[NTLK] OT: Was Newton Development Contest

From: Knowledge Navigator <knowledgenavigator_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon Mar 06 2006 - 22:07:16 EST

I'm not about to get into a flame war, which is what the honorable Mr. PCBman would prefer but just my 2 cents at which point I will not comment on this thread any further.
PCBMan originally released his SER-001 board for $62.50 a piece (about $20 more than what I sell mine for currently). I purchased one right away, being proud to support the community and add a cool part to my 2100.

Well the part arrived and sat unused for quite a while because I had one of those new cables with the interconnect port end built into it. After about 7 months I was bored so I decided to install the board into my Newton, complete with screws that were sent to me after the fact. (the original plans clearly stated that screws were unnecessary).

After about 2 months of use my keyboard started flaking out and would not register keystrokes while plugged into the board. I traced the problem back to the board at which point I emailed Mr. PCBman (David) about a warranty replacement. Not only did he not offer to replace the board but he also denied any price reductions on he new revision boards which were now selling for $42.50 each.

I was quite disappointed and felt that this was horrible customer service considering that this was obviously a production defect. Now, the board I produced may look like an Ser-001 but it is better in many, many ways.

First: you don't need screws, its designed to be more robust and does not fail period

Second: I warranty the board for 1 year, no questions asked.

Third: After a year, if I find that the product failed due to manufacturing I still honor the warranty in my second point.

Fourth: When installed in Newton's, My internal serial board does not crack the rear housing.

I have to admit, ive learned lessons in customer service the hard way in a few occasions over the many years I have been a reseller. But the point is that I have learned.

For the record, none of my boards have ever come back to me, caused case malfunctions or even had the slightest negative comment, and I have sold many of them.

Also for the record I have indeed contributed to the community with my EDC Ribbon Display cable. I'm sure this slipped Mr. PCBMans mind as if you look through the archive, he has stated he was going to produced these about 10 times over the course of several years, never having done so. I took the financial risk and now people have a way of resurrecting their eMates at a fair price if they have not lubed their hinges and the hinge punctures the display cable.

I have kept hearing about other things in development that have yet to materialize such as the board that increases the Newton 2000/2100 internal memory from 4mb to 8mb and other cool things. I sincerely hope the designer does indeed finally produce these cool additions as these would greatly benefit the Newton community.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm leaving this alone now.

Thanks for listening!
KN.

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Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 18:42:51 +0100
From: Karel Jansens <kareljansens@tiscalinet.be>
Subject: Re: [NTLK] Newton Development Contest

andy bloom schreef:
> So, what's the score with Knowledge Navigator? Just for the record.

He made a so-so copy of an early version of Pcbman's serial dongle
killer, which he sold for a lot more money than the inventor ever asked.

Based on where you're coming from, he either shows cunning business
sense by picking up loose ideas, or he's leeching off pcbman's community
spirit. Take your pick.

Oh, and apparently his prices for Newton's and accessories are waayy too
high, and he often words his descriptions on eBay in such a way that
Newton newbies fall for a vocabulary trap.

Other than that, he could very well be okay...

Karel Jansens

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Received on Mon Mar 6 22:07:30 2006

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