This is my first woot. Does everything normally take this long?

Thejoshammer wrote:This is my first woot. Does everything normally take this long?

Not always but it can. Woot for the good deals not the fast shipping...

i get the impression that these are not as strong magnetically as regular buckys.

in fact coating seems a bit thicker/different from gold edition that i have.

Darth_Mike wrote:I'd have rather paid the extra $30 if I had known it would take this long.

Well, in my opinion, waiting a few more days is better than paying $30. I think this world needs more patience.

ThunderThighs wrote:Hey there. Looks like we might have some new wooters that are a bit anxious about their purchase. I wrote this up a while back and thought it might help here.

...
First, it can take up to 5 business days for our warehouse monkeys to throw... erm... carefully place your order on the FedEx truck. FedEx receives the info electronically a day or two earlier than this so don't be worried if your shipping info doesn't appear online immediately or if it doesn't move right away.

The nifty FedEx truck takes your order to our local hub where all the boxes get sorted before they send your package to your closest FedEx hub. Once there, it gets another sort before they painstakingly deliver your order to your closest Post Office.

Your Post Office will then, you guessed it, sorts it with the regular mail and puts it on the mail truck to be delivered to your door.

All this takes a while so be patient. Check the status online with your tracking number. You can also use your order number to track. There's a link to instructions to do that in my signature.



Hope this helps.

This message has been brought to you by the United Warehouse Monkeys Union #34.

I realized all of this, however, it still doesn't make sense that this is what my $5 goes for. I've gotten things much quicker from amazon and never paid a cent in shipping. It's not very "nifty" at all. I would highly recommend that you guys improve this in some way. I'd have rather bought full price for instant gratification, than this weeks of waiting stuff. Not cool, guys, not cool...

mrdude65 wrote:I realized all of this, however, it still doesn't make sense that this is what my $5 goes for. I've gotten things much quicker from amazon and never paid a cent in shipping. It's not very "nifty" at all. I would highly recommend that you guys improve this in some way. I'd have rather bought full price for instant gratification, than this weeks of waiting stuff. Not cool, guys, not cool...

not that i like to go around and defend multi-million companies, someday you could buy a washer/drier set on woot and it will be freight delivered to you for $5, and you'll understand the idea behind it

also many see the value in SmartPost, cause it takes so long to deliver, you forget that you order something, then when it shows up on your door step - its a pleasant surprise. :D

Got mine yesterday, but just opened them this morning. This is my first set of Buckyballs(TM), although I do have a set of these:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049LDP3A

I have to say, these green Buckyballs are not very good. They are noticeably weaker than the Magnet Balls, and they have a slightly plastic-y feel. Using the "column test" from the Zen Magnets video, where you zip them into a 4x4 column, the column is not straight at all. It indicates a pretty severe lack of uniformity in size/shape. The finish is not very well applied, as some are not completely covered, others actually have raised ridges due to the finish, and one has two deep pits in the surface.

I probably won't be buying any more Buckyballs if this is the quality they produce.

I'm not defending anyone here just a random thought while reading the thread. Woot probably got a good deal on these from Buckyballs because they came off the line with defects so Buckyballs drops a line to Woot saying would like to sell these and we will paint them green for you. So I would not use this set as a comparison to the other brands. Maybe I'm wrong

P.S. I have not received my set yet and have never used these or any brand yet I hope I like them though

What gives? I checked the FedEx Smart Post tracking # online and it says that the USPS returned it to the shipper this morning due to "incorrect address or recipient moved". My address looks correct on the "My Account" page on Woot. Staffers, any idea on what is going on here?

First let me preface this by saying, I own 4 sets of the original BuckyBalls and like them so much, I bought another 4 sets of these green ones so I could make bigger and better shapes.

That said, the quality of these green sets is horrible – below horrible. There are balls with serious defects in each of the 4 sets I received – and by defect, I mean a physical deformity to the spheres (this does not include paint issues, which I will get to later). I built 1 simple shape with the 4 new sets and had to set aside over 25 spheres with physical issues as they are unusable. They have very sharp little edges that eat up your finger; whereas the other sets I own do not have this problem.

Regarding the paint, the color is inconsistent between spheres, but not horribly so. Most of them match for the most part, but there certainly are spheres that are different colors. The bigger issue is the quality of the paint (or whatever it is) that was used. Several spheres (50-75) have noticeable paint missing and show the black or silver coloring underneath. Some look like scratches, while others have larger chips missing.

I am very disappointed in the quality of these sets. It is almost like this was a test run BuckyBalls did and it failed (miserably), but they still packaged and released them. Until I received these sets, I stood by the brand and convinced several people where I work to buy a set or two. Now, I’m not sure what to think, I guess I’ll shoot an email off to BuckyBalls and see what their reaction is, then make up my mind.

ftp222 wrote:First let me preface this by saying, I own 4 sets of the original BuckyBalls and like them so much, I bought another 4 sets of these green ones so I could make bigger and better shapes.

That said, the quality of these green sets is horrible – below horrible. There are balls with serious defects in each of the 4 sets I received – and by defect, I mean a physical deformity to the spheres (this does not include paint issues, which I will get to later). I built 1 simple shape with the 4 new sets and had to set aside over 25 spheres with physical issues as they are unusable. They have very sharp little edges that eat up your finger; whereas the other sets I own do not have this problem.

Regarding the paint, the color is inconsistent between spheres, but not horribly so. Most of them match for the most part, but there certainly are spheres that are different colors. The bigger issue is the quality of the paint (or whatever it is) that was used. Several spheres (50-75) have noticeable paint missing and show the black or silver coloring underneath. Some look like scratches, while others have larger chips missing.

I am very disappointed in the quality of these sets. It is almost like this was a test run BuckyBalls did and it failed (miserably), but they still packaged and released them. Until I received these sets, I stood by the brand and convinced several people where I work to buy a set or two. Now, I’m not sure what to think, I guess I’ll shoot an email off to BuckyBalls and see what their reaction is, then make up my mind.

100% agreed on everything - I'm totally in the same boat. First time I've been disappointed in a BuckyBall purchase - and first time to be disappointed in a Woot purchase for that matter (although this is BuckBall's failure) - thanks for the post. Was thinking about e-mailing BB as well ...

ftp222 wrote:First let me preface this by saying, I own 4 sets of the original BuckyBalls and like them so much, I bought another 4 sets of these green ones so I could make bigger and better shapes.

That said, the quality of these green sets is horrible – below horrible.

I am glad to see I'm not the only one in this boat. I have 2 of the plain-jane chrome ones. They're pretty nice so I figured I'd get these 2 as a birthday present to myself. I wish I got 2 chrome ones instead!

The paint is not uniform, many balls have bumps in them, and they don't seem spherical - when I make a pentagon or hexagon, for example, they don't go together nearly as well as my chrome set. When I was taking one of the sets out of cube form, one of the balls developed a chip right away, and it's quite large, which tells me that they used low-grade paint and didn't prepare the ball surface underneath well (either not rough enough for it to stick, not clean enough, or maybe both; or maybe if they use ion-charged paint, they did it wrong). I will never buy another set of BuckyBalls again after getting these and seeing how lousy they actually are. They should have been 1/4 what I actually paid, then I wouldn't have been as upset.

Oh, and to comment on the shipping: Woot uses Dumbpost, which is my biggest pet-peeve with them. Priority mail is 2-4x faster and probably would cost about the same (or less). I have seen my packages sent Dumbpost go from NJ to Allentown, then back to the SAME NJ warehouse, then back to Allentown, seemingly just to waste $$ and/or add days to transit time.

tomguy wrote:I am glad to see I'm not the only one in this boat. I have 2 of the plain-jane chrome ones. They're pretty nice so I figured I'd get these 2 as a birthday present to myself. I wish I got 2 chrome ones instead!

The paint is not uniform, many balls have bumps in them, and they don't seem spherical - when I make a pentagon or hexagon, for example, they don't go together nearly as well as my chrome set. When I was taking one of the sets out of cube form, one of the balls developed a chip right away, and it's quite large, which tells me that they used low-grade paint and didn't prepare the ball surface underneath well (either not rough enough for it to stick, not clean enough, or maybe both; or maybe if they use ion-charged paint, they did it wrong). I will never buy another set of BuckyBalls again after getting these and seeing how lousy they actually are. They should have been 1/4 what I actually paid, then I wouldn't have been as upset.

Oh, and to comment on the shipping: Woot uses Dumbpost, which is my biggest pet-peeve with them. Priority mail is 2-4x faster and probably would cost about the same (or less). I have seen my packages sent Dumbpost go from NJ to Allentown, then back to the SAME NJ warehouse, then back to Allentown, seemingly just to waste $$ and/or add days to transit time.

As excited as I was to get my first set of Buckyballs, I too am disappointed in the quality of this set!

ftp222 wrote:First let me preface this by saying, I own 4 sets of the original BuckyBalls and like them so much, I bought another 4 sets of these green ones so I could make bigger and better shapes.

That said, the quality of these green sets is horrible – below horrible. There are balls with serious defects in each of the 4 sets I received – and by defect, I mean a physical deformity to the spheres (this does not include paint issues, which I will get to later). I built 1 simple shape with the 4 new sets and had to set aside over 25 spheres with physical issues as they are unusable. They have very sharp little edges that eat up your finger; whereas the other sets I own do not have this problem.

Regarding the paint, the color is inconsistent between spheres, but not horribly so. Most of them match for the most part, but there certainly are spheres that are different colors. The bigger issue is the quality of the paint (or whatever it is) that was used. Several spheres (50-75) have noticeable paint missing and show the black or silver coloring underneath. Some look like scratches, while others have larger chips missing.

I am very disappointed in the quality of these sets. It is almost like this was a test run BuckyBalls did and it failed (miserably), but they still packaged and released them. Until I received these sets, I stood by the brand and convinced several people where I work to buy a set or two. Now, I’m not sure what to think, I guess I’ll shoot an email off to BuckyBalls and see what their reaction is, then make up my mind.

I agree with this post 100%. I have two sets of the silver Buckyballs, and for the most part have been pleased with the quality. Both sets of the green Buckyballs I received are very poor quality. Same problems listed above. Not pleased.

Adding my "me too" comment here. The paint is inconsistent...I have several that clearly have "silver spots" on them right out of the box.

I'll be interested if anyone has any luck contacting the company directly, since this has a 90-day Woot! warranty. I'm guessing that I'll end up getting an RMA and returning these as this clearly fits the warranty coverage ("Any defect or malfunction in products sold with a Woot warranty.")

This would be only the third time I've had a problem with any Woot!. The first two were handled quickly and without hassle...

I need to buy some of these!!!! Put them back on so i can buy them!

SalsaShark42 wrote:Adding my "me too" comment here. The paint is inconsistent...I have several that clearly have "silver spots" on them right out of the box.

I'll be interested if anyone has any luck contacting the company directly, since this has a 90-day Woot! warranty. I'm guessing that I'll end up getting an RMA and returning these as this clearly fits the warranty coverage ("Any defect or malfunction in products sold with a Woot warranty.")

This would be only the third time I've had a problem with any Woot!. The first two were handled quickly and without hassle...

I have been more than pleased with all my woot purchases until this one... looks like I will be contacting them too. I played with gold sets and the "black" sets and was not impressed with the paint quality but the balls still worked great so I was expecting the same with these, a poor paint job, however, They seem weaker and have larger irregularities and thus can't hold shapes correctly.

since these balls are weaker, you can swallow them, just one a time, right?

Just Received my buckeyballs today... one has a horrible dent in it, none of them were very well coated, and a few more have small dents or dings... is there anything that can be done to resolve this issue?

Some of my balls were broken. I ordered 4 sets, kept 2 for myself. Maybe I'm just losing my mind, but it seemed that the second set was slightly weaker than the first. It didn't take long for me to get them all mixed up though (and lose one in the process)...

Contacted Byckyballs and they have been fantastic with their customer service! They are willing to send one green or 2 original to my door free of charge to compensate for the irregularities. Very good customer service, most likely will get you further than Woot service and this comes at no cost to me!

gjpjmp wrote:Contacted Byckyballs and they have been fantastic with their customer service! They are willing to send one green or 2 original to my door free of charge to compensate for the irregularities. Very good customer service, most likely will get you further than Woot service and this comes at no cost to me!

I received a similar resolution by contacting BuckyBalls directly as well. I encourage anyone having issues with these sets to contact the BuckyBalls customer support. They were superb!

Buckyballs is sending me 2 sets for the issues with mine. They are are a good company and they do stand behind there product and I hold no ill will toward Woot they are up front with all there offerings and I'm glad to make future purchases from them
Thank you Woot, and Thank you BuckyBalls

Anyone get their replacement sets yet?

I got my replacement sets. I chose 2 of the originals. I never had Buckyballs before so the only experience I had with them was the green sets. The original sets are much better, and have a totally different feel to them. A much better experience overall.

ThunderThighs wrote:Hey there. Looks like we might have some new wooters that are a bit anxious about their purchase. I wrote this up a while back and thought it might help here.

...
First, it can take up to 5 business days for our warehouse monkeys to throw... erm... carefully place your order on the FedEx truck. FedEx receives the info electronically a day or two earlier than this so don't be worried if your shipping info doesn't appear online immediately or if it doesn't move right away.

The nifty FedEx truck takes your order to our local hub where all the boxes get sorted before they send your package to your closest FedEx hub. Once there, it gets another sort before they painstakingly deliver your order to your closest Post Office.

Your Post Office will then, you guessed it, sorts it with the regular mail and puts it on the mail truck to be delivered to your door.

All this takes a while so be patient. Check the status online with your tracking number. You can also use your order number to track. There's a link to instructions to do that in my signature.



Hope this helps.

This message has been brought to you by the United Warehouse Monkeys Union #34.

I can understand that it takes awhile for the orders to be shipped and received, but it's coming up on a month since my order and I have not received anything yet.

I've woot'd and shirt.woot'd a bunch with never a problem. I talked to my local mailman and he said that maybe it's lost because he hasn't seen it it.

Any help would be appreciated.

roh101 wrote:Buckyballs is sending me 2 sets for the issues with mine. They are are a good company and they do stand behind there product and I hold no ill will toward Woot they are up front with all there offerings and I'm glad to make future purchases from them
Thank you Woot, and Thank you BuckyBalls

Ditto--very glad to see that their customer service lives up to the hype. I would definitely do business with them again.

SalsaShark42 wrote:Ditto--very glad to see that their customer service lives up to the hype. I would definitely do business with them again.

did you have to send the old ones back?

jamesbottomtooth wrote:did you have to send the old ones back?

No you don't have to send the old ones back.

Yeah, I never got mine, either. I just sent an e-mail for a status.

I had a lot of great fun with these. I liked the green ones as well as the original ones because it helped separate then back out the even numbers.