CMF is either struggling mightily or absolutely crushing it

It’s been over two weeks now since I placed my order on day one for the new CMF (by Nothing) Buds Pro 2 and Watch Pro 2. I knew at the time that it would easily be the middle of the following week before I’d get to test out my new, wildly-affordable accessories from the company that is all about Color, Materials, and Finish, but I no idea that two weeks later I’d still be sitting here wondering what in the world is going on with these devices.

Even after a conversation with their customer service, I have no clear answer on what is happening with my order right now. I ordered around 10am the morning of the launch of these devices, so it’s not like I’m way back in line, here. But as of this morning, my devices are no closer to shipping than they were the moment I ordered.

Am I frustrated? Of course, but I’m also curious at this point. A delay this bad in getting items shipped out means one of two things: incompetence or overwhelming success. I’m concerned it could be the former, but I’m rooting for it to be the latter.

Maybe it’s poor management

As a new-ish company, it could be the case that logistics were a mess and the wave of new orders was simply too much for CMF’s systems to handle. But they’ve launched products before, right? They should have known a bit about what was coming from earlier experiences or from their parent company’s (Nothing) prior launches, too.

With a product line this wildly-inexpensive, they should have been prepared for any and everyone interested to perhaps chance a purchase. After all, the asking prices are so low that it’s worth a try for a lot of us in the event that any of these devices are pretty decent. If you go into the launch with this mentality, plenty of supply should be there to meet demand, and shipping logistics need to be in place to handle the volume.

Perhaps they are overwhelmed by success

On the other hand, there’s the chance that CMF has experienced far more success with the launch of these new products than they thought. Even with proper planning and inventory based on previous launches, there’s a chance that this lineup was so appealing at the prices announced that they sold double or triple what they thought they would.

If that’s the case, then good for them! That’s an awesome thing, but they do need to communicate to customers new and old that there’s an issue with fulfilling orders, explain what the problem is, and at least make an attempt to smooth things over a little bit.

So far, that has not been the case for me. I was told that they were sorry for the delay, but I was provided no reasons and no basic ETA for my devices. As far as I know, it may be weeks before my earbuds and watch ship. And as a first time CMF customer, that’s a bad look regardless of the reasoning.

I’m hopeful they get this initial wave sorted and I hope the products are as good as I’m seeing in videos around the web at this point. I really think CMF has something going for them right now, but a badly botched shipping experience can mar what would have been an amazing launch if they aren’t careful. Time will tell, I suppose.