Waiting for my Tri EDC..

I ordered an alu Tri EDC on 30. December 2012 and I have not heard from Mac's Customs since, other than a paypal confirmation of payment. I have sent a couple of mails but no answers.. I know that I have to be patient, but would I would appreciate some sort of lifesign from Mac.. Any thoughts? (first post btw! Be gentle :duh2

WOW and I was worried about mine being up to the six weeks as stated on his website. I have sent a bunch of emails to his website and PM's here through the forum. I don't like the idea of not even knowing if the guy knows he has my money... kind of a funky way to run a business is you ask me.
After reading your post I'm thinking of asking for my money back and getting a McGizmo. I have had enough time to save the extra cash needed to get the Mcgizmo...
I have even seen him on the forum here selling off some lights since I ordered mine. Maybe it's time to change the timeline on the website to 6 months and not 6 weeks.
I hope this gets resolved for you quickly!

one more friends in waiting list

Yep been waiting a while for mine now with no word from Mac. I asked him to scallop mine and upgrade to titanium (originally ordered and paid for an aluminum one with matte black Cerakote) and still haven't heard back regarding the change and also a PayPal receipt for the difference.

I realize he's busy with his other f/t job, but this is definitely NOT the way to run your company. A simple reply would go a very long way.

Mac's a good guy...His product is worth the wait. :thumbsup:

Remember he is just a guy with a Lathe. You are getting a custom product...not something being shipped over from China.

I ordered a XM-L 26650 6 weeks ago... I suspect I will see it around June. I have been ordering from him since 2006.

In my opinion you guys are being a little harsh.

the badger said:

I realize he's busy with his other f/t job, but this is definitely NOT the way to run your company. A simple reply would go a very long way.

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To be fair, it's more of a hobby than a business. Few of the people who sell stuff on CPF have the luxury of making even half a living at it, and after they get home from work there's still a house full of chores to do. Add to that the expense in time and materials of setting up a lathe to cut titanium, and I suspect even the most dedicated hobbyists only have time to do 3-4 "mass-production" runs a year. After all, making products for paying customers requires a lot more care and attention to detail than fooling around with a prototype design, especially with a material as finicky as titanium. (or aluminum, for that matter -- it's softer, but the surface has a tendency to "smear" if the cutting tool isn't razor-sharp.)

I'm single with no kids, so in theory I've got the most free time of anyone who isn't retired or independently wealthy, but I put in 11 hours at work today and I didn't get around to eating dinner until midnight. That happens more often than I care to admit, and I end up having to use slow days at work just to recover from the long days. I'd like to do more with this hobby myself, but in reality, even with just an apartment to take care of, my little lube-selling operation is the most I have time for.

All that being said, I definitely understand wanting an email reply. I'd want one too if I'd waited four months.

SR.GRINGO said:

In my opinion you guys are being a little harsh.

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per my own experience...I have ordered 5 items (4 lights and 1 drop in) from Mac over the past 2 years...the combined waiting time for all these items are just a few days shy of 2 years, and that's is saying a lot.

I have lots of private communications with guys in the forum including many of Mac's long time customers who are truly pissed off at his way of handling his business, with many who swear never to do business with him again. While some chose to be patience, some kept quite out of courtesy and some are truly pissed and voiced it out either on the forum or to Mac directly, so while he knew about this issue but yet he chose not to do anything about it. One thing I know is that this is not the first time, nor will he ever learn despite him saying how he is truly sorry he was, that he will try to do better the next time etc. What he is doing now is digging himself a bigger hole that he can't get out from, by making many people who love his lights (like me) to think twice before committing our trust and monies to him again.

Now I don't agree with what some of you who say that this is only a hobby, a part time passion, of him having to deal with other issues etc etc. But when you are dealing with other people's hard earned money, money that was prepaid to you based on nothing but trust, money that are appropriated for a hobby, for a passion, money that can be used for other personal or family essentials etc, you don't screw around with them by being silent, not answering your emails, missing your promised deadlines again and again and again and again! We have too many cases here that trust-worthy sellers suddenly go off grid, or disappeared without a trace with other people's money or possession (I won't name names but I think most can easily give half a dozen names off hand) so what those waiting customers asked for is more than fair, it's within their rights and is the least they can expect from any seller who took their money and not bothered to keep an open communication for weeks and months. If this is how he take care of his paying customers, imagine what his after sales support will be like?

That's why it is such a joy to deal with people like McGizmo and Oveready (to name just a couple of names) who gave such wonderful pre and post sales customer service. There's no place for sloppy business practice in today's world. To Mac who might be reading this...we spoken quite a bit and I know you tried, but maybe that's just not close to be enough. I do love your lights but please please if you are not able to control your production or commit yourself to your delivery dateline or are able to work out a system to better communicate with your paying customers, don't do yourself any injustice and try to work out a better system to keep your paying customers fully and regularly informed. It's not that difficult to put out a post on your own sub forum and keep us updated instead of spending lots of time answering individual emails. Provide solutions and better services instead of excuses and pissing off your customers.

I don't speak like I ever have any experience in making flashlights...but I do know how I run my worldwide distribution business and keeping my customers happy and updated (as much as possible). I don't start sending out invoices and collect money if I cannot ship out their goods within the agreed 72 hours of payments being received, so everyone is clear as to what to expect and any misconnects are minimised. But that's just me...and I sincerely do hoped to be able to buy more lights from you in the future. Yes, they are that nice!

*I'm just speaking my mind as a customer and a fellow members here. To all please support these custom flashlight makers especially those who participate in this forum! They do put out some of the most fantastic products that fuel this hobby of mine.

Very well put Silgt.

Gringo I don't think it's harsh to ask for what was promised form a business transaction. If he wants 6 months to deliver the finished product then he should say so on his site and not promise up to 6 weeks for delivery. I wouldn't have ordered from him if I knew that was the wait time.

Frystromer it sure looks like he is running a business by his website... doesn't say anything about it being a hobby...

I think most of the people that are here voicing their concern are first time custom buyers. We are judging a seller by his word because (especially) in a place like this that is all you have. We don't have a product to tell us that it is worth the wait. If this was my second or fourth product from him I wouldn't be concerned because I would know what to expect.

Silgt, that was well said and voices alot of the feelings and thoughts that I have.

This is a tough thread for me because I am a HUGE fan of Mac's work and his lights. I have a few of them. I am firmly in Mac's cheering section for sure. However, I have experienced the frustration of waiting and waiting and waiting for a Mac light. And I have (recently once again) experienced the frustration of the lack of consistent communication from Mac to his customers....

Mac, if you're reading, do you recall lately that you and I were emailing about building me a Ti XM-L EDC with an XP-G2 or XP-E2? We exchanged a few emails about which emitter to use and how hard we could drive the XP-E2 if we went that route. My last email was questioning which would throw better, an XP-E2 driven hard or an XP-G2 at 2.8a? And then the crickets started chirping. Man I was that---------->:candle:<----------freakin' close to ordering a Titanium light from you and...you broke off communication. :shrug: This was on April 6th.

I'm not used to begging someone to take my money. So Mac, if you ever decide you need to sell a light and you are ready to build it right away, I know now exactly what I want. Just ask.

I'm glad I saw this thread. I was ready to order my first light from Mac in June 2012 and I emailed Mac's site with a few simple questions I couldn't answer through his site info re mode sequence choice and current emitter choice(s) as well as was 6 weeks a somewhat realistic lead time for a Ti/Tri EDC? Never heard anything...? Resent same email early March this year and still no word. I finally abandoned the idea of owning a Mac light.

Well you're all right. One guy over my head trying to figure out a better way to do things and I haven't figured it out yet. I get 100 Spam E-Mails a day on my website which I think I may pull down for the time being. There is a few old orders that where lost when my HD crashed some time ago but I thought they where all taken care off.
Olikken please send me a PM with your E-Mail address.

IMO, Macs light's are well worth the wait and $$, frustrating? Hell yea!

I ordered a copper Tri XPG P60 module from Mac late last year.
Prior to ordering, we had communicated a couple times. Once the lines seem to have gotten crossed; the rest of the time, there was just a day or two lag time in responses.
No confirmation of order placed - other than PayPal was billed.
After 8 weeks, I noticed that another source I've used before was doing a similar project for less. I inquired as to Mac's estimated completion date. He explained he's been dealing with a family emergency, and shipped it out the next day.
Shortly thereafter, I had a customer support issue. eMailed him. Got an answer in hours, and he helped me through it no problem.

Would I appreciate an order confirmation and more/better communication? Sure. Do I NEED it? Not really - as long as I know he's there, working down his que in order to work on my product. While it would be nice if they could manage both, if they've got to choose I'd rather let busy, part-time custom builders work on their builds than their eMail traffic.

Then again, I happily waited over a year for my HDS after being told 5-6 weeks. I have other lights, and just knew it would be all kinds of awesome. Which it is. Just like Mac's triple.

If you can't wait, order off-the-shelf. If you want just what you want by a stand-up guy who can build it, but has other priorities in his life too, then prepare to wait for it.
That's how I see it, anyway.

cmacclel said:

Well you're all right. One guy over my head trying to figure out a better way to do things and I haven't figured it out yet. I get 100 Spam E-Mails a day on my website which I think I may pull down for the time being. There is a few old orders that where lost when my HD crashed some time ago but I thought they where all taken care off.
Olikken please send me a PM with your E-Mail address.

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Amen. Guys, Mac is an artisan and on top of that, a one man show! I own several of his lights and I frequently trade them.
but if you watch the market, his lights often sell for more than he charges on the used/collector market for several reasons. one being that one single man can only do so much. The other being that his lights are cutting edge and are works of art that last darn near forever! There are no custom manufacturers that build better products than Mac or Don and the CPF builders. This ain't Walmart boys! Your light is custom made by the man just for you! They don't build 6-12 months of inventory and go to Tahiti.
I've enjoyed every light I have owned from these guys and not one has given me problems or cost me much to own because they are collector items and as far as the flashlight market is concerned, they are RARE!

Update: I guess my email got picked up by Mac's spam-filter. My Tri-EDC is en route to Norway. Thanks Mac!

That's good, congratz :thumbsup:

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Olikken said:

Update: I guess my email got picked up by Mac's spam-filter. My Tri-EDC is en route to Norway. Thanks Mac!

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YEAH!!! Congrats! I know you'll enjoy it!

Colonel Sanders said:

.....My last email was questioning which would throw better, an XP-E2 driven hard or an XP-G2 at 2.8a? And then the crickets started chirping.

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Can't imagine how hard it must be for somebody having to put up with such inane questions. How the hell is Mac or anyone else supposed to know such a thing. Questions like this deserve exactly what it got... Silence. I think he was just being polite by ignoring you. If you want one of his lights, put in your order and shut it.

How is asking which LED would throw better an insane question? As a light maker Mac has the knowledge and can easily answer that question. You should go ahead and order a light from Mac and see how you handle being ignored and not knowing when you will receive your light.

This thread has been getting my attention too. I have had 3 lights from Mac, and on one of them I waited over 4 months. It's definitely tough especially when it's been such a long time and the light shows up with the wrong specs. I love Mac's lights, but the lack of communication was bad enough that the final light I received wasn't what I had ordered, and this was 4 months down the road.

I love to support the custom builders as Shyan said, it fuels this hobby of mine, but it's hard to put money down again when the past experiences were so frustrating

DTF said:

Can't imagine how hard it must be for somebody having to put up with such inane questions. How the hell is Mac or anyone else supposed to know such a thing. Questions like this deserve exactly what it got... Silence. I think he was just being polite by ignoring you. If you want one of his lights, put in your order and shut it.

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Mate, that's a bit uncalled for.

Of course the guy making your light should be able to answer any and all questions regarding a purchase - especially one as financially involved as a custom build.