SFF Lab ordering experience?

[Jrasero]

So I am pretty committed in getting a NCase M1 since there really is not anything like it even at $195 ($220 shipped), but I am a little worried about the shipping.  On 7/4 I ordered a black version but the next day decided I'd rather have silver, so I emailed CS and was told I needed to cancel my original order and replace it.  So That day (7/4) I ordered the silver case and it said any order placed before 7/8 would ship by 7/11. 

 

One I am a little surprise that SFF Labs completely takes the funds from your card and not just authorizing before it ships, thus any cancelled orders are actually refunded 

 

Secondly when I check on my order online it now says order can't be edited or canceled  because the order is processed but when I go to the track order section it says my order is still processing.  I emailed customer service again and Dan replied: "the case is on preorder for August 1st shipping".  WTF what happened to 7/11.  A course I have emailed him back but they respond every other day it seems and they have no phone number.

 

While I was willing to wait a couple weeks, hoping to get it by the end of July, now hearing it will ship at the beginning of August is like torment.  Has me thinking whether I should just say screw it with a 12.6L case and just get the Evolv Shift even though it is at 22L and save $100+ or wait for the raijintek Ophion Evo

 

 

[Guest]

Lian Li makes the cases for them, so they have to order in quantities that make sense. This leads to batch cut-offs that can seem confusing. The communication is somewhat lacking, likely due to how small an operation they are, but it's a worthwhile case. I got screwed by customs and had to wait 28 days even though they shipped the case fairly quickly.

 

SFF Lab is a boutique case design company, not really a case manufacturer, so the mindset has to be a little different when approaching such a product. 

[Jrasero]

6 minutes ago, Densetsu said:

Lian Li makes the cases for them, so they have to order in quantities that make sense. This leads to batch cut-offs that can seem confusing. The communication is somewhat lacking, likely due to how small an operation they are, but it's a worthwhile case. I got screwed by customs and had to wait 28 days even though they shipped the case fairly quickly.

 

SFF Lab is a boutique case design company, not really a case manufacturer, so the mindset has to be a little different when approaching such a product. 

I totally understand that thus the $200+ price for just the case, which I am willing to pay.  But boutique doesn't excuse mis information or lack of communication IMO.  I get these are small batch computers and like I said for me there isn't anything that reaches this level of quality at 12.6L and supports dual AIO otherwise I gladly would have spent my money elsewhere if there was a true alternative.  Just venting a bit about the ETA since I only paid for standard shipping, I don't expect it to get to me the in 2 days after it ships  

 

I looked over the site again and no where does it say the M1 is on preorder.  However they have edited the site to say orders placed by July 15 will ship by July 18th.

 

Also I am Just noticing that the site says: 

Some M1 variants are on pre-order!

Orders of Black NO ODD Slot, Black and Silver with Window placed by July 29th will ship by August 1st. The Black and Silver M1 with Window DOES NOT include the Fan Bracket and 3.5" Drive Cage due to interference.

 

Hopefully Dan thought I placed a Window version and it really will ship by the 11th?  Either way poor communication 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Jrasero said:

I totally understand that thus the $200+ price for just the case, which I am willing to pay.  But boutique doesn't excuse mis information or lack of communication IMO.  I get these are small batch computers and like I said for me there isn't anything that reaches this level of quality at 12.6L and supports dual AIO otherwise I gladly would have spent my money elsewhere if there was a true alternative.  Just venting a bit about the ETA since I only paid for standard shipping, I don't expect it to get to me the in 2 days after it ships  

Yeah, don't get me wrong. Not saying that's the way they should be running, just my observations on how it went down for me and a few others who bought cases at the same time. 4 of us ordering saw 1 being being pushed to a later batch simply because they could not order any more from Lian Li. Having a lot of your business at the mercy of a supplier means that you give misinformation because your information may not be accurate (unintentionally).

[Jrasero]

5 minutes ago, Densetsu said:

Yeah, don't get me wrong. Not saying that's the way they should be running, just my observations on how it went down for me and a few others who bought cases at the same time. 4 of us ordering saw 1 being being pushed to a later batch simply because they could not order any more from Lian Li. Having a lot of your business at the mercy of a supplier means that you give misinformation because your information may not be accurate (unintentionally).

Yeah I edited my response w/ new info, but either way it seems my order was pushed to a later batch or Dan has given me some mis information.

 

On their site it now says order placed by 7/15 ship by 7-18

 

however for "Orders of Black NO ODD Slot, Black and Silver with Window placed by July 29th will ship by August 1st."

 

I can't help but feel that he just gave me that date even though I didn't get a Windowed version.

 

 

 

 

[dizmo]

29 minutes ago, Jrasero said:

I can't help but feel that he just gave me that date even though I didn't get a Windowed version.

Mistakes happen, he's not a robot. Also, if this isn't his full time job (which is quite possible), then it's understandable that he replies infrequently.

Also, why do you change your font size? It's horrible to read

[Jrasero]

37 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Mistakes happen, he's not a robot. Also, if this isn't his full time job (which is quite possible), then it's understandable that he replies infrequently.

Also, why do you change your font size? It's horrible to read

very true

 

lol sorry about that, I copied text from their website

 

 

while I never want to see any company fail due to products being copied I am so surprised that no other company has really has anything to compete with this product.  The closest thing I can think of is the Raijintek Ophion Evo but that's 16L and I believe also costs $200.  Just sucks all of the great cases for MITX are all these crowd funded types that might not ever make it into production

 

[dizmo]

9 minutes ago, Jrasero said:

very true

 

lol sorry about that, I copied text from their website

 

 

while I never want to see any company fail due to products being copied I am so surprised that no other company has really has anything to compete with this product.  The closest thing I can think of is the Raijintek Ophion Evo but that's 16L and I believe also costs $200.  Just sucks all of the great cases for MITX are all these crowd funded types that might not ever make it into production

 

You just haven't looked around

• Dancase A4
  He's also working on another case of similar form factor
• Streacom DA2
• CCD MI-6 isn't quite the same, but it's quite small
• Loque S1 MKII

Now, there aren't ones from every company, no. There just isn't enough demand for that to happen. The ITX crowd is still a pretty niche market. I think if a major case maker were to undertake it, they'd rather make something even smaller but have it more proprietary in terms of componentry, that way they make even more profit.

[Jrasero]

25 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You just haven't looked around

• Dancase A4
  He's also working on another case of similar form factor
• Streacom DA2
• CCD MI-6 isn't quite the same, but it's quite small
• Loque S1 MKII

Now, there aren't ones from every company, no. There just isn't enough demand for that to happen. The ITX crowd is still a pretty niche market. I think if a major case maker were to undertake it, they'd rather make something even smaller but have it more proprietary in terms of componentry, that way they make even more profit.

No I have considered all of them but the Dancase size is a bit too small not being to fit dual AIO or even single plus it still is sold by SFF Labs.  Streacom DA2 I like but where can i buy this?  Loque great case but another crowd funded and also very expensive since it's in Euro and a top hat is another 20+ euro

 

Edit: I understand the boutique nature of all they cases but give me a break, I have 200+ to burn and all of the options are back ordered, preordered, or others still waiting for crowd funding.  I understand MITX is a bit niche, just sad that this is what I need to resort to in order to get a computer case it's not like I am looking to get a Tesla or anything 

[Jrasero]

Do you know if the Streacom DA2 can hold dual 120MM aio radiators?

[Jrasero]

So I saw that Quiet PC USA is selling the DA2 on preorder, but has the back order of late August.  Doing some more research I can't see how dual 120MM AIO would work in this case since there are only two attachment rails and in theory there needs to be 4.  Secondly while not huge the case is 17.5 liters.  With a late August preorder date I will without a doubt keep my NCase order unless something better pops up that is either cheaper and/or able to be had much quicker

[Jrasero]

So not getting a response back from Dave at SFFLabs for days I contacted NCaseDesign on Reddit.  Someone surprisingly got back to me asap and at first they said Dave at SFFLabs would need to resolve this, but then sent me another message saying:

"I spoke with Dan regarding your issue, he says the website clearly stated that only some variants would ship by 7-11, and that some were on pre-order.

I also asked whether it would make more sense to show the shipping date the specific selection, and he says that it's a limitation with Shopify (the software the site runs on) that prevents it. He is aware of the problem, however, and he and his webmaster are looking at various solutions to try to better communicate when shipping will happen for specific model variants. In any event, it should be clear that there was no intention to mislead customers."

 

So the problem I have with this is their website clearly had my item shipping by 7-11 so that's BS, it's not my fault Shopify doesn't update stock or dates, I personally had to reach out to SFFLabs to get a true date, customer service at SFFLabs is terrible, they charge you fully upfront, my item is almost a month delayed, in order to get some kind of answer I had to resort to Reddit.  I know some people are going to say, well it's a small boutique company that does small batches, okay sure but at least have the correct info on the web and if a product is delayed reach out to the customer.  I have sent 4 emails to them teetering back and forth whether I want to cancel and the only reason I don't want to is because there product seems that good.  Just piss poor experience so far for what seems like a world class product.  I am sure if I went into a Mercedes dealer and ordered a car with a $500 deposit and it got delayed at least I would be notified beforehand and I would have gotten a free cup of coffee, not some well it's not are fault just the website we use excuse.