I know we have sponsors here and we have folks associated with fly shops who are members. In general, I appreciate such commercial enterprises.
However, I have found what appears to be a seemingly pervasive practice which really irritates me.
I did a search on the internet for a supplier of a rather pricey fly tying tool. I found a number of shops which offered the item. I ultimately learned that no shop has the product. There is one US distributor and they are out of the item. Further, I contacted the European manufacturer and learned that none were yet ready to be shipped to the distributor.
Now, in a couple cases, when I tried to purchase from the shops, I was told they did not have one in stock. They explained it was pricey and they didn't want to carry an inventory, but they could get it shipped to them in 2-3 days. This, they subsequently learned, was not the case as the distributor did not have them in stock.
In other cases I was only informed of the unavailability when I was trying to purchase the item from them. Yet, these shops advertised the item and did not, until I pointed it out, indicate they were "out of stock".
Anyway, it really irritates me. One would think that the shops would indicate initially that the item is out of stock and, further, that the distributor is also out of stock. One shop told me that the item was held up in customs which I found out is not the case as the manufacturer has not sent them to the US yet.
