Customer experiences with Aero Leather

[1911 Man]

Oh don't feel bad for me. I expect I will love my jacket when it gets here, and I am exited that you get yours so quickly. This is not my first Aero jacket, so I know how good they are. Plus, they've missed getting it to me in time to wear it until fall, so it doesn't matter if it comes in one more week or eight. I would like to have it in my hands soon, so I know I have it and it is right, but all it will do is look good hanging in the closet.

 

[jimmer_5]

I have been watching this thread with some interest.

I made my order in mid November of 2009. I just found out from Mark that my jacket should be ready to ship as of the 29th of April. By my count, by the time my jacket arrives, it will have been 6 months.

I will admit, the wait has been difficult, and I am no stranger to waiting. I end up buying a lot of things online, so I am used to 1-2 weeks waiting. I also collect custom knives, where the wait can be anywhere between 6 months to 3 years (occasionally more). Most custom knives are delivered within a year, but the key difference is that most knifemakers ask for payment when the knife is ready to ship, not before.

Now I realize that Aero can't do that, but I think part of what makes the wait so difficult is that I had to part with such a large chunk of cash and then wait. I was surprised by how difficult the wait has been - I was really hoping to have the jacket by late February (as the estimate stated) so I could get some wear in before the hot Utah summer.

In any case, I knew going into this that the wait might very well be longer than the estimated 3 months. I am really looking forward to it no matter when it arrives. So long as it fits right, I will be a happy camper.

One cool thing about the waiting time though - I have Scottish heritage, and during the wait I did some research. I was able to find out what clan I came from, and my jacket will be lined with my family tartan. I think that will make it even cooler when it finally arrives.

 

[GriffDeLaGriff]

Pretty cool with the family tartan.

But about payment. I have only dealt with Amanda and I asked her
when I had to pay and she said - when the order is made or when its about
to ship. My first jacket was payed 2 days before shipping, and this jacket was
payed some time after ordering.
(I had most of the money and then saved some every week and then payed when I had it all)

Nest time talk to Amanda and ask to pay before shipping.

 

[Dav]

Payment

I contacted Amanda recently regarding when payment will be requested, I was concerned that my order hadn't gone through properly when I read that others had paid when the order was placed she told me it wouldn't be untill the jacket was ready to ship, is it Aero USA that take the money first and not Scotland?

 

[Spitfire]

When I ordered my Irvin from Aero, Scotland I also gave them my Mastecard number. But the money wasn't drawn unrill they shipped my jacket out.
As it should be:eusa_clap

 

[Edward]

That's how it has operated with me too - Amanda processed my payments only when my jackets were ready to ship. The Bootlegger I ordered just after Christmas (or just before, I think? I'm paying the pre-increase price for that) is now on the way (Amanda notified me yesterday that it was ready to ship); the Waterfront I ordered into January and it arrived within a couple of weeks. Of course I've managed to convince myself that the Bootlegger will be far too small when it arrives.... lol. The same size Waterfront was chosen per Amanda's advice and my decision that (as with the leather) I won't be wanting to wear more than a T-shirt and flannel shirt underneath it, so it should be fine. I opted for the standard Bootlegger with the addition of a zip in the outer breast pocket, two G1-style interior pockets in the inner facing, and button cuffs as per the thirties halfbelt in place of the engineer cuffs on the standard pattern. I toyed with the idea of gonig with cherry, but was advised by Amanda that once made up into a jacket it would be a good deal lighter in shade than I was looking for, so I decided to take a punt on the cordovan (fingers crossed I don't have the bleed problem, but Amanda did advise that that is extremely rare). In the longer term, I want more Aeros and will be looking browns for those - already having a couple of brown jackets, I wanted something just a touch different for this one. Really looking forward to wearing it - still cool enough in the evenings here that it'll get some wear prior to the high point of the Summer heat.

 

[jimmer_5]

That's very interesting - I didn't know that ordering through Aero direct worked any differnet than ordering through Aero USA.

Please note that I'm not knocking Aero USA in any way - they are set up through eBay, which requires them to be paid immediately (eBay only allows Paypal payments for the majority of transactions). I only mentioned paying in advance because I was surprised how much harder the waiting was when I paid up front.

It's a shame Aero raised their prices so dramatically. I have a Highwayman that I purchased on eBay, and I have two orders in with them, but I just don't think I could justify another at the new prices.

 

[Edward]

The price rise was a shock - I'm kicking myself I didn't order the Waterfront before Christmas - but that said, I think they had had the same prices for some years, and everyone else in the same niche market seems to have done the same, so they're still competitive. If as many of their orders come from the US as it seems, chances are the strength of the dollar against the pound has a lot to do with it. On the reverse, I nearly ordered a Goodwear A2 last year, but when I had the money together and checked the exchange rate, the drop from a high of USD2.20 to GBP1.00 to around USD1.50 to the GBP1.00 was enough to take it from affordable @around GBP400 to out of the budget @ GBP600 or so. So I do know what you mean about being priced out of the market, albeit that in my case it was down to currency fluctuations rather than John raising his prices. Still, at least with the popular models you might well score something again on eBay at a great price - I seem to regularly see Highwaymen on there selling for around the GBP250-300 mark, which is a significant saving on the new price.

 

[DoubleXX]

"is it Aero USA that take the money first and not Scotland?"

-If you buy it off ebay you'll obviously have to pay first and then wait for it to be made. I bought a Grizzly jkt off the ebay site in November and it's just now on it's way to me. I too was promised it would be done in February. Mark has been patient with my many enquiries (as he should be...we are the customers after all), but I wasn't too happy with the constant delays and having to pay up front. Hopefully the jacket will live up to expectations...

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I also collect custom knives, where the wait can be anywhere between 6 months to 3 years (occasionally more). Most custom knives are delivered within a year

I'm still waiting for a Randall #19 I ordered in 2007. It's coming in 2012! Sorry for the hijack.

Edit: to keep this relevant, I'm still waiting on my Veste de Rallye to come back from Aero. It's been about 9 weeks now.

 

[narwhale]

I've been in touch with Mark, and I'll probably place my order next week. He said the wait is around 4 months at the moment, and I noticed on the ebay page that he's limiting orders to around 12-16 jackets/month to keep the wait down a bit. He also said that he could take a deposit if I'd rather not pay up front on ebay. I've saved up the cash already, though, and you can save a bit of money with Bing Cashback on ebay.

 

[westinghouse]

I believe that if you do not customize the jacket, the wait is shorter than if you do.

 

[RLM]

I ordered my LHB with alpaca lining, G-1 pocket and an extra inch in the body length after Christmas. Mark said the order wouldn't get processed until Aero returned from Christmas/New Years break (January 7th, I believe). He told me 8 to 12 weeks. I emailed him about three weeks ago, at roughly the 10 week mark, just to check in. He said it would probably be a week or two after Easter before my jacket shipped. We're coming up on three weeks after Easter, so if I haven't gotten it by next weekend, I'll shoot another email to him to check on the status. Its tough to wait, but I know bugging him every week or so won't make it get here any faster. I'll have to crank down the A/C just so I can wear it around the house and get it broken in good before next fall.

 

[Navin323i]

That's very interesting - I didn't know that ordering through Aero direct worked any differnet than ordering through Aero USA.

Please note that I'm not knocking Aero USA in any way - they are set up through eBay, which requires them to be paid immediately (eBay only allows Paypal payments for the majority of transactions). I only mentioned paying in advance because I was surprised how much harder the waiting was when I paid up front.

It's a shame Aero raised their prices so dramatically. I have a Highwayman that I purchased on eBay, and I have two orders in with them, but I just don't think I could justify another at the new prices.

I ordered directly from Mark versus eBay... that way I didn't have to pay the full price up front and I could pay him a deposit.

 

[Navin323i]

I believe that if you do not customize the jacket, the wait is shorter than if you do.

That shouldn't be the case with me... my jacket is heavily customized and I've been repeatedly told that my jacket should arrive in June - exactly 12 weeks since I placed my order.

 

[SeanH]

That shouldn't be the case with me... my jacket is heavily customized and I've been repeatedly told that my jacket should arrive in June - exactly 12 weeks since I placed my order.

I was told in February that we were on schedule for mid-February delivery. Then in March the word was that it was "in the cutting pile" and would ship at the end of the month. Then at the end of March it was supposed be shipped right after they got back from Easter break. I remain jacketless.

Things I don't like:

Paying 100% up-front when others didn't (transaction not conducted on ebay).

Watching people who ordered after me receive their jackets.

Original completion estimate was a complete fabrication.

Estimate @ allegedly 2 weeks out (when things should be predictable to within a day, barring national disasters) was laughably off the mark.

No explanation as to why dates are missed. In fact, no word whatsoever when dates go by, unless I bug Mark. Come on, it takes one minute, and it's just common courtesy to drop an e-mail to a customer telling them you aren't going to do what you said you would do when you said you would do it. And in any business I've ever been in it's really preferable that this happen before the promised day, somewhat acceptable if it happens on the day, and totally unacceptable to let weeks go by and say NOTHING - REPEATEDLY.

 

[Edward]

I'm inclined to cut them some slack. I waited longer than I originally anticipated, but I figured it wouldn't make things any faster by wasting their time asking them about it all the time. [huh]

As to gthe order things arrive in.... I don't know exactly how they operate, but I would have assumed that they have specific staff working on specific styles.... if they have two staff members working on A2s and two on civilian styles, and double the number of orders for civilian styles, inevitably you'd have to wait longer for a civilian style. I ordered my waterfront after my Bootlegger, and it arrived within two weeks. I speculate, of course, but this is what makes sense to me.

 

[1911 Man]

I was told in February that we were on schedule for mid-February delivery. Then in March the word was that it was "in the cutting pile" and would ship at the end of the month. Then at the end of March it was supposed be shipped right after they got back from Easter break. I remain jacketless.

Things I don't like:

Paying 100% up-front when others didn't (transaction not conducted on ebay).

Watching people who ordered after me receive their jackets.

Original completion estimate was a complete fabrication.

Estimate @ allegedly 2 weeks out (when things should be predictable to within a day, barring national disasters) was laughably off the mark.

No explanation as to why dates are missed. In fact, no word whatsoever when dates go by, unless I bug Mark. Come on, it takes one minute, and it's just common courtesy to drop an e-mail to a customer telling them you aren't going to do what you said you would do when you said you would do it. And in any business I've ever been in it's really preferable that this happen before the promised day, somewhat acceptable if it happens on the day, and totally unacceptable to let weeks go by and say NOTHING - REPEATEDLY.

Since I sent my jacket back in December, while I have been waiting for the replacement, Mark has NEVER contacted me. I emailed him at the end of March just to inquire, and he told me "not until after Easter", but was not more specific. I don't want to bug him, it's not going to get my jacket here any faster. I'd hate for him to get irritated and cancel my order, I've waited much too long for this jacket. Plus they make such a great jacket I'm willing to wait longer. I don't want to order from any other company.

 

[SeanH]

I'd hate for him to get irritated and cancel my order, I've waited much too long for this jacket.

This is sad. He should really hope his customers don't get irritated and cancel their orders. I don't want to do that, because it would make this a gigantic waste of time with no payoff, but I feel like I'm not really a customer. I'm more like a victim.

 

[SeanH]

I'm inclined to cut them some slack. I waited longer than I originally anticipated, but I figured it wouldn't make things any faster by wasting their time asking them about it all the time.

If communicating with a customer when a delivery date gets missed is a waste of Mark's time maybe he shouldn't be dealing with customers. I don't think an update of what's going on when they fail to deliver is an unreasonable expectation. It's standard procedure, everywhere.

And I don't really understand what their problem is with their estimates in the first place. They know how many orders they have backed up. They know how long it takes to produce jackets. Simple math should get them in the ballpark. Is that too difficult?

As to gthe order things arrive in.... I don't know exactly how they operate, but I would have assumed that they have specific staff working on specific styles.... if they have two staff members working on A2s and two on civilian styles, and double the number of orders for civilian styles, inevitably you'd have to wait longer for a civilian style.

Okay, I think I've got it figured out... Let's see, 8 weeks means 16 weeks, unless it's a civilian jacket, in which case it will be no less than 20 weeks, and anything custom on a custom jacket will be an additional 8 weeks plus the obligatory 2 to 50 week wait on the alterations to get the custom work corrected, once the customer has admitted the errors made when ordering and returned the jacket. If ordered through Mark, add another 8 weeks to all times, and in all cases the two weeks around any major or minor holiday will not be counted. For bothersome inquiries, add another 6 weeks.*


*All times plus or minus 38 weeks, with an additional 4 week Icelandic volcano factor.