I am only on week # 4 so I don't have as much to complain about as others might . I will say the hard part is the unknown . If I knew my saber would be shipped out in 8 weeks I am ok with that . The living in limbo part is the worst . I think Saberforge is top of the line in the saber market and its worth the wait . I just think the customer service side of things as well as accurate shipping times needs to improve . Again not trying to complain just making an honest assessment of things . I really hope I am in the middle of the waiting process ............

This is week 16 for me. The excitement and anxiousness are really hitting me know. I hope I get the email this week, ever since my order got tagged as shipped a little over a month ago. Ive been checking this site like a mad man

I find it almost amusing how some people want more status updates but they don't realize.... we already send the relevant status updates. The time frames are well communicated, and honestly there are only two things happening with an order between order date and shipping notification: 1 - it's waiting in line to enter production. 2 - we are waiting on parts to build it to come in.

People imagine some huge, complicated system, with several steps to the process but really it's that simple. Once the order goes into production, it gets put on a list, and as we work through the orders it gets built, then the hilt and electronics get assembled, and then it gets shipped. There aren't many (or any, really) stages in here that updates can be given that they're not already.

So saying something like "the customer service needs to improve because there's no updates" is false, realistically, and frankly misleading to others who have no idea what the process is either. As a CSR my focus is on any mistakes that are made and making them right, making sure things get filled in where something is missing, and yes, on occasion tracking down late orders and finding out what's going on, but that's actually a very small part of what I do. It's unfair to judge the entire aspect of something because the process isn't understood.

To put it another way, it's a lot like going to a busy restaurant, having the waiter or waitress be extremely nice and helpful, have the cooks be backed up and slow, and then leaving saying the service was awful. It's not the servers fault nor is there anything they can realistically do; they're already doing what they can do to make it as easy and pleasant as possible.

Now, all this being said.. am I denying that there are any issues at all? Not at all. There's always room for improvement and personally I'm always trying to find ways to be better and do more, but blanket statements like the above mentioned comment are honestly just.. frustrating. If anyone has emailed in they've been told we are currently experiencing production time frame delays. When you go from doing 200 hilts a week with 10 guys to doing 400 hilts a week with 8 guys... delays happen. We have got a bunch of new people starting and are getting caught up and a lot of orders have went out this week tho, and a lot more will still be going out, getting things closer to the estimated production time frames we generally have.

We appreciate yours and everyone's hard work at SaberForge, Knytiri. Keep it up!

No reason for you to be so defensive . It's just an observation on how the process works . I have read so many people's comments about ordering and just not knowing when it may get delivered . I didn't say the product wasn't worth the wait as I think Saberforge is the best at what they do .

I have checked on my order once and I got a response about a week later . Maybe that is not the norm again just my observation . I also understand how busy the company is at this moment in time and why . I would buy future sabers from this company and I look forward to the streamlined service that you are working towards .

I had great communication through the etsy site i'd ask a question and it would get answered (i'm sure they hated me by the time it was shipped) lol

Knytiri wrote:
Easy, Knitiry. If I read well, Skywalker42 was not complaining, but offering feedback in good faith.

You are right on that people seldom realize how simple the process in one aspect is, and how intrincate can become in others.

Granted: It would be ridiculous, ineffective and even counterproductive to expect Saberforge reporting things like:

-"Hilt being build.... horizontal boosters in place "

-"Attaching emiter to main switch... 3... 2... 1... contact...."

-"Requesting alluvial dampers... Well, that's not it! Bring me the hydrospanner!"

-"Warning:
5 min. delay due to technician going to the bathroom... wait!! make it 10... damm spaghetti carbonara..."


But on the other hand, you have the option to interpret Skywaker42's remark more or less as following:

"The quality of the Product justifies the relative long wait. It is the fact that every man and woman has an inner child what makes it difficult for the customers to watch the days go by. Now, If you couple that quality with a future faster delivery, Saberforge will be then perfect and without a doubt would dominate the market"

As I wrote already a couple times, my first saber was a Dominix v4 from... "The ones who should not be named". It came to me really fast and went Kput only 3 days after... easy come, easy go, uh?

The wallet hurts me even today since I could have used that money for a better saber.

So I learnt my lesson and did a lot of research before placing an order for not one but two sabers from SF. I can tell you then, that most of the sabersmiths out there have even longer lead times as SF. Well, you know that already.

Believe me bro, I work as Tenor in a class A opera house in GERMANY...

I know about people bitching around for a single note in an entire opera... even 5 min. BEFORE going on stage, meaning that the performance in question hasn't even startet!!

It makes you want to have a saber with a real-light-all-cutting blade!! (or a real blaster!)

Now, with the release of "The Force awakens" I bet an entire night with Padme, that the demand for sabers (and the innevitable "Where-is-my-saber" crapstorm) is gone overdrive...

But don't let the "dark ones" unnerve you to the point of losing it with the nice ones


These are difficult times... so may the Forge (and a lot of patience) be with you.

It has been a while since I posted here; and my previous posts were (admittedly) with a bit of frustration. However, after my experiences with SaberForge (and a wakeup call based on a transaction from a different forum that shall not be named) I must not only applaud the efforts made by the SaberForge team, but I must also apologize for my attitude based on previous frustrations.

The team over at SaberForge has bent over backward to work with me in hammering out details that other companies would simply not address. They care about what they do and rather than just send out bulk of haphazardly manufactured parts and quick clumsy builds (you know who you are) they care about what quality of product leaves their shop and if it doesn't meet their standards then by god they will work to make it right.

In closing, if you can bear the wait time for a quality product made with care and precision... its worth it.

Not that I was complaining, nor was I trying to spurn anyone into complaining I was simply suggesting that those who are a couple of weeks past their estimated time of shipment politely inquire about their orders. As we all have orders made at various times and from the different sites, that time frame will vary quite a bit.

That said (and please don't take this the wrong way--I have some suggestions below, use or ignore them at your leisure). First, I would submit your restaurant analogy is a poor one. The cooks at a restaurant are part of the "service." They may not be severs or directly part of dealing with the customer but they are part of the service stream. It could be argued (and it is in the world famous Dale Carnegie service training) that every person in your business is part of serving the customer, even if they never see or speak to the customer). Now I agree the cooks being slow is not the severs fault, in fact as in SFs case it may not be anyone's fault, so what I will say is wrong is to get upset at the server or even the cooks. Even the sever vanishing may not be her fault, there may be people out sick, or an unexpected rush. Now here is what Saber Forge has done well I think, you have communicated that you are backed up, and my statements at least are not to denigrate that process. Just as a server should be honest, "Folks the kitchen has been slow tonight because two of our cooks called in sick," at that point the customer can choose to order or try another restaurant, SF has been upfront about the crazy uptick in business. Once they order it would be silly to say, "hey what's taking so long," but I guarantee it will happen. If however the waitress said "your order may take 45 minutes," I don't thing it is wrong to wave her over and politely ask if she could check on your order, if you have been waiting for say over an hour. What I should not expect is to do that if I was at 35, 44 or even 50 minutes, only if I was well outside the estimate. Opinions vary but in my business I have told my people that if we are more than 15% outside the estimate (I don't tell customers this) it is reasonable to expect the customer to make inquiries and request an update--not to suggest such a thing would work for SF, just offering what works for me. I'll also freely admit to using the Scotty principle to some degree, I tack extra time on all of my estimates to account for the, "Oh shit factor," of unforeseen issues, a common thing in my business.

Now a suggestion, I know it gets tedious to hear the same or similar things over and over again, things you have covered in the FAQ, other posts, or whatever the case may be. But I suggest, as a long time business owner of 25+ years, get used to it and be patient--just as you ask your customers to be patient. I know it is hard but, defensiveness or anger on your part, as the voice of SF, will not serve the company. Though you may be personally invested in SF don't take customer complaints personally, even when they seem to get personal. I'll bet in most cases all those things an upset customer says are anger and frustration talking. I know that part is hard, trust me I used to take such things about my business personally, then I learned to just let go and let some customers vent--they loose steam and life goes on. As humans we feel the need to defend ourselves and/ or the company we work for, IMO that is a mistake--again acknowledging how hard that is. IMO, if all of the reviews are to be believed SF's work speaks for itself, let it. Kill them with kindness, the angrier or more upset a person gets the more sickly sweet and kind you get, learn to let people vent, I know it sounds counter intuitive but since I began using it the system has worked wonders for dealing with angry customers. Lastly, remember this the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer. They could be the biggest A-Hole in history but one upset customer will do more damage to your business than 10 happy customers will do for it. Using these tips I have turned some very angry people into loyal and polite return customers, I freely admit is has not worked on them all, but it has defused more situations than I can count over the years.

Now for the HRO disclaimer (The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone, this is free advice and worth exactly what you paid for it, these statements are not endorsed by Major League Caber Tossing, for headaches or complainants lasting more than 4 hours, just move on or hire a hit man, as your conscience dictates---that is all).

I'm on week 14 now. Patience is still kinda intact, and it helps that jessica jones i coming tomorrow.

Just hope that i can get my saber before the 16th, since i'm in Europe the shipping might take a while when i get to that phase.