Neal had no way of knowing whether I was on the list. I also did not get my answer via this forum. I got it via email. My first reply after several emails since I ordered my light on December 27th.
To Neal, he only knew that I was a paying customer and nothing more.
Besides the emails i never received an answer,in 5th march sent the first surveyor through m4dm4x site and the second in 12 of march - all of them without an asnwer
; Is there any time limit to fix issues of groupbuy ,or should we expect to wait months again?
I paid through the m4dm4x site and contacted through email. There is no reason he would not have thought I was from the forum (technically I have been on the forum for years just not as long as on CPF) since I was using the purchase link.
The surveys are just now being looked at since yesterday, so I would have been surprised if you got a response to that any sooner.
Up to this point issues have not been the priority. Getting all the orders shipped was the priority. There is simply not enough manpower to go around so some things have to get priority.
Now that the shipments are done, the issues get priority. So I hope they will be taken care of quickly. How quickly I can’t say since I am not involved with anything more then reminding Neal to take care of issues every chance I get.
Same here…Neal’s only response to six emails since my order on December 10th was this one, afternoon of 12 March (China time):
sorry
I missed your order info
I will let them ship tomorrow
Regards
Neal
Since it is now “the day after tomorrow” in China, and I still don’t have a tracking number or other indication of shipment, I can only assume that I’ll be waiting another 13 weeks for a 2nd response. With this kind of customer service, it would seem odd to me if any future orders of this light or any others would allow the same person to handle anyone’s money or customer service responsibilities. Millions of business and people around the world competently handle order placement and customer service at this kind of volume (which is very, very low); Neal, so far, is not one of them.
Long before manufacturing started, the exact order volume, the predicted number of customer service emails, and the worldwide holiday schedule were all well known to everyone; so, the root cause for the poor customer service and disorganized order processing/shipping all boil down to people agreeing to responsibilities that they either knew or should have known were beyond the capabilities of their processes.
In all seriousness Neal could also be having issues with the “Great Firewall of China”. I know Hank (Noctigon, Emisar) certainly has lots of issues in his business because of that very thing.
I am sure the question about these issues is not IF or WHETHER, but WHEN they will be addressed. If Neal wanted to scam us, he would have already done that. He may be overwhelmed by hundreds of BLF GTs that are to be shipped and the ongoing lawsuit, but I believe everyone will get what they paid for eventually.
I think the team here are great, and I trust Neal. Sadly I think he is overwhelmed by all emails and questions. As someone wrote earlier if he only had wrote here I think most of us would have accepted a delay. I am also waiting on one of my light payed in december. I hope we see a list of the last 50 flashlights sent.
I need to let things straight ; besides my 2 issues that haven’t been taken care,this GroupBuy has all been built with alot of illusion and trust,things that lately have been touched for so multiple “afairs”(i hope don’t have to mention them right now) - there have been so many people just like me that all trusted the way the group was supposed to work,reason why we paid so hapily todo a single person, not even having any insurance that things would work out,but only trusting the group; i hope,just like Martín said,there would be a “right way” to fix things up before any others money show up,future groups cannot work just the same and i hope that the right persons would arrange it ; not fair for members to explain them : you know, the american orders were cheaper to send as 2 palets as a lot …… Or that now the logistic person is in honeymoon,or CNY or he is too overwhelmed by so much work ,as this isnt he’s primary job —+common people,we are talking about 135k$ other 100k or more that are ready to pay , i believe we deserve a profesional service ,even if3 that would cost us 10$ more ,no more excuses and excuses without the proper solution
You are totally right kntx, the remaining orders and future GBs must be managed better. I know it is easier said than done, but if such problems continue, it could make the whole budgetlightforum look bad and untrustworthy.
That must be quite frustrating. Sorry to hear about it.
Lost as it is and needing replacement anyway… can’t you try to bang it back somehow? Using a hammer and a pair of wood blocks… idk. Some crafty people around may have some ideas.
If future group buys are indeed managed ‘better’, that would be great, but with all the complexities of dealing with China (different interests, language barriers, cultural barriers, other side of the world with just the internet for contact) I do not neccesarily expect any future BLF group buy to be managed ‘better’. Every new group buy had its own ‘flavour’ of complications and with the next project there’s new unique complications ahead of us.
These type of Group buys in which completely new flashlights are developed are not a straightforward seller/customer deal in which you pay and then the seller has to come up with a perfect light in the standard expected time. There is risks involved and you know it. That the first run of lights has design flaws, that there are delays, in short that things are less perfect than planned/hoped and even promised.
I really hope for a good ending of the GT-project and I’m looking forward to the next awesome flashlight developed by the bad and untrustworthy budgetlightforum!
I I don’t really agree with you on the complexities and i am talking to you as a person that is dealing daily with multicultural surrounding ; long time ago i’ve learned that the.customer is always right and the only thing that is tying the seller with the buyer are the money (chinese mentality,even though is international) business first - before the GT was produced, there were some big heads and hearts of people that allowed GT to be true,and all these months not much mentioned - there were people that paid much for telling the truth and ,even though i respect your opinion or point of view,i still believe that there is always space for improvement,meantime that’s the real interest (besides the money of course) - there is definetely a real need of an oficial rep. capable to inform correctly every buyer ,and i am sure LT might have them ; besides that, Martin’s idea to protect the money for the future buyers might help also,not fair a person (to wich could happen so many things) to be an intermediate of 100k $ or whatever - in europe or usa ,that would be imposible to work like this without having Sam behind