FP2 delivery and information policy is a huuuge disappointment

Discuss The Industry
1

Sorry for the rant, but looking into my order yesterday I lost it.

I ordered my Fairphone 2 in September to be exact 108 days ago. with my order number #200045564.

Back then it was stated if we’d back the campaign now they would be shipped by autumn.
The statement sounded like you guys just needed a last backing before entering production.
Then end of october it was stated that you can not “promise” that all phones would be
shipped before cristmas.
Then the expected delivery for my order changed from december to january. And now without
noticing me it has been changed to february.

I feel fooled and badly informed. If you had stated, that phone shipping will start in winter in
the first place, I had still backed. But would be a happy customer. If you had told me in November, hey we’re sorry as it looks right now it will be february - I would not be that disappointed.

What happened to the statement, that with our order number we’ll receive information about
the delivery day, btw? Yet it did not happen.

Fairphone 2 will have to be a super phone to make up for all the disappointment made in the at least 4 months I will have waited until I (if ever) receive it in february. Reading about all the bugs inside this
forum, I doubt that will happen. All the info on the camera quality that has gone around so for, along with the statement there wont be produced a better camera module rubs more salt into that wound.

I find it very sad, that fairphone does not answer on facebook, all it does is using it as a PR-Channel, posting hype stories.
And seriously, I don’t believe that a delay that long could not be expected 4-8 weeks before the stated delivery should have started.

I still really back the idea. And some of my friends have told me “hey they are just a bunch of enthusiasts trying to build a phone”. I disagree, Fairphone is a company. I pay for your service, I actually pay a “premium price”, so the least I can expect is a fair a good service (or fair and up to date information policy). I pay the premium price for the social impact I want to support - but that is no excuse for the bad information policy.

Actually the social impact is the only reason I did not cancel my order - any other company would have lost me as a customer very soon.

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2

hm, i have a vastly different experience. since my order (july 2015, a couple of days after the launch) i regularly got emails informing me about progress of production and anticipated delays in production & shipping, at least once a month. finally, shortly after xmas i was informed that my new FP2 would arrive early in january what it did (and it’s great). so not with the very first batch that was delivered over xmas but a tad later. perfect for me…

did you consider that – for unknown reasons – your order simply got lost because sh*t happens? you should have been on the mailing list from the time point on you got your order confirmation.

fairphone’s customer support has been great – for me at least – already during the FP1 adventure, when everything was new for all of us. now, with FP2, my impression is that the customer service is completely professional. therefore i’d ask you to not blame them for poor service but rather inquire directly (support) where the heck your order got burried…

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3

I disagree with you. An unpersonalized newsletter is not what I call good information policy.
I tried to contact the service in december via facebook, did not work, besides that.
As I said in my first comment:

  • Fairphone can’t tell me that 8 weeks before the end of the period they promised to deliver they could not expect the delays that happened.
  • Four weeks after ordering it was delayed into December (winter)
  • In december it was delayed into january
  • Now into february
  • Reading about all the bugs, I might even get a less good phone than my old one
  • the promise of getting detailed information on delivery time with my order number that was stated earlier is also not met. That counter thingy does not do it for me.

and:

  • FP is not a non-profit organisation, it is a business. I expect reliability and honesty as from any other business.
    My calculation is simple I pay :
    (A for the service and product I’d expect from any other company) + (B the fairness of the product) = premium price.

But Fairphone does not deliver part A of the equation.

4

About the bugs: I can understand that reading about all these bugs on the forum makes you expect a terrible phone that does not charge, has an unusable touchscreen and is unable to take a good picture. But I think most people only come here because there’s something wrong with their phone. Most fairphone owners probably have a normal functioning phone, but they just don’t come to the forum to tell that. I have had my FP2 for over 3 weeks and for 99% of the time, I’m very, very happy with it:)

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5

I just recieved an e-mail stating that if you paid for your phone in September, then you should get your phone in the last weeks of January.
If your payment arrived at Fairphone between October and January, are on the role for delivery in February.
So it all comes down to the arrival of your payment.

Did you subscribe for the newletter?

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6

Seems like I got this mail, while writing this post as well. Doesn’t make it better for me. I read through some of the newletters. They still promised in November if somebody ordered back then the phone would be shipped in January. C’mon it was obvious back then that this could not be done.

Also with the mail that came today it was the first time I remember they said sorry for all the delays. And saying: “We’re sorry that your phone may be delivered later than we originally planned.” That is no maybe that is an “is”. And it’s at the very end of the newsletter, in my that should have been Sorry for the delay could have been the headline of a couple of newsletters already. In opinion an honest company would not have made those far-fetched promises in the first place.

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7

In several newsletter Fairphone thanked us for our patience. Okee, that’s not ‘I am sorry’ but for me that’s also an apology.

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8

Really, I have no clue why for so many people it’s such a big deal to receive their phone two or three, or even four months later:

  1. You’ve paid for a phone that’s meant to last five+ years, surely you’re not a person for which every delayed week counts…
  2. You know you’ve been backing a crowdfunding campaign for something that hasn’t been made before. If building a phone like this would be a walk in the park, it would have been done by many others, way before.
  3. Rather than sending daily e-mails, facebook and twitter-updates, FP is putting all effort in building a good phone as quickly as possible. I think this is the right priority.

Ah well, maybe this is similar like ‘all those’ bugs on the forum. I just read about all the dissapointments. The vast majority is waiting patiently without compalining.

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9

i agree. however, It’s also OK to use the forum for complaints. i got to like the forum 'cause in general there’s a reasonable mix of statements/opinions etcetera.

10

If you want to contact FairPhone, best use the means mentioned here or here on the website…

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11

I tend to understand both sides a little bit.

Although I’m not angry and will be happy to receive my phone I can understand your disappointment. I feel similar. Actually I don’t understand why FP from all possible estimations seems in each step to choose the one where everything has to go perfect to keep in time. They could be a little more pessimistic, I wouldn’t think it makes a difference for the customer (hey if I’m informed I have to wait 5 month for my phone beforehead it’s ok… FP is still not at the point where they can deliver a phone for people that need it NOW) and it would be great when in the end the phone comes a month earlier than expected.

Actually it wasn’t. That one they explained very detailed: They had to redo a part and then wait for the new delivery, which was obviously unexpected and as soon as that was clear they posted in the blog.

That is a feeling that also sticks with me a little bit. I wouldn’t choose the word “dishonest” but I also feel that the official statements often read as polished for PR and not so much intended to give open and honest informative updates about what’s going on. Also the way the delays are described feels often … I wouldn’t say dishonest, but like someont trying to weasel out of something bad they have done. I wonder why this is necessary. Clear information and statements would be much more appreciated, at least from my side. I will not expect my phone in Jan, but in Feb (I ordered in late Sep an should be amongst the “next 3 weeks of jan” people) because I don’t trust FP calculations anymore (especially since it’s easy to calculate for yourself with the counter).

I also agree with @schept totally. And I won’t be getting angry or pissed or something. It’s not about what is actually happening (delays, problems) it’s more about how FP handles the communication about the facts… and this at least for me leaves a uncomfortable feeling.

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12

It is, if your phone is broken and you are constantly considering if you should wait longer or chancel the order and get another phone immediately.

I totally agree. I was also getting impatient when waiting, and I was missing, like @Basil_Toyo a “sorry, we’re delayed.” Of course unforeseen things can happen, but “thanks for being patient” is something completely different than saying sorry.
I hoped there would be more details on why the delays, what parts had to be made again etc.

In the end, even though I became impatient and wasn’t happy with the communication either, I felt that it is a small team and they are most likely even more upset about the delays.

But yes, in general I also think that communication could be improved, away from bla bla PR language to a more open and straight froward language. Especially a project like Fairphone, which often emphasizes it would be kind of a community brand, doesn’t deserve this talking around things.

But I wouldn’t be afraid about the bugs. I have my FP2 now since 2 weeks, and I am generally happy with it. Probably I haven’t even said that yet once here in the forum, but only been discussing about bugs etc. But so far I experience them as minor and not disturbing. My phone basically works just fine, I don’t consider these minor flaws as a problem. Despite the disappointment with the root issue, I wouldn’t want to give back my FP2!

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13

I too am waiting for a fairphone 2 and am increasingly disappointed and amused by the delays on every date they announce. Even yesterday’s newsletter was announced on monday and (at a point) promised for wednesday. And when he wrote it the ‘next three weeks’ of january probably still existed.

But please remember that the fairphone 2 really is the first phone they are producing from scratch. For the first fairphone the only thing they built themselves was the worker welfare fund (probably). Additionally it is clear that anyone who is crowdfunding a project takes over some of the risks, especially for delays.
When we are waiting in agony we do it for the next generation of fairphoners who will be able to actually order a phone and recieve it within a week.

I think, from our point of view, we are in no postion to distinguish dishonesty from PR-talk from eager optimism.

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14

Thanks for your comment, your elaborated my point much better. Due to less pissed-ness, I guess :wink:

15

Sorry to say this.
For the deliverytime is not the dat your order that counts, but the day your payment was received by Fairphone.
When ordering late September, it possible your payment arrived in Oktober, which means you would receive your phone in February as stated in the last newsletter I had in my email.

16

When I ordered my phone in december, there was a big announcement on the shop/fairphone page saying “Delivery in January”. A t this time, I didn’t know that people having ordered in July were on the same deadline … Today, I have to wait for February (or more, who knows ?). Do you think this is a correct attitude ?

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17

Thanks for your concern, but I’ve got a delivery nr (14***) so I should be on the safe side. My payment also arrived in late sept. :smile:[quote=“Openit4us, post:16, topic:12357, full:true”]
When I ordered my phone in december, there was a big announcement on the shop/fairphone page saying “Delivery in January”. A t this time, I didn’t know that people having ordered in July were on the same deadline … Today, I have to wait for February (or more, who knows ?). Do you think this is a correct attitude ?
[/quote]

Tell me one thing: You know that the whole FP2 project is a crowdfunding project? Some of your comments read as you weren’t in the slightest aware of this fact …

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18

I think you’re right. I don’t know all the impacts of what you name a “crowdfunding project”, and to be clear, I don’t matter. I’ve seen informations about a fair and open phone on a web site, with a delay of delivery. I’ve thought that the “fair” part of this project was balancing the high price of the object. I thought that the “open” part of the the project was in line with my wishees. I thought that the delay was matching my needs. So I decided to buy this phone.
Today, I see that :
1° The open part is not so open as there are binaries needed
2° No solution is given by Fairphone itself to root the phone (don’t want to use third party code for that)
3° If a Googlefree version is available, there is no certainty about frequent updates
4° To compile the code myself, I have to buy another desktop as 8Go memory isn’t possible for mine !
5° Delivery delay isn’t stable
6° It is not possible to create local contact without third party app !!! Is this really a phone ???
7° Many bugs are listed and other appear each day
So no, I didn’t know all that before sending my money and I feel I’ve been deceived.
Can’t you understant that ?

19

No. Because

this DOES matter.

Partly. The other part is that they have to devide all their cost through a very small amount of customers - the backers of the crowdfunding project.[quote=“Openit4us, post:18, topic:12357”]
2° No solution is given by Fairphone itself to root the phone (don’t want to use third party code for that)
[/quote]
No. FP will provide the root. Why it isn’t ready yet? Because its a crowdfunding project. That means amongst other things that development can be delayed and comes only by the by.

That’s partly true. But at least they will try.

It will be. The reason why it isn’t yet is because they cannot estimate in a good way, they are ramping up production and delivery and why? You guessed right, because it’s a crowdfunding project.

This is a Android matter, not a FP matter.

Getting tired here … because it’s a crowdfunding project …

None of the written above is any secret. So had you informed yourself properly, you knew all of it.

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20

Curiously, you have no answer to points 1° and 4° ? Don’t get more tired …
This is your feeling, not mine which is above and does not change.
I have informed myself properly by reading this which is the official description.
This will be my first (and last ?) android phone, or maybe not if I send it back.
A phone with no local contacts is not a phone.
I was looking for a smart phone (in two words). Seems I didn’t find it.