When Will The Second Batch Arrive??

[MontAmmie]

15 hours ago, Thegoldenone said:

As far as I'm concerned all the dealers prepaid order should have been filled before anyone else gets any units!

But I guess they already have our money so why not try and get some more right?

You aren't the only one irritated by this.  MineLab has used all this "pre-order, prepay, waiting list" buzz very much to their advantage to generate interest in the Equinox.  And some of us have contributed to that buzz by pre-paying/pre-ordering and then participating in various forums/facebook, etc. The very least they could have done is make sure the people who played by the rules and paid for their units months ago got them first.  After all, we are showing quite a bit of good faith in MineLab by pre-paying for a product most of us have never even touched.  I think most people who pre-paid, like me, were under the impression that it was 1st paid, first served. Not cool, MineLab.  Not cool!

[Rick K - First Member]

Minelab never asked or encouraged anyone to pre-pay.  Minelab likewise can not dictate to dealers what the dealer’s payment terms are.  If your dealer is greedy enough to demand pre-payment, then you should be clear over what delivery priority you are getting in advance.

Given that Minelab doesn’t invoice dealers until the detector ships (and the dealers then have 30 days to pay Minelab) - I have little respect for the business ethics of any dealer who demands pre-payment.

Sounds like a lot of folks are waking up to the fact that they should be more careful which dealers they do business with.

i put up a $200 REFUNDABLE deposit via PayPal - a deposit my dealer didn’t ask for - in order to demonstrate my serious commitment.  In return he confirmed my place in his waiting list.

[tsunamiscott]

I ordered through BigBoysHobbies.com and was required to pay the full price even though the detector was months out.  There is nothing GREEDY, or usual, about paying for an item long before you get it.  Back in the day, when you ordered products from a catalog, it could take a month or two to get your order. If you've ever ordered from vendors overseas, it can take months to get your item. Once I ordered a hand made Khukuri from Nepal. That order took 120 days at least to get, and I was required to pay in full beforehand.  People today have little patience.  It's an instant gratification world we live in.  If somebody was clever enough to figure out how to get an Equinox from Cabela's without waiting, then good for them.  I'm sure Cabela's received the same quantity as Smellyco. And since Cabala's doesn't take pre-orders, they just sold them first come first served.  Seems fair to me. Wish I thought of it!

[Norm S]

Pre pay or not. I do know Cabela's had the Equinox listed as  in stock last week. I wanted to check because I know Cabela's is a preferred partner for Minelab. I was tempted but I didn't try and order one. I have been a faithful customer of Bart from BigBoysHobbies for about 6 years. He is straight shooter and is always there to answer questions personally. More often than not the best price anywhere as well but you have to order over the phone to get the best pricing.

I do know he is expecting another shipment by the end of the month but doubted he would get enough to cover pre orders. 

[Rick K - First Member]

Bart at Big Boy Hobbies has a well deserved reputation for excellent service and fair dealing.  If he required full payment in advance for the Equinox, I guess he had a good reason.  My own reasoning on the ethics of the thing might be overlooking some aspect of the Minelab/Dealer relationship which I am unaware of.  For example - in the past, ML had a reputation for tough terms for dealers about taking inventory of lines of detectors which were not “hot sellers”.  If for example, a dealer is required to purchase other inventory which he might not otherwise take on in order to secure orders of EQ’s, then this cost of carrying excess inventory has to be met somehow.

My apologies to any worthy dealer who had good reason for asking for advance payment - it might be interesting, however to hear what some of these good reasons are.

[Terry Greenway]

I've pre-ordered three metal detectors recently through Kellyco & another dealer & Kellyco is the only one I had to pay upfront. I' ve heard very little news from Kellyco on the minelab 800, which I had pre-ordered since Nov. 12th. I'm sure this will be the last thing I will purchase through Kellyco. Just a little disappointed in Tn. Terry.

[MontAmmie]

I guess I must have just imagined that part about MineLab saying they would try to accommodate pre-orders first.....no, wait, here it is on their official homepage:

"*Initial availability will be limited in all regions due to the very high pre-release demand. Dealers will soon be notified regarding local allocations and shipments. Please contact your local dealer for specific availability information. We will be doing our best to get detectors to all customers across February to fulfil pre-orders as quickly as possible."

I don't know about you-all, but that kind of suggests to me that they were well aware that some people had "pre-ordered" and those people would have priority. And no, I'm not just being impatient and wanting "instant gratification".  We are leaving Florida on April 1st.  After that, we won't have an address to ship mine to for 6 months.  

[Terry Greenway]

Yep, that's pretty sad. I e-mailed Kellyco this morning & asked if I might get mine this month? I have received no answer. Terry

[IdahoAl]

I do not know where I stand as far as getting mine from the second shipment but I hope that I do.  If I am I will drive 200 miles to Boise and pick it up, spend the night in Boise and try the machine out on the way home.  If I am part of the 3rd shipment I will most likely be back to work and not make the trip.  Maybe just wishful thinking.  We'll see.......