Fail – Driven Outside

Dear GoPro,

I am afraid that our relationship isn’t working out. It is not me, it is you – most definitely you. I have been a loyal fan-boy for years, but 2016 has undone us. Let me explain:

I have 4 GoPro cameras, 2 originals, one Hero Session and one Hero 4 Black. There must be $400 worth of mounts and accessories in my video equipment cabinet and mounted to almost everything I own. I was the first in line for the KARMA Drone, and I own a few shares of your stock. Hell, I was at your booth/jam box at NAMM 2 years ago and gushed to the staff there like teeny-bobber. I was at the 2016 NAB show when you guys won the “Best Of” award. Trust me, that I was all in and committed to making it work between us.

I can’t say enough great things about the cameras I own. I love them and use them while biking, boarding, cart racing, 4-wheeling, diving, running, working in the shop, etc… I am happy that the engineers, programmers, and employees in the SF Bay Area can go to work and do cool stuff, get paid a living wage, and work on tech that millions of people use every day. So why are we breaking up???

I mentioned that I own stock. Have you seen those numbers lately?! Hmmm… Screwing up the Amazon relationship before Christmas and not having production capacity did not help after the KARMA fiasco. Did your Contracts Team not even flip through “The Wal-Mart Effect” before negotiations started? Yes, I am somewhat irritated at losing money because a great product line is managed like a PTA bake sale. Additionally, I have had a DJI Phantom 3 Pro for a year or more and it has never once fallen out of the sky. I had the KARMA for 3 days before I had to climb 30 into a pine tree to retrieve it after it fell out of the sky. Camera was OK after the fall, but I sent the drone back for a full refund. One of the smarter things I did in 2016.

The final straw though is GoPro Studio. Holy sweet baby Jesus, I wish I had all the HOURS of my life that have been lost due to crashes, auto-overwrites, searching web forums for patches, and completely re-processing almost half videos I have made in the last 10 months. A recent attempt to make a film out of a Christmas snowboard trip made me want to beat my computer with a hammer for even associating with GoPro Studio. I know, I know it is “free” software… Bundled software with a $500 camera and an $800 drone is not free. As of the writing of this post, the last update to Studio was in October of 2015 – that was 15 months ago, eons of time for software. I finally had to drink the Kool-Aid and use my wife’s Mac Book to edit the film in iMovie. I made a killer little film in like 50 minutes. The software didn’t glitch, hang, or overwrite my project. It was easy to use even the first time and it just worked. As a note, iMovie is “free” as well…

To be clear, I do not see any of this as a production, software, or engineering failure. It is an issue with program & senior management. Hire professionals that understand product launch logistics, QA/QC, beta test management, vendor & supplier relationships, and the impact all of this has on your business and investors.

In closing, I am sorry that you made me do this on such a public forum. I am sorry that I can no longer support the hard work of your engineering team and production staff by purchasing your products. Spend some time on you, work on who you are and who you want to be, and get some professional help. Maybe someday we can sit down at the table again, but I am going to need my space for now.

As mentioned previously, no plumbing permit was pulled for the work in our house and we had to have the BRAND NEW concrete in the basement torn back so that the county inspector can view the pipes and witness a pressure test. When the inspector arrived for the first try, he found 3 additional issues that the plumbing company (big company, one of the oldest in Seattle) had to address. They ended up tearing up more concrete, part of our foundation wall and a 2′ section of my BRAND NEW AND FRESHLY PAINTED drywall!! To add a little insult – I found an empty bottle of wine from a case we imported from France under the trash pile that the first and second crew used in our back yard. Seriously, why would they leave the bottle?! As a ‘Fuck You’..?!

I am unhappy and Stamps-With-Foot is livid. The plumbing company GM came by and was really apologetic and assured us that we would get an update, directly from him, every day. That hasn’t happened and we had no clue that the concrete was being re-poured until my floor re-finisher called and asked if it was OK that he let the concrete guys in.

The new concrete is super wonky and out of level – 1/2″ below the toilet flange and my tile guy wants $800 in addition to his original quote to lay extra floor leveler. To rub salt in the wound, the plumbers sent us a bill for $36,000 dollars. That is not a typo: $36K. The original agreement was for $9200.00 BEFORE they screwed up. I called the GM, sent him all the emails that had gone back and forth and he promised that he would get right back to me. That was a week ago…

Super frustrating. Out of the 7 contractors that have worked on our house remodel and garage build, the plumbing company is the ONLY one that we have had any issue with. Everyone else to this point has been super easy to deal with, lived up to their contract, filed for and received permits, and were clear and concise when small issues came up.

I am not naming names – yet. I am going to see what their next step is. If they try to bill me for another dime, I won’t hesitate in publishing all the details, pictures, e-mails and text messages here on the interwebs – I get 34K hits to my site a week, so… I will be having a long talk with the county concerning a fine request, use Angie’s List remediation, file a BBB complaint, file a WA State L&I claim, and then there is the Consumer Protection Division of the WA Attorney Generals office. That should get things started at least.

Driven Outside

Tag: Fail

A open letter to GoPro:

Continued Plumbing Woes…