More belly-aching about Lab-box

[plasticman]

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So I know I belly-ached about Lab-box before - partly due to my own negligence I missed when they sent the original box and it was sent back undelivered, as they delivered it to me last year when I was away on vacation.

Now they are finally done with the last component (a 'smart' lid), that was one of the sprint goals and a bonus for Kickstarter backers. So backers have to pay for this again (although at a reduced rate), but also pay for delivery outside Italy - which for me is my third delivery charge, and together with the new extra payment for the lid, has ended-up doubling the cost of the box for me.

I guess I don't really have anything constructive to add, I just think the way the project has been handled is pretty hamfisted and some better customer-relations would have softened the process. 

Incidentally the store website for ars-imago doesn't even support SSL - so the http:// protocol they support isn't secure for all the customer details that are entered.

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vor 35 Minuten schrieb plasticman:

way the project has been handled is pretty hamfisted

I think this lies in the nature of the business. Not the business of copying and launching a box, but the kind of "entrepreneurs" that are bound to seek public funding in internet platforms. Most of them actually are beginners with the kickstarter project their very first project.

As I live in Switzerland, delivery was not an issue for me.

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[tom.w.bn]

Crowdfunding = someone has an idea and looks for cowd-investors. If everything goes well, the "crowd-investors" finally get a product, if not, they get nothing.

If this is a successful product, it will also find its distribution ways via traditional stores too. You can buy the lab-box in normal online-stores (like macodirect). I'm not an investor willing to take a risk, even if it's onyl a couple of EUR. I'm a consumer and only buy something after it has been found useful and reliable in the field. 

No SSL? That's a big no-go today.

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vor einer Stunde schrieb tom.w.bn:

(...) If this is a successful product, it will also find its distribution ways via traditional stores too. You can buy the lab-box in normal online-stores (like macodirect). I'm not an investor willing to take a risk, even if it's onyl a couple of EUR. I'm a consumer and only buy something after it has been found useful and reliable in the field. (..)

If there are no investors taking the risk there will be no product, successful or otherwise. I think it worth my while (and smallish amounts of money) to invest in uncertain projects. It bought me some remarkable music (even if I won't listen to some of it ever again), a few useful tote bags. some very wonderful or weird gadgets and some such. It also brings happyness to some beginning inventors or artists or whatever. It's become kind of a hobby for me. I'm still waiting for my wonderful Italian colour film, though. Write offs happen, as they do in real life.

The Smart Lid for the Lab Box might become quite useful; if only you could clean it under the faucet.

[plasticman]

9 minutes ago, pop said:

I'm still waiting for my wonderful Italian colour film, though.

Well I'm still waiting for that one, too. But in that case, because of the situation and the way they've communicated it at every step of the way, I'm more than willing to wait - or even lose my investment altogether. I'm just glad that they've kept trying, that they've added a b&w film stock to what's generally available to film enthusiasts, and that they've maintained jobs, expertise and production in Italy.

As for Lab-box - one of the reasons I was so enthusiastic in the beginning (including backing them with extra money that wasn't linked to any specific reward), was that they promised to produce the units in the EU. But they switched to China for the smart lid. This was a massive disillusionment for me. I'm not in any way nationalistic, but I genuinely want to make sure we are not always dependent on China for all industrial production in the West, and specifically in the EU. We need to keep making things here. Switching to China was a betrayal of the original spirit of the project imo.

Apart from that, the whole follow-up has been poorly handled, and the focus is definitely no longer on the Kickstarter backers (we're ancient history to Are-Imago now) and much more on their commercial enterprise. 

I'll probably back the next film-project that comes up though... 😀

 

 

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I'm looking forward to an instant SLR with M42 mount which should arrive any month now. It's not made in Europe, though, but promises much fun. If it works.

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Am 17.8.2020 um 15:57 schrieb pop:

I'm looking forward to an instant SLR with M42 mount which should arrive any month now. It's not made in Europe, though, but promises much fun. If it works.

What film will you use with it and what size will the images have? 24 x 36mm I presume, because of the M42 mount.

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vor 47 Minuten schrieb tri:

What film will you use with it and what size will the images have? 24 x 36mm I presume, because of the M42 mount.

It's an instant camera. It uses the instax mini format. They alerted right from the beginning that most lenses would not be able to use the full format. It's a toy, mostly, I think. I subscribed to the project as a consequence of a mistake: first, I thought it was somewhat over the top, me not having any M42 lenses. Then I bought a lens on ebay which was supposed to fit on another camera. It turned out that it did not fit that camera and that it had an adapter mounted and that it's native mount was M42. Now I had an M42 lens on hand, and rather than go through the hassle of returning the cheap lens I went ahead and subscribed to the project. There you are. Life is full of funny surprises, if you let them happen. I'm sure an instant camera will come in handy next time my wife minds the children of her niece.

[plasticman]

Just as a final round-up - I belly-ached some more, but this time mailing directly to Ars Imago - explaining all the extra charges I've already paid for delivery of the Lab Box, and about all the delays, and how I'd even contributed an extra voluntary amount to the Kickstarter, and so on.

Somehow I think I expected them to compromise, meet me halfway, and say something like "ok we'll halve the cost of delivery in your case", or something at least marginally conciliatory.

But they just answered by saying that they didn't understand whether I wanted the lid or not. So I very lamely said 'forget it'. And they simply answered "OK thanks".