WAIT an eternity for the tunze an dthe controller?

[playa]

I am told that takes forever to get them. Is this true? Or do you all know of a place that has them available right now.

TIA

[MadTownMax]

Where are you located, I went to Aquarium center in NJ and they had a whole shelf full, I just about threw down my rent to get a couple before I realized that my tank wouldn't last long in the street, even with one of these. I think the real waiting period is for the faux rocks. I'd love to know when those are available again, that's something that really makes these streams cool

[playa]

thanx Madtown.

I am located in South Florida(Palm Beach gardens)

Dont laugh. What are the faux rocks?

[mhurley]

I ordered mine on 9/11 and am still waiting. Should arrive in a week or so.
Roger will probably respond but it appears that Tunze is close to getting things in order and clearing the back-orders and actually having a surplus available. It's pretty simple actually, demand is stripping out the supply and Tunze has been adding resources to increase production capabilities.

Mike

[rvitko]

Wait period is about four weeks from a mail order vendor. A few LFS may have them on hand. We don't have a dealer in south Florida at this time.

[MadTownMax]

faux rocks = fake rock holders for the tunze stream pumps. If you search around you should be able to find some pictures. They don't exactly look just like "live rock" but I'm sure after a couple months you'd never know the difference, Which I find as a big advantage when it comes to powerheads, having an ugly thing hanging on the wall vs. having a powerhead INSIDE your rockwork, totally hidden.

[MadTownMax]

man, maybe I should look into middle-man'ing these things off, This place has a truckload of them, and the multi-controllers

[rvitko]

I think a truckload is an exaggeration unless they had been hoarding them because they have not been sent more than 4 of any particular model. Dominic does stock a pretty fair amount of Tunze product though including the electronic pumps and skimmers.

[MadTownMax]

Sorry, truckload is an exaggeration, but it was an end of shelving, sure seemed like a lot more than 4, but I guess with all of the other tunze powerheads there, the only ones I paid attention to were the streams ; ). I was just excited to finally find a legitimate LFS (if local is 1 1/2 hours away) but that's what I get for living in Delaware

[mhurley]

Roger,
Perhaps you can't answer this in public, but are LFS subject to the same fixed price point as the on-line vendors of Tunze products? I would think typical LFS are going to mark things up by 30% or so.

Just curious.
Mike

[rvitko]

Tunze works different from most companies in that they print a catalogue in retail price and then as a dealer depending on your volume and level of service you get a discount. Anyway, the mail order houses all sell at MSRP, it is kind of a truce agreement amongst each other and one I have tried very hard to hold because my worst fear is a price war that would devistate any hope of having local dealers. I have long argued that competition occurs on many levels, service, proximity and reputation are every bit as important as price. I have seen over and over again product selling mail order for the same price they are wholesale and then they essentially dissappear from the market because no one is making any money on it. The product is too technical and too expensive to be effectively marketed without the customer seeing it and having assisstance. I notice LFS's sell a much broader range of items, the mail order houses sell hundreds of Streams, Magnets, Osmolators as well as brush sets and cleaning gloves but the LFS sells complete filter sets and skimmers and can more effectively explain why you shouldn't get a Stream and maybe you should get a 7400/2. So far I am reasonably satisfied, a bit frustrated with the lack of good, strong LFS's. In my shop we can and will fix just about anything, somenights I have 2 pumps and 3 light strips laid out to be repaired for customers- it seems that in general this end of service doesn't exist anymore. I cannot emphasize enough the need to support a good LFS if you have one near you, one where someone can fix stuff and has the knowledge and know how to help. I would like it someday that if your Tunze pump breaks you walk in to your LFS and it is repaired on the spot, I want service to be what puts us on top. In my shop Tunze is the lowest mark up item and we sell at MSRP but occasionally run sales on packages or bundles of equipment. The shortage situation has kept the price at around MSRP but I know some stores charge 10% over MSRP and others are more negotiable and if you are buying a kit they might be cheaper.

[MadTownMax]

so... are any of these "strong" LFS's located in the Delaware area, the only ones I can find are in northern Philadelphia, Southern Jearsey (Aquarium Center) and Baltimore (Aquarium Center) There seems to be a definite lack of retail stores in the area, If you are aware of any could you point me in the right direction.

-Nick

[rvitko]

Unfortunately- no. I have been absolutely amazed at how far people will drive to go to a fish store. At AquaTek we have regulars from Oklahoma and Louisiana and this is for freshwater fish. It isn't a lucrative business by any means so I understand why so few hobbyists do it and why their are so few good hobbyist run stores. It is what a properly educated business person would refer to as buying yourself a job- you could honestly get a better pay off investing the money in something else.

[MadTownMax]

Agreed, very much what I thought/feared. It's really a shame that there are not more stores but understandable as they cannot exist without consistent local interest. Thank you for your reply.

-Nick

[VegasMike]

Roger,

I guess the four weeks you are quoting now is based on an increased number of units being shipped as opposed to the rate at which they were shipped in the past. I just happenned to order my 2x6100's plus multicontroller from Premium Aquatics the same day that Mike Hurley did, September 11, and that was over six weeks ago. I have not heard anything from PA about an anticipated shipping date, but given normal UPS ground delivery, we are talking about a seven week delay from the date the order is placed until actual receipt of goods if it shipped out tomorrow. Given the comments you made in another post, it appeared that the multicontrollers may now be in short supply so it may be even longer.

Managing expectation is half the battle with a product that is in such high demand as this one.

Mike Acks

[VegasMike]

OK, I just posted the above, checked my e-mail, and according to PA, they are shipping my streams out tonight, so the actual wait time is right at seven weeks for me.

[mhurley]

Mine too!!!!

[rvitko]

For those of you who have seen the Stream 6100 it is quite complicated for a powerhead. The production problems earlier this year were the result of ordering more parts than the suppliers we use could produce- mainly small German specialty electronics and machine shops. They ramped up to meet the needs. Then we hit another road block on our end, to make enough streams the injection molding machines had to be run so much on Stream parts that other products became an issue. We added another injection molder and another technician to oversee the operation of the machines. Then we had all the parts but not enough molds and jigs to assemble pumps fast enough or enough people. So this final problem is now solved. Undoubtedly their will be future hick ups and part of the problem in this particular case was a sudden flood of orders to Premium. Literally, Jeremy called me one day and said they were in big trouble and had 18 6100 Streams sold in one week and could I please help. I had thought we were keeping to under 6 weeks. At this point in time I feel fairly confident that Streams will be available in 4 weeks for most customers, this isn't a promise but lately I have recieved twice as many Streams as previously, demand continues to grow and it still seems that a particular dealer becomes a hot source or seems to heavily sell one particular model and then everything changes.

[rvitko]

Regarding the multicontrollers, the hold up is temporary and I am doing everything I can to get this taken care of. I will be spending the next 9 days with Axel Tunze and his wife and we will talk about all these problems. It has never been my intent to mislead anyone. In fact I would be somewhat relieved if people would just stop buying Streams for about 2 weeks and I could get caught up :) .

[rvitko]

Regarding the multicontrollers, the hold up is temporary and I am doing everything I can to get this taken care of. I will be spending the next 9 days with Axel Tunze and his wife and we will talk about all these problems. It has never been my intent to mislead anyone. In fact I would be somewhat relieved if people would just stop buying Streams for about 2 weeks and I could get caught up :) .

[playa]

Roger you are so frigging Worthy!
Thank you so much for everything you do.

Mr. Tunze and his distinguish wife should give you one heck of a nice bonus. You deserve it!

Cheers!

Luis

PS: My Tunzee multi controller and 2 Turbelles are being shipped today. Anyone on a wait that needs them please send me a PM.