as a CS team, we always need to contact with material dept and production dept. but i always feel very difficult to tell our customers when we are facing problems below:
1: product can't be made as the shortage of material, also we don't get the exact information when it can arrive at our stock
2: lead time is getting much longer for the reason of new worker's poor skill, or some unknown reason just like lazy worker...

dear all, how to explain to our mad customer? and what to do??

What are the policies of your company and what are the expectations of your customers? How can the two be merged?

For example, if your policy is to ship same day as order is received, and your customers have come to expect and depend upon that, clearly there is a conflict when materials are backordered.

Also, it is far better to be proactive than reactive. If you know that a customer has ordered widgets, and widgets are on backorder and your materials department cannot offer a solid delivery date, it is far better to contact the customer and explain the situation as opposed to waiting for the customer to call and inquire as to the status.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Karen