Come on, it’s a for-profit business, not a school project. They’re well-funded, and can hire more people if need be. It’s not rocket science to get a couple of basic things right. Loud and clear, they make it look like they couldn’t care less about a lot of prospective customers. And the effective removal of the pre-existing English language version of their website is the icing on the cake.
My bet is on (c) their strategy is to establish a stronger foothold in certain markets they consider to be key for them, at the expense of an early widespread presence everywhere else.
While I don’t see the rationale for this, since the Framework laptop is a niche product at this point, so I don’t think it’s wise to be so selective about who’s allowed to buy it, it’s a business decision that’s Framework’s prerogative.
But in view of what I wrote above I can’t really give them credit for transparency. One of the previous blog posts was already coming up with all kinds of excuses how difficult it is to sell in the world’s largest free-trade area, making it sound like an endeavor almost comparable to a mission to Mars. And now the laptop sells in Germany, where it ships from Taiwan, but at the same time somehow can’t ship to, say, the Netherlands?
Let’s be clear: it’s not due to some external factors or extenuating circumstances. It’s just by choice. Only admitting this much would count as actual transparency (not that I expect it).
I think they can benefit from honest feedback, and that’s what I’m offering.
Note that that is a drastically simplified overview. Some of those items we get to reuse directly for other countries in the EU (our logistics provider for one) and some need to be re-done entirely (translations, localized support, VAT, and keyboard language production, for a few). We are moving both quickly and deliberately to open ordering in additional countries, and we’re doing so while keeping quality and stability at the bar it needs to be at.
Can you confirm that VAT is included in the UK pricing, and that your Taiwan shippers are geared up to handle UK VAT payments? I’ve been bitten by this before now UK are no longer part of the EU!
I think I will give up the idea of getting a Framework here in Sweden and just get another laptop for now, and hopefully Framework version 2 will be available here when that’s released. Best of luck with the continued release!
@nrp might I suggest using deepl.com , combined with a community check maybe, for the translations. I’m a native Dutch speaker myself but also speak French and German and even as 4th and 5th languages these translations to me seemed odd. Maybe something like crowdin could be used besides an initial better translation.
@nrp One more thing why it’s better and practical to split into Country, Currency and Language settings. Switzerland is a good example. They have 4 public languages. Each language is popular for each specific region in the country. You can check Languages of Switzerland - Wikipedia .
Reading the thread, my 0.02€ is it is the VAT that is causing the major problem. Ge this wrong (especially with typical thin hardware margins), and you are stuffed.
Also, guessing that this might also be a tactic to hold down the number of orders (ongoing supply chain issues). Or then, whoever advised Framework, gave some very strange advice (like you need a country specific store, in that local language)
I even got as far as going through the site (in German), only to discover that the country field is “locked”
Starting to lose hope that my current laptop will be able to last until I can buy the Framework
@H_K
I’m not sure that is an issue.
A lot of times the name credit card is used as a general term to mean payment card, even if it technically isn’t correct. At least in Denmark common speak for a payment card is credit card (at least in my area). Tho i think most are using debit.
I myself have a debit card and have never had any issues using it as card payment even if the field said credit card.
Sites such as kickstarter work fine with delayed payment or sites where the payment is split in two (e.g. preordering of the steam deck where there also is a deposit. Tho the second payment will probably need a second approval).
@Paul_Hoyle Try setting the currenct flag to UK Pounds?
Just pre-ordered mine, very excited! I was expecting the UK to not be among this next set of countries, so very pleasantly surprised. The wait for the Feb shipping date is going to be tough…
Aaaaaand put in my pre-order. The laptop came in around 300-400€ more expensive than I had anticipated, but that still makes it worth it to me. I’m now only disappointed that it’ll take until Febuary to ship, but I guess you can’t have everything.
I also agree that pre-ordering limitations looks strange.
I wanted to use post forwarding service to purchase framework. I understand limitations and drawbacks (no warranty, no return guarantee , double taxes, etc). Several weeks ago I purchased several expansion cards just to test forwarding service. It works fine. I got cards. a-ok. Now I’m trying to order laptop (using same shipping and billing address) and I’m stuck with “no such country in dropdown list”. I don’t understand why limitations are put on billing address here? In my case shipping address is in US. I imagine that there could be problems with returning $100 deposit to 3rd countries? Is that the problem?
When we can expect “no deposit” option for US having that a lot of stuff available in stock already?
