Here is the dilemma I have concerning VF. I placed an order with them in early November. They received my payment (money order) on November 21st, 2004. It has been 4 weeks since they received my payment and still no plane. I have received several replies from them concerning the status of my order. Until the e-mail I received yesterday, 12/16/04, they informed me of a backorder issue and that I was scheduled to be on the nexy shipment out. This is what their e-mail stated:

"Dear Gary:

Christmas and seasons greetings. Thank you for your message.

We sincerely apologize for the extended delay. We have been under tremendous pressure during this holiday season by customers who have requested delivery before Christmas, by letting us know at the last minute that it was a gift, and we have been forced against our policy to reprioritize some orders recently, as we only have a limited amount of airplanes available at any time. Your airplane was indeed scheduled to be shipped a week or so ago but we were not able to do so at the last minute because of a similar situation. However we are trying very hard to get it out over this weekend so you may have it next week. We do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. It has been a very tough situation for us as it has been for many of our customers, and we thank you for bearing with us for a few days more.

Thank you and very best regards,

Chuck Weber
VF"

My disapointment with them is that they are not being fair. They do not have their priorities straight. Instead of shipping out the "last minute gift" first, they should have shipped the orders on a first come-first serve basis. We are all paying customers and we should not have to pay for someone else's lack of planning. I was a Restaurant Manager for more than 10 years and I never sacrificed the needs of one customer over the needs of another. Everyone should be put on a level playing field and the orders should be filled as they receive them. I can understand that some people wanted to receive their plane before Christmas. These individuals should have planned accordingly and ordered with enough time to receive the plane before Christmas.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to bash VF. Their customer service has been second to none so far. They have always replied to my questions very quickly. I just think that because they are a small company and they became overwhelmed, they made some rash decisions on which customers should receive their plane first. We all spent our hard-earned money for their excellant product and we should all be treated fairly.

OK, I feel better now that I was able to "vent" some.

Thanks.

I am in exactly the same situation and agree with you completely. I guess I wouldn't feel quite so strongly had my payment for the plane not been taken at the time the order was placed. Because I have paid for the plane I would rightfully expect my order to be filled in the order in which it was taken.

I'm a small company and I can sympathize with VF trying to be all things to all customers! It's a tough situation trying to compete with a market that is dominated by major distributors that have a majority of the product lines "locked-up". Look at the VF prices and the quality of what they deliver and then ask about a level "playing field". They don't get to play on one, so how can they be faulted for trying to find an "edge".
I think a little patience will go a long way toward making everyone happy. I'm OK with your "vent" and hope you receive your order asap! But when a little company needs a break, cut them some "slack"!
Happy holidays and Good Landings!
Ray

Boyz Boyz....be patient, it's a virtue. Builds character..........who knows, VF may make a Christmas Gift for you guys to combat whatever negativity that comes from not fulfilling their order. Maybe they did not even expect the christmas rush they had as compared to past christmases. I can understand your dissappointment though, having paid upfront and not having your planes delivered.......it's basically the reason why I buy what my local hobby shop has in stock. I pay cash and walk away with my plane etc with most likely a discount.
Cheer up guys....never know what Santa may send you.

Great flying airplanes. It will be worth the wait!!!!

Gary
In your situation I would probally react the same way. And I do agree that by rights you really should have your Plane by now, but as stated above I imagine, or hope that VectorFlight is doing everything they can to get caught up. Me and my two Brothers own a small Masonry Construction Business. We do top notch quality work, and we treat our Customers like we would like to be treated. The only Trouble is that sometimes we take on jobs that are a little to big for a 3 man crew plus a laborer, and we are just plain unable to get a job done quite as fast as the Contractor who has 35 Masons he can sick on a job, and have done in a flash. The only trouble is that the bigger Contractors are usually more about big production, and you are required to lay a certain amount of material in a day no matter what it looks like when your done. The only thing we can do as a small union contractor is keep telling our Customer that you are getting it done at the best price possible, and that we are going to give you a building that looks straight and clean, and not a hacked up mess. When our jobs are finished whether it be a new YMCA Building, or a Fireplace our Customers have always been more than happy with the end result, and have highly recommended us to another project. So I guess my point is that there are probally AirPlane warehouses as big as the town I live in China that could have your Plane to you quick, but are you going to be satisfied with the product when you get it? Or you can wait awhile on a North American Small Business that can't produce quite as fast, but delivers you a fantastic product after some waiting time. As soon as your Plane shows up, and you see that bright red beauty in the box, the time you had to wait will be instantly forgotten, and you will be here on RCU going on about your new VF just like the rest of us have.
Ray

I also wanted to add that maybe someone should suggest to them that they put up a Christmas Order Deadline for next years Christmas Season. You will notice that just about most major R/C Sites have a deadline that your order has to be placed by to get a Christmas Delivery, but since I believe that VectorFlight probally operates on more of a demand basis(You order it, we build it), and probally does not stockpile tons of Planes anticipating how many, and when People are going to decide to buy one of there Planes, they may not be able to use a system like this. The very next Plane I order is still going to be another VectorFlight(VF Extra), but I think I will let them do a little catching up first.

I am with the rest for the most part, when you open the box you will have forgotten all of your compaints.
You don't have to look very far on RCU to see that you have made the right choice, your timing is just a little off.
I see both sides of the coin, I live in norhtern Alberta Canada, if I was giving a gift I would have ordered a month in advance.
You are a month out, I suspect that you will recieve a plane shortly.
Us Canadians aim to please at all times, we are known for our politeness don't you know?
When you open it, and then build and fly it, I will smile along with you when I see your next post on your satisfaction with the product.

These guys read every post on RCU and work towards making you and me happy.
Not only have I had unprecidented service from them, but, when I came on RCU and commented on the service they provide they made time to mail me to thank me for my comments.
I can barely get a response from Great Planes on my wing tube problem for my "Patty" and these guys thank me for comments in a forum.
I luv em, each and every one of those little Canadian elves working dilegently to get you and me our next Vector 300, or 540, or Sukoi !!!!

Merry Christmas all.

Lean540

I ordered my edge 540 on 12/11 Its winter here cant really fly anyway. I dont really mind at all if it takes longer then usual, If that help someone get theres by Christmas... cool[8D]I just want them to keep putting out a quality product at a nice price with customer service.
If it takes a little longer to do that i can live with it

Pat

ez2bgman

I agree with you 100% They should have sent your plane. Yours could have been a Christmas gift also. Ordering that far ahead of time when they advertised two week delivery on thier site, if it was a gift why would it even be mentioned.
Now in their defense.I think they made a mistake on this one but from what I have read and my dealings with them, if any company deserves a bit of slack it is VectorFlight. They read these posts I am sure and I think a cut off date for Christmas delivery, next year would be a good idea.

Guys,

I really appreciate everyone's response. After reading virtually every RCU thread on VF, I am positive that I will thoroughly enjoy the plane once I receive it. I received an e-mail from VF last night stating that my plane was shipped out and will be leaving Detroit by Monday. I should hopefully have it by the end of this week.

I don't want anyone to misunderstand the nature of my post. I am in no way trying to bash VF. Their C/S support has been the best that I have ever experienced in this industry. My only gripe was the delay in shipment. When I placed my order, their website reflected a shipment time of 2 weeks. I know it took a little over 1 week for them to receive my money order. I was prepared for a 3-3.5 week delay. But it has been six weeks since I placed the order. I agree with ckangaroo70, VF should post a cutoff date for Christmas deliveries next year. That way it will not interfere with the other customers. I guess you can say that this is a Christmas gift to myself. I was really looking forward to going to the field the day after Christmas to maiden my Edge.

Down here in New Orleans, our winters are not too cold. And when it does get cold, it doesn't stay cold for too long. We are able to fly year round. Not too mention that for the passed 6 weeks I have been working weekends and will be rotating back to weekends off on Jan. 1, 2005. This time would have been perfect for me to build and setup my Edge. Now I will miss 2 weekends worth of flying it because of the shipment delay. Unlike some people, I usually don't have enough time to build any ARF in a week due to work/kids. I also like to take my time and change things a bit as I build any ARF.

As I informed VF, although I was a bit disappointed with the delay, I know I will buy from them in the future. Like I said, I have never experienced such outstanding C/S from another R/C company. They have always responded quickly to any questions that I e-mailed them. Even before I even ordered my plane.

I am still excited about receiving the Edge. As I stated in another thread, I plan on doing a full build thread, posting pics of the build process and any modifications I do. If the plane is anything like you guys stated, than I know I will really enjoy it.

Thanks again and happy flying.

I ordered the edge also. I will be watching for your build report. I can always use a few ponters and ideas as I am not very good at even putting together an arf.

You won't have much trouble Brad. The instructions don't give all the details, but the Plane goes together very easy regardless. Just take your Time when installing the wing joiners, and make sure you get a good clean fit before using any epoxy. Once you get your wing done, and to where it will mount to the Plane nice, the rest is just pretty simple. The only thing I would suggest for a mandatory add-on is to make sure you install upper and lower struts to the stab. All the Hardware is good stuff, and the Covering is wrinkleless and gorgeous. The cowl is also fantastic, but the wheel pants are a little on the thin side, so you may also decide to go with a stouter set of aftermarket Pants or just leave them off all together. Very few things to find fault with in these Planes. They are just a super well designed, quallity aircraft priced way under what you would expect an Airplane of this caliber to be priced at.

I also received the same shipment notification from VF today:

Seasons greetings and a very happy new year to you and yours.

We sincerely apologize for the recent events about shipping as you mentioned. Unfortunately we did reprioritize some orders because of special circumstances, only because we were trying to help out. Our policy is fist order received first shipped under all circumstances unless there is a very special reason. However we will be adhering to this policy more strictly in the future.

The good news is that your order has been shipped from Windsor to our Detroit distribution and it will be reshipped from Detroit USPS again on Monday. We are hoping that you will receive your airplane before the Christmas holidays.

Again we apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

C/S
VF


Seems like VF has heard and responded accordingly!

They have responded. I actually started a very similiar thread a day or 2 earlier than this one and almost under the same situation. I paid for mine on the web site though

Frustration did set in even though I had read every post and even contemplated cancelling the order and mentioned that in an email. That's when Chuck Weber got involved and it's here now.

I feel really bad for getting slightly upset with them as I see what they are trying to do, but I do agree on the cutoff order date.

So if anyone from Vector Flight reads this, I would like to publicly apologize [] for venting my frustration both to the customer service people at VectorFlight and publicly here on RCU. I wish them a very Merry Christams.

Hey fella's this is my first post. and i have to say I ordered a vectorflight edge 540 66' early nov and told them mine was a gift from my kids, which it was . and what i am saying I guess it was my fault. Got to admit vf is a good plane and company.




marc campbell

Avistar 40 fx,TT sport 40l 46ax, 40 ultrastick .72 saito, 40 uproar 40 la,60 super sporter .75 gms,vf edge 540 91fx,cap 580 .75 tower hobbies

The holidays are a stupid time for shipping. Any other time of the year , I would tell them to keep it. To many other planes to choose from.