My Drs Foster and Smith Experience
- Thread starter zacdl
- Start date
Generally... from what I've heard they have a parent company that distributes stuff to LFS's around the US there in wisconsin. As a side business they run DF&S as a retail version of the distributing company. As a result they deal with insane volume of merchandise. The majority of their customers order on the website OR they do a phone in order as a retail or a LFS calling in an order.
My experience in that kind of environment for ANY company that has a major online presence and a catalog business that encourages phone in orders... if you FAX them you get slightly lower quality service then a phone in or online order for turn around time. If you mail it in it's even worse.
In terms of a mail in order... THEY WILL HAVE NO RECORD OF YOUR ORDER UNLESS THEY HAVE ALREADY PROCESSED IT. They are NOT going to get in a pile of mail even if it has delivery confirmation and log 1) that it has delivery confirmation so they will record that you sent it in 2) they will NOT enter your name into a list to say that they got your order just to log it from the mail 3) the person on the phone will type into the computer your name for the mailed in order and search.. when it wasnt already processed... NO RECORD FOUND.
It makes COMPLETE sense that they can't just tell you that they have your order because they probably havent entered it yet. Heck... you're probably one of 100 people around the US still sending orders by snail mail to them. It gets mixed into the rest of the mail and the mail room probably looks at it and wonders "hmm what the heck is this" for a few days until someone remembers where the paper orders go (kidding...sort of)
Seriously though... if you get a warm body on the phone placing an order it goes right into the computer as you're doing it. If you do it online it goes straight into the computer. If you fax it in it probably goes to a nice orderly stack somewhere and gets processed by the guy sitting next to the fax machine. When you mail it in it has to get sorted out of the hundreds of other pieces of mail delivered every day.
I dont know your work history but for most large business on their scale there usually is a big mail truck that pulls up every day and rolls out a 4ft by 6ft by 4ft tall rolling cart loaded full of mail. Someone has to sort it.
If you send it by mail you obviously don't need it fast so they're not going to respond fast. If I ran a business I'd do the same thing. I don't care what the customer thinks in that situation. If I want something fast I call them by phone or I do it online. Otherwise it gets there when it gets there and I CERTAINLY don't expect them to be able to tell me that they have my letter unless I'm talking to the guy in the mailroom and he has it sitting in front of him. Until they process your piece of paper it is NOT going to be in a computer for the person you call saying "did you get my order yet?... no? LIAR my delivery confirmation says you had it 3 days ago" The person on the phone doesnt sort the mail to know your letter is in the mail room.
Trust me... that is NOT going to work by paper to have them magically tell you they have your order and took the time to enter your name in the database BUT didnt get around to typing up your order. They do not take your order sheet and process it in the warehouse. It has to be typed into the comptuer to 1) Subtract the items from inventory, 2) generate a pick list for the packers to pull the items off the shelf, 3) to generate a reorder for any items that will be shipped causing it to be lower then the minimum inventory level and 4) to process your credit card or other payment instrument.
My experience in that kind of environment for ANY company that has a major online presence and a catalog business that encourages phone in orders... if you FAX them you get slightly lower quality service then a phone in or online order for turn around time. If you mail it in it's even worse.
In terms of a mail in order... THEY WILL HAVE NO RECORD OF YOUR ORDER UNLESS THEY HAVE ALREADY PROCESSED IT. They are NOT going to get in a pile of mail even if it has delivery confirmation and log 1) that it has delivery confirmation so they will record that you sent it in 2) they will NOT enter your name into a list to say that they got your order just to log it from the mail 3) the person on the phone will type into the computer your name for the mailed in order and search.. when it wasnt already processed... NO RECORD FOUND.
It makes COMPLETE sense that they can't just tell you that they have your order because they probably havent entered it yet. Heck... you're probably one of 100 people around the US still sending orders by snail mail to them. It gets mixed into the rest of the mail and the mail room probably looks at it and wonders "hmm what the heck is this" for a few days until someone remembers where the paper orders go (kidding...sort of)
Seriously though... if you get a warm body on the phone placing an order it goes right into the computer as you're doing it. If you do it online it goes straight into the computer. If you fax it in it probably goes to a nice orderly stack somewhere and gets processed by the guy sitting next to the fax machine. When you mail it in it has to get sorted out of the hundreds of other pieces of mail delivered every day.
I dont know your work history but for most large business on their scale there usually is a big mail truck that pulls up every day and rolls out a 4ft by 6ft by 4ft tall rolling cart loaded full of mail. Someone has to sort it.
If you send it by mail you obviously don't need it fast so they're not going to respond fast. If I ran a business I'd do the same thing. I don't care what the customer thinks in that situation. If I want something fast I call them by phone or I do it online. Otherwise it gets there when it gets there and I CERTAINLY don't expect them to be able to tell me that they have my letter unless I'm talking to the guy in the mailroom and he has it sitting in front of him. Until they process your piece of paper it is NOT going to be in a computer for the person you call saying "did you get my order yet?... no? LIAR my delivery confirmation says you had it 3 days ago" The person on the phone doesnt sort the mail to know your letter is in the mail room.
Trust me... that is NOT going to work by paper to have them magically tell you they have your order and took the time to enter your name in the database BUT didnt get around to typing up your order. They do not take your order sheet and process it in the warehouse. It has to be typed into the comptuer to 1) Subtract the items from inventory, 2) generate a pick list for the packers to pull the items off the shelf, 3) to generate a reorder for any items that will be shipped causing it to be lower then the minimum inventory level and 4) to process your credit card or other payment instrument.
They said it takes XXX amount of days for them to process orders. It had even surpassed that amount of days from the day it was delivered.
Also, if I am only one of 100 people they would not take forever to sort now would they? lol
I dunno Its just easier for me to send off a check...
Also, if I am only one of 100 people they would not take forever to sort now would they? lol
I dunno Its just easier for me to send off a check...
the mail = 100s/1000s of returned catalogs due to Addressee Not Known / Moved / Refused / Whatever as well as invoices and other communications for the rest of the staff that runs the place.
They get a lot more mail then just the 100 people ordering by mail...
They get a lot more mail then just the 100 people ordering by mail...
any updates on this? i ordered from then 2-3 times and the very first time was by mail. i only do things online now. and the only time i had a problem with an order was with big als when i had my go by name instead of my first name on my creditcard. was about to place an order with the doctors so i can also get bird stuff, but i just did another one with bigal cause i had enough points to get 10 dollars off.
Their Live Chat was closed this evening, I will ask them about it tomorrow maybe they might discover it.
I have ordered from Drs Fosters and Smith numerous times. Yes, pre-computer age for me it was snail mail and it did take sometimes 2-4 weeks from mailing until I recieved it, but I was fine with that. I just ordered a few weeks ago (stuff for my TAG and P'let and Fish) and I got it in no time at all. I think I ordered it on a Friday and had it by the following Wednesday. I do think snail mail does add quite a bit of time to your oder because someone has to enter it in their systems, if you do it online, I'm sure the order is sent straight to the warehouse for picking and packing.
I would give them time, since you wrote a check, you have proof that it was recieved or cashed via the bank statements and canceled checks. Good luck.
mykidsmylife
I would give them time, since you wrote a check, you have proof that it was recieved or cashed via the bank statements and canceled checks. Good luck.
mykidsmylife
I have ordered from them several times by mail and had no problems. My orders have all been delievered to my house in less than 2 weeks. I did have an order mixup one time when they sent my order to Connecicut, and I got the other persons order. Forunately the other person had both saltwater and freshwater tanks, I only have freshwater. The other person had ordered a few freshwater fish and a lot of salt water fish. We were told to keep it and they would send out our order the same day. I recieved it 2 day later. Since I did not know anyone with a saltwater tank, I had to take them to Petco, but I did get some free clown loaches and bnp's. Other than that I have had no problem with them.
If you are in a hurry for an order, and is ordering by mail, just email your order to them along with your customer # off the back of your catalog. As soon as they recieve payment, they will email you a order #
If you are in a hurry for an order, and is ordering by mail, just email your order to them along with your customer # off the back of your catalog. As soon as they recieve payment, they will email you a order #
