@Philips_Support_N Please respond when you can. Thank you
Five numbers end of the week, itâs fair and I donât think too much required - we deserve it. @Philips_Support_N
It is called managing the expectations. These are not some start-up crowd that came into being yesterday, they are âPhilipsâ for crying out loud. I gave them all the leeway they needed for nearly a month now. You can be all positive, being a beta-tester an all, when you have got something, but I wonder how youâd be when you are in my shoes. Donât answer that, it is rhetorical , since you can never be in my shoes, when you have something to for the money (or I donât know if you would even pay for it if you beta-test).
Being Philips, they should put adequate resource for managing expectations better. There is no excuse for that.
Hello guys, here is the report for today.
- First factory: 500 pieces ready for inspection. We picked up 50 pieces for full check but found 3 pieces with non working auto focus. We donât accept this. So they will rework those (they found the issue). Rework should be finished tonight. Inspection again on Sunday. (they have 1,200 pieces to work on)
- Second factory: 600 pieces ready for inspection. 1.1K ready on Monday. Inspection on Monday. (Including 1K for AU/NZ). 5-6K components are inside this factory. 2 production lines should be opened at the end of next week.
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I would like to point you to some earlier posts I wrote in this subject:
With regards to not being in your shoes: no Iâm not. But neither are you in theirs. You have been getting answers at least, Iâve backed a product where I spent $250 on that has gone complete and utterly silent.
And as for beta testing: I signed up using a form that anyone here with a PPM could sign up for. I am not paid to do the testing, Iâm just very knowledgeable in testing procedures and technology in general and donât need this projector for my daily life or business. So I can afford to screw up a bit with testing and having to restore to factory defaults or earlier firmware.
I paid for my PPM just like most others here, was lucky to get it on the 1st of February, and just last week ordered and paid for another one as I like it so much. Iâll have to wait for the second one just like everyone else though, no special treatment.
I like the product and believe in it, just like I like to help others looking for answers. Iâve invested a lot of time replying to posts on topics I can offer advice about. Sometimes it helps already to simply try to clarify what another user is really asking or facing. By doing that Iâm trying to be part of the solutions instead of the problems.
I get your frustration 100%. But your situation is actually better than most here, as something is being done for you, albeit a bit unclear for you what exactly. Once you get the PPM youâll be delighted though, and youâll soon forget how frustrated you were. Iâm rooting for your package to arrive soon! 
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Appreciate that and I do get the effort they have been putting in the early stages of this campaign. They had been prompt to come back with relevant response in the Indigogo comments section. But the moment things got out of hands there, which was why I think they created this forum to save their name, shouldâve realised it was key to keep the backers well informed of the progress, and also add more resource on that front if needed. But it now looks like theyâve got the funding and 1000 time more. Its also beyond refund deadline, so lets screwâem. That is what the impression it gives.
Also note, you are the sole individual defending them and I am not the only one complaining. I even got likes for my so called spam. I mean I donât have to be in their shoes. It is basic right to expect direct answer and basic courtesy of them to be clear in their communication. That is if you want to be perceived as professionals. I mean they now seem to be at the stage they donât want to even care.
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So no units has passed the QC yet then?
What happened to the 700 units that were ready for QC before the start of CNY? Are they included in the 500+600?
If everything goes well, how soon can we expect shipping to start for Australian backers?
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Which they did by adding moderators to help field questions and keep things orderly.
It was spam, as you posted the exact same message in 14 different threads. That doesnât mean that the content did not have merit, obviously it struck a cord with others.
To complain is easy, to stand up for what you believe is right often more difficult.
Like Iâve explained before, I believe that while the team at Screeneo / Philips might be very good at what they usually do, this crowdfunding project test pilot hasnât been a great success in the sense of smooth operations. It has however showed them a lot of the pitfalls and issues involved in allowing the public to participate in the design, funding and looks behind the scenes of bringing such a product to the market. Normally they donât have to deal with backers, only internal project managers and so on. And if deadlines arenât met the only people chasing them are their retailers. So thatâs who they normally communicate with.
Imagine having that sort of regular load and now all of a sudden have to not only be accountable to your bosses but also to 15K+ backers, having to communicate, ship, track, collect taxes, prepare return forms, WHILE dealing with a lockdown and lack of workforce due to an international virus outbreak. No matter how professional you are as a person, there is only so much you can do.
As a company, they might have brought more people in to help once it became clear they couldnât handle the load, but at what cost? These people would need to be trained / schooled, and might also not be up to par for the job at hand, whether it be design, production, or communication. In a sense they did do something of the sort by training their support staff to be able to field questions about the product, from defective samples to other issues.
I defend them as I see their struggle, having been there myself working at a company and having to deliver a product on time. Iâve seen major projects fail on something as simple as a secretary of the CEO not liking a product fully and voicing her opinion to her boss, whereas if she had been identified as a key player in the feedback and decision making she might have been kept in the loop of where we were taking the software and she might have had a better informed opinion.
Of course it feels easy for me to say all this as I already have mine, and am enjoying it daily. But if youâre really honest with yourself, itâs not the end of the world nor does it directly affect your life, health, financial stability, or happiness in life (I would hope not at least). If you put things in their proper perspective and try to be patient youâll be happier in the end.
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Some have, as they had a batch of 50 that they had a full inspection on, but 3 did not. Once those were found, they decided to check all units made at factory 1 again, reworking / fixing where needed.
They will be inspected on Monday, as per what @Philips_Support_N said.
Disclaimer: I commented with how I read and interpreted what @Philips_Support_N posted in the daily report. I could be wrong but thatâs how I see things.
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Why donât you get it that itâs impossible to give anyone a clear shipping date for anything at the moment?
Why donât you understand that the whole process is much more than just you âbuyingâ that perk, someone building your PPM, then the same workers taking it to the post office, receiving a tracking number and of course updating you, and then after a few days some friendly delivery guy ringing at your door with a neat little projector?
Why are you posting your honest concern about the workersâ health status because of COVID-19, but at the same time arenât able to see the bigger picture and to process what âstate of emergencyâ means?
State of emergency means chaos and not only in China but coming to half of the world these days, thanks to mass media, intercontinental flights and an overall lack of hand hygiene.
There are thousands of factories, businesses and (public) services in the need to get back on track and millions of people who need to find their way back to daily life. And all these businesses and services have billions of products to ship and contracts to fulfill. Seeing all this makes it easier to sort out between trillions of âsuper urgent !!!1â stakeholder interests and the few really urgent ones.
So maybe right now none of the suppliers of components for the PPM knows when and in what count the workers will be back and how stable the supply chain (materials, logistics âŚ) will be. â And so arenât able to tell Philips/Screeneo/Chinese contractor anything specific.
Or maybe the forwarder doesnât know when the local driver will be back for work or even if heâs alive. â And so isnât able to tell Philips/Screeneo/Chinese contractor anything specific.
Or maybe DHL in China is in trouble rescheduling every tiny piece on their side and trying to sort all their stuff out regarding international shipping (getting crews and cargo/flight slots ready) and checking when different countries stop accepting inbound flights from China (which is changing maybe hourly?) and other dependencies to official decisions. â And so isnât able to tell Philips/Screeneo/Chinese contractor anything specific. Or even DHL just tells them to be patient (shut the *$!% up) because they have much bigger issues.
Or â most likely â itâs a mixture of all these factors plus dozens more.
You see? â Itâs so much bigger and the devil / virus is in the detail. And your neat little projector will have to go through so many (hopefully clean) hands in the meantime.
So how could any reasonable human being dare to give you more than vague information â but still update you with the numbers they truly know â in times when this kind of information could be outdated at the time of writing?
Nevertheless, someone whose life depends so much on a projector and â under the aforementioned circumstances â isnât above such things, should urgently rethink his life. 
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you are right
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thanks @Philips_Support_N !
I am standing up by complaining against what I believe is the right thing they shouldâve done.
I do agree I am some what in a unique situation compared to the majority. I backed them at a very early stage and my order shipped a month ago, but due to a packaging error (as quoted by @Philips_Support_N) was sent back to the sender and due to a DHL error, it was sent back to Hongkong, instead of the EU dispatcher (I live in EU). They did agree to send a new one when I reported this a month ago. But what they shouldâve done is show some evidence that they are doing something about my unique situation
Instead they gave this vague answer
Waiting on DHL for what exactly?
have their associate in HK or EU, sent DHL a new unit?
When did DHL say they will get back with answer for your query?
Given its been a month since my original complaint, I would like to see if they have a ticket open with DHL dealing with my specific problem.
Giving a bit more detail is an easy win for both of us and for a company like Philips, they should already know this. I am now convinced that they havenât done squat about my issue and these answers I am hearing are just standard time wasting tactics
How naive are Philips, getting into crowdfunding without researching these things before hand and using âwe are new to crowdfunding and have to answer to both our managers and to backerâ as an excuse for being sloppy.
I mean, if you are honest with yourself, itâs not the end of the world nor does it directly affect Philips, their company health or their financial stability or their happiness, if I point out the little things they could be doing better at, so people like me who at a similar situation get an honest answer.
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@Philips_Support_N If everything goes well, how soon can the auz backers shipment start?
3 autofocus issues out of 50 checked seems like a high error rate on a known issue. @Philips_Support_N are you continuing with only checking a sample of units, or can you check them all? I think everyone would be happy knowing that their unit wonât have this problem when it arrives.
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From what I understand, because of this high percentage of errors on such a small sample they DID go back and check them all. Or they will on Monday as they move into last inspection before shipping. Either way, the Australian shipment should leave in the next few days if Iâm understanding everything correctly.
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Heâs not the sole individual supporting them, itâs just he does it so eloquently that thereâs no point adding unnecessary messages.
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You can always show you agree with someone by Liking their post, that will show others that thereâs peeps out there who support whatâs been said.
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Haha, thatâs why Iâve liked a few of your posts. Donât have time to do it all the time 
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