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USA
Asked — Edited

First Impressions Of My Purchase

Hello everyone,

I'm a new customer of EZRobot and order my robot kit last Friday. I was told it would be here today. Needless to say it did not arrive today due to whatever reason, DHL just didn't make the delivery. This was going to be a very nice birthday present, but now its not. Some areas for improvement:

1) Faster responses on orders / questions or even phone/live chat.
2) Ship from USA or CA and not from China. (Only Apple seems to be able to do this on time.)
3) Use UPS or FedEx for US shipments as I have never not received a package on time from them, unless weather delay.

Needless to say, we are still wanting to get the robot and its my fault waiting till last Friday to order. If I would have ordered from MakerShed, I'm almost certain I would have gotten it in time.

Anyways, had to rant/vent, as a kid is involved and I dont like to disappoint.

Keith


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USA
#1  
@Kieth

Welcome to the EZ Robot community first off. I'm sorry to hear that DHL was unable to deliver within the expected time frame. Partnerships are made with various retailers like makers shed or robotstore as a dealer so the purchase is more local, but of course if you prefer to make the order internationally then there can sometimes be tiny hiccups , like customs processing for example. It may be best to buy from the closest physical retailer in the future for fast delivery. The only thing about international purchases is the patience in waiting. The good news is the early supporters before you made purchases and waited for months while the manufacturing facility and the plastic injection molds were created. However when you ordered the products were ready to ship. Update us on when your get your order , it's fantastic to see open box videos and initial impressions. Please be mindful ez robot is a young startup and these are products recently released to the market so the features are rapidly developing and adding capabilities for android and apple products. Have a great day !
PRO
Synthiam
#2  
@69develeoper, thanks for the feedback:) There are only a handful of us (5 of us), so live chat is impossible. Apple is a considerably large company, and we are a very small startup barely breaking the bank from Calgary Alberta Canada :D. We have taken a very courageous step at starting a company to develop a groundbreaking product that is 10 times what you will find anywhere else - we do have a few days additional shipping delays because your order originates from our factory in China. In fact, the product that you are receiving was most likely built the day you ordered it. We do not have the funds to store inventory, so we build the product as they are ordered. Hope that helps!
#3  
@69developer I bought my first 2 EZB4 boards 2 days after EZ Robot opened their online store for the new Revolution and EZB4 related products.... I waited (like many of us on here) nearly a year before getting my order... I could have gotten a 100 arduinos the next day of ordering, but my drawer was already full of outdated and old robotic stuff :P.... Trust me, it was hard for all of us to wait.... but in the end it was worth it.... To tell you the truth, if tomorrow EZ Robot introduces a EZB5 or whatever, I would wait another year all over again....

The product is that good... Just wait until you and you son/daughter start using the ezb4...

Congrats and enjoy.... Happy birthday to you son/daughter by the way...:)
#4  
... One more thing. As J mentioned they are a small company out of Alberta Canada.... It cost them a lot of money to roll out their Revolution product line... If it wasn't for China being able to produce their product at a seriously reasonable cost they wouldn't be able to do this.... Manufacturing costs were just too high to be considered in North America....

Saying that, I am pretty sure the EZ Robot team are still surviving on a steady diet of Kraft dinner and pizza in order to keep costs down...:P I was thinking of sending them a basket of fruit so they don't die from scurvy or something... And once a week I think DJ lets them turn the heat on as a treat...:D
United Kingdom
#5  
Live support = Community Forum:)

Seriously, post a question and it's answered within hours, sometimes minutes (and if I'm on the ball sometimes seconds!). The exception comes when questions are regarding orders since we don't know any details however the live tracking should answer all questions there:)

Welcome to the jungle community:)
#6  
Thanks for all the replies and information. Thanks Richard for the Birthday wish. Only thing is I beg to differ on manufacturing in the USA vs low cost outsource countries as China and Mexico. We need to invest more into our manufacturing infrastructure. One example, yeah China can do an injection molded plastic substrate cheaper than us, but I bet you their tooling will not last and their quality will not be as good. Prime example: WeatherTech

I'm the type that always leaves feedback, good, bad or what I experienced. First I should not have waited till last minute. I know what its like to wait like you Richard, as I back a lot of Kickstarter projects, sometimes forgetting what I backed.

I'm actually glad I found the EZ-Robot and DJ Sures information / videos. Looks like my kid and I will be in great company. Only bad thing is, I had promised him a nice present tomorrow, but DHL let me down, as it was out for delivery but never made it to my house.

Anyone know if and how I can get the v3 version and older software?

Thanks again!
Keith
#7  
@Keith.... As far as I understand (EZ Robot can correct me if I am wrong) EZ Robot approached many US/Canadian manufactures first to quote on manufacturing their products... What they saw was quotes 5 to 10 times higher than what then ended up getting from China... In addition some manufactures never even bothered to return their calls....

Keith, I do agree with you however... US manufacturing is still next to none in the world.... I do try to buy from US and Canadian manufactures whenever I can....
#8  
The current software still supports the v3. You can make a post that you are willing to buy v3's bit that's about it. They are going away but some may still have one ore two they are willing to part with.

As soon as the last release of the software that supports the v3 is released, DJ has said that he will keep that version available on this site and continue on with the software for the v4 only.
#9  
Where are the older releases of software that I can download, I can't seem to find the location?
#10  
There isnt. The current version supports the v3.

At some point, they will discontinue support for the v3 and at that point, DJ will post the last version that supports the v3 for download. There is not a place to download back copies through ez-robot. Some people keep copies of old versions on their computers for themselves. Ez-robot doesn't do this.
#11  
Anthony, I did look over your kickstarter campaign and I am interested, I booked it to remind me and have some questions for you. Can I just send an email from your website or what is best way to talk to you?

Yes I'm interested in the EZ-b's you have, right now off top of my head I can remember where I read something on these forums that v3 only supports a feature that I was thinking about. (Maybe I was dreaming, got way to much going on)


Thanks everyone for your input...
Canada
#12  
@Richard R is correct, we spend weeks doing nothing but contacting North American manufacturing facilities and prices were either so outrageous we wouldn't have a viable business model or the companies refused to work with young scaling companies. We connected with 50+ companies both local to Calgary all the way down to Texas with no luck.

China does really good work. It's unfortunate that the stigma of poor workmanship still follows China to this day after they have proven their capabilities time and time again (Apple, Samsung etc.) When poor quality comes from China it's typically due to the company, not the manufacturer, cutting corners. when making a mold you get to choose what type of steel is used. German steel, which is some of the best in the world, is an option that the majority of companies go with and is well worth the additional funds up-front.

It's kind of funny, German steel tooled on the exact same machines in USA as in China costs 5 x as much. Until North American manufacturing companies begin to offer competitive prices I can't see a major shift towards North American manufacturing.

The other issue is supply chain. If all of s sudden business blows up and you need to create 100x more product, you'd be done for in NA. You can't just hire that number of workers over night and gather all the electronic supplies required in a timely fashion. In China, they can bring on 10,000 temporary workers overnight if needed.

I believe that the changes are slowly happening that will enable competitive manufacturing in North America. It simply isn't a viable option from a business standpoint today.
#13  
The shift of Manufacturing to North American is happening, especially in desire need of high quality and shipping cost. Not saying you guys didnt try, but I would spend 25% - 40% more if it was made in the USA. Keep in mind I'm coming from an automotive world. Just curious is SparkFun was way up in pricing?

Anyways got the EZ Robot today.

Just curious if ARC wants pictures of boxes, parts, etc to help improve overall quality and satisfaction. Again not criticizing, just wanting to help if I can to make a great product even better.
#14  
I'll argue about the shipping costs.... I just wish it wouldn't cost so much to ship stuff to Canada from the US... Shipping costs have killed more would be purchases for me than I can count.... Recently, I wanted to buy 4units 12" x 1/4" round abs decks for my Roomba Create totalling $59US at Zagros Robotics... When I went to check out he wanted $95 just for shipping! ( via USPS) ... Obviously the owner doesn't want business from Canada... ebay is the same way... I buy from china because most of the time it is free shipping... Buying from the US usually costs as much to ship as the item is worth... In many cases actually more....
#15  
Just an FYI update...I have been part of two air lifted products from Mexico BACK to the USA.
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