....and yet I called Moto Corse in San Marino (Italy) on a Tuesday, gave them my C.C.# on that day and by friday (2.5 days later) the parts were at my door steps.
It's all a matter of how the business is run, some people like to get customers back and some others just don't!
There is a lot of factors to consider here. Anyone can get a package sent via next day air from Italy if the sender has the item in stock and the recipient is willing to pay for shipping.
Ordering from someone like Ducati (like the OP's dealer had to do) is completely different than ordering from a small retailer like you did.
For example, Ducati doesn't charge shipping (they do on bikes, but not parts/apparel). Because of this (among other reasons) they don't ship everything the second the order gets placed. They bundle orders, etc... to make it more economical. We've had some orders held for several weeks and then shipped on pallets without warning (I assume because there was a cost savings for them). This causes issues for us and our customers, but it is something we don't have control over. Most of the time it is smooth and the quoted times above are pretty spot on though.
Something we've requested is that they put a process in place to expedite shipping on selected items at the dealers expense. Sometimes we need a part very quickly or a customer does and we would be willing to pay for that (just like you did with Moto Corse). I'm not sure if this will ever happen with Ducati, but we will continue to push for it.
I highly doubt it is because they don't want customers to come back as you suggest though.
