HEADS UP! Red Drive CABLE NOT INCLUDED with Drive!

[Brent Carter]

I was just told about this today! Now I am waiting to hear back from my rep if I can pay for my drive cable with a credit card or not?


Dusty

If you have already paid up with a wire and need to just add a DRIVE CABLE, yes, you can use a cc for that order.

BC

 

[jimhare]

Simple, people buy one EVF and/or LCD so would only need one cable for each (unless they wanted spares). Some people have bought 5 DRIVES - yet you use only one at a time. Why have 4 spare cables?
Thanks, BC

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. I have three drives coming but will probably only need two cables (1 spare should be enough.)

 

[Paul Hazlett]

Some people have bought 5 DRIVES - yet you use only one at a time. Why have 4 spare cables?
Thanks, BC

I see your point. How about one more option on the site with a different SKU
for drive with and drive without?

 

[Damien Molineaux]

Red accesory pricing

Red accesory pricing

Development costs of the DRIVE were higher than expected so based on customer feedback, we maintained the published price yet made the DRIVE CABLE separate instead of raising the price of the RED DRIVES.

BC

Odd... considering the price of drives is constantly becoming cheaper and cheaper as capacity increases. The Red drive's specifications haven't changed since they were announced. I would think there would be a wider margin now then when it was first announced. Is Red in financial trouble that they have to raise prices ? Is this due to the exchange rate of the dollar ?

The one item on the Red store which has the oddest pricing, in my opinion, is the ET 19mm base plate which costs 150% of the the price of it's 15mm equivalent, while they must in fact cost the same to produce. I think Red should ditch their flimsy Bottom Plate, which so many people are complaining about, and sell the ET 19mm as standard for the same price as the 15mm. Come on, business is booming. You talk about listening to customer feedback, the Bottom Plate and Shoulder Dovetail combo are not satisfactory, ET makes a great Base Plate, Arri compatible, why doesn't Red sell that with their own new Shoulder Dovetail ?

Cheers,
Damien

PS I got lucky and got my Red Drives with cables before this change, but I understand how others would be pissed off, particularly about not being informed.

 

[Jon Atack]

I am surprised at reading this and thank the original poster for the warning.

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

Whether or not drive prices are going up or down, a commitment is a commitment. There are many ways to hedge exchange rate fluctuation risk, but few ways to maintain customers' faith in your company when you do not keep your word.

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

 

[Sean R.]

Earthling:

and sell the ET 19mm as standard for the same price as the 15mm

Those are the same prices that they are sold for directly by Element

 

[Ricardo Mehedff]

i'm the original author of this thread and have been keeping quiet, just reading the comments from everyone. Now, even though Jon Atack is (IMO) exaggerating a bit (cancelling the order), i also believe it is dishonest business practice to change the price after a deposit has been made and REALLY think RED should reconsider this and ship the cables to the Reservation holders of the Drive up until the date you started charging extra for the drive cable (a few weeks ago).

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

hhhm but it is not like "hey the drive with cable was 900 USD----now it is
750 USD for the DRIVE and 200 USD for the cables."

 

[R. Gonzales]

BS BS BS,

No one
Has Told me SH*T!!

Explained that Brent




Method

Understood. The BOMB SQUAD reps know to make sure this is 100% clear to everyone who orders a DRIVE.

BC

 

[Billy McCannon]

I wasn't told and I was charged shipping.

 

[Brent Carter]

BS BS BS,

No one
Has Told me SH*T!!

Explained that Brent

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

 

[Pawel Achtel]

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

Mate, if I can be of any assistance here, I'll take your cancelation and gladly pay for the cables. I will refund you every penny that you have spent with Red plus interest. PM me if this solves "the problem".

Cheers,

Pawel
www.achtel.com

 

[Brigham Edgar]

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

Again another NOT told about this change. Our order was paid for almost 2 weeks ago (#903) and we are still waiting for our tracking number, thank god i read this before so we can try and stick it in our order.
This change in accessories goes hand in hand with the problem that RED had with the quality of it's accessories and changing to cast from machining without informing customers. This type of thing is really easy guys, c'mon. RED NEED to create a page on the site with announcements like this. The forum is great and revolutionary in itself but is getting huge and if your not looking for something direct you will never find it. And considering the extreme importance of some of these matters in NEEEEEEEDS to be set somewhere seperately on your home page!!!! You can't just simply add a comment here and there on the forum, it just aint getting to your customers.
Just a page link seperate to Jims Recon that's used solely for small changes to items, accessories etc. Again, it NEEDS to be done, not all of us are Forum trolls.

By the way, hate seeing you guys saying sorry.

 

[Brigham Edgar]

I am surprised at reading this and thank the original poster for the warning.

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

Whether or not drive prices are going up or down, a commitment is a commitment. There are many ways to hedge exchange rate fluctuation risk, but few ways to maintain customers' faith in your company when you do not keep your word.

Bit harsh...i don't believe RED are being dishonest, but are making some pretty rudimentary business mistakes, but you do have a point.

 

[Dylan Macleod CSC]

Again another NOT told about this change. Our order was paid for almost 2 weeks ago (#903) and we are still waiting for our tracking number, thank god i read this before so we can try and stick it in our order.
This change in accessories goes hand in hand with the problem that RED had with the quality of it's accessories and changing to cast from machining without informing customers. This type of thing is really easy guys, c'mon. RED NEED to create a page on the site with announcements like this. The forum is great and revolutionary in itself but is getting huge and if your not looking for something direct you will never find it. And considering the extreme importance of some of these matters in NEEEEEEEDS to be set somewhere seperately on your home page!!!! You can't just simply add a comment here and there on the forum, it just aint getting to your customers.
Just a page link seperate to Jims Recon that's used solely for small changes to items, accessories etc. Again, it NEEDS to be done, not all of us are Forum trolls.

By the way, hate seeing you guys saying sorry.

Paid for two weeks ago and not received?

Hey Brent, I inquired in another thread about delivery time and you said that once payment is received there is 3-5 days processing then it ships?

Apparently not, if FED EX is a couple of days...one should have their camera a week after sending payment, no? Okay, maybe ten days...okay two weeks at the very most!

I don't mind if you say "it'll take six weeks", but a "fairly" accurate timeline would be useful.

Thanks.

Dylan Macleod
Cinematographer
Toronto, Canada
www.dylanmacleod.com

 

[Brigham Edgar]

Paid for two weeks ago and not received?

Hey Brent, I inquired in another thread about delivery time and you said that once payment is received there is 3-5 days processing then it ships?

Apparently not, if FED EX is a couple of days...one should have their camera a week after sending payment, no? Okay, maybe ten days...okay two weeks at the very most!

I don't mind if you say "it'll take six weeks", but a "fairly" accurate timeline would be useful.

Thanks.

Dylan Macleod
Cinematographer
Toronto, Canada
www.dylanmacleod.com

To clarify, we paid from our bank 2 weeks ago this friday coming. So gotta give a couple of business days for the banks to do their thing, then RED to process, think there was an issue somewhere but unsure of what exactly...but yeah, it's ticking on. Just heard ours should be shipped out Monday so should mean later in the week hopefully.

 

[Yean Loon]

I am surprised at reading this and thank the original poster for the warning.

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

Whether or not drive prices are going up or down, a commitment is a commitment. There are many ways to hedge exchange rate fluctuation risk, but few ways to maintain customers' faith in your company when you do not keep your word.

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

Please use words like 'dishonest' properly. Throughout the years, (Yes!! It's been years!!) of developing, then releasing and then further improving the camera, Jim and Co. have been nothing less than honest.

Mistakes have been made along the way, no doubt. It's up to you whether you want to accept (or forgive) those mistakes.

But I truly think those were "honest" mistakes rather than "dishonest" business practices


No hard feelings!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
yean

ps I didn't realise that my drives didn't come with cables until this thread!! time to call Dan Duran!!!!

 

[Anthony Gratl]

i also believe it is dishonest business practice to change the price after a deposit has been made and REALLY think RED should reconsider this and ship the cables to the Reservation holders of the Drive up until the date you started charging extra for the drive cable (a few weeks ago).

i absolutely agree that it is ethically wrong to take deposits from people for equipment and then change the items in the order once they start shipping product. The only exception to this is the Red Premium Production Pack, which Jim stated would not be happening before shipping started and everyone was aware, but to make these changes unilaterally to customers' orders after taking deposits from them....not cool.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

Odd... considering the price of drives is constantly becoming cheaper and cheaper as capacity increases. The Red drive's specifications haven't changed since they were announced. I would think there would be a wider margin now then when it was first announced. Is Red in financial trouble that they have to raise prices ? Is this due to the exchange rate of the dollar ?

While it may be true that drive capacities increase and cost per/G drops over time, I hardly think this is the issue. I seriously doubt if Red is having financial difficulty, and hitting their customers for an extra $200 would be highly inefficient way to "regain" financial health.

I talked to Kelly about this when paying for my order, and my understanding is that they changed their policy so they weren't including cables with every drive in case you ordered multiple drives—which I did. That makes sense to me, but then that policy should have been determined when pricing was set in the first place. OK, they probably didn't think that one through at the time with everything they are trying to do as a company. Chalk it up to inexperience.. OK.

So I can understand the policy change. But like many others, I've had two drives reserved since NAB 2007... about a year ago. 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.

The one item on the Red store which has the oddest pricing, in my opinion, is the ET 19mm base plate which costs 150% of the the price of it's 15mm equivalent, while they must in fact cost the same to produce. I think Red should ditch their flimsy Bottom Plate, which so many people are complaining about, and sell the ET 19mm as standard for the same price as the 15mm. Come on, business is booming. You talk about listening to customer feedback, the Bottom Plate and Shoulder Dovetail combo are not satisfactory, ET makes a great Base Plate, Arri compatible, why doesn't Red sell that with their own new Shoulder Dovetail ?

I have to agree with this suggestion. The cast Bottom Plate is pretty much useless in its current iteration. I'm buying the ET 15mm because I want to have an base plate that is Arri compatible, but ordered the ET 19mm plate because I want the option to 19mm for heavier rigs and to use other Red components like the Cradle, etc. on the bottom rods. I figured I'd never use the Red Bottom Plate because of the quality issues. The price difference between the 15 and 19mm plates seems excessive, but I just assumed it was "market pricing" because the ET 19mm plate is technically competitive to Red.

All that said, the production pack configuration is a very good value. That is, of course as long as the remaining parts fit, the handles grip as they should, and the finish is acceptable. I guess I'll find out when I get mine.

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

M

 

[Anthony Gratl]

Incredibly well written and hit the nail right on the head Mark