Radiant Heat Panel shortage/Serpentarium experience

Just curious if anyone else is having a hard time getting ahold of RHP's?

The two sizes I absolutely need were out of stock on RBI and so I looked around for them elsewhere.

I found them on Serpentariums website, https://www.snakemuseum.com/ for the same prices and only $4 more in shipping. So I quickly placed an order because I have two AP cages coming *soon* that need these panels. I had found the two sizes I need being out or limited on other sites like Amazon as well, hence my hurry to get an order in......
Temps are already dipping into the low 40's and 30's overnight, I need these cages for my tub dwellers so they can be proper warm this winter.

I've been waiting now 18 days for my order to change status from "preparing" or "shipped" or "delivered". This is my first order with Serpentarium, so unless they were short/out as well and it wasn't listed on the website I am wondering why my order is taking over 2 weeks.
I didn't think it'd be so long, Northern CA stores and I'm in Washington, its not that far to ship a couple of heat panels.
I've called to inquire but have yet to receive a reply.
Granted my cages haven't arrived yet, so its not *urgent now* but I really would feel better if I knew about's when they were arriving.

Anyone else have experiences, input to shed some light on my situation?
Or simply bemoan the apparent RHP shortage too, that also works.

Has your credit card been charged? If they don't ship in 30 days then ask to cancel the order, and if they don't then take it up with your CC company. Merchant agreement state that vendors must ship or provide services within 30 days of hitting a card.

If the products were not in stock then their shopping cart system should not have let you place an order, and they need to fix that.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Has your credit card been charged? If they don't ship in 30 days then ask to cancel the order, and if they don't then take it up with your CC company. Merchant agreement state that vendors must ship or provide services within 30 days of hitting a card.

If the products were not in stock then their shopping cart system should not have let you place an order, and they need to fix that.

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Yeah I paid via PayPal, so I can dispute it through them if I must. It’s been paid for and I’ve just been waiting.
We’ll see what happen in the next 12 days or so.

Just an update here, they finally got back to me. Mentioned about how they are dealing with increased order volume with COVID-19 and all.
Anyway, they hadn't shipped my order because the 40w I ordered is apparently out of stock and they are waiting for it to come in. I did get my order placed on the last 80w that they had and its been set aside for me, so I'm good there. I've been placed on a priority wait list for when they do get them in.

Considering I can't find these RHP's anywhere now except for like $40 more than they usually go for I'm keeping my order with them to keep my queue place, to ensure I do get mine when it comes.

I'm not in a hurry, I don't need them right away. I'm still waiting on my APcages I am buying these for anyway.
I understand the shortages and whatnot, was more irritated that the site wasn't updated and they took over 3 weeks to contact me at all about it.
Communication is key.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ClarinetPhoenix

Just an update here, they finally got back to me. Mentioned about how they are dealing with increased order volume with COVID-19 and all.

I'm not in a hurry, I don't need them right away. I'm still waiting on my APcages I am buying these for anyway.
I understand the shortages and whatnot, was more irritated that the site wasn't updated and they took over 3 weeks to contact me at all about it.
Communication is key.

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I understand what you mean here. That's what I liked about APcages, they were very up front with lead times so I knew what to expect before I ever placed an order. I get frustrated because some companies are using Covid as an excuse for poor customer service and shipping times, when they weren't doing the best job pre-covid. That's a conversation for another time though, I'm glad they finally let you know what was going on! I'm waiting on APcages to ship one out to me as well but I went with Proheat so they just mailed it straight to them to install for me.