(im)Patiently waiting for my new _______!!!

[HSHLD6TO7]

Just wanted to try to ease minds a bit. I know the turn around is pretty long but it is so worth it.
 I don't know details of which ones we ordered without going back to look. (I have 6 teenage sons that work to save up money to build their collection.)
  Our first Ultrasaber order was 2 years ago, and we received within 4 weeks.  I ordered 3 sabers in January (2020) and received them at the beginning of May. I placed another order for 4 more, plus other accessories on June 28th. We haven't received and, from experience, we're not expecting for another month or so. It's not just COVID issues in the US but also the challenge of finding suppliers as some of their parts came from China.
   I understand the impatience of getting something that's as big of an investment - believe me, I'm asked daily by at least one of my guys to check the status. But there hasn't been a time we've been disappointed with our order. It's worth the wait! (And- for first time orderers-  they aren't scamming you! )

[Cyclops942]

Hi everybody,
I‘m from Germany and i‘ve ordered a Lost-Gray saber on 5.th July 2020.
The status is still processing. I paid almost 200$ via paypal.
I‘m a little worried about my money, because i havent heard anything from you.
You‘re not answering emails and i have no chance to contact you.
So i try it this way.
Please understand me, because i’ve saved up my money a whole year, to buy this saber.

Is the delay normal..... is it about COVID-19 ..... And what is the probably delivery date for my Lost-Gray !.

Thank you

.....and sorry for my english

Your English is fine; no need to apologize.

Here is a longer answer to your question...

This is a group of UltraSabers customers and fans, not a way to reach UltraSabers customer service.  Nobody here works for UltraSabers.  We can give advice, but we can’t provide specific information about your order because we don’t have access to any of that information.

ORDINARILY, you would probably have your saber in your hand already, because their turnaround time was typically 1-2 weeks.  Lots of us old-timers have that as our default experience with UltraSabers.  HOWEVER... in early December of last year, thanks to all the fan excitement surrounding the last Star Wars movie, a new Star Wars TV show that apparently should have been titled “Baby Yoda” instead, the release of a new Star Wars video game, the Christmas gift-giving season, and a winter sales promotion, they began to have so many orders that they fell behind.  In January, there started to be issues with parts and components, because of the COVID-19 issues in China, where some of the electronic parts are manufactured, and they fell a little more behind.  In February, the fallout from COVID-19 started to have effects here in the United States, and some of their more-local parts suppliers fell behind, not just the ones in China.  As time progressed, and as social-distancing measures needed to be put into effect in the workplace (causing more than the usual scheduling issues of getting the right technician, the right saber, the right parts, and the right tools all at the right workstation at the right time, multiplied across the multiple suppliers used), the backlog continued.  On May 25, they lost all their emails prior to that date, and that has caused its own issues.  They have staff working 24x7 trying to catch up from the backlog, and some progress is being made, but they are nowhere near back to normal yet.

Their overall delivery times have slipped quite a bit; although some folks still get their sabers in a week or two, some sabers take three or four weeks, and some take eight weeks or longer.  Note that the orders are NOT worked in a First-In-First-Out queue order; there are too many dependencies on various parts, technician skill sets, machine/workstation availability, and Lord-only-knows what else for that to be even close to efficient.  There have been entire books— heck, entire college courses— written on efficient manufacturing-process scheduling, so there’s no way I can give a full explanation here; just know that it’s very complicated.

The response times on the customer service emails have slipped quite a bit, too.  All I can say is to keep sending POLITE emails to [email protected] with your order number in the subject line, but I wouldn’t send an email every day; that will just clog up the Inbox and make it harder to find the emails that need an answer other than “Yes, we have your order, and it’s in the processing queue, but I can’t tell you when it will ship, because we are waiting on <fill_in_the_blank>.”  There’s nothing wrong with wanting an update, because you have sent them your money; just understand that right now, getting an update, or your saber, is going to take longer than normal, and longer than any of us would like.

[BriannaInkheart]

Damn, thats what I ordered. Guess I should expect a long wait.

Same here - waiting for Fulcrum and Lost Grey since June 10th (and three more sabers ... ). Today I got the third party mail, but still no answer from US themselves about the requested changes ...

Hi everybody,
I‘m from Germany and i‘ve ordered a Lost-Gray saber on 5.th July 2020.

Ein freundliches moin moin aus München

[bigBear]

Same here - waiting for Fulcrum and Lost Grey since June 10th (and three more sabers ... ). Today I got the third party mail, but still no answer from US themselves about the requested changes ...

Ein freundliches moin moin aus München

the wait can be annoying but so worth it. I own quite a few myself and my group has orders they're waiting for. sadly, things are a mess everywhere and everyone is doing the best job they can.

[Darth Kalis]

Is the delay really as long as the haters say? And is buying from Ultrasabers a worthwhile investment?

I'm going on 14 weeks. I finally got a response from CS about a month back and then he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth. Complete silence from their end for weeks. I sent another email to the info address just hoping to get an update, and still nothing. Not gonna lie, really disappointed with this company and have purchased several sabers from one of the other guys since my initial order with US, and 2 of those already arrived, and the 3rd is due in tomorrow.

Still waiting on a response from Ultrasabers, and kind of find it to be a slap in the face that I can't get an update on my order which was placed nearly 14 weeks ago, yet I keep getting emails promoting their current sales

[Tylan-Maul]

I'm going on 14 weeks. I finally got a response from CS about a month back and then he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth. Complete silence from their end for weeks. I sent another email to the info address just hoping to get an update, and still nothing. Not gonna lie, really disappointed with this company and have purchased several sabers from one of the other guys since my initial order with US, and 2 of those already arrived, and the 3rd is due in tomorrow.

Still waiting on a response from Ultrasabers, and kind of find it to be a slap in the face that I can't get an update on my order which was placed nearly 14 weeks ago, yet I keep getting emails promoting their current sales

I am with you. and the worst part about it is I sent my grandmaster in for repairs after this whole thing started and i got it back in a week. My last full order was placed in may and was 2 sabers and it I got it in a matter of days. So the fact that my second order has been waiting for 10 weeks is getting tiresome. I have purchased several sabers from them over the years. and they all came in within a reasonable time.

[matth431]

Your English is fine; no need to apologize.

Here is a longer answer to your question...

This is a group of UltraSabers customers and fans, not a way to reach UltraSabers customer service.  Nobody here works for UltraSabers.  We can give advice, but we can’t provide specific information about your order because we don’t have access to any of that information.

ORDINARILY, you would probably have your saber in your hand already, because their turnaround time was typically 1-2 weeks.  Lots of us old-timers have that as our default experience with UltraSabers.  HOWEVER... in early December of last year, thanks to all the fan excitement surrounding the last Star Wars movie, a new Star Wars TV show that apparently should have been titled “Baby Yoda” instead, the release of a new Star Wars video game, the Christmas gift-giving season, and a winter sales promotion, they began to have so many orders that they fell behind.  In January, there started to be issues with parts and components, because of the COVID-19 issues in China, where some of the electronic parts are manufactured, and they fell a little more behind.  In February, the fallout from COVID-19 started to have effects here in the United States, and some of their more-local parts suppliers fell behind, not just the ones in China.  As time progressed, and as social-distancing measures needed to be put into effect in the workplace (causing more than the usual scheduling issues of getting the right technician, the right saber, the right parts, and the right tools all at the right workstation at the right time, multiplied across the multiple suppliers used), the backlog continued.  On May 25, they lost all their emails prior to that date, and that has caused its own issues.  They have staff working 24x7 trying to catch up from the backlog, and some progress is being made, but they are nowhere near back to normal yet.

Their overall delivery times have slipped quite a bit; although some folks still get their sabers in a week or two, some sabers take three or four weeks, and some take eight weeks or longer.  Note that the orders are NOT worked in a First-In-First-Out queue order; there are too many dependencies on various parts, technician skill sets, machine/workstation availability, and Lord-only-knows what else for that to be even close to efficient.  There have been entire books— heck, entire college courses— written on efficient manufacturing-process scheduling, so there’s no way I can give a full explanation here; just know that it’s very complicated.

The response times on the customer service emails have slipped quite a bit, too.  All I can say is to keep sending POLITE emails to [email protected] with your order number in the subject line, but I wouldn’t send an email every day; that will just clog up the Inbox and make it harder to find the emails that need an answer other than “Yes, we have your order, and it’s in the processing queue, but I can’t tell you when it will ship, because we are waiting on <fill_in_the_blank>.”  There’s nothing wrong with wanting an update, because you have sent them your money; just understand that right now, getting an update, or your saber, is going to take longer than normal, and longer than any of us would like.

Comprehensive, but I would also add a word of warning given their statement that they saved up a whole year to afford this purchase - because they are in Germany, they should expect an additional expense (levied through FedEx) for local import and duty charges. Ultrasabers aren't responsible for these as they differ by country (they do mention this in the shipping T&Cs though, so you were warned but it's easy to click past).

For example, I was charged an additional £40 import tax on my Apprentice LE v5, about a week after delivery. If the user is cash-strapped, the delay in delivery may work to their advantage as they can plan to save up for these additional fees.

[DarthRondoudou]

Comprehensive, but I would also add a word of warning given their statement that they saved up a whole year to afford this purchase - because they are in Germany, they should expect an additional expense (levied through FedEx) for local import and duty charges. Ultrasabers aren't responsible for these as they differ by country (they do mention this in the shipping T&Cs though, so you were warned but it's easy to click past).

For example, I was charged an additional £40 import tax on my Apprentice LE v5, about a week after delivery. If the user is cash-strapped, the delay in delivery may work to their advantage as they can plan to save up for these additional fees.

Quite right. I always assume that by now everyone knows about import taxes. And I shouldn't. It can add quite an impressive amount...

[Darth Logos]

Lol, its not the meds. Ive come to figure out that there is no such thing as grown ups...

My college roommate had a similar theory. When presented with the logic, "The only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys," he countered with:

"The only difference between men and boys is how well they hide their immaturity."

I have the same issues whithout the meds

I got off of them when I was your age. Before that I had been on them since the age of 6 or 7. And due to the nature of tolerance, my dosage had to increase as I grew. By the time I attended university I was on 80mg of extended release Ritalin.

[ProtechOne]

My college roommate had a similar theory. When presented with the logic, "The only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys," he countered with:

"The only difference between men and boys is how well they hide their immaturity."
I got off of them when I was your age. Before that I had been on them since the age of 6 or 7. And due to the nature of tolerance, my dosage had to increase as I grew. By the time I attended university I was on 80mg of extended release Ritalin.

Darth, my best friend growing up had a similar experience. Always enjoyed his company more when he was off the meds. The Ritalin just seemed to smother his fire.

But i remember being younger and looking up to guys my age, thinking they had it all figured out.
Now im that age, and i know it's all a lie!! Lol

[DarthRondoudou]

My college roommate had a similar theory. When presented with the logic, "The only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys," he countered with:

"The only difference between men and boys is how well they hide their immaturity."
I got off of them when I was your age. Before that I had been on them since the age of 6 or 7. And due to the nature of tolerance, my dosage had to increase as I grew. By the time I attended university I was on 80mg of extended release Ritalin.

Oh hell... =\

Darth, my best friend growing up had a similar experience. Always enjoyed his company more when he was off the meds. The Ritalin just seemed to smother his fire.

But i remember being younger and looking up to guys my age, thinking they had it all figured out.
Now im that age, and i know it's all a lie!! Lol

Kinda like the cake...

[Darth Logos]

Darth, my best friend growing up had a similar experience. Always enjoyed his company more when he was off the meds. The Ritalin just seemed to smother his fire.

I won't say the drugs didn't have a use. They helped manage the inferno until I learned control it on my own.

[ProtechOne]

Oh hell... =\
Kinda like the cake...

Ok, the cake IS good.

Thanks Rondoudou!

[K.C.]

 Hi,

Thank you very much for your answers.
It really helped me and I hope to get my saber til christmas (this year)

K.C.

P.S.: @BriannaInkheart Servus aus Hamburg

[Jedi_Phoenix]

Got an update on the Dominix LE v5 that I'm waiting on...not from Aria, oddly enough; usually she's Quick Draw McGraw when it comes to replies, hope she's okay.  This one came from Dannielle, and it looks like the result of an audit of their outstanding orders.  Whatever the reason, it's an update and for that I am thankful.

Because of the pandemic affecting all business worldwide, there's a bottleneck in obtaining the parts and materials they need for orders.  They expect to have the Dominix back in stock in 3-5 weeks.  In light of that, they gave me a couple of options.  If I can wait the 3-5 weeks, they'll ship my order out as soon as they can and they'll give me a 20% coupon with no expiration date that I can use toward a future purchase.   Or, if I'd like to go swap for the Dominix V5 or the Dark Apprentice LE V5, they'll get my order out in 1-2 business days.

Decisions, decisions.....actually, this one was easy.

The alternatives they offered are fine, but I really prefer that Dominix for my brother.  And if it goes the full 5 weeks, that'll only be mid-September or so, and this is a Christmas gift.   I've waited this long, I think i can handle a few weeks more.  Not to mention.....a 20% off coupon with no expiration date?  I can definitely put that to good use!

One last thing on this subject....some of you who have been waiting a long time for your orders and have been really frustrated by the wait.  Let me share with you the last part of Dannielle's email to me, I think it might as well be addressed to all of us.  This is word for word, copied and pasted:

"Again, we greatly apologize for this delay.  It is Ultra Sabers bread and butter to be able to get our custom lightsabers in our customers hand with great speed.  It is extremely disappointing to have this pandemic tarnish the record we created and have upheld since we started making sabers 15 years ago.  Rest assured this is a temporary hiccup and we will be back to shipping custom lightsabers at lightning speed before you know it.  Thank you for your patience with all this."

They're trying, guys.  It may not be pretty, and it may not be perfect, but they're trying.

Heard back from Dannielle, got confirmation of the 20% off coupon, and verification that they'll ship the Dominix out as soon as tbey can.  No word on the Princess, yet.  So now, it's a waiting game, times two.