My younger boy ordered a drum kit and a separate snare drum from Guitar Center in August. The kit came a couple weeks later, but the snare didn't. They told us the snare would be back ordered until last week in October. Since he ordered the one he wanted, and he already had an older starter snare to play on, he decided to just wait it out. The beginning of November came and went, so I called. They told me then that the snare was back ordered until March.
I bitched up a storm, needless to say. My obvious question was, "You sold me the kit without telling me it would back order. Then when it back ordered you told me it would come in October. Now in NOvember you're telling me March. Upon what evidence am I supposed to believe that March will not come and you'll tell me it's back ordered for several more months?"
I expressed my disgust, and worked my way up the customer service chain. I eventually got someone who told me that because of the economy, retailers are not keeping inventory, so when there does happen to be a run on a particular item, they back order quickly. I ended up getting them to agree to a better snare drum than the one we ordered, for less money.
But while we can scorn retailers for overpromising, we should save a portion for Barack Hussein Obama and his economy. Best Buy, Guitar Center, and everyone else, have had sand thrown in their gears by the barrel for three years and counting.
