Just a quick update as the most common questions that we’re getting these days are “Hey, what’s going on over there? Did you move? Are you shipping? Why aren’t you answering the phone!?”
We began planning our 1300mi move from MN to the East Coast to be closer to family with our 3mo old about a year ago. Moving a business is never an easy task, but this particular relocation was quite the test, with the distance and coordinating housing, etc. We had everything timed perfectly - new HQ buildout complete on Dec. 20 and a move date of Jan. 15. Internet, phone, UPS and USPS pickups all scheduled. We wouldn’t miss a beat!
Wishful thinking, of course. By the time January rolled around and we learned that our office was behind schedule, the plan was in motion and we needed to make the leap. Here’s what I arrived to on Jan. 19.
Needless to say, not ideal. Instead of dwelling on the parts of it that we couldn’t control, we spent the next 6wks attempting to run the business and fulfill orders from the bonus room, garage and cold storage. We managed to keep fulfillment times around 5 business days, but the inefficiency, combined with not having an office or part-time help meant that customer service (phone and emails) suffered.
A week or so ago, we got power to the building and were able to occupy a corner of the warehouse to fulfill orders, which helped us get caught up further, but still, there have not been enough hours in the day to keep our heads above water. When I say ‘our’, it’s a habit, because I hate to take full credit for things, but the plural is because my dog, Wally, has been joining me each day. We will have some fresh job listings up in April!
Because this is a new building, phone and internet needed to be tied into the main cable (or whatever it’s actually called), which for Spectrum Internet, is apparently a 90 day process (which should have started in Nov, but they only realized it was necessary in Jan). I’m told that we should have service by the end of March. Until then, we’ll be doing what we can using cell phone data hotspots. In this whole mess, our phone number/line got lost in the shuffle as we attempted to move from a mobile phone to (nonexistent) landline.
Our final inspection is next week and with that, we should be able to settle in a bit and configure the space into something that will allow us to get back to our usual lightning-fast order fulfillment. We’ll be moving into our offices and for the first time since mid-December, I’ll have a desk.
The support@builtrightind.com inbox is a mess and this week, the last few hours of each 16-18hr day will be dedicated to getting caught up on emails, voicemails, facebook messages from home, where I have internet. If you’ve tried reaching us and have had difficulty, this is the reason. This shortcoming has been the most stressful and frankly, embarrassing, part of the process, as I pride myself on exceptional customer service.
The point of all of this is just to shed some light on what’s been happening over here, behind the slow shipping and customer service responses and also to assure our customers and potential customers that we’ll be back on top of our game in no time. Thank you for your patience and I apologize for any inconvenience.
Thank you,
Matt
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