The Truth is out there (2010-12-11)


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OK, I feel the need to chime in here. I've got a bunch of statements/questions, and I don't feel like quoting all the relevant sources, since I'm too tired/busy with other stuff going on right now.


1) Trey - thanks for your work, pictures, report, and promise of continued effort.


2) Timstertoo - I couldn't agree more with your post.


3) My suspicion - the reason they delayed the appointment last week was because they only had the 200 we saw in the last photos, and were frantically making the extra 300 to make the 500 that Trey saw. So, in my estimate, that's 300/week that they can do.


4) ED, I know you don't lie to us, and I really appreciate that. But sometimes you're just too nice. As some people have said, when a company like CC is jerking you around, you have to put your foot down harder and bug the hell out of them. If we'd been riding them harder, we might have had the truth, and then we wouldn't have been misled, even if it was an unintentional misleading, and the truth as far as you knew it (with appropriate caveats). Honestly, I don't blame you for telling us what you had been told. However, I do think you could have done a better job at uncovering the truth, once you started to suspect them.


People here have been clamoring for someone (and offering) to visit CC for months (a year?) now. Why did this take so long? If you had doubts, it's a benefit. Even if you weren't sure about your doubts, it couldn't hurt. I hate to say "I told you so", but I expressed some doubts at your optimism a week or two ago, and your response was "what other setbacks could we have"?


5) What's been their (CEO's) response when we pointed out their flagrant lie? Because it wasn't just a "little white lie" of "Yes, dear, I think your product will do fabulously", it was a giant whopper of "Yeah, we're almost done" when they had barely even started. How on earth can you (ED) say "If they now start working properly, I don't see a problem."??


Honesty is critical in a business relationship, and I personally think their lying was completely unacceptable. Not doing the boards (as has been said) would have been understandable. Unless you guys can get some kind of contract that guarantees penalties if they don't perform, or TI manages to give some reasonable explanation, you should drop them like a hot potato as soon as the replacement company has pumped out a few hundred boards, or CC finishes up their 3000 left, whichever happens first.


6) Link - I agree with you that there are a lot of other guilty parties around here, including the banks and case company (We need a new acronym, CC is now CircuitCo). In particular, there really should be some compensation from the Nub Manufacturer, who - while doing a good job at fixing their royal screw-up - were grossly incompetent at not properly (at all?) testing the nubs to make sure that they were up to spec. That issue alone has delayed this whole ordeal by at least 6 months. However, please don't say that the board company doesn't have a fair share of fault right now. They promised (so they say) they could put about 2000 nubs a week onto Pandora boards. If CC had those boards ready to go (as they'd told us) they could have soldered on the 2k nubs they had last week, and shipped them to OPT, only to wait on the next set of nubs. As it stands, we're instead limited by their (supposed; rate yet to be proven) 500 boards/week, which will (almost certainly) be less than half of the speed they'd be able to do if they made the boards as promised. So while they're not the only (or biggest) delaying factor, and some of their reasons may even be understandable, please don't try to tell me that things wouldn't be going any faster if they *had* done what they told us they did.


And finally, two questions I haven't seen anywhere else:


7) Speaking of Nubs, What's the status on those PCBs? You said that the company has gotten another thousand or so of them in (I can't find the exact number ATM), but that's a fair bit from the number they need for the rest of the Pandoras/ICPs. When will they be getting in the rest of them?


8) What's the status of the TV Cables?
 
It's pretty simple with the board company; they produce the stuff that was paid for in advance before the Pandora stuff. For them it doesn't make sense to first produce Pandora stuff (or in between of other projects) when the nubs are not there yet. There are other companies that did pay for stuff in advance who are entitled to getting their stuff before OpenPandora. So if you look at it this way then it all makes 100% pure sense. But even if OpenPandora payed them in advance, they still would have to wait until this very moment because the nubs weren't there yet.


In my opinion, nobody can blame each other in this situation. The board company just put up a little lie for future benefits of the project, and so OpenPandora wouldn't run away with the project and the board company would be left with a bunch of boards and no money.


Anyways, at least they are not a scam and actually produce something decent.
 
4) ED, I know you don't lie to us, and I really appreciate that. But sometimes you're just too nice. As some people have said, when a company like CC is jerking you around, you have to put your foot down harder and bug the hell out of them. If we'd been riding them harder, we might have had the truth, and then we wouldn't have been misled, even if it was an unintentional misleading, and the truth as far as you knew it (with appropriate caveats). Honestly, I don't blame you for telling us what you had been told. However, I do think you could have done a better job at uncovering the truth, once you started to suspect them.

I'm not the one who has any deals with CC, so I can't directly speak to them. Once we suspected them, we tried to get Trey in ASAP, but it didn't work out before.

People here have been clamoring for someone (and offering) to visit CC for months (a year?) now. Why did this take so long? If you had doubts, it's a benefit. Even if you weren't sure about your doubts, it couldn't hurt. I hate to say "I told you so", but I expressed some doubts at your optimism a week or two ago, and your response was "what other setbacks could we have"?

We didn't have doubts until recently. Production worked until the nubs all broke, so there was no reason for having doubt.


We started to become suspicious once they couldn't provide photos of more than 300 boards, even after asking a few times (they told us the boards are spread on various stations).


After we couldn't get any pictures, we tried to get Trey in, and that's what happened last week.

5) What's been their (CEO's) response when we pointed out their flagrant lie? Because it wasn't just a "little white lie" of "Yes, dear, I think your product will do fabulously", it was a giant whopper of "Yeah, we're almost done" when they had barely even started. How on earth can you (ED) say "If they now start working properly, I don't see a problem."??

Craig is trying to phone him, but hasn't reached him yesterday. He will continue to do so.

Honesty is critical in a business relationship, and I personally think their lying was completely unacceptable. Not doing the boards (as has been said) would have been understandable. Unless you guys can get some kind of contract that guarantees penalties if they don't perform, or TI manages to give some reasonable explanation, you should drop them like a hot potato as soon as the replacement company has pumped out a few hundred boards, or CC finishes up their 3000 left, whichever happens first.

That's basically the plan - however, it will be February before a new company can spit out the boards, so until then, CC can try to finish them.

6) Link - I agree with you that there are a lot of other guilty parties around here, including the banks and case company (We need a new acronym, CC is now CircuitCo). In particular, there really should be some compensation from the Nub Manufacturer, who - while doing a good job at fixing their royal screw-up - were grossly incompetent at not properly (at all?) testing the nubs to make sure that they were up to spec. That issue alone has delayed this whole ordeal by at least 6 months. However, please don't say that the board company doesn't have a fair share of fault right now. They promised (so they say) they could put about 2000 nubs a week onto Pandora boards. If CC had those boards ready to go (as they'd told us) they could have soldered on the 2k nubs they had last week, and shipped them to OPT, only to wait on the next set of nubs. As it stands, we're instead limited by their (supposed; rate yet to be proven) 500 boards/week, which will (almost certainly) be less than half of the speed they'd be able to do if they made the boards as promised. So while they're not the only (or biggest) delaying factor, and some of their reasons may even be understandable, please don't try to tell me that things wouldn't be going any faster if they *had* done what they told us they did.

Exactly. I can understand they delayed because of the missing nubs, but lying is an absolute no-go for me.

7) Speaking of Nubs, What's the status on those PCBs? You said that the company has gotten another thousand or so of them in (I can't find the exact number ATM), but that's a fair bit from the number they need for the rest of the Pandoras/ICPs. When will they be getting in the rest of them?

AFAIK, 2500 nubs are finished within the next days, 5000 more might be finished before christmas.


The nubs shouldn't delay anything now, as they are being produced faster as CC can do the boards.

8) What's the status of the TV Cables?

As mentioned: As soon as I see the next big shipment from CC (at least 500 boards), I'm going to place the order and should get them 4 - 6 weeks later.
 
Ed, as Xmas fast approaches and the board company presumably shuts up shop for 1 or 2 weeks - when are you expecting them to start working again in the new year, and to be in a position to give you an updated progress report...
 
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Ed, as Xmas fast approaches and the board company presumably shuts up shop for 1 or 2 weeks - when are you expecting them to start working again in the new year, and to be in a position to give you an updated progress report...

We are requesting an official signed, updated schedule from the CEO. We can't expect anything before we get that one.
 
Ed, as Xmas fast approaches and the board company presumably shuts up shop for 1 or 2 weeks - when are you expecting them to start working again in the new year, and to be in a position to give you an updated progress report...

Well, in ED's starting post it said

* Trey saw 15 people working, most of them were working on Pandora boards. This confirms that they are now really working on the boards!


* Trey will regularly visit them to check up how they're progressing. There will be no way to fool us anymore!


* They have nightshifts and will work most of the holidays.

But as we know by now:


Honesty is such a lonely word.


Everyone (at CC?) is so untrue
...
 
Been a long time lurker on the boards (but never tend to post), and ordered my Pandora on day one.


I just wanted to say to anyone who is thinking of cancelling (given the fact that there will now inevitably be more delays), hang on in there!


I received my unit a while back and unfortunately sent it back because of issues (nubs). However for the few hours I got to use it I can honestly say that it is a fantastic device with so much potential, and is so incredibly unique that even if I had to wait several more months I still would not cancel.


The ostentatious idea that these guys have designed and produced should be commended. I know it’s a bummer that the boards haven’t been produced - but belive me it’ll be worth the wait...
 
In particular, there really should be some compensation from the Nub Manufacturer, who - while doing a good job at fixing their royal screw-up - were grossly incompetent at not properly (at all?) testing the nubs to make sure that they were up to spec. That issue alone has delayed this whole ordeal by at least 6 months. However, please don't say that the board company doesn't have a fair share of fault right now.

All things considered though, the nub company has been fairly honest and is making a good faith effort to repair their damages- I'm pretty sure EvilD or Craig said that they're taking back and refunding Pandora inc. for all the bad nubs they produced and are working on new ones to replace them with, which appear to be much better. The board company, on the other hand, has not made any good faith effort, though I think if they did it would go a long way towards redeeming their lies and wiping some of the tarnish off of their reputation in at least my eyes.


To be fair, I'm really only so aggravated because the one video per day thing just makes me wish I had mine more and more. It's a little off topic, but those really are a good way to keep the community excited. I'm especially impressed with the pc remote access stuff.
 
A bit of perspective...


A one week delay at this point would increase my (and most) order to delivery time by less than 1%.


Get the thing done right. We already crossed silly a long time ago for the time frames and delays.
 
I'm not the one who has any deals with CC, so I can't directly speak to them. Once we suspected them, we tried to get Trey in ASAP, but it didn't work out before.


We didn't have doubts until recently. Production worked until the nubs all broke, so there was no reason for having doubt.


We started to become suspicious once they couldn't provide photos of more than 300 boards, even after asking a few times (they told us the boards are spread on various stations).


After we couldn't get any pictures, we tried to get Trey in, and that's what happened last week.

Except people in these forums were having doubts months ago - even before the cases were all ready. We suggested sending someone, but you guys just dismissed it. And yes, there were issues, because they were having quality control problems, and producing at 200/week (or less) when they told you they could do 500. Sending someone (who lives there) is very inexpensive - it's a little upfront time to initiate contact and a relationship, and then they're then able to handle it on their own, with no input from you, other than being able to now give more detailed updates. Downsides? None. Upsides? Many - more info, and you catch problems (like this one) sooner.

Craig is trying to phone him, but hasn't reached him yesterday. He will continue to do so.

Please let us know what he says.

That's basically the plan - however, it will be February before a new company can spit out the boards, so until then, CC can try to finish them.


Exactly. I can understand they delayed because of the missing nubs, but lying is an absolute no-go for me.

Except that's my problem. You say it's a no-go, yet you've also said "If they now start working properly, I don't see a problem." Of course there's a problem! They lied through their teeth! They've completely undermined our your trust, and I'm personally unable to view any of their future estimates as doable (just like the case company, IMHO). But it sounds like you're still willing to continue with them, past the minimum necessary to get another company up and running?

AFAIK, 2500 nubs are finished within the next days, 5000 more might be finished before christmas.


The nubs shouldn't delay anything now, as they are being produced faster as CC can do the boards.

They key word(s) being "shouldn't" (and might). I'll believe it when I see photos, or get confirmation from another source (Board Company... I guess Trey?) that they've arrived in Texas.

As mentioned: As soon as I see the next big shipment from CC (at least 500 boards), I'm going to place the order and should get them 4 - 6 weeks later.

Last I recall, you has said pending the news from Trey, or a shipment of 1000. But a lot's changed since then, hence the question.


I'll still ask "why wait?" - you're concerned about not having the cash, and people canceling. Shipping 1000 would have calmed a lot of people down, this current news less so. You've asked people not to cancel until January (I sincerely hope that's been successful so far), in which case you'll have the funds you need, at least until CC ships out 500, which I suspect will be fairly soon. So if you have even a faint hope that CC will ship 500 boards by then, it seems more beneficial to order the cables earlier. Because when they ship, you're in the same boat, except the cables are delayed by a further few weeks, and you have extra shipping costs to mail them out to customers. I mean, unless you're considering not ordering the cables for a long time, you're going to have to place the order sometime, regardless of how many cancellations you've had.


On a related note, do you pay CC for the number of completed boards they've made each time they make a shipment? Or only once the final ones are made? Because if they're nervous you won't pay, you could offer to do some in advance. On the other hand, that would have been better *before* they lied to us, now I think they owe us some good faith.

All things considered though, the nub company has been fairly honest and is making a good faith effort to repair their damages- I'm pretty sure EvilD or Craig said that they're taking back and refunding Pandora inc. for all the bad nubs they produced and are working on new ones to replace them with, which appear to be much better. The board company, on the other hand, has not made any good faith effort, though I think if they did it would go a long way towards redeeming their lies and wiping some of the tarnish off of their reputation in at least my eyes.

No, absolutely not. Sure, they've done a bang-up job of making the nubs better, but OPT had paid them good money a year and a half ago to do that job, *then*. And that's not even taking into account the double-payment issue (which I'm not sure if ever got resolved). It's like paying a carpenter to tile your roof (so rain doesn't get in), and then it doesn't rain for 6 months. When it does, you spring a huge leak, and the carpenter says, "hey, I can fix that this afternoon for you". The carpenter isn't doing you a favor because he can get to you so quickly. He screwed up his job the first time, and clearly hadn't tested it then.


As many have said, the board company didn't make a good-faith effort, but it was (mostly) understandable given the circumstances, since OPT didn't have all the parts they needed, and had stopped production previously. What's inexcusable is the lies - if you tell a customer that something's ready, waiting for the final part - it had better be ready. You don't get to just say "oops" after that.
 
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Well, I am now in contact with the CEO.


He mentioned he will get back to me and update me later and...

I have also received word that someone posting under evildragon has posted some erroneous info about my company related to this project. Which is not good

I don't know what information was erroneous, but I offered him to clear anything up as soon as we have new information.


I'll keep you updated!
 
we have done nothing but spread truth about them, all we said is that they lied to OPT which they clearly did if all of ED's info is correct, so if the shoe fits, wear it
 
God I am fed up I really wanted this last Christmas.


Not this Christmas either can anyone realistically see a pandora ever shipping again


I want a answer now before I cancel


I was made so many promises by the Pandora people.


Why are you no t kicking ass this has dragged on too long its time to call a spade a spde


You can jerk people around only so much


Who is telling the lies here!!!!!!


waited since July 2009 true vapourware at its best
 
Why are you no t kicking ass this has dragged on too long its time to call a spade a spde


You can jerk people around only so much

Who says we aren't trying to do that?


But you need to stay reasonable with a company. After all, trying to work together with a company is usually the best thing than trying to kick asses, as they might decide to continue just doing nothing.

Who is telling the lies here!!!!!!

Can you tell and prove it?
 
I totally understand your frustration here, your right!, it's been a long wait and STILL a long wait, but I am sure things are moving along now and your order will be with you February 'fingers crossed'


for everybody that has been waiting Soooo LONG, we can only hope for the best.


I can only Imagine when the Pandora's will be roughly delivered,


Anyway I just wanted to say a big Thanks to Evil Dragon for his hard work on the forum's and in particular for all the Software he has made and worked on for the Pandora aswell as other's for sticking with the project and all the Dev's hard work and all the buyers that placed orders and funded this project.


I hope and hope that we eventually see the Pandora being delivered V.SOON, and less cancellations as possible.
 
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