The forum FAQ contains explanations for most of your complaints.

https://saberforgeforum.com/forum/welcome/1305-comprehensive-faq-and-more-please-read-first

I agree with you and Zeddicus about the confusion with the shipping times and confirmation email. It would be nice if there was more detailed tracking process for the sabers, kind of like the Dominoes pizza tracker (Your saber is waiting!>Your saber is queued!>Your Saber is being constructed!>Your saber is being shipped!). You just have to keep in mind the SF is a small company, and while they've made many improvements in the past few years they're still developing the business.

Just remain calm and your saber will arrive before you know it!

Edit: I just spent a while wording my post correctly and Knytiri beats me to the punch by one minute.

Ya, thanks for that. Pretty sure I wasn't 'hating' . And I have sent one single email so as to not mess up the system with multiple emails. And yes, I don't think it's too much to ask to have a working number to ask a simple question or have updates to dates. Again, thanks. I 'll just shut up and wait for my sabers now.

Also you have to remember that a new star wars film is on the cusp. So you can imagine the amount of folks that have orders in just for the premiere night. Hate to say it, there are alot of factors going on at the moment that is causing delay with saberforge amongst the decent sized demographic they are trying to provide for.

Like others have said, try to keep the faith with SF. It might suck if they dont deliver on time, but I would bet money that saber is going to beautiful when it does arrive. I have ordered some sabers from their etsy site and I think their times have even pushed back from 4-6 weeks to 6-9 weeks last I heard.

Coot

rwstiver wrote:
I feel your pain and I'd agree that having it stay in shipped for 3 weeks deserves an email reply from SF. But, the best first move would have been to send a polite email to the company asking what's up.

I've been fairly quick with all the emails I've received so far... think there are only like... 5 right now waiting on an answer. There are a few that need further escalation that I've sent up the chain that might not have gotten responses yet. The most I can say on the matter is: please try to understand we are not a huge corporation with limitless resources. We do the best we can to keep end prices low, which means we're not generating excessive amounts of profits that we can use to improve different systems... but we're improving them anyway, with what we do have. We've come a long way in the past couple of years, and we're still improving. Constructive, insightful feedback is more than welcome. We would love to know areas in which others see room for improvement. Some we already know and are exploring other options. But just smashing the system in place isn't constructive. Keep that in mind.

Thanks!

I'm curious if SF has looked into getting or upgrading any automation software for the workflow. There's all sorts that will send out emails automatically based on status changes for orders, etc. I assume there's some kind of software system in place at SF. Maybe you guys could look into a software system that would email based on a number of status changes with the order - IE waiting on parts, entering the queue, sabers built, sabers shipped.

I work at a local medium-sized telecom and we switched over recently to Autotask for a lot of functions, but several customer relationship management solutions exist depending on your business - Salesforce is a big one and there are probably some designed for manufacturing.

It's difficult to make recommendations without knowing a lot about the specifics of the business, workflow, overhead, etc.

edit - clarity

Crims wrote:
I agree, or they could do something pretty basic at the main page on their etsy site/SF page and have a *disclaimer* wait times have been extended to X-X weeks. I know it would probably help the folks out alot who dont get on the forums much. That would be nice though to have an automated response system set up to email any paid orders. Im on a few other free forums that use similar systems for communication so I bet it is doable.

Coot

It's kind of a gamble between focusing resources on satiating the tried-and-true fandom of the sabers or removing a barrier to entry for the hobby. At this stage, like most Saber sites I visited, Saberforge seems to be focusing on producing a number of quality products to be consumed and relying on that to draw in dedicated customers. The cost is that the company risks alienating someone who might be just passing by and making an impulse purchase.

Eventually Saberforge's strategy will allow them to afford to improve their sales model, as they have over the past few years, and the company will be able to excel in both realms. But it probably won't happen overnight.

Then again I just joined the community last month after following it for a few weeks prior, so take my opinion with a grain of salt

I am sure they have considered automating some aspects of the operation, but there are likely reasons that might find them reluctant to do so.

They are still considered a "small" operation. They are expanding to accommodate the increased demand, but their labor compliment is still 20 or under. I don't know this specific part for a fact, but I suspect that they are trying hard not to grow TOO fast, as they have seen businesses that do that, and lose that personal touch with their clientele. I get the feeling that they like the close-knit relationship they have with the community, and additional automation can introduce that cold, impersonal touch to the process. It is also not an inexpensive thing to implement, which are costs that eventually get passed on to the customer.

At the moment, Saberforge is among the most reasonable in price, tops in their design quality, and even though their wait times have increased due to high demand, have a very respectable lead time if one educates their selves about the respective methods of ordering, and sets their expectations accordingly.

And that is what it really comes down to with regards to the anxiety over the waiting. Doing the research on your purchase, and knowing (not assuming) what you are signing up for, before you push that button to commit the order. Unexpected delays due to unforeseen events can happen, but typically if you order from Etsy, you know what the wait time will be, regardless of the presence or absence of e-mails. The same can be said of the process from the main site. If you just count on 14-16 weeks from the get-go, and have faith in the process, you will likely not be disappointed.

Most of the disappointments I have been aware of seem to happen when orders are placed without having sufficiently educated ones self, and setting the aforementioned expectations correctly; especially when there is an event or a specific target date that they wanted to hit, and because they were not aware of all the factors at play, are not able to take delivery by then.

For me, if I am spending this kind of coin, I do the reading so that I know exactly what will happen, and what the potential pitfalls could be. The information is out there folks, and while I am not trying to seem insensitive to those whose expectations were not met, I have seen very few where a thorough reading of the FAQ information would not have prevented that situation. It really is important.

If I had a suggestion at all that would not add to the cost of a saber, and might help, it would be to make that FAQ information available to anyone perusing either the main web store, or the Etsy store, so that folks could make that educated purchase without necessarily having to become a member of the forum. As we know, not everyone feels comfortable doing that, but everyone looking for a saber appreciates all the pertinent information about it they can find. So, I suggest making that information more freely available. It would require the FAQ to become more official (getting Phil's stamp of approval, and making sure that changes are made through official process), but that is do-able.

Wow! That turned into quite the soapbox diatribe! Hopefully, it had the intended effect of encouraging folks to READ, and research before buying to save themselves some disappointment, and customer relations issues down the road.

Thanks for indulging me, and taking it for granted that the above comments were not intended towards anyone in particular, and were not intended as a "bonk-bonk" on the head kind of lesson. Just a common sense suggestion.

The website is due for an overhaul, and I'm moving to Portland to be SF's first actual ONSITE CSR. This means great things; I'll have direct contact with the shop instead of having to rely on messages, which means faster communications to and from for purchase orders and inquiries, and I'll have direct input on different ideas, models, and information that needs to be put up front.

So my promise to YOU, the customers, the consumers, the people that make what we do possible, is this: I promise to do what I can to listen, and implement better communication and better clarity in the process.

SF was originally founded as an extremely small, personal shop out of a spare room. Literally. It has grown, and it is still growing, rapidly. Right now we are in an extremely transitional stage, taking our first steps into a grander scale of business and communications, and there are shortcomings here and there. We are working on it. We are striving to improve.

Thank you to all of those that have submitted some great feedback--trust me, it's not falling on deaf ears of being ignored. And thank you to everyone who has been patient and understanding. And thank you even to those that have been frustrated with us. This helps us learn where we need improvement. Thank you all.