Two days later I received a reply saying that a database error had delayed my order but that it would ship soon.

On January 24 $86 more was withdrawn from my bank account! And in what I'm sure was an unrelated development, the US version of futurlec.com vanished from the Web. I began to perspire.

During the next six days I emailed back and forth with a succession of people at Futurlec and got the amount I was overcharged refunded and was told again that my order would ship soon.

On February 5 (my birthday, ironically) I received my order. The order was complete and everything was as advertised. I had four, maybe five, times the number of pots and switches the same dollars would have gotten me from Mouser.

Some would say all's well that ends well but that January 24 overcharge hit just two days before payday and nearly emptied our bank account. I was lucky. Now when I am tempted by the siren song of Futurlec's prices my enthusiasm is quenched by the knowledge that my wife would be furious if I let my hobby jeopardize the family finances like that again.

a.b.o.z. · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:15 am Post subject:

i'm waiting for an order for 8 days now. confirmation e-mail said it will be here in 7-10 days. hope it's true Smile

Wild Zebra · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:16 pm Post subject:

I know it's hard to be patient, but with futurlec patience is a virtue.