May Update... The month of Raven

[Jason Han]

Ok, folks, let me try to answer/clarify a few things…

EPIC DRAGON loaners. These will be first come, first serve - and we do have a limited supply.

If you order a WEAPON in May, odds are you won’t get it until very late May or early June. In that case, please let your rep know once placing your order and they will check on availability of an EPIC DRAGON loaner package. And, don’t be “that guy” who places a WEAPON order, uses an EPIC DRAGON for a while on the house, then cancels their WEAPON order when we are ready to ship it, k?

A couple of weeks before NAB, we stated we would have all people - at that point in time - who had placed an order for RAVEN before the Dec 10 SCARLET-W announce date and had switch to SCARLET-W, we would allocate by NAB. We did that. We also said if you were switching from RAVEN to SCARLET-W AFTER that point in time, it would be after NAB. I also stated in many areas that “keeping your timestamp from RAVEN to SCARLET-W” was a manual process and if you felt you had a RAVEN order in before Dec 10 and switched to SCARLET-W before that point in time (3/25/16), contact your rep.

Ok, if you are in that later “manual process” boat, contact your rep regarding EPIC DRAGON availability. Eladio, I am talking to you… We are not trying to screw anyone who switched from RAVEN to SCARLET-W after that late March post, so we are making what loaners we can available in this case as well.

If you were allocated a SCARLET-W and never took delivery so we moved onto the next guy, but you are now ready to take delivery, same thing - contact your rep regarding EPIC.

If you have a notice to upgrade from SCARLET or EPIC DRAGON to WEAPON and have not sent in your camera yet…don’t. Keep shooting on that camera until we re-open upgrade lines (which are converted to RAVEN as we speak) in June.

Guys who ordered SCARLET-W outright when we started taking orders, I know this sucks ass. If you ordered that first day (timestamp Dec 10 PT), contact your rep on a loaner if you need it for a shoot. Only if you need it for a shoot. Please. This is not a “test drive” situation….

Please be patient with your reps and response times. As you can imagine, this thread has folks calling/PMing/emailing/smokesignalling us like a tidal wave. We will do our best to accommodate to the best of our abilities. But we go in eyes wide open that we will never, ever, NEVER please everyone all the time : )

PS:



First good news? We started shipping when we said we would. We began shipping in March. If you took that to mean that RAVEN would be completely out of backorder in March, that is just plain wrong.

RAVEN mentioned in: November update, December 23 update, January update, March update, April update, NAB update…. Actually in OP of every update. *Sigh*

Hi Brent, I was allocated for my Scarlet-W last week April 26th (order timestamp Dec 7th, 2015), paid in full the next business day April 27th, and was told by my rep that it should be ready to ship out by early this week. Now after speaking with him again, it sounded like that wasn't the case. Since I was allocated and made full payment, doesn't that mean my camera was already in production before this announcement?... Or does this mean that my allocated Scarlet-W has halted production and I'm just sitting here with minus tens of thousands of dollars?.. That doesn't seem to make sense.

 

[Riley Nightingale]

The part that sucks is that those of us who pre-ordered Scarlet-W directly haven't gotten any news except wait until we catch up with the switchers... and then we're told that we're being put on hold for a month, which based on the rate of order fulfilment means that we'll likely miss almost the entire busy season, which puts a major damper on our businesses as well, especially those of us who were hoping to use the Scarlet-W to help jump-start it.

This to me is the crux of the matter. Now knowing that most of us will be allocated cameras right after the busy season passes us by is a real concern. A camera is a lot less valuable in the winter then in the warm months for many (in NYC this is particularly real).

 

[brett ogden]

I know it sucks to feel like you just got fucked. But I really hope you all don't feel like you got trick-fucked. Our updates have been pretty accurate as we have gone along and this isn't a bait and switch.... we are obviously taking a huge hit here as well.

But we gotta be fair... or at least attempt to be fair.

Just like many of you Scarlet-W think you just got fucked out a month.... Raven customers kinda got fucked last month as we pushed them back to take care of almost all of the switchers from Raven to Scarlet-W. We were open about that and told everyone it was happening just like we are here... but it still stung a lot of Raven folks.

And remember... Raven was announced in September and Scarlet-W announced 4 months later in December, so they kinda deserve a little catch-up time.

Spot on, and for the record I don't feel fucked or trick-fucked. I'm just happy you're being open as it allows the salesman like myself at dealers to have answers. At the end of the day, we're all one big family no matter how long we have to wait.

 

[Matthew Riggieri]

Hey RED can i get an answer? I can't reach anyone in the Bomb Squad, but my Weapon Mg had been allocated and I literally packed up the camera yesterday and shipped via FEDEX. I can have FEDEX cancel the delivery if It is going to be more than 10 days for the upgrade process. I just need a solid answer. I don't mind not getting the upgrade right away, but I can't be without a camera.

 

[Jarred Land]

Hey RED can i get an answer? I can't reach anyone in the Bomb Squad, but my Weapon Mg had been allocated and I literally packed up the camera yesterday and shipped via FEDEX. I can have FEDEX cancel the delivery if It is going to be more than 10 days for the upgrade process. I just need a solid answer. I don't mind not getting the upgrade right away, but I can't be without a camera.

This whole "month of Raven" didn't even exist as an idea last week so If you were notified last week you should be ok, but Brent can verify to make sure.

 

[Andy Corleone]

Hi Brent, I was allocated for my Scarlet-W last week April 26th (order timestamp Dec 7th, 2015), paid in full the next business day April 27th, and was told by my rep that it should be ready to ship out by early this week. Now after speaking with him again, it sounded like that wasn't the case. Since I was allocated and made full payment, doesn't that mean my camera was already in production before this announcement?... Or does this mean that my allocated Scarlet-W has halted production and I'm just sitting here with minus tens of thousands of dollars?.. That doesn't seem to make sense.

You are not the only one with this problem seem only a few been vocal about this situation.

I have the same problem. I think this is immoral I can't believed what just happened:

1)We Allocated you
2)took you money
3) Have you camera in production
4)Now the Camera is ready to be shipped
5)We are so sorry we are not going to ship the camera. We are going to make a few Epics available and allow a few to get one in a first come first serve manner.
6) Now we are going to allocated Ravens and take money from them.

 

[Kabilen Mullaithilaga]

This to me is the crux of the matter. Now knowing that most of us will be allocated cameras right after the busy season passes us by is a real concern. A camera is a lot less valuable in the winter then in the warm months for many (in NYC this is particularly real).

You can do plenty in the winter time, just need to be creative... Not to mention plenty of interior shots.... You know what's the best part of the cold? Not as many people outside so those critical shots that you want with your subject and your landscape/set.... Is available without interruption.

 

[Matthew Riggieri]

This whole "month of Raven" didn't even exist as an idea last week so If you were notified last week you should be ok, but Brent can verify to make sure.

Hey Jarred, thanks for the quick response. I was on hold for 2 hours trying to get an answer from my Bomb Rep, but couldn't even get connected. You guys must be swamped.

 

[Josiah Duncan]

Ouch. As someone who waited for the SW announcement (SW Brain only on Dec 10) so as to not be fickle with wanting Raven or not, just ouch. Looks like this busy season will be a bit less profitable than I was hoping.

 

[Jason Han]

You are not the only one with this problem seem only a few been vocal about this situation.

I have the same problem. I think this is immoral I can't believed what just happened:

1)We Allocated you
2)took you money
3) Have you camera in production
4)Now the Camera is ready to be shipped
5)We are so sorry we are not going to ship the camera. We are going to make a few Epics available and allow a few to get one in a first come first serve manner.
6) Now we are going to allocated Ravens and take money from them.

This is unbelievable. Just got the call that my allocated, paid, Scarlet-W is now dis-allocated. WTF?? I really do think this is wrong in many ways, AT LEAST complete the allocated orders please... I've never seen anything like this. You can't just cancel people's allocations, I understand the situation with Raven's, but since I was told that my camera is looking to be shipped early this week prior, I had lots of shoots planned, BUDGETED assuming that I will be providing the camera. Now I was just told that I have no camera, and that the Epic Dragon loaner is not a guarantee, and most likely won't even have that. My shoot overseas starting May 13th involving lots of young filmmakers are now going to be FIRED due to the budget of rental. Dragon rental + accessories for multiple days/weeks means shoots cancelled, people fired, heart broken everywhere. Sigh

 

[Brent Carter]

As I mentioned in my earlier thread, if you were allocated a SCARLET-W and have not taken delivery yet, the only option at this time is getting an EPIC DRAGON loaner. I am pretty sure we can accommodate anyone who was allocated over the last week or so and did not get their SCARLET-W with an EPIC...

 

[Matt Doane]

I don't have any skin in this game, but as someone who might buy another RED camera in the future.... How does this allocation thing actually work? If I had paid in full I'd expect a camera in hand, or at least in the mail.

 

[Med D]

There has to be more to this story...

 

[Josh Becker]

Wait, is this "shifting gears" actually stopping ALLOCATED cameras from shipping out? Isn't shipping the allocated camera (that they paid for and now own) actually less of a burden than prepping and shipping (plus paperwork and processing) a loaner?

 

[Tony Ditata]

This is unbelievable. Just got the call that my allocated, paid, Scarlet-W is now dis-allocated. WTF?? I really do think this is wrong in many ways, AT LEAST complete the allocated orders please... I've never seen anything like this. You can't just cancel people's allocations, I understand the situation with Raven's, but since I was told that my camera is looking to be shipped early this week prior, I had lots of shoots planned, BUDGETED assuming that I will be providing the camera. Now I was just told that I have no camera, and that the Epic Dragon loaner is not a guarantee, and most likely won't even have that. My shoot overseas starting May 13th involving lots of young filmmakers are now going to be FIRED due to the budget of rental. Dragon rental + accessories for multiple days/weeks means shoots cancelled, people fired, heart broken everywhere. Sigh

Wow. Sorry to hear Jason. Thats just shitty.

 

[Jason Han]

As I mentioned in my earlier thread, if you were allocated a SCARLET-W and have not taken delivery yet, the only option at this time is getting an EPIC DRAGON loaner. I am pretty sure we can accommodate anyone who was allocated over the last week or so and did not get their SCARLET-W with an EPIC...

I was allocated last week, but my rep told me that he can't guarantee a Epic Dragon loaner, I pleaded at least for my shoot in May 13th.

 

[Saumene Mehrdady]

I had lots of shoots planned, BUDGETED assuming that I will be providing the camera.

Never, ever, ever plan anything with equipment you don't have locked in or on hand. RED has also advised that on numerous occasions.

 

[Andrey Blanco]

As I mentioned in my earlier thread, if you were allocated a SCARLET-W and have not taken delivery yet, the only option at this time is getting an EPIC DRAGON loaner. I am pretty sure we can accommodate anyone who was allocated over the last week or so and did not get their SCARLET-W with an EPIC...

I'm in the same boat, Why so much complication with a loaner? the best solution is not just to finish and ship those few cameras to switchers? or the amount of people is quite sustancial?

 

[Brent Carter]

Sorry, guys, don't know what more I can say that EPIC DRAGON is the only option.

 

[Matthew Riggieri]

Brent

What about allocated Weapon MGs?