S88 MKIII Backordered Since September

Kevbo

I pre-ordered the S88 MKIII within minutes of orders being taken back on September 13th. I ordered through Guitar Center since they give a military discount. After speaking with them multiple times, they just keep giving me new "hard dates" that the keyboard will be released. The latest date being yesterday, yet it's still on backorder.

I don't even know why Guitar Center is giving me any dates at all if they are the mercy of NI supplying them with S88s.

So to NI, I ask of you, why would you market this new keyboard and then have no supply for it. I see many of your influencer fans on YouTube have brand new MKIII. If you weren't ready for the demand, maybe you should have held out a little longer.

I will admit, the awe and fascination with getting this new keyboard is almost completely gone and has me looking elsewhere now. I don't NEED an S88 MKIII, I just wanted one. Better luck in the future, I guess.

Matthew_NI

Here's what happened (not that it will help you feel any better).

The keyboards had already been manufactured and shipped worldwide ahead of the launch - meaning, they were in warehouses ready for shipping, and we started to release the marketing.

Routine ongoing testing then uncovered a major issue with an internal component, that given time, would have rendered all units inoperable.

So we recalled all units before shipping to customers, and it took time for the supply chain to catch up to the manufacture and distribution of units without this component. Not just the manufacture, but also major disruptions to shipping networks. This hurt the S88 more than it did the S49 and S61, and the renewed supply reached Europe first, and is on the ocean to North America now. It should be here end of Jan, early Feb at the latest.

Kevbo

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/127654#Comment_127654

Actually, that DOES make me feel better, as that is a solid answer as to why this has been happening. Guitar Center, whether at fault or not, would keep giving me future dates that they were SURE they'd have the new units. I'm perfectly fine with waiting a bit more knowing that this was an actual hardware issue and getting taken care of. That also makes me appreciate NI doing right by the customer.

I'm not sure if this information was every officially posted somewhere, but I think it may make even more people feel better for those who are waiting.

Thank you for the detailed response. I really do appreciate it.

Hywel

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/127654#Comment_127654

Wow... So it seems that at least some of the MK3s became "End of Life" even BEFORE they reached customers...

Cristianruiz1

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/21928/s88-mkiii-backordered-since-september

I am very sorry for what you are going through, I am also having a bad experience with them, and the truth is that the customer service has been terrible, today an advisor asked me to configure my s88mk2 in a way that is impossible because why The pedal is configured in a different menu, and that leads me to think that I know the product better than the native instruments advisors, they made me buy a special sustain pedal and it didn't work, they hardly update the firmware of the devices, and they ignore a lot the requests of the users, I would not advise you to buy their products, look at my threads so that you can enter a little into context and see the dark side of which they do not promote, I hope not to be banned for giving good advice.

Simchris

luckily i got my 88mk3 and 61mk3 from sweetwater couple weeks ago