A further update on preorders (18th of November 2012)


Status
Not open for further replies.
But he's certainly not a scheming snake-oil salesman like many imagine

So how else would you describe somebody who secured a large amount of money and then failed to deliver what he promised?


March 2009 (I didn't imagine this):


"We expect to start the final mass production in April so you need to order within the next 2 weeks. There won't be another batch for several months."


I'd call that snake-oil...
 
But did any of you consider what it might be like to be in dept for what? Quarter of a million?

Yes. I know this pretty much. It's definitely not easy to handle, that's for sure.


But to get out of there, you need to try to let yourself help.

With hundreds of people looking for money/products from you, while being ostricised and scapegoated by the community you helped establish?

True... but the problem is: If you follow this thread: Most people only complain about not getting information out of him and that he blames other people.


NO one here blames him for the issues with CC. Everyone tries to help him as good as they can.


If he would be open here, replies to questions, accept the help from the community and myself, no one would scapegoat him.


That's the only thing everyone here wants.


The project has surpassed any normal business project. It's time for everyone here (Craig, me, the community) to work together to get issues solved.


As a team. That's it. And that's what the community hopes from me.
 
The project has surpassed any normal business project. It's time for everyone here (Craig, me, the community) to work together to get issues solved.


As a team. That's it. And that's what the community hopes from me.

Spot on!


Rather than dwelling on what has happened in the past, lets use this as an opportunity for the community to pull together and work together on putting things right. :)
 
The project has surpassed any normal business project. It's time for everyone here (Craig, me, the community) to work together to get issues solved.


As a team. That's it. And that's what the community hopes from me.

Spot on!


Rather than dwelling on what has happened in the past, lets use this as an opportunity for the community to pull together and work together on putting things right. :)

Agreed.
 
I wonder how much heartache would have been saved if accurate information had been provided from day one when the ED GC plan had started.


If the refunds were bad before I think we expect things to get worse if the remaining preorders get read through this thread.
 
I count myself very very lucky.


I managed to get a CC Pandora purchased throgh Craig's shop right before that all went to hell - after only a 2.5 year wait on the pre-order list.


I managed to get a 1Ghz Pandora purchased through Craig's shop on that first batch of 70 units.


I have donated to the 'Dev fund', Craig directly, purchased the intentionally overpriced 'Petal Pandora' ornament fund raiser.


I even purchased and installed my own video cable and case plastics replacement instead of sending my theoretically under warranty CC unit in for repairs to avoid adding costs to the project.


I paid Craig $700 hard currency on the 1Ghz and got my product, but i understand now that he didn't send the 50% of my purchase price to ED to cover the bare cost of producing the unit.


At the time, those 1Ghz units were priced high and supposed to 1:1 clear an old pre-order. I was under the impression that I was doing myself AND the project a favor by 'buying in' to the 'initially overpriced to bail out the project' 1Ghz Pandora.


This is where it gets weird.


I have an odd screen defect in my 1Ghz that ED says should result in a screen replacement. I haven't sent it in to ED or Link yet because -I- feel guilty of having them do a warranty repair on a machine that they didn't receive any payment for. If I send it in, they get additional costs associated with a product that I purchased from a guy who didn't pay for it.


It kind of feels like I unintentionally purchased stolen merchandise. I'm sure ED and/or Link would help me get it repaired regardless, but I'm not so sure it's their duty to.


Not giving Ed the portion of the 1Ghz money that was supposed to cover the production costs - that is where my faith in Craig broke down. That money was not his to divert - effectively meaning he stole it. Sorry Sir, there was only so far my faith would stretch, and that put it over the line. The CC fiasco wasn't his fault. Diverting the portion of the money from new purchases that wasn't his - I can't find anything or anyone else to blame on that.


Now there is a concerted effort to save this man (and the project) from his own devices. We have given him free money in the past - that didn't work. So, now the community appears to want a fully transparent accounting for the current state of affairs. Nobody is asking for, "How did it get there?" or, "'where did the money go?" The past in this is irrelevant so long as nobody goes class action on it.


To understand the situation and to try to help, the community is asking for a very basic, "As of today," accounting. Considering all of the money we've funneled his way - in excess of reason really - it isn't that much to ask. We'll need that before we can help to figure out a way forward.


Right now CraigIX owes me, personally, nothing. However, I have incredible sympathy for his customers and business partners who are not very very lucky as I seem to have been.


Craig, we are not, "Out to get/destroy/malign you." We would all like the old queue, new queue, refunds, 1Ghz queues cleared. It is hard to conceive a way to do that without knowing what they are.


If you don't want our help, that's fine too - but you need to solve this. It's giving the whole project a giant swollen bleeding black and purple eye.
 
Rather than dwelling on what has happened in the past, lets use this as an opportunity for the community to pull together and work together on putting things right

WTF? Dwelling on the past? I guess you didn't give Craig any money then...


Am I the only person actually reading Craig's postings in this thread? Wake up! He is checking out. Kiss goodbye to your money...
 
Am I the only person actually reading Craig's postings in this thread? Wake up! He is checking out. Kiss goodbye to your money...

As far as I know is ED handling the delivery of Pandoras to Craigs customers now. And refunds too. I don't think you have to say bye to your money.
 
As long as Craig can be cut out of the middle (I take it that's what 'drop shipping' means?) things can move very smoothly.
 
Am I the only person actually reading Craig's postings in this thread? Wake up! He is checking out. Kiss goodbye to your money...
As far as I know is ED handling the delivery of Pandoras to Craigs customers now. And refunds too. I don't think you have to say bye to your money.

Nope. Right now, I only handle the upgrades. I have no idea whether I will ship the profit-made units for Craigs customers to him or directly to his customers.


No discussion about that so far.

As long as Craig can be cut out of the middle (I take it that's what 'drop shipping' means?) things can move very smoothly.

Drop shipping means, that there's a shop (in this case Craigs) where you order and pay, but the shipping is actually handled by a third person (by me, in this case).


You pay to Craig, Craig sends the payment to me (making some profit) and I'll ship it.


It's pretty common these days, a few shops in Germany are actually doing that and selling my stuff as well.


Okay... made the needed changes to the website myself now. Didn't really have the time, but the HTML code was very well written (thanks Gadgetoid!), so it wasn't too hard.


The old site will be restructured to be a portal that provides more in-depth information and stuff like firmware downloads.


Once that's done, I will link to it from the main page.
 
Great job on the new website, nods to Gadgetoid.


Makes me want to buy another Pandora if I could afford it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Am I the only person actually reading Craig's postings in this thread? Wake up! He is checking out. Kiss goodbye to your money...
As far as I know is ED handling the delivery of Pandoras to Craigs customers now. And refunds too. I don't think you have to say bye to your money.
Nope. Right now, I only handle the upgrades. I have no idea whether I will ship the profit-made units for Craigs customers to him or directly to his customers.


No discussion about that so far.


Oh god, reread it, sorry I wanted to say something quite different :( . ED will try to sell enough Pandoras, so everyone in both preorder queues will get a Pandora. If he or craig will send them to the customers of craigs queue is unknown.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I got a shock when I went to openpandora.org and landed on the new website.


Good job ed. keep on hacking :eek: ;)
 
Nope. Right now, I only handle the upgrades. I have no idea whether I will ship the profit-made units for Craigs customers to him or directly to his customers.


No discussion about that so far.

I think that if you ship units to Craig instead of directly to his customers you'll end up having to send more profit-made units away for free then if you send them directly.


It's great that you take us stuck in Craig's queue under your wing and say you'll service us whatever happens but at the same time I think that in return for that you should have complete control of that queue. It makes no sense sending out units that cut into your profit directly into the dark and hoping they'll arrive at the right spot.


Not a dig at Craig but I think that in his position the only thing he can do is turn them into cash and fill a hole. The 70 upgraded units he wanted for free twice. Once because the price was twice as much as the normal cost thus freeing up one free unit and then he wanted another free unit from you to send there as part of the free unit deal. I can understand his thinking but it's the thinking of somebody who's stuck between a rock and a hard place and doesn't know where to manouvre anymore.


We have a saying in Holland: You shouldn't tie a cat to the bacon. And sending Craig units is doing just that. Even if he has, and I truly believe that, every intention in making it up to the queue once he's up and running again.
 
I will cross upgrade in one week. Then mildy consider ordering a pandora 2 in the future if Craig bothers to listen and answer the community which helped him.
 
This is my first post here like a few others in this thread.


In October 2009 I preordered from Craig's queue for ~$393.98 US (This price included a Pandora, additional accessories and shipping)


I did not receive that preorder so when I saw the option to upgrade to help clear the queue and potentially get a pandora earlier...


In August 2012 I upgraded that preorder to 1Ghz model for an additional cost of $369. This cost was calculated like so... 1Ghz ($699) - preorder Price ($330) = $369. I received a queue number of 162


Like others in this thread I have not received that upgrade yet.


Since I upgraded before the option to cross upgrade with Ed was available I have been holding out hope that I will receive a 1Ghz unit based on what I have paid so far (~$762.98 US).


Would it be safe to say that these would be the options currently?


1) Continue to have patience and wait for additional sales to be made


or


2) Try to cross upgrade at Ed's shop and pay an additional ~$410.89 on top of the ~$762.98 I have already paid (Total cost all in ~$1173.87)


- Is option #2 possible if I have already paid for the upgrade with Craig?


- Will doing option #2 help someone else get their Pandora as well?


If yes to both I would be game for helping out by doing option #2.


Why? Because at the end of the day reading this thread I think everyone feels very similar... We want to have this amazing device in our hands. If I can help out by donating or paying twice for an upgrade then it hopefully helps everyone.


I have always been floored by what the team here was able to build together as a community. I feel that even without actually having a pandora yet.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I got a shock when I went to openpandora.org and landed on the new website.


Good job ed. keep on hacking :eek: ;)
Agree 100%. Thanks also to Gadgetoid... and Craig (it is his sub-project, isn't it?)


Idea: how about some Christmas detail on page (some snow flakes falling or so)


Of topic: Are new Pandoras great/metallic? I didn't follow that, it was too much for me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top