I work for a company which manufactures our products, so I'm wholly sympathetic to metal fabricators' tooling problems. What I take umbrage with is that Power Holdings already took payment, so Vioelectric should have had access to the funds to pay the metal fabricators to machine the cases MONTHS ago, or at the very least, Arthur shouldn't have mentioned in December that there were issues with the casings, but those issues were resolved if the cases hadn't been manufactured.
If Vio was holding off on having the cases manufactured out of some concern that they wouldn't have been able to complete this project, I don't feel like Power Holdings should have started taking full payment when I paid back in September.
I lusted after the original V281 when they were in production but couldn't afford one at the time. I bought a V550 (which I love) about a year ago. I absolutely want my V281, but at this rate, I don't expect it to be in my hands until mid-March, which means I've had six months to question my impulse buy, and someone else is holding onto (and possibly earning interest on) close to $3k of my money.
My purchase experience leading up to getting my V550 from Power Holdings was not a great experience, either. I don't want to talk out of turn, I do my best to assume positive intent, and I know Arthur has a solid reputation around these parts, but I'm having a hard time calling something a swan when it's walking and talking like a duck.
I guess I just need to remember that good things come to those who wait...