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I have finally had my last straw with the site https://bitsandkits.co.uk/

I regularly buy bits for various conversions and have built up a decent stable of bits sellers throughout the world (mostly through Ebay), and while occasionally there are issues with the purchases they've almost always been corrected by the seller. I have tried making multiple purchases from Bitsandkits over the years and to date I can only remember 1 time when I actually received my purchase (after almost 2 months of waiting) and I only received half of my order, though each time I didn't get my order I was always able to get my money refunded thanks to PayPal.

Any time I have ever reached out to the company either through their business email or their websites contact function I have never had any communication from the seller (other than automated messages) and they don't provide tracking numbers (though they claim that they ship international tracking). The only reason I kept going back to the site is that they have a pretty large collection of bits some of which are hard to come by and I was hoping that after their recent website update that the company would start acting better but apparently I was wrong.

Maybe it is an issue with me being in the US however one of the bits sellers I buy from frequently is in France and I usually receive my purchases from them within 2 weeks of the order (most of that time waiting is due to customs).

Has anyone else had issues with this company?

Mark, the guy who runs B&K, is either hyper-responsive, or non-responsive.

I had a back and forth conversation with him a week ago where we sorted out a bunch of stuff. Then I had an order a while back that was in transit for ages, and never heard a word from any E-mail I sent.

In that case I seem to have been incredibly lucky. I ordered from them 5 or 6 times now and never had reason to complain

I have two friends who swear they will never order from B&K ever again based on a single experience.

There was a time when I was ordering from them every few weeks. I put in two orders last week. I've never had any problems except for one order that went missing, and it was replaced promptly and I was sent a free set of Skorpekh Destroyers as an apology.

Yes they are frustrating to deal with and can leave you hanging instead of fixing mistakes.

My business with them has always been agreeable (cannot say the same about EU customs tho! Still salty about them losing one of my B&K order, which got trapped in customs limbo)

So far it seems to be 50/50 on feedback about the company however looking at your locations it seriously has me wondering if it's because I am in the US as most of you are in Europe though given the difficulties I've heard about shipping to AUS you'd think that shipping to the US wouldn't be an issue!

I ordered one part from them once and it arrived just fine, but I had to report them to the information commissioners office to get them to stop emailing me every time they got new stock (which was most days). Emails with no unsubscribe link (which is a legal requirement), and completely unresponsive to requests to stop. Was a complete nightmare. Never again.

They have a new webstore that shouldn't allow that.

I ordered from their prior store and noticed there was no record on their new store of my order. The order eventually showed up, but there wasn't any communication until it did and I basically wrote them off.

I might order from them again, but it would have to be another 50% sale.

So quick update, I ended up filing a claim against them (simply to receive my tracking number) and was sent the number and have also received my purchase. HOWEVER this is the communication I received from Bitsandkits via PAYPAL, the unprofessionalism astounds me! I've worked in retail half my life and this is not how you speak with customers especially when you're in the wrong! I'll update if there's anything more

Me

Order #REDACTED The purchase shows as being shipped via Worldwide Shipping Tracked and yet I have not received a tracking number from the vendor or an estimated delivery date, I reached out to them through their website and have received no response at all

Them

hardly fair to start a claim 6 days after dispatch, here is the tracking details, its in new york and will be with you soon, please cancel this claim and let the postal service do its job.

Followed by

we provided tracking more than two weeks ago and this item is with your postal provider , please end this claim

Me

What isn't "fair" is a business not providing it's customers with the tracking information for their purchase THE INSTANT it's generated given that there is literally ZERO reason not to! Or at least respond to the message I sent you using the communication service on your own website, however given that your site has a reputation for undelivered goods and you yourself have a reputation for a complete lack of communication it's not surprising that the only messages you actually send are not professional IN THE SLIGHTEST!

I have received the order (a small miracle given the number of things I've ordered from you and never received over the years) and will be closing the claim. You however need to reevaluate your priorities as an adult and a business owner, just because your service is online doesn't mean you can act like a petulant child throwing a tantrum just because someone isn't willing to put up with your !

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
I only received half of my order, though each time I didn't get my order I was always able to get my money refunded thanks to PayPal.

OP, your sentence that I have quoted above, plus you opening another dispute with them only six days after an order from the UK to the US (if true), are red flags to me.

How many times have you initiated paypal disputes with them? Is this something that you do a lot to other vendors?

It sounds like BitsandKits definitely need to improve their communication a lot, but equally I'm getting some "problematic customer" vibes from your post(s).

Edit: your communication with them (that you posted above) doesn't cast you in a great light, IMHO

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
I only received half of my order, though each time I didn't get my order I was always able to get my money refunded thanks to PayPal.

OP, your sentence that I have quoted above, plus you opening another dispute with them only six days after an order from the UK to the US (if true), are red flags to me.

You'll note that the sentence you quoted says "each time I didn't get my order". Also as the above communication shows the dispute was not for an unreceived item it was for a lack of communication from the vendor, in 2023 there is absolutely ZERO excuse for a business to not supply its customer with the tracking information that comes with their order especially almost a week after the order was supposedly dispatched. I don't know about you but when I don't receive an item I've ordered and I receive no communication about that order from the vendor I'm going to get a refund, if that shows up as a red flag for you then I don't know what to tell you but it sounds like you're gaslighting to me. Especially given that others have already spoken to the plethora of issues surrounding this company.

How many times have you initiated paypal disputes with them? Is this something that you do a lot to other vendors?

Over the years maybe 3 or 4 times again if I don't receive what I've ordered I follow the proper procedure. And no I don't do this with a lot of other vendors because I actually receive my orders from them as well as appropriate communication about my order.

It sounds like BitsandKits definitely need to improve their communication a lot, but equally I'm getting some "problematic customer" vibes from your post(s).

Edit: your communication with them (that you posted above) doesn't cast you in a great light, IMHO

And you are welcome to your opinion about me because honestly it doesn't really matter, this thread is an expression of mine and others experience with this company and my recommendation not to use it. If you or others want to think that I'm the issue because I don't let companies take my money and not provide me with the service I've purchased you go right ahead!

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
I only received half of my order, though each time I didn't get my order I was always able to get my money refunded thanks to PayPal.

OP, your sentence that I have quoted above, plus you opening another dispute with them only six days after an order from the UK to the US (if true), are red flags to me.

You'll note that the sentence you quoted says "each time I didn't get my order". Also as the above communication shows the dispute was not for an unreceived item it was for a lack of communication from the vendor

A dispute should be opened with a vendor as a last resort, not after 6 days (for an international order no less!) because you are annoyed that they didn't respond to your request for tracking info. I agree that their communication is sometimes non-existent, but your response in this instance was unreasonable.

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
in 2023 there is absolutely ZERO excuse for a business to not supply its customer with the tracking information that comes with their order especially almost a week after the order was supposedly dispatched. I don't know about you but when I don't receive an item I've ordered and I receive no communication about that order from the vendor I'm going to get a refund, if that shows up as a red flag for you then I don't know what to tell you but it sounds like you're gaslighting to me. Especially given that others have already spoken to the plethora of issues surrounding this company.

Sure, it's much better to have the tracking info supplied, but not having the tracking supplied is not justification for opening a dispute. Had you left the dispute open you would have eventually lost it, that should tell you something? At least you've changed your tune from "there's no excuse for tracking not to be uploaded instantly" (emphasis mine).

Just because somebdy disagrees with your approach to something doesn't make it "gaslighting".

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
Over the years maybe 3 or 4 times again if I don't receive what I've ordered I follow the proper procedure. And no I don't do this with a lot of other vendors because I actually receive my orders from them as well as appropriate communication about my order.

And yet, you've inititated a dispute against BitsandKits at least three times from what I can gather...and you've only ever initiated disputes "3 or 4 time" in total...so you've never had a reason to dispute any other order from any other company?

Forgive me, but I don't buy that.

 Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:
And you are welcome to your opinion about me because honestly it doesn't really matter, this thread is an expression of mine and others experience with this company and my recommendation not to use it. If you or others want to think that I'm the issue because I don't let companies take my money and not provide me with the service I've purchased you go right ahead!

You have quoted yourself literally shouting at the BitsAndKits person via the dispute that you opened, telling them to "re-evalute your priorities as an adult", because they didn't provide you with tracking

I'm sure that BitsAndKits has many areas that they can improve in, but your behaviour is, in my opinion, unreasonable. What you wrote is there for all to see.

Placed order on Tuesday (4/4), shipped Thursday (6/4) and arrived today (8/4) so can't complain.

My last experience with B&K was the guy running it giving me a code to get free shipping on a second order I made right after another order due a stock change. He then combined the orders for me to make life easier for us all.