I ordered two LW67 keyboards + extras during the original GB in 2021, totaling almost $1000. In 2022 when the GB was being fulfilled, Laneware couldn’t send me the keyboards because I lived in Russia and Australian post or any other services weren’t accepting deliveries there anymore. LW said he could hold on to my order for a while until something changes.

Since it seemed the war and sanctions in Russia wouldn’t change in a while, in September I asked for a refund, and in November received an answer that “Usually we can’t offer refunds for GBs”. I noticed Discord was working better than email for talking to LW so I stopped using email after that.

I moved to Kazakhstan in winter 2023 and reached out to LW so he can send the order here. About a month later (that’s gonna be a common theme here) he said that he’ll get it out asap. This was the first “parcel” that was “sent”. He couldn’t send me a tracking number or any other information, and he “couldn’t get this infomration from auspost” even though you get this information when you send the parcel, not when you call the post three months later. Unsurprisingly I never received the first parcel.

He said he’ll ship the second parcel. The parcel is still not tracking (been a month) and now I got the “shipping slip” that doesn’t mean anything since you can generate one without actually sending anything. This one has the wrong name and doesn’t have a phone number so it’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to receive this parcel or even know it came if it ever gets sent.

Full conversation: https://imgur.com/a/gzupQO6

Now regarding the wrong name on order: in the original order I put my father’s name as recipient name as that was more convenient at that time. Later in Feb 2022 I reached out to LW about changing the name to mine and he said he’ll put a note on my order. When the GB was being fulfilled and my order wasn’t being shipped I asked about this since the name still wasn’t changed on my order when I checked it online, but that question was ignored. Later when I sent him my new KZ address, I put in the full name and phone number as well. And after that I sent the same details before he “sent” the second parcel. But he still generated the shipping label with my father’s name who isn’t in Kazakhstan so I won’t be able to receive the parcel even if it gets sent. And I won’t be able to inquire anything about the parcel in the post office since it doesn’t have a phone number on it.

When people complain in discord about slow reply times or anything else, he usually deletes the messages after he logs on and replies to DMs. Some people who ordered in-stock items also had to wait several months until they heard anything from LW. So if you need a PCB or some other extra item for your LW products that are still listed as “in stock”, be prepared to waste your time and money.

TL;DR: Usually I get a single reply per month. And it’s usually just “I need to check with AusPost” and no other info, no solutions or anything. The parcel is still not handed over to post. Been waiting since March.

  • cartersrush@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Sharing my experience as well.

    TLDR- Do yourself a favour and just don’t buy anything from Laneware. He is most likely an exit scammer. Unless you want to spend months asking for updates on INSTOCK items.
    Album showing my DM’s with him for that spanned months over INSTOCK orders and a replacement case.

    I ordered a grey LW67 during the Black Friday sale in November 2022. The only reason I even bought the board was the cheap price.
    It reached me in Jan 2023,after some hiccups , Auspost usually does take a month so it was fine and I was happy to finally receive it.
    The case had scratches on its lower side and a big splotch that looked like ink on one side and it was not coming off so that meant the ano was somehow affected , Idk what caused this. So I sent email about this to him to which I have not got a reply yet, I fact I had to DM him to check the mail, then I finally got a reply saying it should have not passed QC and said he will ship it on Jan 30th.
    Long story short , I received a new replacement case 6 months later.
    Each time he gave excuses like “The order was picked up by Auspost” or “It is scheduled to be picked up” or “I don’t know what is causing the delay” stuff like that…
    I did receive tracking numbers but they did not update for weeks, which is awfully suspicious since they would have updated if it was in fact picked up.
    There’s also the issue with the defected PCB but that’s whole different thing.
    If I had paid the full price of the board I would have been very mad with the experience
    Also his pricing is a big scam, he was selling the LW-67 hotswap PCB for $80 and refuses to make PCB files public to “protect company IP” even though there are much cheaper 65% boards with a knob and the board is 2years old nobody cares about copying it honestly. Making files public would have helped people who live far away to get their own since shipping form AUS costs around half the price of the PCB, but he doesn’t care.
    Laneware(Joshua) is either one of the most incompetent vendors out there or just an exit scammer who hides behind stupid excuses like shipping delays etc (it would have been kinda understandable during COVID but nothing takes 5 months to ship especially when it is in stock) or both.
    His discord is full of people asking him to reply to DM’s or just an update to their orders which barely any people get. I probably missed a lot of stuff but I think this much info is more than enough.

  • mekanist@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Hey u/zyumbik , sucks that this happened to you. I would love to help you out by sending you one of our Minerva LX boards. Not exactly the same layout or anything, but do let me know if you’re interested. Maybe it will help soften the blow from LW a bit. Feel free to reach out to us if you are interested. <3

    -Mek

    Archetype

    • zyumbik@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Whaaaa that’s so crazy cool and kind of you! Unfortunately I would have no use for it: since the lw gb I discovered the world of ergonomic keyboards so I’m not using a standard staggered layout anyone and I’m designing my own keebs for fun. That looks like a beautiful keyboard though! And thank you for your extreme kindness, I love it! Quite inspiring! ❤️ - Gleb

  • KittensInc@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Honestly, it’s a surprise they ever offered shipping to Russia. From what I’ve heard from some vendors, it is really common for packages to get lost or be returned to sender at customs - and that was before the war. I guess your stuff just won’t make it through if you’re not bribing the right officials, and the average keeb vendor definitely isn’t doing that.

    No idea about Kazakhstan, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a similar story. It might not just be your keeb vendor scamming you.

  • This-Is-My-Alt-Alt@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    What a mess, you need to be 110% before sending anything that long distance.

    CF154095313AU still says it’s in Transit to Kazakhstan. But this one has your father’s name on it right?

  • WordenWorks@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I also had a terrible experience with Laneware. Joined the LW75 gb as my first keeb gb and not only did it take longer than stated (it happens) but when I finally got my board, the bottom case had ano marks all over it. The packaging job was horrendous and I’m surprised all the parts even made it to the states. Took another 2-3 weeks for me to get a replacement bottom case so I could finally build my board

    • _cags_@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Similar experience here. Bought LW67 when it was “in stock”, but it took a month just to get a tracking number. When it finally arrived, there was hardly any protective packaging. PCB was just wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap and loosely thrown in the box with everything else. It’s a miracle it wasn’t damaged.

  • shinjikun10@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    First, it’s important to understand, as I’ve had this exact situation, that people are not able to ship to Russia. There are 3rd party places that will still ship there. So if you wanted your items while you were still in Russia, it would have been best to find a 3rd party that will ship to you.

    Next, please understand that vendors cannot return money to Russian credit cards. It just doesn’t work at all. This is important. It’s not even that vendors will have trouble sending it back, it just cannot be done. There are also sanctions which may or may not affect this.

    Moving to Kazakhstan is also a difficult situation. It’s not the easiest place to ship to. Shipping companies have limited delivery services. Now I can understand the frustration with the name and maybe it should have been updated. Please understand it’s also difficult for vendors as well.

    The best thing you could have done and ultimately what happened in my situation is to have a 3rd party or a place that will ship you the item. There are a few places that still ship to Russia.

    Please understand though, that people’s hands are really tied. Vendors can’t even return your money. Can’t even ship the item to its original destination. That makes it really difficult to take care of your Group Buy.

  • ChristyWarrior@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Hey there ! I was in the same boat as you with LaneWare with a L-Pad order (AnthoxPointu on Discord if you remember). It took me around 4 months to get a refund after weekly messaging and litterally spamming Laneware. Don’t give up, this guy is obviously a an exit scammer, but you might end up getting at least a part of your money…

    • zyumbik@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I used PayPal and the complaint period is long gone. For cards I believe the period is also usually limited. That’s the big issue with group buys in general.

  • FishingElectrician@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I ordered the LW67 on the initial GB. It was my first and last GB. I personally didn’t have an issue besides a missing knob in the original package, sent out quick enough. Pretty unfortunate to see his shipping hasn’t improved much.

    Hopefully your able to work something out because is the LW67 is a fantastic kb and killed any desire for another kb for me.

  • hereticoracle@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Also he deleted your link to this post on his discord already, like a dog who shit the carpet and tried to bury it in the rug in the next room.

  • hereticoracle@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Laneware sucks; he’ll string you along and then delete anything negative in his discord before even ever considering refunding you a single cent; he also just straight up lies and says things are being lost by auspost with a disturbingly regular frequency. If any courier were actually losing items as often from one individual as he claims, he should be opening a serious criminal investigation, not dicking his customers around hoping they’ll just give up

  • TokkiU@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Thanks for this post. Definitely going to avoid Laneware at all costs. Sorry that this happened to you. Hope that everything works out on your end.