LH Labs Geek Out GO2A, V2, V2+, Infinity and SE Impressions and Reviews

I don't envy your role, Jarek, but it was 100% obvious that you will get flooded with "open" tickets.
Did Larry not mention how many tickets are there which need to be answered?

Really hope you can change something to the better.

Maybe you can also try to convince LHL to perform better QA (advice from someone whose last three LHL devices where all buggy when arrived and needed several RMAs).

 

The only thing that would possibly move the needle with people is the opportunity for refunds for the long standing unfulfilled cases. If it seems like nothing is moving regardless of talk, then nothing has changed. I do agree with the others above about your position in this. Good luck with that.

 

Actually I didn't get too many yet. Probably will get more but those will probably not addressed immediately. This was more of an outreach, not a full blown ticket resolution campaign. We also needed some examples of tickets that were not addressed but instead closed.

 

"If you're mad at LH Labs because we keep closing your ticket then just let me know and I'll deal with it, except actually I'm not taking any more requests to look at tickets because I have too many already, except actually I don't have too many, but even if I did take your additional request we probably won't get around to looking at it for ages, because this isn't an attempt to fix what is making our customers unhappy, it's an outreach programme."

I am not trying to be a total dick, and indeed I say this in the best possible spirit, as I am 100% behind you trying to fix up LH Labs customer service because the product is so great, but I feel like the messaging is maybe still a wee bit inconsistent?

 

I can't really respond to your first paragraph, because you've already made up your mind on my intentions and true message to people.

I can say that we are working on fixing the issues that people are facing with the tickets. We are taking measured steps to start off with, so we don't over-promise and under-perform. I've been informed the people who own the tickets I took to start off with are very grateful someone is showing an interest in assisting them.

 

Pro tip: Tooting your own horn won't get you much validation on SBAF. Best off just to keep grinding. Proof is in the pudding.

 

I'm thinking it's best to remain silent on this forum from now on. Obviously, it's a pretty toxic environment, judging by the past two posts. First I get accused of having ulterior motives, then I get accused of tooting my own horn.

Anyway, I'm reaching out to Jowls and then I may take a break from here and focus my efforts in other places.

 

I'm thinking they should've hired someone with better reading comprehension and a thicker skin. Given the recent history, LHL is gonna have to do better than this to rebuild their reputation.

 

There's a difference between being "brutally honest" and flat out rude and aggressive. When Garns makes a flat out rude, untrue, accusatory post in response to a hand reaching out, and then people here are supporting him by "liking" his post, I know it's a losing battle. It's not about thin skin ---- I truly don't have thin skin. I just read what people are telling me and indicating to me -- which is that I'm full of it, I have ulterior motives, etc. The minds are already made up - at this point it's a losing battle no matter what I do, because it won't be good enough, ever. That's when it's time to walk away and focus on a battle where efforts to reach out are actually appreciated.


Like I said, I reached out to Jowls via PM and hopefully he'll take the offer.

 

I find this ironic because of all the local meets that Larry Ho could have gone to, he personally went to the SBAF meet last November because he felt the most comfortable there. Last I checked, he had a pretty good time there.

If you're doing this LH CS job for the affirmation, then you're going about it the wrong way. This will be a largely thankless job for the most part with a largely negative clientele that you have inherited. If you're already taking your ball and going home from the reception here, I can guarantee that many of the other places will be as "bad" or likely worse. I suggest taking a step back and understand the magnitude of the situation. I don't think people here are looking for some all conquering hero to smite their enemies. They're looking for someone to do their job seriously and execute. And this will take time.

For the record, I am on your side. I do wish you success in this. But trust will have to be earned.

 

I think this needs to be spelled out again because you still do not seem to get it, and please note that I bear no ill will towards LH. I've greeted Larry every single time I met him in person. And I'm always looking forward to his next projects and products. But I'm only writing all of that out because you are getting very reactive right now.

1. You are not in a battle. But all the same, I think you think you are in one, and I think you are mistaken. Please note that nobody in here truly speaks for the entirety of the community. That's absurd. I didn't like Garns' post, for instance. I do agree with him that you were being a bit confusing with your wording, though, and I think that was his original intention. Not to insult you, but to point out a potential flaw in your wording. This may have gotten lost along the context.

2. I get that you are trying to reach out to help, and I really appreciate that. And honestly, I personally have not had a single issue dealing with LH Labs CS. They were late to respond (by 8 months at the longest) a few times in the past but all my issues were resolved in the end thanks to your company's continual efforts to "do right by the customers." And honestly, I appreciate that. Others may not be as patient as I am, and I think you need to recognize that.

3. I think some others and I see your presence here as being a positive and welcoming change. But again, some others may not. You have to understand that for some customers now, the only thing that will make them happy is not about delivering products anymore, but to simply get "refunds" for whatever they paid LH in the distant past (sorry, I gotta emphasize "distant" here). Your mention of other solutions while completely avoiding the topic of "refund" is potentially upsetting for them to read. Or at least that's what I think.

4. I would wager that if you choose to walk away from this community now in this context, that it would have very negative effects on LH Labs' image, which you are trying to rebuild. Basically, you are undoing what you set out to do, and you may potentially even make it worse. I don't think you have to respond to every request either, or be super proactive. Please just don't try to walk away saying "oh, you guys obviously don't like me so I'm not gonna be here anymore." You wrote this:

...so if you yourself do not give yourself a chance, then all hope is lost.

Sincerely, I wish you the best, but I think you're taking all of this a little too hard. Please calm down, relax, read things over again, and start listening to what people are telling you (barring the parts where you personally find insulting, but then please do not take the opinion of some individuals as the collective will of the community).

 

Read what Bill-P says, and then also consider this:

What do you think "an outreach" is? When you're the voice of a company that has screwed up, a credible outreach can't just amount to "we're going to grab a small handful of problems from the loudest complainers and fix them," it needs to consist of:

1. We screwed up
2. This is how we screwed up.
3. This is what we've changed so we're not going to continue screwing up.
4. These are the following concrete things that you will see, and here's when you'll see them.
5. [and then actually do it]

Doing "outreach" without that -- just helping a handful of people without a "full blown ticket resolution campaign" -- is the definition of hollow talk. So if that's all you can offer, well, I'm sure the handful of people you help will be glad of it, but yeah, you're gonna get skepticism.

And to be completely blunt about this, if a company in crisis hires a social media coordinator who gets huffy at the level of skepticism seen in this thread, it's really hard to see that as a positive sign of anything. Taking some shit is literally your job at this point. (And if you're doing this as volunteer work, well, I'm sure your intentions are good, but this may not be the place to put your energy.)

 

Man, I'm just here to see if my week-old email about a simple firmware update could get a reply, but the poor sod has already been triggered beyond the point of no return and packed his bags.

 

I've linked your posts to the relevant parts of Garns post, to help you better understand where that came from.

You've been here as @synthwavefan, you should know SBAF is Sceptical Bastards Apart From (proven stuff). And for LHLabs the hope is that a realistic plan is presented (with minimum revision), executed, and with regular updates on the progress. Talk is free, but actions rebuild bridges.

 

Sad to see LHLabs has the same refund policy as Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.

 

I never heard of a money back policy on any political campaign.

 

OK, now that I've had a breather and some nice words of encouragement from some of the members, both publicly and privately, let's rewind and I'd like to clarify some things that evidently didn't get explained very well or got lost or overlooked:

I don't have access to the ticket system right now. I'm not set up for it. I have to go through Larry or Matt or someone else. I don't know when/if I'll be able to get ahold of Matt, and Larry is busy running business with the vendors. I can't take on a huge number of tickets, because I literally don't have resources at this point to deal with a lot of them. I don't even know how to work the ticket system at this point. I haven't been trained on it. Right now I'm basically hired to work on the IGG announcements, keep touch with the community, answer forum questions, etc. I'm flying solo in the forums right now. Next:

WE ARE LOOKING FOR VERY SPECIFIC TICKETS. [next 3 paragraphs]

I'm having to copy and paste and screenshot all the issues/ticket numbers and then I'm going to present them (hopefully) to Larry or Matt and see if we can figure out WHY I'm seeing so many mentions of a) closed tickets for no reason b) equipment owned by backers sitting in LH Labs on repair c) tickets being closed after 48 hours d) things of this nature. So yes, these people *would* fall under the "most upset" or whatever, if you want to call it that, in a very relative, general, vaguely specific use of the term. Larry asked that I reach out on the forums to angry people and write them personally. This is part of that "mission".

So, yes, the entire reason I was asking for tickets, is so we can improve the ticket system or see what is going on with Customer Service on the lab's end. We're trying to fix the issues that people are experiencing when they submit tickets. I mentioned to Larry that I was seeing lots of closed after 48 hour ticket complaints - he was perplexed and asked me to investigate more.

There's also an issue of the refunds --- not for the IGG campaign (obviously), but for over-charges, refunds for shipping, etc. I mentioned these to Larry and he and I are looking into the issue, because right now it's a he/she said type of thing. Gina says it's Larry's call to not refund anything, but then Gina also told people they would be refunded and then they weren't. I'm looking to present these types of tickets to Larry so they can be reviewed and see if there was a miscommunication somewhere regarding a policy, or if there was active misleading involved, or what the issue was. Then I assume we're going to look into a policy - it may be case by case, it may not be. I don't know at this point. I have to see what we're dealing with and what Larry says and thinks, since he's the boss. I hope I have some sort of input on it, he seems receptive to my ideas so far, so fingers crossed.

Moving on, yes, I'm already a member of the community here so I know how everyone is here. However, I guess I wasn't prepared for the level of what I perceived to be vitrioll towards what I perceived to be me personally. I'm sure most of it was actually aimed at Larry, but it had my name written all over it, so I was pretty shocked honestly, because even when I was posting as synthwave, I didn't get that level of hazing from the community. It's like everyone turned on me as soon as I said I was teaming up with LH. I felt as if I was put into a position to respond, and even if I did, it would be a "oh, you would say that" situation - either ignore, or respond, a lose lose situation for me both ways. And I hate being put in that position, especially if I'm ambushed like that.

I totally understand that LH has very little cred left, but, and not to "toot my own horn"....I was never the one working with LH Labs, so MAYBE...HOPEFULLY...MAYBE....I bring something to the table that was missing. Or not. I don't know. No one knows at this point. Maybe not. I don't expect to "save" LH Labs. Maybe I can make it better - that's all I can do at this point. If we get lucky, maybe we can save it. If. Big if. It won't be me though, it'll be the entire LH team and hopefully the community.

Also, not bragging, no patting on the back here: As anyone can see by my IGG post, and if anyone could see the amount of hours I've logged and the amount of effort I've put forth into writing up proposals for Larry, and all the amount of research and brainstorming I've done to assist LH/Larry, I do take the job seriously, and there is no "work harder" --- I'm literally working as hard as I can on this project. Will it get us anywhere? It won't necessarily get LH any farther, but hopefully it gets the backers some closure. And yes, I'm being paid to do this, but it's honestly (usually) so far a fun little passion project because I like the forums, I like LH gear, etc.

So I apologize if I seemed thin skinned, and I'll just assume any negativity in the future is not aimed at me directly. I'm looking forward to helping out around the backing community and getting stuff accomplished.