In early December I spotted a video on the Yahoo home page about Forever Lazy. AP had run the story which was sort of a rags to riches success tale about how the company’s two founders had left their corporate jobs and created a product, basically from their sofa and because of a few celebrities liking their idea had begun to see serious growth.
The Forever Lazy bills itself as an adult “onesie”. Like a one-piece sweat-suit, it’s meant to be worn offering ease and comfort. It’s complete with pockets, a hood and even zippered hatches in the front and back for when you gotta “go.”
You can see the original AP video below:
Well it turns out, in this case, viral press and growth is sometimes too much for a small company to handle.
I was intrigued by the Forever Lazy and decided, after my wife refused to get me one for Christmas, to go ahead and order one on my own. I placed my order in early December for one Forever Lazy, Black in size XL. I quickly got an order confirmation via e-mail.
Just this week I decided to e-mail the company for an order status (it hadn’t yet arrived after three plus weeks.) I actually got a phone call from a customer service representative a short time later who informed me that my order was back-ordered. While I was pleasantly surprised by the level of customer service – a real person calling me – there was no mention of it being back-ordered when I placed my order so I was obvious not pleased.
When I asked when she expected to have more product in to fulfill my order her response was appalling.
“All the colors in the size you’ve selected are back-ordered until February.”
February, I asked? Just to make sure I’d heard her correctly?
Indeed I had.
I voiced my displeasure but realizing their wasn’t anything she was going to be able to do for me let it go at that – but not before I’d told her to go ahead and completely cancel my order.
It’s pretty clear that the AP video brought Forever Lazy some serious business, especially during the holiday season. What’s also very clear is the fact that they simply either didn’t anticipate their coming success or couldn’t handle it. Being sold out of a product is understandable and back-orders happen. But four months? The Forever Lazy is starting to feel like another example of vaporware.
I understand things happen in business. Materials become hard to come by, labor it tough to deal with and so on. Delays are understandable. Short ones. A 6-8 week back-ordered is something I’d be prepared to wait out. But four or five months, not so much. Great marketing and press are really good things for a company but if they don’t actually produce anything – they might as well cease to exist.
What’s perhaps even more alarming is the fact that the Forever Lazy web site still shows no indication of the product being back-ordered at all! You can go order one right now without a mention of a delay.