Product shortages: have you spotted out of stock items?

I have had difficulty getting sand and cement. Many DIY stores and builders merchants are out and don’t know when they will have their next delivery.

We have had difficulties from waiting for a fridge part since January for a repair by Lec. Lec ‘s customer service we have to chase. Argos furniture we had delivered 19 April and parts were damaged,customer services were excellent in sorting this out even though stock is from Denmark. I have now got my furniture up while still waiting for Lec to sort the fridge. Argos customer care is excellent!!

Ordered a outside dining table and 4 chairs from White Stores, Delivery for 10th June 2021 paid a hefty deposit and each week for the last few weeks the delivery is slipping a few days at a time. Latest ETA was 6th July moved several days in a week. Finally read a msg on their website full of shipping related excuses, when in fact this website said in Production. REALLY…….was ordered and paid for in early March. When talking to customer care in April was told all items were at their warehouse except the table which was on the water. Once again when talking to customer care on 3rd June could not get any answers on whether it was made, on a container, already in UK and quizzed on how many containers had been shipped since March, MD’s name etc just got evasive and vague answers if any at all. Should I trust this company?

have tried to order a (quality) dishwasher for some time (and a cooker and a hood) – appliances are in short supply everywhere. Established on line retailers have long lists of ‘out of stock’ items – orders are taken for 12-14 weeks delivery and warnings about severe delays are everywhere. John Lewis has really no stock and does not really take orders for out of stock items. The only available items are low-price low quality items coming from elsewhere than the EU. Ex-displays or currently in stock are the minority, but the only option for realistic delivery times; these are also now becoming scarce. It is not Covid, because last summer I had no problems whatsoever, it was not a very wise decision to delay purchasing some items that were not needed then.

Been trying to buy a Treadmill from Argos, its in stock, but when I enter our Post Code , they say they cannot deliver to that Post Code! There is no way to find out why they cannot deliver except by sending a Letter. No Customer Support Number, no email address, nothing. What a way to run a Business!