As the CEO of Born to Run, I just wanted to make an apology for the late shipments on the SeeYa and Sypridon LS pre-orders and to give an explanation as to why the orders are shipping later than expected.
For new products we have to submit our orders 6 months or more in advance. They do this so that they can give that order to the factory to be made. We are given specific ship dates for when that order is suppose to ship from their warehouse to use. For the SeeYa and the Sypridon LS that ship date was 2/1. This is the shipment for all of the "futures orders" to all of VFF's dealers. Since we are on the West Coast and Vibram ships from the East Coast our shipments generally arrive 7-10 days later. When we put the SeeYa and Sypridon LS for sale as a pre-order item, this is the expectation we have and so it is the expectation that we give to customers. That is why we initially said they would ship from us in early February. After I didn't get a shipping confirmation from VFF on 2/1, I inquired about where our shipment was at. It took them a few days to get back to me to tell me that they were delaying all shipments because they hadn't received all the products yet from their factories in China. They then told us that they would ship out by 2/10. This the email my VFF rep sent me:
"The order was pushed through the warehouse last week when we touched base but is just shipping now. I’m sorry for the delay here. It’s news to me also- I had figured it would ship the day I spoke to Kate about it last week. Here’s the info directly from her email:
On the 2/1 orders… I had them pushed through on 2/8 . They then went into the queue with all other spring orders. As of yesterday, the warehouse still had 85,000 pairs of 2/1 orders to go and are sending out about 10-15,000 per day. The Barefoot Shoe Store orders have just been picked and I expect them to ship today or tomorrow.
That’s a lot of shoes trying to get out the door! I’ll still see if I can get tracking info once they have left so that we will know exactly when they’re coming to you."
When they said "orders have just been picked and I expect them to ship today or tomorrow," that was 2/9 and 2/10. So we expected them to ship out then. So we changed our website to reflect what they told us by saying they would ship out by mid February. After I didn't get another shipping confirmation again after 2/10 I inquired again as to where our shipment was and by this time I was very frustrated for the lack of communication on the part of Vibram. Again, here is a quote from my reps response:
"Regarding Vibram shipping, understand that they use a third party shipper and there is always going to be some delay there. They push things through the system usually the day of a ship date and then it doesn’t usually ship until the next day. That’s all when they’re dealing with normal business asap orders and later season preseason orders. First ship dates obviously are going to take a little longer due to the volume going out. If they have product early, they tell us and they leave it up to us as reps to figure out who can take goods early and who’s best waiting. I mostly assume that you want things earlier than later and when I’m unsure, I’ve asked. And it’s worth noting that you kind of are at the top of the list with getting things out the door. In this case I know they prioritized west coast and then dollars booked. While you’re not at THE top of the list, you’re not far down either… and creeping up.
Again Dan, I’m sorry for the delay and for the frustration. Please understand that I will ALWAYS do my best to keep you as well informed as I am regarding Vibram. I completely understand how important that brand is to your store and philosophy."
I feel that my rep did a good job of explaining things and working to get things back on track. Regardless, I have requested that we be told all things concerning any possible delays as soon as possible so that we can then relay that to our customers earlier so that they don't get frustrated just as you have.
We are a newer store and we are still working on getting all of our systems figured out and that sometimes means that we don't communicate with our customers as well and as quickly as we should. Our number one goal is outstanding customers service and I am sad when we are not able to live up to that goal. We are striving to do better in the future. We are also striving to work closer with our vendors to become a priority to them for getting new products shipped to us as early as anyone can get it. One of the ways to do this is to order an container of it directly from their factories. That way they don't have to go through their warehouse first. Lastly, we are working with all of our vendors in making sure they are communicating quickly and honestly with us so that we can inform our customers of any possible delays as soon as possible.
Perhaps in the future, when we make our own shoes, we can control things better and we won't have to worry about problems like this!
As a recompense to all those who have had their orders delays here is a 15% off discount code for any future purchase on
www.borntorun.com:
15OFFBTR
