Anyway, just curious: on a end of life product (like PPDB w/ blemish), what do you do with orders placed and paid for but no product? Refund? Store credit?
Hey guys - these boards are in our warehouse today so they'll start shipping! Thanks for buying them, too. These boards are ideal for our forum members because in my view they're as good as brand new (they are brand new), the only difference between small blemishes mostly on the bottom that you don't see anyway.
@SLRM: credit cards are only charged when the order is shipped from Parallax. In the meantime there's a hold placed on the funds. There's debate about whether any supplier can charge your card before an order ships. Some say yes, others say no, but most all suppliers agree they can only charge when the order ships. The charging rules skirt around with mail order guidelines from the FTC, too:
If any customer of any business ever found themselves on the above web page trying to figure out if they're due a refund then the supplier is obviously in the wrong business and your loyalty is none.
Reminds me of an experience I just had with a Hobbytown store. I bought my son an electric R/C boat for his 9th birthday. We ran it once and found that the radio system was subject to massive interference, so we couldn't control the boat. Took it back to Hobbytown and the owner told me "no, we can't take it back since you've run it" to which I replied "well, it really didn't run because of interference problems - I don't think it was tested at the factory". Eventually he traded it out for me, but I know I'll never give those guys another dime because of that experience. Treating customers poorly is a one-way ticket to going out of business.
Looks like Parallax benefited from your negative experience. I don't know of any other company as friendly or helpful (or with as good products either...)
Paul said...
The way our system works is that stock is not updated until the received quantity in entered in the inventory management program, but we take orders in the meantime. Orders placed for "out of stock" are placed in a queue and orders are filled in the order the system records them. Do not wait until you see some quantity availible. High demand, low quantity items frequently get queues long enough to consume the entire quantity when it comes availible. Get in line and take your chance at snagging one
·I just went ahead and paid for it. I'm using a policy of "wait and see."
It works just the way Paul and Ken said (see above).
I had the same experience when they first came out with the 12 V Motor and Wheel Set. There was a discount for the first ten orders. It showed out of stock and I was crushed, but ordered anyway. I made the first ten orders, but still assumed that they had sold all the units, until the in stock number was entered (once they knew how many were in inventory).
As I understand, there are about 145 of these - order away! My experience says Parallax will treat you right.
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Potatohead - they're in stock now. We just transferred them from quarantine area (where we inspect) to the real sales warehouse "B". They came in last night but Chris Savage had to look them over first. Of the 145 units we have 20 are already allocated to sales orders (to our forum members, probably).
And to all who buy these: fully warranty applies, of course, as well as any money-back guarantee you wish to exercise if you don't like the nature of the blemish.
Thanks for buying these from us. I think you'll be happy with what you receive, and if you aren't contact me and I'll take care of the situation.
Got my board in the mail yesterday. While you claim these are refurbished, I couldn't spot ANY defect.
It's a very nice board - It's perfect for me as I run some experiments that are just on a bread board, and some that could use just a touch of microcontroller help (I'm playing with buck and boost converters).
Is the plastic over the LED segment displays supposed to be removed? I couldn't tell.
Maybe if you ever do a V2 - it would be nice to silkscreen the LED segment pattern on the back of the board. The LED's look very nice, btw.
Coley, The forums isn't really the place to discuss shipping costs. Please email Jim at sales@parallax.com with your complaints/concerns and he can discuss what options there are.
@ Ken : I just tried that, country as selected by drop-down "United Kingdom", and for USPS I get ....
"There are no shipping services currently available for that shipping company. Please select a different shipping company in the [noparse][[/noparse]Rates By] dropdown menu. USPS Rates Request Error, Number: -2147218046, USPS Rates Request Error: Invalid Country Name".
Mind you, UPS isn't working either I'm getting "blah, blah ... Response Status Code: , Response Status Description: Failure,"
Don't panic because I'm not actually buying, I just went to see what UPSS rates were.
That made me think that there was no option for USPS to the UK.
I know there have been many discussions about USPS shipping in the past and I thought I had read that you were going to include it in the future, that is why I asked the question.
I will email Jim with my order requirements, hopefully it can be resolved.
Thank you.
Regards,
Coley
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Just got mine today. All I've had time to do is stick the 40 pin Propeller chip in and have the Prop tool identify it. I hope to play with a couple of OBC's starter projects later.
The board looks great. Now I have to get a slick storage box like OBC's.
Hey OBC, any chance you need a project tester for your book?
Thanks for the great deal!
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
it must be nice.. you are trying to get one shipped to you cheep. At this time i can afford to pay attention . you all out there enjoy your boards. I will read your posts as to what you all have done with them ..
Okay, so I got my board and I ordered a 40 pin DIP to go with it. However, I found that it came with a little electronics piece stuck into the same foam pad. What I'm wondering is: was that a mistake, or is it a vital piece and I'll ruin my Propeller without it?
Here's what it looks like (sorry no picture)
physical shape similar to a 3904 transistor (3 pins in a row, half circle shape, black, about as tall as wide)
Printed on the side is
I believe that you recieved that by mistake (is it listed on your receipt? Did you order it by mistake?). All you need is the 40 pin Propeller Chip, Power Supply and a USB cable.
It is not a vital piece. Just an accidental hitch hiker on the anti-static foam.
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
You're right, I just tossed aside the invoice to get to the PPDB. I guess I ordered a brownout detector just to put in my toolkit for if I ever needed one. Totally forgot about that (overlooked the obvious, I guess), but that leads me to another question. On the invoice, it lists it as a "4.2V Detector -LF", while on the online page (here) it says 3.8V. Which one is right?·They both list the same item number.
You can test it by powering it up and seeing what voltage it triggers at. Let me know what result you get, because whatever is in error, it should be corrected.
The web page has been updated. As a side-note this part could have one of two part numbers on it depending on where we get it from. It may say 13811 (MN13811-SS) or it may say TV54V (TC54VC4302EZB) which are both the same part manufactured by different companies. Take care.
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Well, I was building some circuits today, and I noticed a slight defect. I thought I'd post it here since this was where my board came from, and might be as a result. One the breadboard at the power row on the bottom left (by the servo headers) there is a discontinuity. It's on the absolute last row closest to the edge of the board, and is between the block below 15 and the block below 20. There appears to be a break there, and none of the other power rows have something similar. Just thought I'd point it out...
Comments
Anyway, just curious: on a end of life product (like PPDB w/ blemish), what do you do with orders placed and paid for but no product? Refund? Store credit?
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Ron
@SLRM: credit cards are only charged when the order is shipped from Parallax. In the meantime there's a hold placed on the funds. There's debate about whether any supplier can charge your card before an order ships. Some say yes, others say no, but most all suppliers agree they can only charge when the order ships. The charging rules skirt around with mail order guidelines from the FTC, too:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/mailorder.shtm
If any customer of any business ever found themselves on the above web page trying to figure out if they're due a refund then the supplier is obviously in the wrong business and your loyalty is none.
Reminds me of an experience I just had with a Hobbytown store. I bought my son an electric R/C boat for his 9th birthday. We ran it once and found that the radio system was subject to massive interference, so we couldn't control the boat. Took it back to Hobbytown and the owner told me "no, we can't take it back since you've run it" to which I replied "well, it really didn't run because of interference problems - I don't think it was tested at the factory". Eventually he traded it out for me, but I know I'll never give those guys another dime because of that experience. Treating customers poorly is a one-way ticket to going out of business.
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Are they all gone?
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Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
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I had the same experience when they first came out with the 12 V Motor and Wheel Set. There was a discount for the first ten orders. It showed out of stock and I was crushed, but ordered anyway. I made the first ten orders, but still assumed that they had sold all the units, until the in stock number was entered (once they knew how many were in inventory).
As I understand, there are about 145 of these - order away! My experience says Parallax will treat you right.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
And to all who buy these: fully warranty applies, of course, as well as any money-back guarantee you wish to exercise if you don't like the nature of the blemish.
Thanks for buying these from us. I think you'll be happy with what you receive, and if you aren't contact me and I'll take care of the situation.
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
It's a very nice board - It's perfect for me as I run some experiments that are just on a bread board, and some that could use just a touch of microcontroller help (I'm playing with buck and boost converters).
Is the plastic over the LED segment displays supposed to be removed? I couldn't tell.
Maybe if you ever do a V2 - it would be nice to silkscreen the LED segment pattern on the back of the board. The LED's look very nice, btw.
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I was looking at ordering a board until I saw the shipping price to the UK is almost as much as the board itself.
I couldn't choose any other option other than UPS to ship, why do you not have an alternative cheaper mailing option to other parts of the world?
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Best Regards,
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Thanks again!
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Check out the Propeller Wiki·and contribute if you can.
Are you certain you selected USPS during the checkout? Shouldn't be more than a dozen pounds or so.
If you chose UPS you'd likely receive that rate.
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
"There are no shipping services currently available for that shipping company. Please select a different shipping company in the [noparse][[/noparse]Rates By] dropdown menu. USPS Rates Request Error, Number: -2147218046, USPS Rates Request Error: Invalid Country Name".
Mind you, UPS isn't working either I'm getting "blah, blah ... Response Status Code: , Response Status Description: Failure,"
Don't panic because I'm not actually buying, I just went to see what UPSS rates were.
Post Edited (hippy) : 10/1/2008 7:59:00 PM GMT
I got the same response as Hippy.
That made me think that there was no option for USPS to the UK.
I know there have been many discussions about USPS shipping in the past and I thought I had read that you were going to include it in the future, that is why I asked the question.
I will email Jim with my order requirements, hopefully it can be resolved.
Thank you.
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
The board looks great. Now I have to get a slick storage box like OBC's.
Hey OBC, any chance you need a project tester for your book?
Thanks for the great deal!
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Post Edited (Whit) : 10/2/2008 11:29:22 AM GMT
it must be nice.. you are trying to get one shipped to you cheep. At this time i can afford to pay attention . you all out there enjoy your boards. I will read your posts as to what you all have done with them ..
Badger
Here's what it looks like (sorry no picture)
physical shape similar to a 3904 transistor (3 pins in a row, half circle shape, black, about as tall as wide)
Printed on the side is
54VC
4302
60
It is not a vital piece. Just an accidental hitch hiker on the anti-static foam.
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Whit+
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Maybe... [noparse]:)[/noparse] I'm sure I'll want a couple people to go through the projects.. I'll keep you in mind.
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Paul Baker (Parallax)) : 10/2/2008 6:57:53 AM GMT
It should be 4.2V and I will have the web page corrected to indicate that. Thank you for letting us know. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering