Thanks for taking the time to drop us a note. I have a K3 or order, and I appreciate the ability to put money down. That lets me spread the payment out some this year, and pay the rest when it ships next year. I also have the warm feeling that I am investing in a company that has consistently impressed me. During the build of my K2, I received input and support from many impressive people on this list, as well as direct emails from Wayne and Eric. I can count on one hand, the number of times I have experienced this level of support.
I have sold all of my other rigs that I had here in the house, EXCEPT the K2 which I continue to learn and grow with. I fully support your effort to put out a quality product. I am in no hurry for the K3, but as with everyone else, I look forward to using what sounds like a superb platform. Feel free to take your time to fill my order, as I have full confidence that once it arrives, the K3 will fully meet my high expectations. Thanks for all the great products! - David Wilburn [EMAIL PROTECTED] K4DGW K2 S/N 5982 On Thu, 2007-12-13 at 09:53 -0800, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote: > Hi Julian, > > I apologize for the delays getting you (and everyone else) your K3. We > are absolutely working as hard as possible to get K3s out the door > quickly. Every time I see a complaint here (and elsewhere) about > delivery delays, status accuracy etc., I take every posting very > personally (especially those criticizing our veracity) and agonize over > how we can improve things further. > > To be totally, and brutally, honest, we were absolutely amazed at the > amount of orders we received at introduction of the K3. (We're not a > venture capital financed company that can staff up and spend millions of > dollars before shipping our first K3.) We certainly underestimated the > ongoing response and have been playing catch up as we have added staff > and vendors to meet the demand. This has strained not only our own > staff, but that of our vendors too. They are doing a great job > responding, but we are continually looking for additional resources. My > day starts out -very- early with a review of what new issues and > problems have to be addressed to keep production rolling and how we can > improve our run rate. The term 'fire drill' is now permanently engraved > on the back of my head ;-) Fire drills encompass everything from vendors > not delivering parts and assembled PCBs on schedule, wrong or faulty > parts received, key employees out sick, test and alignment taking longer > than expected, pcb assembly errors at a vendor (requiring rework here), > customers who personally want to talk with me etc. etc. All of this is a > normal part of any product ramp up (I've been there before..), and it is > getting better and more predictable daily. But it takes a lot of effort > to make sure we increase our output -and- maintain our admittedly high > quality standards. > > As we go forward our shipping estimates will continue to both increase > in volume and get more accurate. I'm trying to be as honest and as > conservative as possible with my current shipping estimates, and so are > Lisa and her crew. But we're human too and will make mistakes or be over > optimistic from time to time. It is very hard to accurately estimate > delivery out past a 3-4 week window and I'm sure Lisa and crew have been > pressured into guessing on some estimates. I'm actually trying to get to > the point where we will regularly exceed our posted estimates. If my > 'fire drill' threshold is not exceeded this month I think we'll be there > soon! :-) > > Our new order rate is strong (and increasing!) and we have had very few > cancellations (I can count them on one hand), which has given us the > confidence to spend even more on staffing, inventory and other > resources. As K3s have gotten out into the field people are showing > their rig to their friends and we're getting a lot of referral orders. > We've now been able to increase our daily production rate ahead of the > order rate, so my confidence is increasing that we're on the right track > to keep everyone happy. > > As always, we will refund any deposits (and still keep an order active) > and/or cancel anyone's order without delay should they feel the need to > do so. > > Lastly, please stop arguing with each other here about what should or > should not be said about K3 deliveries. We want the feedback. But also, > please tone down the rhetoric and personal criticisms - we are human > here too and we lose sleep over these postings. > > We're doing our best to make the K3 a superb rig and to get it out to > you as quickly as possible. As always, please feel free to email me > directly if you feel we have done or said anything you take issue with ) > or just want to vent! :-) > > 73, Eric WA6HHQ > ------ > > G4ILO wrote: > > Jim-170 wrote: > > > >> Please give the fine staff at Elecraft a break. They are providing a great > >> service to our Amateur Community...... > >> > >> > > And there was me thinking they were advertising products for sale and > > entering into contracts with people who placed orders for them! How silly of > > me! > > > > ----- > > Julian, G4ILO K2 s/n: 392 K3 s/n: ??? > > G4ILO's Shack: www.g4ilo.com > > Zerobeat Ham Forums: www.zerobeat.net/smf > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
