I admit, it's been a while since I wrote something. How long? 5 years, give or take. My last post was pre Obama-care, but commented on how watered down the version eventually passed would be. Indeed it was. In any case, my life has changed since then: 2 kids, 2 jobs in between, and firmly planted in Palo Alto. All-in-all, life is good. Well, if you exclude my Skybell experience.
Skybell (http://www.skybell.com) is an innovative twist on the doorbell. In concept, people ring the Skybell, it places a video call to your smart phone, and you can see who is outside, talk to them, tell them to get a life, etc. You can supposedly use it at night (with built in night vision), move the camera around, with a lot more functionality to be added in. Why do I use the qualifiers "supposedly," and "in concept?" Because I actually haven't received my Skybell yet. In fact, most people haven't received them yet. Despite placing orders 6+ months ago. Granted, this was part of an Indiegogo campaign so some delays are expected.
But these guys have screwed the pooch big time. Some orders have shipped, most haven't. Orders taken on Amazon shipped before the early Indiegogo backers (i.e., loyalty means nothing to these people). And even those that did ship, lacked many of the key features they bragged about--e.g., night vision, controlled turn-on.
But even that was forgiven--by me at least--when they stated that orders would all be shipped by February 6th. But on February 6th, on their Facebook page, they said it would take an additional 7-10 days to update all device firmware to the latest. One obvious question came to mind: if one of the benefits of a "smart" doorbell was to get automatic firmware updates, well, let me do it. But even that was fine.
Then, on February 16th, the day which they should've all shipped, they said it'd be another week or two. It's two weeks since that and nothing.
Every company experiences early growing pains. Manufacturing delays, software glitches. But the one thing you simply cannot do is piss off your customers--especially the ones that contributed to your crowd-sourcing success. You must communicate effectively, efficiently, and most important, transparently. Clearly nobody at Skybell abides by the old business adage: under promise, over deliver. Instead, they've done exactly what you shouldn't: over promise, not deliver.
While I'm still a believer in the device's value, if they don't get their act together quickly, it will provide opportunities for the forthcoming Goji lock (which I'm really looking forward to--why have a doorbell when your lock can see who's at the door!).
I hope to have my Skybell soon and will let you know my hands-on experiences.
Skybell (http://www.skybell.com) is an innovative twist on the doorbell. In concept, people ring the Skybell, it places a video call to your smart phone, and you can see who is outside, talk to them, tell them to get a life, etc. You can supposedly use it at night (with built in night vision), move the camera around, with a lot more functionality to be added in. Why do I use the qualifiers "supposedly," and "in concept?" Because I actually haven't received my Skybell yet. In fact, most people haven't received them yet. Despite placing orders 6+ months ago. Granted, this was part of an Indiegogo campaign so some delays are expected.
But these guys have screwed the pooch big time. Some orders have shipped, most haven't. Orders taken on Amazon shipped before the early Indiegogo backers (i.e., loyalty means nothing to these people). And even those that did ship, lacked many of the key features they bragged about--e.g., night vision, controlled turn-on.
But even that was forgiven--by me at least--when they stated that orders would all be shipped by February 6th. But on February 6th, on their Facebook page, they said it would take an additional 7-10 days to update all device firmware to the latest. One obvious question came to mind: if one of the benefits of a "smart" doorbell was to get automatic firmware updates, well, let me do it. But even that was fine.
Then, on February 16th, the day which they should've all shipped, they said it'd be another week or two. It's two weeks since that and nothing.
Every company experiences early growing pains. Manufacturing delays, software glitches. But the one thing you simply cannot do is piss off your customers--especially the ones that contributed to your crowd-sourcing success. You must communicate effectively, efficiently, and most important, transparently. Clearly nobody at Skybell abides by the old business adage: under promise, over deliver. Instead, they've done exactly what you shouldn't: over promise, not deliver.
While I'm still a believer in the device's value, if they don't get their act together quickly, it will provide opportunities for the forthcoming Goji lock (which I'm really looking forward to--why have a doorbell when your lock can see who's at the door!).
I hope to have my Skybell soon and will let you know my hands-on experiences.
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