The Cyndustries List

My intent in posting my experience is not to "fling poo" as one poster
put it, nor was it to scare of potential customers "biting the hand
that feeds"....it was/is merely to express my frustration at the
outright deceptive timetables I have been consistently getting as to
when I will finally receive my ZO. I have purchased many items from
some very small boutique manufacturers, but never have been given what
I am beginning to believe was outright misleading info...just to keep
me happy for a few weeks...Sure, 9 months is not necessarily a
ridiculously long time to wait for an order (on the other hand, 3 1/2
years is, in my opinion, bordering on criminal). It only gets
ridiculous when one is told "4 more weeks"...then "only 4 more
weeks, I promise"...then "at least another 3 weeks". If one is at
the point where they are in over their head with orders (obviously a
sign of offering a superior product at an attractive price) then they
need to either expand their business to accomodate the newfound
success or abstain from accepting any new orders (without being
incredibly conservative about delivery dates), and not taking payment
on those orders until they are on the bench being built. Remember the
old maxim "underpromise and over-deliver"... Sure, its all well and
good to keep quiet and just be thankful that the product exists in the
first place....I was just beginning to feel that I was the lone person
being unsatisfied and it was at least comforting to hear that I am
among much company.
Sure, I definitely believe that Cynthia is offering a great product
and is most likely not getting filthy rich doing so (I doubt that she
is starving either...some people like to imply that these "boutique"
builders are similar to Mother Theresa....giving up everything in
order to do something purely for the love of it).
One last thing...One of my fears was that Cynthia was/is accelerating
certain orders and delaying others based on the fact that someone
offers some extra cash or is placing a significant order on the
understanding that they need it quickly. I can only hope that this is
not the case, as it is, in the long run, very bad business practice.
One needs to satisfy the customers that they already have before
taking on new ones. I am a self employed designer and would never
delay a job in order to do one for someone else...even if they were
offering me double my hourly rate. I may go without sleeping for a few
days in order to accomodate both, but the original job delivery date
would never slip.
Now I can only hope that I have not succeeded in pushing my order
further down the line of delivery times...

-Greg