On 7/10, I ordered an OBD II Code Reader, which on the site was listed as "In Stock". The price was supposed to be $99 + free shipping. Good deal, I thought.  
 
The next day, I got a second confirmation with the following status: Expected to ship on 08/10/2006.  
 
I sent an email inquiring about this, and the response I received was: "Thank you for you're email. I apologize that the item is on back order until 08/12/06. It will be shipped out just as soon as it becomes available. I apologize for the delay and for any inconvenience. Debbie"  
 
That's not anything I didn't already know. I immediately called and canceled my order.

I ordered a small item on 5/19/06, paid $6.99 for shipping (more than half the price of the item) and on 6/1/06 am still waiting for the item. This is just to get it from Illinois to Michigan! Since ordering this item, I have been in the hospital for 3 days for knee surgery, returned home, placed an order from a company in California and received it, but J.C. Whitney can't get my single item order to me from Illinois in all this time?!!!!!!!

Let me first state that I have ordered through this company before, several times over the years, mostly through mail order. This was my first online order from JC Whitney.  
 
I placed an order for seat covers on November 29, 2004, shopping strictly by final price with 'free' shipping. I received an immediate email stating that my order was confirmed. I recevid an email on December 1, 2004 stating that my order was shipped. I was not in a hurry to receive my package, so I let 10 calendar days go by before following up with my order. Upon using the 'status' or 'tracking' feature listed in my shipping notice email I was surprised to find out that my items were on backorder. The approximate ship date was listed as January 6, 2005. Rather than fume, and since I really wanted these seat covers (they were over $100 cheaper than everywhere else, so no wonder they were out-of-stock!) ,I waited. In the mean time I received several post cards from JC Whitney stating that my items were still on order and were listed with various ship dates as the weeks went by. Needless to say, the items were finally shipped and I received them on January 25 and 28, 2005.  
 
The seat covers were originally going to be given as a christmas gift and were still given as such, just belated... They were of excellent quality and worth the wait. However, JC Whitney should have listed the item as out-of-stock or at least notified me of that status immediately.  
 
For the record, I did contact customer service to follow up this transaction before posting this rating and they were apologetic, helpful, and understanding.  
 
I will continue to look towards JC Whitney as an alternative to higher priced discount merchants, but be leary of shipping deadlines and in-stock status....