OP

Quoted from KevinCPR:

Try to purge your cache, or hit refresh to get the latest page. I had yoinked the SS entry to stop any more surge.

In this case, I've not reached the point the playfields are all spoken for. I'm waiting to see what happens.
So yes. Sometimes it is too much to ask. Sorry. That's just the reality here, for me. Can't speak for others in the hobby. Not looking for sympathy or anything. I will totally admit there are limitations in how closely I can communicate. In this particular case, everyone will get a response, but in due time once I parse along through each individual buy of each playfield as they come available. Unfortunately there isn't 20 minutes, because the other 100+ emails that pound the site Inbox per day are there too. I know, a good "problem" to have - but it can indeed be a problem to solve. I'm almost resolved to stop offering anything that isn't sitting here ready to go in a box, and avoid stuff that is coming in from clear weeks (or months) later. Maybe it's just dangling a carrot. I'll have to decide.

Not at all. Happens all the time. I'm not going to lie.

It's a "privilege" (not the best word for me, but I'll use it) sometimes to get a private 1-on-1 timeslice out of me to update a direct drawn-out sales cycle over months, yes. And that's what it takes to handle some of these weirder buys where something isn't sitting here ready to ship yet, because for example, I'm waiting for it myself. But the guy(s) want it when it comes. No question. So naturally they chase me. I don't blame them, but on the other hand I also assume they know they've not been written back because there is nothing new to tell since the last details were discussed in their last email response from me. ie: "Haven't heard anything in a while. Any idea whats up with the Space Shuttles? Are they back from clear yet? Let me know"
One might say... simply type "No. Still in clear" {send} and it takes 5 seconds.
But those who email with me know that's not how I communicate when I do. (look at this post - eek) I try to give details, give dates as I know them or estimate them, plus I don't want to come across as snippy, short, or rude. So what do I end up doing? I skip to the next email from a new person who I've not talked with before on a same subject, and answer their new question. Then the next. Then the next. Then I'm tugged away on something else, may not get back to the computer for an hour or two, and come back to 30-40 new messages with fresh questions from new people... then I sit down and continue on... notice at this point the request-for-update emails are up and off my screen. Do I ever get back up there? Yes - when the Space Shuttles come in. In the meantime, it's not intentional. It's me stretched to the max. It's my responsibility, and I take full blame. I'm so used to it now, as it's been like this for many many years. Most tend to learn that and bear with us. CPR's idiosyncracy. Just like people get used to Steve Young. Pinball Resource's idiosyncracy.
I'll put it this way. CPR isn't really set up to be a bona fide vendor, so that is our weakness. We do sell direct, but unlike most other vendors, our role is truly manufacturer. That is our strength. Sorry to say, but even if 100 guys in email lined up with $1000 each in hand, wanting me to discuss this and that... it's just going to be clunky and end up being more than I can handle. But if those same 100 guys not needing any discussion, go to PayPal and make their orders as described on the site - then the boyz here will daily be going through those PP transactions, packing them up, seeing them off (usually within 24-48 business hours even at the busiest of times). We've got that part down pat.
Email falls on me. Only me. Because all the other roles here have always been making/producing/shipping stuff. That's what all the other guys do. I don't want them near a computer. Their role isn't to know all the timelines, locations, and estimations - which are needed to handle the questions in the Inbox. Even if there was a full time hired email person, 95% of the questions they'd end up leaning back and yelling "Keviiiin !!! what's the answer to what this guy wants to know?"
You should have seen what email was like BEFORE the "Read This First" stuff on the Contact page. I only put that there because I had to. Things were getting crazy. You think our new release announcement threads on this site change 180 degrees into 50-100 "what CPR should make next" suggestions... you should have seen our inbox.
There is a reason there has never been the shop's phone number on the site
Look, appreciate every last customer. Many have been with us through the whole ride since 2005. Many understand the constraints on me and run their orders totally self-sufficient. Yes, some orders are drawn out and involve discussion/waiting/patience. Not as simple. I wish I could do a few hours of email a day and be really good at coverage. But a day is 1 hour emails tops, I do the best in that hour I can, and the other 8-10 hours is moving production along and actively being a part of it. Without our Distributor group taking a huge load off the selling/shipping duties that would otherwise fall totally on us, I don't know what we'd do.
I think if vendors in the hobby have a reputation of coming across as distant from good communication, I can testify that it probably has to do with scale. Pretty much all of us are "cottage" scale, as the hobby is exactly that too. I'd love to have a "front desk / secretary" that fields all the communcation in and out. It would be fabulous. But we're too small to afford such a position, but big enough to desparately need one.