In my opinion you guys are being a little harsh.
per my own experience...I have ordered 5 items (4 lights and 1 drop in) from Mac over the past 2 years...the combined waiting time for all these items are just a few days shy of
2 years, and that's is saying a lot.
I have lots of private communications with guys in the forum including many of Mac's long time customers who are truly pissed off at his way of handling his business, with many who swear never to do business with him again. While some chose to be patience, some kept quite out of courtesy and some are truly pissed and voiced it out either on the forum or to Mac directly, so while he knew about this issue but yet he chose not to do anything about it. One thing I know is that this is not the first time, nor will he ever learn despite him saying how he is truly sorry he was, that he will try to do better the next time etc. What he is doing now is digging himself a bigger hole that he can't get out from, by making many people who love his lights (like me) to think twice before committing our trust and monies to him again.
Now I don't agree with what some of you who say that this is only a hobby, a part time passion, of him having to deal with other issues etc etc. But when you are dealing with other people's hard earned money, money that was prepaid to you based on nothing but trust, money that are appropriated for a hobby, for a passion, money that can be used for other personal or family essentials etc, you don't screw around with them by being silent, not answering your emails, missing your promised deadlines again and again and again and again! We have too many cases here that trust-worthy sellers suddenly go off grid, or disappeared without a trace with other people's money or possession (I won't name names but I think most can easily give half a dozen names off hand) so what those waiting customers asked for is more than fair, it's within their rights and is the least they can expect from any seller who took their money and not bothered to keep an open communication for weeks and months. If this is how he take care of his paying customers, imagine what his after sales support will be like?
That's why it is such a joy to deal with people like McGizmo and Oveready (to name just a couple of names) who gave such wonderful pre and post sales customer service. There's no place for sloppy business practice in today's world. To Mac who might be reading this...we spoken quite a bit and I know you tried, but maybe that's just not close to be enough. I do love your lights but please please if you are not able to control your production or commit yourself to your delivery dateline or are able to work out a system to better communicate with your paying customers, don't do yourself any injustice and try to work out a better system to keep your paying customers fully and regularly informed. It's not that difficult to put out a post on your own sub forum and keep us updated instead of spending lots of time answering individual emails. Provide solutions and better services instead of excuses and pissing off your customers.
I don't speak like I ever have any experience in making flashlights...but I do know how I run my worldwide distribution business and keeping my customers happy and updated (as much as possible). I don't start sending out invoices and collect money if I cannot ship out their goods within the agreed 72 hours of payments being received, so everyone is clear as to what to expect and any misconnects are minimised. But that's just me...and I sincerely do hoped to be able to buy more lights from you in the future. Yes, they are that nice!
*I'm just speaking my mind as a customer and a fellow members here. To all please support these custom flashlight makers especially those who participate in this forum! They do put out some of the most fantastic products that fuel this hobby of mine.