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I'm with @mmbongo on these issues - it feels like they're trying to cover their ass by blaming USPS which leaves a far worse taste in my mouth than just owning up to their issues would. "Shipping label printed, USPS awaiting item" does not mean it's sitting in a USPS warehouse somewhere and that it could take two weeks. You bring something to the post office, it GOES someplace and they do NOT f*** around with it. I mean, I'm sure it's POSSIBLE on a one-off basis, but not with the volume they're doing and not consistently. Blaming the postal service for their own growing pains is gross and dishonest.
If they really are just a couple of dudes, it couldn't hurt to hire even 2 or 3 more people to handle stuff like packing and shipping orders. They would make more money in the end.
They're not, although i know my misunderstandings and recent posts have given that impression, and Chris has given that impression occasionally.
In some of my posts i have been going by what Chris writes on FB, but he is in a different state to Skip who has the string stock and dispatches the orders so he may not know the precise details of how quickly orders have been taken to the post office. What Chris has written on FB has also been somewhat unclear and confusing.
Skip is too busy making and dispatching everything to communicate at all. The new customer service / orders guy Thom works with Skip in CA so is more likely to know what's happening, his information is that their move and NAMM has caused a backlog and delays in getting orders out, no blaming of USPS here.
Chris has been quite open and admitted, 1 or 2 months ago, that their customer service and communication "sucks". They admit that the last 2 months have been chaos. They say (we will see) that once set up in CA and with Thom things will improve, i really hope so.
As far as i know they are good decent guys, obviously excellent and innovative engineers and luthiers, but also i get the impression fairly eccentric and disorganised.
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I'm sorry but my idea of good and decent guys would not allow a business to be run like this or imply that their deliveries are held up because of the shipper.
I was really suprised to see this thread - i've ordered 2 sets kaliums for my bass vi since last fall, and never had a single hitch
Since that time and during that time they were/are developing amplifiers and basses along with the strings and relocating their operation to another state. Some delays have been experienced by some but no rip offs have been reported. And they were at NAMM which involves all hands on deck. Things should progress more smoothly in the coming months and beyond and yes I've got skin in the game.
Just to be clear, you believe they are neither good nor decent, and should shut down their business?
Yeah I dunno about that, you can be a good and decent person and be scatterbrained and have it hinder your business. Happens a lot.
If they choose to lie to customers and continue business practices that cause them to not deliver products on time then yes, shut down the business.
I think they are just understaffed. Perhaps they need to have a few more guys to handle orders, shipping, making strings, etc
I'm pretty sure any time a label is created via whoever is initially shipping the item, it only means that a label was created, no more, no less. It doesn't mean it has entered the postal system, it only means someone has a label printer generating a label whose next destination is supposed to be the post office. I'm not 100%, but I don't think it's actually legal to create a USPS label for a package that doesn't exist or that does not ship in a reasonable time frame. This seems to be an unfortunate loop hole of being able to create USPS labels from ones own home or business, because it may falsely imply that a pkg has entered the USPS delivery system, when it actually has not. It's a common thread amongst businesses that consistently fail to deliver or surpass promised delivery dates, where they tell the customer "Yep, it's in the mail.", when in fact, it's not. It only means they generated a label for an item that might or might not be there. There isn't a problem with the "shipper" and that's only insulting people's intelligence to say so. There's obviously a problem with someone getting their arse to the PO (or even having product for the carrier to pick up), because anyone can generate a stupid label.
Chris did imply that on FB a few days ago, but that was him misunderstanding what's going on, partly due to being at a distance from the operation, instead of deliberately trying to blame the shipper, the next day he seemed admit the delays are largely their own fault. There are customers on FB putting him right on this, pointing out the delay is in the post-label, pre-shipment phase.
They're not, see above.
Yes this.
If they are slow on dispatch that's not necessarily a problem as long as they are open about it and warn customers of this. Their product is excellent, they have more string and set choice than any other manufacturer. The only comparable service is Garry Goodman's Octave 4 Plus which is full custom, wound on order, apparently lower quality, and has a stated processing time of 1 day to 9 weeks (but at least he states it).
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I just ordered a new set for this thing. Dropping tuning From aaAddDggG to eeEaaAddD and going with about 30% less tension.
Hope the order comes through without a hitch. I mean is there any other good source for baritone scale custom gauge singles.?
Which is made more astonishing by the fact that the USPS picks up packages for FREE. They don't have to go anywhere, they just have to have the product packed and ready to go and the USPS will come get it.
I will agree with this but the bottom line is this. If you cannot get the product into the customers hands in a timely manner without a bunch of lame excuses and the customer has to spend a lot of time chasing down where their string are then your business is probably in trouble. If this happens enough, it doesn't matter how good the product is. Business 101. I understand this is a niche product for most BUT they do sell standard sets as well which is really a problem because you can get standard sets from other makers very quickly online or at the music store. I'm not sure what the answer is for them but I will not order from them again.
This is in reference to them lying to customers. They lied to me right on the phone!! Claimed that there was an order question due to the scale length I chose and that they tried to call me 3 times at the correct number but for some strange reason, none of those calls registered on my phone. They said there must have been a glitch in the phones. I call total BS. How about just ship the strings I ordered? They are very clear on the website about scale lengths and fanned fret basses, etc. so if a customer orders something, fill the goddamn order. They act like a bunch of free spirited hippies that feel like they can do whatever they want because they make good quality and unusual gauged strings.
I just ordered a new set for this thing. Dropping tuning From aaAddDggG to eeEaaAddD and going with about 30% less tension.
Hope the order comes through without a hitch. I mean is there any other good source for baritone scale custom gauge singles.?
Well it's been 48 hours and no shipping confirmation yet. I'll keep y'all updated.
___________
Edit:
Order placed: ------------------------------------------------> February 1, 2017 9:48:10 AM
Inquiry email sent (Hello? are you shipping this soon?) ---> Feb 3, 2017 at 7:17 PM
Shipping confirmation (awaiting item) ----------------------> Feb 4, 2017 at 2:17 PM
Email replied: ("USPS's update system is slow") ----------> Feb 5, 2017 at 9:19 AM
Shipping confirmation (tracking movement begins) --------> Feb 6, 2017 at 7:12 PM
Delivery. -------------------------------------------------------> Feb 8, 2017 at 12:38 PM
Got them installed and they sound great. Very happy with my purchase. Rather slow shipping compared to Amazon or Basstringsonline as they typically have your package out the door and in the hands of the shipper by the next day. It took these guys about 5 days. But 8 days from computer to mailbox is not unreasonable for a custom gauged product such as this. Fact is, that's pretty good.
They really should sell through Jason at BSO though. That'd be amazing.
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I've been emailing back and forth with Kalium the last couple days. They have been very responsive and helpful.
From what I gather on this thread and their Facebook page, they recently completed a major move and along with NAMM have probably been pretty busy. I too run an internet business and I know how backed up things can get with shipping, even when using something as "simple" as USPS. IMO companies like Amazon are spoiling everyone these days. Years ago it was not strange or unheard of to wait 2 weeks for a package with no update from the shipper.
From what I gather on this thread and their Facebook page, they recently completed a major move and along with NAMM have probably been pretty busy. I too run an internet business and I know how backed up things can get with shipping, even when using something as "simple" as USPS. IMO companies like Amazon are spoiling everyone these days. Years ago it was not strange or unheard of to wait 2 weeks for a package with no update from the shipper.
