"I've been ordring from Futurlec for some time, and the orders usually come through with in a few weeks. Not this time. After 2 weeks of no shipping notification, I emailed them asking about the order. They said one of the items was backordered, and expected to come in 2 weeks.
So I said that I'd wait. Fast forward to June 18, after 3 emails ignored, finally got the answer saying that the item is still not in stock.
From that point on, no emails from them (asked about the status 3 times). No sign of anything being shipped.
I decided that it's not worth the hassle to buy from them.

Right now I'm trying to get my money back - wish me luck.
"

"AVOID FUTURLEC! IT'S A SCAM! Just another scumbag online retailer that entices you with low prices, takes your money, then doesn't ship you anything. Placed an order 3 weeks ago and received nothing. They do not respond to emails. Now the bank is trying to get my money back. When I checked the website not only did they deleted the order but deleted my entire account *smh*"

"Ordered a bunch of fairly standard parts. Got an email 6 days later saying it had shipped. 7 days after that, the parcel turned up. 13 days from order to delivery - slower than most sites but faster than I had been told to expect from Futurlec. All parts were there and in the correct quantities. I will definitely be ordering from them again.

Also, I managed to get some tracking. The 12 digit number they sent actually worked on Australia Post's tracking site (you must enter it without the spaces), however it only tracks it once it enters ausposts's system (before then it showed as "receipted delivery" with no tracking events - the first tracking event was early in the morning on the day it was delivered, so not hugely useful). I was able to see that delivery was attempted and go to the post office on the way home from work (before I even got the missed delivery slip from my letterbox).

Both parts prices and shipping costs are extraordinarily low!"

"I ordered another set of 200 PCB's. (last order was last year). They said it was shipped, gave me a tracking number that cannot be used to track anything. Said it was on it's way, here it is 1.5 months later and still have no product.
Find another PCB manufacturer is my recommendation."

"My latest farce involving Futurlec has been with an attempt to buy several 16x1 LCD displays with a RED backlight. They arrived fairly quickly but despite actually being labelled as red on the individual Anti-static bags, they were all in fact orange. I've emailed them several times with no response.

I can't help thinking that Futurlec must have 50% excellent employees who know what they are doing, and 50% absolute cretins. Either that or a certain percentage of their operation is subcontracted to another company who really aren't doing them any favors.

Basically about 6 out of 10 orders you make with them will go fine. They will arrive in a reasonable time with all the parts there, and everything will be of decent quality. Its just when something goes wrong that you might as well just give up as you're not going to get anywhere.
At least 3/4 of the emails you send them will go unanswered, unless of course its to enable them to get money from you, at which point they seem to suddenly become remarkably efficient. The only thing you can do to get their attention is to threaten a credit card chargeback.

Anyone else noticed how all the names of their so called sales personnel begin with A? Ann, Alex, Alan, its almost as if they're just made up people ;)

If their security is anything like as bad as their web design skills, i would take the precaution of entering a false credit card number into your account in between making orders.
"

"I was really worried because I read so many bad reviews AFTER placing my order. In fact, I prematurely gave up and ended up ordering everything again at a different store (at almost twice the price) because I had zero confidence it would show up in time for me to get my work done. I'm not going to say these guys were awesome - they took a week to respond to my email - but in the end the apologized for being slow and upgraded my order to express shipping at their cost and it showed up a few days later. Total time (2 weeks) was more than I wanted but less than I expected after reading the reviews. I wish I had a little more faith in them because now I have 2 of everything :) Oh well."

"I waited like 30 days till they sent my items because one was not avilable. I payd 22$ for express shipping. At all im satisfied. The support is average, but dont hasitate to contact them if you already waited some weeks and they still dont dispatched your order.

When you have time you should order from Futurlec, the cheap prices are worth it. If not... well better choose another shop.

I also bought some sortiments like resistors etc... every single bag is labeled with the values! Very helpfull.

DHL Express shipping needed like 5 days from Tailand. Totaly worth it."

"I ordered two relays on Aug 2011. Just recieved them today February 7, 2012. Honestly, I forgot why I ordered these it's been so long. NEVER AGAIN! By the way the invoice states AIR Shipment, I think the pigion got lost."

"Beware if you order knobs from Futurlec. Even though the description indicates the knob will fit a standard 1/4" switch or pot shaft, the knobs are actually drilled for 6mm shafts which are .238" and will NOT fit unless drilled out to .250". I now have about two dozen knobs waiting to be drilled out. So much for the great prices."

"I have waited a full month for my order, only to find they have NOT YET EVEN SHIPPED it. They did not INFORM me that the order would be delayed. I wrote 4 emails before getting the response that "a piece is on backorder and is expected next week".

*IF* I get my order, this means I will have waited 45 DAYS for it.

I recommend avoiding this seller at all costs.
"

"hey guy today i received my order with the 10 day shipping + 8 day wait for the part, just because the part was back order that made the shipping delay anyway thank you Puturlec for your best i hope i will do business with you soon,
i can't rate you 100% sorry that is true "

"Ordered parts on 5th October, now 8th December, still nothing.
The order has been held until all items are in stock. I was told this would take 2-3 weeks, not 2 months+.
Personally, I'll never order from these people again. I had to buy from another supplier a month ago to complete the job, while still waiting for Futurlec to get off their arse."

"Don't waste your time with these guys. They told me 7-10 days for my items to show up. I think that timeline was meant for when my e-mail spams to them would start. I would rate their products but considering I haven't received my order yet or plan on getting it within my life time, I can't rate. So that being said, find some else more reliable. If I had searched the company before ordering, I would have passed and ordered from eBay and paid a little more and been guaranteed of a local merchant, which I thought these guys were."

"I placed an order with Futurlec, and after I saw the bad reviews here and elsewhere, I canceled. Then I read a few some positive comments on forums and blogs that I follow. So I took a chance.

The good:
+ Futurlec prices are awesome - they beat Digi-Key, Mouser, and Jameco.
+ They have some stock of obsolete/end-of-lifed parts like the 74LS92. A novice on the web will lack the confidence to attempt part substitution, so this is good.
+ Customer support does respond. In my case, my order was missing a $1.50 part. I gave them the choice to either ship that part or refund my card that amount. I know people had other experiences, but it does pay to "keep it simple".
+ all my parts were sorted, bagged, and tagged.

The Bad -
- The order took 53 days to arrive. BUT in fairness, this was over December and January. They have like a month holiday there in Asia, or something.
- They're slow. Others have theorized that they claim stock of items they're out of (then aggregate customer orders before contacting their suppliers, to get a better deal). Or maybe it's as simple as holding your entire order because 1 part was out of stock. These are guesses.
- Not everything is shipped in antistatic bags.
- component bags are tagged with a sharpie marker... most of the time it was legible but in a couple of cases I had to study the parts to know what it was. I have a label printer that took care of everything.
- They obviously need a better website, with methods to automatically notify customers of delayed items and shipping estimates.

Overall -
I'm fine with the slow shipping, as the prices can run 50% less than standard outlets. I'm a novice, and I needed to buy a LOT of parts to compliment the Make:Electronics book, and a wait was worth the price.

Advice to customers:
* Remember this is not Mouser or Digi-Key.
* The website is like from 1994 or something. If your order is delayed, the website will not notify you. You have to do EVERYTHING through email.
* Keep your questions and answers simple. Do not threaten or bluster, and your message will be understood.
* Always pay for the upgraded shipping option. Just don't expect it to get there as fast as you like, but better shipping is less likely to get lost in transit."

"I've ordered from Futurlec four times without a problem, and once with a big problem. Usually, my orders take a month to receive, but that isn't a problem. Their components are the best price I've found. However, my current order was placed in March, and it still hasn't shipped. They respond to my emails asking the status of the order, but cannot give me a date they will have the components back in stock. Interesting thing is, they still have the component marked as in stock on their website."