I ordered my Motion from Motion on 2/16 and rece

[dianep]

I ordered my Motion from Motion on 2/16 and received a confirmation email. I've never received an estimated shipping date. I also can't track my order on Motion's site because it can't find my order number. Is this normal? I sent an email to sales but haven't received the answer yet. Have other people experienced this?

Diane

[joselacon]

In the order confirmation e-mail you should have a box with an order number and next to it there is a box with an estimated ship date. I just ordered my on 2/25 and the order confirmation e-mail included both info boxes. also you should have received an order acknowledgment e-mail and then an order confirmation e-mail.

hope that helps

[dianep]

I received the acknowledgement email within a few minutes of placing my order on 2/16, but I've never received any confirmation email. I'll see what sales has to say. I hope my order didn't get lost!

Diane

[brammerf]

This is going to be a pain, but try this. The web order number format is WEBORD000000###. Based on my order number I'd guess yours is between 600-700. Put your zip code in and pick a number and start incrementing.

Another option is ask Steve or call Motion.

[ddoligalski]

I ordered mine on 2/18. I immediately got the initial acknowledgement email.

On the 2/20, I called and they gave me the order number (seemed like very nice people). Later that day I got the confirmation email with the order number. (#740)

My tablet was shipped on 2/27 (as was requested in the order documents). Of course the Fedex tracking system still is not showing it. Hmmm... hope that's normal for shipments from Taiwan.

Actually, SteveH at Motion, it would be great if you could post a quick description of the process and timing of getting a new tablet to users. It would help set expectations of new purchasers.

[Bishop]

Because of the International Dateline, there is some delay before it shows up.

It goes Taiwan, Alaska, Indianapolis to clear customs and then FedEx distribution. Three actual business days to you will be 2 FedEx days. And website updating is not always timely.

Patience.

[ychng]

Here's a quick snapshot of the FedEx tracking for my tablet:

Left FedEx Ramp/C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW 02/27/2003 20:25
Left FedEx Sort Facility/ANCHORAGE AK 02/27/2003 14:26
Arrived at FedEx Ramp/TA YUAN HSIANG TW 02/27/2003 00:39
Left FedEx Origin Location/TAOYUAN CITY TW 02/26/2003 17:27
Pickup status/TAOYUAN CITY TW 02/26/2003 17:24 Package received after FedEx cutoff time

As others have pointed out, it arrives in Alaska "before" it leaves Taiwan. Another 3 days and I'll have my Motion!!

[brammerf]

I ordered just the docking station this time and I'm still waiting for a tracking number. I'm not all that worried, if Motion doesn't get the docking station out in this batch I'll just get it from Infocater.com.

[ddoligalski]

FedEx shows that my tablet left their airport ramp in Taiwan at 20:06 today (assuming that's local Taiwan time, that's about 2 hours ago). The tracking doesn't show any other detail, but at least I can see it's on its way.

Thanks everyone for the input!

[brammerf]

Taiwan is 18 hours ahead of East Coast time, I think.

[ddoligalski]

Taiwan is UTC +0800; East Coast is UTC -0500. 13 hours different.

[brammerf]

Sorry, 13 is what I ment, but 18 would get it here faster.

[steveh from motion]

quote:Originally posted by dianep

I ordered my Motion from Motion on 2/16 and received a confirmation email. I've never received an estimated shipping date. I also can't track my order on Motion's site because it can't find my order number. Is this normal? I sent an email to sales but haven't received the answer yet. Have other people experienced this?

Diane


Hi Diane,

If you enter your order number and zip code on our site, you should get a copy of your order on the screen. If it can't find it, please be careful that you have entered the right number of zeroes. If you still can't bring it up, send an email to me with your order number and your zipcode and I'll track it down.

Thanx!

[dianep]

An update: I went thru the entire possible web order numbers (thanks Brammerf) to no avail. Then I called Motion and they found my order and my fedex tracking number. I looked it up and it said that it shipped on 2/26 and was delivered this morning to my house. Now I just need a reason to leave work early to go get it. Hmmm... I think I may be coming down with the ebola virus and I need to leave immediately.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I appreciate it.

Diane

[steveh from motion]

I'll try to describe the process as I understand it:

1) an order is placed via the web, phone, fax, or from one of our 60-70 resellers
2) an acknowledgement is immediately sent
3) the order is entered. This might happen a few days later, when we batch up the orders to be sent to Taiwan for the next scheduled production run
4) a confirmation email is sent with an order number. These order numbers begin with three initials, such as DIR, WEB, VAR, and so on, then a bunch of zeroes, then the number. The biggest issue is that it is hard to count the zeroes :)
5) The 'requested ship date' on the order is the planned ship date for that batch, and is assigned by the manufacturing system.
6) when the tablet is built and loaded onto the plane in Taiwan, the Fedex tracking numbers and the actual serial number of the unit are added to the order, and the system is updated. This happens over night, so if you check in the morning and it hasn't been updated, it won't be until tomorrow morning. This means that the plane has been flying for 12 hours or so before we even find out it is in the air, and then it lands in Alaska before it has left Taiwan! You can see the 'wrinkle in time' in black & white by tracking the progress via Fedex.com
7) docks ship with their tablets from Taiwan. Other accessories either ship with the tablets or ship from California. It is our intent to ship everything such that it all arrives together, but admittedly, to date, our cases have tended to be late.
8)We do have some stocking resellers, who are able to provide expedited delivery of tablets they have in stock, but Motion has no inventory -- we are on the second floor of a building with no loading dock; there is no product here at all.

This Build-to-Order approach is at the very heart of our approach to this business, and we believe that it gives us a tremendous advantage when compared to the old approach of 'store and forward', warehoused parts declining in value by the day, container loads spending weeks on boats, etc.

We are proud that our manufacturing process is currently running very smoothly, no delays, no shortages, every order now is being built and delivered within a day or two of our scheduled plan.

An order placed between now and noon on 3/5 is scheduled to be built and shipped by 3/13, and delivered to your desk the week of 3/17. Every week we get a new plan for the future production schedule, and over time, we hope to shrink these times even more than we already have.

Please contact me or our "Order Processing Diva", Anna Britt, at abritt@motioncomputing.com, if you have any questions about your order. (Please include your order number and your zipcode.)

Thanx for asking! We appreciate the opportunity to highlight how our approach has given us an advantage over the other guys.

[ddoligalski]

Steve, thanks for the great writeup!

I agree, your manufacturing process of "build-to-order" is going to have a great effect (especially when there are enough orders to keep the process endlessly running... ie with less batching).

It looks like the batches of tablets are kept together through customs to speed things along a little bit. Once through customs, it looks like FedEx breaks the batch down and individually ship each tablet to their final destinations.

Seems the only real time savings would be if manufacturing moved to the states... but then the cost would go up.

Thanks again Steve. Great job you're doing here!

[Bishop]

Dittoes. Glad you're here too SteveH.

[Gromit]

Thanks for the info Steve.

Can you comment on how accessories are handled? I'm waiting on a case to ship. :)

[steveh from motion]

If certain accessories are ordered with the tablet, then they are shipped in the same box as the tablet, eg. an extra pen.

Other accessories, and all accessories purchased separately from the purchase of a tablet, are shipped from California.

The leather cases have been delayed as we continue to work with the vendor. A whole bunch of them are shipping today or Monday, via Fedex ground. We do not provide tracking for these orders.

Thanx for your generous comments. I'm happy to be here.