Discontinued The Grasshopper

[manujoe]

Does anyone believe they are actually shipping anything at this time? I mean all the sites with forums or threads to discuss this vape and not one person last week or this week thus far has come back with any sort of proof of shipment. I know HL can be questionable pretty often, but usually we always had some sort of shipments going when they said they were going or saw some sort of progress, whereas the last what, 4-5 months now it's just been upgrades and delays and nothing shipping at all, now they claim they are shipping but haven't shown an ounce of proof for this claim, and it's coming up on a week soon without anyone seeing anything, is anyone else a bit concerned?

I think everybody is a little concerned but why would they say that they were shipping when they could easily have dragged on a little longer putting us off. It's been months after all. I think it's legit. Optimism is key

 

[JoeMama]

Does anyone believe they are actually shipping anything at this time? I mean all the sites with forums or threads to discuss this vape and not one person last week or this week thus far has come back with any sort of proof of shipment. I know HL can be questionable pretty often, but usually we always had some sort of shipments going when they said they were going or saw some sort of progress, whereas the last what, 4-5 months now it's just been upgrades and delays and nothing shipping at all, now they claim they are shipping but haven't shown an ounce of proof for this claim, and it's coming up on a week soon without anyone seeing anything, is anyone else a bit concerned?

It's difficult to imagine that GH would really just be blowing smoke about whether they are actually delivering. As @TheWhisper says, we've been through this once before. As bad as that was then, if they hadn't shipped when they'd stated otherwise... well, I don't wanna think about it.

 

[ashinybox]

I guess they are only responding to customers that have handed them money recently. I've messaged 3 times now requesting to enable free shipping for the items in my cart with no luck. I'm sure if they ever get around to it the 35% code will be expired. I don't even want the PFE anymore.

 

[manujoe]

I guess they are only responding to customers that have handed them money recently. I've messaged 3 times now requesting to enable free shipping for the items in my cart with no luck. I'm sure if they ever get around to it the 35% code will be expired. I don't even want the PFE anymore.

I emailed Trevor instead of support and Olivia replied. I'm not sure if that made any difference

 

[ben7337]

I guess they are only responding to customers that have handed them money recently. I've messaged 3 times now requesting to enable free shipping for the items in my cart with no luck. I'm sure if they ever get around to it the 35% code will be expired. I don't even want the PFE anymore.

I thought the 35% code ended on Sunday 2 days ago? I emailed them Thursday about the Electric Blue hopper being out of stock, they never replied but I was able to place an order for on Friday morning thankfully, so I guess it worked out, no free shipping though, but I didn't think HL ever had free shipping, did they?

EDIT: Just checked, seems the code does still work, but they sent an email on sunday saying it was the last day to save. For some reason that doesn't bode well in my book.

 

[Irish vaper]

When I was purchasing my ss hopper during the sale there was a note on the site stating that there would be a 2 week delay before shipping.
Not sure if it was for all models or just for the SS.

 

[Cheesequake]

When I was purchasing my ss hopper during the sale there was a note on the site stating that there would be a 2 week delay before shipping.
Not sure if it was for all models or just for the SS.

That's been the case for weeks now.

 

[MoltenTiger]

It's a pity, my Ti PFE definitely has marks from the glass joint it goes into. But I'd rather have all metal/glass, so I'm happy enough to live with it like that. Plus, more moving parts, even just a simple thing to keep the metal from getting marked, is more hassle, and I like how simple my setup is at the moment. Still, I (naively) didn't expect Ti to be marked by ground glass. Shows what little I know.

Yeah it is a pity, not a big deal but it's enough that I'd never personally consider the anodised PFE (though they feel good).
I hear what you're saying, but the Teflon interfaces really nicely with the hopper, much nicer than glass. It's silky smooth, and is rated for temps well beyond what the hoppers surface or air temp reaches - they have direct metal contact with the Sublimator for their intended application and there's no issue there (which is much more intense in terms of heat and oil. I guess the Teflon surface is slightly porous, like ground glass, so oil can stain it. It does clean up though).
The Ti gets marked easily as its outer layer surface is oxygenated Ti[O2]. This is how the colour is achieved (refraction through this layer), but even the plain metal Ti is oxidised (by the atmosphere instead of in acid solution undergoing electrolysis). So it's easy to mark, like with the SS clip or with coarse glass surfaces (ground joints).
It's hard to scratch deeply, but it's easy to mark, as an inconsistency in the surface layer will reflect light differently and be noticeable to the eye.
I actually think HL should stock Teflon reducers instead of glass, as although borosilicate is quickly identified as safe/desirable, alternative materials that fit the temp spec are more ideal in practice.

Does anyone believe they are actually shipping anything at this time? I mean all the sites with forums or threads to discuss this vape and not one person last week or this week thus far has come back with any sort of proof of shipment. I know HL can be questionable pretty often, but usually we always had some sort of shipments going when they said they were going or saw some sort of progress, whereas the last what, 4-5 months now it's just been upgrades and delays and nothing shipping at all, now they claim they are shipping but haven't shown an ounce of proof for this claim, and it's coming up on a week soon without anyone seeing anything, is anyone else a bit concerned?

Yeah, they posted pics on their Instagram story of a new unit when the shipping was first announced. Later they did the same and announced repairs being initiated, sharing a pic of a line of units in the final stage of testing.

They've told users that the batches are initially small. This is to squish out any last bugs before ramping up to full pace. Testing has been undertaken over the last few months, which @slcbdco has aided with as a real world tester, but it's going to take HL a good while to get through their backlog. Multiple users, some with multiple units, have been waiting since October.
Mine have been there only since Dec 28 so there's a ways to go before I get service, and a ways to go after that before current day response is a possibility.

I'll also add that there aren't that many people online talking about these things. I've kept up to date with FC and Reddit, and whilst there's quite a few people between the various forums, all the people I know in the real world with hoppers have never and will never speak up about them online. It takes a real nerd, a shameless one like me.

I guess they are only responding to customers that have handed them money recently. I've messaged 3 times now requesting to enable free shipping for the items in my cart with no luck. I'm sure if they ever get around to it the 35% code will be expired. I don't even want the PFE anymore.

There is seemingly an order of priority, but it's not a money thing. I haven't heard much and I've spent a bit between a few people recently. They respond to urgent matters - address changes, refunds, purchases and are much slower on general queries or generic things (there'd be plenty trying to get the current sale to work best for them, I personally haven't heard much about that either, I ended up just paying a $10 int. postage fee).
They'll refund it if they end up sending everything together, I'm sure. They have a small team and you can imagine they're stretched for time. They have basically unsustainable fault rates, so it's wise not to expect much from them for the time being.

 

[Mr. Me2]

Does anyone believe they are actually shipping anything at this time? I mean all the sites with forums or threads to discuss this vape and not one person last week or this week thus far has come back with any sort of proof of shipment. I know HL can be questionable pretty often, but usually we always had some sort of shipments going when they said they were going or saw some sort of progress, whereas the last what, 4-5 months now it's just been upgrades and delays and nothing shipping at all, now they claim they are shipping but haven't shown an ounce of proof for this claim, and it's coming up on a week soon without anyone seeing anything, is anyone else a bit concerned?

FYI - I got a shipping notice for a pfe and batteries

 

[TheWhisper]

I also think that we here at FC overestimate the proportion of Grasshopper users that also frequent vapor forums. A sampling bias affliction.

 

[Hammahead]

I also think that we here at FC overestimate the proportion of Grasshopper users that also frequent vapor forums. A sampling bias affliction.

Absolutely agree. We're talking about maximum a few dozen people on FC and Reddit (many are regged in both places anyway) and some other places. Also it's quite natural that mainly dissatisfied customers would report their troubles in the net. So I'm still pretty sure that a huge majority of all Hoppers are still doing fine.

 

[IAmKrazy2]

Haven't looked at this thread in a long time. Just filled out a warranty request for my TI model. It stopped working around 6 months ago but i rarely use my GH's so i am just now contacting warranty.

What else is new here? It sounds like they upgraded the GH and have halted shipping units currently?

 

[MonkeyTime]

Absolutely agree. We're talking about maximum a few dozen people on FC and Reddit (many are regged in both places anyway) and some other places. Also it's quite natural that mainly dissatisfied customers would report their troubles in the net. So I'm still pretty sure that a huge majority of all Hoppers are still doing fine.

If a huge majority of all Hoppers are doing fine, a large retooling a year into production probably isn't needed.....Much less claims of reliability improvements?

I kinda feel like we're all trying to apply logic to an illogical situation.

 

[MikeG7265]

Not sure if this a good sign or a bad one, I just ordered the Steel Case and the discount code still works.

 

[Hammahead]

If a huge majority of all Hoppers are doing fine, a large retooling a year into production probably isn't needed

A huge majority might even be 90%, however, a failure rate of 1% or more is already a huge problem, especially with a life long guarantee. A really huge failure rate would have bancrupted them already long ago. All I'm saying is the nobody really knows the numbers, but the mere fact that nobody here and on Reddit reported anything doesn't mean Jack.

 

[InhaleExhale]

Yesterday I created a HL account and put a Grasshopper in my cart. It also accepted the 35% off code for me, and I've never owned a GH.

I just couldn't go through with it because it could also be a cash grab to get production going. My buddy purchased one from them on Black Friday - a sale that they announced after ceasing production - he's waiting on them still.

 

[Baron23]

If a huge majority of all Hoppers are doing fine,

I can't follow that leap in logic. If the few dozen who do post have very high failure rates, then it seems reasonable to me to extrapolate that to the population at large.

I see no reason why failure rates are related to whether you post or not.

 

[ominosity]

Yesterday I created a HL account and put a Grasshopper in my cart. It also accepted the 35% off code for me, and I've never owned a GH.

I just couldn't go through with it because it could also be a cash grab to get production going. My buddy purchased one from them on Black Friday - a sale that they announced after ceasing production - he's waiting on them still.

Sad to say but this is looking like a very likely scenario.

 

[vapviking]

Yesterday I created a HL account and put a Grasshopper in my cart. It also accepted the 35% off code for me, and I've never owned a GH.

I just couldn't go through with it because it could also be a cash grab to get production going. My buddy purchased one from them on Black Friday - a sale that they announced after ceasing production - he's waiting on them still.

Yet the fact remains, that your buddy could have asked for and received a full refund at any time.
I certainly understand his disappointment, and your reluctance to jump in at this time. You can wait for things to smooth out and then pay more, or perhaps there will be another sale. Either way, it will also mean it will be that much longer before you have a Grasshopper in hand.
I fully believe it is a 'cash grab', as you say. I'm sure they do need cash to get ramped up again, it's been a very bumpy road and sales must be way down during this transition time.

 

[Baron23]

@MonkeyTime - oooops, meant to quote Hammahead in my reply and not you....I think we agree.

Sorry

So I'm still pretty sure that a huge majority of all Hoppers are still doing fine.

I can't follow that leap in logic. If the few dozen who do post have very high failure rates, then it seems reasonable to me to extrapolate that to the population at large.

I see no reason why failure rates are related to whether you post or not.

 

[manujoe]

Yesterday I created a HL account and put a Grasshopper in my cart. It also accepted the 35% off code for me, and I've never owned a GH.

I just couldn't go through with it because it could also be a cash grab to get production going. My buddy purchased one from them on Black Friday - a sale that they announced after ceasing production - he's waiting on them still.

Definitely a cash grab. No functioning business would dream of letting such a massive discount continue a second longer than it promised. Our reward for being so patient is to part with more money and then be patient again. I can live with it as long as it finally sorts things out

 

[Hammahead]

I can't follow that leap in logic.

my main point is that if the failure rate was equivalent to the experiences posted here and other places, how could they have possibly sold a five digit number without getting eaten just be the rma shipping and handling costs alone.

I fully believe it is a 'cash grab', as you say. I'm sure they do need cash to get ramped up again, it's been a very bumpy road and sales must be way down during this transition time.

Hoppicionados have proven to be very, very patient, so that might even work, see @manujoe

Our reward for being so patient is to part with more money and then be patient again. I can live with it as long as it finally sorts things out

That's the spirit!

Definitely a cash grab. No functioning business would dream of letting such a massive discount continue a second longer than it promised

I'm trying hard not to comment on the "functioning business" - oops - I lost.

 

[JoeMama]

I sent a message through the Warranty portal yesterday to ask about my Ti... No response.

Meanwhile I had about 2 weeks ago ordered a couple more (friends).

From what I've read here, they/she only responds to new purchases emails.... I feel I want to use one the purchases to leverage the repair.

Is the best email address "sales@..." ?

 

[vapviking]

I sent a message through the Warranty portal yesterday to ask about my Ti... No response.

Meanwhile I had about 2 weeks ago ordered a couple more (friends).

From what I've read here, they/she only responds to new purchases emails.... I feel I want to use one the purchases to leverage the repair.

Is the best email address "sales@..." ?

I don't know if they even have a "sales@..." email!
I think they probably read all incoming emails, and only get selective about replies...
I would write to support@grasshoppervape.com, but I don't think you're going to get a definitive answer re:timing on either score.
If I were you I'd try like heck to get the 35% off of your existing, unfulfilled purchase. Hey! It doesn't hurt to ask! You've been a very loyal customer.

 

[manujoe]

my main point is that if the failure rate was equivalent to the experiences posted here and other places, how could they have possibly sold a five digit number without getting eaten just be the rma shipping and handling costs alone.



Hoppicionados have proven to be very, very patient, so that might even work, see @manujoe



That's the spirit!



I'm trying hard not to comment on the "functioning business" - oops - I lost.

Ya a functioning business was harsh. I realised that when I read it back. Fully functional would be closer to the mark. Retracted and redacted.....