BasicMicroUK - Forums

My last day with Basic Micro was Friday, 9/25. Being 500 miles away from the office made it impossible to do the job as needed. And the 10 hours a day, and weekend work, in front of a monitor was hard on the old eyeballs, especially with the diabetes playing merry Hobb. I can't say it was always fun, but it never got boring, you bet!

But, I'm still monitoring and moderating the forums. You'd be amazed at the number of spammers and porn distributors I've cut out and cut off since we implemented more stringent membership registration procedures. There may be one legit member out of every 20 registrations! Someone who scraped in questionably August 11th suddenly posted six porn messages in the forums just last week, in one day! Six weeks after joining!

Wow, Ken, I'm sure sorry that things didn't work out. You were such a breath of fresh air after years of hearing nothing from the inner sanctum of Basic Micro.
I figured you had moved to sunny So Cal and were going to be the champion of us lowly MBasic coders. Sigh...
I still owe you lunch.

btw, two of us posted messages about ordering stuff and not getting any confirmation from BM. If they want to sell lots and lots of stuff, they better be more responsive to customers. I realize that this isn't any concern of yours anymore.

Good luck. Write when you find work
Pete

Thanks. I went from 29 years a bench tech with minor occasional duties elsewhere, to sales, IT, product support, forum monitoring, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), roving rep (think Maker Faire, RoboWars), and merge two manuals while creating comprehensive, tested examples for BasicAtoms, Nanos, and Pros. It was all too much. C'est Le Guerre!

You mention ordering problems. The system suffers from a broken accounts database and no automatic follow-through after confirming order placement.
First people discover they can't log in to place an automated order. They are forced to call Sales or place an order by FAX. The phone calls came to me until the last six weeks when I only worked on the manual. A lot of calls came because, although there is an automated email notice for a successful order placement, nothing existed to tell people when their order shipped and give a tracking number. After a week they start calling. I forward the email to someone who has access to the info. They send me a response. I contact the purchaser with their info. It might take a day or more.

Last week (IIRC) they said here on the forums they were pulling hair out while updating the system to cover these situations. Sure hope so. I talked to people who had waited almost three weeks before their order arrived. Much as I appreciate and use their product, they can't keep operating this way and thrive. They are working on outstanding and/or fascinating products, but I feel this is keeping them from "minding the store".

And I am no longer in the interface. God only knows what the sales responses are like now. Until they automate that system more fully, it could be an exercise in patience. They are slow to move because of work load, but they are determined to shine, so give them some leeway.

Ken, thanks for the help you gave me it is appreciated.

Tom

Thanks for that, tommTomm. It's most encouraging to get the occasional "attaboy" from those you tried to help.
Take care.