The definition of madness is repeating the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome.
So true, Philip. You've opened my eyes. After a year of waiting for my Lunocet Pro, I now realize that my patience and optimism have been quite irrational and badly placed. I don't even have a pre-shipment tracking number to get anxious or hopeful about. I have continually given Ted the benefit of doubt, but there is definitely something wrong with this situation. What makes it worse is that these delays seem to have been rationalized away as problems with USPS and normalized in the business model of making commitments to dealers at the expense of satisfying direct customers. Is this really the case? I don't know! I can't make heads or tails of it.
Take Pan's case, for example. I should be angry over the fact that he has gotten a tracking number (though not yet the fin) after ordering his Luno only a few months ago. My order number has three digits instead of four, but that's not the real problem. I can't really complain about Pan getting his Lunocet before I do because we've all waited too long. In other words, I hope that Pan does receive his fin soon because even his relatively brief waiting period is abnormally long! There is simply no reasonable delay when it comes to these Lunocets.
When you order a custom made monofin, let's say from a craftsman in Russia, and he tells you that you will get it in six to eight weeks, then you can pretty much rest assured that you will get it in the time given, barring problems at customs. I know that this is not an entirely fair comparison, since Ted is making something very innovative, and in doing so he encounters some unexpected obstacles in production, but that is not the problem either. After making a Lunocet Pro it seems that Ted does not respect the sequence of his direct orders, and we have no idea about when he will complete his orders to dealers, so there is no perspective or timeframe in which those of us who are waiting can justifiably expect to receive our Lunocets. Like Carlos, I'd like to contribute to the thread about swimming and diving with the 2015 Lunocet Pro with my own experience of it, but I have no idea when or if that will be, and that is really the problem. I'd also like to hear the answer to the question posed by Stephan Whelan above, since it seems pertinent regarding these delays.
Ted, if you're reading this, I'm sorry about the harsh critique, but my enthusiasm towards your product could only go so far without actually getting it. You haven't responded to any of my e-mail messages marked "urgent" ever since you promised to send me my Lunocet in early November of last year, quite by surprise. The irony of it is that you also thanked me for my patience and for being such a good customer in that message. I wouldn't be at the end of my patience now if you hadn't promised to fulfil my order back then, putting me in a state of anticipation that lasted for almost three months. This left me with the feeling that my patience and good-will had been taken for granted. As far as being a customer goes, I haven't made a decision yet whether or not to cut my losses and get a refund. I'd much prefer to swim around with the Lunocet Pro I ordered, but it seems that this waiting for a different outcome, as Philip put it, is the definition of madness.
