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

[explodingpuppet]

After emailing and upgrading my saber from Obsidian Lite to the v3 sound, my Standard Finish Guardian just shipped out, ordered it on the 31st.

Time to continue my game of waiting

[twitch77]

8 days in so far. I'm not growing impatient yet! I don't think I'll start getting too anxious till week 3 of still seeing "processing".

My order is just a dark apprentice v4 with no sound. They're probably working on getting their higher end/more expensive orders out before worrying about cheap sabers like mine...which makes sense to me.

Still...I hit my refresh button on my order details page at least a billion times a day! lol

[Layana]

8 days in so far. I'm not growing impatient yet! I don't think I'll start getting too anxious till week 3 of still seeing "processing".

My order is just a dark apprentice v4 with no sound. They're probably working on getting their higher end/more expensive orders out before worrying about cheap sabers like mine...which makes sense to me.

Still...I hit my refresh button on my order details page at least a billion times a day! lol

I ordered a grab bag (stunt, cheap, random) and got it in 13 days within ordering; 9 days of it waiting to be shipped and another 4 for the shipping. I think that the cheap ones will not go slower (although there was an issues with battery packs... don't know about that, but the issue was there even before I ordered and I still got mine with a battery pack, so no idea about that)

[Serotonin1363]

THIS! Also you people who are being slammed with the 20% restock fee when you're cancelling because the time has now pushed out of US projected window: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0221-billed-merchandise-you-never-received

"If the seller is unable to ship within the promised time, it must notify you, give a revised shipping date and give you the chance to cancel for a full refund or accept the new shipping date."-FTC

Not trying to cause issues, just want to inform people who are about to be slammed with the 20% restock fee on an un-built saber. Because that's not how you do business.

That being said I also ordered a LITE board and if/when my order slips outside the US lead time that was originally stated when I placed my order I will cancel and I will get my full refund back.

I understand that US is getting slammed and that's great for them! Perhaps they need to change the way they charge people cards. Instead of a instant full charge on checkout they need to just verify the card on checkout then when the item ships they then charge the full amount of the order. That will help greatly with the growing pains they are facing and would avoid this current backorder blues on the forums.

I was very happy when I found US and ordered my sons saber. I started lurking on the forums and reading up on news and reviews. Then I read about the LITE board backorders (which I never got an E-mail of) so I lowered my expectations on when the saber will arrive. Then I read about the boards coming back in stock late this week to next week so I started planning how I would present the saber to my son.

The next day the bomb dropped, I heard about the additional four week backorder of the 4AAA battery holders. US should have notified everyone affected via E-mail and forum presence. Lack of communication leads down a dark path.

So naturally people got upset and started the refund process due to the wait time now being twice as long. So it puts people in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation with the 20% fee. So use the info above and contact your bank or credit card service and get a full refund.

Sorry for the wall of text, this is my first post and had a lot to get off my chest   Again I think US is a good company but they need to hire/provide additional customer service on the forums, because communication is the key to success.

TL;DR Ultra Sabers is a good company working 24/7 thats experiencing growing pains. Fight for your full refund amount. Good luck and may the force be with you.

Plissken out.

Now this I can definetely use because I calculated the amount of the full order and I would be giving them $30 just to cancel it.  I understand that this is a business and things can fall through but I don't think that this "restocking fee," for an item that I never got, is good business.  Give the customer like a warning that they will refund this for free because of the situation but for the second time or more, there should be one.

[Scoimpious]

I would suggest a number of areas for improvement that, in my view, would go a long way towards better customer relations and communication.  

First, the order tracking on the US website is a bit frustrating because it appears to offer account holders the ability to review orders, change quantities, or cancel orders.  But the reality is that you can't change anything.  I have placed two orders within the last week, one for a saber and one for an extra blade and some parts.  In both instances, the order became unchangeable and non-cancellable the instant I placed it.  Clicking the "View or Change Order" button gets you to a page with the statement:  "This order has already shipped or has reached the final stages of processing. Therefore this order is no longer editable."  Obviously this is not true since I checked this just moments after I placed both orders.  For me, this is frustrating because the website seems disingenuous and deceptive.   Further, allowing people to cancel pending (but unbuilt) orders directly and without penalty is appropriate under the current circumstances.  I have no intention of cancelling my orders, but the functionality should be there.  

Second, most of what I just said would be pretty much okay if US was responding to email communications in a timely way.  But they are not.  I understand that they are slammed and that they are getting a lot of email, but when I email them with my order number and the words "please respond" in the subject line of the email, I think US should make providing a timely response a priority.  

Third, given their current situation, I think US should be communicating better on this forum.  If they know that they are taking weeks to respond to emails from people who have placed orders with them and already paid hundreds of dollars, they need to address this and communicate about it on the forum.  I know they are slammed, but forum announcements by the US administrators are a highly time-efficient way of keeping their customers informed and preventing them from feeling ignored or neglected.  Some have received auto-replies explaining the delay, but I am not one of them.  For me it has been pure silence. 

Stepping off my soap box now.....

[Darth Blightus]

this is a really long thread

[JediGato]

My second post (first being the acknowledgment of forum rules) was on page 295 haha.

I know US is getting slapped with the number of orders coming in like they never have seen before, but maybe this could lead to a revamping of sorts for order monitoring.

Emory "Deep" has historically listened to feedback from the forum so I think he'd continue to do this once he and his team have a moment to catch their breath.

Just my $.02.

[Scoimpious]

Started in May 2011.  We're a patient bunch. 

[THX1138]

I would suggest a number of areas for improvement that, in my view, would go a long way towards better customer relations and communication.  

First, the order tracking on the US website is a bit frustrating because it appears to offer account holders the ability to review orders, change quantities, or cancel orders.  But the reality is that you can't change anything.  I have placed two orders within the last week, one for a saber and one for an extra blade and some parts.  In both instances, the order became unchangeable and non-cancellable the instant I placed it.  Clicking the "View or Change Order" button gets you to a page with the statement:  "This order has already shipped or has reached the final stages of processing. Therefore this order is no longer editable."  Obviously this is not true since I checked this just moments after I placed both orders.  For me, this is frustrating because the website seems disingenuous and deceptive.   Further, allowing people to cancel pending (but unbuilt) orders directly and without penalty is appropriate under the current circumstances.  I have no intention of cancelling my orders, but the functionality should be there.  

Second, most of what I just said would be pretty much okay if US was responding to email communications in a timely way.  But they are not.  I understand that they are slammed and that they are getting a lot of email, but when I email them with my order number and the words "please respond" in the subject line of the email, I think US should make providing a timely response a priority.  

Third, given their current situation, I think US should be communicating better on this forum.  If they know that they are taking weeks to respond to emails from people who have placed orders with them and already paid hundreds of dollars, they need to address this and communicate about it on the forum.  I know they are slammed, but forum announcements by the US administrators are a highly time-efficient way of keeping their customers informed and preventing them from feeling ignored or neglected.  Some have received auto-replies explaining the delay, but I am not one of them.  For me it has been pure silence. 

Stepping off my soap box now.....

I agree.

[ithekro]

Remember they are getting paid to make sabers.  Not necessarily answer emails.  Though undoubtedly they have people for that.  But with thousands of orders a week, plus who knows how many emails...things take time.  And there is only so much time in a day.  People still need to eat and sleep, if nothing else, and Federal and State laws likely limit the amount of time they can have an employee work, even in Texas.

They need time.

[Darth Slayvius]

Just sent them an email asking if i can upgrade to obsidian v4 so my order will be sent out faster, fingers crossed that this works out.

[ithekro]

I still think the Obsidian v4 is worth it for the ability to mute the sound whenever you want.  You don't always want the saber to hum and swoosh, but also don't want a stunt saber.  If the Obsidian v3 or LITE had a mute option that kept the blade lit or didn't involve programming another font into it, then the v4 wouldn't be worth the extra money.

[Darth Slayvius]

I still think the Obsidian v4 is worth it for the ability to mute the sound whenever you want.  You don't always want the saber to hum and swoosh, but also don't want a stunt saber.  If the Obsidian v3 or LITE had a mute option that kept the blade lit or didn't involve programming another font into it, then the v4 wouldn't be worth the extra money.

Very good to know! thank you

[Spades]

good to know the law. always is.

but whatever im ready for a grab bag or something BOOOSH!

[Scoimpious]

I think we can all agree that this is particularly difficult time for those of us who are waiting to receive our very first saber.    

First world problems....