Customer service (lack of communication)

[craig-gp2x]

Right so far I've rang customer on many occasions - nobody answers the bloody phone, it almost like they cant afford a receptionist even when you call during office hours. I receive an answerphone message advising me to call during office hours - well I did bloody call during office hours and every single time, the phone rings, and I'm diverted to an answerphone. I've left answerphone messages, they never return any calls. If they dont have the time to answer the phone, then it's about time they employed a full time receptionist who does *actually* :-


a] answer the phone


b] returns phone calls


c] check the answerphone


Two e-mails also sent, and no replies.


They took the money, and as far as I'm concerned, they have entered into a contract to supply my order. Part of that commitment is to actually inform their customers when they can expect their orders, of which nothing is ever communicated... All I had was one follow up mail after placing my order with the message: "Your order will be delayed because of the current wifi issues, blah, blah"... and nothing communicated to give a timeframe for delivery.


I don't pay this sort of money to be kept in the dark and uninformed of developments... Sort out regular mailing to customers to tell them what the hell is going on.


Secondly, part of that contract by taking my money (and that of others) is they are obliged to supply a Pandora within 7 days (if paying the hiked premium price)... I certainly am not paying premium prices for something which may not arrive for weeks, or even months until they fix the boards that CC buggered up with faulty wifi.


Yes, you guessed it, I am not a happy person right now.


This thread is called 'customer support', but nobody from customer support seems to notice the posts in the section of the forum most of the time (as no replies), only other users who have nothing to do with customer support, see following threads:-








- end of rant -


P.S. I noticed craigix has gone quiet over this thread too

 

[gunrock]

This project is running at a loss and is just about hanging together. The $500 is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the losses the team have incurred. They have no money for receptionists and other "luxuries".


I understand your frustration, as I ordered a premium just before the Wifi discovery and have been waiting a bit longer than you. This is not a company with lots of staff and a product that is churned out in its thousands, it's a shoestring one-shot-at-the-moon affair and surely reading these boards would have made that clear before you purchased?

 

[craig-gp2x]

This project is running at a loss and is just about hanging together. The $500 is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the losses the team have incurred. They have no money for receptionists and other "luxuries".


I understand your frustration, as I ordered a premium just before the Wifi discovery and have been waiting a bit longer than you. This is not a company with lots of staff and a product that is churned out in its thousands, it's a shoestring one-shot-at-the-moon affair and surely reading these boards would have made that clear before you purchased?

I was aware of the history behind the Pandora and the team involved. But after ordering, I hear the dreaded wifi issues and the thousands of boards CC have buggered up ow which does not make for reassuring news.


Well, I'm not being funny, but if your going to distribute something on this scale, you need to have the support structure to deal with it, otherwise you are commiting financial suicide as well as distrust amongst customers who are being kept in the dark of foregoing developments (if any!). If they can't afford a receptionist, then sending out email bulletins to all customers in their email address book is not rocket science...

 

[craigix]

Only we will return your call and answer your emails, it just takes us a little time.

 

[craig-gp2x]

Only we will return your call and answer your emails, it just takes us a little time.

Well in that case, you won't mind me reporting in this thread response times to telephone / email queries, and duration to get my order shipped then, of which I will post here so people have an idea of the average waiting times

 

[DaMummy]

we all know the wait times for emails and responses, your help isnt needed, thanks though, we're ok with waiting a week or two for a reply after waiting 2+years for the damn device itself, so dont worry about it

 

[monty]

A little less self-righteousness and a bit more "oh dear, how can I be sure my order is going to be processed?" in your posts and you would get a better, more sympathetic response here.


Business isn't black and white. No small to medium company can protect itself against the sort of major upsets OPT has had recently and through-out production. It is easy to say "send out regular e-mails", but, no matter how simple it might seem, there are circumstances wherein doing so becomes a huge logistical task for a small organisation. Perhaps they should be better organised, but what people often seem to fail to realise is that organising can in of itself be a huge logistical task. OPT have to balance a lot of things very carefully, including customer happiness / anger. We have to accept this reality.

 

[Phelsumania]

Surely everyone that orders a pandora is aware of the wait times involved and surely is something everyone has taken in to consideration before placing their order, even for the premium order customers. If not then your a fool my friend. yes it sucks having to wait abit for responses, but if your impatient enough to badger the team rather than just letting them focus on completing your orders and fixing the bugs so you dont get a crappy system. I understand the frustration but your devise will turn up eventually, i waited over 18 months for mine relatively unsure of whether it would arive or not. But again i was aware this is technically a homebrew project from a small team dedicating a lot of there own time not taking a profit, to make an awsome piece of kit for us. and to expect a corporation style response to orders and production is completely unrealistic in the real world. Just chilax one day a pandora will turn up at your houses and it will be the tits.

 

[gunni]

...one day a pandora will turn up at your houses and it will be the tits.

hehe nicely put...

 

[Jumpman]

...one day a pandora will turn up at your houses and it will be the tits.

hehe nicely put...

+1


Chris

 

[Staffan]

I personally think you should skip the premium orders for a while and deliver the first ones. Because you made a commitment. (No im not a native english speaker)


Then you could contine with the premium orders again. A waiting time for years doesnt look good. You got to think about reputation and such even if your an ideal organisation.

 

[Tam Toucan]

I personally think you should skip the premium orders for a while and deliver the first ones. Because you made a commitment. (No im not a native english speaker)


Then you could contine with the premium orders again. A waiting time for years doesnt look good. You got to think about reputation and such even if your an ideal organisation.

Yes in an ideal world. However as has been discussed many times the premium orders make it possible for the project to keep going. Stop them and the project stops.

 

[Sigurd]

I personally think you should skip the premium orders for a while and deliver the first ones. Because you made a commitment. (No im not a native english speaker)


Then you could contine with the premium orders again. A waiting time for years doesnt look good. You got to think about reputation and such even if your an ideal organisation.

We've been over this a million times. The Premium Pandoras are vital to ensure that the ones who supported the project (while paying a lower price) get theirs. Im sure the Pandora team is extremely devoted to the supporters of the project while it was in its infant stages, and are doing everything to give the users what they've been waiting for.


But back on topic..


@Hercules.


I am happy that you chose to order a Pandora, that being said, Open Pandora Ltd. is a very unique company. They provide the world with a never-before-seen device. And the fact that you ordered it, despite knowing full well what the issues could be, simply proves this. Rest assured, it is very likely that your order is not forgotten. Rejoice that this project actually exists and at some point you will actually have this device in your hands. Complaining about the customer service gets you nowhere, the only thing it will do is it will distract Craig and ED from doing their job, which is making sure that you get a Pandora of your very own.


And as a last thing i would like to note, that ive spoken with Jacquelyn twice over the phone, and ive never had a more pleasant and informative conversation with any other customer service representative.

 

[Staffan]

If they really are necessary I hope that each preorder customer got an personal Email explaining things.


I mean, the people that ordered first are the most entusiastic. It can be important to have a good relationchip with that group later on.


I think you should have had opening price for the pandora like 500€ or something. Then you could lower price as you learn how to manufacture it,


just like real companies do.


I would also like to say that I have my Pandora and I think its great. It like being a child again with all the emulators.

 

[darfgarf]

If they really are necessary I hope that each preorder customer got an personal Email explaining things.

yes, we did, and even had a say in it believe it or not

 

[Staffan]

This must be the nice reception from the pandora crew, that Ive heard so much about

 

[andmaz]

I agree premiums should be stopped for now and that would happen with an other Company but OPT are unique!


Stopping premiums may (iControlpad may be the saviour of OPT) kill the project so it's not going to happen and rightly so.


After all this time we just have to wait and hope CC finish batch1 and/or a new Company does get involved.

 

[craig-gp2x]

A little less self-righteousness and a bit more "oh dear, how can I be sure my order is going to be processed?" in your posts and you would get a better, more sympathetic response here.

Well, what can I say... I say things how they are and to the point. If it offends peoples then tough titties.

A little less self-righteousness and a bit more "It is easy to say "send out regular e-mails", but, no matter how simple it might seem, there are circumstances wherein doing so becomes a huge logistical task for a small organisation.

You make this sound like a major chore for them to keep their customers updated. All they need is a news bulletin each month to keep customers informed, and if you really think that is such an effort for them to do, then maybe they should post something here on their developer blog:-


http://openpandora.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=2&lang=en


... After all, why bother having this section on their web site if they can't even be bothered to update it - it hasn't been updated since 26 May 2011 ! ... and yes, just one update here on their section of the website every 30 days would suffice to keep the customers informed. Please don't tell me they can't manage that !

Surely everyone that orders a pandora is aware of the wait times involved and surely is something everyone has taken in to consideration before placing their order, even for the premium order customers. If not then your a fool my friend.

Well, like I have said time and time again: the point of paying the hiked premium price was to get a unit in 7 days... If it's going to be hugely delayed by the problems with CircuitCo messing the PCB's up, then premimum buyers should at least receive some sort of partial refund, if not it's completely unethical - because premium buyers like myself are effectively holding the business afloat by paying the highly inflated premium price in the first place by paying to receive a Pandora in 7 days!

 

[DaMummy]

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/forum/17-official-openpandora-news/


i see an update at least once a month, i dont know what youre on about, sorry if im saying it like im seeing it, but youre a jackass

 

[Prometheus]

Guys, civility, please.