PDAMotion rocked by resignation

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://pub65.ezboard.com/fpdamotion23296frm2.showMessage?topicID=22.topic">http://pub65.ezboard.com/fpdamotion23296frm2.showMessage?topicID=22.topic</a><br /><br />I kept hoping that PDAMotion would pull themselves together and start delivering on their promises to consumers, and a big part of that was the role that Kelly (Kemas) was playing. Kemas was always very honest in dealing with customers, and was constantly pushing the rest of PDAMotion to deliver what they promised. PDAMotion didn't, and now Kemas has resigned. Bad news for PDAMotion.<br /><br />The thing is, their products are quite good! I paid a small fortune ($200 CND) for my original Silver Slider, only to have the paint chip off and look like crap. The product that PDAMotion sells looks almost as good, costs FAR less, and is a lot more resistant to damage. PDAMotion...you coulda' been a contenda'. Here's part of Kemas' farewell message:<br /><br />"I regret to inform you that for various reasons I have decided to cut my ties with PDAmotion. Request after request to deal with problems and issues goes unanswered or takes too long. This doesn't seem to be done with any intent, as other e-mails are answered quickly. The latter though is not the norm and doesn't allow me to complete the tasks requested by PDAmotion customers with any calculatable time frame or any firm belief that the action will be done as requested.<br /><br />I do want to go on the record as stating this: "I do not believe that at any time Frank Yeh had any intention of defrauding the customers of PDAmotion in any way. He brought the Silver Slider to mass market with every intention of fullfilling a need at a reasonable price. He wanted to make a fair profit, but not at the cost of his integrity. He is a good man, with a kind heart and a good sense of the industry. His partners do not seem to share this same mentality or ability. I do not think they wished to cheat anyone, but I do believe that they never put the time, energy or thought into making the best possible product or giving the best possible service. Money is being held by Cornerstone, both yours and theirs, and to the best of my knowledge the fight to release that money continues. It was never the intention of anyone to steal anyone's money."<br /><br />I want to personally state that I am very sorry for any headaches I have caused customers, even though it was not by intent. I have always given you information I believed to be accurate and true. Many times I would find out only shortly before customers that the information I had was not "so accurate" and would have to inform all of you. I would ask question after question, but either to no avail or be given information that many times would later turn out to be just as inaccurate."

[nirav28]

yeah well, it doesn't help me much. I'm still out of $60 + shipping. I ordered my silver slider back in december. Still haven't heard anything or received a refund. I think thats criminal! I've emailed them, left messeges. not one reply so far. Anyone considering a civil complaint or lawsuit? I would be happy to sign up for that..

[Jason Dunn]

Just in case PDAMotion takes down the original message, I'm re-posting it here.

**********

To All PDAmotion Community Board Members:

I regret to inform you that for various reasons I have decided to cut my ties with PDAmotion. Request after request to deal with problems and issues goes unanswered or takes too long. This doesn't seem to be done with any intent, as other e-mails are answered quickly. The latter though is not the norm and doesn't allow me to complete the tasks requested by PDAmotion customers with any calculatable time frame or any firm belief that the action will be done as requested.

I do want to go on the record as stating this: "I do not believe that at any time Frank Yeh had any intention of defrauding the customers of PDAmotion in any way. He brought the Silver Slider to mass market with every intention of fullfilling a need at a reasonable price. He wanted to make a fair profit, but not at the cost of his integrity. He is a good man, with a kind heart and a good sense of the industry. His partners do not seem to share this same mentality or ability. I do not think they wished to cheat anyone, but I do believe that they never put the time, energy or thought into making the best possible product or giving the best possible service. Money is being held by Cornerstone, both yours and theirs, and to the best of my knowledge the fight to release that money continues. It was never the intention of anyone to steal anyone's money."

I want to personally state that I am very sorry for any headaches I have caused customers, even though it was not by intent. I have always given you information I believed to be accurate and true. Many times I would find out only shortly before customers that the information I had was not "so accurate" and would have to inform all of you. I would ask question after question, but either to no avail or be given information that many times would later turn out to be just as inaccurate.

I had thought of leaving earlier, as a contractor I am not paid so much as to want to just stick around to stick around, but could not leave until the majority of units had been shipped. I had hoped to delay my resignation until Cornerstone had begun the process of returning funds, but just can not continue anymore.

I don't mind nasty e-mails and most of you have been very fair in stating that you don't blame me, but never-the-less you want an answer. I have attempted to get you those answers and have failed. For that I must apologize. I don't know what I could have done differently, but maybe there is something more I could have done.

I do not want to leave you all in the lurch. So I will give you two e-mail addresses. One belongs to the person that actually fullfills the orders and does the leg work, she is the one to aim your frustration at and she has, until now, been insulated by myself and Frank. Her name is Limay and her husband is the cheif partner of PDAmotion. So she shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Frank, my boss, runs the company; but of late he has not been allowed to run it the way it should be run. However, he still works for PDAmotion and can be contacted.

LiMay's e-mail: [email protected]

Frank's e-mail: [email protected]

Jimmy is the cheif partner as I said. I have never had e-mail contact with him, but I believe it a safe bet that his e-mail address follows the same system as all the others. But who knows....

I am requesting that all my e-mail be forwarded to someone at PDAmotion so that if you e-mail my address it will go somewhere, but I will no longer be answering my e-mail.

As for the board, it is a PDAmotion board but it is in my name. I will do nothing to the board, but eventually the 6 month membership will run out and advertising will appear. All issues should be resolved by then.

My apologies to you all. I do not know what else to say, but to say I hope that you all do not hold me too much to blame. I got into this with good faith and never thought it would all come to this situation. Some of you may only think I am attempting to cover my own rear, but to be honest, if that were the ase I would have bailed a long time ago.

It is my hope that by quiting I force PDAmotion to see what is going on and take full responsibilty and do more.

Take care and good luck. Maybe, one day, I will be able to get back in the game and provide you all with the types of products you want at a fair price with the best customer service possible.

My deepest apologies,

Kemas
****************
KemasPDAmotion -Moderator/Admin
Most posts should be responded to in 1 business day.
[email protected]

[Paragon]

I posted in reply to this at pPCp, I'll also do it here.

Now adays there are far too many people who don't care and refuse to help people out even when they are the cause of the problem. Seldom does anyone of Kemas's calibre come along. He worked very hard under terrible conditions to help PDAmotion customers out. He took the brunt of the abuse pointed at PDAmotion and still he carried on doing the best he could with the info that he was given to him.

I understand there are many who are still unsatisfied. I hope they finally get what they want. There are also many who are now satisfied, this is do largely to his efforts.

Good luck Kemas

Dave

[JMountford]

I honestly can not say I have had any interactions with PDAMotion. I have read the news of what is going on.

I would like to say that being a person who has been in this gentleman's shoes it is a very, very tough job. It takes a special type of person to do it. Furthermore; to keep doing as good a job as you can in the face of a company who fights you all the way is difficult at best and impossible at worse. No one can do it forever, not even the best of us. THis guy seems to have gone above and beyond and fought the good fight. I have seen his name before, usually named with high regard.

I FOR ONE, applaud and commend him and wish him the best of luck. The flustrations of individuals unsatisfied with this companies product should direct their anger towards the company. Get the Attorney General for PDA Motion's State of operation envolved. Call the better business bureau for that county amd state. Let the man go he did his best and then some.

[CoffeeKid]

Ditto to what Paragon said - Kemas is one class act. I feel for the guy.

Mark

[Will T Smith]

PDAMotion has had substantial problems with both delivery and customer satisfaction. These problems in a startup are not unusual, however, there are some additional market factors that may doom PDAMotion:

1) Compaq just introduced (leaked) new expansion packs that are sleek, include a modular battery, AND include a screen cover.

Why it took them so long is a mystery to me. However, I do believe that the existence of PDAMotion influenced Compaq's decision to put innovation into something that was previously just an unimaginitive CASH COW.

2) The existence of a cheaper and more readily available alternative, the DIY Silver Slider kit.
From reports a "on spec" PDAMotion Silver Slider is higher quality, but so far they have demonstrated the ability to deliver this quality. One can have a DIY kit shipped immediately. Timely delivery of a WORKING Silver Slider unit is currently unavailable.

3) The introduction of TDK's "Bluetooth Slider".
Long term viability for PDAMotion depends on an ability to produce MORE products AND higher margin products. A "Bluetooth Slider" would have been an excellent opportunity to provide a $200-$250 device that essentially consists of a new plastic shell for a relatively cheap component*.

The TDK BluePaq device is going for $300. That could easily have been a PDAMotion device. By the time they get around to building such a device, the competition will have increased substantially, thereby DECREASING the margins that they could potentially ask for**.

*Bluetooth devices are currently priced for "early adopters". The actual Bluetooth Chipsets are relatively cheap when compared to say 802.11b.
** Of course, PDAMotion demonstrated a profound lack business sense by introducing this product at such a low price. When one attempts to invalidate the laws of supply and demand, one gets burned. It's much more sound to charge a premium to "early adopters" then lower the price when production has been proven and optimized. As an original Silver Slider priced in the $100 range (not including the original CF Jacket +$35-$50) PDAMotion could have easily set a pricepoint at $80 while still receiving a large volume of orders. One can always lower the price and look good. Raising the price looks bad to customers.
This may very well be typical of the CA-esque practice of selling as much stuff as possible NOW to make your quarterly reports look good. Even if the revenue's are not actually realized, they place them on the books anyway.

4) George Mosquera is still producing competitive products.
Granted, it's not mass production, AND it's relatively expensive. However, the existence of these "advanced" Silver Slider models limited the possibilities for PDAMotion.

Had PDAMotion resolved these issues in January, I believe they would have had a great start. But given that they still can't fill their orders, AND they have billed customers for non-existent product (a clue of serious financial difficulty), and venture capital for high tech is now much more restricted, I believe that they will fail sometime in 2002.

[spg]

It is a sad deal I must admit. My Mom ordered a silver slider for me around the first of Dec. (christmas present), I finally got it about 1 or 2 weeks ago. I feel sorry for Kemas, it is to bad the rest of the people in the company don't care more about customers needs. :( I must say I am impressed with my silver slider, works perfectly. But I would not advise anyone to order from PDAMotion, no matter how bad they want the product.

[Jason Dunn]

2) The existence of a cheaper and more readily available alternative, the DIY Silver Slider kit.


I agree with most of your points, except this one. DIY didn't pay George any royalty fees, so I consider them intellectual property thieves and wouldn't suggest that ANYONE buy from them. One of the good things that PDAMotion did was to pay George for his design.

[Take1]

I waited about two months for my SSII to arrive and it was worth the wait, considering the stupidly low price they are selling them at. I understood that this deal was exceptional and that waiting was part of the game when I ordered the sleeve -- had it cost $99, my attitude would be much different.

[mashtim]

Yeah, well, that "stupidly low price" is fine and dandy until the thing breaks, like mine just did. Of course, there is NO WAY I'm sending it back to them to be repaired, as I'll never see it again. So, sometimes simply getting the item isn't all it's cracked up to be, either. I guess I should just write it off as a 3-month rental of a SS, huh?