Super Game Module now available for order

[atarilovesyou]

The real shame is that the people here on AA are just about the most patient and understanding guys on the internet...I'm not kidding around, either. It's been almost ten years here for me.

 

The poor folks that pre-paid for units...just a shame. Even if he does get them all shipped out, this would seriously affect his reputation (and any future sales). But that won't even matter to the faithful here at AA, because I honestly believe that 'all is forgiven!' will be the reply Ed will get if he comes through.

 

Barring some kind of serious, serious life problems for Eduardo (and I've been in his corner, considered even sending cash for the second run), this is almost criminal. You don't just take people's money, promise a product and not only fail to deliver but outright refuse to give any kind of communications either way. Really, it's criminal at this point IMO.

 

We all realize the hazards and rewards of backing projects like this. I can tell you I won't be doing anything of this sort here or elsewhere...at least on Kickstarter, you can get your money back.

 

The days of "relax, cut him some slack" are over. If he can be found, he has a lot to answer for and plenty of people to answer to. The Ebay debacle is really the biggest insult.

 

And the only reason people don't get really pissed about this (and there are lots who already have, actually) are mostly worried that complaints will result in Eduardo giving up and nobody getting anything. And that's where being 'nice' gets you a kick in the pants, because if you really think that Ed is sitting at home, reading this thread and goes, "That's it! I'VE HAD IT!...these complainers don't deserve anything!" then really, you get what you deserve.

 

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin that has become the SGM debacle is truly unfortunate. Yet all it would take to make right is a simple post. Well, that wouldn't be enough for me, I'd require at least weekly updates. People deserve that and common courtesy demands it.

[S1500]

Perhaps this might change the business model for homebrew games & hardware. Either way, someone's gotta take a leap of faith. Either.

 

1. Customers take a leap of faith by pre-ordering for something they might not get.

 

2. Developers take a leap by privately funding a game/unit of hardware they might not sell out of.

 

It sounds like 2 might be the better option. Devs can call out how much they want to produce(as much or as little), produce it & sell it once the product is completed. Not anywhere in the middle: finished product ready to ship only.

 

Remember, with #2, if you(dev) doesn't make anything, no money changes hands, and nobody's demanding answers or money back.

[Pixelboy]

It sounds like 2 might be the better option. Devs can call out how much they want to produce (as much or as little), produce it & sell it once the product is completed. Not anywhere in the middle: finished product ready to ship only.

 

Remember, with #2, if you(dev) doesn't make anything, no money changes hands, and nobody's demanding answers or money back.

"#2" is what I've been doing with my Team Pixelboy releases, and I would just like to point out that:

 

1) It's really expensive. If I had a wife and kid(s), I wouldn't put that much money into the hobby.

 

2) If you miscalculate the projected demand, you will either have inventory that you'll have a hard time getting rid of, or you will be constantly saying "sorry, sold out" to people who want your games. Both are stressful, believe me.

[S1500]

This makes me think back to the pre-order madness that is in the pinball hobby. People pre-order games(with a refundable down payment) quite often and then flake out later once some other fun machine gets announced. I think even people pre-order with no intention of actually buying the machine, but instead selling their down payment(which reserves a machine) for more to make a quick flip...on a machine that doesn't even exist yet.

[atarilovesyou]

A pre-order should come with an obligation to BUY when the product is complete, which would bypass the flakes out there. In this case, if Eduardo didn't have enough capital to get this project complete then he should have let those who were ordering know about it beforehand.

 

Although I didn't know about any of his previous leaves of absence, the point here is that if you're not going to stay in touch with your customers...don't take pre-orders, and definitely don't take fully paid pre-orders.

 

I'm sure that Ed did not mean for all this to happen, as his track record shows. And people are quick to forgive here at AA, as long as he comes through. This isn't life and death for us, but perhaps something has happened in his life that very well could be.

 

Even if he showed up today, posted a huge apology, actually shipped all outstanding items and we have proof in a week that people are receiving their orders, it would be pretty hard for him to convince casual folks to sign up for his later projects...and it's those casuals folks I think who are probably the most outright angry (from what I've read in this post). The diehards are going to be there no matter what, as long as he delivers this time. It's a given that this is a labour of love rather than profits (I've figured that out over the years here), but what's happened can be wrapped up as bad business and all that it entails (accountability, transparency, communications).

 

For the record, I still hope (heck, I'll even PRAY) that Eduardo can get it together and finish this extremely worthwhile project.

[jlanier]

Like I said before, I don't mind the waiting, and I have a lot of patience, but when I miss out on buying the games than use the unit, that makes me unhappy. It's also a bit of a kick in the head to see a second run happen when the first one was never finished, and then to see more units up on eBay when the first and second runs were not finished. Any of those eBay units could have been used to fill the outstanding prepaid orders. If an eBay sale was necessary to raise funds, I would have backed it 100%, if only there had been some communication and feedback regarding the status of my orders. For all I know, Eduardo has lost my order and is ignoring my emails because he doesn't remember that I already sent him $270 back in 2012. I've tried emailing him many times with no response. I've done business with Opcode before the SGM and up until the SGM, I've always received my orders in what I would consider a reasonable amount of time. I don't think Eduardo would have shipped as many as he did if he wasn't serious about it, so I don't think this is a take-the-money-and-run situation. However, the long absence is at this point difficult to rationalize, and there are apparently enough people like myself who prepaid and didn't receive anything who would appreciate some response.

 

It's also a bit alarming to see that some people who received their SGMs as they trickle out, had them show up unannounced, no tracking #, no shipping information. If Eduardo is not tracking these shipments and not telling anyone when they are mailed out, for all I know mine could have been sent a year ago and lost by UPS or USPS and I'd never know, because Eduardo won't reply to my emails and won't confirm whether or not my order was actually processed. This is made more alarming by earlier comments in the thread where it was implied that all the first-run orders had been shipped out. Clearly, they weren't, or if they were, they did not all make it to the recipients. Without communication from Opcode, it would be impossible at this point to claim insurance on any lost shipments this far gone.

 

My main point here, is that communication is key. People need to know when their orders shipped, when to expect them, and they need to be trackable and insured. Without communication it is impossible to verify shipment or delivery. Like atarilovesyou said, people here are very forgiving and patient, and a little communication will go a long way towards reconciling any problems. Going dark is not good; it will really scare off future buyers which is why, like I said earlier, the future of the SGM is really at stake here even for those who received them already. If we want to see more games on the SGM, then we need to see regular communication from Opcode. I don't think that is asking too much; I'm not even asking for a firm date here, just a commitment to communicate and be responsible with shipping and tracking of some reasonably expensive items.

[atarilovesyou]

Wow...$270 dollars sent. I wouldn't be surprised to think the scale of this is larger than one would assume....perhaps on the order of thousands of dollars? It wouldn't be hard to estimate among the run numbers and whose orders were filled. The second run, probably a bit more difficult to gauge.

 

The second run should have never begun to collect funds until, as Jlanier above states, while the first run wasn't complete. The ebay sales were also a slap in the face. If he was going to auction SGMs to make up some much-needed funds, then so be it: communicate that to your customers and they'd understand (I'm sure they'd be upset but they would understand).

 

And then, it seemed that when certain orders were mailed out, one went out to a higher profile reviewer (not that it's any fault of his own). I'm pretty sure that people who had paid before Bill L didn't receive their SGM. I don't read anything devious into what Ed's thought process was, the whole thing is just unfortunate. And by unfortunate, I mean for the customers who didn't get what they paid for. Let me put it this way: if I actually paid any money to Ed, I would be seeing what legal action I would be entitled to. It might be for nothing but that's how mad I'd be about it.

[Greg2600]

He insisted on full payment because he had to put out a large amount of money himself on the first batch. In reality, most homebrew/hardware projects in classic gaming are quite well supported. RetroUSB, Krikzz, AtariMax, Madtronix, and many more.

[atarilovesyou]

He insisted on full payment because he had to put out a large amount of money himself on the first batch. In reality, most homebrew/hardware projects in classic gaming are quite well supported. RetroUSB, Krikzz, AtariMax, Madtronix, and many more.

Having 20/20 hindsight, I don't know why that didn't trigger a "Hmmmm?" moment. Those others you mentioned also operate on a much different level...when I ordered my Powerpak from RetroUSB, I paid with credit, and anywhere along the line I was protected. Same goes for my Harmony cart.

 

If Eduardo was collecting funds for the second run in order to cover costs not recouped by the first run, then "there's your trouble" right there. If the money ran out, that would make perfect sense for what happened here. He miscalculated operating costs, and all money from 2nd run was used to attempt to complete the first run (the second run even cost more, did it not?). In the end, the money ran out, the first run didn't get completed and he had already sunk enough of his own capital into the project to where it wasn't feasible to continue. And add a few life problems (as life tends to do) and this is what happens.

 

I gotta turn off my Perry Mason 'what if' helmet. I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering just what happened.

 

My question is this: how long are people going to wait before they call it a day on this one? Till Eduardo sends word? Till they get their SGMs? Or some time period, I dunno...he did mention something about this April, didn't he? Not directly, but through a friend here at AA?

 

***EDIT

Out of curiosity, I went back through this monster of a thread. I found this:

 

Posted Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:37 PM

We have 180 unique SGM owners so far. However a person bought 10 SGM and want them sold on eBay.

 

This was posted by Ed last Jan, so if that's what happened, then there's no reason to believe he was behind the auctions on ebay...unless someone here actually saw Opcode's ebay account holding the auction. So to take Ed at his word, that would explain the ebay SGMs. But that was last January...and when did the auctions begin, last Sept or Oct?

 

From the announcement in last Sep 2012 to the first real issues with the printers was only three months. if there were 180 cases ready to go as he stated, then shouldn't there be at least that many in the AA community? I think AA was the primary means of info about the SGM, after all...what other forums were there that were giving details like here? I'm just crunching the numbers on 180 units sold...but he stated that the when the printers were going to sue, it cost him around $2200 extra to fix, on top of another $2000 he had already sunk in for some other reason. Being in the hole over $4000 would be enough to cause big problems.

 

But if he had 180 cases, then let's say he had that many orders (as he already ran out of first run numbers). Prices were between 90-100 USD (which included shipping in some cases, which would have also proven costly especially in Canada where shipping would be at least $20 per unit if not much more), so even at $95 average, money that was sent to him from buyers = $17,100

 

That's a lot of scratch. Even if it cost around ten grand to spool up the first run, there was still a few thousand dollars left to complete the first run (which I don't know the number of, the original number of first run SGMs). But even if 50 or so more customers sent funds for the second run (a low estimate, as the word got out about how awesome the first run turned out), he's still got another five grand to keep things afloat.

 

Maybe shipping killed it, but my guess is not. Contact those who ordered second run, tell em what happened, and they'd pay shipping. I can only say that $100 was probably far too low to charge (more like $150) for the SGM.

 

I promise, no more speculations....for tonight, anyway!

Edited February 13, 2014 by atarilovesyou

[goldenegg]

 

This was posted by Ed last Jan, so if that's what happened, then there's no reason to believe he was behind the auctions on ebay...unless someone here actually saw Opcode's ebay account holding the auction. So to take Ed at his word, that would explain the ebay SGMs. But that was last January...and when did the auctions begin, last Sept or Oct?

 

 

Eduardo definitely had auctions for SGM units. It was his account and the listings were seen by multiple people here.

 

There were auctions from other people as well, but those aren't what people are referring to.

[atarilovesyou]

 

Eduardo definitely had auctions for SGM units. It was his account and the listings were seen by multiple people here.

 

There were auctions from other people as well, but those aren't what people are referring to.

 

Well there you have it. Thanks for the clarification.

[gamecat80]

But if he had 180 cases, then let's say he had that many orders (as he already ran out of first run numbers). Prices were between 90-100 USD (which included shipping in some cases, which would have also proven costly especially in Canada where shipping would be at least $20 per unit if not much more), so even at $95 average, money that was sent to him from buyers = $17,100

 

 

I had to go back to the beginning of this huge thread to see "where it all started". Early on, Opcode said the entire project would cost about $16,000. Plus he apparently had issues with the printer companies, costing him a few thousand more. But I found some of his early posts interesting...

 

 

Something I was discussing with Pixelboy that hadn't occurred me before, is that I actually cannot take more than 220 orders for the first batch, as I only have 250 connectors, and I need to save some for testing and have extra units to cover any eventual defective modules. So I will be taking orders until we reach 220 modules, or for 3 more weeks, whatever comes first.

 

 

And we have got to 200 orders. Can you believe that? Still have a little more than 2 weeks to go. Thanks everyone that made it possible.

 

Manual is ready to print, catalog and box are just missing pictures of the module, which we should be able to take in about 10 days. We are in final stages of beta. I am now concentration efforts on getting any missing bits of the games finished. Nameplate sample should be here any moment.

 

 

Sold out. No more payments, please.

 

I have 250 connectors. Used 5 so far for testing. Plan to save another 5 for future use. That leaves me with 240 connectors. 220 orders means 20 connectors left. Then we have manufacturing. Testing on manufacturing is too expensive for this project, so I will testing myself before shipping. Supposing 5% defect margin, which is pretty high actually, that means 8 boards left as replacements. Sounds appropriated to me. For those desperate, someone, whose name I am not going to reveal (and no, it isn't me), paid for 10 SGMs and asked me to place them on eBay. So I will be doing that.

 

 

Seems he completely sold out of SGMs and would not take any more orders. So everything -- production/manufacturing/printing --costs have been paid for, so it seems. The big questions are:

 

-Why is he not communicating with anyone?

-Why have some ppl not received their paid-for SGMs, when he put some up on Ebay for much more money?

 

 

There seem to be many red flags going up here. I'm thinking he may be in some kind of tough financial situation. But if he is alive and well, that does not excuse the lack of communication...

 

But like you said, a lot of ppl here give a "pass" to homebrew projects like this. If this happened on Ebay or Amazon or many other places, there would be filed complaints left and right. There is much more security and accountability at those places. The homebrewers are doing some great things, but they also get an easy "pass" here that they would not get away with elsewhere...

[boxpressed]

Did anyone pay with a credit card and attempt to get a chargeback? I can't recall if I did and may look into this. I wonder what has to happen to make a case for wire fraud. This might be small potatoes for Paypal, but you never know.

[Jordiway]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is, as far as I can tell only a hand full of people (lets say 10) haven't gotten their first run SGM and I'm pretty sure all of those people said they wanted to wait for the new name plate and if you didn't respond then that was the same as wanting to wait. Its not like he took orders for 220 and only delivered 5. And he also said from the start that he was building 5 to sell on ebay to help with the cost, which I believe were the ones with the clear case. Then someone else purchased 10 and asked him to sell those on ebay which was that persons choice to do so. I missed out on the first run but paid in full for the 2nd run, which Ed said they may be ready in the fall of 2013 NOT THEY WILL BE. Yes I agree he could come here and give us an update on the current situation of the SGM. But I can say that I am not worried about getting ripped off. Hopefully when he returns DK is ready and the SGM's are too and we can all get back to playing some great games on the Colecovision.

[atarilovesyou]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is, as far as I can tell only a hand full of people (lets say 10) haven't gotten their first run SGM and I'm pretty sure all of those people said they wanted to wait for the new name plate and if you didn't respond then that was the same as wanting to wait. Its not like he took orders for 220 and only delivered 5. And he also said from the start that he was building 5 to sell on ebay to help with the cost, which I believe were the ones with the clear case. Then someone else purchased 10 and asked him to sell those on ebay which was that persons choice to do so. I missed out on the first run but paid in full for the 2nd run, which Ed said they may be ready in the fall of 2013 NOT THEY WILL BE. Yes I agree he could come here and give us an update on the current situation of the SGM. But I can say that I am not worried about getting ripped off. Hopefully when he returns DK is ready and the SGM's are too and we can all get back to playing some great games on the Colecovision.

 

You make some very good points; who knows how many people never got their SGMs from the first run? But even if it's 10, that's still $1000. What really concerning is that he collected full pre-payments for the second run, and who knows how many people did this (and many ordered more than one unit). So it's not outside the realm of possibility that he had another 100 people send funds for the second run. In the info here, I couldn't find concrete details about any shells, boards, boxes for the second run...at least not as much detail as the first.

 

By taking the, "I'm not worried about getting ripped off" stance, part of that attitude perpetuates the cycle. I'm not saying Eduardo intentionally set out to rip anybody off, but when anybody expressed doubt about the release date of the second run (or those who didn't get their first run), there was PLENTY of opposition from members here who effectively 'silenced' them by making the assumption that if there were too many naysayers, questioners, 'impatient people', that Eduardo would simply pack up and stop the project all together. This fear of Ed "taking his baseball and going home" by those here who have absolute faith in him to deliver the goods only extended the situation into what we have today. Good luck on getting any money back from credit card companies or paypal, unless you paid in the last six months.

 

Eduardo has changed the dates where people will supposedly get their SGMs many times. Again, the last thing I heard from him was April of this year (and I'm not certain where I read that, it just sticks out in my mind).

 

Here's what 'should' have happened in this case: Anybody who paid Eduardo for an SGM should be able to get a full refund. If the reason they can't get a refund is because Ed sank the money into production and for some reason can't complete the project, then Eduardo has to step up and find a way around it. But that would appear impossible as he's gone recluse.

 

Which is why I can understand the voices of frustration here...and you don't really hear too many voices of Ed's most supportive friends, because I feel even they can sense that something has gone quite wrong. It's not just the customers here that pay the price, but what about Team Pixelboy and others who were going to support the SGM with software? The CV homebrew scene is quite strong, and while the SGM seemed to divide them into a camp which believed that too much emphasis would be placed on SGM-only developed homebrews, you can't argue the fact that the SGM caused the biggest buzz of any CV component in the last ten years. It really is a worthwhile, exciting device.

 

"Buyer Beware" almost doesn't cut it, but perhaps it should in the future. Perhaps there needs to be a sticky somewhere here on AA that clearly states that what happened with the SGM is a possible outcome if you send money to a developer for a product that may or may not reach completion (especially without any guarantee of refund). At which point does the community say, "Well, I guess that's a wrap on the SGM situation"? Time will tell, but heck, I'll take a stab at it: Jan 2015. If they aren't delievered by then, I'll effectively give up hope. Plenty of time to make up for past wrongs, and at least communicate to those here who deserve to be informed of what happened to their money (and their SGMs). When it all comes out in the wash, I'm sure there won't be any conspiracy theories...just an unfortunate series of events, as life tends to throw at you when you least expect it.

 

It's not like Colecovision fans aren't used to waiting

[boxpressed]

For me, the issue is not being out $90, although that's annoying. The issue is purposefully being kept ignorant of the status of the SGM project. Eduardo knows the status. It seems as though others who have posted in this thread also know the status. I don't need to know the details of why Eduardo has been incommunicado, and I understand why his confidants would be reluctant to share that information. I assume that they are good reasons to delay the project, and I have to think that the project may pale in comparison to the importance of whatever has come up.

 

But is that a reason to ignore the people who believed in the project enough to fund it?

 

One reason to ignore your customers' requests is because you are a crook who intended to steal their money. I truly do not believe this is the case here.

 

Another reason is that you are too embarrassed to provide a status report after such a long time. I get that it is hard to admit to a problem, but let's be honest. This is a bad reason, plain and simple.

 

If I never get the product that I paid for because I had the audacity to state in public that we do not deserve to be kept ignorant, then I'll live. More importantly, I'll be able to live with myself.

[Troy_Whelan]

... Which is why I can understand the voices of frustration here...and you don't really hear too many voices of Ed's most supportive friends, because I feel even they can sense that something has gone quite wrong. ...

 

As one of Ed's supportive friends I can say that you are not hearing me chime into this as it would only fuel the fire. People are venting, and that is fine to a degree, and I have no personal knowledge on current status which is why I have not been speculating. Everyone has speculated enough and now people are getting stirred into a frenzy.

 

Eduardo Mello, OpCode, has always delivered quality products and seeks perfection in everything he does. In fact he had a voluntary recall with free replacement of Magical Tree when he found an issue after distribution. No gamers were complaining, he simply found a very minor issue that he wanted to correct. He often has costs at a minimum so he is not making profit, rather he is covering expenses to support his love of the ColecoVision and this hobby. I personally feel that "customers will be satisfied" eventually based on all of my interactions with Eduardo. What I am surprised at is that nobody has wondered if he is alright...perhaps he has fallen ill or is hospitalized. Perhaps he has lost his job or some other unpleasant event. Perhaps a family member is ill and is taking all of his free time. Was nothing learned from when Daniel was having personal issues within the past year, was off-line for a period, and returned when his life calmed down?

 

Eduardo has my support and he deserves yours as well. I understand the frustration however assume positive intent and give him the benefit of the doubt. He is not new to the scene and he has earned our trust...he has mine.

 

Troy

[bennybingo]

 

As one of Ed's supportive friends I can say that you are not hearing me chime into this as it would only fuel the fire. People are venting, and that is fine to a degree, and I have no personal knowledge on current status which is why I have not been speculating. Everyone has speculated enough and now people are getting stirred into a frenzy.

 

Eduardo Mello, OpCode, has always delivered quality products and seeks perfection in everything he does. In fact he had a voluntary recall with free replacement of Magical Tree when he found an issue after distribution. No gamers were complaining, he simply found a very minor issue that he wanted to correct. He often has costs at a minimum so he is not making profit, rather he is covering expenses to support his love of the ColecoVision and this hobby. I personally feel that "customers will be satisfied" eventually based on all of my interactions with Eduardo. What I am surprised at is that nobody has wondered if he is alright...perhaps he has fallen ill or is hospitalized. Perhaps he has lost his job or some other unpleasant event. Perhaps a family member is ill and is taking all of his free time. Was nothing learned from when Daniel was having personal issues within the past year, was off-line for a period, and returned when his life calmed down?

 

Eduardo has my support and he deserves yours as well. I understand the frustration however assume positive intent and give him the benefit of the doubt. He is not new to the scene and he has earned our trust...he has mine.

 

Troy

People were definitely worried about him and wishing him well...back in October. It has been a rather long time since his last communication, and folks are beginning to worry about their purchases. I completely agree with you Troy...Eduardo has always been a stand up guy, and has earned his place in the homebrew "hall of fame", but something is definitely amiss. I produced the foam inserts for the boxes on the first run of SGM's, and I haven't heard a thing from him in a very long time (even further back than October). This "communication blackout" is rather confusing to all involved. As someone said about 20 pages back: it only takes 1 minute to send an email or post here in the thread. Any kind of update would certainly diffuse the "frenzy" (as you described it).

 

The lack of communication is what is making people think he has abandoned this project, in turn, leaving a lot of people hanging. I don't think for one second that this is the case, but it is strange to think that Eduardo is not at all concerned about his customers...much less his reputation at this point. After all, in this hobby, our reputation is just about all we have when it comes to creating homebrew products and expecting to sell them.

 

I do worry, and sincerely I hope he is OK. Homebrew projects certainly come second to real life problems. That being said, how can folks worry about his well being, if nobody knows exactly what the heck is even going on? Most people who have not yet received the products they paid for DESERVE some form of communication. One single sentence would likely cover all the bases, simply letting people know that he needs more time. He does not need to tell the world what is going on in his personal life...not unless he wants to. Just a simple timeline would help ease all of the tension building in this thread.

 

@Eduardo: if you are reading this, please come back and provide a brief update. You would be surprised how much a community like AA could help you get through a rough spot. It worked for Backin89, and none of us even knew that guy! Seriously though, Drop us a line...we are sincerely looking forward to your return.

[jlanier]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is

Well, please allow me to clarify it for you then! The big deal, for me, is that I ordered 3 units in the first run in Sept. 2012, and on page 37 of this thread, on May 10, 2013, Eduardo personally said all SGMs from the first run would be shipped out by Monday, May 13, 2013. That was clearly a misstatement, because a few posts down he mentions that the nameplate issue was still not resolved, and he had no timeframe for resolving it. So when he said "I will be shipping all remaining SGMs this Monday" he could not have possibly meant that he was completing the first run because any of us who opted to wait for the final nameplate would not be getting theirs because the issue was still open. The end result was that I never received my units. Eduardo never communicated with me directly after that date, so I have no way of knowing if the units were shipped or not. If they got lost in shipping (which happens way more often than I like), I'd never know, because Eduardo won't return emails and won't confirm which units were shipped. The nameplate excuse has been used often to explain why those of us who remain without our units from the first run never got them, but that doesn't explain the existence of a second run or the Opcode eBay auctions. I can't believe we would be expected to wait another year or more just because of nameplates; at some point it wouldn't make any sense to keep those previously paid customers waiting. And if you were a perfectionist and wanted to get the labels perfect, would you really start a second run without resolving the label problem first, knowing full well you had outstanding prepaid orders that were unfulfilled? Does that really actually make sense to anyone?

 

Regarding prepayment; that's perfectly OK for something like this. Eduardo could not have made a profit off of such a small production run; these units were basically sold at cost. In my mind this is sort of like a kickstarter situation; I was investing in the SGM in the hopes it would see the light of day. If the project failed and I lost my money, well - it's a lot of money but I'd actually not be bothered by that too much. The big deal - the part that hurts - is most of them DID ship, but I didn't get mine, and to make matters worse I have no way of figuring out why, or whether or not they were lost in shipping. It's like being invited to a party but then being given the wrong address. It's just not cool. It also puts other new customers off, which isn't good for Eduardo, or the future of the SGM.

 

I hope Eduardo is OK - he's always been nice to me (back when he returned my emails) and I wish him well just like you do. But please don't post things like "this isn't a big deal" or "there's no problem here". There may not be a problem for you, and if so, well then good for you! But this is the Opcode forum and so it's the only place most of us will ever have a chance to get our issues resolved, so please have some consideration for those of us who are currently locked out of the SGM party.

[NIAD]

 

What I am surprised at is that nobody has wondered if he is alright...perhaps he has fallen ill or is hospitalized. Perhaps he has lost his job or some other unpleasant event. Perhaps a family member is ill and is taking all of his free time.

Are you serious? Should I go back through the entire thread as well as other threads and quote each and every instance where someone wished the best for Eduardo and hoped that nothing bad/serious had happened to him or his.

 

For me, this whole series of events is like deja-vu. The ADAM Community went thru something similar with one of it's finest developers back in 1989 thru 1992, so the reactions that have been expressed for the better or worse are not a surprise to me. That one really got out of hand because there were tens of thousands of dollars involved and it did not end well for all sides involved, especially the developer.

 

This time around I am hoping and wishing for the best for everyone involved and I do believe Eduardo has earned the right for some leeway from his years of service and committment to the Homebrew scene, but sooner rather than later, he or someone close to him needs to provide an update. Until such a time, expect more of the same in this thread because it's human nature to be upset if you have not received an item that you paid for, have not been kept abreast as to why or how much longer it might take and most importantly... sometimes it does a lot of good to just vent one's frustrations, be heard and be responded to by someone.

 

@Eduardo... as I'm sure you know, the community wishes you and your's nothing but the best. I'm sure you also know that everyone will be ecstatic to finally see you post a message once again even if all it says is "Hi guys, I'm OK".

[boxpressed]

As far as I'm concerned, Eduardo owes us only a status report. He doesn't need to explain anything else. Just when we can expect the SGMs to be completed and to ship. They could ship in August, and that would be fine with me as long as I heard it from Eduardo.

[atarilovesyou]

As far as I'm concerned, Eduardo owes us only a status report. He doesn't need to explain anything else. Just when we can expect the SGMs to be completed and to ship. They could ship in August, and that would be fine with me as long as I heard it from Eduardo.

 

Go take a look at the last posts from Eduardo. The final two are apologetic of delays, word of bad news for either his employment or family issues, and promises of delivering the SGM. So if he decides to post tomorrow, say something like, "Hey guys, sorry but XYZ happened and I'll ship any outstanding orders by ABC", that would be ok with you? Well, you're a pretty patient guy.

 

Who knows, from a few of the posts above it seems as there's a few "in the know" guys who are in contact with him and seem to hit that there's some kind of completion date. Again, this is Great Pumpkin material to me. If the money has run out, there will be no more SGMs. In the real world, there's a name for what happens when somebody collects money for a product and then doesn't come through with it. Be it through manufacturing errors, unforeseen obstacles (I really did commend him for his insistence to get the labels right; that's what almost sealed the deal for a 2nd run before I decided to wait until the deadlines were met for the first run), or straight up running out of funds, I believe that he DOES owe an explanation of exactly what happened, and why. At least that would offer some kind of closure on the whole thing. If he leaves all this hanging the way it is, I can't imagine a worse way for it end. At least there could be someone else who could carry the torch, you know? Hell, if ebayers were willing to pay $300 bucks for the thing, then I'm sure one of the other homebrewers could give it a shot in the future.

[bennybingo]

Who knows, from a few of the posts above it seems as there's a few "in the know" guys who are in contact with him and seem to hit that there's some kind of completion date.

I can tell you that I have not heard from him, and all PM's I have sent him have not been responded to.

 

That being said, he did order the foam from me for the 1st run a little less than a year ago, and he paid for it in full. IMHO, if he was planning to take off with the money, he probably wouldn't have shipped any units, and my payment for the foam would have never arrived. If I had to talent a guess, he is either:

 

A. going through some pretty heavy "real life" turmoil

 

or

 

B. In way over his head with this project.

 

I'd have to guess that it is option A. It's all speculation at this point...we are just sitting here wondering, and will continue to do so until Eduardo comes back and fills us all in. Hopefully, that will happen soon.

[Words iManifest]

I've expressed my feelings of disdain in various other threads on this topic so no need to repeat those thoughts here, so with that being said...

 

...I paid on September 27, 2012 for a first run and am still waiting too but also realize the toll stress can place on you from my own experience. I want communication from Eduardo as much as anyone else but maybe that's just it, retuning to the situation on this forum is a pretty daunting task especially with so much on your plate.

 

In my posts I have been clear with my feelings on good business practices which have been greatly echoed here in the last 55 pages by so many others but I have always maintained (and stated) my hope that all is well with Eduardo.

 

I value my $95 greatly but above all, value a person's health and sanity so much more. I don't know if anyone truly does know where he is or the state his personal life is in but if you do, please convey that many of our more insistent posts do not underly an anger to Eduardo personally just a natural response to a tough situation we have all been placed in.

[atarilovesyou]

In this situation, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't (thanks Bart). If you have a gut feeling that Eduardo isn't going to return (let alone complete the orders from this project), then you're labeled a pessimist nay-sayer. If you follow what was the status quo and "be patient, hope for the best" and send well-wishes to Eduardo and whatever his life circumstances might be, you feel like you're being taken advantage of, or worse, you've been had.

 

Now would be the time for Ed to fess up, or at least leave a message. You can't say "what's $100?", because we've already heard of one fellow who bought three of the damn things. For myself, no matter what Ed's situation is, there is absolutely no excuse for him not taking the time (MAKING the time) to contact those whose money he took for undelivered product(s). Those are the people that I'm worried about, not him. They're the ones who took the risk, sent their hard earned cash and did everything right. He's the one who did wrong, and he should at the very least contact those members privately via email. That is the absolute LEAST he should do.

 

In my book, if you take someone's money in a transaction and don't live up to your end of the bargain, I might understand if they came to you with a reason and a plan on how to make things right...but if they just disappear into thin air? Well then, you can fill in the blanks. Just because he came through for some, that doesn't mean anything to those whom he stiffed.

 

The more I think about it, somebody here mentioned it and I agree: he was just in WAY over his head. Somebody with life issues (health or otherwise) obviously shouldn't be undertaking such projects in the first place. I don't think he's a complete crook because he did come through for those in the beginning....those whose orders he could fill before he realized that the money had run out. So he might be incompetant, at the least...that's no big deal either, we've all made mistakes in life, haven't we?

 

It's time the guy just came out of the woodwork and SAID something. Again, if another year passes and there's no resolution, what then? What happens when the Opcode forum vanishes from Atariage due to the operator disappearing? It'll go down as an unfortunate turn of events, for both those who paid and received and those who paid and got zip. But maybe it's a good thing for the other developers and homebrewers, and they can see by example of how NOT to do business (let alone how NOT to treat people who put their trust in you). Do the right thing, Eduardo!