Just wanted to share an experience I had today with those of you that do business with Bunn. I know there are some techs in the group and others that might find this relevant.
Bunn's commercial sales group is apparently in the midst of changing over inventory control systems. This sort of thing happens periodically with large companies and the results vary. In this case it has been pretty much a disaster.
In my case, a parts order I placed to repair a couple of brewers that are down has been delayed by the better part of a week. I ordered these parts last Wednesday, and the word today was that "they hopefully will ship by the end of this week". These parts are in stock, they just can't process orders properly or quickly enough with the new system. I was told that this was an improvement over last week, when orders were being delayed longer... so it sounds like this is happening with all of their orders.
What does this mean to those of us that are Bunn's customers? I think for the next couple of weeks (at least) it means a few things:
1. Do not expect normal turnaround times. If you need parts quickly, find another source instead of ordering from Bunn.
2. Some parts may not appear in the online store. This doesn't mean that they don't exist, you just need to call customer service to order them.
3. Bunn call-center wait times will be ridiculous for a little while. I waited 15 minutes today to find out my order status. Plan on long hold times and communicate by other means if possible.
4. Bunn's customer service reps are dealing with lots of upset customers... when you do reach them, try to be nice. Its not their fault that their IT group dropped the ball.
To be clear, this is not a venting thread or a complaining thread. Those far more important than I have surely already complained in far more effective ways. I'm just trying to get the word out about the situation so that we can all work around as best we can. Really, I just wish I'd known last week so that I could have placed my order with other suppliers and gotten my customers up and running earlier.
I would like to invite anyone here that works for Bunn to please share any updates, thoughts on this situation, or other suggestions for your customers.