The Grasshopper Shipping Poll

[TeeJay1952]

Not acceptable failure rate = mine
Acceptable Failure rate = yours

 

[zymos]

FC is probably a small percentage worldwide - we are a small community when you think about U.S, Canada, Europe and Asia. We really don't know on what scale their failure rate is and I don't know if GHL would level anyway. They don't want to scare off potential buyers.

I say this over and over- there's no reason why the failure rate for any one group of people - for example, FC and Reddit members- would not be a fairly good representation of the failure rate of ALL GHs.

Agree about not wanting to scare off buyers (and also have to refund people's preorders)

 

[Frank Reynolds]

If I don't have mine by the first half of December I'll be asking for a refund. I bought it for a specific purpose around Christmas and fully expected to have it well before then.

 

[CarolKing]

I say this over and over- there's no reason why the failure rate for any one group of people - for example, FC and Reddit members- would not be a fairly good representation of the failure rate of ALL GHs.

Agree about not wanting to scare off buyers (and also have to refund people's preorders)

I disagree FC is a large community to us, but relatively small in the scheme of things.

They could have particular batches that are more prone to problems, possibly made by an employee that needed more training or say a faulty batch of batteries. The newer models just produced would hopefully be better than previous units.

Im hoping the more GHs they make the better the company will get at putting these together. Again I'm waiting until the bugs are worked out and I can order then get mine within a week or so.

Hopefully the failure rate will slow down. If it doesn't it will be hard for the company to stay in business.

 

[zymos]

The size doesn't really matter- there's no reason to think that FC members would be receiving a greater number of defective units than any other random population.

 

[AgentXero]

The size doesn't really matter- there's no reason to think that FC members would be receiving a greater number of defective units than any other random population.

That's true, control size shouldn't make a big difference. At the same time I think people have a tendency to post negative feedback a lot more than positive. Once you have a working hopper you probably don't bother with these threads. I'm just trying to make sense of it though I do feel this way about it.

 

[zymos]

On this site, at this stage in the game, I can practically guarantee that any member that receives a GH is going to post about it, whether it's working perfectly or broken. But of course we aren't seeing repeated posts from anyone that say "yep, still working great after two weeks", but instead maybe "got it, love it", followed by "well, mine bit the dust and it's getting replaced".

I do agree in general that people are going to be more vocal about problems than about successes though...

 

[Likes2vape]

On this site, at this stage in the game, I can practically guarantee that any member that receives a GH is going to post about it, whether it's working perfectly or broken. But of course we aren't seeing repeated posts from anyone that say "yep, still working great after two weeks", but instead maybe "got it, love it", followed by "well, mine bit the dust and it's getting replaced".

I do agree in general that people are going to be more vocal about problems than about successes though...

I am in 100% agreement on this one. There are plenty of posts where people are stoked to get their hopper only to be followed up a day or three later about the hopper craped out on them.

I am giving GHL till the December 16th update and if mass shipping hasn't started with a low failure rate I'll be cancelling my order.

 

[Flyingcrocodile46]

My best guestimate based on supply progress to date and modestly optimistic expectations.

 

[grokit]

My expected shipping date still says september 2015

 

[Kaptan]

My expected shipping date still says september 2015

Same here. I was considering sending an email, but I just know I will receive a reply that will advise my shipping confirmation email will be coming very soon. I think their definition of very soon is not the same as everyone else's

 

[hippogriff]

Thing I'm most curious to know: how many pre-orders? Just interesting to know. Posting the last of my hopper energy here till something actually changes, Dec 3rd backer expecting to receive mid-November. Gotta say, to get it outta my head, the way GHL has mishandled expectations has left this big negative vacuum in the vaping community. I see it washing out into other threads, folks are extra jumpy around promises and delivery dates, like they're looking to their next relationship to save them. Perception management is NOT hard, courses can be changed - it's so much easier to wait when you know why you're waiting. I imagine pre-order money is vital to continuing operations, and somewhere in there they feel obligated to continue saying "soon" while we churn away. Matt & Trevor, recognize you are crazy lucky to have so much good will to burn through so inefficiently.

 

[hi_there]

I imagine pre-order money is vital to continuing operations, and somewhere in there they feel obligated to continue saying "soon" while we churn away

I agree with this, they probably justify it to themselves by saying if they did not do it then the company would probably go under and not be able to offer anything to backers and perhaps not even refunds to pre-orders.

 

[vapviking]

And all of England will be enjoying them in December!

Who really knows? Maybe HL has some quantum leap in production planned, waiting for last tweaks, then these things will start coming off the line like Ford Pintos. Hey, shoot me if that's a weak analogy, but I lived in Michigan in the '70's.

btw, I also "expect" delivery in November, of a TI piece ordered 02Aug. this year. I got in just ahead of the price increase, and I'll receive the leather case that's since been removed from the "included items". In my note to HL on the order form I wrote, "Take your time, do a nice job!"

 

[Mister G]

I wonder if they will live up to the promised free battery for delayed pre-orders or if that will be yet another point of customer service contention. It also appears they lumped everyone from about Feb/March through August into the November shipping timeframe, when they inevitably delay us all again, I wonder if they will keep batch dumping us into the same month or will spread it out based on order date, the lumping us all into November thing seemed like hard evidence that estimate was complete BS. I found it particularly funny that they did this right after one of Trevor's emails to someone said they were delaying people more than a month at a time this time to be more "realistic".

I'm guessing a hopper-less xmas for pre-orders at this point...thanks Grinchopper Labs!

I'm not upset, I rely on life's absurdities to keep me level, and this has to be the most absurd vaporizer startup I've ever experienced (and I own a Versa Infinity !!!), although I'm sure many of you have stories.

 

[zymos]

For ANY preorders to be received in Nov., they'd have to ramp up exponentially.
There are still so many backers left, and Oct. is already 1/4 over.

The (OK one of the) things that really bugs me about these guys is this talking out of both sides or their mouth thing. They've repeatedly stated that they are purposely shipping slowly, to be able to handle all the defective units and improve QC. But they've also said how they predict (soon, really!) to be making a thousand of them a week. When they readjusted everyone's shipping estimates several weeks ago, weren't they thinking "we can make X a week, there are Y people ahead of this customer, so it will take Z long to get to ship theirs"? So how did thousands of orders get lumped in to two months worth of production?

Sorry, kind of rambling in my discontent- gist of it is they are being misleading in various ways, and don't seem to care how obvious that is, even if all you do is read their own official bimonthly updates.

Sort of RE: the promised free batteries. Notice how they now say they will offer the option of insuring shipments? Someone on Reddit just posted a screenshot of an email from Trevor from before they started shipping, saying it would all be insured, and that if someone didn't receive theirs, he would keep shipping them out until they got one. Quite a bit different than giving us the option to pay extra for insurance.

 

[grokit]

these things will start coming off the line like Ford Pintos. Hey, shoot me if that's a weak analogy, but I lived in Michigan in the '70's.

With exploding rear ends in common, I sure hope that's a weak analogy!

 

[Vapzilla]

It seems that they have to tell all the backers and pre-orders that your scheduled ship date is October or November because if I ordered one today my scheduled ship date is December! Yeah right.
But they need to keep those orders rolling in. I think some folks would shy away with a realistic 6-12 months at this point.
That is according to their website as of today.

 

[zymos]

No doubt.
Though they could tell us backers anything they want, since we can't get refunds....

 

[Krazzykid]

So how did thousands of orders get lumped in to two months worth of production?

I think you already answered your own question.

But they've also said how they predict (soon, really!) to be making a thousand of them a week.

If they sincerely believed at the time that they were ready to produce and ship anywhere near 1000/week, they would have been able to fulfill many of their estimates.
There are any number of things that can explain why they were unable to meet that prediction.

 

[YaFreekin Right]

Wait, who said pre-orders are not getting a free battery for the delay?

At least for pre-orders prior to July 13, 2015.

 

[JiggyJack]

I wonder if they will live up to the promised free battery for delayed pre-orders

Wait, who said pre-orders are not getting a free battery for the delay?

I recall posts from people saying they got their free battery with their order. I think there were a few where the extra battery was forgotten on original shipment due to an oversight but they got it in the end. I also think that promise was only made at a certain point in time for orders up to that point. I'm not sure it includes newer pre-orders that happened after that.

 

[YaFreekin Right]

I recall posts from people saying they got their free battery with their order. I think there were a few where the extra battery was forgotten on original shipment due to an oversight but they got it in the end. I also think that promise was only made at a certain point in time for orders up to that point. I'm not sure it includes newer pre-orders that happened after that.

I thought I remember seeing that as well but not sure how that makes sense since no pre-orders have been shipped. Maybe for someone that added a pre-order to their IGG order.

 

[hi_there]

If they sincerely believed at the time that they were ready to produce and ship anywhere near 1000/week

That is a real catch-22 as I see it. If they can't do that they will likely lose a lot of pre-orders and continue to hurt their reputation, if they can then why pre-order?

 

[zymos]

I think you already answered your own question.

If they sincerely believed at the time that they were ready to produce and ship anywhere near 1000/week, they would have been able to fulfill many of their estimates.
There are any number of things that can explain why they were unable to meet that prediction.

But they also said themselves that they don't want to be shipping that much, that they are purposely going slow.
That's my point- they contradict themselves.