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  • Moderator
    Sgt Ric January 7, 2010 at 3:27pm
    Someone close this blog or I'll be coming back to it and whining forever.
  • Moderator
    Sgt Ric January 7, 2010 at 3:26pm
    Thats one way of looking at it, but as I see it, I am a VERY loyal SparkFun customer and have been for some time, and this seemed very attinteresting, so I spent quite a lot of time and waited breathlessly for Jan 7 to roll around.
    I had practiced the checkout several times and streamlined my order carefully.
    I anticipated the necessary steps such as how and when I would get on, etc.

    I was dismayed last night to see posting here at DIYDrones saying the SparkFun network was jammed already at T minus 14 hours!!

    Why, what was generating traffic fourteen hours before the program was to start?
    I started at 8:00 am mountain time (same as here)... No go!
    I got on at 10:30 and the banner said they had spent 850,000 or something like that but I could not get to the checkout even though my basket was full.
    Twenty minutes later I got on but it was over!

    Bottom line, Yes, I do feel a little jilted and let down, but since it was free, I can't really complain.
    (just a sour taste in my mouth)
  • Paul January 7, 2010 at 3:14pm
    I cant see much ill will being created. I think a lot of the people that are mad about the whole thing were never customers to begin with.

    A company gives away 100,000 dollars of merchandise to prospective and existing customers. How can anyone ever be upset about that.
    I think a lot of people felt entitled to that 100 dollar order.
  • Pbreed January 7, 2010 at 3:09pm
    Putting my business owner hat on ... (I'm CTO at NetBurner)
    The spark fun free day could be looked at two ways..... Was it an attempt to reward customers for a good year? That was the stated goal, if so I'd give it a D as its pissed off a bunch of good customers.
    (My self included)

    Was the goal to spend 50K (I know 100K, but assume margins 50% real cost 50K) to generate a bunch of buzz and free hype for publicity, ie was it really aimed at generating new customers that will come back after the deal is gone and continue to buy? Then I'd give it a B Only time will tell if that was the case.
  • Wayne January 7, 2010 at 2:58pm
    Well I think there is just one word for this whole thing "FAIL"
  • Jack Crossfire January 7, 2010 at 2:52pm
    Sort of like giving away free software & not providing support when users can't figure out how to get PPM to work.
  • Wayne January 7, 2010 at 2:52pm
    Yeah Happy I feel the same way. I googled for "sparkfun" during it all and it was feeding twitter conversation right in the search results and I sat back and watched and I can tell you there were a lot of unhappy people while it was going on. Maybe they need to set up some kind of "FIFO" (First In First Out) implementation into their store. kinda like a single file line kind of thing. Not sure if that would solve the problem but it would seem maybe a little more fair or equal opportunity.
  • Paul Mather January 7, 2010 at 2:45pm
    I was very disappointed with the give-away. I think it's going to create quite a bit of ill-will towards Sparkfun....

    Their own website's limitations kept most people from being able to participate. But then again, the giveaway would have only lasted about 10 minutes.
  • Wayne January 7, 2010 at 2:12pm
    Well I understand how they all feel. I was one of those many who could not get anything. I like my idea about giving new members an email so they can have a chance at something. That whole thing went fast and I think because everyone rushed and bogged down the server and only a lucky select got through, those who didnt feel a little cheated. But it is what it is, what do ya do?
  • Paul January 7, 2010 at 1:55pm
    I tried and didn't make it through, the site was obviously swamped. Either way I was going to make an order, I was just hoping to get an xbee in there with the free day and all. Oh well nothing lost. The IRC room was filled with complainers though. Some people acted like they had a hundred dollars stolen from their pocket.

    My only complaint is that with all the orders today mine wont be shipped until next week haha.
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