[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

Can’t blame ya T/A, you should, you have gone way beyond the call, I don’t know how you did it and still do it, so do it for peace of mind, jeez! :person_facepalming: :+1:

:beer: (clink) :beer:

I got an update saying the group buy was closed but never got an PM on how to pay for mine. Is the sale over or are people being added to the list over?

I just received an email as well. The group buy IS closed…but if you got your name on the list BEFORE it closed, you should get a message from them after awhile. I’m still waiting too.

I am just going to reaffirm. It is hard to beat DHL in my opinion for overseas shipping. I feel for team giggles, and lumitop. The task you’ve undertaken is monumental. Trying to please everyone, giving people what they want, then having to deal with the backlash from having given it to them.

I also think so, I did not ask for 2 boxes.

Both boxes where shipped at the same time, only one arrived at thuis moment (head).

I hope the other is not lost :weary:

When tracking this second box, there is not much information :

_Your registered letter is on the way to Belgium.

11/02/2018

04:15 Item released from customs

MYKCHA
11/02/2018

04:14 Item released from customs

MYKCHA _

This site has become almost unusable for me, and it’s become progressive worse over the past two or three days:

OK, that worked. Not going to type everything again, so I’ll just ask if I can switch to DHL. I wasn’t aware of any shipping issues before I ordered, and only chose registered as the cheaper option, since I’m not too fussed about delivery times. As johny723 said, having to pay custom fees isn’t pleasant, but it is what it is. Wu suo wei, as the Chinese say.

Please tell me that it is possible to switch, and at least avoid some of the hassle (for both myself and the team).

No, this is not the case at all. There are only ~50 orders left from the first batch, these will be shipped before we send the PM’s for the next batch.

I just mean that the next batch will most likely take about 8+ weeks from start to finish with around ~100 lights shipping per week + inevitable delays that will come up.

Looks like SB did some maintenance to the site a little bit ago and it re-sent a lot of notification emails.

See the OP for the timeline.

The next batch of PM’s will be sent out once the existing orders are finished. This should be in the next few weeks.

I don’t think it is possible to switch this late in the game sadly. Those that have switched shipping methods before ended up having more issues then it solved. This is why it is very important to get the shipping method and address correct the first time in the order.

OK, thanks for letting me know, anyway. And for all your other efforts, of course!

Hi, I’m not on often and this thread gets a ton of replies so I haven’t a clue where to look on the status of what’s going on etc… I’m pre order number 1634 I’m I still likely going to be able to purchase the light? If so a rough estimate or will I just get a email when it’s available to purchase. Many thanks.

Hello Hunter29078 You are number [1456 & 1457] on the list, so in the 2 group, wait a few weeks, then you will get a message with the link to buy the GT.

See post #18530 right above or post #1 of this thread. The ordering instructions will be sent out late Feb or early March. It is up to Texas_Ace.

Guilty of that one. I will further point out that while lots of people made very specific and needy requests to facilitate customs fraud - including marking as gifts and declaring very low values - this was not the whole truth when it comes to the alternative shipping option. The demand for mail shipping most likely largely arose from the fact that DHL service is not the same everywhere even if it appears to be excellent in the US on average. They might not even ship every where, IDK. What I know is their business model through foreign contractors is somewhat rogue, to say the least.

People in countries that don’t have very good DHL “service” knew they would get what they expect if they got it by mail. I knew and I received. Not ideal and not perfect, but works, no damage, no extra phone calls to make, no meetings to arrange, no claims to make. Just pick up at the post office, end of deal. The DHL nightmare would have been almost guaranteed to end up costing time and or money. Likelihood of avoiding import VAT is another story, and not that interesting. Having 2 parcels and one invoice could have been a problem with the mail shipping option, but even then a non-issue compared to having to deal with DHL in the first place. Thank you for not making me deal with DHL. Enough stress as it is, really appreciated!

I bet lots of readers of this thread who just skimmed through the thousands of messages somehow got the false impression when “DHL”, “customs” and “extra fees” were mentioned on the same page. The problem for me at least was not potentially having to pay import tax. It was the extortion practiced by DHL when it comes to money. And that’s not even the worst element of DHL “service”. It’s almost worse than doing your annual tax report, which is admittedly relatively easy here.

Exactly. This was known before anyone ordered and was very clearly announced. The alternative shipping was to be in 2 boxes sent separately by mail. There are allegedly some exceptions, but this was the plan. There was nothing more one could request; either DHL shipping in one factory box or mail shipping (by default in two boxes).

For my faulty Die posted in the support thread, now I will not send a mail to Neal and will wait for you to find a solution.

Maybe Lumintop can send you a replacement mcpcb with new led.

Being in Germany, another option might be mailing your mcpcb to Lexel and he could swap a new LED in. Maybe one with a different color temperature. Then Lumintop can reimburse you the value of a new LED.

We will need to see what TA suggests.

Oh man, I finally caught up with the thread after being away for a few days and it hurts to see most people in the UK getting theirs after mine got sent back to LT three times already.

I still have not heard anything from mine yet and I really hope it wasn’t lost or delivered somewhere else as I live in remoteish place.

I’m just happy to see everyone enjoying theirs :slight_smile: