Update #20: Still Mad?
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Jan 05, 2017 at 07:49:44 PM
Hi All,
Thank you to all of you who participated in the survey. It was very helpful to get a broader view of what people thought about the larger Jewish Wisdom Ball. The results were ... not good. Over half of you claimed you couldn't read the ball all or most of the time. Lord knows you all have plenty of other reasons to be unhappy, the last thing you need is frustration from your Jewish Wisdom Ball. It's supposed to make you feel guilty, condescended to, and inadequate. But never unhappy (heaven forfend)!
I contacted the manufacturer and they said that cold weather during delivery might have affected the buoyancy of the answer module. Their advice was:
Please allow time for the ball to be to be adjusted
to normal room temperature (above 68 Degrees).
Shake Ball vigorously between questions. Hold the ball
as level as possible.
So here's what we're going to do. If you were dissatisfied with the larger Jewish Wisdom Ball I will ask you to humor me and try it one more time. Follow the directions above and see if makes things better.
If, after trying again, you're still dissatisfied with the quality of the larger Jewish Wisdom Ball, I can offer a one-for-one replacement of the large ones you ordered for the small ones instead. That way, you can all get the correct number of working Jewish Wisdom Balls that you ordered. It seems like all of the larger ones suffer from the same issue so there's no point in trying to replace the ones you don't like with a different large ball that you'll hate as well. The small ones work well, so that's what we're going with. They have all the wisdom of the larger units but in a more compact, non-threatening size.
Now, those of you who only ordered one ball have already gotten a small ball with your original order, so we'll have to call that square. But if you ordered more than one and would like to replace the additional large Jewish Wisdom Balls with the small ones instead, I will make that happen. You don't even need to send back the large one and I'll pay for the shipping.
All you have to do is send an email to [email protected] and include a short note about why you're unsatisfied with the large Jewish Wisdom Ball. I don't need a whole megillah; just a sentence or two is fine. And let's keep the name calling to a minimum.
Needless to say, I didn't intend to produce a product with a 5% customer satisfaction rating. Anytime you're doing worse than Spirit Airlines, Comcast, and the US Congress, you know something has gone horribly wrong. But I hope that any of you still unhappy will take me up on the offer. You believed in this project enough to plunk down your hard-earned simoleans, I hope I can fulfill your orders faithfully, even if not at full size. It's slightly more than the least I could do.
Best wishes,
-Rami
P.S. If any of you are looking for another Jewish Kickstarter campaign to back, consider the Spinagogue, the first-ever dreidel spinning stadium. They're well on their way to getting funded and could use your support.
Update #19: How Bad Is It, Really?
about 8 years ago
– Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 08:54:13 PM
Hi All,
By now, essentially all US and Canadian orders have been delivered. That means that nearly all of you should have had a chance to open and try the larger Jewish Wisdom Ball. With the arrival of those packages, complaints have started to roll in about how difficult it is to read the large Jewish Wisdom Ball.
This poses a problem because it's hard tell if this is an issue that affects a large number of units and it's hard to tell just how big a problem it is. So I'm asking for your help. Please fill out this one-question survey to report your experience with reading the large Jewish Wisdom Ball:
http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/zfirxn/large-jewish-wisdom-ball-poll
Don't be shy about your opinion. You won't be insulting anyone if you say that it stinks. And please only vote once, even if you're really mad.
If you'd like to think about it another way, consider how you'd feel if you had bought this in a store, rather than backed it on Kickstarter. Before we go out and try to sell these in retail locations, it is critical that we figure out if the units are not worth selling because of a manufacturer's defect.
Also, please keep the messages coming if you didn't get what you ordered, including a small Jewish Wisdom Ball. Shipments have already started going out to correct incomplete orders.
Happy Hanukkah,
-Rami
Update #18: We've All Got Issues
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Dec 22, 2016 at 06:31:30 PM
Hi All,
As usual, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that all Kickstarter orders have now been processed and tracking numbers sent out. It looks like about half have already been delivered with the others coming later this week or early next week. That's later than I'd wanted, but the fulfillment company took longer than promised to process all the orders. Apparently, there's another holiday coming up and they're busy. They said it was "Chris Miss" or something like that. I told them they were confused and were mangling the name of a beloved hot chocolate brand, but they do insist.
The bad news, like hot chocolate, comes in different flavors. Here are the issues that have been reported and what you can expect:
1. The tracking information says my stuff was delivered but I haven't gotten it yet
This is a known issue with USPS and their tracking. Things get marked delivered incorrectly and it will take another couple of days for your package to arrive. You should get your shipment shortly.
2. The larger Jewish Wisdom Ball is hard to read
Depending on the ambient light in the room, you might find the larger Jewish Wisdom Ball harder to read than the small one. Sometimes, the answer module inside the ball doesn't float flush against the window, obscuring the text. This is an issue consistent across many answer ball products, but I've found that the readability is improved if you tip the ball away from you slightly so the answer floats up better. Just jiggle the ball a bit until the answer appears clearly. You can help things by not shaking the ball so hard, which causes bubbles to form.
Also, if it makes you feel any better, there are strains of Jewish thought that believe true wisdom is hidden from the world and must be toiled for before attaining. So, yeah... maybe jiggle the ball a little.
3. I'm missing the smaller Jewish Wisdom Ball you promised
I don't have a good explanation for this one. The packing slips from the shipping warehouse all say that they include a small Jewish Wisdom Ball, but it's quite probable that the fulfillment company didn't pack every order correctly. If this applies to you, please send a message through Kickstarter and we will have them ship a small ball to you.
4. I'm missing one or more of the large Jewish Wisdom Balls
The answer here depends on whether you added any extra Jewish Wisdom Balls after the campaign ended.
If you didn't add any but didn't get what you pledged for, this is likely warehouse error and you should send a message through Kickstarter to get your items.
If you did add more after the campaign ended, we've identified an issue that applies to those that bought more than one extra Jewish Wisdom Ball as an add-on item. This was my mistake in setting up the back-end system. If you added two or five additional large Jewish Wisdom Balls, the initial shipment you receive will only have one additional ball. For example, if you ordered two during the campaign and added two afterward, you'd only see three in the package. This is an issue that affects only a handful of backers, but we're rushing to get it fixed as soon as possible. You will get another shipment with the remainder of your order. To try and make it up to you, we're adding another of the small Jewish Wisdom Balls as a free gift.
Those are all the issues we've encountered so far. If you have any other concerns, please send a message so we can get it sorted out.
Best wishes for a very Happy Hanukkah and a Mary Chris Miss (did I get that right?).
-Rami
Update #17: At Long Last
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 09:40:33 PM
Hi All,
Once upon a time, there was a young man who wanted nothing more than a Magic 8 Ball that said:
Initially, the response to the idea was tepid, with reactions ranging from:
To:
So he waited, until many years later, the man, no longer so young, decided he had waited long enough. Would anyone else want such a thing? Was there really a market for a plainly unhelpful source of advice? Could he raise the requisite funds to make this dream a reality? "Enough," he said:
It was time for action. So he launched a Kickstarter campaign and asked, and begged, and cajoled until enough people had said:
Success! At long last, the order was placed to bring this idea to life, this fleeting, farcical dream made flesh in polypropylene. But when the order arrived, what was this? The man saw that the balls were not the right size! They were only:
And so, despite careful planning, the man had to face his faithful backers, to tell them that which he had feared might come to pass. Though he had promised them their cherished spheres of cynicism in time for Hanukkah, he despondently broke the news to them:
But not so fast! The larger balls have now arrived, and not a moment too soon! They sit today, awaiting packing and shipment in a warehouse, towering over and mocking their smaller brethren:
And so the man, chastened and humbled by the events of the preceding months, can now say with cautious optimism that all shipments should go out tomorrow. Once departed, he will send tracking numbers. A great many of his faithful backers will receive their shipments before the first candle is lit. The rest (excepting those outside the US and Canada) should get theirs a few days later.
Thus, we come to the end, not of this story, merely of this chapter. The rest of the Jewish Wisdom Ball story has yet to be written. But while the tale so far has not been entirely happy and though the man knows that further pitfalls must surely await ahead, he thinks, and hopes that you, his faithful backers, would agree:
Best wishes,
-Rami
Update #16: Slowly I Turned
about 8 years ago
– Thu, Dec 08, 2016 at 08:32:02 PM
Hi All,
It's been a good week in Jewish Wisdom Ball land. In the past week:
- The large Jewish Wisdom Balls were completed in China. They are being shipped now and should arrive in the warehouse next week. If you want to track their progress, you can do like me and constantly refresh this page every five minutes.
- The fulfillment warehouse confirmed that they can handle shipping pretty shortly after arrival. This means that the items will ship the week of December 19. Those on the east coast should get their stuff in time for the first night of Hanukkah. Other might take a few days extra, but certainly in time for the 7th night.
- The test shipment to Canada was delivered quickly enough that shipments to Canadian backers will go out the same time as US backers. Your stuff should still get to you in time.
- Shipments of the smaller balls went out to international backers and some in the UK have already received theirs.
This week also saw the first sighting of Jewish Wisdom Balls in the wild. If you're in Cambridge, Massachusetts you can stop by Mamaleh's Delicatessen and take a look their gift shop. You can find the smaller Jewish Wisdom Balls (in the large sized box, feh!) along with your dreidels and menorah cookie cutters.
That's all for now. I'll keep you posted once the inventory reaches the warehouse and we have a set shipping date. This farkakte thing might end up getting delivered before the first candle yet.
-Rami
