When Am I Getting My Pandora?

[WizardStan]

Anyone else starting to think we need to start a fund to send these guys to China or wherever the hell this bottleneck is happening?

It has been recommended that Fatih + trusted translator visit China many times over the last year and a half since the whole problem with the cases began. For reasons unknown (though I trust are well considered) they decided not to.

OP (I really hate this phrase because I'm so used to it standing for "original poster")

Try "OPT" (Open Pandora Team). It's become my acronym of choice.

 

[Yoyobuae]

It's pretty easy for you to sit there and judge everything despite having no idea the amount of work I personally have been through the past couple of weeks (not to mention the past couple of years) to try and keep things moving and motivated with the distributors, manufacturers and assembler. It's also easy to blame Craig like these delays are all his fault since he is the face you know to hate but we are just as frustrated. Regardless of what you think, nobody is sitting on their asses doing nothing, not even the manufacturing companies. They're just not working for us and it's very hard to make that change. The nub problem is a huge kick in the head to us and we can't afford to keep shipping units with bad parts because the returns are financially crippling.

I personally, want OpenPandora(the company) to succeed. I'm sure a lot more pre-orderers also want it to be a success.

If I had to choose between getting my Pandora faster or OP success as a company, I would pick the latter.

Keep the good work OPT. I'm positive that these delays are just obstacles that you need to overcome in order to succeed with Pandoras production. And there's probably no way around it.

If it was an easy task to produce a well made device like this, why are there so few small companies that make them?

I wish the best of luck for you guys.

Anyone else starting to think we need to start a fund to send these guys to China or wherever the hell this bottleneck is happening?

Or maybe start a fund to help the OP climb out of debt. :unsure: More than new delays, I fear for the health of OP. Without OP, there is no more Pandoras, neither hope for future Pandora encarnations.

More than anything else, I wish for the continuity of this project.

 

[Bigun]

I was under the impression that it was the boards that were mainly holding up production. And if these boards are being assembled in Texas, I would gladly serve as a caller and go between for the OPT. That way they can get some rest, and I can have some.... sick.... twisted satisfaction with pestering this company out of speeding the hell up.

I know they won't do that, but the offer still stands seeing as how I was half serious about the offer.

Tell me you guys wouldn't if you knew who was responsible for holding up production?

 

[TrashyMG]

I think the biggest thing that's holding up production and its been said here before, is that the OPT is not a high priority customer. The manufacturers most likely have higher volume/ higher paying customers that they need to keep happy more, because these customers have the money to go elsewhere.. It's all business.

 

[mecksg1]

that's a good point. also I'm in if there is a fund to help these guys out. I've been watching this from he beganing and just finall got the money to order one. if they need help with money I'm willing to donate what I can so that more people van get one of these cause thisis a great looking system.

 

[emcee]

I think the biggest thing that's holding up production and its been said here before, is that the OPT is not a high priority customer. The manufacturers most likely have higher volume/ higher paying customers that they need to keep happy more, because these customers have the money to go elsewhere.. It's all business.

See... This is something I don't really get, and I guess I'm probably missing something.

I work for a small production machining company. We make custom metal pins, shafts, fasteners, that sort of thing. We do all different sizes of jobs, from a few hundred parts to millions. And these jobs are for all different sizes of companies, from little five men outfits, to large multimillion dollar corporations. But there's one thing all these jobs have in common: due dates.

When a company contracts out work for us to do, that's what it is: an actual contract. A contract that says we will produce a certain amount of parts for the customer, to spec and by a specific date. Because as companies, our customers have their own due dates to meet.

So, when OPT was making these predictions as to how long mass production would take, I assume they were basing those in part on how fast their suppliers claimed they could produce the necessary parts. But was any of this ever put into writing? I just don't understand how you can contract work from a company without any sort of time line on when the work actually gets done.

 

[Iorgy77]

I think because original dates have not been adhered to in regards to part delivery some of these companies have now thrown the schedules out of the window and are just doing what they can when they can.

You can contract someone to have something done on a certain date but if parts dont arrive in time from your suppliers you cant hold the contractor responsible for the next stage.

 

[WizardStan]

So, when OPT was making these predictions as to how long mass production would take, I assume they were basing those in part on how fast their suppliers claimed they could produce the necessary parts. But was any of this ever put into writing? I just don't understand how you can contract work from a company without any sort of time line on when the work actually gets done.

There's one thing these other small companies that you're probably used to dealing with have that OPT doesn't: surplus money.
I imagine the thinking basically went

OpenPandoraTeam: You're late! You were supposed to have had this done months ago!
Mould factory: yup, sorry. We're working to get it done as fast as we can.
OPT: Well the contract said you'd be done by now.
MF: You are correct. Since we're late, the contract is basically void. We'll put everything on hold and let the lawyers look it over and see what we need to do to compensate you. We should be able to resume again as soon as that's taken care of. Shouldn't take more than 18 months or so.
OPT: ... So how long do you need to finish?

Lawsuit isn't really an option, as it's basically impossible to sue a Chinese company. And even if they could, they don't have any back stock: they would have to find someone else to make the mould and start all over again with money they don't actually have while the lawsuit settles, which could also take years.
I don't believe for a second that the boards are any real bottleneck. If OPT suddenly found themselves with all 3000 remaining cases, I have little doubt that they could call up the factory in Texas, say "we need boards yesterday!", and they would find 500 complete boards on their doorstep in under 2 weeks, with 500 more trailing behind each week thereafter.
No, I am quite certain that if the plastics company were on top of their game, delivering the cases as they should be, the board populating factory in Texas wouldn't be far behind.
Which kind of turned out to be a blessing: if things had gone faster, we'd have had most of the 4000 Pandoras out there by now with a large proportion of them having bad nubs. Instead, the problem is discovered within the first 600 and the nub factory works to fix it.

 

[DaMummy]

how come so many people here work for some large famous company thats has connections this and that, even i work for a company that has large contracts with Texas Instruments, cant we all somehow work towards adding pressure to OP part suppliers, theres gotta be some strings that can be pulled from all sides by the community to help make this happen? the community has gotten it this far, why are we so unable to push through this final wall?

 

[darkblu]

how come so many people here work for some large famous company thats has connections this and that, even i work for a company that has large contracts with Texas Instruments, cant we all somehow work towards adding pressure to OP part suppliers, theres gotta be some strings that can be pulled from all sides by the community to help make this happen? the community has gotten it this far, why are we so unable to push through this final wall?

so what exactly do you suggest we pressure TI for? personal engravings on the silicon?

 

[emcee]

...
There's one thing these other small companies that you're probably used to dealing with have that OPT doesn't: surplus money.
I imagine the thinking basically went

OpenPandoraTeam: You're late! You were supposed to have had this done months ago!
Mould factory: yup, sorry. We're working to get it done as fast as we can.
OPT: Well the contract said you'd be done by now.
MF: You are correct. Since we're late, the contract is basically void. We'll put everything on hold and let the lawyers look it over and see what we need to do to compensate you. We should be able to resume again as soon as that's taken care of. Shouldn't take more than 18 months or so.
OPT: ... So how long do you need to finish?

Lawsuit isn't really an option, as it's basically impossible to sue a Chinese company. And even if they could, they don't have any back stock: they would have to find someone else to make the mould and start all over again with money they don't actually have while the lawsuit settles, which could also take years.
I don't believe for a second that the boards are any real bottleneck. If OPT suddenly found themselves with all 3000 remaining cases, I have little doubt that they could call up the factory in Texas, say "we need boards yesterday!", and they would find 500 complete boards on their doorstep in under 2 weeks, with 500 more trailing behind each week thereafter.
No, I am quite certain that if the plastics company were on top of their game, delivering the cases as they should be, the board populating factory in Texas wouldn't be far behind.
Which kind of turned out to be a blessing: if things had gone faster, we'd have had most of the 4000 Pandoras out there by now with a large proportion of them having bad nubs. Instead, the problem is discovered within the first 600 and the nub factory works to fix it.

My understanding, from what I've pieced together from various posts (and I could be wrong here), is that the cases are no longer an issue, and that the issue is getting the boards produced the nubs soldered on and tested. I was also under the impression that this is being done by this "CircuitCo" company in Texas, and that OPT has to constantly hassle them to stay busy on it because as it's such a small order, it's not a big priority for them.

But, if CircuitCo has a written agreement with OPT to produce a set amount of working units by a set due date, I don't see why this should be necessary, or why the size of the order should matter.

 

[silver]

All the due dates/contracted dates currently do not apply because they are past original production.

Boards were produced, Nubs were produced, cases were produced.

But Faulty Nubs meant Nub production stalled while they sorted QC and presumably tweaked nub production. Boards are probably sitting semi-ready to hit production line when a large pile of QC'd nubs arrive in Texas.

So yes, a right royal pain that has some people querying whether to wait on. The arrival in the past few months of smartphones that have same/more emulation grunt than Pandora (iPhone4, HTC Desire... anything with a snapdragon) probably hasn't helped - just shows how unbelievable good the Pandora would have been 2 years ago. To me it used to be awesome controls&design, with ridiculous speed & battery. Now it's more the design&controls.)

 

[chris_c]

sales@circuitco.com I am tempted to email them and ask them what the hold up is but I don't know if that would make things worse!

 

[b._.o._.b]

Let the guys do their job. They have already succeeded in creating a couple of hundred Pandoras so they should know the drill by now.

 

[MrBlais]

At this point, the only reason I'm waiting is to have a unique handheld in my hands.. I would like the money for other things right now, but that's the only thought from holding me back.

 

[Bigun]

sales@circuitco.com I am tempted to email them and ask them what the hold up is but I don't know if that would make things worse!

I have the page bookmarked, and was tempted to call them. Yet, until the OPT expresses some need for assistance with harassment, I'm going to put that method on hold.

 

[Alibobar]

Meh, I'm in queue 1995-2000 of the first batch and am expecting delivery mid september now.

Personally I don't mind waiting another month or two if that ensures the quality of the product.

 

[tristan.clark]

sales@circuitco.com I am tempted to email them and ask them what the hold up is but I don't know if that would make things worse!

I have the page bookmarked, and was tempted to call them. Yet, until the OPT expresses some need for assistance with harassment, I'm going to put that method on hold.

Its tempting to contact some of these suppliers and perhaps it adds to the overall frustration that we can't help in some way.

Although if frustrated and annoyed customers take it on themselves I expect that it would make it more difficult for OPT to communicate through overflowing in-boxes. Also not everyone who might email them is going to communicate effectively and politely so Circuitco appear to get a barrage of angry 'spam'. The contract will be between Circuitco and OPT not us so we aren't entitled to answers from Circuitco. We also don't know exactly what the contract conditions are between Circuitco and OPT so its difficult to make a reasoned argument. Which, unfortunately, leads back to angry 'spam' saying "F*(%£$^ hurry up".

So we are all left with the choice of waiting longer or cancelling as the only action we might be able to take might make things worse.

Although as the email address is known I'm sure that someone has already contacted them.

 

[Nova]

.

 

[aq21]

I thought that the current delays are blamed on an American company.

This reminds me that a few a years ago I paid a British company some money for a gadget that was supposed to be shipped within a month, and they did not send to me anything, but only gave me one excuse after another.