What's taking so long???

[finetaste]

Hi Duane...I wrote to you before, you always give good advice. I told you I ordered a Hancock & Moore leather sofa back in Jan. 7th. I was told at the store where I purchased the sofa that the leather I wanted would be in by Feb. The leather never came in from H&M. Then the store where I purchased the sofa told me the leather should come in by mid April. It's almost the end of April and still have no word on the leather I ordered. I am going to call the store in a few days to see what is going on at H&M. It's been four months and no leather for my sofa. All I have is a sofa frame made and no leather at H&M factory. Is this a normal way for H & M?...Does this happen to other customers....I am starting to lose patience here!...Can you give me some idea of what's going on?

[drcollie]

The normal build time at H&M for in-stock covers is currently 4 to 6 weeks. However, I have noticed that they have a considerable amount of leather out-of-stocks right now. Since most all the leather is imported, that time to re-stock can be anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks, then 3 weeks build time once it lands (plus shipping time to your dealer). H&M also rejects appx 25 % of all leathers that come into its facility as being sub-standard, so there's that as well. Usually on a rejection, the entire batch is bad and is returned to the vendor.

Jan 7th is not out of place. Let's say your ordered a leather like Equestrian, which comes out of Italy, and it was out of stock. It arrives in 8 weeks after your order, which makes it March 7th. The batch is rejected. Another batch is ordered from the tannery (another 6 weeks) and that one is accepted. By now its April 20th. Build time is 3 weeks once the hides hit the back door, so that will go out the door May 10th, and a week to get it to the dealer so say May 17th or so - would not be out of line.

Your selling dealer can find out very quickly what your order status is with a simple phone call - takes all of two minutes. Call them and ask them to check status and ship date. Good luck

[finetaste]

You are the BEST Duane!........Thank you for your knowledge....Your words put me at ease....I am going to give a call to the store I purchase from. I will ask them to find out my order status and shipping date. So happy I found you on this format.....Thanks again Duane...........I will keep you posted on my up date.

[finetaste]

Hello Duane, I am back again! I called the store where I purchased my H & M sofa from. I did what you said; find out my order status and shipping date. She told me by the second week of May I should be getting CFA in the mail. It is now the ending of May and I receive nothing!....I call H & M, they sent me to Customer Service. I explained my situation to the very nice lady at H & M. She asked me what choice of leather I ordered, I told her Document Copper. She put me on hold, then came back telling me it's still out of stock. And they don't know how long it will be back in stock. She said it could take weeks or months..........What! I have been waiting 4 months for this leather. She could not tell me why it would take so long to come back in. I asked if I could go back to the store where I ordered my sofa to change my choice of leather. She said I can do that; and that sale's person must call and let them know of the new change........I called the store I purchased my sofa from today. And told them what I was told and that I want to pick another choice of leather. She told me that Document leather is "The Bread And Butter" of H & M's sale......And she could not understand why they were not getting this leather in sooner. She said it was not as if I ordered some special made or color leather.........Document leathers; like Copper is standard type leather most customers order. Anyway, she was puzzled, and so was I......I will be going back to the store where I purchased my H & M sofa on Saturday and pick out a new choice of leather.......In fact, she told me we will pick two or three choices. And she will call H & M Monday to see if the new choices are in stock.....This has been a disappointment experience for me. I read your Format and everyone is so happy with their beautiful H & M furniture they all purchase. And here I am still waiting for my sofa to be made since my order January 7, 2012!........Hopefully this time it will be right!.........I just don't know what else to do, but come to you for advice. My patience are thinning! I always appreciate your wise words......Please tell me what your thoughts are on my situation and has this ever happen to other customers like myself?........Not over joyed with H & M...yet!!!

[drcollie]

First mistake was not ordering from me! Seriously - I don't have standard orders go out that long, and if this was a basic order (nothing custom, only one leather) there is something amiss as it simply doesn't take that long. I can't speculate why your selling dealer is unable to get a handle on this but I think the ball was dropped somewhere along the line. My current oldest order that I have in my files right now is dated March 4th, and its a complex one with three different hides and custom frame work - even that one is going to ship in about 14 days. My guess is the issue is at the selling dealer, not H&M. Why is your selling dealer not doing followups on aged orders? Ask them! That's ridiculous for them to let it sit in the file for so long and no one from the store takes the initiative to chase it down or get it moving.

Document is a leather out of China, and when it goes out of stock the usual replenishment time is generally 6 weeks tops if at the extremes of the order cycle. Then once the hides arrive the pieces are out the door in 4 to 5 weeks. I would never expect an order in Document to take as long as yours has and you're still waiting on a CFA, not even the built product. That leads me to the next question - why a CFA (Cutting For Approval) on Document? It's a painted leather and they don't vary at all. 99% accuracy on painted leathers. Remove the CFA so when it finally does come in it will get built - you don't need it.

At this point, go to the H&M website and select 6 to 8 leathers that you like just from the photos. Call them into your dealer tomorrow or Friday so they can check stock levels during weekday hours. Then out of that 6 or 8, your should be able to get 2 or 3 with in-stock hides - select from those on Saturday when you go into the store. No dealer can check leather inventories on Sat or Sun, so you'll save some time and frustration doing the first round picks immediately and see whats available. Remove the CFA from the order and you will save 3 weeks build time.

I would bet your order delay issue is with the dealer, not H&M. While its easy to blame the maker, a lot of things can go wrong at the dealer level and the dealer is all too happy to throw the supplier under the bus rather than admit they goofed up or couldn't pay their bill and were on credit holds, etc.

Finally - try to avoid calling H&M direct. Their customer service system is set up to service dealers, not retail end users. You will get vague and conflicting information by calling them, which leads to more confusion. If you're unhappy with the selling dealer, cancel the order and get it from another, there are plenty of places to order from.

Good luck.

[cuse69]

Duane,

How does H&M handle their replenishment orders for their high volume leathers like Document? Since leather is the critical component for most of their products they should establish reorder points to eliminate ever running out of the high volume leathers, especially when they use 3rd. party suppliers with significant transit times (Europe, China, South America) and apparently significant quality issues. Obviously inventory carrying costs are important, but with current low interest rates, customer satisfaction and possible current or future lost orders will pay for a lot of any carrying costs. Also, do they depend on single source suppliers for their high volume leathers? If so this might also be a weak link in their supply chain.

Just some ramblings from the experience of a 35 year manufacturing guy.
Regards
Larry

[drcollie]

I don't know he inner workings of their cover ordering system, but I do know they have told me the various tanneries often do not meet heir promise dates very well, and that they do refuse about 25 % of hides when they do arrive as not meeting their standards.

[simplyjeff]

I would add that it is highly unlikely that a factory would source the same leather from more than one source. It is difficult enough to get consistency out of a single leather supplier. The chances of getting the identical leather from different sources are not good.

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

[Fick5]

Hey Duane, don't forget about me here in Tennessee. I think I might be your current oldest order, Feb. 23. Can you please give me some info on my order? The husband is getting pretty worried about his recliner! I know when I called and inquired several months ago you said the leather was out of stock and it would take about 6 weeks to get it in, so I'm still waiting for my CFA.

[drcollie]

We're going to find out first thing Monday morning.....