X4 Circular Polarizer breakthroughphotography: My experience: BAD!!!

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scottkinfw

scottkinfw

Wildlife photography is my passion
Canon Rumors Premium
May 16, 2011
1,653
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Trophy Club, TX
www.southlakeplasticsurgeon.com
#1
Just a heads up guys.

I funded these guys on kickstarter and it was supposed to ship in December. In January I didn't receive mine. I contacted them several times by email. Tonight I got on their support chat and got a very rude, snotty girl who made me feel like a dumb s**t. Long story short, I get an email calling me a troll and I am fired as a customer.

Don't use these guys, even if the product is good, service is poor, they are rude, don't deliver on time, etc., etc.

sek
 
#3
My experience was also not good.
It seems that I didn't select what 'reward' I wanted (because I didn't want a reward, just a filter...), and so I had a terse message saying 'You didn't select any rewards, so you're not getting any filters.' I tried the online chat and they suggested emailing to ask for it to go ahead, and never heard another thing.
I have 'Dr' in front of my name but it seems that kickstarter was too confusing, so I won't try the crowdsourced thing again.

Now happily shooting polarized photos with a Hoya Fusion C-PL. Photos look great. Sharpness, colours, all fab, and much easier to clean than my Hoya ND. My only criticism is that the filter thread on the C-PL isn't quite deep enough and the lens cap has come off a couple of times. But at least I'm out shooting photos. :D
 
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#4
That's the issue with Kick
Starter. Complain directly to them, so that the outfit does not get more money. Also write nice but more complete letters to DP review written up so they sound more like a news release. Those who had issues will probably be joined by many more.
 
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#6
scottkinfw said:
Just a heads up guys.

I funded these guys on kickstarter and it was supposed to ship in December. In January I didn't receive mine. I contacted them several times by email. Tonight I got on their support chat and got a very rude, snotty girl who made me feel like a dumb s**t. Long story short, I get an email calling me a troll and I am fired as a customer.

Don't use these guys, even if the product is good, service is poor, they are rude, don't deliver on time, etc., etc.

sek
Click to expand...

Hello Scott,

You came onto our Live Chat and said "fudge you" to one of our chat representatives, and then continued to be difficult to deal with because you couldn't complete the checkout process.

Then you sent me an email saying "but since you called me a troll, I'll troll you to some photo sites. I hope you go broke."

We're very selective with whom we do business, so don't take it personally if we refuse to do business with you.

Graham
 
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#9
streestandtheatres said:
My experience was also not good.
It seems that I didn't select what 'reward' I wanted (because I didn't want a reward, just a filter...), and so I had a terse message saying 'You didn't select any rewards, so you're not getting any filters.' I tried the online chat and they suggested emailing to ask for it to go ahead, and never heard another thing.
I have 'Dr' in front of my name but it seems that kickstarter was too confusing, so I won't try the crowdsourced thing again.

Now happily shooting polarized photos with a Hoya Fusion C-PL. Photos look great. Sharpness, colours, all fab, and much easier to clean than my Hoya ND. My only criticism is that the filter thread on the C-PL isn't quite deep enough and the lens cap has come off a couple of times. But at least I'm out shooting photos. :D
Click to expand...

Hello,

You sent us an email saying:

"Dear Kathy,

It seems that I didn't select a reward correctly for a 67mm filter for $89, can you help me by creating a coupon?

Thanks!

Kickstarter is confusing, but frankly it's not our fault that you didn't understand the process :(

We refunded you your money immediately, so what's the problem here aside from you (understandably so) not understanding how the Kickstarter reward levels work?

Graham

<edited by mod to remove inappropriate posting of customer's personal email>
 
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#11
We've built our company on customer service, click here to see what I mean: http://breakthrough.photography/customer-service-reviews/

In dealing with thousands of photographers I can tell you that far less than 1% are hateful, racist, other otherwise completely unreasonable.

But there is still that very small percentage that still exists and we have chosen to have a zero-tolerance policy for those ones, so that we can (as a very small manufacturing company) focus all our energy on the 99.99% of the photographers that demand our attention.

Graham
 
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#12
Mt Spokane Photography said:
That's the issue with Kick
Starter. Complain directly to them, so that the outfit does not get more money. Also write nice but more complete letters to DP review written up so they sound more like a news release. Those who had issues will probably be joined by many more.
Click to expand...

In my experience having done a couple Kickstarter projects, part of what happens is that during a Kickstarter project thousands of new customers appear.

99% of all new customers are incredibly nice, thoughtful and supportive people. 1% or less are having a bad day, or otherwise are naturally negative and want to make your life miserable. In retail environments this figure is actually much higher than 1%.

Our Kickstarter project got 2,000 new customers, so by that math that's around 20 bad ones or so? What if a Kickstarter project gets 40,000 new customers, as they often do? That's 400 bad ones to deal with.

About 5-10% of Kickstarter supporters are confused about how to actually use Kickstarter, because the website itself has horrible user experience and design, so there's a big percentage of "problems" that can come up for no reason other than the middleman (Kickstarter) confuses the hell out of people.

Graham
 
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#13
JP4DESIGNZ said:
grahamclarkphoto said:
JP4DESIGNZ said:
Wow, that's crazy. I'm still waiting on my copy and sent them an email a couple of days ago. No response yet.
Click to expand...

We've shipped over 1,000, and we're about to ship 2,500 more in the next few days.

Graham
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response! Will you send out tracking numbers with the orders? I'm in no rush and understand people get busy however, I am glad to hear back from your company. :)
Click to expand...

Yes of course, once it ships our system will send you an automated email with tracking.

We finished manufacturing 2,500 X4 CPLs 3 weeks ago, since that time we've been assembling all 2,500 in our Seattle facility, they're currently en route to our Austin warehouse for shipping.

They should arrive to Austin on Thursday or Friday, at which point we'll begin shipping them.

Graham
 
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#16
Received my X4 CPL a week or so ago. Haven't got a chance to use it yet but I am looking forward to the opportunity. My experience with Kickstarter has always been positive including this one. Kathy was very courteous and replied to my inquiry about shipping promptly.
 
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#17
grahamclarkphoto said:
sunnyVan said:
I got two x3 Breakthrough ND filters through B+H. I needed that peace of mind buying from a reputable store.
Click to expand...

How are they working?

Graham
Click to expand...

I'm quite pleased.

I see that you sell aluminum step up ring. I'd suggest that you also make brass rings. There's surprisingly not many options out there. Hope you also find time to update your blog. I do enjoy reading it.
 
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#18
sunnyVan said:
grahamclarkphoto said:
sunnyVan said:
I got two x3 Breakthrough ND filters through B+H. I needed that peace of mind buying from a reputable store.
Click to expand...

How are they working?

Graham
Click to expand...

I'm quite pleased.

I see that you sell aluminum step up ring. I'd suggest that you also make brass rings. There's surprisingly not many options out there. Hope you also find time to update your blog. I do enjoy reading it.
Click to expand...

Actually good news, we just finished a X3 Step-Up ring, same construction and build quality as your X3 ND. It's by far the best step-up ring ever made :)

They will be up on the site on Thursday or Friday, just now finishing product shots.

Graham
 
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#19
grahamclarkphoto said:
sunnyVan said:
grahamclarkphoto said:
sunnyVan said:
I got two x3 Breakthrough ND filters through B+H. I needed that peace of mind buying from a reputable store.
Click to expand...

How are they working?

Graham
Click to expand...

I'm quite pleased.

I see that you sell aluminum step up ring. I'd suggest that you also make brass rings. There's surprisingly not many options out there. Hope you also find time to update your blog. I do enjoy reading it.
Click to expand...

Actually good news, we just finished a X3 Step-Up ring, same construction and build quality as your X3 ND. It's by far the best step-up ring ever made :)

They will be up on the site on Thursday or Friday, just now finishing product shots.

Graham
Click to expand...

That's really cool. May get one if priced reasonably
 
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#20
Thanks for the manufacturing update. I have not received mine yet, but Kathy was courteous in her response to me on Christmas about your progress and to expect shipment sometime in January. That is right, I said Christmas - she was answering emails on Christmas day. Very impressive :) I'm looking forward to trying out your products.
 
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