Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Difficulties contacting RED about the sensor upgrade

S

sander kamp

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
1,094
Reaction score
3
Points
38
Age
57
I am trying to contact Nick from the upgrade department but it is really difficult.

My camera has arrived at RED for the upgrade according to fedex. I have some questions about the payment, chance the shipping address, ask about possible repairs and other really important things but I don't get an answer to my emails. When I try to call I can't get Nick on the line.

Making this more difficult is the fact that being on the other side of the world RED start working when I go to bed at 12 at night and stops when I get up at 8 in the morning.

This is not a complaint about Nick, when I do get hold of him things get sorted out really quickly and he seems like a very capable person. But maybe he could get some help when he is really busy?

We are shooting a feature starting in less than 3 weeks and really need to upgraded camera (all night shoots). The producer and DP are getting really nervous and every day counts now. And, I don't know, I think I am paying a considerable amount of money for the upgrade and RED Rocket so some news about how things are going would be nice.
 
sander kamp said:
...

Making this more difficult is the fact that being on the other side of the world RED start working when I go to bed at 12 at night and stops when I get up at 8 in the morning.

...
Click to expand...

I think you are going to have to adjust to their hours operation, and call when you'd normally be sleeping.
 
Peter Moretti said:
I think you are going to have to adjust to their hours operation, and call when you'd normally be sleeping.
Click to expand...

Well yes, that is of course what I am doing. But some sleep would be nice too.
 
To be honest, Nick is indeed slammed. Since more and more M-X footage is being shown and people are falling in love with the M-X sensor, more are more people are taking us up on the M-X upgrade program. Compound that with the fact that we now allow people to get the Rocket + M-X bundle where they can ship the Rocket first. Now, Nick has people contacting him way in advance of their camera being eligible for M-X to pay for the bundle and get the Rocket now. So, we have a lot of front-loaded volume of contacts coming into RED.

We are actively recruiting for additional resources on this program. But, frankly, we are very picky with recruiting only and consider rock stars for ANY role at RED. In the meantime, email is the best way to get ahold of Nick so he can reply to emails in order received. If he is answering calls his whole shift, then he never gets to emails.

We know he is slammed. We know he needs more help because the M-X sensor is that damn good. We are working on it. Please be patient and do NOT promise or rent out your camera until it is physically in your hands.

BC
 
Brent,

I know this is none of my business, but since I already opened my mouth, I have to say that Sander needs more than being told to continue to send emails. His emails were not being returned. And he has a scheduled feature shoot starting in less than three weeks.

sander kamp said:
... but I don't get an answer to my emails. When I try to call I can't get Nick on the line.

... We are shooting a feature starting in less than 3 weeks and really need to upgraded camera (all night shoots). The producer and DP are getting really nervous and every day counts now. ...
Click to expand...

I hope you contacted Nick and had him contact Sander.

Okay, don't worry everyone, I'm done butting my head in this.
 
Hey Sander,

when contacting Nick the best way for me was to get through to "John", who put me on hold to Nick. I was able to talk to him then. It's not easy to get ahold of him since he's getting swamped but that's how it is. It doesn't help though that the operator can't even give out extensions and I have to go through the electronical voice recognition system everytime although I know I just want to talk to Nick Miller.
 
Been trying for a couple days to get a hold of him. want to get this upgrade asap. just charge my cc already and give me an address to send this camera too.
 
Peter Moretti said:
I know this is none of my business, but since I already opened my mouth, I have to say that Sander needs more than being told to continue to send emails. His emails were not being returned. And he has a scheduled feature shoot starting in less than three weeks.
Click to expand...

As I said above, do not rent out or promise gear until you have it on your hands. And there is a difference between not returning emails and how quickly they are returned. We don't ignore emails, I promise you that. When volume spikes, like it is right now, it does take longer to get back to people.

BC
 
It'd be interesting for those posting regarding getting their upgrade if they could post when they received their camera. Just to let the other readers get an idea where everything is at.
 
Okay this is difficult. The people at RED are really nice and really nice and helpful when I can get them on the telephone or receive emails but in the meantime some silly mistakes are being made that cause me a lot of stress with the producer and DOP breathing in my neck.

First the paperwork; When I got the first quotation the address was wrong, I went through it with Nick and we corrected it. After that I got a new quotation that had a really strange address line in it, an address I use to live at years ago. I told Nick but never got a new quotation.

Then I asked whether my camera was received by RED. According to fedex it had, but I never got any confirmation about that. I STILL haven't had any confirmation, even though I asked a couple of times about it and my camera has been at RED for over a week. Well, at least I hope so.

Then the payment. I had some difficulties getting the right amount from my credit card. I asked Nick whether a payment came through and he confirmed. Later I found out the money was still in my account so I emailed him. I waited a few days but no answer. Then I called RED's accounting department and sorted it all out with them. Since the camera is not being processed without payment this cost me a few days delay.

Then: my Rocket got send. But when it came here it was under the wrong name. My own name and not my company name. I don't know how this is possible, in the latest quotation it had my company name, in my contact details on the red.com website it has my company name. But it got send without. This means I can't deduct the VAT and the costs under my company so it would cost me a lot of money, so I told fedex to send it back to RED. I understand that in the USA you can send a invoice by email but I live in Thailand and customs needs a real copy with the package otherwise it just doesn't work.

I understand that RED is a company in transition and that chances are being made constantly to improve things. But on the other hand when you are paying 8,750 USD to a company you would expect at least some basic things like quotations, invoices, addresses and payments to work. I mean, this is a lot of money for me.

Just telling all this in the hope that RED can improve the process for the future, not to complain about certain people or RED in general.
 
Oh, another thing. On the invoice for the Rocket the value is stated as 4,750 USD, which might be true if you buy the Rocket separately but I bought it with the sensor upgrade and effectively payed 3,000 USD for it. But.... if on the invoice it says 4,750 then that is the amount I have to pay VAT and taxes on when it comes into the country!

I don't think this is possible. If you sell something for an x amount then that is what should be on the invoice.

The invoice itself is a bit strange as well. It says: 'no commercial value' as well as 'reason for export: sold' and 'commercial invoice'.
 
sander, to your first post. That is the whole point of sending quotes in the first place, to iron out the details. And, yes, as we do more and more upgrades, the process will improve. And, remember, we had to change our whole process to now allow Rocket+M-X upgrade bundles where Rocket ships first.

Second, yes, when the Rocket ships first from the $8750 bundle, you are paying bundle price for Rocket ($3000 = $4750 Rocket retail less bundle credit of $1750). When you send in your camera for M-X upgrade, then that balance due for that will be the remainder of the $8750 (or $5750). However, we do have to state full price of Rocket on invoice. If customs sees an invoice of $3000 and looks on RED.com and sees price of $4750, they will think we are underdeclaring - and your package gets held.

While REDUSER is fine and dandy to publicly air your feelings on the upgrade program, if you really want to help give feedback to improve the process, why don't you email us at RED directly? My email is brent - at - red - dot - com .

BC
 
Last edited:
He Brent, we know you guys are doing everything you can and are behind you 100%. As you say, the upgrade has been a huge success and everyone is crawling over themselves to get it!

Regarding the price balance between the rocket and the upgrade, I think Sander is just frustrated that the government is charging 50% more import tax for the rocket because of the invoice value. The camera might come in as a repair or something without additional cost so it may have been better for him to have a $3k invoice but completely understand your reasons for setting it up this way. If people want their rocket first, this is the way it has to happen.

Hope the pressure releases pretty soon and keep up the great work! The new sensor is truly amazing!
 
Hi Brent, I was thinking about contacting RED directly but couldn't find an email address for things like this on the RED website. The closest I found was 'General product information, release dates, and everything else…', which I felt is a bit too non-specific for my problems. I didn't realize you are the right person to contact for these kind of things but will gladly do so in the future. If you feel my comments are too personal for this website then feel free to remove them.

We are shooting 'Elephant White' with Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou here in Thailand in two weeks so we are feeling the pressure!
 
No worries, sander. If there are ever any customer experience issues you guys have, I can certainly listen and help if I can.

BC
 
Hi Sander,

I remember your serial number is after mine. If yours is already in for upgrade. How come i didn't even get an email? Brent?

yean

Red#638
 
Again, we go off of CAMERA DELIVERY DATE, not SERIAL NUMBER for M-X upgrade program. Regardless, Yean, no - your SN is after Sander's.

BC


Yean Loon said:
Hi Sander,

I remember your serial number is after mine. If yours is already in for upgrade. How come i didn't even get an email? Brent?

yean

Red#638
Click to expand...
 
I am also trying to get in touch with him, sent in the money two weeks ago, got a confirmation that the money was received with all the paperwork 4 days later. Shot last sunday one more day before sending in the camera. Got an email by Nick last friday the money was NOT in, replied with all the details and the copy of the first email. Received an email back that accounting was looking into it. Trying to contact him by phone or email about the status since, but did not hear back. My camera will be picked up by Fedex today. Hope all goes well.....

#458
 
In my experience it is better to contact RED's accounting department directly over the phone if there is a problem since Nick seems to be too busy. In my case we had to try what the maximum amount was I can take from my credit card per day. We tried different amounts until we found the right one and RED promised to repeat that the day after until everything was payed for. Nice people on the phone and they can directly look into it!

Hi Yean! Yes your number is after mine (441) but not too much. From what I understand is they were waiting for parts to be delivered before they could continue but that's done and now they are trying to catch up so it shouldn't be too long - but don't take my word for it.

I understand the invoice statement for the Rocket now and I'm okay with it :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top