On the pre-production status

[Kikka 25]

I know, but this is the answer I received yesterday... 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Kikka
wrong quote

[SchattengestaIt 557]

I guess the update is near. But I really hope they stop using the word "slightly". I don't know how many times I've heard it in the last months but it's getting me more and more impatient.

[nanohcv 24]

My patience is running out too.
I've been waiting almost 9 months since my payment.
The production status emails with the corona excuses are also no longer credible.

Why these small number of produced devices have not been shipped last week? Why is the simple shipping of finished devices delayed for another two weeks?

 

 

 

[Rob. S. 1,634]

1 hour ago, nanohcv said:

Why these small number of produced devices have not been shipped last week? Why is the simple shipping of finished devices delayed for another two weeks?

Perhaps because shipping is the more expensive the fewer devices are shipped in a batch. And while they actually did send out some devices piece by piece when a significantly longer delay had been the alternative, if I remember that correctly, I'm perfectly good with two more weeks if things are really on their way to become normal now. It's not that the 2½ months since the Chinese lockdown could have improved Fxtec's budget.

[nanohcv 24]

38 minutes ago, Rob. S. said:

Perhaps because shipping is the more expensive the fewer devices are shipped in a batch.

Then fxtec shouldn't constantly say otherwise in its newsletters.
Somehow it's the same as in December. At that time they also wrote that they send a batch every week, but then they did something else.

[Rob. S. 1,634]

1 hour ago, nanohcv said:

Then fxtec shouldn't constantly say otherwise in its newsletters.
Somehow it's the same as in December. At that time they also wrote that they send a batch every week, but then they did something else.

Because "then" a lot happened.

In December, this was a different world.

I understand everyone's disappointment including mine, but why are some people so unwilling to give a company like Fxtec the benefit of doubt, even in a situation like this?

In this situation, we can only hope that they will survive, since they're NOT Apple, or Samsung, for that matter, which, beside their electronics division, even has a weapons of war division that can hardly fail in this day and age. Whether I get my expensive toy two weeks later or earlier is really the least of my problems now.  

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Rob. S.

[SchattengestaIt 557]

They are very lucky that many (most?) devices have been sent out already. Otherwise I would have left long ago.
I think they probably have lots of new preorders from public reviews like from Linus (950k views already). So they will be waiting in order to send out bigger batches at once.

Otherwise I wouldn't even understand how the lockdown would affect keyboard delivery since the keyboards should have been there months ago.

I just really hope that they aren't purposely inventing excuses since they have much bigger problems.

@Rob. S. Sadly this isn't about weeks and it never was. We all have been assured that we will get our device soon. Ever month we got new letters telling us that we sure will get the device in a few weeks. I remember multiple mails telling me that I will get the device by Christmas for 100%.

I'm happy that many people received their devices soon afterwards, but I'm sick of all these delays. If they told me that they don't have enough workers and they won't get my Pro1 ready by june, I'd be fine with that. If they changed the website to "in 2-3 months" I'd be fine too. That's honesty.
But telling us every week that it will delay for a few more days just makes me angry.

And no, I'm not calling them a liar. They probably aren't. But I'm sad that I feel the need to add a "probably" at this point.

[Slion 1,200]

Guys, the world is facing an unprecedented pandemic and the worst economic downturn in a century. We could count ourselves lucky if Fxtec and partners don't go bust soon.

I mean millions of people have already lost their jobs and livelihood, thousands have lost their lives. You guys are looking at loosing $600 if Fxtec goes bankrupt, surely if that's all you loose in that pandemic you will recover from it.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Slion

[Tsunero 208]

5 hours ago, Slion said:

Guys, the world is facing an unprecedented pandemic and the worst economic downturn in a century. We could count ourselves lucky if Fxtec and partners don't go bust soon.

I mean millions of people have already lost their jobs and livelihood, thousands have lost their lives. You guys are looking at loosing $600 if Fxtec goes bankrupt, surely if that's all you loose in that pandemic you will recover from it.

I don't agree. I have been waiting almost 10 months since payment (preordered, mind you) and I still don't have my phone. 600$ may be pocket money for you but it's almost a months worth of salary for me.

In case they see themselves go bankrupt I really hope they will give us a heads up so I can get my money back at least before their ship completely sinks.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Tsunero

[ToniCipriani 194]

On 4/15/2020 at 4:27 PM, Rob. S. said:

Because "then" a lot happened.

In December, this was a different world.

I understand everyone's disappointment including mine, but why are some people so unwilling to give a company like Fxtec the benefit of doubt, even in a situation like this?

In this situation, we can only hope that they will survive, since they're NOT Apple, or Samsung, for that matter, which, beside their electronics division, even has a weapons of war division that can hardly fail in this day and age. Whether I get my expensive toy two weeks later or earlier is really the least of my problems now.  

 

FWIW the pandemic started in China back in November.

[Rob. S. 1,634]

18 hours ago, Tsunero said:

I don't agree. I have been waiting almost 10 months since payment (preordered, mind you) and I still don't have my phone. 600$ may be pocket money for you but it's almost a months worth of salary for me.

In case they see themselves go bankrupt I really hope they will give us a heads up so I can get my money back at least before their ship completely sinks.

It isn't pocket money for me, either, even though it didn't tear as big a hole in my budget as in yours. And for me, seven months later, the money isn't missing much anymore, but I would still like to get that phone. 

But in our case, your second paragraph really is what matters – if a company that goes bankrupt has no assets, which tends to be the reason for going bankrupt in the first place, noone gets their money back. So it is in every orderer's immediate interest to help the company stay alive. Public rants against the company are no such help – being directed against the company's reputation, if they do anything, they reduce the chance of your either getting the device or getting the money back. It's really as easy as that.

I'm all for criticism where criticism is due, and it is due in many aspects of Fxtec and the Pro¹, but in the current situation we should really give them another few weeks.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Rob. S.

[Zamasu 258]

18 hours ago, Tsunero said:

In case they see themselves go bankrupt I really hope they will give us a heads up so I can get my money back at least before their ship completely sinks.

Honestly, that's illegal in some places at least. They're required to try and do everything to keep afloat, to ward off bankruptcy. Saying people should get their money back is a good way to go bankrupt.

9 hours ago, ToniCipriani said:

FWIW the pandemic started in China back in November.

First cases started then I think yeah, but it started to really affect companies and supply lines in January. 

[Raksura 270]

Dare we ask for an update on the delay of the update on a delay?

[EskeRahn 5,399]

40 minutes ago, Raksura said:

Dare we ask for an update on the delay of the update on a delay?

...That update seems to be delayed.... 😜

[OliverTypes 152]

[Tsunero 208]

You know my problem with these updates is that in the last one we were told that only keyboards were problematic and now suddenly more key components are problematic as well...

Anyway, fingers crossed for stock allocation next week.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Tsunero

[EskeRahn 5,399]

@Raksura moved your post quoting the recent letter over to the locked thread here

[npatel1050 132]

Wonder how many preorders they have left or when they anticipate being open for general availability...

[Slion 1,200]

3 hours ago, npatel1050 said:

Wonder how many preorders they have left or when they anticipate being open for general availability...

It will be a while as it seems nobody has had a device delivered since early February.

[Joakim 32]

Based on the Tracking number thread. Atleast a few QWERTZ devices have been allocated for distribution today (mine included). In general, it would make sense that the rest of the pre-ordered QWERTZ devices were now made in this small batch. I assume that there were not too many of those left whom did not have their QWERTZ device yet. Maybe some later pre-orders were still not made, but at the same time they need to order certain amount of parts and I would assume that they would use all of them (i.e. they do not order [as an example] 87 keyboards, but 100 since that's the smallest batch that they can order / make).

Edited April 23, 2020 by Joakim

[nanohcv 24]

29 minutes ago, Joakim said:

In general, it would make sense that the rest of the pre-ordered QWERTZ devices were now made in this small batch.

I don't think so. My order (QWERTZ) was placed on July and until now i do not have any "stock assigned" message.
If fxtec is now only sending pre-orders that are one year old, then it will probably take a long time to ship all the remaining pre-orders.

[Joakim 32]

15 minutes ago, nanohcv said:

I don't think so. My order (QWERTZ) was placed on July and until now i do not have any "stock assigned" message.
If fxtec is now only sending pre-orders that are one year old, then it will probably take a long time to ship all the remaining pre-orders.

Interesting. My pre-order was placed on June 25th. Maybe it's even smaller batch than I anticipated or they made a really small batch of QWERTZ and the rest are normal QWERTY.

Or they haven't allocated all devices yet (I wouldn't keep my hopes up though). In some of the previous cases allocation has gone over a couple of days. I would double check inbox + trash since website's Order Status has never been up to date until the device is actually shipped.

[Craig 1,435]

Remember, after IGG backers (who I think completed deliveries in previous batches?) it goes by payment date not order date, with some magic weighting related to countries nobody quite understands.

So I think first gotta ship the rest that paid in August...  I think some August payments are still waiting?  They're probably the ones getting assigned...  then September payments... and so on...

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Craig

[Joakim 32]

5 minutes ago, Craig said:

Remember, after IGG backers (who I think completed deliveries in previous batches?) it goes by payment date not order date, with some magic weighting related to countries nobody quite understands.

So I think first gotta ship the rest that paid in August...  I think some August payments are still waiting?  They're probably the ones getting assigned...  then September payments... and so on...

 

Probably a combination of all with different weightings on each: Type of device, receiving country, payment date, order date. I didn't put too much weighting on actual payment date since I paid almost immediately when I got a notice. I would doubt that they base it completely on exact timing of payment. Even though it's probably easier to do.

For example if 2 people paid during same business week, I would assume that some other metrics are taken into consideration than exact payment timing. Loosely based on the conversations with the support, I think I would have gotten my device earlier if it were just a normal QWERTY. (They always talked about some QWERTZs being in the next batch since probably the start of this year..)

[ToniCipriani 194]

40 minutes ago, Craig said:

So I think first gotta ship the rest that paid in August...  I think some August payments are still waiting?  They're probably the ones getting assigned...  then September payments... and so on...

I paid in August and I even stopped getting the "update" emails.