Farnell UK for components

[howard]

Hello,

I get nearly all my components from either Justradios in Canada or from Farnell UK in Leeds. I have to say that my dealings with Farnells have been brilliant, with all my orders turning up the next day. I have a trade account and order online so there is no charge for P&P and no minimum order.

I placed an order yesterday morning and I noticed that a couple of 100pf capacitors were missing off the despatch notification email but then at 20:11pm I received a second email that they too had been despatched. The first consignment arrived in the post this morning and the two missing capacitors then arrived by courier at 17:00pm...... they had been sent all the way from Farnell in Liege, Belgium and had arrived here within 24 hours ! Now that is what I call service and there was no extra charge for the express shipping from Belgium.

My only slight gripe is that some useful components are only available from Farnell USA at a one off £16 surcharge per order but otherwise highly recommended.

Howard

http://uk.farnell.com/

[evingar]

I agree, Farnell are good. WRT the US stock, where there are alternative stock codes for parts, the US available ones are usually cheaper by a Country Mile - rip off Britain I guess

If you order a load of stuff though it's worth taking the "hit" on the US stock because it's easy to make £16 worth of savings - The surcharge is per order.

[McMurdo]

It isnt only Farnell where you can take advantage of their US subsidiary (Newark) offering the same parts at much, much cheaper prices.

RS also do this with their sister company Allied Electronics in the US.

I recently ordered £40 worth of Dubilier audio capacitors from Allied and even with carriage and duty they were £20 cheaper than from the UK...and they arrived within the week (RS quote 10 working days).

I do find DHL (RS) more reliable than UPS (Farnell) for next-day deliveries but this might just be my location.

[Retired]

Hi,
It's a while since I visited Farnell but agree they are great to deal with. The last time I visited was on a Saturday morning. I was told there is a £5 minimum order at the counter. Service is excellent as are the staff and whilst I waited I had a good look at the goodies being sold off at knock down prices which were constantly changing at each visit. I didn't need to open an account as I am always a cash sale..

This is totally different to how RS operate. I felt most unwelcome at RS due to a notice at the entrance declaring no account no sale. I drive past RS to reach Farnell. Col.

[XTC]

I've found Farnell have a good range, are pleasant to deal with and prompt. They also offer a detailed technical description of what they sell through links to data sheets. This can be very important when you want something such as low ESR electrolytics when you really want to be certain it fits the bill.

Sometimes you find they carry unusual things, like bits for my old Weller 25W soldering iron, which I never found another source for. I'm pretty sure they also gave a detailed description so I was fairly confident they would fit.

It's worth checking your order carefully when it arrives, as they do make mistakes, however, I've found that if you email them straight away, they sort it out very quickly.

I think I've still got an RS account, but I don't use it now. I never found they were as nice to deal with as Farnell.


Pete.

[dominicbeesley]

RS can be a bit sniffy - especially with internet account holders. However in their favour they sent me some incorrect parts the other day (first error in probably about 50 or so orders) and when I called they were really pleasant to deal with, got me the parts by 9am the next day and let me keept the very useful bag of P-channel FETs into the bargain so not all bad!

Dom

[XTC]

RS were the first to offer express delivery for R&D departments as I recall. But it's the business of not wanting to deal with the public which is off-putting and must lose them business.

I was on site once and an engineer from another company had run out of some particular fuses. I didn't have any. There was an RS branch a couple of hundred yards away. He was reluctant to go there to get a packet of fuses even though he was stuck, because he didn't have his company's account details, and didn't want to be told to clear off. He was wondering where the nearest Maplin's was.

I told him RS could only tell him to clear off, not give him a public flogging. So he went there and came back with the fuses as a cash sale, surprised and relieved. However, it showed the sort of off-putting, snotty image they've cultivated.

Pete.

[Nickthedentist]

My thoughts entirely, Pete/XTC.

Farnell are my favourites too.

CPC are the exact opposite of RS. They used to get my vote, but as time passes, they seem to be stocking fewer and fewer useful lines, and the catalogue is filling up with gimicky tat - a sort of Maplinisation if you like! They're even advertising on the telly now.

Nick.

[Aub]

I've never used Farnell and havent used RS for quite a while. I suppose it depends if you're repairing sets all the time, or just now and again and also what you're after. The last 3 years or so, i've tended to use Rapid Electronics, who I've always found to be very rapid.

Cheers

Aub

[evingar]

Agreed Nick

CPC used to be great for a service department, I've given up using them at work now - I get most things through Farnell (same company now of course). Only if Farnell do not have what I require will I use RS.

RS are a lot better than they used to be WRT supplying "the punters" - You used to have to provide evidence that you were "trade" to get supplied by them - They used to have a separate division to supply the public though - I forget the name now

[Nickthedentist]

Electrovalue?

[Brian R Pateman]

Electrovalue was the RS retail arm. They also supplied kits (any one remember Doram) for a while.

I must admit to never having a problem with RS over thirty years of trading with them. One major advantage is that if I order before 8 pm the order arrives by mid-day the following day 99 times out of 100. That's not bad in the wilds of West Cumbria!

[ppppenguin]

Electrocomponents I think. Electrovalue was a small company based at Englefield Green, Surrey who supplied mainly to hobbyists.

I was lucky to get a proper trade 30 day RS account many years ago when they were hard to get. I still have it though on the rare occasions I use them I pay by credit card. One day I'll try the Watford trade counter since I pass it quite often.

I think I can just about remember going to their old address in Epworth Street in the City, clutching a trade order on somebody else's headed paper. I may be mistaken about this - it could have been my dad who went, since his business at the time was a short walk from there.

[McMurdo]

Electrocomponents are the holding company for RS and Allied Electronics and also used to include the Radio Resistor Company (RR), Panda-Prepak and (I think) at one time Verospeed/Electrospeed. Electrovalue were a seperate and different company who went bust a few years ago, their stock was taken over by their successor then unexpectedly lost in a warehouse fire.

I think the RS retail arm was called Electromail.

[evingar]

Just stirred the ol' braincells a bit - I think the RS subsidiary was called Electromail

[Aerodyne]

Like others on this thread, I've found Farnell service very useful, apart from the US sources, as mentioned already. Even for small orders there's no problem. I turn to RS only rarely these days. Isn't CPC also part of Farnell?
-Tony

[Panrock]

I do a lot with RS... habit really. As has been mentioned earlier, they're reliable as clockwork - order before 8 pm and the stuff arrives here by 9.30 am the next morning. Though lately I have noticed some things have been delayed by a day or so when they are only in stock at a regional branch.

I've also Farnell and Maplin (MPS) on occasion, also with good results. In my youth I remember having to wait weeks before my orders from Henry's Radio would turn up, though even then Radiospares would send things the next day (ordered by my school). But they wouldn't deal with the likes of me!

[kalee20]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

Electrovalue were a seperate and different company who went bust a few years ago...

I don't think that's right. The owner/founder/director David Longland wanted to retire and sell his business, but nobody was interested. So he wound it up. Shame, because they were a good company. They also supplied to trade accounts, but didn't neglect the hobbyist.

Farnell do provide a good service (keeping on topic), and I also thoroughly recommend them.

[McMurdo]

I guess this may be drifting OT but I'll just add this.

nobody was interested. So he wound it up.

As a former Electrovalue account holder, I'm sure I had a letter explaining the situation, but whether it was retirement or financial issues I'm not sure.

The company was taken over by Mainline Electronics, see article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/4320900.stm

The Mainline website explains more about Electrovalue.

[mhennessy]

I've used Farnell for years, and would agree with the majority of the comments here. Have a look at the Premier Farnell website (http://www.premierfarnell.com/premier_farnell/) for details of the various brands within the empire. They bought up CPC a while ago - according to a Farnell rep, they were basically left alone for several years after the purchase before Farnell gradually started exerting their influence... Personally, I always liked dealing with Farnell but I never enjoyed calling CPC (thinking back to the 1990's) - the staff were generally somewhat grumpy and if you wanted to send something back, forget it! But happily that changed after the takeover.

These days, at work we access Farnell/CPC via "Onecall", which oddly doesn't seem to figure on the Premier Farnell site... If you look at the "public facing" Onecall site, you might notice that the prices are cheaper than normal, but don't be fooled; those prices are only available to academic institutions (which sadly doesn't include Wood Norton!).

I would agree that CPC seems to be turning into Maplin, and in turn Maplin seem to be turning into Tandy - and we know what happened to them!

Regarding price, Farnell was always cheaper than RS, but recently they've caught up and indeed, in some cases, RS is cheaper. It's a shame that the minimum order value for free delivery has shot up from the £10 it always used to be, but I guess they're no worse than the rest of the industry...

Finally, may I second the recommendation for Rapid Electronics. They are consistently cheaper than Farnell/RS/Maplin, and their service is just as good IME - although admittedly their range isn't as broad. They aim themselves at the education sector but will sell to anyone, and I can't understand why they're relatively unknown... (Mods, sorry if this has strayed OT - feel free to post this paragraph as a new thread if appropriate)

Mark