Anyone Experiencing Woes with Rapid?

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thermionic

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
1,671
Rapid got taken over by Conrad around 2 years ago. About this time their prices on most of the lines I was buying increased by 20-30%, so I stopped using them as I found (oddly) that Farnell was cheaper on most lines. However, I still maintained a skeleton amount of orders from Rapid for a handful of items that Farnell are either expensive on or do not stock.

In the last few weeks I've started using Rapid again regularly. Every day I get a text from their courier UK Mail, saying they will 'deliver today'. I then get an apology from UK Mail, stating 'sorry, we will try to deliver tomorrow'. This often goes on for days until I get the parcel.

On top of this, Rapid's staff refuse to tell me what's going on. One particular staff member talks over me, so I can't even explain the issue. They are belligerent and dismissive. I can't fathom whether the problem is with Rapid or UK Mail, despite asking. I tried the guaranteed delivery option which you pay more for, yet it still took days to arrive...

I'm having so many problems with Rapid. I might just have to go to Farnell for everything. It'll probably cost a small business such as mine £50-100 a month more, but what price stress? Conrad has the same lines as Rapid, but the prices are obscene.

Have you noticed a deterioration in Rapid's service since the takeover? I think something is wrong with the staff dynamic there. Something isn't right... 
 
My experience is totally the opposite.

They have the best prices available and the staff have always been polite and helpful. I have very recently had orders from them and usual UK Mail did not deliver the next day. I reported it and received a call back in the afternoon from Rapid  asking my credit card details to refund the shipping cost.

I had an account with Farnell and in one occasion they held back my order because it was a couple of pounds over my credit limit. I cancelled  the order and gave all their part numbers to a smaller supplier who under cut them by about 20% and gave me a 30 days credit on the spot. Since then I only use them if I need something urgent as they are  expensive.

Same for RS. They are very very expensive and again  I use them for urgent stuff and convenience because I have a local branch here and got to know the staff very well (after over 20 years).

I had stopped using CPC way before they were bought by Farnell. They used to have end of year clearance and for discontinued items. I ordered a discontinued Hameg  Curve Tracer which was advertised at a bargain price. They had multiple quantities in stock. After two days when it  did not arrive I phoned in and was told that they had no record of my order and the stock was exhausted. My suspicion was that they were all  snapped up by the staff through their  friends.
 
The problem is with UK Mail in my area. I have other deliveries from other suppliers and the same thing is happening. However, it's compounded by the fact that I have emailed 3 separate people at Rapid, and they're stating no one received my (multiple) emails, which I am highly suspicious of.

I used Rapid for years without issue. I think UK Mail are so dishonest ('we couldn't access the property' - total lie, there are 100 offices here), it's testing Rapid's infrastructure to the max. Things did change when Conrad bought them - these problems have only existed since then.

I just wish I could find the same lines elsewhere. Farnell, I agree, are a total ripoff. But then again, Mouser is really expensive and Digikey have also hiked prices in recent times. Anglia and JPR are good, but their ranges are so narrow in comparison. 
 
I suggest you find a way to reconcile with Rapid.

Unfortunately some couriers will come up with the most ridiculous reasons, in other words porky pies.  I have had similar experiences so many times.  But the winner so far is that I shipped a rack to Australia by one of the largest couriers in the world and it was delivered to an engineering company just outside Glasgow. Go, figure that.
 
I used to use Rapid at lot a few years back but eventually felt restricted by their range of products, especially when they stopped stocking high value high voltage electrolytics. I check with them now and again but their web site is so stone age I can never find what I need. If they had a search function as good as Farnell's  and a much better layout of items I would use them a lot more.

Cheers

Ian
 
Ian, this will sound like as if I have decided to contradict you too but in terms of Rapid's web site my experience again is totally the opposite.  It is completely idiot (like me) proof with pictures. I hate looking up parts at RS or Farnell web site. Looking up things like capacitors or resistors is like looking for a needle in a hay stack and you are thrown at every single possibility except the one you need. By the way I can tell you that even the staff at my local RS branch find their web site way too much time consuming. They have printed A4 sheets for most used parts that they can quickly look up.

On the other hand I agree with you that Rapid's high voltage cap range is very limited.
 
Cemal, I guess to a large extent it is a personal preference. However, I do agree that the RS web site is abysmal. I quite like the Farnell search facility as it lets you progressively home in on the parameters you need. After reading your ppst I tried the Rapid site again and I am pleased to see the search facility within categories is much improved. Their pricing is goo compared to Farnell so I may well try them again. My only problem with them is you have to spend £35 to get free postage. With Farnell there is no minimum order which is quite handy if you forget a couple of items.

Cheers

Ian
 
Rapid, as I suppose the name suggests, is best suited to bread and butter items. Farnell and Mouser can't be beaten for diversity, but I struggle to figure out how they can charge so much more. The trouble for me is, lately, I've needed a lot of bread and butter items.

Regardless of how well the search software is designed, if things aren't listed accurately you're not going to find them. I find that many things will come up at RS (particularly) and Farnell if you know the part no. - but will not show if you search parametrically (Rapid's stripped down ranges really score in this area - that's possibly a factor why I use them - convenience).

I have items that were supposedly sent from Rapid over a week ago that are still to arrive... This also occurred at my previous address, and seemed to coincide with Rapid's change of hands... I've tried paying for next day delivery, but it still didn't work. This is a real headache for me.  I think most of the issues are due to UK Mail, but I'm not finding Rapid's attitude very conciliarity, considering I spend several hundred quid a month with them.

edit - I've found Farnell's customer support to be infinitely better than Rapid or the sister firm, CPC. Maybe it's because of the high prices they can pay more to support staff? I can't help feel that something has changed at Rapid. One of their staff literally said to me when I complained 'please don't, I've had such a hard week...'...

I ought to go to Anglia more often. I find the staff friendly and prices better than any other firm mentioned - I just wish they handled more ranges!
 
UKMail don't deliver into multi address single door entrances, certainly for private addresses.

Have you thought of getting Rapid to deliver to their trade counter and then sending in your own courier?
I used to hate UPS, but for sending parcels they are currently killing it for me with next day regarding price/time through parcel2go.

(disclosure: I've had screaming matches with Rapid sales regarding non delivery)

R
 
My issues have been in delivering to my office, which has an intercom (as well as phone no. on package) and numerous offices / workshops.

The bottom line is that UK Mail (as with Collect+ and Hermes) sub-contract to anyone with a van. It's the luck of the draw who you get. They are very, very different to UPS or Fedex, where the driver has training and uniform. These are hired hands, with little or no training. They probably get paid by the job and lose money when they get caught in traffic.

I had a driver from Collect+ threaten my retired neighbour yesterday! You couldn't make it up.
 
I  have used Rapid a few times and have found their staff rude as well when trying to pay by credit card.

RS has a great range but their data inputting is crap and although they have made their system more like Farnell now, it is still not quite as good. 

Farnell has a great system and I have used it to find manufacturers numbers to find stuff on RS!!

Think yourself lucky in the UK, Farnell in France charges more than the straight currency conversion and RS in France has a cut down idiots site for individuals, so you have to use the professional site to find stuff, but you can't buy there without a vat number, so you use the part number to find it on the individual site.  I often use the UK sites to get the part numbers then order from the French sites.

Delivery is fantastic from Farnell, ordered at 7pm and got the stuff at 11am next day by courier.  Internet ordering has not really caught on in France, their sites are like the UK's in the 1990's.

DaveP
 
Rapid used to be my first choice but they're expensive and slow now..

RS, great service but i struggled with their old website for years and gave up on them, their new site is better but slow unresponsive and regularly crashes out on me in the middle of an order.

Farnell almost always have everything i need, ok website but CPC is much cheaper!

CPC Farnell and Farnell often share product codes, if i can't find a datasheet or product on CPC i'll go to the Farnell  site.
I created a large order on Farnells site last week, then pasted it into the CPC order form and it was about 35% cheaper.
Some parts are 60 -70% less.
Never had an issue with cpc since it became cpc farnell and their product range has increased massively. 

 
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