ALERT: ISO REGEN half-launch belly flop: Bad part on half the first boards. Or how I ruined my vacation and learned to solder under a microscope. (Updates will post here.)

[Superdad]

 

Okay, this is embarrassing, but stuff happens, so here goes:

 

Below is a copy of the message just sent to those of you who ordered the ISO REGEN during the first 3 hours of the order-launch on May 25th.

 

Greetings:

 

This message is going to the 230 UpTone Audio clients who, on April 25th, ordered one or more of the terrific new ISO REGEN.  

 

We know that each of you were excited to be among the first purchasers of this device and to receive yours as part of the first 250 unit production run.  At the time of your order you were promised that shipment would take place this week, from May 16th-19th.

 

Anyone who has done business with UpTone in the past (that is most of you!) knows that I take it as a point of ethical pride for us to always deliver products on time as promised.  We did not open the ISO REGEN up to orders until the entire design was finished and thoroughly tested (ISO REGEN was in development for over a year)--and we had full and final production boards in hand.

 

All went as planned--the first few boards off the line arrived, tested perfectly, and were approved.  Our board house went ahead and ran the balance of 245 units--which arrived to us Friday, May 28th, the day before my departure on a long-planned 1-week vacation with my wife.

I set my assistant up to test and assemble while I was away, and figured all would go smoothly.

 

Sadly, what transpired while I was gone was anything but smooth.  When my assistant began testing mid-week, she found that at least half of the boards failed our function tests!  I was alerted, and spent much of my vacation in a panic and in coordination with our engineer John Swenson and with suppliers. So much for a relaxing vacation.

 

Upon my return May 8th we fervently hunted for the cause of the failures.   It was crazy, since half the ISO REGENs worked perfectly, and half did not work at all.  By the end of last week--and after many tens of hours of dissecting--we traced the problem to a reel of out-of-spec parts, a bad batch which the part manufacturer admitted to.

 

--------------

 

So where does this leave us--and you--the day before we were supposed to begin shipping?   

 

Well, since the first run sold out in a matter of hours on launch-morning, we already had scheduled another run of boards for the orders that continued to pour in--promising a product delivery date of early-June.  However, the moment I got word of the problem while in Hawaii, I placed production on hold until we figured out the cause.  Once the mystery was solved, we gave the go-ahead (just this morning) for the PCB assembly to begin again--and I have offered to pay "rush charges" for expedited production.  It will be a couple of days before we know an accurate date for the next 250 boards to arrive. (And based on current orders, a few of the early-June buyers will get pushed out a bit further since we can only assemble and test so many each day.)

 

As mentioned at top, half of the first production of boards test perfect--no issues whatsoever.  If they did not get a part from the "bad" reel, then they meet full spec.  (And boy does ISO REGEN sound fantastic!)

 

So about half of you--who ordered in those first few hours and were expecting your ISO REGEN (or ISO REGEN/UltraCap LPS-1 bundles) to ship this week--will indeed receive a notice with tracking number late this week. (Forget about tomorrow or Wednesday, this stumble has put us behind, and the logistical tasks of configuring your orders with correct USPCB A>B Adapters and power supply choices has not even begun.)

 

Mostly these first 125 units will go out in the order your order was received.  There are a few orders where delivery expectation was timed with travel to the USA, and I also reserve the right to "cherry pick" and send to a few recognized names--of those who post a lot on the forums or have bought a lot of items from us in the past.  But 3/4ths of the 230 unit order first batch you are in came in the first 10 minutes of 9:00 a.m. May 25th, so no matter who gets theirs shipped this week, nobody is being treated with any favor or neglect.

 

This message--along with some photos of production taken this morning--is also being posted on our sponsored forum at ComputerAudiophile.com.  If you have any questions or comments about the matter, we would greatly appreciate it if you would please post them there--rather than sending a private e-mail (we are already quite behind in e-mail replies due to 100% of my attention being focused on this unfortunate matter).  Updates regarding the next delivery of boards and fulfillment of the balance of your orders will be posted to the forum here:

 

 

Thank you again for your enthusiasm, your trust, and your business. And thank you for being an early adopter of the UpTone Audio ISO REGEN.  We of course stand by all our products, and we are confident you will be delighted with this one once you receive yours.  So if you don't receive a shipping notice this week, you can check the forum for updates and perhaps enjoy reading the first impressions of those who get theirs a couple of weeks before you do.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alex J. Crespi

UpTone Audio LLC

 

The good ISO REGEN boards finally going into their cases.

 

A few of the 85 UltraCap LPS-1 units needed for the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 bundles that folks ordered.

 

USPCB A>B Adapters getting their heat-shrink 

 

 

[Daudio]

Alex,

 

So sorry that you have to deal with this unforscene and undeserved problem.  If it is any consolation, IIRC Schitt Audio suffered a similar problem or two along their way. Paying dues to the fates ??

[gadgetman]

Hi Alex,

 

It's sad to hear such tragedy. I've been in the electronics industry for more than 3 decades. And I know very well how it feels when such things happened. Especially, it seems that bad thing happened when we are going for a good rest. Hopefully you can pick up the normal work very quickly.

 

By the way, could you please let us know of which component that cause such disaster? Thanks.

[zerung]

Alex, I hope this loss is borne by the parts manufacturer or your insurance. if not this is extremely disappointing.

[ted_b]

This is what makes working with Uptone Audio such a pleasure.  You guys pull no punches, and are transparent to your customers, reviewers, etc.  As they say, "this too shall pass" and you'll look back on it as a small blip, hopefully.  Hang in there. 

[scan80269]

I'm curious as to how UpTone plans to go after the supplier of that bad component for compensation.  If it's up to me, not only is that supplier obligated to replace that defective roll for free (standard RMA process), they owe UpTone a lifetime supply of that component for as long the ISO REGEN is in the market.  I'm all for suppliers paying a stiff penalty for poor QC, no QC, or whatever they did or did not do to result in such a bad quality escape.  My company would often move to disqualify such a supplier until they can demonstrate clearly improved actions to prevent repeat cases, unless the part is single-sourced of course.

 

BTW, can those ISO REGENs with bad components be reworked?  I'm just wondering whether those units are a total loss or can be salvaged.  Not knowing how many pins or pads the defective part has it's a bit hard for me to guess the "reworkability".

 

[T-Bone]

Thanks for the transparency @Superdad I really appreciate it.  Bad news sucks, but D.O.A. units sucks more.

[KucingHD]

Appreciate the update, Alex. Do not mind waiting longer for ISO Regen.

[rickca]

I feel bad that a supplier's QA failed you.  This certainly won't dampen my enthusiasm for your products.

[JohnSwenson]

12 minutes ago, T-Bone said:

Thanks for the transparency @Superdad I really appreciate it.  Bad news sucks, but D.O.A. units sucks more.

This last week has been an incredibly intense and frustrating time for me, I'm stuck in my small apartment with almost no tools, just a DMM for test equipment, not even a magnifying glass. It felt like dangling over a ravine.

 

Alex and I spent hours on the phone every day trying to come up with tests that could be done to try and figure out what it could be. And I had to let Alex actually do the tests, it was very interesting walking him through SMD surgery over the phone!

 

On top of all this both Alex and I got bad colds at exactly the same time. We were really a pair, talking to each other over the phone while coughing and sneezing.

 

Well at least the debug is over, now it is up to Alex and Tina to deliver them to you. I've got to get him to take a nap sometime! 

 

It's coming and definitely worth the wait.

 

John S.

[jamesg11]

1 hour ago, ted_b said:

This is what makes working with Uptone Audio such a pleasure.  You guys pull no punches, and are transparent to your customers, reviewers, etc.  As they say, "this too shall pass" and you'll look back on it as a small blip, hopefully.  Hang in there. 

Yes, a well-managed setback is no issue at all. Getting the product right is what matters, & some more waiting only enhances the eventual arrival ...!

[sbilotta]

Thanks Alex for being so open and letting us know.

If my ISO Regen is to be delayed then my shipping address will necessarily have to change. If you remember (how can you with all the emails you receive...) I asked you if it would arrive in time if shipped this week and you told me yes, and hence the current address. 

As requested I'm not sending you an email but can you tell me how to manage this ?

Many thanks ! 

[Middy]

Frankly I am disappointed, we have run out of chocolate biscuits for my tea...

 

5000+ parts on our boards. Double check for reels and full testing. We nearly had to recall half the world's jet engine's because of dodgy parts. Not fun desoldering 200 parts by hand for days on end... Good for overtime pay..

Just great you found out before shipping. Just say thanks to that nice lady assembler you have. A few days extra for a perfect part.. not an issue guys. You know it works great, just a hiccup..

If all companies acted open and professional like this, you could close half the world's forums...

Keep smiling

Dave

[Keith_W]

Alex and John, thank you for being so open. I think most, if not all of us understand that what happened was not your fault and that you are working to rectify it. Good luck with this and your future endeavours. 

 

BTW I am still crossing my fingers for a version of the JS-2 that delivers 400W

[Mercman]

This setback will be forgotten once the ISO REGEN is in the hands of enthusiasts. 

 

Hang in there Alex.

[Speed Racer]

Alex and John,

 

I am sorry to hear about all the troubles! Thank you for being upfront and communicating with your customers about the problems. Communication is the key to quality customer service and happy customers. You have that down pat!

 

Thanks!

[darkless]

Will vortexbox.co.uk receive its share of ISO REGENs as planned?

[tapatrick]

11 minutes ago, darkless said:

Will vortexbox.co.uk receive its share of ISO REGENs as planned?

I asked Martin at Vortexbox UK and he said orders from them are confirmed. ?

[tboooe]

On 5/15/2017 at 7:28 PM, Superdad said:

 

 

 

 

 

@Superdad I just noticed...is that ping pong table???  This is what I miss most about not being involved in a small/smartup business...bootstrapping and doing whatever it takes to get product out the door.  Brings back good memories!

[Sloop John B]

10 minutes ago, tboooe said:

@Superdad I just noticed...is that ping pong table???  This is what I miss most about not being involved in a small/smartup business...bootstrapping and doing whatever it takes to get product out the door.  Brings back good memories!

 

Dear dear, that's a highly sophisticated Faraday Shield no less, pink pong table, pah!

 

 

.sjb

[Middy]

That lovely lady bringing Christmas early for us. Just look at how much USPCB's she has done. 

A big thank you from me for the fine work she does for Alex and us all.

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, tboooe said:

@Superdad I just noticed...is that ping pong table??? 

 

Yes, and that table is our most productive work surface!  Everything gets built, kitted, and packed on it.  JS-2s, REGENs, LPS-1s, MMKs, etc.    The ping-pong table proved its worth when we were in the garage, so I planned the entire new building layout and workflow around it.  On the rare weekend when it is not covered with products in process, I drag the kids or my wife out there for paddle challenges. 

 

Today is madness here as for the first time we are kitting and sorting all the variations of ISO REGENs to ship in the morning: Orders have 3 variations of PS (none, SMPS, or LPS-1 bundle) and the two variations of USPCB 'B' plug rotation.  Toss in various shipping methods chosen, international paperwork on about half the parcels, plus combinations with other products, not to mention requested last changes and special instructions.

 

Tina has been great as I keep running out with changes to the counts for the variation groupings.   Frankly my day is just getting started as I expect it to take me another 3-4 hours to get all the shipping labels done and sorted.

But a whole bunch of people are going to get tracking notices at 2:00 p.m. (PST) tomorrow!

 

By the way, here is a link to the ISO REGEN User Guide booklet that is included in the box.

 

[auricgoldfinger]

Please let us know when the tracking numbers are sent out so that we will know if we are getting a unit now or in a month.  Mine unit is a high school graduation gift for my son, and I would like to give him an idea when he can expect it.

 

Thanks.

[tboooe]

I believe the tracking numbers have started to be sent out...

[kalinka]

Anyone got a tracking number already?