Gemini Lead times

[CanuckSigns]

Is anyone else noticing extremely long lead times from Gemini? We ordered some flat cut acrylic letters, it took about 4 business days to get my proof back, and when I went to track the order, its.not shipping until the 7th of March. In the past acrylic letters have been in my hands in less than 5 days.

We order a ton of cast and tooled plaques from them, and the lead time for cast plaques is now almost 3 months. We just got an order in for 4 12"x18" cast bronze plaques, they packaged them in 2 cardboard boxes rather then building a wooden crate like they should have , they arrived damaged and now I need to wait even longer to have them fixed.

I assume they are experiencing labour shortages and supply issues like everyone else, but they don't seem to be very good at communicating these longer lead times to their customers. I only find out after I place an order.

 

[signage]

You don't think Supply chain issues effect the larger supply Businesses? Also employee shortages?

 

[White Haus]

Yeah they're definitely slow, and inconsistent. I approved 2 orders (same job...you can guess which one lol) and somehow the flat cut aluminum letters (made in US) shipped faster than laser cut standard color letters (made in CAN).
Of course both are lost in transit now, but definitely moving slowly.

Order was placed Feb 7, approved Feb 9, and (might?) be here sometime next week?

Metal letters were coming in 9 pieces. So far all I got was piece 9 of 9....the install pattern. Gee thanks, UPS. (That's not Gemini's fault, but still annoying!)

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I guess it's based on where you live. I've ordered several acrylic and metal letters and they are still running about a week and a half. Never more than 2 weeks, but I notice our stuff is made right here in Texas.. down in Austin. Response on orders is slow though.. 3-4 days unless you call them to force it through.

 

[unclebun]

I ordered some acrylic letters 2/7, received proof the night of 2/8, which I approved 2/9. Received the letters 2/22. All pretty normal times.

 

[bowtievega]

Ya we have definitely had some long wait times trying to get quotes and approvals thru. I did place a couple of orders this week and they were very responsive so hopefully they are getting back on track

 

[Zendavor Signs]

Their lead time is not as good as it was pre-Covid, but it seems to be much better lately than it was a few months ago. They have always been crazy slow on quotes, though, I don’t understand that.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I put an order request in Thursday morning and just got the order acknowledgment. Faster than I thought.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I tried using the before, well before covid. Their response time was slow back then. Theyve been around forever but sometimes I think that they're overrated.

 

[Chris Keena]

We use them all the time for plaques and acrylic/foam/formed letters and logos. Before covid, ZERO complaints. As with everyone, they're facing shortages, shipping disruptions and staffing issues. I would say training new employees is the biggest problem. But as far as communicating delays in quoting and production lead times, they've been very up front with every one of my orders. Gemini is still #1 in my personal record book.

 

[Scotchbrite]

About the only time I call Gemini is if I have a question or sometimes to put a quote into production. Otherwise it's either email or the "true quote" portal. I'll continue to buy from them as they've always done right by us for warranty work. Recently we had a customer with 10 year old formed plastic letters. One letter had a broken return due to hail and we were afraid to replace a single letter due to color variances from age - south facing even. Gemini replaced the entire letter set under the guarantee with no fuss.

 

[McDonald Signs]

My past few Gemini Orders took a few extra days to get a quote and 3 to 4 weeks to get here. But no problems with my orders. All High Quality stuff, nothing broke or missing. I used to make my own drilling patterns
after my letters get here because of a few problems in the past with their mounting patterns. But I really like Gemini's new drilling patterns though. Every Gemini Pattern drilling pattern we have have
ordered in the last year or so has been spot on...

 

[Scotchbrite]

We've had some issues with the mounting patterns too, but I think you are right about the more recent ones being better. Another annoying thing about their old patterns was they couldn't send you another pattern if you needed to re-mount the letters again. I think with the new patterns, the can send you another copy in the future.