Panamorph - Any ever get a read reciept from Shawn?

Nigel,


When was your order?


In the year and some months that the Pannie has been a reality, I've had very regular contact with Shawn via e-mail.


For me, and I speak for nobody but myself, he's been immediate in his responses on some occasions and in others, many weeks.


But he always responded.


Are you saying you have never had an e-mail response from Shawn?


Chris

Hi Brian,


Yeah, I know what you're saying. And I know what others are going thru as well. There were many times when I felt like verbalizing my anguish, but how would that have helped me?


Nicely put, acaciolo.


Trust can be a hard thing to show sometimes. I think in large part it comes with age and the experiences of dealing with many, many poeple in close up and personal ways as well as "never see em' positions.


I trust Shawn and I truly hope all Pannie buyers end up happy with their decisions.


Chris

Hi Chris,


Thanks for responding. Both you and acaciolo have nice words to say and said them well.


Chris, if I remember correctly, you have your panamorph already and a D-ILA as well. I wish I lived close - I would love to see it in action.


Talk with you soon,


Brian

Hi Brian,


It would be nice if you lived closer. In my little town here there's not many for me to share experiences with. A buddy named Mike has a 10HT in a very nice living room/HT room set up with a beautiful Greyhawk, but that's about it.


Carey P of this forum is coming thru Havasu on his way to Laughlin(get those silver dollars out) and he's going to stop by for a Pannie and HD demo. I'm excited. Looking very forward to meeting him and his wife. He's a great contributor in this forum.


After seeing pics of his theater though, I'll be a little embarrassed. My very primitive set up in my living room leaves a lot to be desired, but as I'm in the proccess of building a new house with it's own dedicated 18' x 30' HT room(Yipeee!), I can't see putting more money into it.


Ya here that Carey? Don't be laughin' at my homemade masonite screen propped up on a couple of 2 x 4s!


Chris

Sorry I was unclear, when I refer to a read reciept I mean that some email systems will send a response to you when your email has been read if you request it. In outlook, it's a little toggle under your send options.


I usually only turn it on when I have some reason to believe that my email isn't getting somewhere even though I'm not getting a bounce message.


There are two possibilities: he's not reading email or his system isn't generating the response.


Given that he's not responding, I kinda assume the first. But since I've rarely sent email with read reciept turned on, I don't recall if I've ever gotten one from him before...so if could be the second.


If anyone HAS sent him email in the past with read receipt turned on and has gotten a reciept then it's more likely to be the former (unless he switched email systems).


I started polite, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Waited a week. Sent more email, waited a week. Now I've sent a final one and I'm giving him two more weeks which is two more than I need to in order to file a complaint.


If you've known him for 10 years, I suggest you give him a ring. I've given him a couple of choices. I'd rather get a panamorph but frankly a refund is just fine too and I'll buy a ISCO II.


He's got a little over a week to send me any sort of response but come next Wednesday, if I hear nothing, I send a note to the USPS and call Visa again.


You cannot run a business on just "good intentions". We enjoy certain protections regarding mail order. If he wants to be in that business then he has to play by those rules.


Nigel

Hi Chris,


Thanks for the kind words. I'm looking forward to the visit! Masonite? I was expecting a JoAnne's Fabric's special I'm sure it all looks great with the lights off, in any case.


Hopefully it will dispell my belief that the Panamorph is a myth. I'm sure it will make me pull my hair out until Shawn delivers, but I'll take that risk. Don't drop that thing trying to mount it to the wall (at least until I get there ).


18'x30', Holy Cow! I'm already planning my return visit!


Carey

Quote:
Well gee...thanks for that condesending note. First, Shawn is not a personal friend of mine. I am NOT obligated to give him as much benefit of the doubt that I have ALREADY given him which is orders of magnitude more than I have given to any other mail order business.


Second, in my "limited" experience, a business person which is as incapable of figuring out production schedules and setting reasonable expectations (telling your customer that you'll ship in two weeks to buy time works...um...once or twice before folks catch on) is either incompetent or a scam artist.


Neither of which fills me with any great amount of "trust".


In my opinion, Shawn has flat out lied to us repeatedly. There is no way to reasonably expect that someone is sooo out of it not to realize that their own product has no chance in heck of shipping within "two weeks" or to be so incompetent to make that mistake not once, not twice, but multiple times over the span of months.


Now, a stretched truth here and there is part of business. But we're looking at a pattern of deception (self or otherwise) that I great exception to you stating that "showing trust" is a part of "age and experience".


Sorry, but my age and experience leaves me LESS naive over time, not more. Or so I hope anyway.


This repeated pattern of missing deadlines tells me that he has no clue and what on earth would lead you to believe he will be more successful in finding a clue next month as he had in the previous four months?


Frankly, I expect to never see my money again, or a panamorph.

Nor do I expect the postal service to investigate such a small matter. But I'll do it anyway and write the letters to his BBB, CoC, etc.


But like I said, I'd rather not have to bother and would be delighted to be proven wrong and get a pannie in short order or barring that a refund.


Nigel

Quote:
Heck...at this point I'd be happy with email.


Then a refund OR a pannie, whatever is easier for him. I'd be happy with either with a preference for a pannie but I can buy an ISCO II from Alan or whomever with the refund plus some more cash.


Where I am on the list has zip to do with a refund or answering email now does it? But yes, I'm being noisy on this forum so I can avoid being noisy in the real world. Once we leave our on-line community we're "taking it out of the family" so to speak.


Rather than just pulling the trigger, I figure he deserves the chance to work it out...and if he's not reading his email he doesn't know how really annoyed I am, now does he?


Nigel


PS For the record I'm in the December group...whichever that group is.

Wow...


What a tremendous amount of hostility over a silly little lens.


One thing owning a large custom home building company has taught me is to make sure that my anger is justfied and worth it.


Honestly, If I didn't ever get the Panamorph, sure...I'd be upset. And I'd be out a few hard earned $$$.


But give the current economic climate, the terrorist attacks, and the mood of people in generaly, I'd still be pretty freakin happy that my family and I are healthy, my son is turning 1, my business is doing great, and my theater still works.


Is it really worth it to get so upset? Shawn has certainly had some problems, many of which were beyond his control. His biggest problem is probably his optomism.


He certainly does not deserved to be called "incompetent or a scam artist," as nigel stated.


This thread is worthless, and I hope it get closed. I just hate it see an honest business man slammed for items beyond his control.


One more thing...I had dinner at CES with the owner of a very well known theater/home theater component manufacturer. This individual was going to be getting heavily involved with the Panamorph and many of Shawn's business decisions were based on this relationship.


Sept. 11th drastically changed this business relationship, and consequently, Shawn has been working very hard to re-establish a working partnership.


So...even though you may perceive otherwise, I urge you to reconsider using such words as "incompetent or scam artist."


As a member of this forum who does know Shawn, I hope my opinion means something more than someone who is just mad at him because they don't have their panamorph.


So, sit tight, take a deep breath, and forget about all of the conspiracy theories. I PROMISE you all, there is light at the end of the tunnel...and I am certain that someone from Cygnus will be contacting people on the prebuy list shortly.

Shawn made a big step over the past few weeks by hiring a business manager...I spoke to him at length last week and he is a very knowledgeable guy. He also understands the lack of communication on Cygnus's part over the past few months.


Shawn truly had a decision to make...spend the majority of his time answering emails and phone calls, or complete the Panamorph project so that the prebuys could be completed and he could move on with marketing the lens on a larger scale.


Since he had limited manpower, he focused on the big picture and worked on the entire project, and consequently, pissed off a number of individuals who were trying to get refunds and answers.


His alternative was to answer all emails and process all refund requests....these minority individuals would have then been happy, but the other 100+ people on the prebuy list would have been SOL, because he wound't have been able to further the Panamorph production.


I really hate to use this analogy, but it is kind of like the US goverment's decision to shoot down a hijacked passenger plane that was headed for a large building....The passengers on the plane would be sacrificed for the good of everybody else.


Shawn had to make some sacrifices in order to satisfy the majority.


But now....he has a business manager, and as I stated before, I REALLY think that you will hear from him over the next week or two about the status of your (and my) lenses.


Trust me on this one...sit tight.

Lack of communication IS/WAS a big mistake. There's no doubt on that. Shawn did not post status updates on his website like promised, and did not post updates here on a regular basis. But, we saw advertisements for the Panamorph II and advertisements for costly fixes to the 752 from him. Updating the status page once a week or posting some status on AVS would have aleviated much of our (or at least my) concerns and would have led to much fewer emails bugging him.


In my opinion, posting once per week doesn't take much time... Even with ALL his time spent keeping the Panamorph production going -- he's still way behind. What's another 1/2 hour per week to post status.


Yes, I can vouch that my emails (all three of them) over a 3 month period went unanswered -- until I started a post much like this.


I, like everyone else, want Shawn to be successful and we want our Panamorphs. I'm still holding out hope!!


Wayne


ps. In your analogy, couldn't the pilot (Shawn) have radio'd important status to people (waiting for a Panamorph) still on the ground that might prevent a shoot down

Wow...


What a tremendous amount of hostility over a silly little lens.


Lol...you've never worked tech support or sales support. This is hardly "hostile". I'm not screaming four letter imprecations about Shawn, his parentage, etc...which my college roomates who did work support can tell you occurs over items far less than a thousand dollars.

One thing owning a large custom home building company has taught me is to make sure that my anger is justfied and worth it.


Honestly, If I didn't ever get the Panamorph, sure...I'd be upset. And I'd be out a few hard earned $$$.


But give the current economic climate, the terrorist attacks, and the mood of people in generaly, I'd still be pretty freakin happy that my family and I are healthy, my son is turning 1, my business is doing great, and my theater still works.


The terrorist attacks don't have much to do with either the price of tea in china or the status of the panamorph. I for one refuse to let these events significantly affect my lifestyle. Since I live in one of the targetted cities, had friends in the Pentagon when the plane hit, etc, no offense but I don't really care how happy you are or are not with life.


It has little to do with the non-finished (is it ever finished? okay...less finished) aspect of my home theater. I can finish it as much as I will for my current home with the purchase of either a ISCO II or a Pannie.


Its a mild but constant annoyance to have this project in some sort of limbo state. Something that I prefer not to have to deal with my entertainment time.


I have certain recourses available to me. I'm giving him a shot to correct "the problem" before I use them even though I am pissed at being blown off. I fail to see how that's "so upset".

Is it really worth it to get so upset? Shawn has certainly had some problems, many of which were beyond his control. His biggest problem is probably his optomism.


He certainly does not deserved to be called "incompetent or a scam artist," as nigel stated.


This thread is worthless, and I hope it get closed. I just hate it see an honest business man slammed for items beyond his control.


Gee, how many times has he said it would ship "in two weeks"? How many times has he missed his deadlines? How many Panamorphs have shipped vs ordered? How many FTC guidelines did he break so far in NOT informing us of delays in a timely manner? How many Panamorphs are defective out of the current shipped units?


Honest? Maybe. Good intentioned. Maybe. Competent? Uh.


Sorry, doesn't meet my definition of competence. I surely hope that you are far more discriminating on your selection of sub-contractors for your own business.


How many times would you hire an electrician that was completely unable to schedule his completion of a task? Gee, after blowing your schedule a half dozen times, I bet you'd look for someone else regardless of whether or not he was unable to complete because of "items beyond his control."


Because heck, if he can't finish, the inspection can't happen, the drywall doesn't go up, you can't complete the sale and you don't close.


You're not running a charity and neither am I.

One more thing...I had dinner at CES with the owner of a very well known theater/home theater component manufacturer. This individual was going to be getting heavily involved with the Panamorph and many of Shawn's business decisions were based on this relationship.


Sept. 11th drastically changed this business relationship, and consequently, Shawn has been working very hard to re-establish a working partnership.


So...even though you may perceive otherwise, I urge you to reconsider using such words as "incompetent or scam artist."


I've heard a different story, which is as much "rumor" as your statement. I don't factor rumor (much) into my purchase decisions.


Sept. 11th is an excuse, not a significant factor in my opinion. A lot of businesses are using it, but under a more critical examination there's a whole lot of justifying of poor business practices for one tragic event.

As a member of this forum who does know Shawn, I hope my opinion means something more than someone who is just mad at him because they don't have their panamorph.


So, sit tight, take a deep breath, and forget about all of the conspiracy theories. I PROMISE you all, there is light at the end of the tunnel...and I am certain that someone from Cygnus will be contacting people on the prebuy list shortly.


To heck with opinion. I base my statements on his (lack of) performance to date. Not whether I think he's a nice guy. I'll grant you that, sure.


But hey, if you're that confident and you PROMISE that everything will work out go ahead and send me a check for $1000 and you can hold my pre-buy spot. I'll buy that Panamorph back from you for $1100 if it shows up before December 15 (gives me enough time to maybe get an ISCO before X-MAS if I'm lucky) if you can't line up another buyer for more.


10%+ gain over 2 months....at no risk! What a deal!


Heck, if Alan wants my pre-buy slot for $1000 store credit (or whatever seems reasonable to the two of us) I'll order the ISCO II from him tomorrow.


When the pannie shows, he can sell it for $2K or whatever the list is. I'm sure there will be a buyer...I don't doubt the technology...just the timeline.


Nigel


PS Edit was to remove the QUOTE lines that made it look funny