[Mark Knight]

Yep read it and weep:


****************

Mark,


I regret to report that the shipment we have been waiting for is being held

hostage by customs in San Franciso, who insists on making a physical

inspection but stated that they are back logged and cannot do so right away.

We'll keep you updated on the shipping date, apologies for the inconvenience.


Best Regards,

Customer Support

Digital Connection

*****************



They charged my credit card a week ago. I sure hope they upgrade shipping to next day or refund shipping.



I was so looking forward to giving this card a good workout this weekend. Well hopefully soon....

 

[edmc]

I may be in a similar boat. Alas, I had ordered the KeyDigital

Transcoder in the same order. Being back-ordered, they held

off shipping the MyHD until the KD arrived - or, more likely, they

sent "mine" to somebody else. By the time the KD arrived, they

now had no MyHDs (apparently due to Customs bottleneck by

the looks of things)...

 

[Mark Knight]

Well the hostages have been released. Mine was shipped today... standard ground though....

 

[Cliff Watson]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark Knight Well the hostages have been released. Mine was shipped today... standard ground though....

Mark,


You should have your card on Monday unless you live so far out in the sticks that you have to pump sunlight in.

 

[Mark Knight]

Let’s just say that Amish horse and buggies are very close by!


Thanks Cliff, I am very much looking forward to having HDTV back in my HT again.

 

[edmc]

This email thread really needs more context to give it the proper balance.

I just can't help relaying my recent experience with Digital Connection.

I've refrained from airing my difficulties on this forum both because I

very much appreciate the excellent/supporting involvement of Cliff @

Digital Connection as well as my hope to make use of such support once

my MyHD card finally arrives. Alas, I really don't know when that will

be.


Below is my latest correspondence to Digital Connection. I invite Cliff

both publicly and privately to respond as previous attempts have been

ineffective so that all may benefit.


For context, I placed the order back on 5/16 ordering three items:

the MyHD card, a KeyDigital Transcoder, and a Heatsink for my

ATI 7500 OEM card.


Here's what I wrote this evening:

-------------------------------------------

Once again I find myself writing to you regarding my delinquent order...


I read on AVS Forum where a fellow MyHD awaitor has been kept

well informed of the troubles in completing *his* order - specifically

that the shipment was held in Customs until recently.


Alas, *I* have received no such correspondence.


Indeed, it appears that at some point you had *my* MyHD card in-hand

but chose not to ship it since one of the other two items I had ordered

was then out-of-stock.


But then the worst thing happened - you must have shipped that card to

somebody else so that, once the out-of-stock item arrived, you then had

no MyHD card on hand.


In Computer Science, this is a classic Starvation situation often resulting

from a Priority Inversion situation.


I base this conclusion only on two things:


1 - Previously, you informed me that my order shipment was being

held up awaiting the KeyDigital Transcoder, and


2 - I recently received notification from you that my order had then

shipped but, alas, only two of the three items was included in

the shipment - and that the MyHD card was not included.


Needless to say, this experience will not soon be forgotten by me.


I hope that I will soon be satisfied by a truly completed shipment

and that this experience can be improved upon in the future.


I respectfully request prompt information on the status of my entire

order. I still don't really know for sure exactly what is in the order

recently shipped as Airbourne didn't deliver it today even though

it arrived in Sacramento yesterday. But my patience has long since

been exhausted. I now require direct communication from Digital

Connection so that I may adjust my plans accordingly.


Adjustments may include canceling the unfulfilled MyHD part of

my order and, perhaps, even returning the other two items so that

I might give my patronage to a more responsive/reliable business.


On that note, a particular aspect lacking on your WebSite is any

means to monitor the status of outstanding orders - as is very common

on other WebSites I have recently dealt with. As a frequest Web

purchaser, I would strongly recommend that this omission be

corrected.


Respectfully,

Ed McClanahan
[email protected]

 

[Cliff Watson]

Dear Mr. McClanahan,


Your “complete†order including the MyHD card was shipped on 5/30 and as you indicated arrived at your city on Friday (5/31) but was not delivered on Sat (6/1) because you did not pay for overnight or Saturday delivery nor did you authorize us to make separate shipments of in-stock items.


The shipping notification you received did not include the “Power Buy†item because the power buy is no longer on the store inventory (only full retail). We are currently in the process of changing over to better store software and when fully implemented will save much of the time needed answering questions and phone calls concerning when will my power buy item be shipped.


When the package arrives on Monday feel free to decline delivery.


PS, Kei stopped answering emails on the weekend so that she could get other work done that will benefit all our customers such as reworking the store software. It’s midnight PST and Kei is still working in the office and I’m still working in the engineering lab (3AM Eastern Time). I think she is crazy for the amount of work she does for her customers and by the same token she thinks I’m crazy for the amount of engineering work I do for the members of this forum, DC customers or not. Go figure, I guess we are both crazy to put up this stuff.

 

[Kei Clark]

*Sigh*


Notice to all power buy participants:


Due to the recent move to our new server and store software, we have been experiencing some unusual quirks in the database. Since the is our *first ever* power buy and because we assigned a specific part number for the event, the deletion of this number caused e-mails to go out without the part listed in the order confirmation. We regret that this has occured, however we cannot reverse the problem any longer. This note is to serve those with future shipments that you will not see the MyHD power buy listed in your e-mail confirmations.


In response to edmc, we have not sent updates about shipping dates unless asked, because we cannot estimate exactly when everyone's orders will go out, nor is it as high a priority as getting your boxes out the door. I estimate every e-mail we respond to equals two boxes that do not go out and every phone call approximately four when we have the cards to ship. We have to contend with freight times, customs, and our own energy levels to work as quickly as possible to make as many people as we can happy. MIT has been working furiously to get things packed and shipped to us, while we have literally packed and shipped equivalent of two to three months of orders in the last three weeks. We're all under heavy stress to make it so.


I'm not writing this to garner sympathy, as I am grateful for the overwhelming success of the power buy and the great response from forum members that have benefitted from the group purchase. I know everyone is anxious, but I hope you all understand that we had no expectations nor did we anticipate the quantities that would be required when we started, and the shipments will continue to arrive through end of next week.


For those members that have expressed their concerns about being charged on their credit cards before the shipping date, this was done for the sake of optimal productivity (everything but the shipping lables ready to go), but please note that power buys often require pre-payment. If you object, please e-mail us and we will be happy to reverse the charges, but please note that we ship in the order of ready invoices.

Quote:

Adjustments may include canceling the unfulfilled MyHD part of my order and, perhaps, even returning the other two items so that I might give my patronage to a more responsive/reliable business.

We very much regret that we can't please everyone for the same reason that we are trying to please everyone, but I can't think of an alternate mode of operation that works better in this situation although I'm always open to workable suggestions. I for one look forward to some normalcy and peace of mind once this has all come to pass. The only thing I can hope for is that this power buy program does NOT trash respect and reputation that we work so hard to earn.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[edmc]

Let me be the first to compliment Cliff & Kei in their quick/complete

response to my desparate posting. I think we can all sympathize

with them but also hope that the increased volumes are reward

for their long/hard efforts.


As for a suggestion on how to improve things that Kei asked for,

let me again suggest that they move to a system which automates

the response to queries on Order Status. It is regrettable that Kei

has to forgoe shipping 2 orders simply to respond to order shipment

queries. It would be far better if "the system" responded directly

without human (Kei's) involvement - such as is common place on

a large percentage of e-tailer's WebSites.


Thanks again for the prompt response. It is your support on AVS

that is the reason I went with you and the MyHD card in the first place.

 

[JeffY]

Ed,


Don't you think that you are being a little over the top, by the sound of your post you would have thought that its been months, yet you say you ordered 5/16? You should have been on the Panamorph powerbuy. GAL

 

[Mane3215]

Yeah I ordered mine second day air on the 24th of May.....no respnse to email about status, havent received or heard anything =(. Patiently waiting.


-Chris

 

[Cliff Watson]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mane3215 Yeah I ordered mine second day air on the 24th of May.....no respnse to email about status, havent received or heard anything =(. Patiently waiting. -Chris

Chris,


Forward a copy of that email to me.


BTW, This was a "PowerBuy" and not a "we have it in stock" for shipment type deal that was done to get you the best price possible. Your order was placed near the end of the PowerBuy and you should expect to receive it near the end of PowerBuy shipments made by the manufacturer.


There is no way that we can forcast the ship date while waiting for shipment from Korea. The only status report we can give is yes it is on order and will be shipped in the order received.

 

[Kei Clark]

edmc,


Thanks for the suggestions, although it is precisely this reason (changing over to new store software that will provide order status), that has caused the problem that you are complaining about. It was unfortunate that we decided to hold the power buy on a very short notice, while the software migration was planned a month ahead of time, and the two events coincided. To avoid any misunderstanding, full disclosure below on things we cannot do:


1. When customers send e-mails about order status, it cannot be intercepted and translated by the store software to send an automated e-mail response. It requires human intervention to read and respond to an e-mail.


2. We cannot provide accurate status until the product is on hand. We can guesstimate but will now refrain from doing so.


3. We're working overtime to implent order status access available to out customers but it will not be completed in time to benefit power buy members.


I think we've unintentionally opened a can of worms by trying to provide more specific dates, so we apologetically will no longer do so to avoid the backfire. The estimate I can now give anyone here with certainty is that it will be shipped sometime in the next two weeks, regardless of what date the order was placed in the order received for the power buy.


You will get an e-mail confirmation when your order ships. I will reiterate again that if you receive an e-mail without the item listed, please remember that it is a glitch in the system that cannot be corrected. We WILL contact you with delays on any item other than MyHD. If you ordered ground, it will be shipped ground because we cannot subsidize expedited shipping for everyone.


If Airborne does not deliver in the amount of time you expect and you have the tracking number, I suggest that you call and complain to them. All shippers have guaranteed ground delivery times, but if you read the fine print, this applies only to businesses, and not to residences which can take longer. So far, Airborne has delivered majority of the packages in third of the normal time (or even quicker), a value that has many end-users enjoying their product days before expected.


Now that I have provided a definite answer, I'm off to work on the store to avoid these unpleasent public confrontations.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[Mane3215]

Cliff:


I dont keep a copy of sent emails, so I dont have the origianl with all the date and stuff on it. However, I understand the cards not being on hand, I'm not upset, just wish I was informed either by AVSForum, or email.


-Chris

 

[edmc]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kei Clark edmc, Thanks for the suggestions... To avoid any misunderstanding, full disclosure below on things we cannot do: 1. When customers send e-mails about order status, it cannot be intercepted and translated by the store software to send an automated e-mail response. It requires human intervention to read and respond to an e-mail.

Wow, that would indeed be a fancy system (i.e. one that was able to

parse emails).


No, what I am suggesting is that the Order Number we receive be used

as a Key to fetch from your WebSite the current status of an order. That

status would be a convenient place to post such things as "pay no

attention to the email which inadvertantly left out the MyHD card".


For a good example of what I am referring to, take the example of

Airborne themselves. The tracking number automatically fetches the

latest knowledge of the shipment/order.


There are countless other examples - particularly in the computer and

stereo products etailers' WebSites...


It sounds like you are deep in the bowels of migrating to a new WebSite

"system". Let's hope it has this time-saving (for both the customer and

you) feature...


Thanks again for keeping all informed on AVS Forum!

 

[Cliff Watson]

Ed,


That is exactly what the store software is designed to provide and is active now if you select customer login while inside the secure store. Once all bugs are worked out of the new software a direct link to check order status will be provided on the main DC webpage.

 

[Ze Bask]

Well, in my case I ordered on May 24th via phone and was not provided with an order number... Does that mean I don't have a spot in the queue and got screwed?

 

[Cliff Watson]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ze Bask Well, in my case I ordered on May 24th via phone and was not provided with an order number... Does that mean I don't have a spot in the queue and got screwed?

Did you provide an email address when you ordered so a number could be generated and mailed?

 

[Kei Clark]

Ze Bask,


You can always e-mail this inquiry, or call in the morning when someone is back in the office. Since it was not ordered on-line, I have no way to check this nor will you automatically receive an shipping confirmation unless you asked specifically.


I also suggest that everyone that has questions on individual orders to either e-mail or call and use AVS Forum for general and support questions, as I doubt that I will be monitoring these threads from work any longer.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[ricka]

Guys,


I just want to take a moment to thank Digital Connection for not only setting up the power buy but also importing the MyHD card in the first place.


Without them, we would have to buy this card from Korea and get support from there.


With that said, we will get our cards as the arrive in the US. DC is getting them out as soon as humanly possible and we should be happy that they have done the work required to put this card on the market.


I think that this card will eventually raise the bar for all of the products out there. At the very least, it will drive competition to a new level.


Maybe even convince AccessDTV to get over their encrypted file position.


--Rick (No I don't have my card yet)