Also, regarding MBs, I suspect they ran out of their pre-built stock months ago (but possibly had a reserve stock specifically for their giveaways).
So MB orders (that weren't part of a giveaway) are in a long line of orders having to be made from scratch, just like custom orders.
While speculating can be fun, I definitely feel a bit more transparency would easy some anxiety. But they may just not have they staff to do it
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That may be, but what the customers see.. are giveaway people getting their 'free' boxes, when the paid customers are SOL.
The other issue is the amount of excuses that we all (I'm guilty of it, too) are giving them.. such as the fact we've all given them a 'pass' on their lack of communication, or responses to paying customers. In a customer facing industry, of any sort, if a company can't communicate with their paying customers on a very regular basis, then the company needs to to be called to task for it. Saying they don't have the staff for it is giving them WAAY too much leniency. A simple 'state of orders' communication on the board, or on the main site, would take 1-5 mins.. max... and no one will ever convince me that someone in a PR position, or OWNERSHIP position, doesn't have that amount of time on their hands. (heck.. post it while sitting on the can.. lol.. not like you can do much more, there, anyway
Also.. if you can get in touch with a CSR at US, being told that orders are only taking 4 weeks to process.. when many people's orders on here are much further out than that, already... is just an outright lie.
The final concern I have, is whether or not the covid issue has become a too convenient excuse for many companies, right now. It's too easy for a company to lay off employees (they get extra payments with unemployment), reduce spending across the board (not order as many supplies), and still collect the same amount of money for orders. For a lot of companies, this just translates into faster profits, which make their quarterly reports look amazingly good, 'In spite of covid'. (I'm actually referring to a company that makes safes, who was caught a few weeks ago, doing JUST that.. but I'm sure a lot of companies could/would have done this, too.)
As for the comments from everyone who have said relax, it's a hobby, etc... The best way I can explain it, psychologically, is how it appears to many people..
See... 'hobby' or not.. the issue isn't WHAT is ordered.. the issue boils down to: 'I already gave them my money". Plain and simple.. that's it. People expect something when they pay a few hundred dollars for a product. When they pay for something, being told it's 4-5 weeks out, and then 7-8 weeks go by.. it feels an awful lot like being scammed. (even if it's not).
That customer becomes upset.. and rightfully so. They were told their product would be there in 4-5 weeks... a deadline that the seller gave.. they set the expectation. But the vendor/company hasn't given any update to that customer, and now the customer reaches out to the vendor to see if they can provide some status update, or reason why they didn't mean their own deadline. After all, since purchasing that product, the customer has thought of 100 different things they could have already used that money on... even if frivolous, that is THEIR money, and what they now see, is that they have traded their money, for nothing more than a promise... and promises can be broken... Heck, the argument could be made, 1 promise (the delivery timeline) HAS already been broken by that vendor.
So, now the customer reaches out, for some assurance that they didn't make a foolish decision.. that they didn't actually give their money away to an uncaring entity.. who gave them nothing in return. But, instead of getting a reassuring pat on the head, and promise that 'Hey, we got your order.. and we're working on it, we've just been having a problem getting the right widget for your order..'... instead, the customer gets... Nothing. No email response.. no phone response.. no text... nothing.. they now feel like they've been ghosted by a company. So, the customer feels like they've been scammed.. had... tricked... they've been foolish with their money, and were parted from it.
THAT is why people are getting so upset.. they feel like they were promised 1 thing, and given something else entirely... and that something else they were given.. was 'Nothing'.
Will their orders arrive? Well.. that really depends. If you've ever been on the receiving end of a company going bankrupt, or closing shop, after having taken your money... you'd understand why so many of us are insistent upon timelines, and guarantees. But.. if you've ever watched the movie, 'Tommy Boy', you know what 'guarantees' often mean to people (and companies).
In most cases, people will still get what they ordered... sure.. but until they do.. the customer is the one that's standing there holding an empty bag.. there is no pressure on the company to make the customer happy... they're just another number.
Hopefully this explains a bit to those not understanding the logic/reasoning behind why some people get so twitchy about unfulfilled orders. (honestly, I don't think stuff like kickstarter and indiegogo have helped with this, since many of those tend to overpromise and under-deliver so often)
Heck, I'll freely admit.. if I'd not bought a couple US's second hand, while waiting for this.. I would be a little less patient than I have been... That said.. the constant radio silence, and lack of updates has got me more than a little annoyed, at this point... when a company rep can't take 5 mins to give updates to their customers.. that speaks volumes to me.
~ Casp
