I have just used White Ensign Models for the first time and I have been left absolutely speechless.

After a couple of emails confirming what I needed I ordered 3 paints for a project and they arrived today. On opening the parcel I found just two with a message on the bottom of the invoice saying that the third was out of stock and had not been backordered.

Thinking this must be a mistake, I rang and spoke to a lady. She confirmed that it was out of stock and hadn't been backordered because the cost point is too expensive for them.

I explained that I am now left in a position where I don't have the paints I need and that I thought it wrong that they would just decide to send two and cancel the other without checking with me first.

Then the UK owner (Dave Carter) took the phone and told me that it had been back ordered. I felt better and explained that the lady and the invoice had said 'Not Backordered' which was why I was put out. He then changed his mind and said 'you are right, it is not backordered'.

He then went on to say that is how the process worked, what did I expect him to do. When I said that I would have expected me to drop me and email or call me to see whether I wanted to wait, cancel or just take the two, he replied "Look I get 30 orders per day I don't have time to contact them all".

When I pointed out that he wouldn't have to, just the small number where there was an issue, he replied "Just send them back and I'll refund you, customers like you, we don't need".

I was very surpised with this service after all I have read here about them.

My experience, is that WEM (UK) is the rudest company with the poorest customer service attitude that I have ever encountered.

The crazy thing is that they are not prepared to call, not prepared to put the missing paint on backorder and send when available (because of the extra postage cost) but they are prepared to take the order back and refund in total including postage to me and return postage back to them.

Cheers,

Nigel

that is bad news for you, surprisingly I read this on their website:

At White Ensign Models we try to ensure all our customers are happy with our service

and

Back Orders If your item is not in stock, we will back order for you. This back order will remain on our files until the item becomes available, when it will automatically be sent out to you. If you do not wish this to happen, please add a note to this effect on the order form. Also don't forget to let us know if you wish to cancel any outstanding back orders.

I wasn't there on the telephone with you, so I can't say who's right or wrong, but it raises my eyebrow......

I know John Snyder from WEM is also on Armorama

for the record: I ordered several times from them, and the service has always been perfect, and so are their products (in my humble opinion......)

Matthijs

My enquiries prior to ordering with John Snyder were fine and he was very helpful.

The bottom of the invoice definitely says NOT BACKORDERED.

The lady I spoke to says that it wasn't back ordered because for one tin of paint it is too expensive for them.

Dave initially said it was backordered because that was standard practice but then corrected himself.

Dave said I should have rung before ordering because

(i) The online ordering doesn't have a live stock function
(ii) The email I got confirming the order is auto-genearted and does indicate that that is what you are actually going to get
(iii) The emails I had had with John Snyder were irrelevent because he is based in the US - all emails are answered in the US and they have no idea of UK stock
(iv) Because they get 30 orders per day and they don't have time to enquire about ones they can't satisfy

The main thing that got me was that he couldn't see there was anything wrong with what he did.

He felt that looking at my order and deciding to cancel parts and process other parts without checking with me was perfectly normal and acceptable.

I was going to keep the paints I had received but when he said "send them back, customers like you, I can do without" I felt so incensed that I did send them back for full refund.

I sure they can be a good company but I was treated atrociously, worse than I have been by any other reatiler or manufacturer ever.

Cheers,

Nigel

Hi Gang,Just my experience as i`ve only used them once but i found them VERY helpful.I spoke to them on the phone to enquire about minimum order sizes (i only wanted six tins of sinai grey paint) and found them very pleasent to talk to,even when they`d accidently overcharged me !.
Perhaps you just caught them on a bad day - lord knows we all have them !.

As I said I'm sure they are good most of the time - I had read good stuff about them here before ordering, that's why I was so surprised with what happened to me.

As an anology, you needed 6 tins of sinai grey and ordered them. Say they only had 4 in stock and without consulting you they processed 4 and cancelled 2. And then when you rang back saying that you needed 6 not 4, they behaved that they hadn't done anything wrong at all.

The bit I just can't get over is that they felt they could just cancel bits of my order and process other bits and the first I'd know about it was when it dropped through my letterbox.

It irritates me when my order is changed without consultation, but perhaps I'm being too picky.

Cheers,

Nigel

This only seems to have taken place since John relocated stateside.....

Never had that kind of problem when he was running things here, in fact quite the reverse

WHEN WILL THEY ALL LEARN? put one moddeller out and its like a domino effect. love the bit ' we get 30 emails a day.....i would love to work at my dream job!

Oh, for crying out loud, you're griping about one tin of paint? It is customary in most mail order houses to fulfill partial orders. If they cannot backorder, they can refund the balance, and you'll just source the missing item (in this case, one tin of paint) elsewhere. In the universe where the rest of us live, you find the paint from another vender, or you find an equivalent match in another company's product line, or (gasp) you just mix the color yourself.

Not exactly. I'm griping about the fact that WEM decided to unilaterally change my order without consulting me first. And mostly that when I called to find out what had happened, was effectively told "tough that's the way we do business and they don't need customers like me". I suggest that if you had been told "we don't need customers like you" when you were making a perfectly valid enquiry then you would be pretty pissed aswell, regardless of whether you were buying three tins of paint or a ferrari.

As for mixing paints or using other brands. Yes I could do that, wish I had done, will be doing now, but I went to WEM because they claim to have exact colour matches that no other brands have.

I ordered three tins because that is what I needed for my project and because the postage charge is based on 3 tins whether you order 1, 2 or 3.

The website says that items in stock are backordered and sent at a later date. I would have been fine with that, but in this case they don't stand by their website promise.

Alternatively, if they they dropped me an email to explain, then I could have decided to cancel, or just take 2 or wait until all 3 are available.




This is the first that I have encountered, that will cancel items from an order without any form of notification or consultation.

Anyway, all history now. I will be mixing paint as you suggest and as I should have done originally.

Cheers,

Nigel

i dont think the gripe for him is really about the paint. i know if i was in that situation, the paint would be the last thing id be crying about. i have ordered paint once or twice where they sent 1 item later because it was backordered. however, they notified me of this also. so, no big deal. i was able to overlook that screw up.

in this situation, i would have been a tiny bit upset they didnt notify me, but i would have gotten over that. however, the way the treatment was when calling to find out why, would have made me furious.
not wanting to backorder because it costs him money!? really?. thats unexcusable. in a market where there isnt that big of a customer base as it is, your going to treat a customer like nothing. since it is such a small customer base, treatment like this will spread like wildfire. he is in the business of selling a product to consumers. making the customer come back should be his priority.


no big deal,. it is once tin of paint. after being treated like that, i would have just gone somewhere else to get what i wanted and never looked back.
i havent ever purchased anything from them, but i can guarantee i never will now.