that may be, but at least they'll probably have some stock!
alex, can I take this opportunity to ask why you don't take pre-orders? (if I wanted another sl-x i'd be willing to pre-pay to secure one)
once one batch was pre-sold you'd already have the dosh to place an order for the next barch.
I dread to think how many people are going elsewhere due to unavailability!
It's not a question of dosh (I wish it was that simple).
The problem with this product is that there should have been a seamless supply of the first SL-X which we sold throughout the Spring and Summer of 2008. We had to switch manufacturers and this created a delay and a group of clients and overseas distributors who were then waiting for the product ahead of release.
This then gives us the next situation with ordering items like this is that generally you have to place an order to book a production slot about 2 months ahead of time. Once you have booked a production slot you cannot increase it, but have to book a separate order for another production slot which naturally will be behind the first one. The trouble with this is that if your demand suddenly goes up you still have to patiently wait for the next batch to roll off the production line. Couple this with the fact that these poles are enormously complicated to hand assemble and finish, leads to the situation where it has taken about 4 weeks to deal with the back log.
They will be going back on general sale again in about 3-4 weeks time.
The trouble with taking pre-orders is that it puts even more pressure on us to deliver what is to some degree out of our control. We have also found that getting hold of clients who have pre-ordered takes so long that it ties up valuable staff resources that should be answering the phone/packing orders etc.
Ideally no one would have known about the product until we had several hundred un-reserved poles on the shelf waiting for clients. Because this was a follow on product this was not possible. We do have several more new products in the production line which we are keeping very quite about until we have full stock levels in the warehouse.
We are getting there though thanks to the patience of our customers!!
