Disclaimer: the following rant was a form of catharsis for me. Please take it as you see fit.
The "patiently waiting" theme here is just ridiculous. No legitimate business should ever force its burdens on the customer. Further, it should not be up to us to find out what is going on with our orders or find unique, secretive ways to reach the company. I mean, how bad does a company have to be to turn a thread on their own forum into a support group? I've never seen anything like this from any business. It's just bad.
The company did not turn this thread into a support group. If you bother to read this thread from the beginning, you’ll find out that it started as a celebration of the excitement of placing an order and the pained excitement at waiting. Here is the very first post in this thread:
Ok, from looking around on this forum - it seems like we are all about as patient as a kid in a candy store while waiting for our new sabers to come in the mail. This is the place to vent and let everyone know what you got, why you got it, and in general talk about your new purchase until it arrives and you can start terrorizing your family/girlfriend/dog/friends with it.
As you can see, it’s quite positive and fun in tone.
The way that Ultrasabers is currently operating is horrendous and inexcusable. They should be held accountable and certainly not defended. Sadly, rather than demand the company meet the obligations that they themselves have promised, we instead seem to find ways to justify their behavior and demand our fellow consumers be patient, don't make waves, and if crafting an email to US, make sure to always be polite. That makes zero sense. The onus is on Ultrasabers to provide information, assistance, and solutions. It should never be on the customer to find new ways to solve a business's problems. Simply stated they are now a fradulent business...at the very least they are certainly behaving like one.
ANY interaction with ANY company’s customer service representatives should be polite. If you think otherwise, then you have the manners of an uncultured boor, and you should spend some time re-educating yourself in matters of etiquette, especially in those parts regarding a legitimate complaint to a business.
Just consider the following:
- Continually posting new sales promos while failing to fill overdue orders (I realize they may be under a contractual obligation to advertise these promos but that doesn't make it right. In fact, it looks shady).
Again... if they are contractually obligated to run the advertisements, then there is no other option. If you think it looks shady, then you are free to think so. That doesn’t mean you’re right.
- Listing false shipping times that many people cling to as planning factors only to discover the 3-4 week lead time is an outright lie. Yet this could easily be fixed by updating their own website. Not doing so is highly suspect.
You aren’t reading this very thread. Some orders are still being shipped in under two weeks, under three weeks, and under four weeks. Also, any claim of shipping times is, at best, an estimate, especially for a small business like this one. Even Amazon, with all its built-in failsafes and efficiencies of scale, is no longer guaranteeing next-day or even two-day shipping.
- Charging 20% of any canceled order as a "restocking fee" while never sending the item or perhaps, never having it in stock in the first place.
Restocking fees are normal, especially for custom-made items like these. The fact that you are unaware of standard business practices is the result of your own lack of research. It is unfair and incorrect to blame the company for this.
- Listing methods of contact (phone and email) that appear to be fake as they are either nonfunctioning, not monitored, or wholly ignored.
Again, read this very thread. Customers DO get responses, proving that these are not fake methods of contacting the company. Do customers get responses to every email or phone call? Sadly, no. Does it sometimes take repeated attempts to reach the company and get a response? Sadly, yes, and often it takes multiple repeated attempts in order to receive a response.
- Failing to respond to direct, repeated emails from customers, responding randomly, or responding with automated bot replies that serve no purpose.
I completely agree, this is both frustrating and disappointing.
Any one of these practices could be considered unethical but all of them together? Well, that would describe a scam. But if that's too harsh of a term then at best, they are currently incompetent. At worst, they are willfully negligent. And this conclusion is not just mine. It's readily available to see that they have had legitimate claims filed against them via the BBB, the FTC, and in at least one instance, through the Texas Attorney General's Office. So even if we dismiss the reviews on Indeed dot com as coming from just disgrntled employees,
the other complaints should be taken seriously...even on this forum, we have seen CC and PP disputes filed with absolutely no response from Ultrasabers. And whereas just a cursory search of US and its owners reveals some pretty jarring reviews and complaints, you have to really dig to find something positive. Now, in my humble opinion, no one should have to dig to find something good about a company, its employees, or its owners - the good stuff should be the storefront, not hidden behind the proverbial curtains.
While I think no one here would champion the current level of customer service from UltraSabers as being as good as we would like (or as good as what we old-timers remember and are accustomed to receiving), I believe your understandable frustration and disappointment is coloring your opinion. However, it’s your opinion, and you are entitled to it, however wrong and misinformed I might think it to be. After all, you are free to think I’m nothing more than a shill for the company, or a sadly duped fanboy, or any of a myriad other uncomplimentary descriptions that might explain my affection for and defense of UltraSabers at this juncture.
Ultimately, no one should give their hard earned money to a suspect business, with false advertising, that cannot (or worse, will not) communicate with their customers. In light of all this, I find it very disheartening that so many on this forum still want to defend what in reality is indefensible. Worse still, I imagine some of you will be mad at this post whereas your anger should be directed at the company. And while I certainly respect your loyalty - given the current circumstances - I don't fully understand it. It is obvious that whatever they were, they are no longer.
Again, you are free to have your own opinion, and you are free to state it here. But please do not labor under the false assumption that nobody will dare to disagree with you, or to defend or attempt to explain what we all agree is less than what we would like.
In hindsight, I am disappointed that I rushed to order with Ultrasabers before doing any substantial research on them. After all, $1,600 is a lot of money for an initial purchase. But I wanted my kids to have all the cool things I never did and so I fell for their "May the 4th" promo, fancy website, and (apparently) inflated, positive reviews. I should've done my homework. Heck, I wish I would've just found this thread. Had I done so, I would've gone somewhere else. As it is, this will be my first, last, and only order with this company and I will do all I can to steer others away from them.
Again, you are free to do with your money what you will. If you think going elsewhere would have gotten you faster service for a saber of this quality, then perhaps you really
should have done more research before spending your money. It’s possible, but not likely.
Maybe one day this company will fix itself but until they do, I implore you to stop defending them. And please do not recommend them to anyone...at least not currently. Doing so only hurts a lot of innocent consumers.
And I implore you to quit bashing them
unjustly. Spewing your negativity here only takes away from the enjoyment of the hobby that the rest of us come here to enjoy. Is it legitimate to complain about the fact that orders are taking longer than 3-4 weeks? Yes, it is. Is it legitimate to complain that it is far more difficult than it should be to reach customer service? Yes, it is. However, it is not legitimate to accuse them of being scammers, fraudsters, and otherwise having nefarious intent in the current situation. You lack substance to back those claims.
I sincerely wish all of you the best - both with your orders and in life in general.
May the Force be with you.
And I sincerely wish you the best in life, and if you choose not to return to UltraSabers with your future saber-collecting, then so be it, but I wish you continued enjoyment of this hobby; it would be a true shame if you lost your interest in light sabers over this.
