Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

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hon0
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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby hon0 » Tue Apr 10, 2018 23:34

Slims wrote:Where did you find this answer? It was not posted on this forum, neither on DCS forum. Reddit maybe ? i`m stalking these guys, and somehow i missed this post. :oops:


That's why spamming F5 isn't enough, you need to spam Control + F5.
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BillClement
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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby BillClement » Wed Apr 11, 2018 0:19

:lol: I was warned this is the way VKB's European crew roll...

I'm really looking forward to the new store and (hopefully) getting my paws on a shiny, new stick! But if it takes a few more days to get it right, well, I suppose it's all good, eh? :)

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Slims » Thu Apr 12, 2018 20:38

Come on VKB !!!! I want to throw my money at you

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Eduard VKB FSC
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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Eduard VKB FSC » Fri Apr 13, 2018 1:49

Hi guys, just a short update:

We are progressing with the new website further. It will take at least three more days and we are aiming to open the store on Monday when the store functionality is fully tested. The containership with our cargo reached Red Sea and heading Suez. So, the things are rolling.

We will also offer separate MCG grips for Gunfighter Mk.I (rev.A socket). We could sell MCG for Gladiator Pro users as well but the firmware which enables MCG on Gladiator Pro base is not yet released. It is in the testing phase, though.

Warthog adaptor for Gunfighter Mk.II is in the roadmap but there is no concrete dates yet.
VKB store in Europe - http://flightsimcontrols.com

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby navvar » Fri Apr 13, 2018 8:14

Thanks for the update.

If I may ask, would you be able to provide a rough estimate for when the first batch of MCG orders will be shipped from the warehouse provided there are no further delays?

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Andreyzh » Fri Apr 13, 2018 8:50

Let's do some basic estimations. If the ship is in the Red Sea, let's assume it's half way to the Channel. From there to Rotterdam it takes roughly 10 days @ 20 knots. At 24 knots it will take 8 days. Let's take an average of 9.
Then it will take at a day to unload. Another day or two to get though customs, let's say two. And let's estimate additional two days to reach VKB warehouse and be prepared for the shipping to customers.

Overall, I've calculated around 14 days before VKB can start shipping those out. Thus, we're looking at the beginning of May more or less. Of course, this is a guesstimate :)

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Eskay » Fri Apr 13, 2018 19:07

I'm sorry but this amazing, you said that the container would arrive at the March and it is still in the Red Sea :?: . Please do not lie anymore. Thanks.

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Eduard VKB FSC » Fri Apr 13, 2018 20:26

Andreyzh wrote:Overall, I've calculated around 14 days before VKB can start shipping those out. Thus, we're looking at the beginning of May more or less. Of course, this is a guesstimate :)
Hello Andreyzh, I agree with your guesstimate. There is also a public holiday in the Netherlands on the 27th of April and people tend to take extra days off because it usually good spring weather at that time... And it apparently could cause some extra delays. I hope to get the cargo before that.
Eskay wrote:I'm sorry but this amazing, you said that the container would arrive at the March and it is still in the Red Sea :?: . Please do not lie anymore. Thanks.
Hello Eskay. I understand that you try to troll me but I will answer. A lot of people would like to hear some rough estimates to plan the purchase ahead. I mentioned March as an estimate availability date back in October last year taking into consideration all delays which could happen due to first manufacturing batch, delays due to Christmas and Chinese New Year celebration but still I was too optimistic. MCG is more complex product that it looks like. We could have shipped it via air to save some time but it would raise the retail price and I don't think it worth it.
VKB store in Europe - http://flightsimcontrols.com

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Eskay » Fri Apr 13, 2018 21:03

I hope you have not offended and i don't want to control anyone, but we have been waiting for a long time and the politics of communication in the European forums is very bad (i'm sorry is my impresion), which does not happen for example in the forums of DCS or VKB America. I just hope you give real estimates because as you say the logistics is complicated and this causes false expectations.It seems as if you do not want to say what happens, Thanks.

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby WineCape » Fri Apr 13, 2018 22:01

Eduard VKB FSC wrote:Hi guys, just a short update:
We are progressing with the new website further. It will take at least three more days and we are aiming to open the store on Monday when the store functionality is fully tested. The containership with our cargo reached Red Sea and heading Suez. So, the things are rolling.
We will also offer separate MCG grips for Gunfighter Mk.I (rev.A socket). We could sell MCG for Gladiator Pro users as well but the firmware which enables MCG on Gladiator Pro base is not yet released. It is in the testing phase, though.
Warthog adaptor for Gunfighter Mk.II is in the roadmap but there is no concrete dates yet.


Many thanks for the update. With PayPal payment as an option on the cards -- and DPD(?) courier to even South Africa -- I am now, officially, another "F5 Refresh Monkey" awaiting the https://flightsimcontrols.com going live come Monday next week... :wink:

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Nyth » Fri Apr 13, 2018 22:13

I don't think anyone expected vkb to meet its target for the new website. When have they even come close to meeting any target date they set ? Yes we understand it's all very complicated with R&D, manufacturing, shipping etc but all companies have to deal with exactly the same issues and this isn't vkb's first rodeo.

What really worries me is if vkb display this level of amateur practices when selling their products, how bad is the customer service going to be when you get a problem with the product ? Non existent ? It's starting to genuinely worry me.

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby orlaag » Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:20

I suspect the problem is they are small staff levels and many people do mixed roles. I get the impression some of the PR and community manager stuff is done by folks from the hardware side who are responsible for engineering and production as primary role. Also maybe some don't balance it so well so judging by "other company" standards is harsh and not apples to apples imho. Read my post history and you'll see I'm not fanboy or defensive for sake of it and admit there is valid part of complaint and is necessary BUT being over demanding or entitled isn't useful to anyone. There is difference between complaints that can be progressive and being demanding and entitled, it is easy to slip into the latter and be a bit of a d**k myself included if we don't watch it.

Of course one alternative is they expand the sales, inventory/warehousing and community management side but while simple it costs and thus will add a significant cost markup to the already niche product. Would you pay extra for that isn't enough either because more importantly even if you would can they make enough volume sales to make it feasible? The only change I'd like is updates and we're getting that now, for instance the new site didn't go as planned but instead of being left guessing we got updates. Not ideal but I'll cut as much slack as needed because it was communicated and shit happens. Same with the rev.A folks looked left out despite the long history and multiple choice a while back and so on so it wasn't surprise rev.A guys were waiting, people complained and they listened so hard to ask for more; was it ideal that needed saying...... no, but short of a time machine what more could I ask? I think most the issues with VKB seem to happen due to unintentional things or lack of comms/miscommunication not deliberate issues, and they do listen to the community when reasonable or possible.

As far as support goes they do have a good track record and that is part the reason they get such delays because they are eng/tech led not PR/marketing led so they have a "when we're happy with it" rather than by X date kind of thinking. They fix previous issues, firmware issues, hardware issues and so on and continue to do so. You can see both here and several other forums cases of that. Of course no-one likes that these things happen but they stand by their product if that is what you're asking. I get this seems defensive (not intended that way) but I as a critic of them think it worth defending and a lot of the flak thrown at them is unintentional bitching imho because we get a bit entitled at times based on other experiences which may not translate here (for instance how much work does Eduard have on compared to Company B's Euro rep?). Not saying some things have been ideal or could not have been handled better but they do listen and do stand by their product and try and make the best they can and fix when they realise it is needed.

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby Nyth » Sat Apr 14, 2018 15:46

Thank you orlaag

Personally, I hate it when forum posts descend into a series of arguments as it isn't helpful to anyone. However, there are a few things in your post that are slightly offensive such as the inference of being a bit of a d**k and being over demanding or entitled.

I don't think there's anything wrong in expecting a company to actually meet or come close to some of the target dates they set themselves. Or another way of putting is, I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting a company or individual to do what they say they are going to do. I don't mind if its an occasional slip but when they constantly fail to deliver and by some margin, people tend to loose faith in them.

I believe that honest feedback is crucial to helping people or companies improve their behavior. If something needs improving then it should be pointed out. If you justify consistently poor performance with excuses then nothing changes.

Its good to hear a positive opinion on VKB support as this was my main concern. Though, its the human element rather than the quality of the product or the engineering that worries me. No matter how well a product is designed or made there will always be a % that experience assembly or component defects. If the item needs returning for any reason, my concern is that the customer support will match the sales practices, long waits, lack of info, "unexpected" delays and excuses.

Hopefully this will not be the case and all will be well, but this is borne more from hope than anything demonstrated by VKB so far.

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby orlaag » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:00

@Nyth apologies for the offensiveness, I read it wrong as I commonly do with text admittedly since so much is hard to read without face to face and I admit I come across much harsher than intend via text only comms a lot of the time (although in fairness I am pretty low in agreeableness which serves well for work but less so for peoples feelings although most around me are remarkably similar and quite task orientated rather than person/emotion orientated like most folks so it seldom causes issues IRL).

Fwiw your response more than proves you're totally in the "place for critical feedback" camp and not the entitled side anyway so even if I meant offence (I didn't) it'd not apply to you. Probably doesn't help I'd come to the official forum from seeing updates on the delay on another forum which had descended into VKB bashing insert [competitor] is better and a lot making ridiculous demands expecting VKB owed them like they were selling lifelong servitude rather than peripherals to the point I wondered if some are just trolling. Of course I can sway well into the customer consideration only side of things myself until I check myself and realise there are things I don't consider from the business' PoV and may not be as simple as it seems to me as outsider. Some I get maybe let their emotions get a bit out of hand which happens I suppose but there is a point it just becomes bashing for the sake of it though and it seems a small number actually prefer something to have a go about rather than a resolution/improvement and it turns to mob mentality.

On the support note you can find a fair few issues on the global forums and none official places and see most of it is resolved better than most companies. In fact in some cases they seem to have a unique attitude of allowing people to attempt a fix if they asked and replacing in failure where many companies have a blanket go near that with a screwdriver and we'll not honour the warranty stance. For the most part the only real issues are the delays to products shipping and the info on the Euro site. The latter is exactly why I read unofficial foums more than here as this place is pretty much dead and very low traffic. The sole EU rep has had gaps in comms of several months at times where I've found more info elsewhere from Europeans who've been in touch with global or NA and passed info on. That said on a hardware returns pov Eduard is quick to send goods out once they actually arrive so he isn't the bottle neck, the only fault I can find with him is he doesn't communicate it and hasn't responded to direct messages at times for a few people and he seems to be updating and responding more now so that issue is potentially addressed. Like I say though lord knows how much other work he has on so he's probably doing the comms in his own time and I'd imagine you could get global to chase up anything slow if have an issue that has been missed due to workload, it still leads to a lot of sour feelings in the EU side when everyone else seems to get info so I would hope to see a change there even if it is handing over the EU updates to global instead allowing our rep to concentrate on whatever it is he does (presumed not community manager due to lack of presence).

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Re: Gunfighter MCG is on the way to EU

Postby graysson » Mon Apr 16, 2018 14:16

orlaag wrote:Probably doesn't help I'd come to the official forum from seeing updates on the delay on another forum which had descended into VKB bashing insert [competitor] is better and a lot making ridiculous demands expecting VKB owed them like they were selling lifelong servitude rather than peripherals to the point I wondered if some are just trolling.


Keep in mind that some of these people "trolling" own Gunfighters and speak from experience. After buying an "inclompete" stick (i consider the KG12 not a full grip with its 3 buttons) which is only usable on WW2 sims when you own a throttle too because otherwise youre too short on buttons im waiting for a year now to get a MCG. So do you really think after waiting that long for the "other half" of your stick its unreasonable to have some demands? Especially since you cant just get a refund from VKB after so much time passed. Although it would have been wiser to offer the few european customers a refund and get good or at least neutral PR instead of all the negative PR.


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