HEADS UP! Red Drive CABLE NOT INCLUDED with Drive!

[mikhail]

I'm late to the game but now I really want two reds. Badly! Anyone not happy with Reds $200 cable, I'll take your RED order for you! Please!

I'd want my red cam now and not wait till summer.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

You really think someone is going to give up their red order over a $200 cable?

Admire your spunk tho!

 

[mikhail]

Worth a shot.

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Does NO ONE have credit cards?!!?

Yes I do. However, in the past, I have been the victim of credit card fraud on the Internet. As a rule I no longer, for whatever reason, use my details for online purchases. I'm sorry if that ruffles your feathers but its not a perfect World.

I have sorted this issue with Brent at RED directly with them. I don't normally air my feelings regarding RED issues but this just kinda tripped me a bit. Needless to say the guys at RED handled it professionally.

Cheers,
Mark.

 

[Brent Carter]

Brent I am just joining in here.

How can I get an update on My orders?

Do I get the cable?

Red Camera 2249 + 2327

You can call us at 949.206.7900 and select the Sales option for an update.

Interface cables for RED ONE must be purchased separately for RED DRIVES.

Thanks, BC

 

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Wow, I think 200 dollars is also a bit much for a cable...

Of course they are propriatary, and on an order of 30K I suppose it doesn't matter much, but I am a bit surprised at such a high pricing for a cable to connect your drive.
Of course I don't know anything about the manufacturing process, so maybe it's a very good price.

Ow, and I also think you should just change the pricing of the drive. With the EVF and the LCD being delivered WITH a cable, this is just confusing. Or make it standard 1100 dollars, and you can select somewhere WITHOUT cable, and THEN the price changes back to 900 dollars. It's just to easy to overlook now.

 

[Bing Bailey]

why didn't you just raise the price if the R&D was more. its a bit of sleight of hand because you can't use the drive without the cable. so you have to buy it. you should have just raised the price and taken the heat. being able to say the price is still the same isnt frankly true in the most honest sense and doesn't absolve being told isn't not really an increase in the drive price.

 

[Emmanuel Cambier]

Yeah but you only need 1 cable, then you can still order several drives at the normal price.

The only thing that's not very nice, is the way people have heard about it.
It should have been officialy announced.

Emmanuel

 

[Brice Ansel]

Emmanuel, actually I remember now, you are the one who inform me about that issue last week.
Brice

 

[Jon Atack]

So in my opinion, if Red decided that it made more sense to not charge an additional $200 as part of the drive cost, then why not simply create a policy where the first cable is provided free with the first drive. Additional drives are available for the reduced price of $750.00. If you want backup cables, then charge $200/cable. Simple. Clean. No hard feelings. But don't change a policy, tell some people and not others, force people to start threads on Reduser in order to ping the community and Red, and then hope to get a correct answer. This very question came up a week or two or go and was never cleared up officially until now. (I had to get confirmation from Kelly).

As a company Red is awesome in so many ways. But honestly, IMHO, they need to get better at their business practices in certain areas if they are going to maintain a healthy, happy community of users (correction) customers over the long haul. It's precisely these kinds of issues (accessory related mostly it seems) that can create discontent, negative word-of-mouth and a bad reputation for Red. I'd hate to see that as I am a passionate believer in what this company is doing for all of us.

Time to move from a scrappy startup, and grow a strong customer service organization that is focused on quality control, effective communication and stellar, consistent service. Loyal customers who plunked down money early on to support this platform should be nurtured and cared for, just as every new customer should. I'm not saying that they don't take care of customers, because they do. But it often seems to be AFTER some gaff or miscommunication or bad part. If those issues were addressed in advance, it would make it much easier on the Bomb Squad and other support staff. Hate to say it, but Red wants to establish a reputation in the production & post production community, it's time to face some of these issues head on, and iron them out.

Hope these suggestions are helpful. That's the spirit behind them anyway.

M

Exactly, Mark.

Thank you.

Folks, there is nothing particularly harsh in not green-lighting questionable business practices. Changing the price after a deposit has been made and order placed in good faith is simply not on, whatever the excuse or reason. To my mind, it's unethical, and if we did that, our customers would leave in a hurry. It's not a question of the amount, it's the principle. I'm sure Jim would agree.

RED Team, I don't post here for the fun of it and am neither a fanboy nor a troll. I am just a regular business customer who is testing the water with a $33K order before deciding whether or not to really jump in. While you have come up with a promising product and an appealing philosophy that got my initial order, to my mind that wonderful start is being rather seriously undermined with quality control issues and questionable practices like this one.

Do make it right, please. Our RED order is under reconsideration and we are looking at Panasonic again, because the people I know there won't do things like that; they value our current and future business. I am sorry if that sounds like a bad attitude, because it is not. It's about doing what's right by people like us who invested in your product, vision and company.

I won't write here again about this. The ball is in your court.

 

[AIO Films]

To change the price after a deposit has been made is simply dishonest business practice.

And this applies to the 18-85mm zoom lens, too?!

I am seriously considering cancelling my $33K order -- if you people are still honoring that.

Who cares? RED makes an excellent product that most people couldn't wait to get their hands on. I was not getting the best online/real-people shopping experience from RED either. But what can I do? Nobody is perfect, or should I say no business is perfect. RED needs to make money too.

Just bite the bullet and enjoy what the camera has to offer.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Changing the price after a deposit has been made and order placed in good faith is simply not on, whatever the excuse or reason. To my mind, it's unethical

Jon -

If you looked at the paperwork when you put down a deposit - it was clearly stated that all prices AND specifications were subject to change. After all - many of us put down a deposit for a product that did not even exist at the time!

I know for fact, from a conversation with Jim, that the hard costs to create the camera body itself were substantially higher than they projected. They could have changed the price of the camera body - they didn't.

Now, I am NOT saying that Red is perfect. Far from it. And they know that. And it is clear that they are busting their ass to make customers happy. And if you look at how much they have listened here on this forum to feedback - and even made changes based on demands on this forum - I think it's just way off course here to even use the word unethical. They have been shipping product for less than 7 months.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

If you looked at the paperwork when you put down a deposit - it was clearly stated that all prices AND specifications were subject to change. After all - many of us put down a deposit for a product that did not even exist at the time!

Mark, some of the issue (at least for me) is not that things changed, but that they changed AFTER some people received certain items. Paying $200 more for a cable. Paying for cast parts that are obviously not as good as the machined parts. If started changing prices and started sending out crappy work, then I would lose clients.

Here's the deal. We don't mind things being changed so much, but we want clear communication about it. When they stopped including RED Drive cable, the Bomb Squad should have been first informed and then Jim should have posted a note explaining so in the Recon section. Same thing for the cast parts and the finish. Jim should have posted in Recon at the first post he saw about it saying that they would look into it and for people to post their gripes about it.

Communication is the key. RED isn't that big of a company (about 25 people?) so internal should not be and issue.

Matthew

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Mark, some of the issue (at least for me) is not that things changed, but that they changed AFTER some people received certain items. Paying $200 more for a cable. Paying for cast parts that are obviously not as good as the machined parts. If started changing prices and started sending out crappy work, then I would lose clients.

Here's the deal. We don't mind things being changed so much, but we want clear communication about it. When they stopped including RED Drive cable, the Bomb Squad should have been first informed and then Jim should have posted a note explaining so in the Recon section. Same thing for the cast parts and the finish. Jim should have posted in Recon at the first post he saw about it saying that they would look into it and for people to post their gripes about it.

Communication is the key. RED isn't that big of a company (about 25 people?) so internal should not be and issue.

Matthew

Matthew -

I agree 100% communication is key.

Just so you know, the way I remember it - parts were ALWAYS going to be cast - and when the first RED DAY approached - Red told us that the accessories were NOT ready and they would machine a limited number of parts so the very first cameras could get out the door.

When there was a lot of confusion over what the various parts were - RED took photos and posted them on the site - there was NOT cast parts at Red at the time to photograph - so, yeah, the photos on the site are machined - and I agree - they should be changed to the actual final shipping product.

 

[planet e]

what i observe is that folks are more willing to feed their paranoia than to face the facts, sometimes...RED has already confirmed (in the "Crappy v. Sexy" thread) that they are willing to exchange the parts with the weak finish for new parts. they are withholding shipments of parts until the new parts are in (i personally have three back-ordered parts which i am waiting for....).

but this issue is getting constantly recycled as an example of how RED is not listening or responding. even though it has already been addressed and changes are happening in QC.

i agree that RED should communicate changes up front and address people's concerns as quickly as possible -- even a simple "we are looking into it and will get back to this thread with an answer shortly" would be reassuring. sometimes these threads go on for several days without an answer from the RED team, and the paranoia and accusations and FUD spread like wildfire....

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

sometimes these threads go on for several days without an answer from the RED team, and the paranoia and accusations and FUD spread like wildfire....

just remember - just because you see members of the Red Team logged on - doesn't mean they are reading the forum. They are a bit ... busy after all.

Personally, I'd rather not have ANY of the KEY Read Team members (who are not in "support") post anything until NAB. I'd rather have them making the "magic" faster.

You can email concerns and start support tickets - I think it is a mistake to think of REDUSER at the primary way to communicate to RED.

And yes, RED has set that precedent - but I'd rather collect all the hours the KEY Red Team members (the ones who are not in "support") - spent on this board - and put that time back into R&D and bug squishin!

 

[donatello b]

Red has always stated they reserve the right to change etc ..
lets get back to RED BASIC's .. best performance for the $$ ...
IMO if Red could include the cable they would - so call it a price increase or whatever ... so we have 1 price increase at the RED store - 320 gig drive 900 +200 cable = 1100 = still a good deal - how much are others charging for 320 gig...

the ole US $$ has gone down 20% in the past year - much more since NAB 2006 ... body still 17,500 ...

just can't please everybody ... Red slows down shipping because they don't have all the parts - so we bitch ... Red then ships camera's without basic production pack & other items and we bitch because all the parts are not in the boxes ?????

i'm all for bringing these things to Red's attention and giving suggestions to improve their operations - however i really dislike suggestions that they are in anyway being dishonest or trying to pull something over us ...

 

[Emmanuel Cambier]

And yes, RED has set that precedent - but I'd rather collect all the hours the KEY Red Team members (the ones who are not in "support") - spent on this board - and put that time back into R&D and bug squishin!

Mark,

Are you trying to say I'm not the only one who spends too much time on these boards? :clown2:

You should tell this to my wife.:innocent:

Emmanuel

 

[Charles Perkins]

the thing I don't get is if the development costs were higher, then why didn't they know this when they shipped the first of the drives?

why did some people get the cable for free, but then they started to charge for it under the pretense that the development costs were higher than expected.

 

[R. Gonzales]

The goal is to inform everyone during the order process. Method, it looks like your order is still in process and awaiting payment.

Regardless, all BOMB SQUAD reps have been reminded that it is critical to tell each customer of this fact should they have a DRIVE on order.

My apologies for the frustration,
BC

Thanks Brent,
It's all good, I'm probably more frustrated by the fact I'm only a few miles south of you and My schedule has me pinned down right now. when I get a chance I'll contact Brian and figure out the cable thing.

Method