Approved Food - general discussion thread

Have there been any updates from Dan lately, it looks like the current backlog is longer than a week?

I want my goodies!

oldMcDonald wrote: »

Oooo, Sarahw - my delivery has just come, still not had a dispatch note, though! (well, actually the box came half an hour ago - I had to unpack it and the kids and I are now demolishing a Golden Syrup Cake )

Hopefully yours will come any time soon!!

:rotfl: Thats so cheeky!! I ordered 3 of them and we havnt eaten them yet either!! But have broken into Ballisto bars and mcvities cookies mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

blaque*angel wrote: »

i'm at my mums, i think my delivery has come when i'm not in

i just have a very strong feeling, lol

]i hope its with a reliable neighbour lol

i'll see if i'm right in a few hours!!

i was right:T my order came, (two at once!!)
it was left with my next door neighbour.
it was packed well and i'm ecstatic as usual, Although there were a few human errors I'm still very pleased:T

i cannot make any more orders for atleat two months because all my cupboards, fridge and freezer are full to the brim!!
i had to put some of my plates, pots and pans in boxes:eek:
and take some items to my sisters house, i'm not complaining:cool:

THANK YOU AF

sellercheckuk wrote: »

Dan,

If it's not too much trouble would you kindly give your update on your statements (from the 'old' thread, now 'closed') , which no longer seem to be valid?....

#1633 31-01-2009, 11:30 PM

The fact that all items at the moment appear as “temporarily unavailable” is not because we don’t have the stock, but it was the only way I could put a stop to people making orders this weekend. Normal service will resumed as soon as possible, hopefully during this coming week.

I can assure you that, as from now, orders will be dealt with strictly in the order they were placed. Also I will update you via this thread as to where we are up to with the orders on a daily basis.

I guess the volume and the fact he is still having to deal with missing items means he has had to go back to previous system where newer orders dealt with by some of the staff, as he said in 1663

approvedfood wrote:

Firstly I must explain why some people have “jumped the queue”: because of the pressure of numbers and the insecure nature of our supplies, we found ourselves in the position of having to contact the majority of our customers about replacements. Obviously the night shift could not phone customers, so the only way to keep them occupied was to employ them completing orders that had come in recently and for which we had the products in stock.

As he admits himself it isn't ideal, only doing because has no other choice if to keep the orders flowing. With the best will in the world he wanted to do the orders in; well, order but circumstances have dictated otherwise.

sellercheckuk wrote: »

Also, please let us know, do you allow visitors to your warehouse to buy stock that's still physically there but has actually already been sold and paid for via Google Checkout but not allocated/packed for sending out?

This is something I wondered about, In fact I noted in my very first post to this forum here that if he did implement a system to stop items being over-ordered on the website he would have to implement it in his stores as well, as I foresaw exactly this problem.

tricki1 wrote:

The simplest answer is link the database of amount of stock to the order form, showing how much stock is remaining and stopping orders at zero. Would have to have a scanner at the cash and carry to update the database for local sales or some poor sole would have to manually update the database for each local sale.

Although when I posted that I had no real idea on just how fast things were selling - updating the database so the internet store will not let items be over-sold is ok, but not when can sell out a new item in a few hours - just cannot keep up :eek:
It's a bit of a dilemma for Dan really. He has items in his store, on display, so he cannot refuse to sell to customers who come to the store in person just because the item could already have been sold on the internet - if its on display he has to sell it, and things go so fast the item could have sold out before the staff had time to move it from public display, possibly even as they set it up for some items:rotfl: (if they can move it - cash and carry warehouse, so may not be separate area)

I suspect that Dan may have to consider keeping extra stock separate just to make up internet orders, as its missing items that are slowing things down - has to treat each one separate, do a refund or replacement, and so cannot be quickly completed by a new and not fully trained member of staff like a item with no missing items can.

How this would fit in with his method of doing business I am not sure, as I can see he works the margins and stock moves very fast. Storing the items separately would be another problem to solve, and I hope he can sort it out without breaking the bank. Will have to see how the replacement scheme works when he gets it set up, maybe that will suffice, but I suspect that people will feel a little fobbed off if they do not get what they ordered, and being able to replace will only mitigate dissatisfaction, not completely dissolve.

sellercheckuk wrote: »

Two more questions:
1) The 'Status' of ALL my orders (whether delivered or not) are showing in Google Checkout is 'In Progress'. Why is that?
2) If you cannot guarantee to supply all items on an order, why do you take payment immediately?

Don't know if there is a button on sellers end where can mark order completed or not. But its probably wise to leave open in case the customer decided he or she wanted a refund or otherwise contest the contract. Might of just not had time to properly finish ofc.
Edit: my orders are now not showing "in progress" including one that has not been delivered, so defiantly is in progress. Little confusing. Can contact seller on order not marked as in progress so leaving it open not needed, so was probably just oversight. FAQ says "If the seller has been unresponsive to your requests, Google can provide mediation by contacting the seller on your behalf. Mediation service is only available for orders placed in the last 90 days. "

Number 2 is due to the Google checkout system, I do not think he has any option in it, although i'll check the faq's to see if right. Edit: No was wrong, as per this page
can charge card later. Probably good reason, bit I'll let Dan explain rather than add my own suppositions about that.