I can't really say how I feel about the drums finally after all this waiting.
The only one who kept up the promised schedule was myself - submitting the payments to RCI on agreed time and the Finnish Courier, who called me up and delivered them up to my apartment. As a matter of fact the Finnish Courier was 30min early, lucky me, I'm on my winter vacation now and available :) Now I have time for other stuff than worrying.
Putting that all aside, can't really say I'd be happy or relieved.
Its time for unpacking and examining the goods.
Foreword:
" I've always dreamt of having drum kit such as Led Zeppelin's legendary John "Bonzo" Bonham had.
I started playing in the 80's with my first drum kit made of wood kind of substances and later, a simple cheap birch kit by Pearl, which I got stuck with for over 20yrs :)
In recent years I slowly started dreaming again about having Vistalites. I've read a lot on their development and improved quality. Also today the info available on the internet is a plenty. There isn't a single drummer who doesn't fancy them, but nobody never really dares to buy them.
Going thru manufacturers and brands, I realised there is a great deal of RCI Stalite distributors. RCI stands for the defacto American "original" quality hand made acryl drums, Vistalites.
I contacted the closest RCI acryl drum dealer in EU called Vistalite.eu which is a Polish dealer. I wanted to find out more about them and the products they are selling. Dealer here being the middle man - not the manufacturer, I asked about the availability of the colors and sizes, presented my wishes and asked for quote.
What was agreed before first payments; color, sizes, hardware included (no mentioning them any specificly which was a bit odd, but I took it they are Professionals and let it be), production time in the US and delivery times were explained to me, 14 (fourteen) days. I figured that a week or less for production is realistic, also that it'd be atleast a week for the shipment to arrive. It was going to be a tight schedule; but hey! They are the ones putting the noose in their own necks !
Polish dealer notified me by email with his bad english in one sentence that the set is as of today in Poland and on Thursday will be sent to you. Ok, the guy is awake and knows where he is on the map. I replied that it is good to know, thank you very much BUT YOU ARE BEHIND SCHEDULE !!!!!! Bump number seven ! Compensation required here !! (Also flashed that to RCI, but they were professional enough to ignore it.) First time reading the email it looked like the Polish dealer meant "Oh, the drums are here but I have time to pick them up at Thursday" - the email was read by other people aswell and was interpreted the same way. But if you read it over and over again, it actually means that the set is in Poland and by thursday (it was monday when this email came, so Thursday was +4 days to already lagging schedule.) it would be sent to Finland.
The info gotten from the Courier company was valid and upon asking for their estimate on the delivery schedule they said its 5-9 days from now. OMG! It is land transport and seems like its low priority (maybe by the Polak's cousins Trabant!) - the Courier company uses a local partner for Finnish deliveries, so what ever can happen when there's added variables. Well... its delayed now for several weeks so what could I do but to wait.
I started playing in the 80's with my first drum kit made of wood kind of substances and later, a simple cheap birch kit by Pearl, which I got stuck with for over 20yrs :)
In recent years I slowly started dreaming again about having Vistalites. I've read a lot on their development and improved quality. Also today the info available on the internet is a plenty. There isn't a single drummer who doesn't fancy them, but nobody never really dares to buy them.
Going thru manufacturers and brands, I realised there is a great deal of RCI Stalite distributors. RCI stands for the defacto American "original" quality hand made acryl drums, Vistalites.
I contacted the closest RCI acryl drum dealer in EU called Vistalite.eu which is a Polish dealer. I wanted to find out more about them and the products they are selling. Dealer here being the middle man - not the manufacturer, I asked about the availability of the colors and sizes, presented my wishes and asked for quote.
The order and details were agreed written down and all was ready to be paid and delivered.
Bump number one ! The order was transferred to RCI directly (but ofcourse, vistalite.eu is a dealer/distributor!) in the US. I was in the impression this Polish dealer has maybe a stock of drums where he can deliver them. Apparently not. My initial intention was to buy the drums directly within EU to save tax costs.
The first contact with RCI owner was welcoming and everything seemed pretty much valid and OK (I was little intimidated by their yahoo.com mail account, international business that has a webmail account ?! Yeah why not if the mails keep flying and communication works...) The progress with the order completion and execution was halted for some time since the calculations of taxes applied to the overall price of my dream fluorescent orange vistalite kit was too much for my wallet. The entire deal was left lingering and I was already looking elsewhere to get my drums from...
Of course when there's money spread there is takers... RCI owner approached again suggesting the deal to be shipped to Poland to the dealer first and then from there on to me in Finland. On paper it looked better than shipping them directly to me. Also it would be more waiting for me because of customs etc.
What was agreed before first payments; color, sizes, hardware included (no mentioning them any specificly which was a bit odd, but I took it they are Professionals and let it be), production time in the US and delivery times were explained to me, 14 (fourteen) days. I figured that a week or less for production is realistic, also that it'd be atleast a week for the shipment to arrive. It was going to be a tight schedule; but hey! They are the ones putting the noose in their own necks !First payment was then hurried to withdraw from me. My credit card account limit was then overdrawn and I left it unnoticed only to be notified to fix it the following day, so that the rest of the payment could be withdrawn. OK, nothing wrong with that - if you're thirsty you should keep milking as long as you need to ;-)
I thought then OK now its "two weeks" wait period and I will get my new drums, wohoo !! Happy Happy Joy Joy, dream becoming reality...
When the two weeks due date was approaching and absolutely nothing was heard either from RCI or vistalite.eu concerning the production or delivery, I emailed and asked for an update.
Bump number two.
I got reply by email from RCI on behalf of the owner explaining there had been power outage in their neighbourhood caused by snow and ice storms. OK, that happens in the east coast. But why I wasn't notified ? Bump number three. They blamed the Polish dealer for not notifying me that the production was at standstill for 5 days ! That is major delay (also unpredictable, it can happen, Mother Nature is a bitch.) I would buy this excuse if it was told to me instead of me having to ask it from them ! This was handled like it was nothing. But blaming someone else on what you should've done but forgot, is not really professional.
I had to send 2 emails and wait 1 day to get a reply on when the drums were due to be shipped from US !!!! Bump number four !
I was assured I am still priority number one everyones list and the drums delivery was delayed even further because a certain color drum hardware was not available. But why do did they think delay upon delay is not worth mentioning me ? Their schedule is busted !! I am waiting and waiting. Bump number five !
It became apparent that RCI wasn't keeping up to the agreement on the schedule anymore. Eventhough they kindly airfreighted the shipment without additional extra-cost. I replied by email that there will be no talks of extra costs and you will keep your end of the agreement by sending it at your own cost since its the least thing you could do. By the way, if the delivery as air-freight was already paid, why was it necessary to put it out like it is nonstandard or something unusual ? Bump number six ! I was told I'd be notified "the next" day when the shipment actually leaves the US. OK, I waited... the next day I heard nothing from RCI. Bump number seven! I guess I was dropped from priority one on their list, since I got a notify by email the "next day." Oh well, if the order is delayed by production delay, drum hardware availability delay, it was also delay in communication.
By this time the languange in the emails got very colorful. I did not hide my disappointment on their lack of progress and poor customer communication skills. Letting off steam helps ! But it can't make the disappointment go away !
Yippikayee, the US leg of the tour de drum was to be over and rest of the trip was to be a quick and easy. You know its the olde continent and distances aren't that big :) I was happy the impolite RCI with their "guessing game" customer communication skills were not longer my problem.
By this time the original agreed delivery time of 14 (fourteen! its 1 and 4 :D ) days was delayed by approx 6 days. Unfortunate for me, but not much, acceptable.
Polish dealer notified me by email with his bad english in one sentence that the set is as of today in Poland and on Thursday will be sent to you. Ok, the guy is awake and knows where he is on the map. I replied that it is good to know, thank you very much BUT YOU ARE BEHIND SCHEDULE !!!!!! Bump number seven ! Compensation required here !! (Also flashed that to RCI, but they were professional enough to ignore it.) First time reading the email it looked like the Polish dealer meant "Oh, the drums are here but I have time to pick them up at Thursday" - the email was read by other people aswell and was interpreted the same way. But if you read it over and over again, it actually means that the set is in Poland and by thursday (it was monday when this email came, so Thursday was +4 days to already lagging schedule.) it would be sent to Finland. I replied the Polish dealer asking why on earth I was given an über optimistic schedule, which you seem to wipe your ass with ?! It is disrespectful and outrageous let alone very unprofessional. Well, I was assured that he's doing everything in his powers already to make the drums leave his hands. Obvisously he had other engagements aswell, since the promised Thursday turned to Friday and that day was a better day to take care of the shipping the drums to Finland. Bump number eight ! I did not compliment on the delay or send flowers. I lashed out a angry letter reminding on the agreed documents needed for the shipment and asked for details on the delivery. It really doesn't show the least bit of professionalism since I have had to dig out every single detail by myself (and to this day I don't have a clue what size tom arm fits the black gibraltar rims tom holders. I know, I never asked, but... I thought these guys are professionals, they'd tell me !) Bump bump bump bump !!!! I specificly asked for a tracking code, and was under the impression the shipment will be air-freight again. No reaction to my request. Also no tracking code was given.
Once again, I was given a delivery estimate of "max 5 days" delivery which I reluctantly accepted, what else could I do ? I thought that if its a customs issue or the courier handling takes time, 5 days is realistic.
I waited over the weekend and on Tuesday (max 5 days was due on Wednesday) I decided to contact the Polish dealer, since this drum order really needs babysitting and the entire drum order lacked backbone. He answered my email promptly that the drums are in my city and the Courier has tried to contact me, I was unavailable for some reason and they've contacted him back in Poland for more instructions. He would call the Courier company again things would be sorted out. No worries ! MAJOR BUMP !!!!!!!! Little did the Polish dealer know that I had already independtly been in contact with the Courier company concerning the delivery and they had very differing info ! Delivery was not even near Finnish borders and definetely on destination !!!!! Bump bump ! I told this info to the Polak and said that it is very disrespectful and unprofessional handling. This is not how you should conduct business and have succesfull customer relationships. I waited for two days for reply. The guy hasn't been heard from since.
The info gotten from the Courier company was valid and upon asking for their estimate on the delivery schedule they said its 5-9 days from now. OMG! It is land transport and seems like its low priority (maybe by the Polak's cousins Trabant!) - the Courier company uses a local partner for Finnish deliveries, so what ever can happen when there's added variables. Well... its delayed now for several weeks so what could I do but to wait. Oh but there's something I could do... write a nice email to RCI owner about his Polish dealers doings :) I did not spare my kind words this time either. I made sure to speak my mind; spare no words; disappointed, unprofessional etc.
Seems like the RCI owner has left for Frankfurt Musikmesse or went on holiday with my money or something, since I got reply on his behalf about the excellence of RCI concerning the order and it is common to deliveries got delayed by customs (not the case here! I was told of other problems, no customs related delay !) All in all, I got a history lesson I wasn't interested in the least bit, since my concern was still in the future and forecoming... the chronologic listing of the phases of the order was presented could only interpreted as RCI cleaning their desk, trying to explain their point of view. They really are clever in keeping not to comment on what was agreed and divert that by comparing how things were done with previous customers cases. "There is normally a 3 month waiting period" - OK, that's new information to me, not mentioned in any step of the order, should not concern me and my order since we're in an agreement confirming otherwise, 14 days !!! When the customer has paid all, he can wait and no schedule applies. Is it the RCI company standard procedure ! However I stated I will be contacting my bank and cancelling all the credit card payments. That will be my bump gift to them.
I know a drum delivery with my name on it is on the road somewhere but not sure when it arrives or will it arrive at all ?
What do they think I would feel and think each time I look and play the drums - their company logo staring right back at me and it associated with deep disappointment !!!!!!!!
I've lost interest in having them, thanks to RCI Starlite International and Vistalite.eu for destroying my dream on having Vistalites. "
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