Hello Framework Community,
We’ve made it through our first holiday season crunch and we’d like to welcome all of the new Framework Laptop owners into the fold! You are amongst friends and we’re glad you’re here. Yes, there were logistical hurdles that many companies, not only our own, had to jump over to get product out our doors and to yours in the US and Canada. Hopefully you are all enjoying your new shinies and are taking advantage of what your Framework Laptop has to offer.
I wanted to take a moment to discuss a few topics that have been flowing through the Framework Support team as of late to hopefully clear up any confusion that might be out there regarding shipment timing of Framework Laptops, and the difference between Framework Laptop orders and Marketplace orders.
For the US and Canada, barring any outlying circumstances, we’re shipping orders within 5 business days of order placement (weekends not included). We had some unexpected inventory shortages of certain components due to inbound delays from overseas which led to some short delays, but in general, we’re shipping fast. We’ve seen some frustration from folks that have written in to attempt to change their order after a few days only to be told that their order has already been locked, picked, packed, and is ready to go out the door. While we understand that can be a frustrating experience, I’d like to explain why changing or canceling an order at this stage is either very difficult, or impossible, given the fulfillment process. We work with an external fulfillment partner that handles our shipments for us, and once final payment is captured (typically 1-2 days after the inital $100 deposit is captured), we auto-communicate the order to them so that they can process it for shipment. Once that order is in their system and the gears of the machine start turning, it’s hard to stop. When we receive a change request, the order is likely already been pulled from inventory, put together in a package, weighed, sealed, and labeled. Even if it isn’t yet, we have to put in a request to “stop ship” to see if we can halt the entire process, have the order canceled from their system, and verify that everything is scrubbed without errors. Once we verify cancelation, we then have to cancel everything on our side to allow for the process of a refund. This all said, all is not lost, if it does get finalized and shipped, we can simply send you a prepaid return label to send the product back to us, and once we verify receipt, your order will be refunded in full.
As for Marketplace orders, there is no deposit, and we capture final payment up front and in full. That means the order is immediately transmitted to our fulfillment partner for shipment. Once the order is placed and paid for, modification is not possible, and cancellation before shipment is all a matter of timing. We can make the attempt to “stop ship,” but again, we’re not always successful, and we’d need to send a prepaid label out to have it shipped back to us for a refund.
Either way, we’re going to make sure you are taken care of, but it’s just a matter of timing. It’s really important that you make sure that you’ve made all the necessary changes/modifications before finalizing your purchase to avoid unnecessary frustration. If you aren’t sure about your purchase or need more information, please, reach out to Framework Support before completing that purchase. We’re here to help!
Lastly, given the increased global interest in Framework, our mission, and the Framework Laptop, we’re seeing a significant increase in attempts to freight forward our product to countries outside of our officially supported country list. We understand that patience is running thin for customers that are in countries not yet available for us to sell our products in or ship to, but we have to politely ask that you wait for official support as there are legitimate reasons why we have not started shipping to more countries immediately. There are rules, regulations, and laws that have to be adhered to, logistics/fulfillment partners to onboard, language support requirements, commercial invoice creation, VAT requirements, and the list goes on and on. We’ve recently opened preorders for the UK, France, and Germany with shipments coming soon. Preparation for just those three additional countries was a massive undertaking, and we have more countries in the queue for future launch. We can’t commit to or share which countries are next as things are fluid with the items I’ve listed above. Dates can slide based on the work being done, responses that have not yet been received, requirements that are not yet met, etc. We need to make sure we are playing by the rules, and when folks freight forward, we get put in a tough spot as we no longer control shipment from us to you. We’ve lost product because the freight forwarded product gets locked up in Customs due to lack of proper documentation and the customer is unfortunately left holding the bag as we are not authorized to be in said country. We also don’t have official logistics ties to these countries, so we are unable to provide hardware replacement/RMA support should anything go wrong. All-in-all, it’s a terrible customer experience that we have no power over and don’t want to put anyone through. Please, we know it’s tough, but hang in there. We’re working on offering Framework products to more countries globally, but we need to do it in the right way that delivers an experience that you deserve. Thank you so much for your patience.
Wishing all of you an amazing 2022! Thanks for ringing in the new year with us.
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