Note on Product Availability

At JMI we generally make the decision to design and manufacture a product because it is not available anywhere else or we think we can greatly improve on what is currently available.  A large portion of our products are aftermarket accessories and we have to be able to adapt to hundreds of different telescope models.  Combine that with the fact that manufacturers often make changes in the design of their equipment and you have an almost unbelievable array of differences that must be accounted for.

Therefore, much of our manufacturing could be considered customized work.  It becomes impractical to build and stock many of these items so we build them when the order is received.  If a manufacturer makes a change to their equipment or comes out with a new model, we often get that information from our customers and we work with the customer to modify our products to fit the new design.  In this environment, there is often an extra time lag as we check to see if our equipment can be modified to fit.

The bottom line is that these types of orders can take extra time to fulfill.  Of course, there are always situations where our suppliers cannot fill our orders in the normal amount of time and that impacts our turnaround time also.  If you have any questions about the timeframe on your order, ask us to give you an estimate on the shipping date.

By the way, the above comments also explain why some of our products may not have a slick mass-produced look.  But you can rest assured that every one is hand assembled and tested with great pride and care.  And where else can you get product support from the person who built it?

There is one more thing that we would like to mention regarding International shipments.  In the past, we shipped all orders via the United States Postal System (USPS).  Later, we shipped only small orders via USPS.  Our shipments would take weeks and even months to arrive at the customer's location.  During that time we were unable to track any packages and if a package was lost it would take up to a year for the Post Office to verify and another six months to get reimbursed for the lost package.

A few years ago we moved to a special shipping method through FedEx (Fedex International MailService or FIMS) which deposits the packages directly into the destination countries postal system and can be tracked up to that point.  This also allows us to get the product to the customer much quicker than before.  However, it does require us to take up to two weeks to get the package into the FedEx system.  Overall it is a much better deal for all concerned.  We have also reduced customer inquiries and complaints by using this method.

We are always trying to find better and cheaper ways to deliver our product to our customers and, unlike many other businesses, we never use shipping as a profit center for generating more revenue.

Sincerely,

The JMI Team