Oakley.com Backorder Experiences

[Sun & Sand]

I'm wondering if anybody else has had this experience:

1) Place an order at Oakley.com, and Oakley places one item on backorder.

2) A few days (or weeks) later, that item is back in stock at Oakley.com, but Oakley doesn't fill the backorder.

3) A couple weeks later, the item sells out (again) at Oakley.com, and Oakley sends email saying the backorder is canceled because the item is out of stock and no more stock is expected.

This has happened to me four times so far this year, and I'm left wondering:
if Oakley doesn't fill backorders first when an item comes back in stock, before re-listing the item on Oakley.com, then what is the purpose of the backorder?
Seems like neither Oakley nor the customer benefits from the way Oakley is handling these backorders.

 

[Hawaii-5-Jo]

That's sucks man. I ordered something on back order earlier this week.....to my surprise its shipped about 2 hours later......but it's still listed as back order on the site when I last checked.
As for my order it should be at my post office today.

 

[JoshAD330]

This has happened to me four times so far this year, and I'm left wondering:
if Oakley doesn't fill backorders first when an item comes back in stock, before re-listing the item on Oakley.com, then what is the purpose of the backorder?
Seems like neither Oakley nor the customer benefits from the way Oakley is handling these backorders.

Yeah that makes no sense. And it sucks that this happened to you 4 times already. I have not been in that situation yet but it is always a guessing game when you order from Oakley.com. Of 4 orders I placed in the last 2 months 3 shipped the next day but one took 5 days before it shipped. Because of that delay I could not take my new Water Prizm Flaks to Hawaii as I planned so I was not happy. So you never know

 

[Carrera1963]

I ordered some Juliet fire lenses when they popped back up on the site a couple of months back. They went to back-ordered and I got a few update emails pushing back a few days each time. Then I got an update email that they were delayed a whole six weeks or so, followed 2 hours later by an email telling me they had been sent :/ They do seem a bit chaotic at times.

 

[JoshAD330]

They do seem a bit chaotic at times.

You got that right buddy. It seems to be the case lately. Chaos. lol. As somebody else was saying on a different thread, somebody at the Oakley IT Department needs to be replaced. lol

 

[Patient_Cero]

I'm wondering if anybody else has had this experience:

1) Place an order at Oakley.com, and Oakley places one item on backorder.

2) A few days (or weeks) later, that item is back in stock at Oakley.com, but Oakley doesn't fill the backorder.

3) A couple weeks later, the item sells out (again) at Oakley.com, and Oakley sends email saying the backorder is canceled because the item is out of stock and no more stock is expected.

This has happened to me four times so far this year, and I'm left wondering:
if Oakley doesn't fill backorders first when an item comes back in stock, before re-listing the item on Oakley.com, then what is the purpose of the backorder?
Seems like neither Oakley nor the customer benefits from the way Oakley is handling these backorders.

Two possible things:
1. Is it a regular order or from the custom shop and just happens to be out of stock on main site as well? If it's a custom, they have (or used to) have different supply chains for regular and custom. So many times regular shows in stock while custom is in back order for certain pieces.

2. Depending on their supply chain software as soon as the pairs come in for regular stock it populates the website that supply is available. There is no extrapolation for the pending orders made previous as they are technically not pulled from inventory until a packager scans them out of the supply inventory chain. So the website populates and customers like yourself are left scratching their head as to why their order hasn't been processed. That and depending how far down the line you are for orders as well. Their buyers are likely playing tight with the order of pairs to minimize over run and whatever is happening with importation can be a factor as well. The docks in CA being locked up a couple months ago due to labor disputes set many businesses back as a result at that time.

 

[Sun & Sand]

Two possible things:
1. Is it a regular order or from the custom shop and just happens to be out of stock on main site as well?

These are just regular orders of common items at Oakley.com, nothing custom.

 

[Sun & Sand]

Two possible things:
2. Depending on their supply chain software as soon as the pairs come in for regular stock it populates the website that supply is available. There is no extrapolation for the pending orders made previous as they are technically not pulled from inventory until a packager scans them out of the supply inventory chain. So the website populates and customers like yourself are left scratching their head as to why their order hasn't been processed.

If this is how the software is set up, I sure would like Oakley to change it.
By not filling backorders first, Oakley loses the opportunity to use the number of backorders to estimate the amount of new product to order, in addition to creating an unhappy customer experience.

 

[Patient_Cero]

If this is how the software is set up, I sure would like Oakley to change it.
By not filling backorders first, Oakley loses the opportunity to use the number of backorders to estimate the amount of new product to order, in addition to creating an unhappy customer experience.

They see it on the back end and they know how much to order, it's just not reflected to the consumer so we get a generic feedback of in stock showing up online again when the next shipments hit. If you factor in for cancelled orders, back orders ,etc reflecting to the consumer feedback aspect you would literally see certain pairs flashing in stock and out of stock multiple times on a daily basis. That's why i said it goes to the "buyers" playing tight with the orders and trying to predict the supply and demand so they don't have so much over run on pairs. This is to minimize old stock when it comes to sales when items are nearing their end run and on their way to clearance. You still have the external factors with importation too that throws a kink in scheduled delivery of the supply chain where there are no guarantees. So this is added pressure for the buyers to balance minimal over run with meeting demand while attempting to meet customer satisfaction and instant feedback.