CX78+, 7800 carts delayed

[John Stamos Mullet]

13 minutes ago, UnRedeemed said:

I appreciate what you are saying and will continue to ponder it, even if from my perspective it may underestimate the downsides and undervalue the customer's legitimate interest in not being expected to take on excessive risk (such as by having to serve as the bank, when companies can and do at times suddenly go out of business).  I truly wonder what percentage of preorders requiring full payment up front are justified by unavoidable business necessity.  What I noticed since '08 is that many businesses essentially used that crisis as an excuse to become much less customer-friendly.  My credit card issuer specifically told me they changed all their fee-waiving policies (indefinitely/permanently) in response to the crisis.  This was in the context of my calling in relation to an error they committed.  So while previously they were maybe too accommodating and would waive fees even if the situation was the customer's fault, now they were unwilling to waive them even where the cause was their own error!  Just one of many examples, but suffice it to say I am wary of crises being harnessed to justify permanent shifts that may work to the detriment of customers.       

 

Here’s the thing about that: the old adage “the customer is always right” isn’t remotely accurate.

 

Sometimes the customer is right. Most of the time, they aren’t, and sometimes they are actively trying to game the system to get free stuff, or unreasonable concessions, or a level of service that was neither advertised nor intended. 
 

The power of “I’ll ruin your business by making a public fuss” is way too strong. Karen culture, as I see it. Social Media has exacerbated this tremendously. 
 

Giving all the power of deciding whether your business has standards and procedures that it adheres to - to a customer whose intentions may not be as pure as you’re indicating is the fast lane to bankruptcy. 
 

Good customer service doesn’t mean putting your business in financial woes so that you can appease people who are trying to ruin you. 

[Major Havoc 2049]

Paying for a product before it's made seems to be fairly common in retro gaming. And many times these are limited runs, so if you don't pre-order, then you don't get a copy and have to deal with inflated prices on eBay.  

 

Anyways, is this just an Amazon UK issue?  Are orders from Atari still on track for late May?

[John Stamos Mullet]

31 minutes ago, Major Havoc 2049 said:

Paying for a product before it's made seems to be fairly common in retro gaming. And many times these are limited runs, so if you don't pre-order, then you don't get a copy and have to deal with inflated prices on eBay.  

 

Anyways, is this just an Amazon UK issue?  Are orders from Atari still on track for late May?

I still haven’t seen anything to indicate my order from Atari direct is delayed, and Ben has already stated that all the stock has left the production warehouse and is in the hands of distributors. I also don’t have a shipping confirmation yet, so technically it could still be slightly delayed, but I can’t say for sure.

[tradyblix]

One things for sure, they are losing sales by not having stuff available at launch. I would have been a customer of controllers and or some of these games instead of getting them on eBay had they been available. 

[John Stamos Mullet]

21 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

One things for sure, they are losing sales by not having stuff available at launch. I would have been a customer of controllers and or some of these games instead of getting them on eBay had they been available. 

No they aren't. You're the exception to the norm in this, and no offense - but paying ebay gouger prices for something used that you can get dirt cheap from the OEM brand new is kinda stupid.

[Ben from Plaion]

Yes, we pushed back the date for a number of reasons. When setting a release date I do add a sizeable buffer for delays. Recently its just been made clear that the buffer ran out. 

 

1. European stock went around the horn of Africa instead of through the Red Sea.

2. Some cables in the products came to the factory a week or two late, when something like this happens the entire shipment is delayed. 

3. The US container has had the port discharge sequence changed so its docking at our port 3 stops later then what was originally stated.

 

I check every day on the whereabouts of the container ships. US went through the Panama canal earlier in the week and is near Florida right now, the EU container is currently sailing past Morocco. Every effort will be made to move stock from port to distribution centres and retail as soon as they land.

 

We've been talking about lengthening the buffer time in future releases and other ways of improving lead times.

 

 

 

[Ben from Plaion]

39 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

One things for sure, they are losing sales by not having stuff available at launch. I would have been a customer of controllers and or some of these games instead of getting them on eBay had they been available. 

Oh we want those sales, but bare in mind that decisions are made on manufacturing run quantities around 4 months in advance, and sometimes, like in the case of 2600+ consoles, Joysticks etc, demand outstrips that originally agreed launch manufacturing run volume and it takes times to organise subsequent runs.

 

 

[John Stamos Mullet]

9 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yes, we pushed back the date for a number of reasons. When setting a release date I do add a sizeable buffer for delays. Recently its just been made clear that the buffer ran out. 

 

1. European stock went around the horn of Africa instead of through the Red Sea.

2. Some cables in the products came to the factory a week or two late, when something like this happens the entire shipment is delayed. 

3. The US container has had the port discharge sequence changed so its docking at our port 3 stops later then what was originally stated.

 

I check every day on the whereabouts of the container ships. US went through the Panama canal earlier in the week and is near Florida right now, the EU container is currently sailing past Morocco. Every effort will be made to move stock from port to distribution centres and retail as soon as they land.

 

We've been talking about lengthening the buffer time in future releases and other ways of improving lead times.

 

 

 

When I hear people complaining on here about the delays and making unfounded accusations of potential malfeasance or bad customer service, and then we see the literal guy from the company making these products giving updates on a public forum with this level of process detail (which Ben has been doing this whole time if you've paid any attention) you gotta start to wonder what their real motivation in coming here is.

[John Stamos Mullet]

14 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

3. The US container has had the port discharge sequence changed so its docking at our port 3 stops later then what was originally stated.

Just curious - has any of the delay for the US shipments been impacted by the Baltimore Bridge collapse and port closure? I think some people forgot about that, and how it's having a huge impact on the logistics timeframes for ALL ports.

[Ben from Plaion]

1 minute ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Just curious - has any of the delay for the US shipments been impacted by the Baltimore Bridge collapse and port closure? I think some people forgot about that, and how it's having a huge impact on the logistics timeframes for ALL ports.

Maybe, I dont know, we dock further down the East coast from Baltimore. But I guess there might be a knock on effect.

 

When shipping containers, you get allocated a ship and leadtimes weeks before dispatch, but often there can be changes made by the shipping company without notice and nothing you can do about it having one or two containers on a giant ship that can have 10,000 containers on it.

 

I remember being late with a few containers a few years ago and an irate salesman rang me and told me to ring the captain of the ship and ask him to load our containers on the front of the ship at the top so it would come off first at port. I just didnt know what to say to him apart from apologising and saying that it didnt really work like that.

 

 

 

 

[Sean_1970]

On 5/16/2024 at 2:02 PM, Intellivision Master said:

That's what is nice about Amazon, if you preorder something, they don't charge until it ships.  Which is good.  Maybe one day Atari will do the same. 

The only stuff I pre-order that gets charged on the day is Evercade carts from Funstock. The price isn’t high enough to bother me and I’ve never had issues with them, but I wouldn’t trust Amazon to take money up-front and deliver, so it’s a good thing they don’t 😉

[+Philsan]

13 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yes, we pushed back the date for a number of reasons. When setting a release date I do add a sizeable buffer for delays. Recently its just been made clear that the buffer ran out. 

...

In my opinion a two-week delay is not a problem.

 

I appreciate you constantly informing us of what's going on, which I don't see happening on the part of the people in charge of THE400.

[+Intellivision Master]

15 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

but I wouldn’t trust Amazon to take money up-front and deliver, so it’s a good thing they don’t 😉

I never had any problems doing a preorder with Amazon.  Also, sometimes a preordered item price can decrease before it comes out.  So, that's nice when that happens.  One time there was a controller I had preordered and the cost went down like $5 before the release date.

[Marc Fiorillo]

I was a retail manager, and I used to tell my employees that 'communication forgives most sins'.  One of the reasons I bought a 2600+ was because of what I see here.  Communication like this shows the commitment Plaion, and Ben specifically has.  Thank you for the constant updates.  It looks like we'll get our stuff soon enough.

 

In a way, it is nice to see the demand outstrip the original projections.  More customers mean more games and accessories for all of us down the line.  It's a win-win for everybody.

[atariman72]

14 hours ago, Philsan said:

In my opinion a two-week delay is not a problem.

 

I appreciate you constantly informing us of what's going on, which I don't see happening on the part of the people in charge of THE400.

 

Spot on with that comment.  Ben has been great at being upfront and telling us about the status of everything he can happening around the 2600+.  This is the exact opposite of my experience with THE400 so far.  The people running that would do well to pay heed to the excellent customer attention given by Ben.

[+D Train]

hearing about the shipping details (and issues) is absolutely *fascinating*.

 

love being exposed to the inside dope.

[Maztr_0n]

From the US, Preordered the 7800 pad and Fatal Run as soon as i heard the news, i dont think its shipped just yet unfortunately. So i feel this.

 

 

I just hope that when it comes here the plastic doesnt melt, its a scorcher... in a scorched land... not too dissimilar to the world of Fatal Run

[TrogdarRobusto]

Barring port or delivery delays, we expect Amazon and Atari to both receive the 7800 accessories and games by the second week of June with shipment to U.S. customers by the third week of June. This is just an estimate, we will provide an update if the shipping window changes. (edited) 

I'll update this thread when I have something more specific. If you have moved between when you pre-ordered and now, please contact customer service at Atari and update your shipping address (or update your address in Amazon).

Edited May 21 by TrogdarRobusto

[+LS650]

I just noticed today that Amazon Canada has now changed the shipping date for the CX-78+ I ordered from June 7 to June 21.

[Gabe]

6 hours ago, LS650 said:

I just noticed today that Amazon Canada has now changed the shipping date for the CX-78+ I ordered from June 7 to June 21.

I'm seeing the same thing for the CX30+ paddles in the US, from the 7th to the 21st. Oh well, stuff happens. I'm patient. I already have a set for my 2600+. These are just to replace the rather "stiff to turn" ones that came with my Flashback 12. 

[Gabe]

On 5/17/2024 at 12:51 PM, John Stamos Mullet said:

When I hear people complaining on here about the delays and making unfounded accusations of potential malfeasance or bad customer service, and then we see the literal guy from the company making these products giving updates on a public forum with this level of process detail (which Ben has been doing this whole time if you've paid any attention) you gotta start to wonder what their real motivation in coming here is.

Some people also just seem to forget that today's Atari is a much different animal than the early 80s monster of a company that was raining millions in profit while churning out thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers and millions of carts. It's a much smaller, leaner outfit with less money. They have to gauge the market very carefully. They can't have thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers made and hope people buy them all. They don't have the money to do something like that. It's a much more difficult balancing act for a small, relatively niche company in a HUGE market than a lot of people realize. I give them a lot of props for what they've been able to accomplish so far.

[John Stamos Mullet]

2 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Some people also just seem to forget that today's Atari is a much different animal than the early 80s monster of a company that was raining millions in profit while churning out thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers and millions of carts. It's a much smaller, leaner outfit with less money. They have to gauge the market very carefully. They can't have thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers made and hope people buy them all. They don't have the money to do something like that. It's a much more difficult balancing act for a small, relatively niche company in a HUGE market than a lot of people realize. I give them a lot of props for what they've been able to accomplish so far.

[Marc Fiorillo]

2 hours ago, Gabe said:

Some people also just seem to forget that today's Atari is a much different animal than the early 80s monster of a company that was raining millions in profit while churning out thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers and millions of carts. It's a much smaller, leaner outfit with less money. They have to gauge the market very carefully. They can't have thousands upon thousands of consoles and controllers made and hope people buy them all. They don't have the money to do something like that. It's a much more difficult balancing act for a small, relatively niche company in a HUGE market than a lot of people realize. I give them a lot of props for what they've been able to accomplish so far.

Why not?  If there's extra, I hear there's room in a landfill in Alamagordo NM! 😝😜

[Maztr_0n]

On 5/17/2024 at 11:39 AM, Ben from Plaion said:

I check every day on the whereabouts of the container ships. US went through the Panama canal earlier in the week and is near Florida right now.

Oh dang RIP they're in florida now /j(oke)

 

Was Detroit not on the menu..?

[Maztr_0n]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:14 AM, TrogdarRobusto said:

I'll update this thread when I have something more specific. If you have moved between when you pre-ordered and now, please contact customer service at Atari and update your shipping address (or update your address in Amazon).

Ahhh, honestly my orders old enough to probably have my old ass name on it, no issues though. Just hoping that it comes AFTER my brothers birthday so nobody thinks i just bought some games for myself instead of something for him