Projectors and the World of PC Gaming

Hello Again,

It seems the HP Touchpad has pretty much dried up everywhere; I placed orders for three, one from HP Small Business, and two at Amazon.com through a 3rd party called OnSale.  Both of my orders at OnSale were cancelled, which was very depressing.  At least I managed to get one out of this whole debacle.  There may be a limited quantity released by HP next week, if you are interested.  For $99 for the 16GB, it is an amazing deal.  I don’t think it is worth the $150 to get the 32GB, but that is just my opinion.

I stated my disappointment with OnSale (via Amazon), it seems the masses agree with me.  OnSale’s rating on Reseller Ratings has plummeted.  It was at 8.73 a few days ago, and it has gone down to 0.50 as a lifetime rating.  They are also getting pummeled on Amazon.com.  The ratings are viewable at the links below:

OnSale’s Rating on ResellerRatings.com

OnSale’s Rating on Amazon.com

I can understand the fury, but taking down an entire company might be a bit much…or maybe not.  I do agree, people should leave ratings as they see fit.  OnSale did not put a limiter on their inventory, which is not a hard thing to do, especially on Amazon.  Tens of thousands of units were sold, when OnSale did not have the inventory to fill the orders.  I don’t think that is what infuriated everyone, it had more to do with OnSale’s lack of communication.  They did not send out a mass e-mail to all the customers who ordered stating they did not have the inventory, that is what did it.  Not to mention OnSale’s customer service was almost impossible to contact, via phone or e-mail.

I ordered on Saturday, afternoon.  I waited until Thursday until I received any form of communication from OnSale, and it was that my order was cancelled.  They had a hold on the funds from my bank the entire time.  If you had your money on hold, that could have prohibited you from buying a Touchpad elsewhere since the funds were not available.  I think that is what put the final nail in the coffin for OnSale.  Amazon has handled the situation very well in my opinion, and has even issued credits to some irate customers.  It is even rumored that Amazon will be removing OnSale as a 3rd party seller if they receive a ton of negative feedback (which they have).

Another big issue is the mark-up of the Touchpad on sites like Ebay, and Craig’s List.  Not many people are willing to pay the prices they are asking on those sites, I have seen 16GB’s selling for close to $300.  I advise everyone to wait a couple of weeks, and since the market is flooded right now by vultures the prices should drop.  I would say if you see one for $160, or less…go for it!

I have also noticed that another major annoyance to people who have ordered through HP, or who are waiting for stocks to be replenished by HP is their Social Media Manager.  Her Tweets seem to make people furious, and cause a huge amount of ridicule on SlickDeals.net.  You can see some of her glorious Tweets on Twitter at the link below:

@BrynaAtHP

I am not sure what to make of them.  I don’t know how old Bryna is, but she acts like she is younger than my 15 year old daughter (my daughter is mature for her age though).  I would expect a bit more professionalism from a HP manager, but apparently HP must be into the mind numbing Tweets.  It just seems like she is trying a tad too hard to be “cool”, but that’s just my perspective.  I’d love to get your take on it as well, so feel free to vent on this blog.  I will post your comments, and reply to them as needed.  Please tell your stories, link your funny pictures, let’s make this stressful situation into a fun one!  I can’t wait to hear from you all.  And if you are a Bryna fan, you knew this was coming…#staycoolmybabies…ha ha!

-Ebenezer

P.S.

There have also been a tom of humorous things made about this whole HP Touchpad situation, please have fun visiting the links below:

Hitler Tries To Order A HP Touchpad (Youtube)

Ebay Listings Mocking the Situation

HP Touchpad Shirt

Various HP Touchpad parody pictures (more to be added soon):

* I did not create any of these images, but would like to thank the creators for the laughs, and great parody pictures.  Feel free to leave a comment if you did create any of them, so we know who you are!