NEW - SPACE CELL PRO3 & PRO4 - Plus Tough Case

ESK8 Parts Market
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Welcome to the world of product innovation & small scale manufacturing… actually, the problem of delays is fairly common industry wide at the moment!

Calling it bad Customer Service is a bit unfair… do you suggest I write a post in here each day say “no news today” is that good customer service? I know my communications need to improve but my resources are limited.

In the mean time, go check the 4 or 5 most recent ‘successful’ Kickstarter campaigns… they have raised over 2 million dollars and mostly they don’t have any products on the streets…

I run this business from my garage, i work just a few days each week, technically i am a stay home dad & i don’t have several hundred thousands of dollars in backing, i don’t have a dedicated marketing team or a team of customer service representatives… But I definitely do have products that are real & in stock, you can buy them and have them delivered to your door quickly…I do have a track record for delivering great products. I also have many new products under development that are fucking awesome too, they cannot be purchased anywhere in the entire world… so if you like them & want to be the first in the world to have them sometimes you need to be patient… please.

So yeah I apologise sometimes my stuff is delayed… I am trying my best, please don’t be so f’n critical it won’t speed things up…

What many of you probably don’t realise is all advertised due dates are made up, they are a guess. it is actually impossible to predict the completion date… IMPOSSIBLE!

ALSO, when you ask me “what date something will be ready?”, that is also a made up answer… I have no idea when something will be ready… I cannot predict the future… impossible questions result in made up answers.

However, I am very happy to answer questions about function & performance, they are questions that can actually be answered, real answers!..

so my advice is talk amongst yourselves and enjoy the wait…

P.S. sorry for coming across like a total wanker…

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So, i just re-read my reply, I sounded like an arrogant dick…

I was going to edit the reply & try to make it sound nicer…

But then i realised i probably just need to further explain my state of mind at the moment…

SO here goes;

Some days I spend the entire day talking with suppliers! Literally non-stop, the entire day or 2 or 3!

discussing precise details to ensure things are made according to spec, trying to explain why I had to change a design, Or being told to change my design due to manufacturing limitations & constraints… the list of task goes on & on

Developing a product from scratch is very complex & can take between 4-6 months of work min!

At any given time i could be trying to develop 3 or 4 new products! There is lots of work & lots of waiting!

This can be extremely frustrating! So I fully understand why my customers also get frustrated from waiting… of course you guys would like a date for delivery! I understand! I want to get the product made & delivered to you asap!

The fact of the matter is, I can spend hours & hours trying to get a product made on time & on spec, but it really doesnt matter…

Some shit just doesn’t work out on time, some delays just happen, They are unpredicatable & uncontrolable…

sometimes i just need to wait & trust that my factory will get the job done as fast as they can! Me asking them each day for an update becomes pointless…

the waiting continues…

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Onloop - this enclosure looks super smooth !! One question - is the battery easily swappable ? I was thinking of getting 10s4p aswell as one more additional smaller 6s battery that I could take on a plane. Is it possible to quickly swap the batteries inside ?

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Thanks for the update @onloop, appreciate it. Having worked in customer service myself in the past, I can kind of understand where @Haick is coming from and to some extent he has a point.

There’s no denying that designing a completely new product takes a a lot of time, energy and often delays are common, I doubt he was trying to dispute that and I don’t either. However, the particular wording on the new space cell product pages “Shipping from 20th Apr 2016” sound a lot more like a concrete date rather than just a guess as to when they’ll be ready.

If you’re a customer who’s already put down the $500 or so based on the assumption that the product will be ready around the date that is stated on the page then I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be expecting an update when the advertised date has passed, even just a simple “Hey guys, unfortunately the batteries aren’t ready yet and I don’t have any info regarding when they will be ready at this stage but I’ll be sure to provide an update as soon as I do.” will probably keep most people happy.

Glad you’ve been able to give us a bit more info though, looks like it’s coming along nicely :slight_smile:

Also, on a lighter note, I’ve had my board up and running for the last few days now and I have to say, these things are fucking awesome! I’ve racked up around 50km of riding since the weekend and it’s been a tonne of fun. Have had plenty of odd/confused looks from people as I’m riding up hills. Really appreciate all the work you’ve put into your products, keep up the good work :slight_smile:

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in my defense, shipping “from” means any date from 20th…

it does not mean orders will ship on 20th.

next time ill write shipping “sometime after”

because i will never be able to define an exact date I can only give a “from” date. This is basically a guess of the quickest possible time frame (normally it is the date my factory tells me)`. I probably should state the longest possible time frame, but then that could be completely wrong too.

ALSO, on the 22nd April (Friday) I did provide an update on this forum with information saying they are still being made…

then it was a holiday weekend here for 3 days, sat, sun, Monday… nonwork days. (my factory also doesn’t work on weekends either)

today is Tuesday here, I don’t (not meant to) work because I have my boy on Tuesday & Wednesday…

So if I was going to do an official update it would be this Thursday, 2 days from now. & the answer might be very different than that answer I gave on Tuesday, but I will have to wait and see. Anything can happen.

I will be surely having a detailed & lengthy discussing with the several factories involved in this product & ask them what is causing delays.

I have now also found out today (yes I was working instead of looking after my son), that batteries can be shipped to Australia again, so I decided to ask for a final sample to be (made) & sent, this will ad some delays also, it needs to be sent & across the globe than tested, i suppose i could rely on my factory for testing but thats risky business.

if I’m lucky ill get that in around 7 days. but it could be 10 days.

It could take 3-4 days before I can test it & make any final revisions (if needed), so this is potentially 14 days of delays… 14 days that i will not have any “news” or “updates”

Sometimes when I feel that I am under lots of pressure to deliver, I might also feel pressured to skip the thorough testing process & try to meet my deadlines… however this could be a disastrous… i think most people would prefer a fault free product.

if possible i wish that everyone would wait patiently, in reality I know it can’t happen…

everyone wants their eboard urgently.

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No worries, you make some good points. I’m sure everyone would agree that it makes sense to spend extra time and thoroughly test everything. Will be worth the wait

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@onloop I completely understand where you’re coming from and there’s a reason why i decided to essentially buy a raptor from you sans the deck and remote. I want to support you because I believe you’re doing great things for this community. That being said, you’re still a business that is going to be held to high standards from a consumer standpoint.

Seeing as though you are a one man shop and need funding for your products before placing orders to mitigate your financial risk; I empathize with the position it puts you in. A suggestion I’d make to at least create more transparency between you and the customer would be to set more realistic shipping goals. A different approach similar to what you noted above could be a message along the lines of “Still in prototyping and production phase. Expect to ship within 3 months and hopefully sooner”. This would put a lot less stress on you and allow you time to focus on meeting a more realistic goal.

Again, I really am excited to get my products and ultimately just want to stop having to push! :smiley:

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thanks for the kinds words…

I just think some people are being a bit unreasonable, I’m probably only about 2 weeks overdue…so my “guess” wasn’t too bad…

I personally think this result is pretty good considering the design changed mid-production & it was not possible to get samples into the country (Australia) for testing until just this week.

if i over quote the time frame too far people won’t actually buy the product, then I can’t afford to buy in larger qty & so my prices end up being higher… which also means people don’t want to buy… essentially all i’m doing is a group buy, i show what is available & people give me money so i can make it a reality.

now to makes matters worse i have people demanding to get their money back after I already spent so much time working to build their batteries for them… there is really no love in this game at the moment…

unfortunately, the “Give my shit NOW or f-u attitude” is really catching on around here…

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no this is not really a swappable design…

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Having ridden my Raptor for a few hours today, grinning openly like an idiot the whole time, I can verify that this is a perfectly reasonable urge. :grinning:

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@onloop just tell people the stuff is 3 months away but they can order now and be the first to get the product…then when they get their shit in 1-2 months you will have nothing but compliments and happiness here

Just over estimate - add a month or two to all new product updates

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just got told assembled batteries cannot be shipped to Australia now! - seems the Australian aviation rules are changing on a weekly basis…

lots like ill just be getting the new circuit without the cells & will have to build it myself.

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@onloop Maybe start estimating time in quaters. Like will likely ship Q2 2016. How long is the order list for space cells? Any chance of still getting in there?

Also, you should give the different space cells spacey names like quasar, pulsar or omicron persei 8…

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Hello, i would like to ask if the pro3 and pro4 will come with the new BMS. Thanks

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depends which “new” BMS you are talking about?

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I will say, although huge delays in the VESC shipping. @onloop has been extremely well in responding to emails and also issuing refunds. Thanks for that. Excited to get my other VESC’s soon :slight_smile:

Also, I want to buy a Pro4 - should i wait till ship date or order now?

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first in best dressed

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the one with the two usb ports and momentary switch that you show on your youtube video

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If these go into production, would be interested to see if you sold them as a separate product, could consider upgrading my space cell with one…

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that is just a prototype…

once it has been finished it will be used in the space cell.

at this stage i don’t think it will be available for purchase separately.