A Word Of Caution Regarding Luke's Ultralite

It leaves me wondering if Luke sustained a head injury. If he has a brain injury, fine detail work requiring a lot of focus (visually) can bring on debilitating headaches. Pure speculation. Just made me wonder. Regardless, what LUL might consider doing (assuming they are reading this) is to A) Put a notice on the website that Luke has been injured and is continuing to have problems and that it is currently unknown when he will be back to work. B) Send an email out to every single customer with something on order and advise them that there have been significant delays due to this accident and that it is unknown when Luke will resume work and that if they want to cancel the order and get a refund that the company will assist them in that process.

The reality is that what customers remember most about a company is how they handled a problem. LUL has blown it up to this point, but it’s not unrecoverable.

It’s good to have a data point for any company.  Historically, Luke has had a good reputation.  Time will tell if this is an anomaly for LUL or not.  My guess is that it is.

Sorry that the OP is dealing with this, but we don’t have all the facts and Luke hasn’t weighed in yet.  We don’t know if he sprained his ankle or had his leg amputated.

Either way, best of luck to Luke and the OP.

Interestingly their website, which as of yesterday said no orders until 3/25, now says “open for orders” with no indication of expected long waits

https://lukesultralite.com

Ouch, on so many levels. Hopefully Luke will ultimately be back on course.

Thanks Ben

Wait.  You placed your order in December of 2017?  No wonder it has not yet shipped.

Joking aside, I hope Luke is well and that this current situation will be soon resolved.

Glad to hear the report.  I’m very pleased with the things he’s made for me (three so far) and have been contemplating another.  Hope things work out for him soon.

When I joined BPL, a few of the big cottage gear companies would take on custom orders.  Many of them are waving off that work as they don’t have time for it any more.  I’ve also had to wait nearly four months for non-custom work.

Sounds like unfortunate timing all around but the fact that LUL will even accept custom work when they are this busy is impressive and rare these days.

For Pete’s sake…. what is more important?   A guy who has just been in a car accident and is possibly suffering serious injury or your custom backpacking toy?

I understand frustration but I read through that and was horrified that people seem to be more concerned with their things than they are with a person.

It is a cottage industry business with likely ONE or TWO guys schlepping out the goods.    If you don’t want to deal with that reality do business with REI.

Did you read this thread, KP?  He was given the run around and though the accident was an extenuating circumstance that is not the problem.  The OP was very patient with Luke, but the only communication he received in return were promises that they had no capability of meeting.  And…. the deadlines were not missed because of the accident.  They were missed for business reasons: taking more orders than he was capable of fulfilling in the time frame still being promised on his website.

For what it’s worth, my order for pants, a jacket, and a shoulder pocket was put in about a month ago and I’ve e-mailed them telling to bump any orders that need to be fulfilled for a hikers upcoming thru ahead of mine if it means they’ll get it on time for their journey. I don’t start hiking anywhere long til late June – hope it helps someone get their order on time and alleviates a bit of pressure from Luke’s team, however little pressure that many be!

The OP’s issue may have been resolved but from the looks of the thread over on Facebook Luke’s Ultralight is still underwater. I tried to copy and paste it but was unsuccessful.  Unfortunately for LU the post appears to be made in an effort to control further damage. I hope that they are able to pull themselves out of it and that outstanding orders will be either fulfilled or refunded. Summarized in two words: caveat emptor.

Thanks for the update. Have been wondering what’s going on. I ordered a rain suit the first week of january and was told an 8 week wait. It’s almost May now and I haven’t been able to get them to respond to any emails. May just cancel my order since I was uneasy of the purchase from the start. A $300 rain suit that relies on an apparently very unreliable dwr coating.

One thing I don’t get, if he is still so overloaded from the combination of orders, emails, and injuries, then why is he excepting new orders again?

One thing I don’t get, if he is still so overloaded from the combination of orders, emails, and injuries, then why is he excepting new orders again?

A lot of refunds?