It looks like Phil & Teds will be setting up their own US sales & distribution network soon. I just got a note from Regal+Lager saying that as of May 2009, the veteran distributor would no longer be handling the "quirky brand."
Regal+Lager saved Phil & Teds' corporate butt in the US market four years ago. Before then, the company had been trying to serve the US remotely from New Zealand. I remember hearing about these mysterious double strollers which were no bigger than a single. They'd show up unannounced at Right Start stores, and parents on months-long waitlists would get a call, only to find that random walk-in customers had snapped up the two available rigs before they could get down there. And then Right Start went into bankruptcy and reorganization itself, and these strollers became just a rumor.
But in the last couple of years, P&T has clearly been trying to expand itself into a full-range baby gear company with products far beyond the strollerspace. Permanently outsourcing control of their biggest market would apparently not be part of their long-term strategic plan.
Good luck with all that.
Huh, interesting. Regal+Lager has been really good with customer service for our e3. I hope that continues.
No way to get manufacturer service in Japan either. All parallel imports.
I'm with Matthew. Regal Lager's customer service for our P&T Sport has been fantastic. The only problem is that we've had to go to them so many times. I'd give RL 5 out of 5 stars. The Sport probably only gets 2-3 stars. I hope P&T is better at distribution than they are at engineering and quality control.