Talk:How laptop delivery breaks

Page cleanup

I cleaned up the page a tad, and made the section titles shorter (would they were shorter still). I hope it will be updated as people get their machines over the course of this month and next. I'd be interested to know more about general delivery questions, such as at the USPS/FedEx level, how/when a shipper leaves packages on the ground without checking with residents and when they do not. --Sj talk 03:09, 10 February 2008 (EST)

Who maintain this article?

From 19 January 2008 through 11 February 2008, the "How Laptop Delivery Breaks" page was largely extended and maintained by volunteer ThatSeattleGuy, who was not affiliated with OLPC nor a member of "support-gang". Any edits outside of those dates (and a few during) are the work of others.

page created

This page was original created by the OLPC support-gang, the same ~50-person volunteer squad that answers help at laptop dot org tickets, helps donors fix their laptops, and so on. We're working with Kim Quirk and Adam Holt, among other OLPC staff members, to get, post, and confirm information, so the content on these pages isn't just coming out of left field. A lot of emails, phone calls, and chats are going back and forth very rapidly right now, and these pages are our current collective understanding of the situation in an attempt to be absolutely as transparent as possible. The things on these pages are correct to the best of our knowledge - however, we're putting big red DRAFT! DRAFT! flags up because the situation is changing so rapidly, messages are flying so fast, and in this kind of situation it's very easy for information to become erroneous and outdated (even within hours of posting) and we want to make sure people understand that. At least that's my personal take on the situation right now. Mchua 02:01, 18 January 2008 (EST)

Thank you for your kind reply. I see. Then, how about 'Report' with the above explanation instead of draft taggin? Why don't you give this article more weight? That may win the more confidence of the donors, I think, and the frustrated donors can believe — or see at least — OLPC to be really doing something for them. Anyhow, we all ought to satisfy who trust us. -- LeeSI 03:08, 18 January 2008 (EST)

SeattleGuy update

I (ThatSeattleGuy - not logged in at the time of the edits, so you'll only see an IP address or two for me for a large number of the early edits) added the bulk of the article this afternoon, drawing on sources including the discussions at the OLPCNews forums, the olpc.osuosl.org forums, and well as my own professional experience in designing and maintaining order fulfillment systems. I take responsibility for the information, but I am emailing Adam Holt to get confirmation of some of the finer details. (Example: Patriot's role is still murky - order processing? customer phone support? email support? all three? if not, then who else?)

I'll keep updating it as I receive information and clarifications, but of course others are free to do so as well. -- Thatseattleguy 15:55, 19 January 2008 (EST)

I'd take off my hat to your efforts. :-) -- LeeSI 03:08, 18 January 2008 (EST)

I suppose that this matter is unable to covered by volunteers and the donors require an official comment by OLPC. In this case, all information must be accurate against the trouble and only a confirmed fact is needed to solve the problem actually. Therefore, I believe this article ought not to be a draft and I would suggest that OLPC team should be responsible for this page. -- LeeSI 01:52, 18 January 2008 (EST)

I appreciate the fact that this article exists and that there is finally some explanations out there. I ordered in late December so I am still in the early stages of waiting. I did panic when neither my reference number nor email address we accepted! I tried emailing and only got back the same form letter. This past week I actually got an answer that said a tracking number would be available when it was ready to to shipped and not to expect the laptop until early in 2008. So for now I will tell my students, "It's not here yet, but I believe it will be here soon!" Kelley

How about a little more information, like what is the status of the possible shipping problems. When was the second address line problem fixed? I order on Dec. 30th, so I am going to patient for a while, however, the 2nd address line issue does concern me since my address had a second address line, and delivery will be an issue without it (I've had it happen before, NOT OLPC related). Is OLPC working on making it easier for donors with possible shipping issues to correct them? Since there seems to be so many of them, they really should be working with their partners so a donor can call to verify, and fix the problem during one phone call. Instead of emailing address changes, they should call Patriot/Brightstar whoever while the donor is on the phone and get everything fixed.

Yes. However, you must understand the bulk of this page has been added by lil' 'ol me, a volunteer, with no internal access to OLPC, Patriot, Brightstar, or really anyone else involved in the process. I've just distilled information already available in public forums and added my own speculation and reasoning based on knowledge of how order fulfillment normal works in the "real" world. I've started the process of getting more access, but for now this is all from the outside looking in. If someone with true knowledge or authority wants to add to or correct what's here, they should feel free to do so. -- Thatseattleguy 15:55, 19 January 2008 (EST)

I'm not liking this new section at the bottom talking about "solutions" to the problem, but is really just venting. It doesn't belong here (and doesn't propose anything that could realistically happen in a timeline of less than six months anyways). It really needs to be on the forums or on its own page. If no one else objects I'm going to move or remove it. Thatseattleguy 16:08, 19 January 2008 (EST)

Okay, I've now added a "dedicated phone line" section to point donors to the new 24-hour-fixit line. I've removed the "solutions" section (see comment above for why). Here is the removed text if someone really decides they want to put it on another page. Thatseattleguy 18:40, 19 January 2008 (EST)

 == Suggestions to fix the problem ==
 {{fixup}}  This section does not pertain to the article's topic and should be moved to its own article, or placed as commentary on the community forums instead of the Wiki.
 Action is needed by OLPC to create a modern customer service architecture, both with business process and technology, and enforce its usage by all partners, and developers, 
 regardless of their role in the project.  
 Access should be possible to all partners based on their role in the ordering or customer support process. OLPC <b>must</b> set standards in this area because it's their brand that is at stake.
 Details are best discussed on another page ([[customer service standards]]), but a centralized customer database which OLPC forces their partners to use sounds like the only real solution
  to this problem.

older questions

Can whomever (MWarren?) put in the bit about the _inbound_ mail being spamcanned provide a reference for this ? It's great information but it's necessary to have some kind of corroboration, even if anecdotal. Until then I'm going to label it "speculative/reported" etc. /ThatSeattleGuy/

Can we add more detail on the 85000 shipped vs. 60000? shipped debate? I've read several forum posts on people having to send their systems back for RMA issues - is it possible that made a dent in the available supply? Just knowing how many RMAs were issued from Nov30-2007 to mid-January would be helpful. 1%, 5%, 10%? /ralphw/

Ralph: I don't have any numbers. Those would have to come from OLPC. From what I've seen looking at a LOT of the forum postings, it's small - 1-2% would be my guess (but just a guess). Certainly not enough to make up the difference between 60K and 85K.... /thatseattleguy/