My really odd experience ordering from Tequipment.net - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 02:37:54 am
content: Hello guys,I know everyone around here loves to order stuff from Tequipment.net. I myself have placed several orders with them over the years. Looking over my records, I see that in the last 5 years I've made exactly 10 purchase orders from this particular retailer. Now, for the first 9 orders, I consider things went smoothly. But, this 10th order is an aberration. I've just got to rant about it, to see if I'm alone in this experience, or if this type of thing is common, and I'm just lucky never to have seen it before.I'm a newbie poster, so I'm not sure where the best place to talk about this would be in the forum. I guess general chat is as good, but mods could change the location to a better fit, if there's such a thing. We all love buying electronic gear, and test equipment, so this is probably a favorite subject in the heart of many members. Where to find a good supplier?My 10th order is still in progress, so I'm not sure how it will all turn out in the end.However, there are a few things bugging me, and those who have purchased from Tequipment.net before could probably help to clarify my confusions.Before going into any details, I'd first like to mention, part of the reason I feel as if I've been suddenly transported into a parallel universe, is that Tequipment.net seems to have their own definition of standard terms used in this trade industry.Two specific things that came up during this particular 10th order, is the meaning of the terms "In Stock" and "Ship Complete."I've seen people grumbling before about how Tequipment.net treats items In Stock and Out of Stock, but I never paid any particular attention to those comments at the time. I had no reference points to comprehend their comments. Today, I suddenly understand. And it's like my hidden inner eye has suddenly opened to a new reality that was always obscured behind the scenes with all the glit and glamor of the Tequipment.net fancy website.What is the meaning of "In Stock" ?Some items in my 10th order were listed as "In Stock" on the Tequipment.net website. They appeared to have more than enough stock to cover my small order. But when I placed the order, which was listed "Ship Complete" those parts were listed as "On Order" while one part shipped out. So, I contacted Tequipment, and spoke to Brian, who informed me that the items were not in stock, and seemed to get annoyed at me for not understanding that if it was in stock then it would be shipping out. So, I spoke to a more senior rep RJ about this, and asked him how the items showing as in stock on the website were being claimed not to be in stock by his customer rep Brian. I asked what does "In Stock" mean? RJ misdirects the question by telling me that Brian is a great employee, and hard worker, and refused to answer the question. They then inform me that these "In Stock" items are really "on Backorder", but still lists them as "In Stock".Now the thing is, when I'm purchasing things from other distributors like mouser or digikey, for example, the term "In Stock" always means the items available "on-hand" *at mouser* for immediate delivery. There's a separate section for backorder, where the quantity on backorder along with expected dates to come into inventory is listed.So, the first realization I got at Tequipment.net, is that their "In Stock" number includes any backorder items that are on the way at some future time. At least, that was the situation in my 10th order. I've never seen this before, even at Tequipment.net, probably just because of the particular things I purchased on each of the previous 9 orders. If you buy from tme.eu, for example, they distinguish between on-hand and what's available from the dealer warehouse to order with separate numbers.I know that, from time to time, I've watched the stock numbers go up and down at Tequipment.net, for things of interest to me, that I was following, and got the general sense that these numbers were being artificially generated to attract interest. Something about the way the numbers flowed, didn't seem realistic. I'm a computer programmer, and a mathematician, so I have a sense of how numbers can react to algorithms vs natural processes.The refusal of Tequipment more senior reps to clarify the use of the term "In Stock" in their trade practices, suggests to me that this little detail is probably part of their "trade secret" concerning sources and methods of operation that make them competitive in the business.Now, I realize that Tequipment.net sources many items through dealers in the back channels, and some things directly from manufacturers. I don't really know how large this firm is, or if they carry much inventory on-hand. I surmise that the "In Stock" numbers here are probably a combination of one or more of the following:"In Stock" -- at Tequipment:1..Actual items they have in inventory immediately available for shipment2..Items they have ordered and are on the way to their warehouse expected soon3..The stock numbers showing in the inventory of the other dealers and suppliers that are available to them4..A random magic number used to influence potential buyers to initiate a sale; just a marketing toolNow I recall seeing many marketing flyers from Tequipment.net with claims like "up to 50% off Rigol" and the like, and always thought it was funny, since they never seemed to have anything I could find for 1/2 price there. But, it does bring visitors to their site. Many retailers do this sort of thing. Here in Toronto there's a rug store that is always "Going-out-for-business" etc...whatever brings the customer in is fair game. It seems to me, the "In Stock" numbers are treated the same way, just part of this marketing, to attract interest, they have no real meaning, but rely on the buyers delusions about what they might mean, from his understanding of their standard use in the trade otherwise, to encourage him to initiate a buy order. That's all it is. It seems, the buyer cannot rely on this number for any planning in his purchase. At mouser, digikey, tme.eu etc..the buyer can be reasonably confident that what is shown "In stock" canbe ordered right away.I wonder if you guys think this is standard practice in some sections of the electronics trade industry, or if it is a peculiarity of Tequipment.net. Are there other suppliers that use "In Stock" just to market their products to potential buyers?What do you guys think the term "In Stock" should mean, when looking to buy test equipment?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 05:35:23 am
content: I agree that for an item listed as "in stock", you can reasonably expect the dealer to have it physically at hand, in their inventory. One exception: Some dealers do not keep all items they offer in physical inventory, but have the manufacturer or a supplier drop-ship items fromtheirrespective stock directly to the end customer. In that case, "in stock" would mean that the drop-ship supplier has it in inventory.On the other hand: It took you averylong post to describe this simple annoyance. I feel for Brian and RJ who had you on the phone...Edit: typos

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 06:04:28 am
content: I understand the OP's confusion, "in stock" and they'renotwould piss me off too.Arguably it's misrepresentation.I like the way RS does their stock #'s; so many available immediately from branch X, n # available in n days from branch Y and so on. Itemsnotin stock as listed on backorder and items no longer in stockbutlisted have a specified lead time.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 06:09:12 am
content: That's just the tip of the iceberg. They've just shipped a part of the order that's supposed to include an item weighing 9 LBS, but the FEDEX package carrying the items only weighs 3 LBS. This leaves me scratching my head, and wondering what marvels I'll see next. Like I mentioned, there are many things about this 10th order that makes me feel I'm in a parallel dimension with new rules.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 08:39:38 am
content: You actually weigh your deliveries, sit scratching your head pondering what parallel universe you are in, then post about it instead of just getting out the old Croc' Dundee and opening them?This with the turgid "10th order" story that was harder to get through than War and Peace lead me to believe you must be trollingWell done!

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 09:26:16 am
content: Quote from: Macbeth on June 04, 2017, 08:39:38 amI'm pretty sure the package has not arrived yet

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 09:47:08 am
content: Claiming a product being in stock if it's actually on backorder isn't correct. And based on their reaction when asking what they mean by "in stock" they know that.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 09:55:58 am
content: Claiming something is in stock when it isn't is false advertising, plain and simple.It is information that directly influences your decision to order from them.I'd have no hesitation in cancelling the order - if they claim their T&Cs preclude this tell them that you will instruct your card company to issue a chargeback on the basis if service not delivered.The "In Stock" indication effectively forms part of the contract between you and them, and if this indication is false, the contract is void ( IANAL, but that would be my attitude towards them)

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 01:09:48 pm
content: No, I haven't received the package, and weighed it. It's in transit to Pitney Bowes, via Fedex, for further shipping onto Canada. But, since I'm a computer programmer, I'm watching the order fulfillment process and "debugging" the running process as it unfolds. It's my profession. The way I think about things.Here's another revelation I got on this 10th order concerning a standard trade term.What is meant by "discontinued." ?All the problems started on this order when a particular small part, included in the order, called "Protective Caps" was "discontinued."This is a $10 part, that Tequipment.net listed for $9.71 on their site. This was the smallest cost item in the whole order, apart from Tequipment.net FREE Meter bag, which they ship out with all Fluke 87-V meters.This 10th order was placed in the beginning of May, 2017, and when all the items were listed, one item, a Fluke 87-V meter was immediately listed as ready to ship out right away, but all the other items were then "On Order" with no estimated shipping date. The order was listed as "Ship Complete", so the Fluke meter wouldn't ship, until all the other items were in stock. At the time I placed the order, none of the other items were showing any stock, so I was already expecting to wait for this shipment. After a few days, all the items on order got estimated shipping dates, all scheduled to ship out on exactly the same day June 22, 2017, even the Fluke 87-V meter was rescheduled to that future date 2017-JUN-22, even though it was immediately available.Now, this is the way all of my previous 9 orders worked. So, I was comfortable with this. I'm building up my electronics lab, and I'm in no hurry to get these things. Waiting is fine.Now comes the kicker. Near the end of May, Tequipment.net contacts me to tell me the "Protective Caps" that I have in my order has been "discontinued", and the entire order has to be cancelled, and could be replaced by a new order without those Caps. Well, I didn't want to cancel the order, I asked why not just ship out all the other items, and give me a credit for the missing Caps or a discount on my next order? But, no, their system is inflexible and it has to be done with a cancel/replace order, they can't just "remove" one item from my order. I begged them not to cancel the order, but they did anyway, and offered me the opportunity to enter a new order.Now, I was very surprised that these "Protective Caps" were "discontinued". These Caps are part of one of the manufacturer's flagship products. So, I contacted the manufacturer, and asked them if the Caps were available. They said, yes, these caps are still available. I said but my supplier tequipment told me that they are "discontinued." The manufacturer said that these caps were removed from their price sheets, since they are not actively marketing them, but they are still available to purchase. So, I said, can tequipment buy these caps from you. They said "Certainly." So, I said "Thanks, I'll inform tequipment." Manufacturer says "Excellent". And I immediately contact tequipment to tell them the "good news."Here I'm thinking that tequipment probably just looked at the price sheets, and not seeing these Caps listed, must have assumed they were discontinued. However, tequipment insisted that they did try to find these caps, but nobody could find them. So, I again contacted the manufacturer, and said "Tequipment is still insisting that these Caps are not available", so can I buy them directly from you. They said, yes, give me your email and we'll get back to you with particulars. I give them my email, and they send me a message saying, "We have these caps, but need to locate them in inventory, please be patient with us."Later on the phone with senior rep RJ from tequipment, he said something to me that I never thought about. RJ informed me that the manufacturer has "quotas" for each distributor, and although I might be able to source these items in other places, or through the manufacturer directly, tequipment is unable to sell them, because they have filled their quota.So, I then understood, that "discontinued" doesn't mean the product is discontinued by the manufacturer, it means simply that tequipment has elected to "discontinue" carrying the item on their price sheets, either because they themselves can't actually source these items, or because they can't source them at a cost that would make it profitable for them to offer the items for sale.Personally, I think alot of resellers use the term "discontinued" in the same way, since I have observed this anomaly in many other places, not just tequipment. This also explains to me why Agilent U1272A meter that I was hoping to buy some time ago through tequipment, suddenly became "discontinued" on their site, while lots of other places were selling them.So, now I have a better understanding, or "revelation", of the terms "In Stock", "Ship Complete" (to be discussed), and "discontinued."

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 01:18:46 pm
content: In TQ's case 'discontinued' can also mean they are no longer licensed/authorised to sell a particular item yet last I looked they still had "unsaid" items listed on their website.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 03:52:23 pm
content: Sounds like their inventory tracking system/webstore is useless. If they cannot properly determine instock, backorder, discontinued, and still list it accuratly on their site. Ill bet they dropship everything.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 07:11:43 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on June 04, 2017, 09:55:58 amI would have done that already, if it wasn't for the fact that over the last 5 years all the transactions went smooth. I'm still in denial, trying to figure out this new reality. I keep giving Tequipment the benefit of the doubt, and get surprises when they do things other that they agreed.When I spoke to RJ over the phone, he told me he's on my side. That got me thinking, why does he have to be on my side? Is someone there against me? This whole thing is completely mysterious and has me baffled.I haven't had much contact with the "people" of Tequipment, over the years, almost all my transactions were done through their web interface, without any direct involvement with their people. I click to select, click to pay, and watch the tracking number to see when to have someone at home to collect the package. That's it.I see there's a slogan on their website that says, "Order from People, not Computers."Is that what I did wrong?That's the only thing, I can think of.So, they forced me to deal with all their employees on this 10th order, communicating with the whole gang.Well, ok, I'm guilty. I'm a computer programmer, what do you expect?

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 12:03:23 pm
content: So either Tequipment is lying or their ordering systems are broken, they are lying about that, and do not care. I would already have done what is necessary to cancel the order without warning them since they are not providing the service they are advertising.Why assume good faith on their part? They are responsible for the behavior of their customer representatives in one way or another.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 04:08:03 pm
content: Quote from: David Hess on June 05, 2017, 12:03:23 pmI get the sense that the more junior employees are not lying, but simply telling things the way they personally see it.For example, after TQ cancelled my original order, and offered me to enter the new replacement order, I looked again at their website listings, and saw that most of the items I had ordered, that were previously "out of stock", were now showing "In Stock" with quantities more than sufficient to fill my order. Almost a whole month had passed, so I figured, the items had just come in. So, while I didn't have to place this new order, I could have gone elsewhere, it looked as if the items were now in, and the only problem with the previous original order, was that one "Protective Caps" item that was discontinued. So, why go elsewhere? Why bother to go looking at other re-sellers websites and checking who else carries these items, when the items were now "In Stock" right here, in front of me?So, I contacted Tequipment, and Customer Rep Latoya said she'd enter the new order for me without the "Protective Caps", and within a few minutes I got an email confirming the new order.When I looked at this "replacement order", however, I noticed that the total cost was "higher" than the previous "original order." But, I had just removed one item, so how could the total cost go up? I looked carefully at all the line items, all the prices for each item were exactly the same as the old order, but the shipping cost had increased. So, I contacted Latoya, and asked her how the total could have increased, when we "took out" an item. She said, she noticed that also, and thought it strange, but that is what the "computer said."So, here I got the impression that Latoya is completely honest, she is just doing her job, and has limited knowledge about the systems of operation.I discussed this issue with other tequipment reps, who could not really explain the increase, but since this order was so close to being fulfilled, and the price difference was small enough for me, considering all the discounted prices I got from tequipment over the years, they had built up sufficient "goodwill" in my accounting book for me to overlook this, and I decided to go ahead with the order anyway.The next day, I get an email from tqeuipment "Your Order has Shipped" !So, excitedly, I scroll down the long email, only to find out, to my disappointment, that only the Fluke 87-V meter shipped. But, this was a "Ship Complete" order, like the original order, and the other items were showing on tequipment's website as "In Stock", so why didn't those items ship out with the Fluke? That's when I got into this dialog with Brian about what was really "In Stock", and he insisted that those other items were not "In Stock." Brian's view of In Stock, is the same as my view, items on-hand available for immediate shipment. Brian seems not to know, that the tequipment site lists these things as "In Stock." or if he does know, his role is to focus on what "In Stock" means to the inventory department.What is the meaning of the term "Ship Complete"?During my conversation with Brian, I mentioned that it seems that tequipment had "Partially Shipped" an order that was marked "Ship Complete." They didn't wait until all the items could be assembled and sent out as one shipment.At that point, Stacie jumps in the conversation, sending me an email, to "clear up my confusion." She explains "Ship Complete", does not mean that all the items in the order will ship together at the same time, it means each warehouse will "Ship Complete" the items that that particular warehouse typically carries in it's inventory, as soon as that warehouse can assemble the items it's responsible for.So, it might look like "Partial Shipments" of my "Ship Complete" order, but it's really "Ship Complete" from each warehouse, and that's the meaning of the term "Ship Complete" when my order is so marked.But, I pointed out to Stacie, that the explanation couldn't explain why the Fluke 87-V meter didn't ship out immediately in the original order placed in the beginning of May. Since, it was now apparent, that this was the only item that their main warehouse stocked, so the Fluke part of the "Ship Complete" order was already complete from the start, yet got rescheduled to June 22nd 2017, when the other items were expected. I asked how could the term "Ship Complete" change meaning, between the original order and the replacement order, consisting of mostly the identical parts?Here is where I think that the employee is using her own private interpretation of the term "Ship Complete", and honestly trying her best to clear up the situation.Now when an order is marked "Ship Complete" on tequipment's website, there's also a message below it that says,"For orders marked Ship Complete, We can partial ship upon request if the customer is willing to pay shipping charges of each shipment."So, the buyer can request partial shipments, if he is willing to pay more for shipping, but otherwise he'll usually have to wait until tequipment makes the one shipment. I was worried that, somehow, I was getting partial shipments and would be required to pay extra for this, since all my previous 9 orders over the 5 years only included one shipment. Tequipment assured me that even though I was getting partial shipments in this case, only one shipping fee, charged on the first shipment, would appear.Since I've played the role of financial analyst during my professional career, I came to understand this "Ship Complete" in terms of financial contracts.In my previous universe, "Ship Complete" was like a forward contract, between buyer and seller, where the seller agrees to ship all items out together, in one shipment, at a future date, to be determined by the seller, and the buyer would accept this one shipment, and "wait" for all items to be shipped out together, even though some items might be available immediately. Because the seller had the right to determine the actual future ship date, this was like a forward contract with embedded option to set the date.In my new parallel universe, according to Stacie, "Ship Complete" is like an option written by the buyer, and held by the seller, that gives the seller the right to ship out any items at any time, at the sellers convenience, and the buyer must accept partial shipments trickling in over an undetermined period of time, and although the buyer would not be required to pay any extra for these additional shipments, the buyer would forfeit his right to examine the complete order at one time upon receipt, to determine if the order was in fact complete or contained flawed or incorrect items.This is so, because the buyer doesn't know anything about the complex collection of warehouses that tequipment might have, and tequipment could just as easily ship all partial shipments from the same one warehouse, at different times, according to their convenience. All items appear to come from tequipment, so from the buyer's perspective, these are just partial shipments on his order, and whatever "behind the scenes" warehouse activity is generating these partial shipments, in some "Ship Complete" manner, is irrelevant to the buyer.So, Each person seems to have their own unique perspective, personal definition of the terms, and private "delusions" of how the company operates. But, they don't know what is going on behind the scenes in the business. The more senior employees, try very hard not to lie, by using "misdirection" and changing the subject when asked direct penetrating questions. It's clear to me, that different people at tequipment have either "more" or "less" actual knowledge of the true business practices, depending on who they are, and the senior ones aren't telling the junior ones the details either, so it's not just the client that is being kept in the dark.QuoteWell, everyone has a reason for doing things. People do what they think is right. Trying to see things from the other person's perspective, helps to understand why they do what they do.In the world of commerce, we pay money to be right. Whoever pays the cash, is the one in the right. The problem here, is that tequipment prices are often discounted more than other suppliers at the retail level. That "discount" is what "they pay us" the buyers to lie a little to us to get us into the trade. If we are upset and self-righteous, we can cancel and go elsewhere and pay more to get better service. So, there's always a cost involved. At the end of the day, what does the buyer want?The most important thing the buyer cares about, is the eventual delivery of his product, and that it be the "right product", with "no flaws". So far, tequipment has not failed to deliver that. Sometimes the "timing" of delivery is important, so each buyer may have his own priorities set differently on some aspects of order fulfillment.But, the buyer also cares about how "smooth" the transaction went for him. Typically, as a buyer, I don't want to do any "work" to make my order fulfillment a success. That's the seller's job. This is the perspective, of course, of the "end user" buyer. I'm not a dealer. So, I don't expect to work both sides of the trade.Most of the work the buyer does, involves researching his potential product. This takes a tremendous amount of time. Once this work has been complete, and the buyer has made his decision, the buyer just wants to point and click, and receive his part. This is my own view. Maybe some buyers enjoy the ride of the haggle and the game of the actual purchase itself. But, I'd think most buyers are like me, and just want their product without a fuss.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 07:00:37 pm
content: Ok. So it looks like they just forgot to include the tracking number for another FEDEX shipment in my invoice, so now I'm tracking two packages, one 3 LBS and one 12 LBS, for that part of the "Ship Complete" Partial shipment, that's supposed to include the 9 LBS part. So, "debugging" the order fulfillment suggests we're back on track. But, I had to talk to a "human" to get this straightened out, my online internet info is all messed up. They really do mean "Buy from people, not the internet."

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 07:06:25 pm
content: Don't waste your time talking to anyone there except Evan.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 07:29:08 pm
content: Quote from: eyiz on June 05, 2017, 04:08:03 pmStrange... At what point in this thread did I form the misguided impression that you enjoy a bit of fuss yourself...?

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 08:56:00 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on June 05, 2017, 07:29:08 pmI actually don't. But, it does fire me up and send me rolling down the road like a tank.

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 10:16:59 pm
content: Quote from: eyiz on June 04, 2017, 01:09:48 pmThis explains some of what I suspected upon reading your initial post, their ordering/inventory system is a relic from the past.Their odd definition of what "in-stock" means, could be explained by how their operate their warehouse. If you cannot be bothered checking incoming shipments from suppliers to update items from "on-order" to "in-stock", then simply treating everything you order in as in-stock will save you that step.I honestly wouldn't be surprised if their website server communicates directly with a computer from the 1980/1970's (emulated or otherwise), which no one knows how to update any more. It's really depressing how shit some companies IT solutions are.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 02:46:11 am
content: I'm surprised that a tequipment rep hasn't replied to you on this thread, as they did to anotherunhappypurchaser just a few days ago.I know in the past, they regularly replied to questions / issues here on the forum, after all they are a paying supporter. Maybe this is something recent? New staff? Reorganized?I ordered anin stockGDS2204E over 4 weeks ago, and it took 4 weeks to be shipped. I had no replies to any emails. Then, to annoy me more, it got held in customs etcfor days (first time it's happened to me .. maybe due to using USPS?). One thing for SURE, unless they provide a reason / solution to these seemingly more common incidents,AFAIC never again. I'm sure EEVBlog puts a heck of a lot of sales through their door.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 04:48:13 am
content: Quote from: digsys on June 06, 2017, 02:46:11 amI've been in contact with them almost every day, via email and phone, and online chat. They are probably tired hearing from me by now. A lot of what is discussed in this thread, was discussed directly with them. I'm just ranting here, to see if other people experience similar things, and to share my own frustration. Whenever I encounter some situation unusual, I like to hop onto various forums and search the posts to see if anybody had similar experiences, and how they handled it. So far, I've spoken to: Brian, RJ, Latoya, Stacie, Remy, Robert, and probably a few others I've forgotten. Things are moving along, they shipped out faster than expected. 3 of the 4 Partial shipments are on the way with tracking numbers, and 1 left still to ship out, scheduled to ship on the 8th June. Part 1, the Fluke 87-V meter is already in Canada, and Canada Post tracking says estimated delivery is 6th June. So, things are happening.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 10:39:56 am
content: I like these firsthand reports. They show what can go wrong, sellers you should stay away from or be very careful with. They also tell the sellers what to fix and improve. Sometimes the public attention helps to make things happen.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 10:10:55 pm
content: Yeah. My Fluke 87-V arrived today, June 6th. 1st part in 4 done. Looks new, smells new, feels new, no items missing. Ran some tests comparing my handy new Fluke 87-V to my old reliable Fluke 289 monstrosity, Resistors, Caps, give similar readings, Mains volts identical, only interesting difference is low ohm resistors, what my Fluke 289 says is 0.61 Ohms, my new Fluke 87-V reads 0.7 Ohms. But, I can't expect a simple Fluke 87-V to be as accurate as the 289 on all ranges. Only curiosity Fluke MFG Date is Apr2017, but product box is 11/2013 and (c) 2005-2013, so Fluke is packing new meters in 4 year old Product Boxes. Apart from that oddity. All's well. I give this part of my Tequipment.net order a thumbs up!Oh, I forgot, I found this part funny:"Made in the U.S. with Imported Parts."I wonder where they got those imported parts from?

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2017, 01:01:38 am
content: All's well that ends well -- ShakespeareSo, my final package arrived today June 20th.Come to think of it, the original date all these parts were supposed to ship out was 22nd June 2017. I was prepared to wait until then, so, actually, the order was fulfilled ahead of schedule, except for lots of twists and turns along the way.The final 4th package that arrived today was indeed "Drop Shipped" directly from the back end distributor. This last part was just 3 Instrument grade BNC F-M-F TEE adapters from Cal Test Electronics in the US. I had bought one of these BNC adapters before, from Tequipment.net, as part of another order some time ago, and liked the very high quality of the adapters, so decided to pick up some more on this order. The last time Tequipment.net sent me this part, they included it with the other things I ordered then, in one shipment, from their own warehouse. But, they didn't have it in stock then either, when I ordered it the last time. So, I had to wait that time too, for them to get it in, before the "Ship Complete" order was shipped out.So, something's changed this time around. They are now drop shipping. Also, it's funny, but, since this was drop shipped directly, I got a packing slip that was directed to Tequipment.net, rather than to me. On this packing slip there's a column titled "Ship Complete" that is marked "Yes." So, now I understand what Stacie was telling me. The backend distributors have a concept of "Ship Complete" that they use to determine when and how to fulfill the orders coming in to them. Now, if every distributor used Stacie's definition of "Ship Complete", and fulfilled their own orders with "Partial Shipments" that were just "Ship Complete" from each of their own back end distributors, then that practice of "Ship Complete" would lead to anarchy. In fact, Cal Test gets these BNC adapters from Rosenberger in Germany, which is marked on the BNC adapters themselves, so every distributor has it's own multiple sources to consider.Now, I paid full price for these Cal Test CT3341 BNC adapters from Tequipment.net. They are rather expensive. Tequipment.net doesn't generally list any "discounts" for Cal Test gear on their site, although they do allow "price matching" if the buyer wants. There are other places that sell these adapters with listed discounts. In fact, Cal Test Electronics gives a complete list of these resellers on their official website, so one only has to browse those listings, but the convenience of ordering everything from one place was part of my decision to get them from Tequipment.net. Also, I don't generally bother with price matching, since it takes up more time and hassle, and unless there's a big difference in the price between two suppliers, on some substantial higher priced item, I don't bother with all that fuss. However, if the parts are going to be dropped shipped anyway, in a separate package, at a different time, at full price, then what's the point?One advantage of ordering all items from a single source, is that the source can manage the "quality" of the fulfillment experience. By checking and confirming the parts before packing and shipping, the customer gets that quality assurance that "tequipment.net" 's people have qualified these items for shipment. In this case, the Cal Test gear are all perfectly fine. But, when ordering parts from many manufacturers, if there isn't a single entity doing the "quality assurance" checking, then the quality of fulfillment will likely vary widely over time. We like to buy from the same sellers, over and over again, because of that trust that they will continue to check all the parts are there, that the items are in good condition, etc.. before shipping out.All the items in my order, this time around, can be considered mostly "ok". But, there's one part that I consider imperfect. This has nothing to do with Tequipment.net, so I don't take any marks away from them. I bought parts from both brands "O.C. White" and "Luxo" on this order. The O.C. White part displayed a number of manufacturing defects. Some people might consider these imperfections minor, but I'm a picky person. If I'm paying money, that spend decision is going to be based on relative value for the same coin. Now, I mention this, because I was considering buying a magnifying lamp, in one of my future orders, and both O.C. White and Luxo were being considered, since they both produce competing products. But, having seen the difference in the quality of manufacturing between O.C. White and Luxo on this order, I'm definitely not going to buy more O.C. White stuff. That makes the Luxo Wave the leading candidate for my magnifying lamp, at the moment.The thing is, the O.C. White manufacturing is a bit "crude", lacking modern manufacturing finesse, that we have come to expect in this age of computer controlled fit and finish precision. There's is clearly a lot of "manual" working of the part, displaying the usual lack of precise control that occurs when the human hand is working the material. This is so last century. A hundred years ago, this item would be considered perfect. But, today, it should just be priced a lot lower. On the other hand, the Luxo item, while just a simple part, showed the machining refinement, and attention to detail in the finish, that we have come to expect from quality gear. So, seeing what each Manufacturer considers "acceptable" to ship out it's doors to consumers, and looking at the prices being asked for that quality, enables me to make a guess about the likely satisfaction I'll get from owning one or the other brand in my next purchase. None of these packages were damaged in shipping, and all came in the original "sealed" manufacturer's packaging. So, there's no uncertainty, that they left the manufacturing facilities in the same condition they arrived at my home.Overall, however, I got the parts I ordered, and learned a lot of things along the way, which I didn't know before. I'm still in that parallel universe, however, since many very strange things happened in this order, that can't be explained by any rational thought. For example, my 2nd package arrived at Pitney Bowes without a PB tracking number. Pitney Bowes then opened the box, looked inside, and re-sealed the box, putting a large circular "EBAY" sticker on the seal, with the claim in small type that Pitney Bowes had opened and re-sealed the package. When the CanadaPost delivery guy brought the box to my door, I thought "I didn't order anything from ebay recently, what's this?" The huge circular sticker with the multicolor "Ebay" logo on it, must have suggested to the postman too, that he was delivering an item bought from ebay. Looking closely at the sticker, the tiny writing about Pitney Bowes opening and resealing could be seen, but at a distance the box screamed "Ebay." I thought that was odd. Pitney Bowes was using their delivery service to market Ebay services. Never seen that before. Now I've ordered lots of things from Ebay, using Pitney Bowes to deliver, and it's typically routine that Pitney Bowes opens the package, checks the contents, and reseals it. However, this is the first time they have done this for an order made directly from Tequipment.Now, here's what gets even stranger. The first 3 packages were sent from Tequipment New Jersey via FEDEX to Pitney Bowes, for further shipping on into Canada. But, the 4th order was shipped by UPS directly from California to Pitney Bowes. Initially, Tequipment only listed the PB tracking number in my invoice, and that showed the item shipped on the 9th June, but there was no further tracking info for several days. So, on Wed 14th June, I call Tequipment, spoke to Remy, and asked him if there was another tracking number that might be showing recent updates. Usually, I see updates every day, so I thought it strange nothing was happening. That's when Remy gives me the other tracking #, which turns out to be UPS this time, rather than FEDEX. Same day, a UPS employee in California goes nuts and shoots up a bunch of his fellow co-workers in a UPS California sorting facility. Now, I'm wondering if my package got stuck because it's caught up in that mess. But, later that day tracking info begins to update. I see my package in on the move again. Next day, the 15th, I keep a close eye on the package. And then the strangest thing happens. UPS says it delivered the package, and then "continues" to provide tracking information as if the package is still continuing to move through the system to somewhere else!But, how could a delivered item continue to move and give tracking updates?So, I contact Remy again, and asked him to check this out, since only Tequipment has the rights to inquire on this intermediate shipment from UPS. Remy checks and gets back to me, and points me to some UPS info that says "bad weather" was disrupting deliveries. So, I gave up, and decided this "parallel universe" I'm in is just too weird to figure out.In the end, somehow, the package got through, and arrived intact on my door step. The journey was like Guliver Travels, but the destination was still home, finally.Oh, well. I left out a lot of other weird details, since I think anyone reading this would get the picture. Basically, it seems Tequipment has made some changes to the way it handles orders. This is probably in an effort to optimize the reduction in back end costs. But, at the same time, it exposes the whole complex sub-structure they are managing behind the scenes, to the consumer, who just wants a simple experience in getting his product.

author: thermistor-guy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2017, 02:34:23 am
content: Quote from: eyiz on June 04, 2017, 02:37:54 amI have no experience with Tequipment.net, but this is a common scam among some 3rd party suppliers who proclaim they can source "hard-to-get" components. Their web sites show stock, but in reality it doesn't exist. To be charitable, maybe the stock did exist at one time in the distant past. The scammers then sell your contact details to the mailing list industry.

author: eyiz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 06:32:43 am
content: Quote from: thermistor-guy on June 21, 2017, 02:34:23 amWell, Tequipment.net isn't a scam. They deliver the products when they can. I think there are a couple of things going on here, though. First of all, they have recently expanded their catalog greatly. They now carry JBC tools, which at first I got excited about. But, now I'm not so sure. I think I'll stick with janelonline for my JBC for the moment. Janel isn't perfect. Their system is also "rigid". If the product isn't listed in their online catalog, janel can't give a quote and supply it. I tried that with them, 2 years ago, and couldn't get them to order a simple JBC 1.5mm chisel tip [C245-768 Cartridge 1.5 mm x 0.3 mm Chisel Tip], which was missing from their otherwise extensive online cat on jbc parts. I see janelonline has added this cartridge to their catalog now, but at the time I wanted to buy it, they couldn't supply it, because it wasn't listed in their catalog. So I had to order directly from jbctools.com.Now ordering directly from jbctools is fast, but of course, full price, no discount. Well, from time to time jbctools sends me an email about 10% off special for certain days, like blackfriday etc..But, generally it's full price to order direct. Janel always has some nice discounts on these tools, and you don't have to ask for the discount, everybody gets the deals. But, at least, if janel lists it, you can get it from them.With Tequipment.net, their catalog is so large now, that I'm sure that they have no clue whether they can actually source and sell the things in their catalog as is currently displayed. So, what happens is, a customer places an order, and "then" they scramble to find out if in fact they can get these things, and at what prices, to sell to fill that order.This is partly a problem of the computer age. It is difficult to keep computer data up to date. Reseller databases will go out of sync with manufacturer databases, unless there's a direct link between the two, so that resellers automatically update when the manufacturer changes something. I've seen Janelonline jbc tool prices change immediately when the manufacturer increases prices, which leads me to believe that janel's catalog has a direct computer link into the jbc tools system. It would be hard for a person to manually update the entire catalog that quickly. But, janel only updates "prices", of things in their own catalog, they don't "add" new parts. Someone goes in afterwards, much later, and adds the new jbc tool parts into the janelonline catalog, if it gets included at all. So, whenever jbctools comes out with some new gadget, the customer has to buy direct from jbc, since janel has no system to handle the latest. That's just my observation, watching prices and parts over the years, and attempting to purchase the newest stuff.So, the first problem at tequipment.net, is that their Internet information is not a reliable source of information on what you can buy there. That may be part of the reason they have that slogan "Buy from people, not the Internet." For example, If I had called up and spoken to Brian, I would have known that the part I wanted to order was not in stock, even though the Internet website said so.That brings me to the second problem at tequipment.net. I get the sense that the employees over there are not very happy with the computers taking over their jobs. Lots of little clues manifested during this order to suggest this point to me. In Previous orders at tequipment, I had all the info needed to track the packages automatically appearing in my online invoices and order forms. But, this time around, it was a struggle to get them. I had to make several attempts to contact tequipment by email, phone, and online chat, just to get info that was missing from the usual places in my online statements. I got the distinct sense that some of the employees were a bit "grumpy" and reluctant to assist the computer systems in facilitating the trade. They were happy to give me the info when I contacted them, but they could just as easily have uploaded that same info into my profile, as was routinely done all the times past when I ordered stuff. What changed?I think this is a general problem in the society at large. People are seeing the computers taking over more and more "work" that humans used to do, and it's happening at an increasingly rapid pace. I get the sense that this is part of the problem over at tequipmen.net. It may partly explain why their internet info is out of sync with the actual info the employee's themselves have access to, and explain why the customer's online invoices are a bit of a mess these days. The people have "no energy" to help the computers succeed them in the role of customer relations management, so all that computer information is being updated in a haphazard and reluctant manner. I can't say that I blame them, because after all the hard work the humans put in, the computer is the face the customer sees, and interfaces with, and the computer seems to get all the credit for the success of the trade.Tequipment.net isn't the only one with this issue. I just placed an order for some Hioki gear from Testequity.com, and after entering all the data and ordering online, they make you call them and speak to a human to find out the shipping dates. So, everybody has this problem of the humans doing what the computers used to do ==the back office stuff==and the computer's doing what the humans should be doing==the face to face front office stuff.Humans are becoming the computers, and computers are becoming the humans. It's the role reversal that has tequipment.net's employee's grumpy.That's my analysis.