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[on:]

Gotta love it when a web site's "down" or 404 page shows a little humor.

[Reply #1 on:]

Nice, although you don't have to look much further than the Arduino site for some wry humour. Click on the "Help" button on the top RH corner of the forum:



It's been like that for a couple of years now.

The phrase "come back in a minute we will be done, for sure!" makes me smile.

[Reply #2 on:]

From my own personal experience, that's the smartest thing on Newark's site.

True story:

Last week I went to Newark's site to order some parts and logged in with my account, which I've had for several years. I found my parts (not always an easy task on their site), placed my order, confirmed my billing address, shipping address, credit card, shipping method and clicked on "Submit Order."

I waited and waited and waited and waited and...

Their site kicked me back to the start, clearing my cart and all my information in the process and forcing me to start over. All the page said was, "There is an error in your submitted information, please resubmit the flagged items."

Everything was flagged.

After several more tries, all ending in failure, the site finally tossed out a message that I needed to contact Customer Service at their toll-free number to complete my order. Which did me no good as the number simply went to a recording telling me that they were closed and to call back during business hours.

After fuming a bit and discussing my frustration with my wife, I had an idea. I started over, but this time I set up a brand-new account. Different ID, different e-mail address, even a different credit card. (But the exact same name and address.)

This time it worked, although it was rather slow to respond. At the end, I was asked to fill out a survey concerning my experience, which I did. Oh BOY, did I!

Flash-forward to yesterday when I received a call from a Newark representative, who was calling to welcome me to Newark and thank me for placing my FIRST order.

I informed her that it was NOT my first order and then proceeded to detail my recent experience. She seemed sympathetic and tried looking up my original account, which for some reason couldn't be found.

She then asked if I had any other concerns and I mentioned how I often find it difficult to locate parts in their system. She asked whether I was searching by the manufacturer's part number or Newark's part number. I told her, "The manufacturer's, of course."

She suggested I might have more success if I tried searching using Newark's part number.

I thought about it for about half a second and asked, "And just how am I supposed to know YOUR part numbers? I don't think God Almighty knows your part numbers."

There was a long pause and she finally acknowledged, "Yeah, that probably wasn't a very good suggestion."

However, she did tell me that they're rolling out a new website in a few days and it should be much better.

We'll see.

[Reply #3 on:]

She suggested I might have more success if I tried searching using Newark's part number.

Good Catch-22.

To find their part number you already have to know it, in which case you don't need to find it.

[Reply #4 on:]

Newark is a vendor of last resort. They may stock a fair amount of kit not found elsewhere but the prices are very high, based on the (admittedly anecdotal) comparisons I have made between them and Digikey. The sort of experience described above would make me a former customer - life is too short to pay a premium for crummy service.

[Reply #5 on:]

However, with digikey, you need to have a minimum $25 order or pay them $5 for your order. Newark doesn't do that. So for the odd bits and pieces, Newark (well, eBay first normally) is my go-to place. Fast and reasonable shipping, too.

[Reply #6 on:]

True, Digikey tends to charge for minimal orders. I usually easily exceed the $25 minimum and I really appreciate the fast delivery (usually a day or two) and the very reasonable prices. IIRC, their minimum shipping charge is less than $3 for USPS delivery in a nice sturdy box, etc. I guess it comes down to time value of money... it's not worth $5 to deal with Newark on top of Digikey to me. E-Bay can be even less money but the delivery times can stretch into a month or two, depending on how much the DHS folk want to sit on the customs clearance forms instead of processing them... and thanks to the sequester, that aspect is only going to get worse. I sincerely wonder what the USPS and other shippers will do with the building backlog that a slowdown in processing would create at airports, etc.