at the risk of stirring a pot that seems close to boiling over, here's the way i'm chosing to look at things. this is the perspective i'm chosing and in no way am i saying that my perspective is the right or wrong one, it's just working for me, and hopefully it may help someone else.
that said, i should also provide some context and let you know that i'm staring at 3 red no's for nearly 5 grand worth of gear, and am also unclear as to if/how/when i'm going get the 16 shockmounts ($168) and 10 ribbons i'm owed.
lets look, though, at what chance is doing here. yes, he's done the GB thing before, but there are a lot of firsts for him this time around. first off, the sheer quantity of gear has crossed a threshold that requires a totally different logistical approach, and chance is really learning as he goes. this isn't like ordering a piece of gear from sweetwater. we're basically providing chance with a dress rehearsal so to speak (i'm making the assumption that he plans on really developing the TnC brand on a larger scale). but look at what we're getting out of it. we get the prototype runs of the TnC catalog of gear, we get that gear for only what it costs to make it, and we have access to a gigantic pool of collective knowledge and experience to help us get the best out of our gear. Now we're even going to get access to upgrades made by widely renowned companies specifically for this gear, and we even get to take advantage of bulk pricing on that too! The trade off, of course, is that it's not going to be nearly as fast or as convenient as an everyday gear purchase. Chance has taken on a WHOLE lot in doing this and while he can anticipate some things, issues come up all the time that he needs to figure out. That said, we'd be doing Chance a disservice if we didn't make him aware of issues as they arise. But I'm trying to really keep my expectations low (ideally nonexistent, but i AM human and i DO want what i want when i want it...) so that I can be of service to Chance to the same degree that he's been of service to me. We get the headaches (dont forget, our headaches are his headaches too) so that future TnC customers don't have to, and I think we're being rewarded pretty handsomely for it.
We're like TnC beta testers, haha. Anyways, as for the shockmounts and ribbons, it's clear that chance is aware that these need to go out, and he has expressed that his first priority is to get all the current gear out. I didn't order any 300s but I do remember when he made it very clear what the situation was with that. This is one guy doing the job of many. As long as I try to focus on how I can make this as good an experience for Chance as he's making it for me, everything just seems like a whole lot less of a pain.
Again, this is just what works for my own peace of mind.
[/two cents]