Goodwear...

[Bender]

Bender, you make a number of fair points, and for the record I have been on both sides of the equation. When I put my first deposit down with GW about eight years ago the conventional wisdom was that you would be up line in around two years. At that time it seemed like everyone around here was putting down a deposit, and everyone was routinely posting about where they stood in the queue.
I still remember the day when a guy from Scotland proudly posted up photos of his brand new GW A-2, a guy who had put his deposit down six months after me, and years after some others here. All hell broke loose at that point, some folks asked for (and received) a refund on their deposit while the rest of us decided to stick it out.
I learned a lesson from the man who had cut the line and started sending John regular emails inquiring about the status of my order, I also began calling his phone from time to time. Imagine my surprise when he actually answered the phone one afternoon and we proceeded to talk for the next half hour about nothing but leather jackets.
And that is how I became part of the in crowd. To anyone who has been waiting years for their order I say you need to get way more frequent with your emails and phone calls. If you want to get the ball rolling. Is that fair? Well, maybe not but it worked for me.

Good advice, I'm glad you're happy with how it worked out.

Photo2You said something to the effect of "It's just a leather jacket", and that's been my mindset since honestly pretty early on during the last six months that I've tried to pick up one of the sale jackets. I've checked the sales page kind of religiously, but that's just due to procrastination, lol. Same way I check the classifieds here for a Freewheelers cafe racer with hand warmers and an inside pocket, or an RMC type III. Never gonna happen, but hey, procrastination, lol.

With the GW sales jackets I've never gotten too close, so never really got salty about it... but this last time, Occam's razor and all that, I was the first guy to reach out. The turnaround from list to my email was like 12 seconds. He just chose to sell it to another guy.

For me, reading the stuff about waitlists that may or may not be completely square, I didn't want to get into placing an order. I figured the sale jackets were a square endeavor, so I gave those a shot. Based on my experience (YMMV), it wasn't so square, so for me, now the "fun" of checking the sales jackets is gone... you need at least the illusion of possible success to make it procrastination-worthy, lol.

GW seem like great jackets... but I don't really care anymore.

 

[JDelage]

I have on B-6 from John. I have another jacket just about to be ready (knocks on wood). Each jacket has been very delayed. John is a typical craftsman / artist. Super dedicated to his craft, loves talking to his customers, horrible at followthrough and communication. I have had the same experience with many craftspeople over many crafts. It's a type.

 

[bigmanbigtruck]

Like mentioned, there's potentially less hassle post-sale to repeat customers and maybe another thing at play here...

Part of the charm of the small makers is that you get to interact with them and maybe even get to know them and understand their craft on a closer level vs e.g. walking into a Schott store and talking to a sales guy. It's a 2-way street, so it goes the other way around where the maker gets to know your appreciation of their work and they would rather see their creation go to a good home, so to speak.

 

[pj_odin]

Bender, you make a number of fair points, and for the record I have been on both sides of the equation. When I put my first deposit down with GW about eight years ago the conventional wisdom was that you would be up line in around two years. At that time it seemed like everyone around here was putting down a deposit, and everyone was routinely posting about where they stood in the queue.
I still remember the day when a guy from Scotland proudly posted up photos of his brand new GW A-2, a guy who had put his deposit down six months after me, and years after some others here. All hell broke loose at that point, some folks asked for (and received) a refund on their deposit while the rest of us decided to stick it out.
I learned a lesson from the man who had cut the line and started sending John regular emails inquiring about the status of my order, I also began calling his phone from time to time. Imagine my surprise when he actually answered the phone one afternoon and we proceeded to talk for the next half hour about nothing but leather jackets.
And that is how I became part of the in crowd. To anyone who has been waiting years for their order I say you need to get way more frequent with your emails and phone calls. If you want to get the ball rolling. Is that fair? Well, maybe not but it worked for me.

This is an interesting conclusion.

In my culture, it is rude to constantly push for an agreed event. It shows that you don't trust the other person.Mentioning this repeatedly is seen as a form of urging, so we think it's polite to make an agreement and wait quietly until the deadline arrives, unless something important changes and the other party must be informed.

But I realize now that I made the mistake of judging others by myself, and it seems that I need to email more

 

[El Marro]

This is an interesting conclusion.

In my culture, it is rude to constantly push for an agreed event. It shows that you don't trust the other person.Mentioning this repeatedly is seen as a form of urging, so we think it's polite to make an agreement and wait quietly until the deadline arrives, unless something important changes and the other party must be informed.

But I realize now that I made the mistake of judging others by myself, and it seems that I need to email more

I think it is rude to be pushy in most cultures, I know I don’t like pushy customers one bit in my business!
And in most situations I would be annoyed if I felt that I had to work so hard merely to get a reply from someone I had put down a deposit with. I’m glad that I did persist though because I feel that the results were worth the hassle with GW.
And as to your point, if you have held back emailing for updates or clarification on your order simply to be polite then I think maybe it is time to be a little more direct and send some follow up emails.

 

[morrison2951]

My only GW is a one-off Admiral Byrd. It's spectacular.