This is how Laguna replied.
Michael,
I most definitely understand (and share) your frustration - it took far longer than expected - we have definitely been taking means to add additional factories to build the frames as the one we have been using cannot keep up with our demands - even though they had promised they could when we contracted them.
One point I wanted to make was concerning the delivery. Our logistics department really did jump through hoops trying to arrange delivery the same day as the originally scheduled delivery. We ship thousands of machines with just about every single carrier every year and can pull in a favor when we need to. Almost without exception, if there is any change in a delivery however, it takes another day to get it delivered. I did not know about you going out of town. So it made things much harder. She finally found someone who would have been able to do it. But then when I relayed the news regarding the window that you would not be available because of your doctor appointment, that carrier opted out of being able to assist. She was then able to pull in another favor by having it stored for us until you got back without incurring any storage fees. She had thought you were going to take delivery when you got back.
The other point was to clear up a misunderstanding about the production of these lasers. I saw in a post that you thought we sent them to a third party to be built after we receive the frame. We do all of the work on these in house in this building. When I read through one of our email threads, I'm guess the misunderstanding stems from me using terms like "I checked with them" and "they are saying" etc. But I was referring to our own in-house production team.
And again, sorry for all the headaches this has caused for you - I know I stated this before, but I really do not like disappointing any customer.
Best,
Rick
My Response:
Rick,
First of all Delivery should have been much much earlier (months to be exact it is what You Promised), that delay was not my fault, if the machine had been anywhere remotely on the original schedule, then my being out of town would have never been an issue. As to my trip, it was scheduled two Months before you even tried to ship, heck the machine should have been delivered prior to me even scheduling the trip. You also informed me that I would receive an email with tracking information as soon as the machine shipped, which I never did. If this tracking number and shipping information had been sent in a timely fashion, jlike I was told that it would be, this would have given me more time to address the issue that should have not came up to begin with bc you told me Saia could handle it. But when I tried to schedule delivery this was when they told me that they would not deliver to my residence. You were well aware of the possible delivery issue before you shipped the machine, and left it up to me to handle it. It would have also been nice to know that the delivery was not coming Monday and that your second carrier "opted out". Your company did not inform me of anything. The last I knew it was coming Monday. Laguna left me completely in the dark, it wasn't until Thursday when what I can only assume was the 3rd shipping company left a voicemail trying to set up delivery.
So I refuse to take any blame for this issue because The customer should not have been at your beck and call for delivery. Communications from Laguna was Extremely Poor. If you had communicated better and shipped in a timely manner none of these issues would have occurred. If you had shipped when originally planned and if your carrier could have delivered like you said they could and if you had provided me with the shipping information sooner, then this transaction might have turned out differently. But you let me down at every turn with nothing but excuses and delays. Now your trying to pass the blame onto me for not being a available when you were ready. I waited for 2 1/2 months for delivery after the original date, I'm sorry but my life does not revolve around Laguna Tools and asking me to do so is ludicrous. I'm sorry if you feel differently.
The reason why I assumed the machines were not built in house was because it was extremely difficult to get information regarding the machines from someone who is supposedly in house where they are manufactured and your statements as follows:
"We have 8 of those on back order now - yours is the first in line though! We have definitely been super busy... hopefully very soon the factory will be caught up with our volume of sales."
You informed me on 5/1/17 that the frame had arrived in port. So it took your in-house staff over 5-weeks just to complete assembly and prep for shipping. Obviously that's a problem in my book. From a business standpoint I would be extremely upset if it took an out of house factory to assemble the machine in 5-weeks, but now your telling me your own in-house staff took that long to assemble it. I think you should look In-House to correct some issues.
If you had communicated better, maybe these issues would not have Occurred. By leaving any customer completely in the dark, well that was a mistake on your part.
So mis-information, lack of information, no information, leaving your customers in limbo and not responding, and also the delays on your company's part and the delays on your frame manufacturer part all add up to one disappointing transaction.
Good day.
Michael Grigg
Their final response:
Michael,
Of course you have a right to be upset - sorry that I disagree with the notion that we should have been informed at the wire of your unavailability. I did inform you on May 31 that it would be shipping finally on June 6 or 7. It shipped on the 7th. Getting from California to Alabama can take a week or more sometimes.
Yes, you should be upset that it took so long to get the machine finally shipped! I agree! As far as being informed of your particular delivery restrictions, I didn't even learn of that until long after you were quoted the freight charge. It does sound like you have had a generous amount of experience with truck drivers not wanting to make deliveries - information that if I had known when quoting, I would have been able to properly quote out. From experience I can say that quotes with this sort of special handling adds hundreds of dollars to the quote. I did not think you would accept an additional charge after the fact and again my experience is that Saia has been pretty good about making a delivery like yours. But I also knew that if they had an issue with it, we would make it happen for you. But it was going to add another day at least to the regular ETA for delivery.
As far as the time it took to get the machine built after we received the frame - yours may have been the first in line for that specific model (by the time we were shipping yours, we were already 18 back ordered. But we still had about 30 machines of other models/powers that were ahead of yours. We still have at least another 30 that have been in house since we received the containers that are still in the production schedule/line. It has just not been easy from top to bottom. It will finally level off - we are catching up - but that certainly doesn't help you. Again, I am very sorry we let you down.