ShopBLT - More TM Warthogs on the way!

[RSharpe]

Oh my god holy crap:

 

Ship date pushed back AND priced raised by almost 25%

 

http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=enter&thispage=01100200U025_BDE6442P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!#Availability

 

Canceling my order, that's a clear case of bait-n-switch if I've ever seen it.

 

How much was the original price? It's now $515.75. I'm glad I didn't place an order with these guys and have gone somewhere else.

[Wicaeed]

Original price was 405 INCLUDING shipping.

 

At least that's what it says on my order form.

 

Note that they haven't actually billed for it yet. I'm eager to see how they are going to try to extort an additional 115 bucks out of me

[kylania]

Original price was $405.76. I'm tending towards bait and switch myself now as well. I've emailed three of their customer service people and each has been even more staggeringly unhelpful then the previous.

[ESzczesniak]

I'm looking for suggestions on other shops to order this from within the USA? I don't care where the shop is actually located, but some won't ship this to the USA (amazon.co.uk for example). I pre-ordered at BLT, but they look to very much be performing a bait and switch game and will be cancelling my order unless they can confirm that our pre-order price will hold.

Edited November 1, 2010 by ESzczesniak

[kylania]

There's really none. Flim got a few in, had one in stock a few hours ago. All the other online retailers are all out of stock, Amazon's never heard of it, futurepropcsomething.com said In Stock, but when I called them they said 'Out of stock till the 15th'.

 

Ordering from Europe seems to be the only way to get this damn thing.

[Bwaze]

It's not the only price increase I've seen. Several European shops raised their prices as well, for instance Amazon.fr:

 

http://www.amazon.fr/Thrustmaster-Warthog-Joystick-Throttle-anglais/dp/B00371R8P4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288648286&sr=8-3

 

442 EUR + shipping now. Also, most of the cheaper European shops that sell for around 360 EUR and claim they have it in stock don't really allow you to make the purchase, right at the end of filling the forms your order is cancelled.

 

It looks like we might be looking at the increase of price and limited availability for a while. Hey, it worked for the graphics card market. :(

[kylania]

It looks like we might be looking at the increase of price and limited availability for a while. Hey, it worked for the graphics card market. :(

 

Well, we're facing no availbility now, so no big change. :noexpression: I'll probably just hold on to my $405 order from BLT and if I get it, I get it. If they try to charge me $515 I'll cancel and never buy from Thrustmaster again, simply not worth the hassle. Hey TM marketing idiots, I hope you're listening... This isn't the kind of thing you want your customers to be saying. Right now I'm just done with TM, no matter how nice this vaporware stick is.

[ESzczesniak]

...Ordering from Europe seems to be the only way to get this damn thing.

 

Well, truthfully I'm willing to do that. Anyone have suggestions on good places? From what I'm seeing, this is going to cost $500ish now that BLT upped their cost. It appears that many places in Europe will be $500ish since we don't have to pay the VAT tax. If the place has them instock, I'm likely to get it about the same time anyway.

 

So, any suggestions?

[PoleCat]

Yes suggestion....Don't panic.

 

If you pre-ordered at a lower price it is unlikely that BLT is going to tell you that you now have to pay more. That would be bait and switch and I don't think this is the case. Many retailers were selling at lower prices and raising those prices as release gets closer and demand gets higher.

 

Out

[71st_Mastiff]

Fry's electronic store said; their not going to carry it it's to expensive. Sorry TM you wonder why no one was buying at high numbers, theres your problem. Not very good business sense if you ask me.

 

and it probably cost them maybe $100.00 dollars to make if that. :music_whistling:

[Wicaeed]

To people who think the price will not be changed, read the fine print in your order, specifically the part where it says:

 

LEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1) Charges for this order will appear as "SHOPBLT.COM" on your credit card statement.

2) Your credit card will be charged the amount shown.

 

Every effort has been made to ensure information accuracy, however we are not responsible for typographical errors. Pricing is subject to change, and this Purchase Order is not a guarantee of pricing. You will be contacted before order processing, if an item is currently priced higher than reflected on this Purchase Order. You may also be contacted by voice and / or e-mail for verification of your order, especially if your billing and shipping addresses are not identical. If you have any questions, please contact us at the phone numbers or email addresses listed.

 

Logic says that they should NOT have put an order up three months before they even knew what the price was going to be, and it looks like they KNEW the price was going to go up. I hope they end up losing a lot of money due to people canceling their orders with them :mad:

[PoleCat]

To people who think the price will not be changed, read the fine print in your order, specifically the part where it says:

 

LEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1) Charges for this order will appear as "SHOPBLT.COM" on your credit card statement.

2) Your credit card will be charged the amount shown.

 

Every effort has been made to ensure information accuracy, however we are not responsible for typographical errors. Pricing is subject to change, and this Purchase Order is not a guarantee of pricing. You will be contacted before order processing, if an item is currently priced higher than reflected on this Purchase Order. You may also be contacted by voice and / or e-mail for verification of your order, especially if your billing and shipping addresses are not identical. If you have any questions, please contact us at the phone numbers or email addresses listed.

 

Logic says that they should NOT have put an order up three months before they even knew what the price was going to be, and it looks like they KNEW the price was going to go up. I hope they end up losing a lot of money due to people canceling their orders with them :mad:

 

That statement does not mean that they WILL raise the price only that they can. They also elude to this being to protect against typos which is reasonable in my estimation. If you do not mind I will not shoot myself in the foot by canceling my order before I find out that all that you have predicted is true. I would say if they were going to honor the price and you cancel now they certainly won't extend you the lower price again if you re-order later now that the price is higher.

 

If they do raise the price I will be the first to cancel my order on principal. I am just suggesting that we not act rashly.

 

Out

Edited November 1, 2010 by PoleCat

[71st_Mastiff]

rgr that I stoped my cancelation they said there still waiting on the first batch by way of container ship could be another week.

[GGTharos]

That shows incredible knowledge in manufacturing indeed. Would that be $100 for the hall sensors alone or just the switches?

 

Fry's electronic store said; their not going to carry it it's to expensive. Sorry TM you wonder why no one was buying at high numbers, theres your problem. Not very good business sense if you ask me.

 

and it probably cost them maybe $100.00 dollars to make if that. :music_whistling:

[71st_Mastiff]

That shows incredible knowledge in manufacturing indeed. Would that be $100 for the hall sensors alone or just the switches?

 

you do know where they made these right?

[Callsign.Vega]

Wow, I was one of ht first to pre-order at BLT and now they are showing $515.75 and a East coast shipping date of Nov 23rd? This HOTAS Warthog launch is going to hell in a hand-basket.

[Slayer]

For $100.00 cheaper I'll roll the dice and not cancel. I was getting psyched to get it but if they screw us I'll just wait til some college student buys it then realises they were stupid to spend their tuition money and dump it on EBAY.

 

Keep your emails and correspondence, they can put a disclaimer if they want but preorder or not they have to honor it or they will get contacted by attourney generals office and get a thrashing on BBB website.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Slayer

[Slammin]

I don't blame them for raising the price. I mean, everywhere else the price is $500+. They'd be crazy not to. They'd also be crazy to not honor the price offered to us that ordered it before the price increase. I'll be contacting Film, or some other distributor if they do that, as was said, on priciple alone.

 

Really, as bad as all this might seem to some, you should have been around when the Cougar launched. It was pretty much the same, only the ETA to USA distributors was kind of 'known', and it was much farther out than what you are seeing with the Hog. That is why I went with SimWare right from the start. I bought my second Cougar from SimWare only because I liked their service that much.

 

So, BLT know's the business I'm sure. I don't anticipate getting screwed but if they go that route, they lose a customer - forever.

 

At any rate, I in no way blame TM. I still praise them and always will for being brave enough to even take on something like the Cougar and even after the thrashing they got over that product, instead of running away, they learned from it and then brought us the Hog. Sounds to me like TM are in it for real.

[kylania]

I was a click away from ordering from Film this afternoon, but he doesn't take credit cards it seems... I could use Paypal, but wasn't able to without a guarantee I'd get the one he had left, since that'd bork my finances this month. heh :) Film, if you still have it, PM me. :)

[RSharpe]

Car dealerships used to do this kind of thing for certain models of cars a few years ago when the economy was still good.

 

1) Advertise a very low hard to believe price

2) Take order, promise a delivery time

3) delay order one or several times

4) call the client one day explaining how hard the car was to get but that they finally got it. However, the car would cost X% more due to the rarity and demand for the model.

5) customer pays what the dealer is asking for after waiting weeks or months for something they expected to get.

[Mad Dog 7.62]

Well 11-2 has come and gone with no change in my order status...still shows due 11-2. :cry:

[71st_Mastiff]

Well 11-2 has come and gone with no change in my order status...still shows due 11-2. :cry:

 

lol Thurst-masters evil WTO plan. :thumbup:

[kylania]

Well 11-2 has come and gone with no change in my order status...still shows due 11-2. :cry:

 

Yup, the hippy kayak hasn't landed yet.

[Flim]

Guys, I will have a steady supply

 

No worries !

 

Shopblt really shocked me with there price since stick cost is more then they were charging. Honestly, I think someone over there made a big mistake!

[kylania]

Any idea when you're getting more in Flim?