Well I'll not be using Farnell again - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 02:11:59 pm
content: I bought some parts from Farnell, 25 4.7V zener diodes for £0.10. They turned out to not be 4.7V but 4.1V (with 20mA going through). So I rang up and complained and asked for replacements as I had nothing to order and was not going to pay more in shipping than the parts cost. As the original part was not in stock I had to pick some replacements as the person i spoke to was non technical and had no clue what i was talking about.So replacements have arrived, worked fine. But i just got a statement, they have credited me for the parts but charged me the difference. The replacements which where the cheapest available cost £0.25 each. I have contacted them and they are adamant that they want the difference.Well i will not be using Farnell again. It is not my problem that the original parts were now out of stock and they are the ones that sent me the wrong stock in the first place. What if I had bought an entire real of the damn things.As I am buying things by the reel full I might as well go to mouser as the order value of 3 reels often gets free shipping and everything I order for my business or my employer I order by the reel full so that i can give stock to the assembler if needs be.So ye be warned, if Farnell cocks up, you pay.......

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 02:17:00 pm
content: This is.. fairly normal practice, you pay for the product you receive. They are not a high margin consumer electronics store.I imagine you still got to keep the other zeners...

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 02:42:02 pm
content: I don't really care what the margin is. Apparently when they mess up I have to pay twice not to mention the nuisance of building stuff with the wrong/faulty parts. If i mess up I apologise and replace the goods, not tell the customer that I just put the price up and now they owe me more money.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 02:42:38 pm
content: the old zeners are useless to me.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 03:20:13 pm
content: Why are you wasting your time for a couple of pounds? Your time must be worth more!Yes, Farnell screws up every now and then but in my case they always got it sorted.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 03:57:24 pm
content: Well I am not wasting time. I contacted them to find out why i received an unexpected bill. They took the trouble to not charge the carriage. Seems like they are wasting more time than me and I do need to "waste" my time paying them. If this was a reel full worth hundreds of pounds would it be worth my time then?

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 05:16:29 pm
content: I find it peculiar you even pay for shipping, actually.Nonetheless, this is a bit of nitpicking from them, but it's quite a populist thing to say "I'm not ordering here anymore!". That will only work if the competitors are doing a better job, and I simply think that is not true. There are things that can be said about every component distributor...

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 05:20:32 pm
content: Would the Distant selling regulations not apply?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 05:22:01 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 21, 2018, 02:42:02 pmThey didn't have the applicable replacement. You chose to switch to a different part number at a different price instead of waiting for the part you ordered to be available.Quote from: Neilm on July 21, 2018, 05:20:32 pmFarnell are not a consumer retailer. They are a business to business company and are exempt from those particular regulations.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 05:55:29 pm
content: Quote from: hans on July 21, 2018, 05:16:29 pmOh they waved the shipping, that is the strange thing, they took all this trouble.Well Farnell are already out of my favour as their websites stock system does not work and I am sick of ordering parts that show in stock only to find that someone got there 2 hours earlier. On top of that now if I order a reel of 5000 parts that today cost £0.01 only to find they sent me the wrong stuff and someone else has since bought what is left, I could be left to find the equivalent parts that could be £0.03, at a reel of 5000 parts that is some difference.I have always found RS to be better in service although still flawed but if they say they have it, they do have it, they also use a carrier that will leave my parcels in walking distance.The mouser and digi key searches work fine and they have the stock they say they have. Only farnell has lied about it's stock and managed to send me the wrong stuff. I guess that Farnell are marginally cheaper, i guess they push their staff harder.Farnell_errors++;

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 06:11:39 pm
content: If I want it next day it's Farnell or RS, otherwise Mouser and Digikey if I don't mind waiting a few days. Been there with the "in stock" then suddenly out stock thing but the parts eventually get shipped. It's annoying if I've got a deadline to meet so it usually means a quick RS order. These things happen but luckilly not very often.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 06:13:06 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 21, 2018, 05:55:29 pmIt seems to me that Farnell may have rid themselves of an irritating low volume customer. I think made a reasonable attempt to resolve their error. I've had RS do exactly the same thing to me... and they took exactly the same action. In one case, with a slightly higher value part (wirewound resistor), they actually wanted me to ship the wrongly supplied part back to them!If you get that worked up about every little error, then you'll soon run out of suppliers.

author: shteii01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 06:13:48 pm
content: Now that Simon shared a little more of their experience with Farnell, they make sense.hans made a good point about Farnell competitors being better. That is not proven. However, now that we know about the failed inventory tracking system at Farnell, it actually makes Simon's case stronger. Think about it... what is "sexier": claim that you can show inventory or have a message that say: "call us before you order to make sure that there is inventory available"? So Farnell has a visual eye candy of inventory to look like they are in step with the times and their competitors while in fact they are not! To me those are management decisions. Someone decided that we need a system that makes our customers feel good while they order stuff, once customer is separated from their money, we will let customer service department deal with any problems that show up later. That is not good management, that is not well run company.Simon. I have a suggestion. Since you already had the experience dealing with Farnell customer service, next time go through credit card company and get your money back. Bypass the whole "customer service experience". Just get your money.Quote from: Simon on July 21, 2018, 05:55:29 pm

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 06:47:56 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on July 21, 2018, 02:17:00 pmNo, they are a HUGE margin electronics component store. Whoever knows the proper pricing of electronics components, knows this.Take for example their re-reeling fee of 7 EUR. If you need some 10 resistors 0402 for prototypes, I told purchasing to just buy the complete reels from the regular suppliers, because that is cheaper than having that (150 instead of 10) resistors on a reel.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 06:59:10 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on July 21, 2018, 06:47:56 pmYes, re-reeling is expensive.So is paying British (and Belgian) people to walk around a warehouse collecting individual line items for your £5 order to be delivered next day by UPS, internationally.What parts cost direct from China and what they cost from a local warehouse are two very different things.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 07:07:40 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on July 21, 2018, 06:59:10 pmCurious how much would that cost for a Brits to do that ? Assuming at minimum wages, say that will take about 15 to 30 minutes ?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 07:18:27 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on July 21, 2018, 07:07:40 pm£7.83 an hour + materials + margin to make up for free shipping abuse + margin for errors (wrong part, spilled parts, etc)..

author: Tandy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 07:19:30 pm
content: They are far from huge margins on branded products. As someone who has negotiated with some of the large semiconductor manufacturers interested in becoming an official distributor for them I can tell you the margins are tiny and the outlay is enormous. You have to stock thousands of unpopular lines that rarely sell in order to get access to a few hundred popular parts.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 08:49:10 pm
content: Quote from: chris_leyson on July 21, 2018, 06:11:39 pmReally, when was the last time you ordered parts? Many items are listed on backorder for the next two years!!!!!!!!!! Farnell show items in stock when they are not because the website stock lags actual availability by a couple of hours as confirmed to me when I rang up from work when all 4 "in stock" items on my order were suddenly not in stock. They confirmed that this is a known issue.....Passive are becoming scarce at the moment and people, me included are buying frantically which only exacerbates the situation...I have had this happen several times and thought it was me, nope every time i order stuff that is in stock. RS never has this issue, they may make mistakes but I have not had issues yet.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 08:58:52 pm
content: Quote from: Tandy on July 21, 2018, 07:19:30 pmWhich is why i gave up distributing parts from a bedroom.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 10:41:08 pm
content: Quote from: Tandy on July 21, 2018, 07:19:30 pmDepends on your deal, i know a company that always gets the highest staffelprice whatever the amount.That makes the big difference if you order 20 pieces and you get the 25000+ staffelprice it saves at least half. Farnell is very expensive for small amounts, it is three times what you will pay from the distributor in large quantities.

author: Tandy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2018, 11:13:54 pm
content: The point is that handling small numbers is not cheap. Say you get a bag of 500 TO-92 transistors but someone wants 5, someone has to split that pack and re-packege into smaller numbers.So say for example the 25000 price is 30% cheaper than the 500 price it doesn't really help with the order for 5 or 50. There is a fixed cost associated with employing the person to handle the products. So it is fine when someone orders 500 and you are getting the cost price is 30% less as the time taken to put the bag of 500 in a package is small and therefore has minimal cost. But even then if that bag of 500 sells for €10 and costs €1 to handle you are left with 20% margin that does not account for the fact that capital is tied up in stock and in some cases there will be a low value order with free shipping. It means that some low value orders are sold at cost or even a loss and profit is only made on larger orders where several product lines are sold in complete reels, bags etc.A 30% gross margin may seem a lot but it really isn't when you have the overheads of warehouse space, staff and other expenses such as insurance, utilities etc. I'm sure that the likes of Farnell get better deals from manufacturers due to their size and vast customer base but still there must be a lot of stock that doesn't make them any significant profit.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 12:32:39 am
content: The only thing I find odd is that they didn't mention at the time that they would charge the difference. Otherwise it seems pretty reasonable. I suppose the other option is they could have simply refunded the original order price and not sent anything.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 12:33:29 am
content: Quote from: james_s on July 22, 2018, 12:32:39 amPerhaps they thought it was implied in a question along the lines of "Would you like to order a different part?"..

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 02:22:03 am
content: I don't think Farnell is wrong on this. But your request likely need at least a manager or above to override as they would not be able to square the differences in their account. This shall be a big problem to their department and auditor. You shall have to ask to speak to higher level if you want it adjusted. Farnell is E14 here (Singapore). They are not competitive, their price is higher by quite a bit compare to Mouser or Digikey, and range smallers, and delivery is longer if I put in a local for Thursday or Friday than an order to the US. Lately, they didnt get to process my order for 10 days, I got to call to remind them, and after they could not bill as there was some problem with their system. So they could not send because they could not bill, and so more wasted time.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 03:13:14 am
content: Quote from: Tandy on July 21, 2018, 11:13:54 pmBack in the day, many suppliers in Oz declined to supply small quantities as "it wasn't worth their while".What they didn't take into account was that the person who wanted 5 resistors today for themselves, was often the same person ordering 1000 much more expensive items for their work tomorrow.Guess which companies missed out on the bigger orders?Interestingly, all those suppliers are now defunct!

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 07:14:29 am
content: You can clearly see the increased delivery costs [these days] (I think they were less "aggressive" before) in the lower pricing brackets, sometimes over 50% extra in low qty (<25).I haven't exactly figured out why. I can imagine them doing this if you order a QFP-100 chip, because they usually ship these in trays (for the better! i.e. getting a reliable part to the customer, with no bent pins) . Those trays aren't exactly free, so they need to be paid for.On the other hand, I've also ordered a few DFN chips that they ship on tape, and you could argue these are way easier to cut and sell than if a customer wants to buy 10x 0402 0.1% resistors.For example:http://uk.farnell.com/sensor-solutions-te-connectivity/htu21d/humidity-temp-sensor-digital-dfn/dp/2393536Okay; maybe the point is.. if I order exactly 1 (which is possible in this pricing scheme), then a warehouse clerk has to find the part in the warehouse, untangle the reel, cut 1 part off, put it in an anti-static bag, seal it and put a label on it. Certainly plenty of work.It however disappoints me is that if I order 8 parts, this is actually more expensive than buying 10. But I guess they don't want to make too fine granular pricing brackets everywhere..I agree with what Simon said about their website though. Although it is more usable than RS (can't even filter "in stock" last time I used it), this site is so painfully slow. I was recording response time a little while back, and was able to go over1 minute per pageto list 100 SMT resistors. Absolutely unusable.

author: exe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 07:43:35 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on July 21, 2018, 05:22:01 pmIn the UK I used to buy from them as an individual. So, not sure about exemptions.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 08:02:47 am
content: Quote from: hans on July 22, 2018, 07:14:29 amI thought it was just me. It has been like this for years now. It's faster for me to shotgun 5 or 10 parts into the RS shopping cart and remove the ones that are out of stock or long lead (in the UK warehouse) than it is to select 1 part on the farknell web site.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 08:08:49 am
content: Quote from: james_s on July 22, 2018, 12:32:39 amWell basically they gave me free shipping I won't bother next time as it's not worth the time to log into my online banking and make the payment. The amount here is a few pounds, it's more hassle for both of us than it is worth, unfortunately I can't afford a reel but apparently had I been able to afford one I could have been tens of pounds out of pocket. I don't know why they do free shipping deals, Farnell do it on £20 and RS on £12 stuff costs money end of.Yes the person i spoke to to find out why I had an unexpected statement had to go to their manager.Oh well if i don't use them I don't have to get that queasy feeling every time I order:1) will the parts be in stock2) will the parts be correct3) will the parts be properly packedYes I once ordered £700 pounds worth of TH ATmega328P, naturally i got the hallmark "sorry we lied about the stock and we don't have all of them" but what was worse was that I got a lot of damaged pins on what did arrive, it felt like they had had been swept up from the floor and repackaged and the tubes were not original. It felt like dealing with some dodgy person in china.I ordered 10'000 1K TH resistors, now you would think that would mean 2 boxes of 5'000 each, no wrong again, I got several bags of resistors just dumped in there. No you are all sympathising with the handling costs of parts for Farnell but what about my handling costs? When I get parts like that it takes me longer to handle them and that has an impact when I an trying to sell or use them. Naturally a carrier bag of resistors slumped in it was very hard to store.So yes, I have had about enough of them, sure I may have to use them with the current situation but they are now the last resort as I have no problem paying 10% more for peace of mind and to get the actual parts I ordered and have them sensibly packaged.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 08:13:59 am
content: Quote from: BradC on July 22, 2018, 08:02:47 amYes and i have told them and told them why it is like this but as they just employ cheap idiots no one cares. The farnell website tries to be clever and faster at finding your stuff but they do it wrong by starting to search every time you click on an attribute. this means that dozens of searches are being carried out for ever actual search an it loads the server down. They are the only ones that do it and they have the worse performing website. They can just about handle things now like searches for "1K 0805 1%". The RS website is fast but yes the major problem is that they don't have the in stock option and with the current situation this is a problem when 90% of results are not in stock.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 02:40:10 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on July 21, 2018, 06:59:10 pmBut then getting a full reel of A brand resistor from local stock at different distributor is cheaper. The only difference is that Farnell writes the price on their website, and the other distributor has phone a fax and an email to ask for a quote. Also, having an engineer or someone from purhasing selecting the resistors from the "generic 10K 0402 100ppm 1%" from different brands, selecting a "good deal" meaning that rooting out the ridicoluls prices.I mean look at this:http://be.farnell.com/vishay/crcw040210k0jnedif/res-thick-film-10k-5-0-063w-0402/dp/1739107This is 21 EUR for 150 resistors. The complete reel is about 5-7 EUR and you break it to 60 re-reels.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 02:44:34 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on July 22, 2018, 02:40:10 pmThe 'only difference' is that Farnell maintain a convenient website and allow you to order ten resistors, not ten reels.There's a difference between production quantity and prototyping. I doubt your 'different distributor' would be so cheap if you asked them to wander around cutting bits off random reels then re-reeling them.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 03:10:29 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on July 22, 2018, 03:13:14 amPerhaps with small business but big companies only use Farnell and sorts for prototyping supplies and perhaps quick restocking the pick-stock (stock for the engineers to grab when they are experimenting etc).Large companies will never order for their production from these companies, they are way too expensive, they just order directly from the manufacturers or their firstline representatives. At least that is my experience.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 06:54:26 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on July 22, 2018, 03:10:29 pmYes and no. How large do you think a company has to be do deal direct with a manufacturer? VERY VERY big, an auto manufacturer or solar inverter builders. Manufacturers are in the business of manufacturing, not dealing with customers. people like farnel will deal with people ranging from us to medium or large companies. The bigger ones turning over more will pay less but how the hell does a subcontract manufacturer get work and place orders with farnell if they don't do the small quantities that sometimes these companies need or that we need to make prototypes?Farnells owner Avnet won't deal in sub-reel quantities but then that is their chosen business and they have farnell do deal with the smaller sales that do still need to take place. Unfortunately Farnell are large enough to not give a shit about anyone. I have the same situation at work with metal connectors, but being a more niche market things are a little easier and I deal with a manufacturers direct distributor who give me best pricing and are helpful despite us buying in dribs and drabs, but they know that i specify their parts on my looms and will advise subcontractors to go to them. Farnell will of course sell me metal connectors but the bastards just go to my supplier who direct ships and farnell charge you 2-3x the price, quite the markup with items that cost £20 to £50 with farnell not doing a thing but let a computer take the money......Swings and roundabouts.......

author: jc101
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 09:25:32 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 22, 2018, 06:54:26 pmWell, I have an account with Wurth which is handy for various bits and pieces I use. Only thing is a Min order value of £50. I am a very small company. It doesn't hurt to ask any company if they will sell direct, though don't expect credit terms. They can only say no, or ignore you completely, though finding a contact at a show can be of benefit.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 11:01:01 pm
content: I've had Digikey send me the wrong parts before, but never had an issue with Mouser, RS or Farnell / CPC.I have occasionally used direct m/f like Microchip Direct, and used the likes of Future Electronics / Arrow / AVnet etc.Sometimes you get buying power going through an assembler - if you have a good relationship with them that is, I've used a few that offer me a part price way cheaper than I could get from a supplier direct.

author: Beamin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 11:05:06 pm
content: Quote from: Farnel ElectronicsBut they have a WHOLE team looking into the problem?

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2018, 11:14:58 pm
content: To note if RS fuck up, which they or parcelforce do occasionally, the outcome is always keep what we sent you, refund, send new parts out. And they get it right the second time.Farnell are hopeless when something goes wrong. I had an argument with them about a year ago when a £180 order didnt get tracking ID allocated despite paying next day before 9 and ordering before 10AM. When speaking to someone they said they’d refund me delivery I paid and that it would be dispatched that day.Next morning I check for tracking ID and the order is cancelled and it took me two phone arguments to get the cash refunded... RS got business, arrived next day. No problems.CPC are the funny company though. Pretty regularly I get sent empty zip lock bags that someone has picked. The person on the phone sounds terribly surprised about this and then you have to wait while they sent the replacement part out by drunk carrier pigeon.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 06:45:04 am
content: CPC == Farnell, it's probably where they train the staff that hopefully get it right with Farnell orders.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 07:06:18 am
content: I think it’s actually the pit of despair that they chuck Farnell staff in who are no good.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 07:14:19 am
content: Quote from: Simon on July 22, 2018, 06:54:26 pmIt depends on the manufacturer how they have organized their operations. Like you know Microchip for instance has its own webshop you can even buy single pieces although this is exceptional.So what I heard (no personal experience) it depends on the order size, as long as it is an interesting amount of $ they will sent you an offer. No you will not get a personal visit or someone flying in to see you to start negotiating ofcourse. But I am pretty sure if you for instance have a small business and call your local ST representative and ask for a quote for a few reels of microcontrollers say 10000 pieces, you will get an offer. It is also in their interest that small businesses start using their silicon, if only 3% of those small businesses make it and get big they are happy.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 07:39:58 am
content: You are talking about micro's and possibly silicon in general. Atmel told me to get lost, microchip and TI are doing direct ship now but I would think that they have set up a separate department for that having realised that they can make far more than the likes of farnell do and have more of an interest in people using their parts than a passive component manufacturer.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 08:27:19 am
content: Quote from: Simon on July 23, 2018, 07:39:58 amWhat quantity was that about then?Next it also depends on your role and how you make contact.You need to contact the sales department of the manufacturer and they will probably not open any negotiations with a hardware engineer but would be more susceptible to a senior purchaser. If you have a medium company without such role ask your CEO to give you that role to start negotiations, although it requires a different "language and behaviour" which probably don't match a hardware engineer, just as you don't like to listen to your purchaser for hardware advice.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 08:57:41 am
content: No it was clear to them that I was not a big player. They just told me to go to distribution like farnell. I can't remember if they mentioned any minimum spend but if they did it would have been very, very high. I think I was hoping to buy in the sub 10'000 but over 1'000. I was just not worth their time.Now chip makers are cutting out the middle man.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 11:42:52 am
content: Oh yes, it was CPC I bought a tablet from that had a damaged screen or screen driver, got grief over sending that back.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 05:00:31 pm
content: CPC is an interesting place. I bought a pile of nice ceramic lampholders on sale for something like 50p each and brought them back home with me, for whatever reason a socket half as nice would normally cost several times that here. I've used quite a few of them over the last few years and occasionally wish I'd bought a few more.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 05:24:46 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on July 23, 2018, 05:00:31 pmYes since led the old sockets are thrown away by the zillions.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2018, 06:06:49 pm
content: This was prior to LED bulbs being commonplace. I haven't thrown away any sockets though, my LED bulbs screw into the same sockets previously occupied by CFLs, which before that held incandescent lamps.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 28, 2018, 11:57:48 am
content: I bought some parts from RS I needed in a hurry, I had pasted my board and assembled most parts only to find one of the packages was wrong. I rang them right after I placed the order to see if it could be changed to a guaranteed early delivery, they said they could not but on checking the tracking the next day they were on a before 9am delivery not the 9-5 I was advised they would be on and we were not charged anything. That is what I call a good supplier. if it had been farnell they would of not known for 2 hours if the stock was even real never mind discussing delivery.

author: julianhigginson
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2018, 12:19:13 pm
content: wow.. it's weird people talking about using RS in preference to farnell/Element14...whenever I try to use the RS website to order stuff, it nearly gives me a stroke.It's just... awful. The arrangement of things, the way the search works, everything. Just NO. it's worse than Arrow, even.Farnell's biggest problem for me is that they have real issues with local stock in Australia (was bad for ages, then went OK for a few years, the last year or so has just gone as bad as it ever was) and basically in most cases it's quicker and cheaper to order a build kit for a new board prototype from Digikey or Mouser. Which sucks, because I don't mind their website to order stuff from, and would prefer to support a local warehouse and distribution team who sells parts, if they actually just held stock.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 28, 2018, 12:55:27 pm
content: Yes I preferred to use Farnell because they are UK based. RS do better service but they are not perfect. Mouser, I am looking at them now for a LIN transceiver because I am uneasy with RS only having 60 in stock of things.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2018, 01:33:42 pm
content: Quote from: julianhigginson on July 28, 2018, 12:19:13 pmAbsolutely - RS website has always been terrible, slow improvements but always behind Farnell.Main problem is search results don't include stock so you spend forever looking through each result to see if it's in stock. Their packaging also sucks if you forget to specify "production pack" - individual bags.Parametric search is also pretty terrible

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 28, 2018, 01:54:00 pm
content: i find the RS parametric search good and like the fact that i can choose SMD only. It does not force me to pick SMD packages one by one, mouser also do this. The stock not being part of the criteria is a nightmare and why i am on mouser. The RS website also got a lot faster. Farnell's attempt to speed searches up actually made them slower.