Not to defend Richard's (or any other stockmaker...as this seems to be common).... but, unfortunately, the way it works is that they "batch" orders. They will not make your stock until they have a bunch of orders for the same stock....as, given their production process....it would be disruptive for them to set up to do only one stock. They apparently do dozens (or even hundreds), at a time. So, it would seem logical that, if they must "batch" orders like this, that they would keep a number of completed stocks of each model and inletting, in inventory....to maintain a "flow", for purposes of customer service (getting people their orders in a timely fashion). Ah, but then there would be the problem of warehousing most or all of their different models....in literally hundreds of "combinations" of inlettings. This could easily turn into warehousing thousands of individual pieces. Obviously, Richards does not do this. Perhaps they do not have the resources or capital for this sort of operation.

So, how to solve the problem ? Of course, they should NOT lie to customers who inquire about their orders....there is NO excuse for that. I wonder, however, if it is really a case of lying....or if their estimates of lead time are simply predicated on a projection of how long it will take to accumulate the necessary number of orders, before beginning a "production run". I would imagine that, if this were the case, the projections (guesstimates) would be wrong, much of the time. That sort of system, based on market flow, is VERY unreliable...and subject to fluctuations in the marketplace (which occur ALL the time).

So....we are back to the beginning. How can they get customers their orders in a timely fashion ? The ONLY possible solutions would be to either A) warehouse any/ all of the commonly ordered stock styles, in most/all of the most popular inlettings.....or B) have a "quick run" department...that can do small quantities, in order to keep up the production flow of the most popular models/ inlettings. Either way, or a combination of both...... this would be quite expensive. I do not know...but Richard's as a company may not be in a financial position to do this. Also, there is a fine line, in a production sense, between keeping the customer satisfied (timely order delivery)...and maintaining demand (in order to keep downtime to a minimum).

So, how does this help the customer (such as renfrowridge)...with his frustration ? It DOESN'T....and I am sorry for that. Again, I am not making any excuses for Richard's....or anyone. It is a given that commercial concerns should NOT mislead customers.....if they expect to continue to HAVE customers. All of this I have written only as an objective assessment of the difficulties involved in such industrial operations, as an engineer with much experience with such matters. I wish that there was a simple solution. Unfortunately, this is a universal problem in the field of manufacturing.

I'm sorry for your frustrations, renfrowridge. I hope that your problem will be resolved soon. I sympathise (for whatever that is worth).