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  • 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 :)

VFS Inclino, Imperio, Origo News ??

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Jonas Nyström said:
Nowadays I occasionally visit this thread - and it's quite disappointing I must say. I Paid in full in December - and reading about a lot of you paid in full a year a go certainly doesn't raise the spirit. I hope I wlll recieve my FF this year anyhow...
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I paid 14 months ago. But i think now i have had enough and i am going to request a refund. It's just gone on too long now. I mean, if this is the level of service i can expect what are after sales going to be like, repairs, spares, servicing, it seems VFS have such a backlog of commitments not just with the FF kit. Imagine sending a unit for repair or tune-up and then silence and a 6 month wait, i just couldn't do that, a professional company understand this and are setup for a fast turnaround, and put customer service very high up the list of priorities, i can't see that happening here with VFS, i'm sorry for everyone here who has purchased and waited without kit or response. Very few of my emails to VF have had a reply. It's a real shame, maybe farther down the line i will re-invest but only when i see massive improvements on what is happening at the moment.

I can't believe how patient many of us have been, just sitting quietly on the sidelines. But if anyone else had a couple of thousand dollars of my money and not spoken to me or sent me a product then i would have asked for it back a long time ago. I'm totally perplexed that VF think it is acceptable to behave this way. Especially in the current financial climate, i would expect much more reassurance that my money was in safe hands.

There are still people out there who have faith in this product, but i think many of them have seen it or know people they trust who have handled it. As for the rest of us i'm surprised more haven't requested a refund.

VF guys, i'm sure your all great people, with the best intentions..but well this just isn't working for me, i can't speak for others, but for me i think this relationship has come to an end.
 
I hate to say but my patience is wearing thin....

all the VF guys are very profesional and very nice to talk too, but sooner or later I will be wanting a refund as well....I won't put a timeline on it but it will happen.

No offence to VF but the excuse of "I'm only one man" dosn't cut it....
If i said that to producers I work for when a project is overdue (1 year) they would say "hire some more guys" (and they would never ue me again)

It may be expensive to hire a guy part time, but if 50 of us start cancelling our orders and demanding refunds that will seem like a small price to pay to save the customer....and VF itself the pressure they have put everybody under by short staffing themselves. And ignoring the posts and repeatedly breaking promises of information is really putting the screws to the faithful of us who have remained investors in VF.

Like I said nothing personel, but at the end of the day, I have to answer for the $2000 that I "loaned" VF 14 months ago

No more griping from me....

Keep us informed Curt....I still have some patience left....
 
Mike Harrington said:
I hate to say but my patience is wearing thin....

all the VF guys are very profesional and very nice to talk too, but sooner or later I will be wanting a refund as well....I won't put a timeline on it but it will happen.

Keep us informed Curt....I still have some patience left....
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I too am nearing the end of my patience, over a year since ordering #7 and all I need is a weekly update to keep my patience going until its ships. Please keep us informed at least weekly.

Cheers, Tim
 
I agree that I too am nearing the end of my wait... $2000 is a lot of money. I put my follow focus on a credit card as well (I figured that this would complete the steadicam package I had put together) and have now had the charge out on the card for almost a year (can't really get steadicam jobs when you have to constantly ask the client to rent equipment or scramble at the last minute to find equipment). Now many will say, "Stupid kid, don't buy what you can't use/pay for." In my own defense I will say that I could use a complete kit. This follow focus was going to give me that complete kit a year ago. I could have paid it off in work. Now a year in I have everything I need except the follow focus and with interest (29% baby, gosh I love having crappy credit) I could have almost bought a follow focus from Arri, a company that doesn't forever have a deadline that shift four weeks into the future (I say this because when I made my purchase, shipping was put at the end of October... 2008. I feel like it has been shifting 4 weeks at a time ever since).

Please give us all the problems that are left to solve (it's okay we haven't walked away after all this, you really think that will scare us?) and a realistic assessment of when the product will ship. I feel this would be a much better system than the constant, "This one little thing is screwed up and then you guys will have it and love it. It will be totally perfect after we get this one little thing solved."

I thank you all for you time and giving me a forum on which to gripe. Sometimes it is just good to talk about this stuff. (Next guy/girl in the circle stands up and says, "Hi, my name is...")
 
Mike Harrington said:
It may be expensive to hire a guy part time, but if 50 of us start cancelling our orders and demanding refunds that will seem like a small price to pay to save the customer....
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The problem is not the manufacturing line - the problem is the developing and it's a lot harder to "just" find a guy to hire "part time" for that.

I've defended the guys in the past and I still stand by that. I understand everybody's frustration but I can also see that if this goes to far we will all loose our money. I have 3 of these ordered and don't want to loose that money because of the wait. Not when it's gone this far and it's clear that the guys will not manage a refund from to many people (question is if they even manage the mail correspondence :laugh:).

Maybe I'm patient with them because I've just started 3 companies and if I even could have imagined how long things would take and how hard it would be to get things done. Well, I'm not sure I would have started them in the first place.

So see it this way - the VF guys are not after stealing our money (on the contrary it's the opposite - they're just trying to make the best product possible, to the cost of our time). We have all seen that it exists and is on it's way. No they're just simply BAD business men, that doesn't realize the scale of things.

As a small band aid on the wounds - the wait is always an improvement of the product - if you look at the history of things the "production line problems" has always come out with a new improvement, a new enhancement. Maybe that also tells us something :laugh:
 
Q. How many VF employees does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Just one, however you have to pay in advance and the replacement lightbulb doesn't work yet; new parts are arriving any minute and the latest software fix is sure to work...

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo
 
Dear Viewfactor

I have asked for a cancellation of my order and asked for a refund VIA e-mail about a month ago but still haven't received it. Please look into it.


Here is my order number: ORD200808051

Shotaro Kirishima
 
I don't think any of us think that VF are stealing our money.

And to be honest i haven't found the wait a huge problem, i have a wireless FF here that goes out on every job with me and works perfectly. There came a point when i decided to forget i had ever ordered the VF and then when it appeared it would be a nice surprise, however, delaying gratification for over a year is pushing it a bit :crying: .
I have given this company some thought, and i compared the service i am receiving now to the service i receive from every other company i deal with, with regards camera kit and lighting. Not one of those companies has ever behaved in the way VF have, as they know that the good working people of the film industry would vote with their feet and their wallets, and walk away from doing business with them. In this game reputation is everything, you can be an amazingly talented DP, but if you are a pain in the ass, the money people will soon start using the guy who is easier to work with even if he has a little less talent.

Well for me that's how it feels with VF, there are other units out there ( bartech ) for example, who don't claim to have all the bells and whistles of the VF unit, but buying one is not a pain in the ass, it will work, if it doesn't it will be repaired very quickly, if you email them they will reply with an answer to your question, or a solution. Do i need to go on drawing this analogy??...

The future for me is very clear if i continue to work with VF, and it is full of un-certainty. I called Arri about a year ago to enquire about buying a set of Ultra primes, the conversation went something like this.

Me: I'm looking at buying a set of Ultras.

Arri: Is it for a project with a date?

Me: Yes

Arri: Is it n the next 6 months?

Me: Yes

Arri: Forget it, you've got a least a 6 month wait for Ultras with Imperial markings.

Me: Ok thanks.

Arri: No problem, let us know if we can help in the future.

Clear, professional, no BS conversation, no false promises etc. Because they know the game, they know it's not good for their rep and they want your business under the right terms.

I send a set of glass in for service to ICEfilm, they ask me when i need it done by, if they can't do it they tell me, if they can they get my money, if there's a problem they call me and tell me, and we decide what to do.

None of this has happened with VF, not one of these business ideals, and i can't work like that, if i behaved like that with a client i would be sacked, and rightly so.

I'm thinking now of the future based on the present with VF, and it ain't bright.

I find it worrying that someone has requested a refund a month ago and received nothing.

Blind optimism, it's a killer.
 
Rowland Kirishima said:
I have asked for a cancellation of my order and asked for a refund VIA e-mail about a month ago but still haven't received it.
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This is not exactly reassuring...
Is this the beginning of the end? :cryin:
 
...basically I'd rather have the controller and motors than the money. So I won't be canceling my order.

He is trickling out the orders and I'm pretty confident I will see my unit soon.

I've spent a bit of time chatting with Curt over the year and I've been proved right on too many things (wish I'd been proved wrong). 1/ outsourcing in the way he first tried to (I was confident it would be a nightmare) 2/ delivery timetable (I knew he would struggle and was proved massively right) 3/ Price (I knew for sure the motors where too cheap) 4/ Curt is not a great businessman (Sorry curt but I feel I was right here too)

5/ Curt is a good guy who wants to excel(and is technically capable) (I believe this to be the case and am waitig to be proved right...

I would be interested in some of the guys who I know have the units posting a bit more feedback on how they are working out??? Lets at least make this thread useful!

regards

Michael
 
Michael Lindsay said:
.
He is trickling out the orders and I'm pretty confident I will see my unit soon
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Hi Micheal,

I am order #7 so according to your idea I should have mine now or really soon, but I don't and have heard nothing from VF :(

Regards, Tim.
 
Although I agree with most of your concerns, the notion that some of us would ask for a refund to either punish or make a point. Although the point is valid.

1. Frustrated- long wait

2. not enough communication showing progress

3. Less than satisfactory customer service.

to name some.

VF are a member of the RED community. Many members of the RED community are counting on their VF FF system. Without that option some would not be able to have a wireless option at an affordable price.

By having a massive cancellation- we possibly guarantee the failure of VF.

Keep that in mind before making any decisions you don't have to make out of necessity.

Vladimir Eugene

I ordered last August and waiting on the wireless FF system as well.
 
Vladimir Eugene said:
By having a massive cancellation- we possibly guarantee the failure of VF.

Keep that in mind before making any decisions you don't have to make out of necessity.
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Thanks for pointing that out. I was getting a bit worried about that.

I have faith that VF will deliver the goods, so I'm not worried about that. But if there is a mass of cancellations, it will be bad for everyone involved.
 
I've been sitting on the fence watching this thread for the last year. I want to order but will not do so until the product is shipped on mass with positive performance reviews. I fully understand the frustrations of those who are deciding to ask for a refund after waiting a year. But if it's any consolation, due to the price increase, I think they will have paid something like $700 less then the new orders if they can hang in there a little while longer. How much longer can it be? Take it as an investor bonus. I'd hate to see VF go under due to a mass pull-out. Also, if you get a refund and then want to reorder because all of a sudden there is great product shipping; then you're at the back of the line having to pay more. Just my two cents...
 
I'm not cancelling the order as a punishment. I decided that I would rather purchase the RED primes than a follow focus unit. But I must say, I am pretty dissapointed. With the dollor being weak compared to last summer, I'm losing money just by cancelling my order. But one year is a long wait and I know it is really close, but I'd rather spend money on something that exists... I don't care if the price rises. I'll purchase the follow focus units when they are actually available.
 
To all of you - Do not cancel!

We are all dissapointed - but cancelations will do no good. It will probably end up many of us not recieving the follow focus or the refund. I'm also dissapointed (like hell), on the other hand I'm pretty sure that the VFs team doing all they can and trying their best to get us a great gear.
 
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