SuinBruin
Well-Known Member
I ordered an Aero cafe racer (in black midweight HH) through Mark Moye's eBay listing on October 1, 2009. Mark confirmed the order within a couple of days, we discussed measurements, and he told me it would be ready before Christmas. Everything sounded good.
I touched base with Mark on one of the jacket details in early December. At that time he reiterated the before Christmas time frame, or that, "worst case," it would be made after the Aero employees return from their holiday break in early January. OK, great, no problem.
Then early February rolled around and still no jacket and no word from Mark. I emailed him again and he told me it's "2-3 weeks away." At that point I was starting to grind my teeth a bit, but I waited that long, so what's a few more weeks, right?
February is over. March is almost gone. I still have no jacket and no update. April 1 will mark exactly 6 months since I ordered the jacket. So I emailed Mark again today and the new time frame I was given is literally "sometime after they return from Easter break on the 5th." So that is at least more than six months from when I ordered, and, reading Mark's update literally, could frankly be at any point in the indefinite future. Hell, at this point it might not be 'til Doomsday (assuming the world doesn't end before April 5, 2010).
Meanwhile, other people who ordered after I did have already gotten their jackets in less than half the time I've been waiting. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=48304 This is frustrating.
Waiting is not a problem in and of itself. I've ordered bespoke hats from Steve Delk and Marc Kitter, and custom jackets from Tony Nowak and John Chapman. Each has involved a wait. But in every instance, I could get reasonable time estimates from the maker in question, and in every case, the maker was an individual craftsman doing things on his own. Aero, by contrast, is a company with multiple employees actively marketing itself on the internet and on eBay (without, I might add, anything about how much time it would take to get a jacket from them). For a retail jacket company to take over 6 months to deliver a product (without any great deal of customization or pattern modification) is, to be charitable, lame. To have such a wait attended by a virtual complete lack of communication is pisspoor.
At this point I could probably get a refund from Mark, but having waited this long and unbelted $675 six months ago I want the jacket, not the money. I also want to be treated like an adult and given reasonably accurate information about time estimates and what might happen to slow things down. Why am I waiting twice as long as other Aero customers to get what I ordered?
Seeing Aero's A-2 offerings and comparing them to those of other makers, and then going through this ridiculous wait, I can safely say I will never order another Aero jacket again.
Thanks for letting me vent.
I touched base with Mark on one of the jacket details in early December. At that time he reiterated the before Christmas time frame, or that, "worst case," it would be made after the Aero employees return from their holiday break in early January. OK, great, no problem.
Then early February rolled around and still no jacket and no word from Mark. I emailed him again and he told me it's "2-3 weeks away." At that point I was starting to grind my teeth a bit, but I waited that long, so what's a few more weeks, right?
February is over. March is almost gone. I still have no jacket and no update. April 1 will mark exactly 6 months since I ordered the jacket. So I emailed Mark again today and the new time frame I was given is literally "sometime after they return from Easter break on the 5th." So that is at least more than six months from when I ordered, and, reading Mark's update literally, could frankly be at any point in the indefinite future. Hell, at this point it might not be 'til Doomsday (assuming the world doesn't end before April 5, 2010).
Meanwhile, other people who ordered after I did have already gotten their jackets in less than half the time I've been waiting. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=48304 This is frustrating.
Waiting is not a problem in and of itself. I've ordered bespoke hats from Steve Delk and Marc Kitter, and custom jackets from Tony Nowak and John Chapman. Each has involved a wait. But in every instance, I could get reasonable time estimates from the maker in question, and in every case, the maker was an individual craftsman doing things on his own. Aero, by contrast, is a company with multiple employees actively marketing itself on the internet and on eBay (without, I might add, anything about how much time it would take to get a jacket from them). For a retail jacket company to take over 6 months to deliver a product (without any great deal of customization or pattern modification) is, to be charitable, lame. To have such a wait attended by a virtual complete lack of communication is pisspoor.
At this point I could probably get a refund from Mark, but having waited this long and unbelted $675 six months ago I want the jacket, not the money. I also want to be treated like an adult and given reasonably accurate information about time estimates and what might happen to slow things down. Why am I waiting twice as long as other Aero customers to get what I ordered?
Seeing Aero's A-2 offerings and comparing them to those of other makers, and then going through this ridiculous wait, I can safely say I will never order another Aero jacket again.
Thanks for letting me vent.
