The humongous Sandy Electronics thread...

[Dave]

My mailman explained that because my CN22 customs labels are handwritten, they get individual scrutiny. If they were pre-printed "business, professional" labels and already data entered into the USPS system, they would undergo no further scrutiny.

I am signing up for a label printer and etc. I'll get this cracked in no time. I simply can't afford a repeat of this. I am trying to establish a good reputation, and one unhappy customer can ruin my reputation for a long time.

[1024MAK]

The key to keeping customers happy if there are problems, is to keep them fully informed. Something that some other suppliers / service providers sadly do not do

Dave, I hope you get all the problems sorted soon

Mark

[Dave]

The thing that surprised me is that instead of being cool and logical, my reaction to these small setbacks has also been emotional. I feel held up and also like I have let people down. That's the last thing I want!

When I made the decision to not add anything to the store until it was in hand and ready to sell, it was because I dislike having peoples' money when they don't have goods on the way to them. The Minerva issues throw a spanner in the works. It puts me in a difficult spot when I might have to refund the customer and have already spent some of the money on parts for future products. Better to live within my means and be patient.

As it is I will be issuing refunds (or one person has requested alternatives) since I don't want to be held up any longer by the Minerva MK IIs. I'll just make some Minerva MK Is that will work first time, and come back to the MK IIs later.

[Dave]

This week so far: constructive.

I have been focusing on putting the infrastructure in place to run this as a business. I know, that sounds pretentious, but if I can't be organized and prepared, things will never run smoothly. I need an assembly/test area. A computing area. A printing area. A packing/shipping area. I have removed everything non-QL related from my home office and brought in far more desk space. I have put everything in order.

It's still not enough!

I have decided to, this weekend, knock down some wall to turn closet space into an open part of the room. This will free up another 30 or 40 sq feet (~3.5 sq metres) which should be enough of a cubby hole for a large storage area.

In my discussions with my mailman and the local postmaster, I have got to the bottom of my battery adapter mailing issues. The last of my orders was returned today. There are two rules: do not have the word "battery" on a package, no matter what the circumstances, and have a printed not handwritten label. Printed labels are entered into the USPS computer and pre-assessed, so they go through no further manual customs examination. The system to do that will be delivered in the next couple of days.

To compensate those whose orders have been delayed, I will re-ship with a couple of bonus items in the package by way of apology.

As I have said before, it's been a learning experience. This stuff isn't supposed to be hard! I'm just glad to be getting these issues sorted out before the bigger items start coming...

Thank you again to everyone for your patience and faith in me.

[Dave]

I can now testify that I probably own more DIN connectors than any other QLer.

That's the RA females that came today, thanks to the invaluable help of Rich at RWAP. Thank you, Rich.

I also have about 45 straight females, 45 straight males and 98 RA males.

I also now have 480 or so microdrive cartridges for the QL Software Preservation Project. I am donating my time and felt pads to go through the entire bunch, cataloging them to see what is recoverable.

Yes, there are two BANDERSNATCH microdrives here, and they might have recoverable contents. I am treating them with extreme caution! They will be run on the sweetest Samsung microdrive units I have.

[RWAP]

Shhh - don't mention Bandersnatch - that would be a real coup - let's wait and see if the forum falls over with all the talk of it....

[Simon_Carr]

Shhh - don't mention Bandersnatch - that would be a real coup - let's wait and see if the forum falls over with all the talk of it....

Bandersnatch? Did I hear Bandersnatch?

[RWAP]

Aww - it might just be a ploy to get you to read the thread.....

[vanpeebles]

O-M-G!

[Dave]

What has two thumbs and is the newest QUANTA committee member? THIS GUY!