Talk:How laptop delivery breaks

Who maintain this article?

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)

This page is being created and maintained largely 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messages are flying so fast, and in this kind of situation it's very easy for information to become erroneous and outdated (even within hours of posting) and we want to make sure people understand that.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)

I (ThatSeattleGuy - not logged in at the time of the edits, so you'll only see an IP address or two for me) 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 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 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)