mims
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Don't worry. I've submitted a post with all of your responses. It's in moderation. I assume because some of your responses included links to your forum. Ironically, there were link to reviews from "happy customers" who already had their TextBlade.WayTools_Support said:Mims - We’re sorry you didn’t acknowledge the many responses we personally emailed you, and the updates we posted to your order status page.
The FTC or a lawyer would suggest you seek a refund first, and only add to their workload if a vendor doesn’t cooperate to refund your purchase.
As you've acknowledged, we refunded you promptly. We even suggested this remedy for you earlier, in response to your email queries.
Your post 20 on the first page of this thread raises the same lawsuit / FTC ideas, which had already been addressed in personal emails to you at your request.
You’re now repeating substantially the same content, which isn’t consistent with the spirit or rules of this forum.
So, what you are saying is that although you aren't following the rules because you offer a refund, it's okay?
The FTC / lawsuit information was included here simply because it was part of the emails I sent to you. I still stand behind the fact that you are breaking the FTCs rules. So, now you want to remove me from this forum too because I literally defended myself from your personal attack by including all of my correspondence with you? Common now...
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
I hate that I didn't see this crap sooner so that I can respond to it. I guess if you can't defend your position, attack the person and not his points.3. Principles
Mr. Mims is an intelligent man who knows all this quite well.
Contrary to his characterization, he has had more than 10 email exchanges with WayTools Support, where all of this was discussed in depth with many thousands of words of personal response from us to accommodate his extensive and detailed queries.
Mr Mims knows that chronic misinformation is precisely what reduces posting rights. And yet he has characterized our response as an unreasonable ban.
He understands well how nuance and the turn of a phrase can bolster, or misrepresent the truth, and he has a good command of language.
We’re not confident in the paraphrasing or quotations from Mr. Mims, because of the many conflicting points he’s presented directly to us.
We can say however, that if he sent such chronic conduct to any editor, a very rational response would be to encourage him to take a refund so as to end the conversation.
We encouraged him to take a refund, and he did.
Given all this, we also can’t reconcile why he’d ever want to buy our product on amazon, since it’s made by the very same firm that he works so hard to disparage.
Whether a person has a purpose for their narrative, other than just to genuinely enjoy the product - that is unfathomable for us.
We simply accept that there are different interests in the world, and we withdraw from transacting where there’s conflict.
The reader can decide their own logical case for what they feel is reasonable engagement by manufacturers and customers.
First, the characterization that I've had "extensive and detailed" queries is ridiculous. For your enjoyment, here are the emails that I have sent in their entirety. Remember, ALL of the contact was initiated by me. The only thing deleted from my emails below is my full name and phone number. As you might guess, the "longer" emails are at the end when I had been given the run around long enough.
So, that's it. As for the editor with MacWorld. My email to her:9/28/16: I’m order PDG VY8Z WG5. I ordered almost 2 years ago (January 17, 2015). I do not understand how others are receiving their TextBlades when I was clearly one of the first to pre-order. I want the TextBlade. I believe in the product. I’m just frustrated that I have no real indication that I will ever get the product. Will I get the keyboard before my two year anniversary or are you thinking of pushing the shipping date back again? Thanks for your response.
11/16/16: Are you still on track to ship mine in Q4? I really don’t want to get an update on December 31 that changes my shipping date to Q2.
8/30/17: What is the expected ship date? We are almost at 3 years from my order.
3/12/18: Hi. Checking again on this order. My status page says “Winter.” Winter ends in a week. It’s been 3 years. When I ordered, the product was shipping in February of 2015. You advertised this product as shipping, NOT as in development which it clearly is. I understand that I can get my money back, but I’ve waited 3 years,. Each shipping update tells me that is coming in 3 months. So I wait figuring that I’ve waited this long, might as well wait a little longer. That game has been going on for 3 years. So, when do you HONESTLY expect this product to ship? I also think that I’ve earned overnight shipping.
3/15/18: Sending this email again. Please respond.
8/25/18: Hi. Sneaking up on 4 years. What is the status update. Your website does not provide any information other than “Summer.” Is summer still accurate? I ordered in January 2015. Thank you for your response.
10/20/18: Hi. I have not received any information from you about the status of my order. I assumed that this summer (your underline, not mine) meant before September 22. I think that as a paying customer you should consider communicating with us instead of waiting for us to email you. So, what is the status of my order? Yes, I can see that it says Fall - just like it said Summer, Spring, Winter, etc. REALISTICALLY, when will my product ship? Also, Mims1 (my username on the forum) is not able to start new messages. It says that I’m not authorized to view this resource. I’d like to commune with other users. Finally, why have I not been selected for TREG? No one ordered earlier than me (January 2015), no one signed up for the TREG before I did (same day it was announced) and finally, I have been a beta tested for other companies - I know tech. Please advise.
11/4/18: Sending again...
3/21/19: I’m checking on this order: PDG VY8Z WG5. I ordered in January 2015 - 4 years ago. As my order is listed as shipping in winter, I DO NOT want to cancel my order. If you do not anticipate the order shipping within 30 days, you should be reminded of the FTC rules for notifying customers found here: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/selling-internet-prompt-delivery-rules. Further, my forum account has been suspended for “suspicious activity” until a team member reviews the post. I’m not aware of any suspicious activity, but it’s been weeks since the suspension. My account should either be unlocked, or I should be told how to activate a new account. Thanks!
3/21/19: 3 things:
1. Again, I’m checking on this order: PDG VY8Z WG5. Please let me know when you plan to ship my order. I don’t care about the other two as long as you answer this one.
2. I’m not a lawyer, but as I’m sure you are aware, there’s a law firm running around contacting people they believe have ordered (mentions about TextBlade on social media was how they found me) talking about a class action lawsuit. They sent me that link and other info. It doesn’t help me get my TextBlade if you get sued, so I’m ignoring them. Thought the info might help you if you aren’t shipping in 30 days, but I guess your lawyers are confident that things are good.
3. My account was frozen, not just the post. I just provided a link ago the FTC. I think calling it materially inaccurate is wrong. If you are worried that people might misread it (as you are telling me that I have), then respond to it on the site. Or delete my post. Banning me seems pretty heavy handed.
3/22/19: I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. Eh. I’ve seen much worse on your board about delays, and I still think it’s a better communications strategy to address my comment as a forum response as you did in your email to me below. And what would I want other than resolution? The main point of the FTC’s requirements (and my forum post) is basic but proactive communication. Either ship the product or change your communications strategy to conform with what we can agree is common sense communication - legal requirement or not. Your customers shouldn’t have to hunt information about a product that we’ve ordered. Regular emails with updates would be the best way to communicate progress. What concerns me is that for at least 2 years, the ship date shifts by a quarter at a time. I don’t want to cancel because I’m so elfin’ close to getting a TextBlade. Just 3 more months, I tell myself. Then, without notice (if I didn’t regularly check, I would never know) the date will change. If I hadn’t emailed you today, I would have no idea that you are going to miss your ship date of “Winter.” There is nothing on your site (except perhaps in the forums) that says that the dates are “uncertain estimates” - you tell me now that they are. When I ordered 4 years ago, you did not even hint that the product might take this long. In your press release (https://waytools.com/us/news/press/2015/january/13/press-release) which is how I heard about your product, February was the ship date. When I ordered, that’s what the website said. That’s what published information from your company said. It did not say, “this is an uncertain estimate.” Not even close. Since my order, the only updates I have gotten, I have had to hunt down. Not a single email that didn’t start with an email from me looking for an update. When someone changed my ship date to “Winter,” did they really think - based on the information you shared in your forum post - that the product had a snowball’s chance to get shipped in Winter? When the system updates in the next day or so, will it say “Spring” although you are telling me to at least count on summer? I’m frustrated that I’m being strung along. And people actually have the TextBlade. In your email below, you reference reviews of how awesome the product is. You’ve posted articles about the TextBlade in the wild. And yet, one of your first customers still has yet to get one of these products that is getting rave reviews. Why? Talk about rubbing salt in a wound. I don’t care about the reviews. I just want mine.
It hurts me to do it, but I must cancel my order. I’ve lost faith that I will ever get a TextBlade keyboard. It looks like an awesome concept that might never ship to the “unselected." As the credit card that was used is long gone, you will have to send me payment via (REMOVED).Long, long, long-time Macrumors reader. I read your article in January 2015 about the Textblade and promptly ordered one. I’ve seen your updates through the years. Fast-forward 3+ years - no Textblade. I’m curious if you have heard anything or are planning on doing another story. Some people who complain on their forums are getting their orders deleted….Yes. I got a refund. No hassles. There is absolute truth in that. Of course, it's ridiculous that it should come to that. I ordered this thing in 2015. As for the "misinformation" in the forum, there was none. The only thing I did was include the link from the FTC, which I'm pretty sure is accurate information.
Now you have all the information. WayTools feel free to attack my character now.
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
For those of you defending WayTools, recognize that you have the product. Those of us that are complaining are upset because we don't have the product. You can tell us how wonderful it is (and we do indeed believe you), but when we ask honest questions in the forums, we get banned. I've seen people get their orders forcibly canceled by WayTools from forum comments. We've been strung along for 4 years after ordering a product that was supposed to ship in a month. We have not gotten any proactive communication from WayTools. Yes, I can search their forums for updates, but I shouldn't have to. They should communicate with me. And they promise updates that never post.
As a side note, I wrote to MacRumors 3 years after my initial order. Their article was the one that enticed me to place the order. This is the response that I got from one of their editors:
When the product launches (if it ever does), I'll probably order one. From Amazon. Once it's in stock.I know that WayTools has been sending out test units to people on their forums, but other than that, I haven't heard that they're any closer to a shipping date. I think what happened with the TextBlade is regrettable -- I saw a working test unit in 2015, but here, three years later, the product hasn't shipped.We cut ties with them completely in early 2016 and we won't be covering the TextBlade again in the future. I highly recommend getting a refund from WayTools if you pre-ordered a TextBlade unless you don't mind waiting indefinitely.
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
I am extremely disappointed in this article - primarily because it doesn't provide an honest look at how WayTools has handled its pre-orders. I saw an article in January 2015 about the TextBlade, and I ordered it. At the time, the release date was end of February 2015. For the next couple years, WayTools would quietly change the shipping date by a month. Then, they started changing it by a quarter. Each time, it looked like launch was imminent. Even their blog posts are about getting the TextBlade into everyone's hands. Sure, there are TREGs. I was one of the first to order, and I have hardware beta testing experience. The day they announced TREG, I signed up. Instead, they seem to choose outspoken people on their forums in hopes to string the rest of us along. That's not a slight against the TREG people. Most seem to really enjoy the product. What it does show is a company that wants to string along a purchase base. So, they are going with the Tesla model? It would have been helpful to tell those ordering the device that they are going to wait 4+ years. Also, they are not emailing their customers. I have received exactly one email about my order - the one confirming my order and that my credit card had been charged. The only other times I hear from them is when I send an email asking about an order. According to FCC rules, they are required to contact customers when delays exceed 30 days to confirm that they customers still wants the product. They have not done that. They do, however, allow you to get your money back at any time. Eventually I did (after 4 years and 3 months) WayTools is not a company that you want to do business with. If they eventually ship the product, buy it from Amazon. AppleInsider, this is your opportunity to be a voice for "millions?" who are being scammed. I have filed a complaint with the FCC, and I have heard rumblings that there is talk of a class action lawsuit.
