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Squadron Mail Order annoying ongoing problem


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I have been ordering from them for a long time but as of late, they do NOT update their stocks. Too many times , " available to order" turns into " out of stock" and quite an annoying issue. Any of you have this problem? DaiĀ 

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My experience of Squadron over the years has been mediocre at best. Then when the post office decided to start rinsing more money out of international customers to shore up its business model it made them just about the last place I look, if I bother looking at them at all.

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15 hours ago, dai phan said:

Too many times , " available to order" turns into " out of stock" and quite an annoying issue. Ā DaiĀ 

"Available To Order" is Squadron-speak forĀ OUT OF STOCK,Ā always.

And don't bother calling them and trying to ask their "Customer Service" personnelĀ any questions about their products. They don't have a clue.

LarryĀ 

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53 minutes ago, ReccePhreak said:

"Available To Order" is Squadron-speak forĀ OUT OF STOCK,Ā always.

And don't bother calling them and trying to ask their "Customer Service" personnelĀ any questions about their products. They don't have a clue.

LarryĀ 

A sign of a business going down? I gave up on them. DaiĀ 

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11 minutes ago, dai phan said:

A sign of a business going down? I gave up on them. DaiĀ 

Their business went downhill when all the employees actually interested in modeling left, and they hired a bunch of college educated bean-counters who haven't got a clue what they're supposed to be selling, IMHO. Their sales are a joke, and their Squadron branded products (Glue, putty, sanding sticks, etc) are totally worthless.

I started buying from them in 1971, but finally gave up on them a few years ago.

Larry

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27 minutes ago, ReccePhreak said:

Their business went downhill when all the employees actually interested in modeling left, and they hired a bunch of college educated bean-counters who haven't got a clue what they're supposed to be selling, IMHO. Their sales are a joke, and their Squadron branded products (Glue, putty, sanding sticks, etc) are totally worthless.

I started buying from them in 1971, but finally gave up on them a few years ago.

Larry

They used to be the power house in the 80s and 90s. Too bad. DaiĀ 

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I used to purchase MONTHLY from them over many years from the mid 90's on forward, but it fizzled in the 2000's when it changed.

I still get display cases from them about once a year, stuff I can't seem to find anywhere else.

Ā 

On another point, I had a thread last year about the new and de-improved white putty; I used their putty for 25 years and LOVED it, but the new stuff bears no resemblance at all, is totally unuseable.Ā  I have 4-5 unopened tubes of it, as I had stocked up before I realized it had changed.Ā  I'm seriously considering sending it back to them with a polite note, just saying that I can't use the stuff at all, and that they might as well have it back.Ā  I'm wondering how they might respond?Ā :hmmm:

Edited by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy
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39 minutes ago, Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy said:

I used to purchase MONTHLY from them over many years from the mid 90's on forward, but it fizzled in the 2000's when it changed.

I still get display cases from them about once a year, stuff I can't seem to find anywhere else.

Ā 

On another point, I had a thread last year about the new and de-improved white putty; I used their putty for 25 years and LOVED it, but the new stuff bears no resemblance at all, is totally unuseable.Ā  I have 4-5 unopened tubes of it, as I had stocked up before I realized it had changed.Ā  I'm seriously considering sending it back to them with a polite note, just saying that I can't use the stuff at all, and that they might as well have it back.Ā  I'm wondering how they might respond?Ā :hmmm:

Their name used to be Squadron Signal with the German hawk emblem seen on FW 190 fighters. Then then dropped the Signal maybe because it is too Nazi like? Just wonder. DaiĀ 

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2 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

Their business went downhill when all the employees actually interested in modeling left, and they hired a bunch of college educated bean-counters who haven't got a clue what they're supposed to be selling, IMHO. Their sales are a joke, and their Squadron branded products (Glue, putty, sanding sticks, etc) are totally worthless.

I started buying from them in 1971, but finally gave up on them a few years ago.

Larry

Yeah, 10-15 years ago I was a big fan of Squadron, now I dont even bother looking.

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5 hours ago, Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy said:

On another point, I had a thread last year about the new and de-improved white putty; I used their putty for 25 years and LOVED it, but the new stuff bears no resemblance at all, is totally unuseable.Ā  I have 4-5 unopened tubes of it, as I had stocked up before I realized it had changed.Ā  I'm seriously considering sending it back to them with a polite note, just saying that I can't use the stuff at all, and that they might as well have it back.Ā  I'm wondering how they might respond?Ā :hmmm:

If it's anything like when I complained about their "New" sanding sticks, which are much worse than the ones in Dollar Tree stores, they might "promise" something, but won't deliver or followup.Ā :soapbox:

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2 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

If it's anything like when I complained about their "New" sanding sticks, which are much worse than the ones in Dollar Tree stores, they might "promise" something, but won't deliver or followup.Ā :soapbox:

they really need someone who knows what the hell is going on with their business ! DaiĀ 

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3 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

If it's anything like when I complained about their "New" sanding sticks, which are much worse than the ones in Dollar Tree stores, they might "promise" something, but won't deliver or followup.Ā :soapbox:

Ā 

Well, I'm not looking for any promise, just wanted to make a point.Ā  I'm sure they'd be shocked to receive such a parcel....or if they aren't, then it's very telling.

I'm assuming I'd have to go through UPS ground to get it there, yes, as a chemical?

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17 minutes ago, Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy said:

Ā 

I'm assuming I'd have to go through UPS ground to get it there, yes, as a chemical?

Legally, yes you would. But I receive many parcels viaĀ USPS Priority Mail with paints, glues & spray cans. As long as the package doesn't leak, and doesn't have Lithium batteries, you are probably safe to just use First Class or Retail Ground.

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I started ordering from Squadron back in the mid 80s, we had a group of guys at work and we would pool our orders to save on shipping (even though it wasn't much back then but we were a bunch of cheap bas-tards...)Ā  As time went on and shipping costs increased I ordered less and less.Ā  When they used to have their annual open house I could just pull stuff off their warehouse shelves (a guaranteed way to be sure the kit was in stock lol) and would often buy enough to last me til next year's open house.

Ā 

Well those days are gone, and IMO Squadron hasn't managed the transition to a web-based online store very well, especially wrt "in stock" items. Nowadays, if I notice a big discount in their (daily?) emails for something I want, I will order it and pick it up in person for zero shipping costs. But they rarely have Hasewawa or Tamiya kits in stock or discounted so, unless it's made by HobbyBoss or Trumpeter, they usually don't have anything in stock that I'm interested in.

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I use to get a box of goodies every few weeks from them. These days I may order a kit or supplies every 4 months. Thinking the last order was maybe Black Friday 2019...and yes still waiting for those available to order items that will never show up LOL.... Company is s shell of itself from they were only a few short years ago.

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Squadron is in deep trouble. Their "Chief Modeler" is gone, and I'm being told that their CEO has departed abruptly, too. From what I've been able to glean, they've been on life support from their bank for a while, and the bank's starting to say "enough."

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23 hours ago, MHaz said:

Squadron is in deep trouble. Their "Chief Modeler" is gone, and I'm being told that their CEO has departed abruptly, too. From what I've been able to glean, they've been on life support from their bank for a while, and the bank's starting to say "enough."

From my experience, constant "out of stock" is a warning sign. Nobody bothers to update real time inventory. DaiĀ 

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On 6/7/2020 at 2:03 PM, dai phan said:

From my experience, constant "out of stock" is a warning sign. Nobody bothers to update real time inventory. DaiĀ 

Ā 

I doubt they ever had a true real time inventory. If they did, it wouldn't be this F'd up. With real time inventory, every item pulled for an order is scanned when pulled and inventory is updated immediately. If they are relying on someone to manually update inventory later from a list of sales, it ain't real time and will never work.

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