you had to check that box knowing what it means to join a group buy...
I'm not part of this hobby, and indeed didn't know that it even existed until late last week. I'm just a guy who has a new Mac computer and thought that I'd try using a keyboard that isn't made by my computer's manufacturer. As my first post in this thread says, between last Wednesday and the weekend I went from considering a PFU Realforce to ordering Abec13's Gentoo. I'm responding to your post because my response may be of interest to others who, like me, are not engaged in collecting keyboards. As will become apparent in this post, your comments don't exactly make me more at ease with this transaction.
We're coming from very different directions. I'm talking about common sense and good relations with current and potential future customers. However, I'm happy to address your desire to approach this legalistically. The terms at time of purchase don't say what you apparently think they say.
The box that you're talking about reads as follows: "I understand that this is a group buy or preorder product, and have read the shipping estimate and disclaimers below."
The "disclaimers below" say this:
This is a Group Buy, and Group Buy terms and conditions apply. The estimated date of delivery is just that - an estimate. Delays and setbacks may occur. Upon purchase, you will be charged immediately. And by purchasing this item, you acknowledge everything stated above. There are no refunds or cancellations for this order. For more information, check out our FAQ.
This is what the FAQ says:
There is absolutely nothing in the foregoing that prevents the kind of request that I was considering. Interestingly, a change in colour would likely have been accompanied by a request to purchase case sides that would have added US$100 to the bill. Cannon has effectively said that it wouldn't entertain that either, and that my only option would have been to cancel the entire $537 preorder. If so, we're talking about a vendor that is in the business of reducing its, and Abec's, revenues. For me, that's a first.
On the related issue of cancellation, I also note that Cannon's position is rather murky. On cancellation, in one place it says that it will refund nothing and in another that it will refund 97% until the funds are sent to "the manufacturer", after which it will refund 95%. In its e-mail to me on Monday, Cannon said that it would refund 95%; although, with six vendors in various parts of the world, and a group purchase that ended at midnight on Saturday, it's rather unlikely that my funds had already been sent to "the manufacturer", whoever that is, by Monday morning, when my e-mail exchange with Cannon took place.
As I understand it, perhaps incorrectly, Cannon is the lead vendor, presumably not what is meant by "the manufacturer". Nevertheless, it appears to lack basic information on the product. I also tried to get the Pantone colour from Cannon, and got the response below. Unless one knows about this forum and thread, I have no idea how one is supposed to contact the designer, who in a thread about a previous project suggests that requests for information should generally go not to him, but to the vendor, in this case Cannon. I do thank Abec13 for his post above and comments about colour. It addressed my concern. On the other hand, my exchanges with Cannon leave me with the impression, reinforced by this email, that it just doesn't care about customer interest in design. In every exchange with Cannon, my design concern was characterised as an "inconvenience":
Billy, I gather that you are a keyboard collector and that you think that Cannon's dealings with me are perfectly normal. That's cool, but if these are the expectations of people in your hobby, I'll be staying well away from the whole scene once this transaction is completed. There seems to be an attitude that I should regard paying $537 for a Gentoo keyboard as a privilege, an attitude that rubs me the wrong way. Your post mostly increases the attractiveness of another option: sticking with Ryan Onyon's Metropolis keycaps, and purchasing a keyboard that I can get now/this fall, not
hopefully in Q4.
Cheers
