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

[Jedi_Phoenix]

Just for comparision:   A buddy of mine ordered a custom saber from one of the other guys.   High end, fully custom, so not really in the same bracket as US.  He ordered his saber a week after lockdown, on March 28th.   He's still waiting, but he thinks he might get it in time for May the 4th of 2021. 

Not really an apples-to-apples comparison but I wanted to throw it out there.  In the words of the old proverb: It could always be worse...

Yikes....

[Karmack]

Yeah.  I was shocked, too.  Especially when I considered what he's PAYING for it.   LOL     But its a 100% custom job, custom design, lots of bells and whistles.  Sort of a a McLaren 720S where US is building Mustangs.   The Mustang is nice, the Shelby GT350R is amazing ... but its not a McLaren.  :-)

[Jedi_Phoenix]

Yeah.  I was shocked, too.  Especially when I considered what he's PAYING for it.   LOL     But its a 100% custom job, custom design, lots of bells and whistles.  Sort of a a McLaren 720S where US is building Mustangs.   The Mustang is nice, the Shelby GT350R is amazing ... but its not a McLaren.  :-)

Put that way, I can see why it's taking a long time, but to wait over a year for the thing?  That's jedi discipline on a whole new level.

[nunya]

Confirmed that the Fallen is 11-14 week delay due to manufacturing backlog as a result of...you guessed it...the PANDEMIC!  it is unfortunate but at least i'm alive and will motivate me to be safe so I can be when it gets here.

[cwfox9]

Just got my second additions to my order sorted out. 
To give a timeframe Original Order 20/09, Emailed 23/09 to get an idea on timeframe and also add a mystery box, Resolved on 24/09 and advised 5+ weeks for Sentinel Hilt, Emailed on 01/10 as decided wanted to make a few other additions, first response on 05/10, resolved on 07/10.

So for me they are doing a great job with responses, have asked whether the 5+ week estimate has decreased in the 2 weeks and awaiting this reply.

Also for an idea of the number of orders they are receiving my original order was on 20/09, the first addition order was on 24/09 and the order number was 700~ higher, the order today (07/09) was 2,650~ higher than the 24/09 order (so 3,350 higher than the original order in just under 2 weeks).

[SeenAGreatLight]

Confirmed that the Fallen is 11-14 week delay due to manufacturing backlog as a result of...you guessed it...the PANDEMIC!  it is unfortunate but at least i'm alive and will motivate me to be safe so I can be when it gets here.

You mean that the Fallen is delayed 11-14 weeks from today?  Because I got an e-mail about 4-5 weeks ago saying it was a 9-11 week delay, which would mean about 5-7 weeks from now.

[nunya]

You mean that the Fallen is delayed 11-14 weeks from today?  Because I got an e-mail about 4-5 weeks ago saying it was a 9-11 week delay, which would mean about 5-7 weeks from now.

Thanks for making me clarify - i was being a bit lazy to not check for more details prior to posting.
As of October 1, for the Fallen with Standard emitter, I was told 12-14 week delay. 
I am taking the range as general a timeframe for when to start following up again.

[StoryDtechtive]

Just got my second additions to my order sorted out. 
To give a timeframe Original Order 20/09, Emailed 23/09 to get an idea on timeframe and also add a mystery box, Resolved on 24/09 and advised 5+ weeks for Sentinel Hilt, Emailed on 01/10 as decided wanted to make a few other additions, first response on 05/10, resolved on 07/10.

So for me they are doing a great job with responses, have asked whether the 5+ week estimate has decreased in the 2 weeks and awaiting this reply.

Also for an idea of the number of orders they are receiving my original order was on 20/09, the first addition order was on 24/09 and the order number was 700~ higher, the order today (07/09) was 2,650~ higher than the 24/09 order (so 3,350 higher than the original order in just under 2 weeks).

That’s good information to know. Planning a video where i discuss a few of these things from a business standpoint. I’ll probably get a fair amount of haters, but collectors and even casual buyers aren’t thinking about US as a small business with that many orders coming in while trying to stay open during the pandemic. Which makes them heroes to some and a target for others. And there isn’t really a lot of middle ground or logical perspective applied.

[SeenAGreatLight]

That’s good information to know. Planning a video where i discuss a few of these things from a business standpoint. I’ll probably get a fair amount of haters, but collectors and even casual buyers aren’t thinking about US as a small business with that many orders coming in while trying to stay open during the pandemic. Which makes them heroes to some and a target for others. And there isn’t really a lot of middle ground or logical perspective applied.

Good point.  I have a lot of sympathy for US during this insane backlog they're having to deal with.  I do think it would help them a lot--and it would be responsible and fair to future customers--if they would at least put some notice of their situation and COVID delay on their website.  Maybe they should even consider not taking orders for awhile until they can get their backlog sorted out, as some other companies have been doing.

I am sure though that they're fighting hard to keep up with demand, and I'm thankful for all they're doing.  I just wish they would take some steps to stop the bottleneck from worsening.

[cwfox9]

Good point.  I have a lot of sympathy for US during this insane backlog they're having to deal with.  I do think it would help them a lot--and it would be responsible and fair to future customers--if they would at least put some notice of their situation and COVID delay on their website.  Maybe they should even consider not taking orders for awhile until they can get their backlog sorted out, as some other companies have been doing.

I am sure though that they're fighting hard to keep up with demand, and I'm thankful for all they're doing.  I just wish they would take some steps to stop the bottleneck from worsening.

Warning of delay/putting out of stock on hilts or components that are known to be backlogged would be a good idea however they are still getting some orders out quickly for stuff that is readily in stock so it would be a bad business move to stop accepting all orders. 

I think the best thing would be to put a warning message on items that are on backlog along the lines of "Warning, this item is currently in backlog, please be aware including this item in your order may delay the order. Please email [email protected] should you wish to find out when this item should be back in stock"

This would help people decided whether they want to choose another hilt or even split their orders so they can get the other items sooner.

[SeenAGreatLight]

Warnings delays/putting out of stock on hilts or components that are known to be delayed would be a good idea however they are still getting some orders out quickly for stuff that is readily in stock so it would be a bad business move to stop accepting all orders. 

I think the best thing would be to put a warning message on items that are on backlog along the lines of "Warning, this item is currently in backlog, please be aware including this item in your order may delay the order. Please email [email protected] should you wish to find out when this item should be back in stock"

This would help people decided whether they want to choose another hilt or even split their orders so they can get the other items sooner.

Well-said!  Light-side point incoming.  You're right, I forgot that they do have some hilts in stock already.  I do agree that the hilts that are out of stock should actually be listed that way on the website, though.  It's a little misleading to say that they're available in 3-4 weeks.

[cwfox9]

Well-said!  Light-side point incoming.  You're right, I forgot that they do have some hilts in stock already.  I do agree that the hilts that are out of stock should actually be listed that way on the website, though.  It's a little misleading to say that they're available in 3-4 weeks.

Appreciate it and I feel there is a reason some of the hilts have been marked as out of stock and others that are known to have delays such as the Fallen noted above are not. Without inside insight it's always going to be assumption game however I have a few theories though they would only be that. 

- Ones marked out of stock have been confirmed by suppliers to have long delays and thus the website has been updated.

- Ones with waits but not marked out of stock have a given timeframe for shipment and likely they get the shipments sent in bulk and the amount sold on the website is still less than the number that will be shipped in this bulk order. Once this point is reached they will either mark as out of stock or possible try to increase the size of the bulk order likely saving them on cost (suppliers tend to give bulk buy discounts in tiers)

- Ones marked as in stock weren't expected to be delayed as much as they are and it is the suppliers constantly pushing back the ship date rather than having said there would be a severe delay causing these hilts to not be marked as out of stock.

- Hilt isn't out of stock but certain component has become out of stock though this is unlikely in the situations where they offer alternate hilts.

- What's in stock and what's not is changing so fast that outside of some definitely confirmed out of stock hilts it's difficult for them to update their stock levels. A lot of companies still rely on manually updating rather than scanning and a CRM to update.


As noted they should add a warning but I feel a bit of it may be down to wanting those orders to come in so they can keep running as a business, if they have people working around the clock to answer email backlogs etc they need to be able to fund that.
Getting "preorders" for hilts likely also as noted helps bring down the cost of each individual hilt and it may not be the machinists ability to make a load of hilts quickly that is the issue, it might be they are waiting on the materials the make them.
As someone noted in another post, there are way to many moving parts related to making each lightsaber, this is probably why people get estimates that increase or X+ weeks. If they give a timeframe they have likely been advised that by whoever supplies the part causing the delay and the supplier may be the reason this has increased. If they give a X+ it's likely they do not have a specific timeframe but have a general idea of the minimum it will likely take.
Also people need to remember it's not a Amazon Warehouse where they are stacked up waiting there (maybe GB & MB are) and even Amazon it taking longer than normal at times during this Pandemic.

My one advice for anyone looking to order would be, if you know what you want, order it but expect it could take awhile, if you want to know how long, email them before ordering. If you want something delivered fast, email them and check what hilts and configurations would be shipped fast currently.

[Jedi_Phoenix]

Sent an email to Nichole, hoping for a status update.  I'm guessing the Dominix is still delayed since there's no word on it shipping out, so at this point I'm just hoping to get an idea of how long the delay is.  If the Dark Initiate LE v5 is still on the table, I might take it as an alternative.   I also asked if it would help to modify the configuration  - gold claws instead of silver, for example.   It's a long shot, but it's worth a shot.

Stay tuned...

Heard back from Nichole; they still do not have the Dominix, but there's no concrete timeline yet, either.  It's still week to week.  As to me switching things around, it's the hilt itself they don't have, so changing the configuration isn't an option.  So, I'll just wait and check in next week with fingers crossed.

[SeenAGreatLight]

Appreciate it and I feel there is a reason some of the hilts have been marked as out of stock and others that are known to have delays such as the Fallen noted above are not. Without inside insight it's always going to be assumption game however I have a few theories though they would only be that.

Good theories.  You might have hit the nail right on the head there.

The thing is, a lot of this stuff we only know because people have been discussing it on the forums (delays, hilt exchanges, the way the company functions, etc.).  A new customer or even a returning customer that's not on the forums wouldn't know anything about US's situation before buying a saber, and to me, that seems misleading.  There ought to be some sort of obvious disclaimer on the site, even if it's just a message saying that the situation is changing on a week-by-week basis.  Someone new to the saber market would see "3-4 weeks" and, without anyone to advise them, would probably end up frustrated.  I want so badly to advocate for US, but there are some things they can do to improve.

[Jedi_Phoenix]

Good theories.  You might have hit the nail right on the head there.

The thing is, a lot of this stuff we only know because people have been discussing it on the forums (delays, hilt exchanges, the way the company functions, etc.).  A new customer or even a returning customer that's not on the forums wouldn't know anything about US's situation before buying a saber, and to me, that seems misleading.  There ought to be some sort of obvious disclaimer on the site, even if it's just a message saying that the situation is changing on a week-by-week basis.  Someone new to the saber market would see "3-4 weeks" and, without anyone to advise them, would probably end up frustrated.  I want so badly to advocate for US, but there are some things they can do to improve.

Oh, trust me, even those of us who are fans of the company will readily agree with you...a little edit on their website will go a long way.