Unresponsive support

#1

I purchased a Flipper Zero 8 days ago.

Once the order was placed I got an email confirming the order. About a day later, I got an email from “Shop” saying I could use the Shop app to track my order. So I downloaded the Shop app, and it’s not able to tell me anything about my order. It just wants me to use the app to buy other stuff.

So I emailed Flipper support to see if they could help me figure out why I wasn’t able to track the order the way they said I’d be able to, and got an automated reply saying they’d respond within 2 to 3 days.

It’s now been 5 days and I’ve yet to hear anything from Flipper and I’m starting to have concerns. Not helping things: in the original confirmation email it says “Shipping before September 31st, 2022.” There’s no such date as September 31st. Given the number of code libraries that handle dates and date math just fine, how does this happen? Did a human mistakenly write a pretend date for all order confirmations? What other mistakes have been made?

I’m not asking that Flipper be immediately responsive, or that the people working the store be perfect, but ANY response with actual usable information would be appreciated.

#2

just wait son

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#3

just wait son

If I was content waiting days for a response I wouldn’t have posted here, son.

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#5

The best place for updated information on the orders is Discord. Anyways, what we know is this:

  • The September 31st ship date is a joke. They mentioned this on Discord - it’s just an easter egg for those paying attention. Not to worry, that translates to October 1.
  • The shipment to the US with all of our Flipper Zeros was seized with no reason given. Now instead of making us all wait for this madness to be sorted out with US customs, the Flipper Team has already started to ship out these orders directly from the factory in China. This is a recent evolvement as of 2 days ago, and they will be sending out tracking information shortly.
  • Stay patient. You will get your Flipper. If you absolutely cannot wait there are also several people price gouging on eBay, etc. No one is stealing your money, just stay patient.
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#6

Can confirm via Flipper support email that 31st is 10/1. Direct shipping from china will take time. I’ve bought flippers before, patience is key and your money isn’t stolen.

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#7

The seizure is unfortunate, as has been the communication around the seizure and what Flipper is doing about it.

According to an email sent out by the Flipper team, the shipment was seized on September 23. That was 3 days after I placed my order. When I emailed Flipper support asking about troubles with the Shop app, that was also September 23. Perhaps the support queue was being ignored as the customs problems were front and center.

Regardless, the email sent out talking about the seizure says:

we have enough inventory in our Hong Kong warehouse to fulfill the orders

Though they also say:

our logistics partner advises us to wait for the official seizure notice to understand the reason and prevent the problem from reocurring

It’s unclear what the plan is now, 13 days later.

To be fair, support finally responded to my questions, but said this:

At the moment, we are working with the customs lawyers to solve this problem. We are sure that this “issue” will be “fixed” in the nearest future. Once the device is sent from the US warehouse, you’ll get the tracking link.

Which sounds like we won’t be having devices shipped from Hong Kong. Maybe that means less chance of individual orders getting seized at the border, but might also mean waiting even longer.

I respect that the people behind Flipper are a small team, and are likely better hacking-device makers than they are retail sellers. Because the team is small, communicating with your customers promptly with consistent, unambiguous, messaging is even more important. Without it, problems compound and people get frustrated, then start emailing support or wasting energy elsewhere, all while bigger problems are being worked on.

#10

Just coming in to say I’m part of the “seized” group. Order placed on Sep 15, 2022 with a “Shipping before September 31st, 2022” note in my order. Got the “US Customs seized a container with your Flipper order” on October 3, 2022 (10 days ago).

I’m pretty forgiving of the Flipper Devices team right now. I have experience in small business and I know it’s not easy… and I’ve never even developed and shipped a novel electronic device! My only recommendation right now would be for them to more regularly communicate, the more the better. At least in my experience, customers are much happier with regular communications saying “hey, no update yet” than nothing at all (and I’ve failed to do that myself).

Also, I did some hypothesizing and back-of-the-envelope calculations regarding the shipment and seizure. When I first read the seizure email, my first thought was that the seizure happened because of the Flipper Zero itself. I thought that perhaps its usefulness as a pen-testing tool caused a panic. I certainly can’t rule that out although I’d hope that, even if that’s the reason for the seizure, CBP is smart enough to release it. The other, more pedestrian possibility is that there was some screw-up in paperwork. I don’t know much about importing goods for sale but I know enough to realize it’s not exactly straightforward. Between the government agencies involved (at origin and at destination), taxes, and the multiple entities involved in physically moving the goods, lots can go wrong if documentation is incomplete, incorrect, or missing. And if you use a freight forwarder to outsource that work, they could be incompetent!

P.S.: Some Back-of-The-Envelope Calculations
Perhaps just to engage in wishful thinking, I wondered if it’s possible for some other shipment in the same container to have triggered the seizure. For that to be possible, the Flipper Zeros would have to make up only a fraction of the container.

Assumptions & Givens

  • Flipper Zero units: 15,000
  • Flipper Zero dimensions: 100mmx45mmx25mm (I assume that, if you’re looking down at the screen, it’s 100mm left-to-right, 45mm top-to-bottom, and 25mm “thick”)
  • North American standard pallet (GMA): 40"x48" = 1016mmx1219mm
  • A standard 40 foot “intermodal container”
  • Intermodal container can fit 20 GMA pallets

Calculations/Results

  • Each “level” of Flippers within a pallet can contain 264 flippers: 1016mm/45mm = 22, 1219mm/100mm = 12.9 → 22 x 12 = 264 units per level
  • A pallet can fit 880 “levels” of Flippers: 2200mm/25mm = 880 levels.
  • A pallet of Flippers would contain 232,320 flippers: 880 * 264

Based on the above, the Flipper shipment wouldn’t even make up the majority of a single pallet of the 20 pallets in a 40-ft intermodal container.

Caveats

  • Biggest one: the Flippers are actually the item of interest to CBP
  • Related: The Flipper shipment itself was seized while the rest of the container went on its merry way
  • The individual boxes containing the Flippers are substantially bigger than the Flipper Zero itself
  • The Flipper boxes were packed in a different way from the way I assumed