RS Components

[usrbinroy]

Time is 11.20 GMT 12.20 BST

I have just put the phone down after talking to RS Components customer service.  I was told that 15000 are going out next week.  I am not amongst them.

To my families complete amazement I was up at 600 to place my order on 29/2.  I achieved this at 6.20.  I have had emails from RS as has everyone else but nothing since 3/4 weeks ago.

It is a very poor show that they have not given any meaningful information to their (by now) impatiently waiting customers as to the state of play

Roy

[nick.mccloud]

usrbinroy said:


I was told that 15000 are going out next week.


Sounds like mis-information being given out - there are 8000's (approx) in the immediate pipe and they are split between RS & Farnell so they are only likely to have 4000 each. If they do have 15,000 going out next week it's because they've manage to build 11,000 more & get them shipped over from China in record breaking time - they only started production once it had cleared CE testing about 10 days ago!

[usrbinroy]

I accept your comment as on the figures you are right.  If it is mis-information then it was said by someone not on the customer helpline as the young lady put me on hold whilst she enquired.  Perhaps I am being too gullible.

The proof will be if someone can confirm they have been allowed to order by RS and have been told they will get theirs next week.  In the absence of such a post it rather proves RS have a measure of contempt for their customers or maybe are just fed up with the stress the Pi is putting on their systems.

Roy

[Jongoleur]

15000 sounds a bit steep, given (as nmcc says) that they only booted mass production off after the CE/etc testing was completed. Perhaps there were some "Chinese"  groan whispers going on at RS and they meant to tell you 1500....  I'm feeling charitable at the moment.

As for progress reports, the last RS Raspberry Pi update email was sent out on 18th April, its been over a week since then and they've kept close to a weekly schedule so either they've got bored of being bright in the face of nothing much to say OR there's something interesting going on.  My cynical head says they're bored... 

[Jongoleur]

I'd have believed the 15000 IF I'd had an email from them inviting me into the store, but there's been nothing yet... 

[ArborealSeer]

Jongoleur said:


As for progress reports, the last RS Raspberry Pi update email was sent out on 18th April, its been over a week since then and they've kept close to a weekly schedule so either they've got bored of being bright in the face of nothing much to say OR there's something interesting going on.  My cynical head says they're bored... 


last one was fortnightly acccording to my inbox overall.. i have RS emails from 3/3, 9/3, 15/3, 23/3, 29/3, 4/4, 18/4.

[usrbinroy]

At 1400 BST I got past customer services telephone girl and spoke to one of the managers, name xxxx tel ext xxxx (I include this as I do believe I was speaking to someone in authority) and had a conversation where I was able to tell them more than they knew.  After drawing comparisons with the Farnel situation ( i.e. delivery time scale announced) this manager has promised to get back to me with chapter and verse this afternoon.

I said all we want is the timescale on how long it will take to clear the backlog.

We shall see.

Roy

[judderman]

usrbinroy said:


... this manager has promised to get back to me with chapter and verse this afternoon.

I said all we want is the timescale on how long it will take to clear the backlog...



Hi Roy - I'd be grateful for updates on this - I got my 'order' in at 06:18 on day 1.

I'm sure many others with situations less similar will also be interested, so don't be shy.

Regards, Stewart

[usrbinroy]

~!###*** that blooming Stewart go in 2 minutes before me!

Of course Stewart I intend to post updates.  The good and/but hopefully no bad

Roy

[nigle]

I didn't get up in time to get an order in, I could only register an interest. RS sent an acknowledgement email saying 'we will send you regular updates on availability' but 7 weeks later I have heard absolutely nothing. I don't think RS are trying very hard, Farnell seem far more committed.

[judderman]

@nigle

the word order was in quotes in my post because I only got to register an interest, so don't worry too much.

Regards, Stewart

[usrbinroy]

16.50 BST

No email from manager xxxx so have telephoned, no reply from ext xxxx, call centre person volunteered "probably gone home as its Friday, can't see xxxx anywhere".  Had chat with call centre person, obviously RS not particularly briefed their call centre on the PI, they are only aware of tremendous volume of orders.

Unfortunately a random thought popped into my head whilst chatting.  Whilst the Foundation has been in charge they have been even handed in their treatment of Farnel and RS.  As a result (can I say everybody?) is thinking that the volume production arrangements for Farnel and RS will be the same.  This is not necessarily true, as it will now be up to individual "manufacturers" to make their own production arrangements.  This will depend on attitude and negotiations/pricing of individual managers, so maybe Farnel have done a better deal with our Chinese friends and have the lions share of the output.......

Just a thought.

In any case manager xxxx will get a wake up call on Monday morning.

Roy

[usrbinroy]

Good evening!

I have had an email from Manager S which tells me everything I already knew, though it was good to have confirmation that the 4000 arrive with them next week.

I would like to claim credit for my efforts this afternoon as I would like to think that the general email that has now been sent out by RS to everyone who is registered  was as a result of these efforts.  (As I spent all afternoon on computer and phone wife has penances lined up so I need some consoling thoughts!)

I hope that the executives in RS have read the forum posts (I mean all the ones on the forum regarding delivery by Farnell and comments on RS, not just this one) and take heed of the bad press they are getting.  But then pigs might fly.

If they really have got volume production sorted out then we may have our slices by the end of June, fingers crossed

Roy

[poing]

Just got an update...


Alweer een week met geweldige vooruitgang voor de Raspberry Pi!

Onze eerste batch 700 Raspberry Pi’s is opgestuurd naar de eerste mensen op onze aanmeldingslijst (die zich voor 6:01 uur hadden geregistreerd!) We hebben deze mensen uitgenodigd in onze speciale online Raspberry Pi-winkel en ze hebben hun bestelling inmiddels ontvangen (inclusief sommige essentiële accessoires). Ze zijn nu bezig met het testen van hun Pi.

We zien nu ook de eerste beoordelingen van de Raspberry Pi die op DesignSpark worden gepost. Raspberry Pi en Custard onderzoekt of de Pi voldoet aan de verwachtingen van de hype, en onze reeks Pi Perspectives neemt de algehele impact van het Raspberry Pi-fenomeen onder de loep. Ga naar DesignSpark om de reacties op de eerste leveringen van de Raspberry Pi te lezen.

Onze tweede batch Raspberry Pi's wordt op dit moment gemonteerd, en we verwachten dat ze volgende week klaar zijn. We zullen zeer binnenkort de volgende 4.000 mensen op de wachtlijst uitnodigen naar onze Raspberry Pi-winkel om hun bestelling te plaatsen. De massaproductie komt eveneens op gang, en we hebben ons ervan verzekerd dat chipset-leveranciers de grote vraag naar Raspberry Pi aan kunnen. We stellen uw geduld terwijl wij bezig zijn het productieproces in te regelen zeer op prijs. Het is belangrijk dat de kwaliteit en de betrouwbaarheid goed is, we willen namelijk dat iedereen plezier heeft van zijn Pi.

Het echt goede nieuws is, dat we de batch-volumes binnen enkele weken aanzienlijk kunnen verhogen, waardoor we Raspberry Pi's aan veel meer mensen kunnen leveren. We houden u op de hoogte over de voortgang en hopen binnenkort contact met u op te nemen met meer nieuws over hoe u uw Raspberry Pi in bezit kunt krijgen.

RS Components


Hope this helps

Sorry for the 'trolling' but it's just 'wait and see'...

[usrbinroy]

Reference the announcement from Farnell/Element 14 on the home/blog page I have copied this to manager S at RS and will phone for her comments on Monday morning.

[grumpyoldgit]

usrbinroy said:


Good evening!

I have had an email from Manager S which tells me everything I already knew, though it was good to have confirmation that the 4000 arrive with them next week.

I would like to claim credit for my efforts this afternoon as I would like to think that the general email that has now been sent out by RS to everyone who is registered  was as a result of these efforts.  (As I spent all afternoon on computer and phone wife has penances lined up so I need some consoling thoughts!)

I hope that the executives in RS have read the forum posts (I mean all the ones on the forum regarding delivery by Farnell and comments on RS, not just this one) and take heed of the bad press they are getting.  But then pigs might fly.

If they really have got volume production sorted out then we may have our slices by the end of June, fingers crossed

Roy



To be quite honest, RS tend to send out an update once a week

[semtex]

I got an update email from RS today. The critical information in this email was that the first 700 Raspis went to people who registered an interest by 6:01am!!

With 4000 Raspis enroute I wonder why they cannot say that people who registered by 6:12, for example, will be invited to order?

(I know a guesstimate of 6:06 is likely, but I"m assuming the denial of service slowed everything down. Hence why it would be great if someone from RS could comment.)

[TheShack]

Wow 700 RaspPi in 1 min no wonder the site when down.

Don't see why they could not give us all a number of where we are in the queue. Weekly update e-mails could then include information on what have been shipped and expected production numbers and delivery dates.

It's not rocket science. Come on RS step upto the mark.

Wish I had ordered from farnell now.......

[Tass]

Agreed, Farnell have outperformed RS by a mile when it comes engaging with their customers. Different types of companies I suppose?

[exartemarte]

Well, I now have a supply date (or week, anyway) from Farnell and didly squat from RS, so it looks as though Farnell will get my custom.

Although, of course, it's possible that quite a few of those getting their Pis from Farnell right now will also have registered with RS and won't be taking up their options…

[Smartybones]

I have to agree, farnell have out performed RS in the RPi race... hats of t them...

I have had frequent email updates from RS, but the reality of it was that nothing new was said....

I feel badly let down by RS as I registered my interest at 6.01, but there appears to be a block of people from this time that the registrations have been lost,,,I did re-register later on, but this was at a different email address, and before I managed to get an order placed at farnell.

I managed to get an order placed on Farnell's website at 8.18 am and have a delivery promised for the week beginning 7th May which I am very happy with considering all the messing about with CE marks etc....

but as I say Farnell won this hands down