Yesterday at NAB, I complained to Ted S about many of our problems with Red, and a few not yet discussed. Ted told me that he had heard many of these complaints before, but asked that I put them in a memo to him. Here it is:
RED IS PUTTING ITS EFFORTS INTO DEVELOPMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF OPERATIONS. Red is getting giddy over all the publicity it is receiving. As a result of all this attention, Red is creating more products to get even more attention and market share while not paying attention to the less glamorous, but just as important, job of getting product out the door.
RED NEEDS AN OPERATIONS MANAGER. If Red has an operations manager, he needs a bigger budget, needs to be replaced or needs assistance. Red can't keep creating new products and not have a method of getting them out the door in an orderly manner. The staff can't be more nice than they are, but in their voice on can hear frustration. One person who has little knowledge of the concept of debits and credits should not be preparing invoices for 300 accounts (I was told). The invoices I've received have been patiently wrong on their face, forgetting duplications of line items. Red is working on its sixth variation of billing for me. One time there were four right handles but the Production Packages I ordered were missing. One time I got part of my credit, but not the balance. My account rep never reviewed the paperwork to notice. The next try omitted all credits. Then I received three invoices with a token credit on one and nothing on the other two and it goes on and on.
ORDERS MUST BE FILLED IN A MORE EQUITABLE manner. I am buying multiple camera. My orders came up over a month ago. I'm told that because I'm ordering so much material, Red has decided to fulfill smaller orders after mine just to get them out the door. I've been ready to pay now for 30+ days. As of this moment, I don't have the slightest idea of when my order (of the items being produced) will be organized with the proper paperwork. This is not the way to run a business.
GIVE SPECIFICATIONS. I've been asking for the specifications of the 300mm and 18-85mm now for weeks. It is the height of arrogance for Red people to tell me that I should look harder in the RedUser blogs to find this information. The camera has specifications. The lenses don't. In fact, we're told that everything is subject to change.
IT'S OK TO ADJUST PRICES IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE QUALITY. When i was told by my account rep that the body was changed from milled to cast, it was presented to me as an improvement. Anyone who knows squat about manufacturing knows that such a change is a sign of trouble. The one area that the US holds a lead in the world is our ability to create high quality milled products due not only to skilled labor, but the capital intensive equipment needed to do such work in long runs. The value of the dollar has gone down 20-25%+ since the original $17,500 price was quoted. As long as the quality is there, I don't think any serious user would object to a price increase. Holding onto to an unreasonable promise at the expense of quality and miserable operations is a poor business decision.
To end on a positive note, the candor from people like Jarred (when he's not hyping) and yourself when quizzed about how the Red lenses hold up against cinema quality glass yesterday at NAB go to underscore all what is right with Red.
Please understand that all this is given to management with the hopes that these relative minor changes in policy will be considered.
Tail Ends
RED IS PUTTING ITS EFFORTS INTO DEVELOPMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF OPERATIONS. Red is getting giddy over all the publicity it is receiving. As a result of all this attention, Red is creating more products to get even more attention and market share while not paying attention to the less glamorous, but just as important, job of getting product out the door.
RED NEEDS AN OPERATIONS MANAGER. If Red has an operations manager, he needs a bigger budget, needs to be replaced or needs assistance. Red can't keep creating new products and not have a method of getting them out the door in an orderly manner. The staff can't be more nice than they are, but in their voice on can hear frustration. One person who has little knowledge of the concept of debits and credits should not be preparing invoices for 300 accounts (I was told). The invoices I've received have been patiently wrong on their face, forgetting duplications of line items. Red is working on its sixth variation of billing for me. One time there were four right handles but the Production Packages I ordered were missing. One time I got part of my credit, but not the balance. My account rep never reviewed the paperwork to notice. The next try omitted all credits. Then I received three invoices with a token credit on one and nothing on the other two and it goes on and on.
ORDERS MUST BE FILLED IN A MORE EQUITABLE manner. I am buying multiple camera. My orders came up over a month ago. I'm told that because I'm ordering so much material, Red has decided to fulfill smaller orders after mine just to get them out the door. I've been ready to pay now for 30+ days. As of this moment, I don't have the slightest idea of when my order (of the items being produced) will be organized with the proper paperwork. This is not the way to run a business.
GIVE SPECIFICATIONS. I've been asking for the specifications of the 300mm and 18-85mm now for weeks. It is the height of arrogance for Red people to tell me that I should look harder in the RedUser blogs to find this information. The camera has specifications. The lenses don't. In fact, we're told that everything is subject to change.
IT'S OK TO ADJUST PRICES IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE QUALITY. When i was told by my account rep that the body was changed from milled to cast, it was presented to me as an improvement. Anyone who knows squat about manufacturing knows that such a change is a sign of trouble. The one area that the US holds a lead in the world is our ability to create high quality milled products due not only to skilled labor, but the capital intensive equipment needed to do such work in long runs. The value of the dollar has gone down 20-25%+ since the original $17,500 price was quoted. As long as the quality is there, I don't think any serious user would object to a price increase. Holding onto to an unreasonable promise at the expense of quality and miserable operations is a poor business decision.
To end on a positive note, the candor from people like Jarred (when he's not hyping) and yourself when quizzed about how the Red lenses hold up against cinema quality glass yesterday at NAB go to underscore all what is right with Red.
Please understand that all this is given to management with the hopes that these relative minor changes in policy will be considered.
Tail Ends
