Appease Angry Customers

[SpinDrah]

I can’t even post they just erase it, That’s pathetic.

But then again, I start pointless threads and wonder why they get deleted.

See, stop changing my posts, this is making sparkfun look much worse than anything i would say. Just because you think it is pointless doesn’t mean it is, try and RESPOND to it, instead of censoring and making sparkfun look even worse.

Forum moderator: Your only post that was deleted was your useless thread you started that did nothing but restate what you have griped about in a handfull of other threads. At this stage of the game, everyone and their mother knows that you aren’t happy. If you want to keep reminding people of this, post in an existing thread and don’t clutter up the forum.

[Sputnik]

silverspoon:
<LOL!> Yes, you are absolutely right. In fact, I had roughly estimated that if they had had capacity, it would be over in 2 to 3 seconds. One possible solution is a monte-carlo bandwidth limiting solution- For a group of connection requests coming in a window of say, 3 seconds, randomly pick one (or two, or whatever limits the user load to let the site server do its job without too much delay). The others get a ‘sorry, but your connection request was not one that was randomly selected during this attempt- please try again’ message.

If the spin of the reject message was done right, it could be fun even if you missed the luck of the draw. Still only one in 70 would make it, so there would probably still be poor losers out there complaining about trying 70 times and not getting into the magic ordering page.

Good post, good numbers, thanks.

Thats the thing, there were many many people who WERE on the magic order page with their CC# entered and ready to submit, WITHIN the $100,000 limit and it failed when submitted.

As you said, there should have been a monte-carlo system in place to display a “Sorry Try Again” page. That would have almost totally eliminated the disgruntled participants.

Also, as you said about people barking about them needing to beef up server capacity, if it were able to handle it, it would have been over in a few seconds, however I believe this still would have panned out better as it would have been more apparently a luck of the draw.

[ajcrm125]

tetsujin:
Don’t you think that’s a wee bit presumptuous? “Hey, you ran this great promotion and gave away loads of stuff and I couldn’t get in on it so why don’t you give away more stuff?”

I mean, I can understand being frustrated after Free Day - I think it’s good and right to talk about how the process was frustrating (it sure as hell was for me) - just, really, don’t act like Sparkfun owes you anything just 'cause you weren’t one of the lucky winners…

+1

[isnoop]

busonerd:
70000 unique visitors. 1000 who will get the discount. The numbers work out pretty simple; 1 in 70 is gonna get the discount. So for everyone who gets an order, 69 walk away without.

Lets run the numbers on server upgrades; I see they just bought 5 dell poweredges @ $5300 each [list price from dell]

. Thats 26 grand in new server gear alone. How much would they need to beef it up before everyone is satisfied? 50k in server gear? 100?

And, even if they bought a huge load-balanced cluster just to serve free day; it still comes down to simple math. 1 in 70 gets the discount. With enough compute power to handle any possible load; free day would’ve been over in a second, and there would still be 69 disappointed people for every lucky winner.

EDIT: and if they had the compute power to let everyone checkout simultaneously, there would be calls that the script kiddies won because people with scripts could get in in the first 10msec.

–David Carne

This just about sums it up. The hubris of some people astounds me. However, I felt more than a little bit bummed the first time I missed out on a Woot random bag giveaway due to the server crumpling under tens of thousands of requests.

People just need to realize that the Internet is like a series of tubes…

[madsci1016]

Add me to the list of PO’d loyal customers, and here is my two cents:

This is the best way i can decribe Free Day:

"I’m ok with what happened today. Sparkfun wanted to test their servers,

and they did so by treating us like dogs. They threw a few “free”

steaks out and watched us fight over them without regard to who

actually got the biggest piece. I am also ok with this, i mean, it

worked didn’t it?

What i am upset about is the fact they still continue to claim

“they wanted to give back”. This is BS. There are ways to give back

without upsetting current and future customer. SFE got there servers Load tested (and some PR) today by dangling a

few steaks in front of their customers (like we were dogs) yet are

still trying to claim “we did it for you”. I find it hard to believe so

many don’t have a problem with this."

I see people striking back at us ‘complainers’ about how we shouldn’t be mad because we didn’t win. Well, let’s look at the orginal SFE post :

“First and foremost, we want to give back. We’ve had a stellar year in 2009, and it’s all because of you.”

Well, seeing as I spent over $1000 on SFE during that year, I kinda assumed they wanted to give back to me, not customers they never had before. Also, nowhere do i see the word lottery anywhere. I bet the State lotteries don’t have drones of pist off customers complain everyday, and I bet it’s because they never say “we wanna give back to our customer”.

Thanks for reading my two cents, and i hope out of all of this, SFE marketing learns how not to lose loyal customers in the future.

[McXavier]

madsci1016:
Sparkfun wanted to test their servers,

and they did so by treating us like dogs.

If that's all they wanted don't you think the would have done it virtually? It is very simple and costs a hell of a lot less than $100k.

This was a great advertising idea with the positive side effect of a massive server load, which is fine and it worked exactly as it was intended. Sparkfun learned at what point their servers began to fail. There is no reason they would need servers that would survive a hit like that - they likely learned they are OK on the current equipment until their business grows by x

I am incredulous of the self-righteousness of many people here.

[Gsm_Man]

Would everyone stop belly-aching about Free Day! Despite announcements to the contrary it was a marketing ploy, plain and simple. If you want to reward your customers, you give them discounts, rebates. etc. I spend thousands with Newark Electronics and every couple weeks I receive a discount voucher from them - that’s rewarding their customers. Free day generated a lot of press for Sparkfun, but it didn’t reward their loyal customers.

The fact is there is no “Truth in Advertising”. Just watch those TV ads that promise you’ll lose weight, make lots of money, or become beautiful and read the tiny text that says “results are NOT typical”.

I tried to get some free stuff and failed - and I’m one of those 'loyal customers". Did I spend 2 hours pounding on the keyboard? No! Am I pissed off? No! You need to consider this like a lottery- there were some winners and some losers.

[madsci1016]

McXavier, if you read my full post, you would have seen that I was ok with this being a ‘load test’ for SFE. I would not be so ‘self-righteousness’ had SFE simply said “we want to test our servers, here’s a hundred bucks, try your best to get it”. Forgive me for trying to hold what seemed like a decent company to some sense of honesty.

Gsm, it sounds like you agree with me, that this was all a ploy by SFE. “it didn’t reward their loyal customers” and it shocks me that you are ok with that. SFE is not some cheezy late night infomercial. This seemed like a company that supports and fosters the development of what to many is an educational hobby, however after this deceitful act, I doubt there integrity.

[Gsm_Man]

madsci1016:
Gsm, it sounds like you agree with me, that this was all a ploy by SFE. “it didn’t reward their loyal customers” and it shocks me that you are ok with that. SFE is not some cheezy late night infomercial. This seemed like a company that supports and fosters the development of what to many is an educational hobby, however after this deceitful act, I doubt there integrity.

I think this has become “normal marketing” in the USA and certainly isn’t limited to late night infomercials. Direct TV is currently being sued by several states because of decitiful advertising, as have many US corporations. I wouldn’t be surprised if these tactics are now being taught in business schools. I’m OK with it because I beleive that it’s the norm now-a-days and I understand why companies do it.

[juggleclown]

Gsm Man:

madsci1016:
Gsm, it sounds like you agree with me, that this was all a ploy by SFE. “it didn’t reward their loyal customers” and it shocks me that you are ok with that. SFE is not some cheezy late night infomercial. This seemed like a company that supports and fosters the development of what to many is an educational hobby, however after this deceitful act, I doubt there integrity.

I think this has become “normal marketing” in the USA and certainly isn’t limited to late night infomercials. Direct TV is currently being sued by several states because of decitiful advertising, as have many US corporations. I wouldn’t be surprised if these tactics are now being taught in business schools. I’m OK with it because I beleive that it’s the norm now-a-days and I understand why companies do it.

Well, kid, there’s a word for that, and it’s called “apathy”. You will find there are ways to deal with problems, other than turning a blind eye and allowing any sort of treachery to become the norm.

Deceitful advertising is most worthy of subpoena, without a doubt. One of the first things a child should learn is not to believe everything they’re told. An entire generation learned that very quickly through the infamously disappointing “sea monkeys”. Nevertheless, tuning it out, considering it “OK” that advertisers are free to lie and benefit so greatly from it, is one of the things truly wrong with people today.

I’m new here, and I didn’t win at free day. In fact, the site never loaded during free day, not once. I came across Sparkfun by chance, looking for the cheapest deals on a particular product, and the first thing I saw was the advertisement for free day. Saying that, regardless of whether I won or not, this sale was supposedly aimed at “giving back”, which is quite different from “giving away”. “Giving back” would mean “free day” only for those who have given to Sparkfun in the first place, preferably prior to the initial announcement of the sale. Not random people who just showed up, like me, or people who got told about this sale, especially those only interested in turning something, anything free, into profit.

To continue to defend that they were “giving back” is sickening, and maybe my stance would be a little more biased if I had won, but my point is true enough. Some of you are so faithful, and turn the other cheek that your precious Sparkfun had a giveaway, presumably to bring in new blood (let’s see how that goes with the eBay crowd), while increasing their reputation with their loyal customers, who they’ve now earned even more points with, though they were “given back to” no more, and probably even less due to the ratio of Sparkfun regulars to random contest-seekers who showed up for free stuff.

An apology from Sparkfun, a blacklisting of the site, pretty much any behavior is far more understandable than this disgusting ‘shugging it off and saying “it’s ok”’ mentality so many people seem to display these days. Sparkfun could’ve given away $1,000,000 in cold-hard cash to 50 people on the condition that those people have never spend a dime here before. It’d be controversial, but it’s their right. As long as they don’t blatantly lie about it and say they’re giving that money for 50 regular customers when the adverse is true.

They said they were giving back. I, as well as many others, have pointed out that while they did give back some percentage (and to those who keep saying “you never gave to Sparkfun, you bought from them”, who exactly would they be “giving back” to, pray tell? I’m so very tired of word games like this, and the wording in the case of free day is very obvious and needn’t be misconstrued.), I’m sure a significant part of that percentage “gave back” to people who never “gave”, had never spent a cent on this site before, and probably won’t be returning unless such an opportunity for indiscriminate profit shows up again.

I too doubt their integrity, madsci1016. For this reason, and the fact that after a huge surge of orders, I would likely find myself waiting longer than expected at the usual price, I decided to take my business elsewhere. However, upon seeing all the “I won nothing but Sparkfun is great for giving back to us” sheep, I couldn’t help but put my word in, as well as I know these sort of arguments are as purposeful as the worst of humanities blights. Unlike Gsm Man, I’ve yet, even in these years, taken the downhill route of apathy as the wisest path, and neither, I believe, should so many others, for we accomplish nothing good this way.

[sylvie369]

I sure hope that was satire.

[madsci1016]

juggleclown, “Well put” I think is a vast understatement in this case.

[phalanx]

Sparkfun needs to start carrying tin foil hats.

-Bill

[sylvie369]

phalanx:
Sparkfun needs to start carrying tin foil hats.

-Bill

And sea monkeys, apparently.

[madsci1016]

phalanx, I would have thought after the torrent of negativity you had to clean up; (and hats off, I can imagine you had a busy day) nevertheless when you came upon some true (and clean) constructive criticism of ‘free day’, you would have responded with something other than a cheap joke.

juggleclown, are you a speech writer? If not, you should be.

[sylvie369]

madsci1016:
juggleclown, are you a speech writer? If not, you should be.

Oh good lord. Shall we take a quick look at the quality of his writing?

“Deceitful advertising is most worthy of subpoena, without a doubt.”

"…and say they’re giving that money for 50 regular customers when the adverse is true. "

"An apology from Sparkfun, a blacklisting of the site, pretty much any behavior is far more understandable than this disgusting ‘shugging it off and saying “it’s ok”’ mentality so many people seem to display these days. "

“Unlike Gsm Man, I’ve yet, even in these years, taken the downhill route of apathy as the wisest path, and neither, I believe, should so many others, for we accomplish nothing good this way.”

Have standards fallen so much that we consider this good speechwriting? Mine haven’t.

[juggleclown]

Look, I didn’t get the chance to learn English in school like a lot of brats these days. I didn’t know a lot of people who could teach me. I learned a little at a time, and I’ve had many years to improve, I’ll certainly admit I’m not perfect, but I’ve tried more than anything else in this world to gain as much linguistic skill as I can in this lifetime, but my capacity has limits, and it saddens me that these limits are probably smaller than that of most other people. I never said I was Shakespeare.

I don’t have a lot of clarity in my writing, perhaps, but I try to get my point across as well as I can, without being too verbose, but at the same time striving to avoid being vague as much as possible. I’ve found on the internet, that when you leave something out, people will tear into your argument as though they were very well-paid lawyers scanning through what you write no less than thrice.

Personally, I think my writing is at least better than all the 1337 $P34K and “brb, lol acronym ftw!” crap that so many people are fond of spewing. Then again, I couldn’t write like that if I wanted to, so perhaps there’s a talent in it that simply eludes me as to why people would try to be so incoherent.

I didn’t come here to make friends. In fact, I’m not sure why I’m here, and it’s probably going to wind up with me making a lot of enemies. I know with the utmost certainty that without the veil of anonymity, I’d be more than quick to settle differences with sylvie369. To avoid censorship of this entire post (I’ve had at least one post here that didn’t get posted for offensive statements), I’ll just say that I have some choice words for you, I wish several bad misfortunes upon you, and I really, really don’t like you in the slightest. I do believe this is the kindness people like you attract so well, is it not?

[sylvie369]

Juggle, I apologize for carping on your writing. You didn’t make any claims about being a good writer, let alone a speechwriter, and anyway, your writing most certainly is far better than the inane acronym stuff you cited. In fact in this last post, your writing is just fine (see what you can do when you slow down and put effort into it?).

But someone else jumped in here pretending (I hope) to think that your long post above was a piece of brilliant writing. As you’ve surely noticed, we live in a world in which any wannabe politician can easily gather a huge, rabid following by just ranting inanely. I think it is extremely important to remind people of the difference between anger-fueled ranting and productive discussion. You have to admit that it’s ridiculous for someone to look at what you wrote and announce that you should be a speechwriter.

As for your last paragraph, I suggest you step back and recognize that my comments here are what you get when you deal with someone who is not apathetic. I care about integrity, and that means that I speak up when I see inane rants passed off as great oratory. Whether you like me for that or not, I’m right. If our choice is between apathy and angry ranting, we’re all doomed. But we do have the other option to think and act like adults.

[edembowski]

madsci1016:
… This seemed like a company that supports and fosters the development of what to many is an educational hobby, however after this deceitful act, I doubt there integrity.

OK, so let me understand this for a minute.

• They go out and buy 25k of new servers to deal with more load than they’ve ever seen

• They state clearly what they’re doing, what their motivation is, and what their limits are

• They get an even bigger response than expected and their servers die a few times

• Lots of whiners start to cry about it

How is anything they’ve done deceitful? Is it deceit to say what you’re going to do and then do exactly that? Do we have a new meaning of the word that has yet to be seen?

If you didn’t like the sale, that’s fine. If you are so monumentally insulted that your false sense of entitlement has not been satisfied and you can no longer bear to look at the site, that’s fine too. What’s not fine is making up blatant lies.

• Ed

[madsci1016]

ed, If you are going to try to argue, please quote or at least read my entire post, or jungle’s, as he captured the same thought better then I did. Most of your points have already been addressed, and should not have to be repeated.

(ie. "They state clearly’? … They stated clearly they wanted to give back… “this sale was supposedly aimed at “giving back”, which is quite different from “giving away”. “Giving back” would mean “free day” only for those who have given to Sparkfun in the first place”)

And to all, I am sorry I ever posted after juggle, as it seems the people (sylvie) who disagree with him, but fail to find fault in his reasoning and therefore add to the discussion, would rather rant about his ‘poor’ writing style and rant on me for complementing him. I fail to see how some of us are acting like ‘adults’ when the best response in this debate is to attack the debater himself rather than his argument.

I know better now, and will no longer respond to anything other then discussion on the topic.