I understand frustration with BG pre-billing orders when there’s delays expected. I also dislike how special orders are billed the day of order or the following day but if the product gets backordered a month later it takes BG at least a week to issue the actual refund once the order has been cancelled. Should be the same automated system that refunds at the same pace it originally bills the order just like it is with Amazon.
Aside from those frustrations I don’t mind waiting for an initial light even with delays. I’m actually very surprised that these distributors even offer them and more so when a mfg offers them direct. Coming from a distribution career I know in the retail market the target margins are 50% or 100% markup which means cutting your margins down to only 20-30% mark-up or less for a very large pre-order is virtually unheard of. There’s good reason why you don’t ever see companies like Acebeam, Fenix or Olight offering these insane group buy prices, it’s because they don’t have to and like earning their normal profit margins.
If dealing with frustrating delays is what it takes then so be it, I’ll take that any day. On a $30 light I’m going to sit here patiently. If this happened on something like an MS18 with a $750 price tag I’d be singing a different tune and expecting a lot more compensation from the distributor for any kinds of significant delays.
One thing i know,when you promise which you cant hold onto,i will never ever spend more time on them.Even if they sell it for a dollar or 1000 dollars,i will try to stay away.This is what i learn from this forum and im a new member.Too bad,this is my first flashlight ill own.
u need to have some patience when dealing with this kind of group buys pre-orders sadly… not much else u can do unless u buy it later when its actually in stock and ready to ship out quick.
I’m sorry to hear that this is your first flashlight and that you’re patience is being tested so early on! Glad to see your decision though as it looks like a great first light cough to start cough your collection cough. lol If you have jedi mind tricks I don’t possess and keep it at just one I’ll be impressed!
I agree it’s annoying as hell dealing with China almost ALL the time. But you could’ve bought an Acebeam, Fenix or Olight product off Amazon with 2-day shipping and had your light by now. You would’ve paid around $100 versus $28 for a light that’s better in quality but not as impressive in performance.
Sigh, this is what I’ve come to accept from China:
It’s going to be frustrating
take forever because of the overseas shipping
frequently cost a bit extra for duties/customs
have terrible customer service
basically not be worth it in some cases to even fight them if it shows up busted or broken
But I’m a collector who can’t afford the Acebeam $500+ products but I can afford premium “budget lights” from China that have insane performance but offer questionable quality and are sold by a distributor who has pages upon pages upon pages of better business bureau slams and claims against them for their terrible customer service.
For me it’s simple, if I was to own a single light and keep it until it needs replacement I would be super pissed and never buy from China again. For me as a collector, I put up with the long list of short comings in the name of building a collection I can actually afford
You’re certainly right and I do realize that these manufacturers, especially those that produce budget-priced lights for BLF and other fanatics, are quite small and generally producing small batches of lights; 500-1000 lights is a small manufacturing job and wouldn’t even interest a large factory. It still seems to me that buying from Banggood should offer a buffer, since the manufacturer has a contract with BG and thus BG could readily fund the pre-order supply.
Yep, though there may be market reasons to get a lot of bargain lights amongst flashlight fans for more word-of-mouth advertising and social media presence. In the case of this Astrolux, for example, they could have easily closed the discount code after the first batch and raised the price substantially for the next.
Yes, and I suspect that Banggood tries to avoid paying up front and instead promise a payday after the release or something. It’s always important to remember that retailers are pressuring customers to buy merely with attractive advertising and “pretend” discounts (BG does perpetually-convoluted coupons and doesn’t accept earned BG points for any of them), but they are squeezing every last cent out of their suppliers; the market demands the lowest sales price and thus retailers must perpetually demand contracts which are less favorable to the manufacturers.
I still feel that Banggood is a large enough company that they should charge customers only at shipment, but even if that’s not financially viable they should certainly offer instant refunds. As mattadores said, if the system can charge my payment service immediately, they could also credit that same service immediately.
And I intend to say no more about this as I feel I’m not in line with the thread’s intent .
I’ll be ok with that actually,but with latest update from supplier stating
saying problems with manufacturing delays would be informative enough for me.At least
I roughly knows what did happen.
Patience do have it limit.It is vary upon ourself,some have very low patience and me,
i have many of them since i do part time fishing for a living.Iam far from being flashlight
enthusiast,i’ll be using them to earn a living and make full use of it.
I wanted to earn extra couple of bucks fishing prawn at night apart as computer
smartphone repair on day time.Flashlight do help me spotting crocodiles far away.
Joining this forum exposed me to some tehnical terms such lumens,CRI and many more thanks
to informative forum members.I do roughly know which LED is useful for me,Hi CRI and floddy
for close up illumination and color (useful for me to baiting the hooks) and Hi candela for throwering
power.I ll be using this light(hopefully) for spotting crocodile since our river range is fairly
long.Some do stretch up to 2km apart.I do have my eyes on some brand which i guess could make
my job easier(headlamp).
If i did well on my fishing,well iam glad to help them by purchasing new useful flashlight from them.
Thanks again to this forum member,i does make my choise easier.
Just a note to newcomers that pre-orders are still Sold Out as of this posting.
I still have a light in my cart, but it won’t allow me to submit the order. This is expected, but freeme did say a few pages back that pre-orders should open up again soon, so I’ve been checking every day. I may have waited too long on this one . Oddly, the Pre-orders number had gone up by 2 when I first checked yesterday, but it seems to have settled on 1074 since then.
The GB interest is now with the Emisar/Astrolux soda-can battle, so freeme’s likely busy over there. I can’t afford those lights, though .
Ive notice the preorder tab is still grey.I did send messege to AE regrading ft03,which they have in stock now.
On Banggood,the customer service said it will have the stock start from 20 march.dont know which emmiter,CW or NW version.
In which,it is a month since i ordered mine.(700-800 units group)
I hope it’s not too frustrating for you because based on what you plan to use the light for it will be worth the wait. The price that you’re paying combined with the throw you need while night fishing and looking out for crocodiles this should be the perfect combination. I just read someone saying BG customer service was advising March 20th. Either way, regardless of what you hear, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Just know you’re going to get a really good flashlight at an extremely good price!
If you have a camera you should take it with you sometime fishing! Once you finally get your FT03 you could take some cool beam shots along that massive river. It would be even more amazing if you posted a pic of some crocs!
It’s tough dealing with foreign countries. I just try to be patient.
You ordered a FT03, then later cancelled? I’m sure they want to verify that your order was not already sent out. That might take some time. No telling what hoops they have to jump through to actually give a refund.
.
. Oddly, the Pre-orders number had gone up by 2 when I first checked yesterday, but it seems to have settled on 1074 since then.
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