[Baggman]

hmmm. i got mine today and my 8700g with (8700c-r) egrips fits on there and syncs up. granted, it's a tight fit.

i'm glad the thing seems to work, but what's with the blue light? it's so damn bright i'm afraid it's going to burn a hole in the ceiling, and i'm afraid to look directly at it (like an eclipse) in case it'll burn a hole in my retina.

[backbeat]

Originally Posted by cooperpwc

And I don't agree that they are in any way off the hook if they didn't design and/or manufacture it. You brand it, you sell it, you have to stand behind it. This is especially true if you are a boutique outfit like Seidio that greatly relies upon word-of-mouth recommendations such as are shared on this forum.

Just to clarify, I didn't intend to imply that Seidio has no responsibility. The only level of responsibility that I feel they are exempt from is from a design/spec perspective because this charger is not their creation. As a vendor, of course, they should stand behind this and any product they sell, regardless of who actually produced it.

[cooperpwc]

Originally Posted by backbeat

Just to clarify, I didn't intend to imply that Seidio has no responsibility. The only level of responsibility that I feel they are exempt from is from a design/spec perspective because this charger is not their creation. As a vendor, of course, they should stand behind this and any product they sell, regardless of who actually produced it.

Really no flame was intended towards you. The post was expressing (perhaps emoting) my growing disappointment over a product that I had been looking forward to receiving.
Anyway we now have some positive reports so it seems to be case by case. Hopefully my cradle - 8700r combo will work out. Otherwise I have faith that Seidio will make it right.

[mriff]

Originally Posted by Baggman

hmmm. i got mine today and my 8700g with (8700c-r) egrips fits on there and syncs up. granted, it's a tight fit.

i'm glad the thing seems to work, but what's with the blue light? it's so damn bright i'm afraid it's going to burn a hole in the ceiling, and i'm afraid to look directly at it (like an eclipse) in case it'll burn a hole in my retina.

A little duct tape will fix that eh Baggman? Is it that bright?

[paulmac]

Got mine yesterday and I too am having the problem with the USB connection. That is it does not make a good connection. You can actually see the charge indicator go on and off. And since the connection is poor desktop software does NOT synch as it does not see the connection. If I grab the thing with two hands and push it towards the USB nub it will charge and the USB will work to synch. But as soon as you ease up on pressure USB connectivity is lost and the battery charging goes back to intermittent. BTW I have no skins,grips or anything else on the BB. This seems to be a poor design and I look forward to see what Seidio does to correct, replace or satisfy us customers. They seem to be a stand up company from everything I have read on this forum so I hope they do something. My suggestion to them is that they stop selling this cradle until the problems are fixed. And for us that already have them, replace them once they solve the problem.

[cwgoff]

I am not normally one to keep adding insult to injury, but in case David or someone else at Seidio is reading these posts (as I am sure they are), then mark me in the "won't connect" column - times two.

I purchase two cradles - one for myself and one for an employee. One cradle absolutely won't work, even with significant force applied to make a connection. I get the one-second lightning bolt, as described by a few other posters. The other cradle works pretty well most of the time. I have to eyeball it for a few seconds after loading it to make sure it is going to connect. If it does, then it seems to hold the connection. If it does not, then a little manual intervention seems to do the trick.

This mini head-to-head test was done with the same USB cable and same BB 8700c. The BB has a full-body BestSkinEver on. The only variable was the cradles themselves.

I sent an email to Seidio customer service and David about 15 minutes ago. Like the others that have posted, I am sure that Seidio will stand behind their product, but it sure is disappointing. We were all pretty psyched about this product.

Blackberry people, by definition it seems, are not patient people. If we were, we would not need to check our email every 7.3 seconds.

[amny]

The connection issue is not there with the AMZER logo ones. make sure you buy the real thing.

[paulmac]

Originally Posted by cwgoff

I am not normally one to keep adding insult to injury, but in case David or someone else at Seidio is reading these posts (as I am sure they are), then mark me in the "won't connect" column - times two.

I purchase two cradles - one for myself and one for an employee. One cradle absolutely won't work, even with significant force applied to make a connection. I get the one-second lightning bolt, as described by a few other posters. The other cradle works pretty well most of the time. I have to eyeball it for a few seconds after loading it to make sure it is going to connect. If it does, then it seems to hold the connection. If it does not, then a little manual intervention seems to do the trick.

This mini head-to-head test was done with the same USB cable and same BB 8700c. The BB has a full-body BestSkinEver on. The only variable was the cradles themselves.

I sent an email to Seidio customer service and David about 15 minutes ago. Like the others that have posted, I am sure that Seidio will stand behind their product, but it sure is disappointing. We were all pretty psyched about this product.

Blackberry people, by definition it seems, are not patient people. If we were, we would not need to check our email every 7.3 seconds.

Great Keep us posted hopefully David will come to our rescue

[dcfella]

I was almost going to get this cradle when i first saw lgreenberg's initial review giving the product 5 stars. Good thing i procrastinated. I hope they work out all the bugs. Maybe the rating for this product should be reflective of the inconsistancies.

[KonTiki]

Is it me or does it seem that even though they do make good in the long run, this company is forever rushing products in the market that have to be fixed?

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by amny

The connection issue is not there with the AMZER logo ones. make sure you buy the real thing.

Of course it is. What a ridiculous statement.

The cradles are EXACTLY THE SAME. I have both in me possession. The only difference is the placement of the Amzer logo.

I wonder, do you work for Moftware?

[BBAdmin]

What a shame. You would think this would have gone through some decent level of testing before launch. You know this is RIM's fault really for not including cradles anymore!!

[backbeat]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

Siedio is working on a version of this cradle which will accommodate the extended battery. So if you primarily use the larger battery you may want to wait.

If that is the case, is Seidio pushing the OEM mfr for an extended battery version, or designing and producing one themselves? If they're working with an OEM on this, then hopefully they also have the juice with them to get the connection issue solved with the standard battery version too.

[RemyJ]

I've got the same connection problem but did anyone else get a box that looked like it was packed by a 5 year old?

When I opened the box, this is what it looked like, and no I didn't remove any peanuts before taking the picture...

[cwgoff]

I have already heard from David Chang and David Silver at Seidio about my concern. Both assure me that they are working on the issue and will respond with a solution as soon as possible.

As cooperpwc pointed out, the mark of a good company is how they respond to these kind of issues. We have seen great responses recently from GizmoSkin and Fortte, both of which exhibited incredible customer service following failures of newly launched products. I don't remember the details of the GizmoSkin deal, but I can speak from personal experience that my opinion of Fortte is extremely favorable because of how professionally Salo handled the recent "loose fitting STi" issue.

I am hopeful that David at Seidio will do as good a PR job for his company. As disappointed as I am that the cradle is not what I had hoped for, I get the impression that Seidio will come out of this with better good will than they went in.

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by backbeat

If that is the case, is Seidio pushing the OEM mfr for an extended battery version, or designing and producing one themselves? If they're working with an OEM on this, then hopefully they also have the juice with them to get the connection issue solved with the standard battery version too.

From what I understand this current cradle was manufactured by someone other than Seidio. Not hard to beleive since it's also be branded by Amzer. Seidio simply threw it up on their site and began selling it.

They know of the issues now and also the need for a cradle which supports the extended battery.

It's for these reasons that they plan to design and manufacturer a new cradle themselves.

[BBRaffey]

I had placed an order to Seidio, but upon seeing the problems I sent them this email to Seidio:

David,

I have been noticing on the Blackberry Forums that there has been a problem with the mini USB connection on the 8700 docking station/stand. I am willing to put my order on hold to make certain that this problem has been solved. I would rather not have to return it. Your service is exemplary, but it will save both of us aggravation if you can be certain that the stand's problems are behind us.

Their Reply, (which came within a matter of a few hours)

We would advise you to do exactly that. We are expecting new and improved cradles within the next 2 weeks. Until then, we have taken this item offline. We will post this in the forum shortly.

Order Dept.
Seidio, INC

Sign of a company that cares about their customers.

[seidioseidio]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

From what I understand this current cradle was manufactured by someone other than Seidio. Not hard to beleive since it's also be branded by Amzer. Seidio simply threw it up on their site and began selling it.

They know of the issues now and also the need for a cradle which supports the extended battery.

It's for these reasons that they plan to design and manufacturer a new cradle themselves.

Hi All,

Most posts in this thread have some validity to them. We DID test them before we made them available for sale and didn't experience these problems. They ARE manufactured by a company other than ourselves and retrospectively have not lived up to our - or your - expectations. Any who are dissatisfied with this cradle can send email to me and I will work out with you individually whatever it takes to show you that we most definitely stand behind our products. On a VERY positive front, we are working on a better solution and will have one available shortly. As a gesture of goodwill and an acknowledgement of the problems listed above, we have removed the cradle as being for sale from our website. We won't put it back up until it is the product you expect and should have received. Please email personally with any questions and/or concerns and I'll be happy to help you out.

David

[BBAdmin]

I do see this as a rookie error. If I'm getting a supplier to make something for me, I'm checking it throughly before pushing it to clients, and it's difficult to accept the issues were not noticed when such a large majority of customers that use this forum alone have experiened this problem. That said, seidioseidio's response is positive news, and seems to be going in the direction that will benefit all involved. I think we all look forward to seeing the fruits of these developments.

[BBRaffey]

"Rookie error"? It's nowhere near that. How many recalls do we hear about from major manufacturers? Apparently some cradels work and some do not. They stopped shipping within 3 days of hearing about problems. Now that's what I call quick response from a concerned company. I ordered a cradle and have asked them to place my order on hold until problems can be worked out. I received a quick response and am completely satisfied with them. More than I can say about many other companies that do not get back to you for weeks.