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Timnaber wrote: It is not right to take money and make the customers wait this long.
mikro wrote:Timnaber: see Greenious's post, he said it all (he is not involved in the project in any way). It's exactly like that. The main guy "at the helm" does suck in posting updates and understanding the community's needs but that doesn't mean he bought a new yacht from your money. It's really like Greenious said, the company simply prefers big customers and batches of 100 pieces are somewhere in a dirty corner, waiting till they show mercy for it.
mikro wrote:Timnaber: see Greenious's post, he said it all (he is not involved in the project in any way). It's exactly like that. The main guy "at the helm" does suck in posting updates and understanding the community's needs but that doesn't mean he bought a new yacht from your money. It's really like Greenious said, the company simply prefers big customers and batches of 100 pieces are somewhere in a dirty corner, waiting till they show mercy for it.
I'm sure if you find this unacceptable, you can ask for a refund. There's like 20 people in the "after queue".
I don't want to sound too harsh but yeah, if you order 1000 pieces, THEN you will be a customer. Otherwise we are in the same waters, just nobodies using big companies to cheaply produce stuff for us.
mikro wrote:Guys, I totally get it and trust me, we're bugging him every time somebody complains. Usually people ask via https://www.facebook.com/retroatarisk so at least that way he usually answers that yes, it's still on. As I said - communicating to the public ... not really his brightest point.
Now you can ask, why the hell is he doing it and why the hell it used to work better?
The answer to the latter question is simple: Jookie did his best, offered multiple choices, great support and ... just burned out and left the scene for a couple of years because of that. So that settles that question. It's impossible to manage and develop for such project in one person.
So to avoid this kind of situation again (we all, and that includes me as well, want to see a new CE produced), Jookie agreed to "outsource" the management and factory dealings to Expi, who is running his own business, has various connections and business discounts (but yet he is a too small fish to have some serious leverage on the big ones, as you can see). So, that helped *a lot*, Jookie found time and motivation again to get back to CE and even if it doesn't seem like that, things are moving forward pretty steadily.
And this is the whole story. Whenever you ask me or Jookie, we can both tell you that this is not a scam, it's just crossed with many delays and not exactly great understanding why constant updates are beneficial for everyone. So please be patient, if in doubt, sent him an email or FB message and most importantly, when he answers you, spread the word -- right now there are mostly negative posts but trust me, tens of people got their reply "in person" and were happy with it.
EDIT: as a bonus point I'll add the other side of this communication. You wouldn't believe (unless you have produced an Atari HW by yourself) how incredible dumb questions sometime people ask. So imagine going trough 50 emails asking "how much does it cost", "have you received my money yet", "why I'm not on the list when I sent you my payment 3 minutes ago" and *then* going to write an update to the web. Really, even in our small community, management of such project is a huge time waster, it sucks all the energy out of you.
mikro wrote:wietze: it's his business, his idea, his initiative, his reasons. I'm not in any way affiliated with the organisation, cash flow, customer support etc, just an occasional developer.
as I said, I could only provide you some background info but I'm not able to change his ways. he is aware of our (my) arguments, I mentioned it several times already but there's only so much I (or Jookie) can do. It's like asking me why Lotharek charges 40 EUR for postage fee. His reasons, his business.
mikro wrote:I think part of the misunderstanding is that you attribute me some VIP influence on Expi. I have nothing like that. Seeing this discussion now I can go to Facebook, open Messenger and ask him: Expi, what are the current news? And maybe he replies, maybe not, maybe even publish something. Anyone can do the same and the result will be the same.
What you don't see is that I have no need for it. When it's done, it's done. I'm not concerned, so I'm not asking and therefore I'm not posting anything. I can understand that not everybody shares this attitude but then - go and ask him, don't push me to do that for you.
So I equally understand your view and concern but you have the wrong guy here. I guess now I know why it's wise not to interact with angry mob, however good my intentions are.
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