October 21st David: I wanted to let you know that the payment was received, and also thank you for the address. Here is a review of your box:
November 10 David: Spencer, As far as an update for your box, at this moment we are still leaning towards that approximate eight week lead time, and we don't even start the boxes until a few days to a week prior to the time we finish them, so we haven't even started your box yet. Who knows, by the time we get to your box, we might have some other awesome feature that we have added as a standard for all the boxes!
December 9th Me: Hey! Just checking in on the status of my mod. I'll be out of the country for a few weeks and dont want to miss it in the mail.
December 11 David: Spencer,
We were going really well sticking to a faster lead time than originally thought, and then we got hit with a bunch of warranty boxes. I have to think that there was one worker who was a part of building every one of these boxes, who was not properly assembling the boxes, as basically everyone he built, has been sent back. We always prioritize the warranty boxes, and you can expect we would do the same with your box as well should it ever need warranty work. Although, I would like to mention, even with our lifetime warranty we very rarely have boxes sent in for repair, so this slew of boxes was quite out of the ordinary, and caused a significant delay in production. That person was also let go, before this event came to light, so no worries about him having anything to do with your box.
I definitely have other help when it comes to VaporLips, but a lot still does fall on my shoulders, and I came down with Mono, after my brother got it. So, this set us back once again.
Now that I personally am feeling better I have a fire burning under me to get as much work done as possible. There's nothing worse than being stuck in bed, and unable to get any work done. At this point I would love to say that we are still going to be at that original approximation which would end up around Christmas, but if you want us to wait to ship it, or anything at all, we can do that. We will absolutely let you know when we are finishing it up.
We are constantly making changes, seeking to improve our methods, and lessen our lead times while maintaining our extremely high quality. Thank you for supporting VaporLips as we make those changes to become a better company for the future. Thank you for your patience.
December 28: Me: Hey David, just checking on the status of my mod.
January 3rd David: (sent the first newsletter stating that my number was 263 and that they would be finishing numbers 220-235 this week)
January 13: Me: (I ask for a refund)
January 16 David: Hi Spencer,
I was wondering if there was any reason you wanted to cancel your order? Is it specifically the wait? We are willing to work with you. There are a few different options available, one might be we refund you half the money, and wait until the box is ready to ship for you to make the second half of payment. Or, if you have any thoughts?
I know it may not seem like one order makes a big difference, but we make plans based on the orders we have. What inventory to purchase, boards, powder coat, etc. so making a cancellation does result in us not only losing the sale, but being out the capital invested in the order. This is why on our website, under our release and terms we do state that customers have two days to decide if they want to cancel their order. In all PayPal invoices, these terms are referenced to, and typically, when a phone order is made, we email these terms in the "payment received" email. I understand that our terms were never emailed to you, despite their availability on our website.Either way, I do understand that our lead times are exceptionally longer than ever anticipated.Do you have any thoughts, as your input is valuable to us in how we proceed as well.
January 15th David: (Newsletter 2 is sent out orders up through 235 still not completed fully, they hope to finish up through 240 this week)
Jan 19th Me: Just keep the order as it is.
January 26th: David: (email stating that they are almost done with 240)
February 8th: Me: Hey, just makin sure I'm still on the mailing list for your weekly newsletter. Been a couple of weeks since Ive gotten one, and because my mod is close on the list to get completed, itd be nice to know where everything stands.
David: You are correct, the last newsletter was sent out a couple weeks ago. You're still on list. I (David) have been very sick the past week, and also I had my employees who I trusted to run the shop, run off with a lot of my supplies and disappear. I've been starting to feel better, and gathering a few close friends to get the ball rolling again, that way VaporLips can turn around and start getting boxes out again at a quicker pace than ever. That's really the reason I haven't sent out an update. In a couple days when things are heading more in the right direction, I will send out a newsletter informing everyone where we stand. Thank you for your patience through out all of this. VaporLips isn't going anywhere, I am working hard to make everything work, and get everyone their beautiful custom box they deserve. Talk to you again soon,
February 10th Me: Sorry to hear that you were ill and that your employees aren't trustworthy. I was just curious if I could get a little update on what order number you guys are on as I am now on week seventeen of an eight week lead time. I understand you guys are busy, but an update would be nice.
February 11th David: I understand. Thank you for your understanding, and waiting this long. I know our original estimated lead time was way off. To put your mind at ease, I can give you a final date to look forward to. With the way things have been going, if we continue doing boxes in the order they were received, there's no certainty when we will get to you, so we will make certain that we have your box done and posted to you on February 25th.
February 24 Me: Hey David, sorry to keep bombarding you with emails, but I was just curious how close you guys were going to be to completing my mod within the week as per your last delivery estimation.
David: Still looking good to finish your box. I'm hoping we will finish it tonight, but it may be tomorrow. Will let you know, and send you some pictures as soon as we there.
February 29th Me: Hey, any way I could get some pics of my mod and possibly the tracking number once you send it out?
David: Absolutely. We're working on it right now, and hopefully later tonight I will have a better update for you. Talk to you soon,
David: I was expecting to get more done tonight. I had a customer who was raising hell about his box "not being shipped" when I said it was shipped. We use our cell phone and video record all of the package drop offs now, so finally I got that to him, and he was baffled. Anyway, it's unfortunate that had to pull time away. We collaborate with Dynasty Powder Coating, and our hours of work are sometimes influenced by when the owner can stay in the shop, and he had to get going a little bit earlier than expected. I will definitely get you a picture of your box powder coated tomorrow, and then we will have it finished more than likely by the next night.
March 1st David: (Sent me a picture of my engraving)
March 3rd David: (Posted pictures of my mod powdercoated to Facebook) I was going to send you the pics of your box powder coated, but it looks like you saw it on facebook. Noticed you liked the photo. So we are just going to get to assembling and get back to you as soon as its done. Thank you
March 7th Me: Hey David, any progress on finishing my mod up last week?
March 8th David: Have not finished yet. We are working on your box right now. As soon as it's done I'll be sure to get you the tracking number.
March 11th: Me: Hi David, where are you guys at on my mod? I hate to raise a stink about this but it's now over two weeks late since you gave me my last estimate of delivery. I mean I've waited 5 months now on my box that was supposed to arrive in 8 weeks. I realize that you guys are working somewhat on it right now, as I saw it powder coated last week, but I find it hard to believe that it takes over a week to assemble a box.
March 14th David: I understand, we are doing our best to juggle all of our customers. There's a lot of people, and before you know it, we tell one, two, three people that their boxes should be done on "such a such" date, and then we end up falling behind schedule. So you are correct that it doesn't take a week to assemble the box, it is only trying to keep everyone happy and assemble the boxes also in the order received as well. We are doing our best to make it happen.
In the interest of being perfectly transparent with you, right now we have two boxes we are finishing today that are basically finished as we speak. There are also three other boxes that need to be finished, hopefully today as well. Then your box will be finished. We finishing the green gold sparkle rolling stones box, and also re-making the green hulk box (which is a warranty, which we try to give priority). Then the cobra/reaper box needs to be assembled, and then the grey (thor box), and silver artery box, and then yours. We would really like to finish the hulk, rolling stones, cobra reaper today, and I would definitely expect to. The grey thor, and silver artery would be finished tomorrow at the latest, so that means your box will be worked on or finished tomorrow night going into Wednesday night. We will make sure to post the boxes on Facebook as they are finished.
That's really the last important email exchanged other than him telling me that he has four of the mods done right now (who really knows for sure as he has only posted two of the mods completed three days ago).