Can we please get an update?

The Order Status page still says that the next update will be September 2018, but I did not receive it. When can we expect an update?

I have not received an email since mid-Feb. I'm sorry to hear that I missed a Town Hall via Skype in April. Looking forward to an update...

@Corey Thank you! Great to hear. I hope all is going well. Thank you for answering directly!

@Dee: We are recording the update today. There are no long-term downsides to not locking-in. You will still recieve multiple versions of the powered eyewear prototypes as we continue development (including alpha, beta, and beta bold). As for your email, we apparently did not recieve it.

I see the order status page says the next big update will be in June.  I wonder if you could tell me...is that update on track?  And will it contain any estimate on shipping?  The page also said the first 30 people will get messages in November about shipping??  Was that a glitch in the site or a typo?  I thought you were ordering parts now and nearly had those complete.  Did something change again?

Also, I'm confused about order status information.  I didn't complete the lock-in because I don't need an extra pair of regular glasses.  I'm happy to lock in my order, but don't want a pair of regular glasses.  You said you were switching to vouchers instead.  So....what's happening to those of us who didn't lock in?  Are we still getting something like beta bold or alpha and beta bold?  I sent an email about this but got no response.  I'm hoping someone here can help.

Thanks for any help!

Hello all,

I'm a manager of software engineering team of over 30 prople on a project costing roughly 4-8 million; I work for a company ($150 million, small) that has about 250 employees and brings new technology products out to compete in our space.

The delays Corey speaks of are real, and the "excuses" are real as well. Vendors and suppliers are screwing him left and right I assure you, and I can only hope he's only paid them on receipt of functioning and quality materials. He's at the mercy of suppliers basically, and his company isn't funded enough to really have much leverage on speeding up new modules, designs, or deliveries from said vendors. Hopefully he has an onsite translator who speaks a few languages.

Corey (or his team) probably has a day job on top of all this just to support himself, unless he has some serious partnerships lined up with investors paying his team's bills, which I sort of doubt.

He hasn't delivered crappy VR goggles, that's why I still believe he's trying. He could deliver shitty VR bulky glasses and get out of this; but he hasn't. He keeps trying to deliver something we are excited to play with.

Update:

I have determined Jay Sern Tan, Narjeep, John Rothstein, and HolyPredator are all the same person. None of which have emails that correspond to them being pre-order customers. I have suspended each of them from the forums and over the past several months they have been reported to Facebook by me and several other followers on our facebook page.

Please ignore any messages you have recieved from them. If they contact you via facebook please click "options" (the gear) and "report...".

Also, I've received a message from someone that there is a secret link that the people could still pre-order the Alpha. So, pre-order wasn't actually closed but just changed name and in a more inconspicuous manner of selling?

https://laforgeoptical.com/products/the-alpha-program

@Kyle,

What are they shipping? The alpha or the lock in offer cause I've received nothing so far.

What number were you? I was "bumped" to the first 40 and have had no communication for delivery so far.

Edit.. confused per their queue page Kyle is #376.

They are in the process of shipping some products out. I am not sure why others that may have received a pair have not posted but as soon as I receive these, I will create a new thread and post my experience.

@Kyle@srydzewski1@Corey

I've trusted Laforge so much that I did not come out even after 1 year plus since I've first backed the project. Despite the first 2 delays and minimal updates, I still believe in the project. However, after more than a year and when the delays continued, I had to voice out as a customer and as a concerned backer. You've said that I had a choice of refund hence I gave an ultimatum that by February, if nothing happens I will get a refund but again, when Corey mentioned that the Alpha will be out in 10 days, I trusted his words and even signed up for the lock-in offer. I would not even back a project that cost a fraction of this project that delayed even once or has weak communication with its backers and hack I don't even trust lending any of my casual friends $10 but I locked-in the offer because of Corey words, that is how much trust I had with the company and Corey.

However, if the company don't even bother to come out to explain/apologies for its delays promptly and after 4 months from the last delivery date is nothing but silence on the project (production updates), don't you think it is justifiable for a person to express his/her dissatisfaction? Just tell me if I am the one being unreasonable for ranting on not just knowing that there was a delay but a freaking 4 months of silence on the project "Not even mentioning the past year and a half of waiting".

@Corey

I've looked at your social media page as well, I believe the complains are genuine. Seriously, who the hell would complain on a company that actually does what they set out to do? What fault can they even bring to the table if the company is doing its job properly, have you thought of that? Why would someone randomly comes out and just rant on the company for no reasons? Even if there are people whose sole intention is to bring the company down , can they even do that if they can't find fault in the company? The truth is, there are too many flaws, mistakes, ignorance and arrogance from Laforge which had led to complains and chaos. Laforge is not doing well on keeping its promises and Laforge isn't doing itself a favor for not updating as well. To top it all, to date we are all still as blind as a bat with regards to the project cause we've yet to see any tangible result from the project nor are there proper coverage that makes us believe this is real, apart from your holy words. That is an insane amount of trust by itself no matter what way you are looking at it.

----------------

Closing statement : I seriously do hope the project does go well and I do hope I would get the glasses sooner than later. If there are going to be delays, at least let us know and if there are roadblocks, update us on the issues and problem. That is the very least that we as part of the program could experience on this journey rather than just being a "Galley slave"not knowing anything and just paddling away till we reach the destination, IF we even reach the destination. Also, please don't make this an indefinite wait, the company needs to set a target, to prove that the company is progressing and a target for us to look forward as well. I'm not getting my hopes up on having the beta bold this year but damn, at least complete/start the Alpha this year.... otherwise Laforge would still be on getting out the Alpha phase 2019.

As one song puts it, "Do the impossible / See the invisible".

Corey, I don't know you or any of your team, so I'm just a consumer really. I knew this was an Alpha, I know what that means. I was a CastAR backer to the end, and most of the projects I've ever backed haven't come to anything. Basically, my take? Just keep trying. Please. What LaForge wants to do is worth trying, and I put money into this even if nothing ever comes of it. Someday, maybe I'll get a real product to touch and hold. Even if I don't, it's _worth trying_ and it's better than anything I could do on my own.

"Touch the untouchable / Break the unbreakable"

Thank you Corey. Keep doin what you‘re doin.

Well said.

@srydzewski1: I admit we could have done better in communication. We have been adding people to the team to improve. I have also stopped revealing plans that are in process in favor of highlighing plans that are completed and achievements.

@all: The purpose of us developing this product in this way was to be open with developments, but I do feel that somehwere along the way I failed to highlight enough that an Alpha is not a finished product and that we are doing dozens of tests. At times I feel like Elon Musk having to explain that AutoPilot is just an advanced version of cruise control and not a fully self-driving feature.

I'm also not sure how my history of being upfront with offering refunds, explaining delays (which are often the result of suppliers "wanting the business" and not being upfront with us), showing pictures and videos of key components, making investor filings with SEC, and filing IP has been conflated into an elaborate scam. Have you considered that the same questions you have for me about delays are the same questions I have for our suppliers (hint: they are and that is why we change them)?

Input from engaged pre-order customers has lead to several key design changes that some our latest prototypes being nearly indistinguishable from conventional prescription eyewear. It has changed the way we are building our app, socialFLO. We are learning and we are building! The purpose of the cash portion of the pre-order is to ensure that we are getting feeback from those who are willing to spend $500 to $600 on eyewear rather than biasing the data with spectators with and an opinion. We know that many people end up spending that much for eyewaer and our goal is to increase the value of that $500 to $600.

As stated before, I understand that people have lost money that were involved with other company's projects. But I didn't work for them and we are different companies solving different problems. We are not a cryptocurrency, a company that only attaches electonics to eyewear, or a credit card company. If I am to be judged (and I know no one gets the luxury of choosing how they are judged) please judge me against the outcomes of other AR start-ups that were funded in a similar way (cough: with private investor money) and you will see we are unique and still here. CastAR proposed a vision that was overly complex and beyond the realm of known physics (they do not exist anymore). MagicLeap attemped to commericalize new technology out of the University of Washington based on fiber optics (they seem to have gone back to more conventional optics, but hey they have raised $3 billon so they can do whatever they want for the next 10 years). Skully (backed by intel) was proven to be a corrupt company (and was dismantled). Atheer labs cancelled their headset and is now a software company. Meta's price has gone up 2 or three times and they couldn't be further away from their orignal vision of making you like iron man. The reason why I bring these companies up is two fold. First, at least they tried and second, none of them are attempting to bring low cost (sub-$1000) AR to the masses and these are the closest companies to us that have ever existed.

Most of the people who complain (literaly 5 people out of 45,000 people who liked our facebook page) are not customers. They are people who have been taking adavantage of in the past who want to warn others from making the same mistake they did (totally understandable). However, the way they've gone about is disingenuous. We've known for several months that these people who do not have pre-orders are actually one person with multiple accounts. We've also established that this same person is friends with another person who comes up with consiparacy theories and inflammatory messages on our facebook page. We also know that these guys have been contacting our pre-order customers via facebook and harassing them. We also know that they have done this to other companies in the recent past. Why would you align yourself with them?

My job as CEO is to accept the blame and provide solutions to advance the company; this is what I have been doing. I have no crystal ball, I cannot predict problems, all I can do is respond in a way that prevents that specific failure from happening again. I do not consider delays to be a failure (even the smallest problem can stop a rocket launch), but rather a learning opportunity. I do not have an infinite budget and I do not know everything.

If you believe the earth is flat; fine. I'm not going to dispute it with you. If you tell me you believe the sky down and refuse to acknowledge that you hanging upside down, there is nothing I can do for you either. The thing about belief is that facts don't matter and are often construed as attacks on someone's belief and identity (we have to consider this).

What I am saying is this, we are one of the last companies that exist in a difficult space. We are the only company who has ever attempted to make an AR device that looks like normal presctiption eyewear. And yet I am being ridiculed for building infrasturcture (the machines don't build themselves), creating assets, and changing minds of investors and large companies. People like me, who take the arrows from skeptics, are the primary reason shit gets done in the first place. We need advocates in this industry (that is the purpose of the forums), not nay-sayers and Monday morning quarterbacks. If your weatherman predicted sunshine and you get rained on it doesn't make him a bad weatherman and it doesn't mean you should wear a raincoat for the rest of your life either.

Mixed metaphors aside, my final ask (as well as my final comment on this thread) is this. Look at Google (a multibillion dollar company) and Glass and ask yourself is LAFORGE Optical (not a multi-billion dollar company) building something superior and is merely late?

Seriously John R., you are starting to get on my nerves. If you haven't locked-in yours yet, get your refund and go pester the mentioned other companies.

I too have had my faith in LAFORGE Optical shaken considering the inconsistencies, delays, missing follow up videos, long overdue"order status" page update, couple all that up with the fact that La Forge is the last name of a crew member on the S.S. Enterprise -D... (Corey must be a trekkie), it started to seem fishy.

And in addition, keeping a close eye on the company I've invested in and seeing you make rants, demands and lashing on even patient backers (hats off to whom), to me it seemed more and more risky and thought to myself, that perhaps I should wait for the Beta Bold release if it ever came to that, despite the $200 higher price tag.

Point is, I got my money back, so why don't you and let them focus on what they set out to do in peace so they can reach their end goal, rather than have to deal with an idiot set out to try and shake everyone else's trust in the company, only potentially causing more delays.

I would have loved to get my hands on a pair of these glasses in the Alpha stage as I also am interested in the development of apps, and have programming training. At this point, I don't know if I've lost out on an opportunity to be part of a hot and new line of revolutionary products in the early stages of my career. But if I have then I got only two words for you, and it ain't a pleasant one so lets leave it at that.

Stop trying to ruin it for the rest of us. GO AWAY!!

Now I am sure Corey can agree that whatever trust that has been shaken, there is understandable and clear reason for it, and I remain hopeful that this product will come about revolutionizing Augmented Reality.

John, did you do the pre-order lockin?

If you did then according to the FTC: "for longer or indefinite delays - and second and subsequent delays - you must get the customer's written, electronic or verbal consent to the delay."

If you didnt then get your refund a go to the other products you mentioned.

So realisticly if you did, then you consented to the delay and if you didnt, then get your refund. So please pick which.

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/selling-internet-prompt-delivery-rules

Your 2 cents made no sense. First of all, your so called "protection" is called a chargeback. Typically the maximum allowable chargeback period is 120 days (depending on your bank some may be more, some may be less). This project has long past a few years for most and I highly doubt there are many banks out there would allow a chargeback period of 3 freaking years! That is why some scamming company purposely delay time and giving excuse so that they could void the chargeback period. Second, not all countries practices chargeback, most banks in Asia do not allow chargeback despite this being a condition under Visa/Mastercard. Third, have you ever thought that some people might be using DEBIT CARD or other means of transaction that does not have chargeback or similar protection? Please don't so casually say"SO COOL IT PEOPLE"when you have not done your research.

I won't say it is something people have not seen before cause intel/zeiss and quite a few companies already debuted their AR glass (casual AR glass like Laforge mind you), it's just a matter of time that they are announcing their release to the public which further makes the anticipation for the Alpha even greater. How long do you think you should wait? 10 years? 20 years? I believe most of us have been extremely patient cause we did not even make a sound for a few years (for us early backers) whereas if you see other projects in kickstarter getting a shit ton of heat just after 6 months of delay from the original estimated shipping date.

@Corey Fair enough, but it's a touch odd that NOONE has had any comments on the glasses and the Phantom display...