I just heard from the folks over at Vintage King Audio that they received word that the OP-Z was delayed again “due to an unforeseen issue” and that “there is no ETA” for the arrival of the product.
What the hell is TE thinking? This kind of mismanagement of expectations is completely not okay. They could really take a lesson from Isla Instruments. The Kordbot was delayed again and again and again and, you know what? It didn’t bother me at all! Their team was extremely professional and communicative.
They posted semi-regular videos explaining the issues causing delay, usually within hours or days of their cropping up.
They were always extremely apologetic, and constantly reiterated their gratitude to their customers
They created a facebook group and encouraged discussion about features and delays, and regularly participated in conversations (even when those conversations we extremely critical!)
The best part? Isla Instruments is a TWO PERSON TEAM.
TE, there are no excuses for your lack of communication consideration for your customers the human beings who pay your bills.
I just heard from the folks over at Vintage King Audio that they received word that the OP-Z was delayed again “due to an unforeseen issue” and that “there is no ETA” for the arrival of the product.
What the hell is TE thinking? This kind of mismanagement of expectations is completely not okay. They could really take a lesson from Isla Instruments. The Kordbot was delayed again and again and again and, you know what? It didn’t bother me at all! Their team was extremely professional and communicative.
They posted semi-regular videos explaining the issues causing delay, usually within hours or days of their cropping up.
They were always extremely apologetic, and constantly reiterated their gratitude to their customers
They created a facebook group and encouraged discussion about features and delays, and regularly participated in conversations (even when those conversations we extremely critical!)
The best part? Isla Instruments is a TWO PERSON TEAM.
TE, there are no excuses for your lack of communication consideration for your customers the human beings who pay your bills.
If there was a preorder, and they had customers’ money, I’d empathize… Kordbot was a kickstarter, if memory serves. If that’s the case, they had customers’ money.
They don’t owe people anything. You’re responsible for your own expectations. The lack of communication and delays and poor customer service and fragile supply chain are realities of their being an uncompromising design group who make products as interesting as the OP-1. Teenage Engineering are idiosyncratic people, that’s how they make idiosyncratic products. And they aren’t planning to be inconsiderate. They’re just not marketing/advertising/PR people. They’re designers with ambition and finite capital. It’s how they can do the cool things they do.
I don’t think anyone on this forum needs an OP-Z to continue/start making music. Why get so wrapped up and emotional over something that doesn’t even “exist”.
I understand that I may be biased as I dot find anything about OP-Z appealing, and therefore can’t see why so many people think they HAVE to have it now.
@brundan_phraser said:
They don’t owe people anything. You’re responsible for your own expectations. The lack of communication and delays and poor customer service and fragile supply chain are realities of their being an uncompromising design group who make products as interesting as the OP-1. Teenage Engineering are idiosyncratic people, that’s how they make idiosyncratic products. And they aren’t planning to be inconsiderate. They’re just not marketing/advertising/PR people. They’re designers with ambition and finite capital. It’s how they can do the cool things they do.
…this is beyond pathetic…not worth a decent answer…
@brundan_phraser said:
They don’t owe people anything. You’re responsible for your own expectations. The lack of communication and delays and poor customer service and fragile supply chain are realities of their being an uncompromising design group who make products as interesting as the OP-1. Teenage Engineering are idiosyncratic people, that’s how they make idiosyncratic products. And they aren’t planning to be inconsiderate. They’re just not marketing/advertising/PR people. They’re designers with ambition and finite capital. It’s how they can do the cool things they do.
…this is beyond pathetic…not worth a decent answer…
i lived through the pocket operator release. i think i’ll live through this. let’s just they hope they ship within the first two months of placing an order for an “in stock” item
@stepanok said:
…this is beyond pathetic…not worth a decent answer…
Can you help my understand what you mean? It seems like you’re just being rude and I want to know what you actually think.
I was laying out how I see it because it seemed strange to me that the original poster thinks businesses have a responsibility to manage potential customers’ expectations. That’s scary to me. Why rely on businesses for the management of your expectations? Why need a product so bad that your expectations spin out of control and get you upset?
@eesn said: @brundan_phraser well, they’re certainly compromising on the release dates…
And what I meant was, they compromise on stuff like release dates because they are trying not to compromise on the thing they’re making. I don’t really know them or anything, I’m just, uh, using context clues.
I wouldn’t be too concerned @brundan_phraser … Stepanok is probably just concerned with being able to post an OP-Z pic on his instagram account or something.
P: “We’ll be there in about 2 hours.”
K (after 5 mins): “Are we there yet?”
1h later, traffic jam…
P: “Sorry kids, this will take some more time. Maybe an hour or so.”
K (after 5mins): “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
Great metaphor @motone, but your scale is a bit off. Op-Z was originally introduced in Jan 2016, promised to launch in Jan 2017. So it looks like the car ride, originally estimated to be 2 hrs, is more like a 6 hr car ride. No wonder the kids are restless!
@vehka said:
Great metaphor @motone, but your scale is a bit off. Op-Z was originally introduced in Jan 2016, promised to launch in Jan 2017. So it looks like the car ride, originally estimated to be 2 hrs, is more like a 6 hr car ride. No wonder the kids are restless!
I was thinking the same thing, just didn’t know how to put it without coming across as petulant. You did a great job.
It’s amazing how people will defend something blindly and tell you how to feel. I’m not at all interested in the OP-Z but can definitely understand the frustration many have. This has been a roller coaster of excitement and disappointment. Crazy, Stay thirsty my friends.
I visit these forums less and less because of posts like this.
You DON’T need an OP-Z. It’s not a liver transplant, it’s not roofing for your house, it’s not a car repair to get to work.
I understand it is frustrating, but it’s not like you payed them in advance for this. If I was TE, next time I would say nothing about the development of a product and just drop it as a surprise, so I don’t have to deal with hate mail and social media hate.
@pianobar I can’t see any hate mail or social media vibe here. On a forum devoted to OP1 and TE you’re bound to encounter people who feel strongly about products, and among them, those who feel frustrated that nothing has materialised after being continuously demoed and rough release dates announced. Like:
I agree it’s not a liver transplant, indeed. And yet some people want it badly. I think that’s OK.
If you were TE, and you’re not, I think if you were, you’d realise that no one, let alone a boutique studio, develops products in secret and just drops them on the market, any more - that stopped working ages ago.
The problem of failing on promises isn’t specific to TE. People don’t like it. I think that’s acceptable. And maybe it’s one thing to promise a firmware update and delay it, a whole other thing to promise a product and delay that repeatedly. If you’ve ever preordered something, parted with money, and then watched the delivery date being pushed N times, and contemplated whether to withdraw your support for the company, who must be going through something unexpected or they wouldn’t be delayed, you’d probably recognise it’s a bad feeling to have to deal with. Worse if you have to choose between X and Y from your limited budget, but not both, and can’t decide because ETA for X keeps saying “5 minutes” but nothing shows up, while money is seemingly burning a hole in your pocket (that too is OK).
