4 ms·

WakeMate Delays Initial Shipment, Makes Moves To Appease Upset Customers

42 points by spydertennis 17y ago

andreyf 17y ago
I don't think many customers are "upset", per se. This is a fun-to-try, completely non-essential product at this point, and hardware is hard to make, especially for a startup. Delays are forgivable. So while I'll certainly give it a shot when it finally ships, I wonder if wearing a WakeMate may just train me to keep very still towards the morning hours of my sleep?
- Frazzydee 17y ago
  They actually were upset. I wrote a comment describing the points of issue, but there is already a concise description here: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0014-learning-from-wakemate.html http://danieltenner.com/posts/0014-learning-from-wakemate.ht... They were willing to give a refund for the $5 down-payment, but there was still an overall bitterness. This was a wise move for wakemate, even if there is nothing wrong with providing more than what was promised/planned for an additional fee. The customers they have now are very early adopters who will be spreading the word and writing reviews. It's essential that they do whatever they can to make positive first impressions.
- jrockway 17y ago
  I wonder if wearing a WakeMate may just train me to keep very still towards the morning hours of my sleep? Maybe, but I assume you can just go back to sleep if you don't feel like getting up when the device thinks you should. I do this with my alarm clock; I set it for a time that would be good to be awake at, but if I'm not in the mood to be awake at that time, I just re-set it for another hour or two.
covercash 17y ago
I could not be happier with the outcome of this situation. Big props to the WakeMate team for straightening things out.
- swolchok 17y ago
  Agree. I wasn't even upset, and now I get "all future premium software features" for free. I will be downright happy to part with the remaining 90% of the purchase price.
- jwarzech 17y ago
  Same here, I think their quick reaction will keep their earliest customers (and soon to be earliest critics) much happier.
markbao 17y ago
Sweet, that worked out well. Thanks, WakeMate!
zitterbewegung 17y ago
I am really excited about this because I have trouble sleeping. It would be helpful for me to actually use this.
- lanstein 17y ago
  Exactly. I really couldn't care less about the money if it helps avoid being tired every morning!
- boredguy8 17y ago
  How does this help with trouble sleeping? It helps with trouble waking up.
  - zitterbewegung 17y ago
    From the website: Sleeping better Problem: After sleeping, you may still feel tired - you're getting poor quality sleep without realizing why. Solution: View a full analysis of your sleep on our Analytics Platform. You will receive personalized instructions on how to improve your sleep so you can have your best night's sleep, every night
- hackoder 17y ago
  There's something called Smart Alarm Clock for Android (if you have a supported phone). I tried it as a way to judge if the idea had any merit, and it worked really well. Obviously it doesn't help with sleeping, just waking you up. But for the last week or so, I've woken up fresh every time, even when sleeping around 5 hours or so. Obviously, this works best if you get into a good sleep/wake cycle. There's something similar for the iPhone too, might be a good idea to do a trial run with a cheap app.
  - peregrine 17y ago
    Smart Alarm used to work, but the latest edition simply wakes you up at the desired time every time and it runs on your phone all day. I was happy till the latest update and now its unusable.
BRadmin 17y ago
Kudos guys. Appreciate you taking all the feedback and criticism to heart and righting the ship.
ajju 17y ago
This is great. I was one of the disgruntled customers but this mail has turned me into a happy one again.
erreon 17y ago
I'm glad to see WakeMate doing right by those who have pre-ordered. Are those who say pre-ordered today going to see the same sort of deal?
bugmenot 17y ago
WaitMate (OffTopic) http://video.adultswim.com/tim-and-eric-awesome-show-great-job/jeff-goldblum-for-waitmate.html http://video.adultswim.com/tim-and-eric-awesome-show-great-j... --PidGin128 (via BMN)

42 points by spydertennis 17y ago

I don't think many customers are "upset", per se. This is a fun-to-try, completely non-essential product at this point, and hardware is hard to make, especially for a startup. Delays are forgivable. So while I'll certainly give it a shot when it finally ships, I wonder if wearing a WakeMate may just train me to keep very still towards the morning hours of my sleep?

Frazzydee 17y ago
They actually were upset. I wrote a comment describing the points of issue, but there is already a concise description here: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0014-learning-from-wakemate.html http://danieltenner.com/posts/0014-learning-from-wakemate.ht... They were willing to give a refund for the $5 down-payment, but there was still an overall bitterness. This was a wise move for wakemate, even if there is nothing wrong with providing more than what was promised/planned for an additional fee. The customers they have now are very early adopters who will be spreading the word and writing reviews. It's essential that they do whatever they can to make positive first impressions.
jrockway 17y ago
I wonder if wearing a WakeMate may just train me to keep very still towards the morning hours of my sleep? Maybe, but I assume you can just go back to sleep if you don't feel like getting up when the device thinks you should. I do this with my alarm clock; I set it for a time that would be good to be awake at, but if I'm not in the mood to be awake at that time, I just re-set it for another hour or two.

covercash 17y ago

I could not be happier with the outcome of this situation. Big props to the WakeMate team for straightening things out.

swolchok 17y ago
Agree. I wasn't even upset, and now I get "all future premium software features" for free. I will be downright happy to part with the remaining 90% of the purchase price.
jwarzech 17y ago
Same here, I think their quick reaction will keep their earliest customers (and soon to be earliest critics) much happier.

markbao 17y ago

Sweet, that worked out well. Thanks, WakeMate!

zitterbewegung 17y ago

I am really excited about this because I have trouble sleeping. It would be helpful for me to actually use this.

lanstein 17y ago
Exactly. I really couldn't care less about the money if it helps avoid being tired every morning!
boredguy8 17y ago
How does this help with trouble sleeping? It helps with trouble waking up.
- zitterbewegung 17y ago
  From the website: Sleeping better Problem: After sleeping, you may still feel tired - you're getting poor quality sleep without realizing why. Solution: View a full analysis of your sleep on our Analytics Platform. You will receive personalized instructions on how to improve your sleep so you can have your best night's sleep, every night
hackoder 17y ago
There's something called Smart Alarm Clock for Android (if you have a supported phone). I tried it as a way to judge if the idea had any merit, and it worked really well. Obviously it doesn't help with sleeping, just waking you up. But for the last week or so, I've woken up fresh every time, even when sleeping around 5 hours or so. Obviously, this works best if you get into a good sleep/wake cycle. There's something similar for the iPhone too, might be a good idea to do a trial run with a cheap app.
- peregrine 17y ago
  Smart Alarm used to work, but the latest edition simply wakes you up at the desired time every time and it runs on your phone all day. I was happy till the latest update and now its unusable.

BRadmin 17y ago

Kudos guys. Appreciate you taking all the feedback and criticism to heart and righting the ship.

ajju 17y ago

This is great. I was one of the disgruntled customers but this mail has turned me into a happy one again.

erreon 17y ago

I'm glad to see WakeMate doing right by those who have pre-ordered. Are those who say pre-ordered today going to see the same sort of deal?

bugmenot 17y ago

WaitMate (OffTopic) http://video.adultswim.com/tim-and-eric-awesome-show-great-job/jeff-goldblum-for-waitmate.html http://video.adultswim.com/tim-and-eric-awesome-show-great-j... --PidGin128 (via BMN)