The EUs AFX2s are HERE! Cliff! Everyone!

paulmapp8306

Fractal Fanatic
First off, Im really pleased Fractal have moved forward with the AFX2. After owning a Standard for 3 years now im very exited by Fractals products. Im also sure that Fractal could sell every AFX2 it is currently makin in the US with no problems at all.

Thing is, those of us in the EU (and accross the world as far as I know) are being starved. There is a list with G66 - and no opportunity to "que jump" like in the states and no support if we cave and order direct (though thats not possible without cheating anyway, but I know some who have).

Cliff could sell all his AFX2s over here just as easily as in the US. There is a Strong feeling we are being treated as second class customers over here, and Fractal is at risk of seriously loosing customers - both existing and future.

Im not saying send AFX2s her as a preference - just that we get our share.

G66 had one Very small shipment - no more than a few demo pieces - back in Jul - and have just (last couple of days) sent a further shipment. This shipment is less tha G66 expected. It is just about enough to satisfy customers who orderd ULTRAS BACK NI 2010. Theres not enough to cover any 2011 orders for Gen 1 units - let alone anyone who actually ordered an AFX2.

Seeing posts in other threads where cliff has stated he has dispatched hundereds of units (the one about the power up bug - he uses these efigures to show its an isolated issues with a few units), just makes things worse. Hes shipped hundereds and the EU has had a handfull to date?

Rant over - and as I started by saying, I do appreciate the work Cliff has done to develope this product and I appreciate the demand for the units - just asking for the correct share for us lower class citizens over the pond. Its not as if its the first time - happened with the MFCs and Atomic FRFRs too. Just saying.

O - I can see my box in the corner - I going to crawl back in it now.
 
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To be honest your rant is legitimate, especially after such a long time and the continuous delays.. I placed my order in march 2011 and all I kept receiving is a bunch of mails from g66 with "the shipment delivery has been delayed" or "this shipment has less units than we expected - sorry, your unit is not included at this time" and so on. I understand all of this has been huge and everything... but as much understanding as I can be I can't help but feel we are indeed being left aside.
I never felt like ranting up until now but after the last email my endurance is starting to falter (especially since I had to sell my old rig to afford the gear upgrade).
Having had friends dealing with the 1st gen axe fx I remember the situation was indeed similar but to be perfectly honest I don't recall it being this bad.
Isn't there any chance we can get some help or having someone shed some light with a clear, honest answer?
 
hi friends of misery !
the situation is exactly the same here in france .
i know.... most of you in the usa, are laughing the louder you can just by reading "France"...

"where is it?
do they really play guitar ?
oh, they speak english? he is probably using google translation ahahaha"

but let me say, that our feeling is exactly the same as what paulmapp8306 wrote
at this moment the exasperation is the common feeling, and it is at the highest point.

the only 2 or 3 units here comes from usa via ebay...... yes da bay!!!
were are crying for units , after ordering them in may, and there are dozen of axe fx II "new in box" on ebay from usa customers, that don't care about the axe II except the cash they could have by selling them.

it is really unpleasant to feel like a second class customer, after paying 2300 euros (3300 $)

hope, it will change something...... but not sure

arnaud
 
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These are valid points and ones I've tried to get polite answers to during my 10+ month wait. Sadly I've only ever been replied with " Stop whining " from the users and to date, nothing from FAS themselves. For what it's worth, it's not just EU. Canada and Australia seem to be in the same situation too. In the bigger picture, we all have to wait. It would just be useful if the points myself and others raised were addressed.
Namely : Why are G66 always getting less than they expect ? Why are you giving them dates which they act on which can only frustrate them as much as the customers ? I understand you're all working 24/7 to get the units out there but the balance of where they are going is confusing from a world market point of view. TM got plenty, the stock is climbing all the time but surely it would be fair to honour those who as people have rightly pointed out have no alternative but to wait for the EU supply ? At least make the FAS store worldwide ? Since the customers will be paying P+P and all the taxes, you're not going to make any less money per unit. Even though one is now coming my way, I feel for those who are stuck in the same situation I was. If everyone had to wait 10+ months with no information then it would be a different story, but the FAS store shows the stock, Cliff himself said how many TM units were out and when they were sent so to an outsider it is hard to see it any other way then customer bias. Good luck to those waiting and hoping in the future, waiting a long time or not at least accurate information for stock numbers + dates are available worldwide, not just in the US ?
 
My worries are the same too,so i asked Sussi from g66 once more the same question about the quantities,to get a reply like this:

''It's really difficult to say anything precise at the moment - we should get
huge quantities very soon and still hope to get yours (February 2011) with the September
shipment. We just can't tell any date at the moment and we don't know yet
how many units we will get with the September shipment.''

It seems there is a no-communication/information thing going on between fractal and g66.No plan at all,at least this is what i get
Axe fx has made its huge success worldwide... time maybe to move on in terms of hiring personnel?
 
+1 i hope europe gets units fast but to be honest i am (was) on the september delivery list, and after getting the last email from G66 i get the
feeling that january 2012 will be more realistic instead of september..

On the other hand we all need to be patience because it is in the same interest from Fractal to deliver as fast as possible.
 
My worries are the same too,so i asked Sussi from g66 once more the same question about the quantities,to get a reply like this:

''It's really difficult to say anything precise at the moment - we should get
huge quantities very soon and still hope to get yours (February 2011) with the September
shipment. We just can't tell any date at the moment and we don't know yet
how many units we will get with the September shipment.''

It seems there is a no-communication/information thing going on between fractal and g66.No plan at all,at least this is what i get
Axe fx has made its huge success worldwide... time maybe to move on in terms of hiring personnel?

Maybe it isn't a lack of communication, it could simply be that fractal don't know how many units they can build so g66 can't say for sure how many they will receive.

I just hope it is as much as they can build, I'm in the list too
 
its not just the communication sissues - though thats bad enough, its the actualy supply.

In the US there is a list at TM - the same as G66. BUT there is also an unofficial list with a 2discount" coupon if people want to wait for that. That list for AFX2s (Note AFX2s NOT 1st Gen units) is being serviced. On top of that - if you cant wait or are not on a list you can buy direct from the shop. you pay a little more but you can do that. While difficult at first, this methos now seems to be getting quite a few units, and customers who want on now generally seem to be getting them.

In the EU there is one list, not two. There are no options to get one now. this may actually be a good thing (after the issues raised in the US from people on the list) BUT G66 dont have any units to offer this service even if they could and wanted to. to add to that, the units currently being supplied arnt even to people who ordered an AFX2 - there from existing Gen one units. Top marks for G66 handling this issue well - but Fractal dont seem to get it - neither do a lot of US users.

Were not after special treatment. Were after FAIR treatment. IF Fractal asked, and found they had 500 on their list, there were 100 on the TM list and 400 on the EU list - thats 1000 waiting. If they made the desicion to release half their available units to list customers and half to open market customers fine. But firstly to be fair that "open market" has to be world wide NOT just US customers, and 2nd the 50% that DO go to list customers should be split evenly accross those lists. So for every 1 TM gets, the EU gets 4 and Fractal sent 5 coupons out.

That would be fair - thats not happening. Fractal are sending the signal that if your not a US citizen, then tuff. youll get one when we get round to you. that is NOT customer service in a Global market.
 
why even have 'international distributors if you send them nothing?

pulp_fiction-bible.jpg
 
As I stated in another thread, if all things were equal and I represented a customer ordering an FAS product ( which realistically I am, but in this odd situation, am not ) then the reality would be : No-one is supplied a single unit in 10+ months, no legitimate and polite question is answered.
This would be the death of any company. As a business monkey for years, customer is king and yes, your John Petrucci's aside every non famous client should be treated with the same attention and respect regardless of geographical location.
The assumption is people online know nothing of business because they just sit down all day. Having run 3 succesful businesses, from my experience, just as a black and white flyby this is how I would handle it :

I have a product that although commands a high price, covers a huge market of potential customers and clients and is very popular.
I dont want to rush or cut corners and release an inferior product so I need to hire more staff to keep up with demand. If this means I make less profit initially, it doesnt matter, in the long run it means more units will reach the customers and more customer sales = more profit. At the moment Cliff has stated only a few hundred have gone out since the June release. Therein lies the problem.
So you see a huge queue and you have 2 options :
One is to let the queue get longer and longer with a workload that is impossible to keep at a satisfactory level to demand and lose the 100's / 1000's of potential customers / sales.
The other is to hire more staff and increase the supply. If you cant supply 1,000 units in 3 months on a product that cant even clear a waiting list going back over a year in some countries and a couple of days in your own then you know something needs to be changed. FAS has amazing products and although I'm not going to guess how much the parts and labor are, if they can sell them for $2199 and turn a profit in the US ( and command any price they want outside the US ! ) then it makes no sense on any level to work in such a limited production capacity. If you eat into your budget and hire more people + equipment, the production + sale increase alone will not only make you a bigger profit but also allow you to significantly increase your global market. More owners = more exposure = more sales.
As for overseas, just make your store worldwide. Again, the shipping + import costs will all be taken care of by the customer leaving you 1 task only - to get them out the door.
Baffling to see the situation as it is. I sold low profit boring but every day things. If only I had such a product in my hands !!!
Ah well, grass is greener right ?
 
I have nearly posted a major rant several times :) But frankly I feel I'd just be pissing in the wind .... FAS simply don't have the infrastructure in place to meet supply and demand on their only 2 products and seem satisfied to lose sales in both home and abroad. It's a strange and frankly naive business model, especially after 4 years of trading - selling a product that is now widely accepted as the best in it's class and endorsed by some major players.

The friendly forum here maybe gives us all the impression that we are part of the company - but we ain't - so any in depth explanation of policies you might want from FAS is not likely to be forthcoming.

Trying hard not to speculate too much, I think FAS seriously need a business advisor or partner - and if they have one already, sack them and get a good one. To have bulging order books and no way to supply in reasonable timescales is plain crazy! Even a temporary expansion of production until the gold rush has abated a bit would mean a better bank balance to the company in the long run.

G66 - well it's maybe not strictly their fault but they have accepted the exclusive european distributorship so in normal business it's they that have to take the abuse, so passing the buck onto FAS in their correspondence means absolutely fuck all to me. I'm a customer and I want to order and receive goods that they have advertised in great big ads all over the guitar magazines. There is absolutely no indication that the product is 'exclusive' or 'boutique' in those adverts so I do feel I'm being taken for a bit of a sucker.

If one was to bypass G66 and get someone to purchase an AF2 in the US on their behalf or buy from ebay or whatever, does anyone know what the FAS policy is on transferring Warranty cover with a change of ownership? Normal policy would be for the previous owner to contact the Sales or Accounts dept. and notify of a change of owner. Has anyone done this?

Stupid question .... let me rephrase - Have the people who have done this got the Warranty registration transferred to their name ok?
 
As small as the G66 list is in the bigger scale of things, I can see it catching up with the US list.
Around 150 or so on the G66 poll, maybe even less.
At least the EU list cleared November and is 8 days into December now. I just checked the US list. Still stuck on June 19th and not only that, in a week the list has moved not months, weeks, days or hours but mere minutes. Currently it's up to 12:25pm on June 19th.
So once again the baffling question is why are they stocking up in the store at a higher price instead of clearing the lists ? Even more so since the EU markup is 48% higher and 20% tax + postage aside that's still more of a profit than a US sale ?
The mind boggles.
 
The Us list may be moving slowly, but you can bypass the list and get one direct from the store. In the EU you cant. Its something else offered to the US customers that isnt offered elsewhere. Many may not take it - like in the US but at least you have a choice.
 
FAS can maintain their business with the current model because they have no genuine competition.

As soon as another company releases a genuine alternative to the Axe II (and I'd bet my bottom dollar that some big boys are throwing money at the R&D at the moment) then FAS will have to up their game or lose.

I wonder how many offers Cliff has already had for the company ... ?
 
DavidN1978 wrote: This would be the death of any company.
G66 and it´s wonderful service is waiting since an very long time. They sell fractal products exclusively. How long can they survive? A death of that company would be a disaster.
 
the answer is probably simple: fractal makes less profit by selling these through G66 as their european distributor than they would by selling them straight to customers in the US. not to mention the hassle of international shipping, european bureaucracy, customs, etc... why take the hard road?
 
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