Never Again
I have mixed feelings about writing this review, as it contains both positive and negative.
However, let’s start with the positive.
As always the quality of the lightsaber is absolutely outstanding. I ordered the Vortex (or more accurately my parents ordered it as a gift for my 50th birthday which is at the end of March) and I’ve had my eye on it for quite sometime.
Honestly, it does not disappoint, it’s a stunning lightsaber, and I’m so happy to have it as part of my collection.
And the neopixel core/blade is incredible. The difference between this and my previous base lit sabers is a world apart. The blade is so bright with the neopixel, and the sounds are fantastic.
It’s heavier than the base lit models, and as I understand it from the included instructions it’s also Bluetooth controllable and adjustable for sounds and blade colours. Not that I’ve tried this yet, but even out of the box it has familiar controls on its own.
Either way, this is a beautiful addition to my collection, and definitely more of a display piece than a cosplay item.
Ok, now for the negative.
As I mentioned this was ordered for my 50th birthday, with 5 weeks until the big day.
I emailed ES Sabers to explain it was a gift for my 50th and asked that they make sure it arrived in time. This was precautionary as the website clearly states that orders are shipped within 2 weeks, or 2 to 4 weeks during busy periods.
The response I got said “ensure your order is shipped within the specified timeframe” so all well and good. Then I got a little worried, emailed again, and the response was “thrilled to help make your birthday special and will do our best to ensure your order arrives on time” which was quite reassuring, even though it had changed to do our best. By the end of the 4th week there was still no shipment, so being concerned I emailed and got the response “your order will ship next week” with the added “it takes 2-3 days from shipping” which was good enough. However, with a few days to go I still had no shipping information, so emailed again. This time the response was “will make sure to ship it as requested” but by this stage I wasn’t convinced.
I was right to doubt, after ordering 5 weeks in advance and contacting them to explain it was a gift to celebrate a milestone birthday, my birthday came and went.
So I emailed again first thing the day after my birthday with a strongly worded, but still polite, saying my parents and I weren’t happy. Strangely enough I got an immediate response apologising and assuring me it would be passed to the appropriate department. I then got another email pretty quickly, apologising for the situation and promising to chase up my order and get it to me as soon as they could. In way of an apology there was even an offer for a free gift being sent within the specified original order.
However, it still took another three and half days (emailed Monday morning, was shipped by overnight courier Wednesday and received Thursday) to receive my order, bringing the over all wait time to five and a half weeks, from the original 2-4 stated on the website.
And whilst I appreciated the gesture of the free gift included, it sadly does not make up for the fact that despite ordering 5 weeks in advance and emailing to let them know it was a gift, it did not arrive in time as promised and ruined the celebrations for my 50th as I had no main present to open on the day.
So I’m sorry ES Sabers, but as much as I appreciate the gesture of a free gift, you did fail to help me celebrate my 50th in the way I wanted to, with a special lightsaber.
Therefore, despite the quality of the lightsaber, I’m aware that I’m not the only one who’s had issues with timeframe and indeed previous orders have also pushed my patience.
Unfortunately I cannot recommend buying from ES Sabers, and despite my love of their sabers I’m afraid that this customer will not be returning.
If you want quality and don’t mind unreliable shipping times or missed deadlines for gifts, then get your sabers here. But if you want quality and reliability in shipping then this is definitely a company to avoid.
Therefore, although the product itself is worthy of 5 stars, because of my experience with shipping I give 2 stars. And 1 star is for the free gift, although given the circumstances (and I don’t want to appear ungrateful) wasn’t much a of a free gift for missing my birthday because I genuinely only cared as it was significant.
