[Elecraft] Shipping status ...ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

[David Wilburn]

Thanks for taking the time to drop us a note.  I have a K3 or order, and
I appreciate the ability to put money down.  That lets me spread the
payment out some this year, and pay the rest when it ships next year.  I
also have the warm feeling that I am investing in a company that has
consistently impressed me.  During the build of my K2, I received input
and support from many impressive people on this list, as well as direct
emails from Wayne and Eric.  I can count on one hand, the number of
times I have experienced this level of support. 

I have sold all of my other rigs that I had here in the house, EXCEPT
the K2 which I continue to learn and grow with.  I fully support your
effort to put out a quality product.  I am in no hurry for the K3, but
as with everyone else, I look forward to using what sounds like a superb
platform.  Feel free to take your time to fill my order, as I have full
confidence that once it arrives, the K3 will fully meet my high
expectations.  Thanks for all the great products!
-  

David Wilburn
k4dgw at k4dgw.com
K4DGW
K2 S/N 5982


On Thu, 2007-12-13 at 09:53 -0800, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote:
> Hi Julian,
> 
> I apologize for the delays getting you (and everyone else) your K3. We 
> are absolutely working as hard as possible to get K3s out the door 
> quickly. Every time I see a complaint here (and elsewhere) about 
> delivery delays, status accuracy etc., I take every posting very 
> personally (especially those criticizing our veracity) and agonize over 
> how we can improve things further.
> 
> To be totally, and brutally, honest, we were absolutely amazed at the 
> amount of orders we received at introduction of the K3. (We're not a 
> venture capital financed company that can staff up and spend millions of 
> dollars before shipping our first K3.) We certainly underestimated the 
> ongoing response and have been playing catch up as we have added staff 
> and vendors to meet the demand. This has strained not only our own 
> staff, but that of our vendors too. They are doing a great job 
> responding, but we are continually looking for additional resources. My 
> day starts out -very- early with a review of what new issues and 
> problems have to be addressed to keep production rolling and how we can 
> improve our run rate. The term 'fire drill' is now permanently engraved 
> on the back of my head ;-) Fire drills encompass everything from vendors 
> not delivering parts and assembled PCBs on schedule, wrong or faulty 
> parts received, key employees out sick, test and alignment taking longer 
> than expected, pcb assembly errors at a vendor (requiring rework here), 
> customers who personally want to talk with me etc. etc. All of this is a 
> normal part of any product ramp up (I've been there before..), and it is 
> getting better and more predictable daily. But it takes a lot of effort 
> to make sure we increase our output -and- maintain our admittedly high 
> quality standards.
> 
> As we go forward our shipping estimates will continue to both increase 
> in volume and get more accurate. I'm trying to be as honest and as 
> conservative as possible with my current shipping estimates, and so are 
> Lisa and her crew. But we're human too and will make mistakes or be over 
> optimistic from time to time. It is very hard to accurately estimate 
> delivery out past a 3-4 week window and I'm sure Lisa and crew have been 
> pressured into guessing on some estimates. I'm actually trying to get to 
> the point where we will regularly exceed our posted estimates. If my 
> 'fire drill' threshold is not exceeded this month I think we'll be there 
> soon! :-)
> 
> Our new order rate is strong (and increasing!) and we have had very few 
> cancellations (I can count them on one hand), which has given us the 
> confidence to spend even more on staffing, inventory and other 
> resources. As K3s have gotten out into the field people are showing 
> their rig to their friends and we're getting a lot of referral orders. 
> We've now been able to increase our daily production rate ahead of the 
> order rate, so my confidence is increasing that we're on the right track 
> to keep everyone happy.
> 
> As always, we will refund any deposits (and still keep an order active) 
> and/or cancel anyone's order without delay should they feel the need to 
> do so.
> 
> Lastly, please stop arguing with each other here about what should or 
> should not be said about K3 deliveries. We want the feedback. But also, 
> please tone down the rhetoric and personal criticisms - we are human 
> here too and we lose sleep over these postings.
> 
> We're doing our best to make the K3 a superb rig and to get it out to 
> you as quickly as possible. As always, please feel free to email me 
> directly if you feel we have done or said anything you take issue with ) 
> or just want to vent! :-)
> 
> 73, Eric   WA6HHQ
> ------
> 
> G4ILO wrote:
> > Jim-170 wrote:
> >   
> >> Please give the fine staff at Elecraft a break. They are providing a great
> >> service to our Amateur Community......
> >>
> >>     
> > And there was me thinking they were advertising products for sale and
> > entering into contracts with people who placed orders for them! How silly of
> > me!
> >
> > -----
> > Julian, G4ILO K2 s/n: 392  K3 s/n: ???
> > G4ILO's Shack: www.g4ilo.com
> > Zerobeat Ham Forums: www.zerobeat.net/smf
> >   
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