[Sidepot]

I'll use this thread to update all of you on the status of the soon-to-be-released Proteges.
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1/31/2007 5:00pm Protege Update

039884947621045

Anybody care to guess what that is?

You guessed it... a tracking number!

The eagle lands on 2/5/2007 (that's Monday).

10K is the first batch, more to come by the end of the week hopefully .

-Stephan
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1/31/2007 Protege Update:

No news on the shipping yet (might hear later today if these ship out to us today), but I just wanted to drop a note here about the Protege's "sold out" status on our website, which reads:

"NOTE: Due to an overwhelming response to these chips, the first batch enroute to us has already been sold out. All pre-orders placed prior to January 31st, 2007 will ship out in February. We're now taking pre-orders for the 2nd batch which is expected to arrive in March..."

I wanted to ensure everyone at ChipTalk that pre-ordered these chips that none of you will be affected by this. The only people this affects is customers who place an order today and in the future - they may have a longer wait as our whole stock that is inbound has been spoken for, and thus we won't have an inventory accumulation with which to ship from.

-Stephan
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1-29-2007 Protege Update

Ok, so my last update post indicated the first batch inbound would ship by the end of last week, which was the best information I had at the time. Didn't happen. I got my weekly update today, and this first inbound shipment has been re-scheduled (big surprise here, I know) to Tuesday or Wednesday this week. We'll translate that into meaning "by the end of the week" - don't say I'm not learning here! I'm still hopin to see a tracking number by Wednesday though.

On the "good news" side, the production staff being committed to the initial Protege order is being increased, so the chips should flow in faster and the pre-orders should clear quicker once they actually start flowing.

And in other news... Epiphany is coming... details to be announced soon by Tenpercenter.

-Stephan
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1-22-2007 Protege Update:

Good news! I've confirmed today that the Protege final assembly is in full swing. Chips will begin shipping to our location by the end of the week in batches of about 10,000 per shipment. Denominations will be mixed to expedite the shipping of complete orders.
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1/16/2006 Protege Update:

Our manufacturer has inlays in hand for almost all of the denominations. They're finishing off a big casino order now and should be done with this by Friday at the latest, so the Protege's will start immediately upon the completion of this. Since the chip slugs are already ready and waiting, the final assembly will go relatively quickly and shipments should start to head our way early next week, if not this Friday. To anyone with an existing Protege order it, this may mean your chips could be shipped as soon as next Friday (26th), or maybe early the following week.

That's all for now. I'll give another update when we have our first inbound tracking number in hand.
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1/8/2007 Update

Good news! The Protege's are getting closer!

We have confirmation that the inlays should start arriving at our manufacturer's facility tomorrow, which means chips may be shipping our way by the end of the week. So we should start accumulating our inventory next week. All of the denominations won't arrive at the same time, so it may be another week past that before we start shipping the first orders. But all of the orders will ship out quickly once the first ones start shipping as things will really start to roll in over the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks again for everyone's patience!
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We were really banking on these being available for shipment to customers far in advance of Christmas. Actually, based on our prior history with our manufacturer and ordering these with a big down payment in August, we expected to receive them in October. Nonetheless, for a number of reasons out of our control (and even out of our manufacturer's control) the production schedule has be significantly delayed. There's been no problem with the chips at all, just assembling all of the pieces seems to be the issue. When they get here, I assure you will all be extremely happy with the end product...

... if it just wasn't for the rediculous delivery date

The Protege's, and a small batch of backordered InPlays, are in the very front of our manufacturer's queue (and have been for the past month or two it seems). The chips are ready and waiting for inlays still, and when the inlays arrive the first batches of chips will go thru final assembly and be shipped out within a day or two to us. When we get them, we'll turn them around immediately. Once things finally start happening, they'll happen very quickly.

I still can not get a concrete delivery time on the inlays to the manufacturer, but I expect it to be in the next week or two. So, that would put these in your hands in early January. That's the estimate as of now - early January.

Next steps - I really appreciate the patience all of you have shown during this lengthly delay. If any of you are interested in other denominations outside of the 9 original denominations (i.e. 25c, $1, $5, $25, $100, $500, $1000, and $5000), we'd be willing to consider doing some additional denominations as a special offering, or if there is significant interest, as an addition to the line. Speak up if you're interested.

-Stephan

[JM]

Thanks for the update Stephan!

[mrticsay]

While I appreciate actually seeing an update, it is disappointing.

Its especially disappointing since it seems like the message has been the same for a while- sorry we've been delayed, delays beyond our control, just waiting on X, should be taken care of soon, quick to ship after that, you'll love them.

[Sidepot]

Originally Posted by mrticsay

While I appreciate actually seeing an update, it is disappointing.

Its especially disappointing since it seems like the message has been the same for a while- sorry we've been delayed, delays beyond our control, just waiting on X, should be taken care of soon, quick to ship after that, you'll love them.

My personal apologies to your Mrticsay. These excuses seem just as lame to me as they do to you, I'm sure. Unfortunately, you rely on our company, and our company relies on our manufacturers, and they rely on their suppliers. As my customer, I take full responsibility for any disappointment you have in our services. While we don't control the levels above us, we make choices and build in time cushions, and on this line we failed to plan correctly and deliver it in a timely manner.

That being said, this is a tough industry and the Protege's were a leap forward and that always takes more time. I hope you can appreciate that and the fact that this industry especially has very limited alternatives for production of the finest quality clay poker chips, and there's no other company in the world that could have brought these Protege's to market with the degree of flexibility that was necessary except for the manufacturer we use. So the alternative is to A) not produce them at all, or B) produce them, yet live with a lot of uncertainty and tolerate a lot of ambiguity. That's your options in this industry, and if you want good chips, you do what you can. We didn't cut any corners here, and we always tried to err on the side of cautiion. Our principal mistake was not allowing enough lead time on these, and should we do this again, we'll start the process more than 10 months ahead of time (but it's hard to predict at the outset that 10 months isn't enough time).

So I appoligize that the Protege's are late getting to market, but if the alternative is to not have them, I would still do this all over.

-Stephan

[UW85]

Hey Stephan,

At this point a couple more weeks is just that -- a few days in the big picture. I'd rather see them be delayed and put together with all the care & attention to detail that needs to happen with these chips -- rather than just slam them out the door. I'm sure all would agree with that & what you plan to do -- just stating the obvious I know.

As for other denominations -- yeah, I'd love to see a $25,000 chip. We play a lot of deep stack tournaments and it's much more easier to chip out all the lower denoms for the final few players.

Finally -- just got your voicemail and I apprecaite being the first one you'll ship to besides Magus....oh wait, that's not what you said!!! It's wishful thinking though.


Edit: Got Magus wrong, now fixed! Sorry Magus

[Sidepot]

Originally Posted by UW85

As for other denominations -- yeah, I'd love to see a $25,000 chip. We play a lot of deep stack tournaments and it's much more easier to chip out all the lower denoms for the final few players.

Done. We'll make a $25,000 denomination. What color/edge spot pattern would you like? That was easy, huh?

And thanks for your patience

-Stephan

[JM]

I'll second that. I'd rather have them right than faster.

[noelsarchs]

It's extremely iritating every time we have any type of group buy or special offer where a distributor or fabricator of chips has to have people complain about delivery times or delays. So for those who feel it necessary to post your opinion stating your disappointment, I claim equal opportunity time to say

A few short years ago, we had no such opportunity to get these kind of chips. A few short years ago, most people would have to pay high prices for the only other option out there, real casino chips via re sellers. And as some may remember, those chips last year were going up in price like there was no end in sight.

Thanks again Stephan....

[Sidepot]

Originally Posted by noelsarchs

It's extremely iritating every time we have any type of group buy or special offer where a distributor or fabricator of chips has to have people complain about delivery times or delays. So for those who feel it necessary to post your opinion stating your disappointment, I claim equal opportunity time to say

A few short years ago, we had no such opportunity to get these kind of chips. A few short years ago, most people would have to pay high prices for the only other option out there, real casino chips via re sellers. And as some may remember, those chips last year were going up in price like there was no end in sight.

Thanks again Stephan....

Thanks for the vote of confidence noelsarchs. I truly appreciate it. We're trying, but we're not always perfect, or really even that close. I do feel very badly about how long this is taking, and I totally understand anyone who is a bit frustrated about the delays.

Now, noelsarchs, are their any omitted denominations that I can personally look into adding to help make your set closer to your *ideal* set?

-Stephan

[noelsarchs]

Originally Posted by Sidepot

Thanks for the vote of confidence noelsarchs. I truly appreciate it. We're trying, but we're not always perfect, or really even that close. I do feel very badly about how long this is taking, and I totally understand anyone who is a bit frustrated about the delays.

Now, noelsarchs, are their any omitted denominations that I can personally look into adding to help make your set closer to your *ideal* set?

-Stephan

Any omitted denominations? As I have about 20,000 various chips laying around on my living room floor, I'm quite sure that I could field any game imaginable....from penny ante up to $25,000 chips.

But if I had my wishes for a set, it would have a nickle, dime and quarter chip on one end, and a $10,000 and $25,000 on the other for those who like to have big starting stack tourney's where a 25k would actually be useful.