As a follow-up, this showed up in my e-mail yesterday:
Dear Valued Customer,
The past six weeks have been challenging to say the least and we want to thank you for your continued support and your patience with us during this time. We believe that the health and safety of our family and yours is the first priority, but in all honesty, I’m sure you’re wondering, “Where is my order?”
Although the situation nationwide is improving, we continue to face three primary challenges:
When Shelter In Place orders began to spread across the US, most Americans had no choice but to buy online. We saw increased demand for the products we sell, but were unable to retain enough of our employees to satisfy the orders. While precautions were in place to keep them safe, some were uncomfortable coming to work with so much uncertainty about the virus. However, as of April 24th, we have been able to bring back our entire crews in California and North Carolina and have continued to hire aggressively to catch up. We are making progress, but are nowhere near the standard we have set for ourselves and that you have become accustomed to over the years. Our hope is to get back to our one day (or Same Day in many cases) shipping lead times by the end of next week and we are operating 17 hours a day, seven days a week at full capacity to get there.
Supply Chain disruptions began when Covid spread throughout China. Although only a portion of the products we sell come directly from China, many we found, have parts or components that rely on their manufacturing, and that has made it difficult to procure enough inventory to meet demand. As China opened, the shipping lanes were flooded with the backlog of orders that never got out before Chinese New Year and anything that could be sent once their country began to re-open. Although we have sufficient orders in place and probably were more prepared for this than most, we believe inventory scarcity could last another 60-90 days. Just as you find yourselves waiting longer for your online purchases, we are simply not getting our orders in the quantities or time frame that we are accustomed too either.
Due to increased demand, coupled with longer lead times and product shortages, our customer service team has been overwhelmed with a record number of calls, chats, and emails. Our team is doing their absolute best to handle it, but again, it’s not up to the standard we hold for ourselves. Many former customer service reps who now serve in other capacities within our company did return to the phones during the shutdown to help, but it hasn’t been enough. As with the warehouse, we are ramping up our hiring in customer service to better meet your needs. Please know if we have your order, we are working hard to get it out the door. Proper shipping estimates are provided upon checkout to give you the date your order is expected to leave one of our warehouses. ETAs for high demand products should be provided on product pages. If we have not met our stated commitments, please reach out to our team to investigate the issue. As always, rather than waiting on hold, call backs are available and chats are the most convenient way to get a quick answer for a simple question.
Our teams are working harder than ever to get back to the level of service that you trust us to provide. We stock the widest selection of products, ship 99% of orders within one business day, and offer the highest level of customer service in the industry. It’s why you shop with us and that’s why we’re here. We take tremendous pride in our support of the radio control and cycling communities and are looking forward to seeing you back at the track, the flying field, or out on the trails or roads we hope you’ve been able to enjoy these last few weeks.
Kendall Bennett
CEO & CO-FOUNDER, AMain Sports & Hobbies
