While I have explained this numerous times, do to several recent accusations I wanted to explain this situation once again.
First, we are not holding back product or trying to artificially create a product shortage. If I had it- you would have it. If they had it in Germany- I would have it. I have almost 60 of every model Stream on backorder.
Second, the price is nearly the same world wide. For those of you who have tried to buy outside the US be forewarned that only 115V countries are allowed access to 115V product. A customer called yesterday to inform me he saw a TS24 kit offered in the UK for $500. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is Pounds Sterling- equivalent to $800 US and almost $20 more than the US price so their is no price gouging going on.
I checked into this yesterday and found the cheapest online price in the UK was L498.
Everyone worldwide is short on these pumps. We have shortages because we never expected this demand. I have said this numerous times but it obviously needs to be repeated. These pumps are hand assembled in Germany. This means that German labor laws are in effect- including 4 weeks of summer vacation, no overtime without double pay, 36hr work week. Tunze is not a huge company- 30 employees and a half dozen injection molding machines. We are growing but it will take time to grow to meet demand and certainly once we pass summer vacation things will improve for a brief window until the Christmas rush. In addition to the Streams we have over 100 other products that we must keep up with and in all honesty we do pretty well on these. When the Osmolator was new we had similar shortages and now we can keep up. The Streams will be the same but it will take time. Their are no massive assembly lines run by machines. The stamped out plastic parts must be trimmed, and finished by hand, assembled, the coils must be wired and potted. The drive units have to be assembled by hand and this also involves some hand trimming and machining. Then the pump is tested twice before it leaves. In the case of an electronic pump the driver and an aditional cable must be assembled and added.
To summarize- be patient and you will recieve. Please don't be rude to either me or the dealers I have. Their is no reason to be obnoxious over a powerhead- it is not life or death and seeing as for most it is an upgrade you can make do until they arrive. We all try our best and I do call Germany at least once a week and we always talk about this problem and hope that eventually it will be resolved. I do sincerely take an interest in keeping and taking care of our customers and I regret this situation but we are doing what we can. I have decided as of today that I will not accept any new dealers until I am able to meet all present demand. It would be irresponsible to do so when I cannot satisfy the demands of our present dealers. If you must know the US market has exceeded the sales quota set for the entire year of 2005 when it was to go into effect as part of my agreement within the first 6 months of 2003. I must thank you for this and also just wanted to explain what is going on- we honestly never expected this level of success and this is a worldwide phenomena as even in the depressed economies of Europe demand for Tunze continues to grow.
First, we are not holding back product or trying to artificially create a product shortage. If I had it- you would have it. If they had it in Germany- I would have it. I have almost 60 of every model Stream on backorder.
Second, the price is nearly the same world wide. For those of you who have tried to buy outside the US be forewarned that only 115V countries are allowed access to 115V product. A customer called yesterday to inform me he saw a TS24 kit offered in the UK for $500. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is Pounds Sterling- equivalent to $800 US and almost $20 more than the US price so their is no price gouging going on.
I checked into this yesterday and found the cheapest online price in the UK was L498.
Everyone worldwide is short on these pumps. We have shortages because we never expected this demand. I have said this numerous times but it obviously needs to be repeated. These pumps are hand assembled in Germany. This means that German labor laws are in effect- including 4 weeks of summer vacation, no overtime without double pay, 36hr work week. Tunze is not a huge company- 30 employees and a half dozen injection molding machines. We are growing but it will take time to grow to meet demand and certainly once we pass summer vacation things will improve for a brief window until the Christmas rush. In addition to the Streams we have over 100 other products that we must keep up with and in all honesty we do pretty well on these. When the Osmolator was new we had similar shortages and now we can keep up. The Streams will be the same but it will take time. Their are no massive assembly lines run by machines. The stamped out plastic parts must be trimmed, and finished by hand, assembled, the coils must be wired and potted. The drive units have to be assembled by hand and this also involves some hand trimming and machining. Then the pump is tested twice before it leaves. In the case of an electronic pump the driver and an aditional cable must be assembled and added.
To summarize- be patient and you will recieve. Please don't be rude to either me or the dealers I have. Their is no reason to be obnoxious over a powerhead- it is not life or death and seeing as for most it is an upgrade you can make do until they arrive. We all try our best and I do call Germany at least once a week and we always talk about this problem and hope that eventually it will be resolved. I do sincerely take an interest in keeping and taking care of our customers and I regret this situation but we are doing what we can. I have decided as of today that I will not accept any new dealers until I am able to meet all present demand. It would be irresponsible to do so when I cannot satisfy the demands of our present dealers. If you must know the US market has exceeded the sales quota set for the entire year of 2005 when it was to go into effect as part of my agreement within the first 6 months of 2003. I must thank you for this and also just wanted to explain what is going on- we honestly never expected this level of success and this is a worldwide phenomena as even in the depressed economies of Europe demand for Tunze continues to grow.