Hey all. Been working with Cary kind of in the background and figured I'd check out the thread again. First time in awhile and I think I can add a few cents of my own to clear some things up. I see some negatives growing, which is kind of common on mass-buys it seems, and hoped I could put a positive spin on some of them. Some of you no doubt know my Mantra "...remember the Cibié mass-buy..."
So kick back, and read on...
First off, when Cary actually placed the order, he sent it to me first. I then looked over all the orders for any discrepancies in part numbers, prices, adress', shipping costs, things like that, and then put them on official Hanson order sheets. If I remember, that was on or about Monday, Feb. 26. Well, sorry to say, it took me about two days to go through things and put it all down on the order forms and fax them to Hanson. It shouldn't have taken me two days, but with all the other stuff I was doing, it did.
To add insult to injury, when I tried to fax them in, Hanson's entire phone system was down with weather issues (mountain weather can be a real pain!) for two full days(!) and between multiple tries and being gone on Friday, I finally got the fax through to them on Saturday the 3rd of March. Which means that they didn't officially have paperwork in their hands until they got in on Monday the 5th.
Between Cary and I calling them several times over the previous weeks, they knew an order was coming for several bumpers. And even though I'd also gotten through on a cell phone to verify that the shop phones/fax were indeed down and to let them know the orders were coming, as said, they didn't actually have paperwork until Monday.
In spite of what it looks like though, it really didn't delay things much because, knowing it was coming, they'd already started getting things initially lined up for the pending order. Things like material orders and the like. And from experience, I know how long these kinds of things can take, so I wasn't too worried about a few days being any kind of real trouble.
So, not too traumatic so far. And as Cary mentioned in a previous post, we still sent the orders in before he'd received all payments/deposits. Just because, in spite of early estimates, it's well known how long these things can take. And not just with Hanson, but with many small manufacturers.
We even had to cancel one of the orders when the customer changed his mind and the payment never materialized. It was a gamble, and one of the last orders received, but I wanted to let you know that he did indeed send it in before all monies were collected, so as not to delay things more than needed.
I think that's where one of the delay issues keeps cropping up. Some of you sent your payments in very quickly, but things didn't happen instantly after the buy was closed. It still took some little time to verify things, and receive payments.
Again, not too much, but it's starting to add up.
Right up front though, if I did cause any delay, I apologize for it taking a few extra days at my end. So please don't blame CT Performance or Hanson for initial timing.
Another percieved delay, I think, is how things are shipping. Some items have already shipped, as you've seen. Even sooner than originally estimated in fact. Other bumpers are finished, but due to shipping constraints, are waiting for another item before that order can ship out. Since they are going via truck, a front bumper is not going to ship without the rear bumper. So you might have heard through calling them, that a bumper was "ready" at one point in the last couple of weeks, but has not actually shipped yet. They're waiting. And that's the main reason for some inconsistencies from what I understand.
Right now they do have a few of our orders partially sitting there waiting for another part. Originally, they'd thought that the full Brush-Guard version front bumpers would be the last built. As it turns out, the tire carriers are taking longer to get in the lineup than expected, so those are what we're waiting for now, to complete some more orders at this point.
One person's front has even been delayed just because it's going to go out with another order to save in some shipping. His front bumper has been ready for awhile now, but is waiting for the other guy's tire carrier. Sorry 'bout that Kanter.
I'm still pretty sure though that you're saving money doing it this way. If we'd thought it wouldn't, we'd have suggested keeping them separate so that your front wouldn't delay his rear! Shows how that worked out though. Now his rear is delaying your front.
I see also that, according to what Kanter heard, they're now having a delay issue with the powder coater too. That's unfortunate, but hard to get around. The good news I can (possibly?) surmise from that is that it sounds like they might have some tire carriers ready to get coated. If that's the case, then that's good news and means that once they're coated and back at the shop, they can ship.
That's a lot of "if's" and "maybe's" in this scenario of course, so as Cary said, nothing is etched in stone until they have a tracking or PRO number from the shipper and it's left the building. And even then it's not etched in stone for you until you see it on your porch!
At this point it's just a hurry-up-and-wait game. And calling them won't make it happen any faster. No, we don't check in with them every day. And won't. They know we're out here waiting and are doing what they can.
Been there at the other end and it doesn't (usually) change things. So please, for those of you that are calling and calling Hanson, wondering where your order is, please talk to Cary or me about it first.
To reiterate, if we take it from actual receiving the paperwork, we're right at 8 weeks. A long time for sure, but not out of line for this type of product and volume order. I aplogize though if original estimates were a bit off. Even if we go back one more to when they knew it was pending, we're at 9 weeks, and, as hoped, some of the orders have already shipped. Not as many as they would have liked to report, but more are coming.
Nobody (including us) likes to wait after they've paid for something, but semi-custom parts still take as long as they take sometimes. So bare with us a little longer.
We have to remember that Hanson is a small manufacturer. A fab shop with a specialty product actually. And not a company with an entire assembly line banging out hundreds of products a day and sitting on your money. Each of these products is still built by hand. The tire carriers are now fitted to the bumpers to make sure that all the stuff works together. Many of the individual components are pre-cut pieces ordered from an outside vendor, so are subject to all the usual issues there too. During this time, employees have been out sick, one spent time in the hospital, now the coater is pregnant. It never ends.
They do what they can, in the time they can, with the parts they have. And do a pretty darn good job of it too. If they have additional time for something while they're waiting for, say, tire carrier components, they'll finish off a grille-guard or whatever.
So my excuse is that there's almost no way to estimate EXACTLY, within a narrow window, how long it will take. And I should have made sure this was said more often.
When Cary and I first talked about this, Hanson had thought 3 to 4 weeks was good for a smallish order because, at the time, things were getting pretty caught up. He (Cary) thought it should be bumped to 4 to 5 weeks, just to be cautious. From my experiences with manufacturers of all types I thought 6 to 8 weeks was a more reliable minimum. That way, if they got out early, great! Everyone would be happy. If they took longer than expected, then the 8 weeks would cover our butts. Well, almost anyway.
With the real-world being what it is, it's now taking a bit longer still. But not much longer. We're still in what I think, and hope you agree, is a reasonable window of error in estimating. Sorry, I know that doesn't help you all, but it's in the way of bringing us all on to the same page.
And like Cary said, if you need an update on your order or on shipping, call us. We'll try to keep the updates more regular. If you have a problem with the product that you do recieve, whether shipping damage or missing parts, THEN you call Hanson.
Sorry you guys had to read another one of my novels. It's probably good that I haven't posted before, but it's all built up inside! At least I hope now you're all as up-to-date as can be, and will be happy with your bumpers when they arrive. I know you've been waiting patiently for them. They're doing what they can for you I'm sure.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Paul
