PSA: Thin-Red Line backorder pre-order... We're idiots

Originally Posted by somatoform

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. But for 40 pounds ($70 CAD), blow me.

Where do you live?

Sad to see a good deal go bad.

I'll be bailing if it's more than 250 aud a pair. I'll just be getting Crockett and Jones benchgrade, my original plan. And 100 aud for shipping is silly.

Ah well.

Start saving for c+j then.

If too many people bail, the prices will probably jump even higher.

Originally Posted by somatoform

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Perhaps the 40 pound shipping could be tempered by their willingness to not offer such fast shipping. I have no problem waiting longer for 20 pound shipping. But for 40 pounds ($70 CAD), blow me.

I will opt for the cheaper but slower shipping definitely if that's the case. Paying 3-5 times the price of the original shipping cost is not something I signed up for. They were sent out by their default courier, which was EMS and very quick. Most of the other British retailers use Royal mail, which I presume is more economical.

I don't wish to have to cancel my order just because of this deal breaker, unless it turns out to be more costlier or even similar to buying Sargents from other competitors. As it is, I had a hard time convincing my wife (through arithmetics) why I had to buy a few pairs of shoes at one go. She'll flip when she sees the bill if it doesn't make financial sense. I'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah... It really depends on a few things here. I'm after value, so if these get above my mark I'll be dropping out.

I don't think that you can give a price, mark it up and not have people leave.

I mean if it's 20 pounds more I won't really mind, but anything more and I'll be out.

I hope that they are truly trying to give us a good deal on these shoes as stated and not trying to charge to make up for lost revenue on the first sale...here's to hoping

Well, lets put it this way...

From the US you can get AS on Pediwear for 153-178 GBP shipped.

Likewise, you can get Loake 1880s for ~136 GBP shipped.

The way Richard has been conveying the deal, its going to have to be pretty close to his original estimates to live up to the expectation.

I am going to assume that the total per pair is going to be about 115 GBP shipped to the US until I hear otherwise. I would guess that the VAT would at least offset the shipping cost.

Originally Posted by osc

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I hope that they are truly trying to give us a good deal on these shoes as stated and not trying to charge to make up for lost revenue on the first sale...here's to hoping

Let's try not to make any untoward implications. They have been very forthright and helpful.

Originally Posted by samus

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Let's try not to make any untoward implications. They have been very forthright and helpful.
strongly agree

To be fair, they have been above board in all my dealings with them and are responsive and helpful. I'm sure that there are some things such as increased cost of raw materials and shipping that are beyond their control and I don't blame them for anything, if at all, I'm grateful to them for organizing this sale.

The thing was that perhaps in my zealous bid to attain value, I might have bit off more than I can chew based on their estimates and my understanding of their shipping. I had originally thought that they had worked some kind of a deal with the courier company that might have allowed them to make delivery at very reasonable prices since I know most companies do.

They have a business to run and from the looks of it, they have said that they do not profit from the shipping when they said they will charge the actual postage and nothing more. It is immensely difficult in any business to accurately forecast and budget for everything but I'm sure they are trying their best. If I cancel my orders, it will be due to my inferior financial standing in this tough economic environment and I will mark it down as my own fault.

sarcasticfolly:I gave my foot measurements to Richard. It was measured to be 29cm. For that i was told 10.5UK would fit fine. I am usually a 11UK for sneakers/shoes from the likes of Adidas and Nike. Hope this helps.

Why dont we just wait and see what the prices are to be instead of second guessing ..........

I want the giddy highs and the terrifying lows.

Originally Posted by Razele

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I want the giddy highs and the terrifying lows.


In Price or Quality?

It's been well known for a while now that AS have been trying to move into the higher end of the market, in the process dropping their cheaper lines.

If the original stock held by TRL were bought in last year then it stands to reason the leather could vary from the Premier to Classic quality as supplied by AS on their own branded shoes. In my opinion it was a mistake for TRL to be offering a lower quality grade before checking with AS if they would facilite this, given that AS no longer want to use this type of leather.

Email is in: GREAT NEWS - YOUR THIN RED LINE SHOE ORDER IS READY FOR CONFIRMATION! Please log in at: www.thinredline.com to confirm your shoe order (you will have the option to remove shoes or decline the entire order once logged in). A personal message from Hereward: I would like to thank all of you who have taken part in this back order service. I hope you have been satisfied with our level of customer service and response times to queries. I understand that there will be some speculation as to various aspects of the service regarding pricing and leathers, so I hope I can answer some of the possible questions below: Many people were recently introduced to our shoes via our stock clearance sale. The shoe sale price of £79 was reflective of the fact that we needed to clear stock to make way for new products. This price was well below cost, and if you factor in our £12 flat rate worldwide shipping charge, you can see that it really was a clearance sale. Due to numerous enquiries we decided to offer a special one-off back order service. The response to this service has been good and we have done our very best to accommodate non-standard requests and different styles. Richard has worked tirelessly to answer all questions in a timely manner and to the best of our ability. We have also spent a lot of time developing new web site systems to ensure the back order service runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible for everyone. I would like to stress that we have always explained that everything to do with the back order service was provisional – ranging from the price, to the possible option of using lower grade leathers. This is the first time we have offered a service like this and we embarked upon it with our eyes wide open to the fact that we could not make any sure promises at the outset and I hope we conveyed this properly. As it turned out, our manufacturer no longer deals in lower grade leathers – we didn't know this because we've never ordered shoes made from these lower grade leathers before. If you selected shoes made from grade leather, we have converted your selection to the premium leather - you can, of course, cancel your shoes at the confirmation page if you no longer wish to proceed. Our shoes are, and have always been, made using only the finest premium calf leathers and suedes. In this respect our shoes are comparable to other brands costing well in excess of £200 and often more than £300. We also endeavour to make our shoes unique with features such as full lined red lining and our unique take on the shoe bag. If you don't like the red lining then there's not much we can do – but if you do like these unique features then I believe our shoes are some of the best available, anywhere in the world. Although the final price for the shoes has come out slightly higher than forecast, I would like to assure you that these prices still represent exceptional value. We are committed to providing all participants with the absolute best price possible and what we are NOT doing is hiking the price to recoup losses on the previous sales. Unfortunately, worldwide shipping charges are significant however it is done and this is outside of our control. Please rest assured that these prices are based upon the incredibly high manufacturing cost of the shoes themselves, combined with only a very small margin for ourselves to ensure that costs are covered. Shipping costs are the actual costs which includes our 40% discount due to the volume of dispatches we make. Thank you for participating in this special service. Please log in and proceed to the shoe order confirmation page. This page will remain open for 7 days or until we have received all responses, whichever is the sooner. Once we have responses for all orders, you will receive one final email for the deposit payment. After this, your order will go into production and your shoes should be dispatched within 8 weeks from the production date (subject to any manufacturing delays which are out of our control). I look forward to hearing from you. Warm regards, Hereward