How long should I expect shipping on a $75 mystery box to take?

[Jeffwb2u]

I ordered a $75 mystery box saber 6 weeks ago, and I am wondering how long it will be before I get any indication that my saber has been shipped?  I would have thought that $75 mystery sabers would have already been mostly prebuilt, and that they only needed a blade and tip to make them complete.  But maybe not?  Maybe you just have a randomizer that tells you uses parts x, y, and z, and you assemble them as needed. 

In any case, can someone from Ultra Sabers please give me some idea on how long this will take before I get my mystery blade?

Thanks,

Jeff.

[Cyclops942]

I ordered a $75 mystery box saber 6 weeks ago, and I am wondering how long it will be before I get any indication that my saber has been shipped?  I would have thought that $75 mystery sabers would have already been mostly prebuilt, and that they only needed a blade and tip to make them complete.  But maybe not?  Maybe you just have a randomizer that tells you uses parts x, y, and z, and you assemble them as needed. 

In any case, can someone from Ultra Sabers please give me some idea on how long this will take before I get my mystery blade?

Thanks,

Jeff.

You didn’t bother to read ANYTHING in the regular forums before posting this, did you?

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 info@ultrasabers.com 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.

[MVHI JEDI]

You didn’t bother to read ANYTHING in the regular forums before posting this, did you?

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 info@ultrasabers.com 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.

You've had to post this comment so many times, its crazy.  Sad.

[StoryDtechtive]

People are generating so much confusion on YouTube right now that it’s worrying people. There’s everything from wait time, to quality, to how Emory spends his money and runs his business. I think the only thing the mods and board members can do is be prepared to answer the same questions over and over from people who take a chance, buy their first saber, then hear all the rumors and come here in hopes of getting a better answer than the haters give them.

It may not be a whole lot of fun, but we need to have patience or this will only propagate what people have heard about unfriendly service—even though no one here is part of that. It’s clarity they are mostly looking for, and reassurance that the company is treating its customers responsibly. In that respect, all of us who have been customers for a while have become Ultrasabers spokes people. I get the same thing on my videos...same questions, same jokes, and yes, same hate talk at times. I point out the facts, even tell some that US has brought huge amounts of new people into the fold with their MBs and have helped grow the industry on that score...and how it would actually damage the industry to have them go away.

Speaking of which, today is the last day of free shipping on orders over $100...and I haven’t purchased anything since earlier in the year. Funds aren’t great right now, but thinking a MB and a pommel or two to show support during times that are rough for us all might just be in order.

Thanks for reading

[Saso Is-kor]

People are generating so much confusion on YouTube right now that it’s worrying people. There’s everything from wait time, to quality, to how Emory spends his money and runs his business. I think the only thing the mods and board members can do is be prepared to answer the same questions over and over from people who take a chance, buy their first saber, then hear all the rumors and come here in hopes of getting a better answer than the haters give them.

It may not be a whole lot of fun, but we need to have patience or this will only propagate what people have heard about unfriendly service—even though no one here is part of that. It’s clarity they are mostly looking for, and reassurance that the company is treating its customers responsibly. In that respect, all of us who have been customers for a while have become Ultrasabers spokes people. I get the same thing on my videos...same questions, same jokes, and yes, same hate talk at times. I point out the facts, even tell some that US has brought huge amounts of new people into the fold with their MBs and have helped grow the industry on that score...and how it would actually damage the industry to have them go away.

Speaking of which, today is the last day of free shipping on orders over $100...and I haven’t purchased anything since earlier in the year. Funds aren’t great right now, but thinking a MB and a pommel or two to show support during times that are rough for us all might just be in order.

Thanks for reading

A good read, but all of the points you mentioned are easily accessible here on the forums. In the time it took me to read your post and reply, I could have easily found the "(im)patiently waiting for my..." thread which answers just about 98% of all questions regarding if there are delays, if anybody else is having an issue contacting customer service, etc. I don't think it's so much of a patience issue but more of an efficiency issue. Instead of posting a whole new thread and waiting for a response, any new member with a question can easily find the answer with minimal effort.

As for the hate talk for US, I wouldn't worry too much about that stuff. It existed long before the world went to pot, and it'll exist long after. Haters gonna hate.

[StoryDtechtive]

A good read, but all of the points you mentioned are easily accessible here on the forums. In the time it took me to read your post and reply, I could have easily found the "(im)patiently waiting for my..." thread which answers just about 98% of all questions regarding if there are delays, if anybody else is having an issue contacting customer service, etc. I don't think it's so much of a patience issue but more of an efficiency issue. Instead of posting a whole new thread and waiting for a response, any new member with a question can easily find the answer with minimal effort.

As for the hate talk for US, I wouldn't worry too much about that stuff. It existed long before the world went to pot, and it'll exist long after. Haters gonna hate.

So true! Still hard not to be annoyed when i see a first time buyer saying they probably won’t buy from US again because they heard_______. But then, they just haven’t been around very long and will live and learn like the rest of us. MOST of us, I should say. Because not everyone does...LOL!