Announcement from EZ Read/Astak Team

[kennyc]

Well there is of course a 4th option....Robert might have been a time traveler from the future and the Governer of California is hot on his trail and the Agent Smiths are looking for Jennifer and Astak is not really an ereader company but an alien outpost collecting specimens and ...

[eGeezer]

Hmmm. I've heard that storyline somewhere before, so it must be true.

[kennyc]

I think it was on the interwebz.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

LOL.

Well, whether it is Robertb, or an Astak impersonator, the result is the same: we now appear to have confirmation that Astak (not Jenifer) lied to us because they didn't have the integrity to just say, "Robert is no longer with the company due to <state any vaguely relevant truth here>" -- something we all would have accepted and moved past.

Unless, of course, we are dealing with the sicko 3rd option.

Astak don't lack the integrity to come forward and tell the truth, they lack the ability to COMMUNICATE with people. I still have not received a response to my support issue I emailed twice about a few weeks ago, nor did Jenifer respond here to it (multiple posts BTW). Early on prior and just after buying my Pocket Pro did Astak get back to me on anything? No. Did Robert? Yes he did. Robert had the right idea, communicate with people. He admitted that Astak could not fight the fight on price, service was the way to go. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, he knew as well as anybody that communication and service is what is needed, and I got the impression that Astak didn't feel that way, and if Robert happened to have passed on factually incorrect information regarding the company and product development/releases....well then I believe it was because he was fed incorrect information.

Am I bitter? Hmmm a little. I did take a chance buying from a smaller less established ereader company, I can highly understand and remain patient on sales/support from smaller companies, but to have no response to multiple requests......I don't know what else to say. How much pushing a shoving should one customer have to do???

Am I happy with the product? Yes. Did I recommend Astak and their products? Yes. Will I continue to recommend? No. Will I buy from them again? No. This forum had died since Robert left/departed/shown-the-door.

So no we don't have a sicko person, we have a company who was once openly represented by a person who had the right idea, of which the company is now 'faceless' and ignorant of, and refusing/unable to communicate with customers - the people buying and freely publicising their products. Want an example? Why has all the ereader info been taken down from Astak.com? Ok, website redevelopment, but in this day and age a website can be redeveloped on a test system then in a matter of minutes moved over to the live system, minimal downtime. But what do we have now? Nothing until the new website comes, no banner or flashy page saying "Hey we're revamping our site, come back in a week when it is all up, put in your email address and we'll email you when!!!! Until then go here for info". The new line of 6" came out not long ago, I only knew about from visiting here. I've got a login on astak.com and ezread.com, did they send me a promotional email letting me know? No. No communication. Amazon sent me an email about the new Kindle, Barnes and Noble notify me about the Nook, Kobo are sending me regular emails on new products etc.

Word of free advice Astak, COMMUNICATE. How can a customer know about new products/offers if you don't tell them? I've been signed up with the ebook store and received no emails of new authors etc. Do you expect us to keep stopping by on a regular occasion to see what's new? Is that the same philosophy with the product support? Expect the customer to continually seek a response??

Sorry for the long post, but they are my thoughts and it is what I feel.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

I still have not received a response to my support issue I emailed twice about a few weeks ago, nor did Jenifer respond here to it (multiple posts BTW).

Can you please direct me to these multiple posts? Also as a note to everyone, please forward any emails you send to support to jenifera@ezread.com. That way, I can follow up with tech more efficiently.

[ReaderEatter]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Forgive us our suspicions, if you really ARE RobertB....

I can see three scenarios here:

1. Robert was forced to close his original account here by his former employers and this is truly him with a new account.

2. Astak decided they have a public relations nightmare on their hands and decided some farewell words from "Robert" were necessary, and if they did not sound altogether complimentary to the company then so much the better...and so made an account impersonating him. Short term damage vs. long term PR problems (yes, I'm a skeptic about Korporate Amerika).

3. Some anonymous person saw the fuss about Robert, and decided, for whatever twisted reason, that it would be fun to impersonate him and make fools of all of us. Stranger things have happened.

Which is it? I have no idea. I'd LOVE to believe it's RobertB come back to us, but bless his heart, I'm not sure how he'd prove it if it is... not with this group of intelligent skeptics. Anyone have any questions that only RobertB would know the answer to?

Dear Phenom:

I used to always call you that!! Let me see, I did the poll using PMS colors for the Pocket PRO. There used to be a pirate guy who lived in Arkansas that was always on here who had a great recipe for Chocolate Sauce. There used to be only ONE thread for Astak. It ran about 126 pages and then they asked me if a forum of Astak's own was acceptable. I was the one who used to talk about the Evil PM.

WHEN I was fired at Astak I was given a little over an hour to clean out my desk and was not allowed to get on my computers. I had to turn in my Notebook and desktop and even my cell phone. Essentially, after six years, I was contactless and could not even contact my sister. It was very sudden and clinical. Very similar to death of your personna.

Let us not blame Jenifer! Jenifer means well and you need her. However, she dictates ONLY what the company says to say. So, do not blame her for lying; just do not expect she is free to say what she thinks or knows at all times. She is young and she is new and needs her job. She is not the problem. In a Chinese company you do AS you are told without question. I was NOT brought up that way. I was from the "Question Authority" generation. I tried to do what I thought would sincerely help the company WHILE helping our customers. To me, the two are tied together. I also felt that not being a "yes man"would serve the company better.

Anyway, I cannot log in as RobertB anymore. I wish I could. It feels very odd being under a different name on here.

I am applying for other jobs in this field; but cannot be on here daily. Jenifer has a good heart and will try to help you!!

Bob

[ReaderEatter]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well there is of course a 4th option....Robert might have been a time traveler from the future and the Governer of California is hot on his trail and the Agent Smiths are looking for Jennifer and Astak is not really an ereader company but an alien outpost collecting specimens and ...

Dear Kenny:

I like that scenario. I am a time traveler from the future and Astak may well be an alien outpost. (HA!) Keep up the good spirits and stay happy.

I am sorry to those who bought based on what I was posting... counting on my being there for them. The devices are very good... but I do agree that the main thing missing is "communication". Astak never understood (only barely tolerated) my time on MobileRead Forum. "WHY" left me without a clue. The forum was the best thing we had going.... maybe the only thing we had going (at times). Where it should have been praised and fully utilized... it was looked upon as a fault of mine. Many of you did began to get this thru my ramblings on these threads.

Still, though, the Pocket Pro is a gem!!

[kennyc]

Post under your original user name or tell us why you can't.

I don't believe this is Robert for the reasons stated above by me and others. And answer the question asked to prove it.

Originally Posted by ReaderEatter

Dear Kenny:

I like that scenario. I am a time traveler from the future and Astak may well be an alien outpost. (HA!) Keep up the good spirits and stay happy.

I am sorry to those who bought based on what I was posting... counting on my being there for them. The devices are very good... but I do agree that the main thing missing is "communication". Astak never understood (only barely tolerated) my time on MobileRead Forum. "WHY" left me without a clue. The forum was the best thing we had going.... maybe the only thing we had going (at times). Where it should have been praised and fully utilized... it was looked upon as a fault of mine. Many of you did began to get this thru my ramblings on these threads.

Still, though, the Pocket Pro is a gem!!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Post under your original user name or tell us why you can't.

I don't believe this is Robert for the reasons stated above by me and others. And answer the question asked to prove it.

I am sort of with you here.

The RobertB account could probably be reactivated by the Mods with sufficient proof, even if Astak used their "owned", Robert's computer to deactivate the account.
I also agree with the poster, Astak did NOT get Retail or support (or their Web presence).

Roberts interaction sold me. I had been looking at the old 6" for almost a year. Robert was the reason I took the plunge and bought a PEz.

I won't be getting another Astak one.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Post under your original user name or tell us why you can't.

I don't believe this is Robert for the reasons stated above by me and others. And answer the question asked to prove it.

I suspect the former name was part of his job; he signed up for forum membership as an official rep with that name, and Astak may "own" that username. It's likely they changed the password.

[dacattt]

>> Roberts interaction sold me. I had been looking at the old 6" for almost a year. Robert was the reason I took the plunge and bought a PEz.

Same here. I've just gotten my 6". I was nervous getting something I hadn't heard of from a company with a minimal/glitchy web. I like my reader... but... wouldn't recommend it until someone else until I see how things work out w/ the company.

[kennyc]

Well there's always the answering of the question to prove the identity. I frankly don't think this poster even sounds like Robert talking/typing.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I suspect the former name was part of his job; he signed up for forum membership as an official rep with that name, and Astak may "own" that username. It's likely they changed the password.

RobertB is his FirstnameLastInitial OTOH Jennifers has the Company Name embedded

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I suspect the former name was part of his job; he signed up for forum membership as an official rep with that name, and Astak may "own" that username. It's likely they changed the password.

If that were the case then why all the intrigue, just keep using it as if nothing happened.

I don't think that user is banned or locked or anything.... I just checked out some of his old posts to confirm my sense of the writing tone compared to the posts above...

[hch568]

I can think of another reason that RobertB can't login with his old id/password, that is, all his username/password info is embedded/saved in his office computer/laplop/cell-phone/etc. Once those gadgets were gone, it will be difficult for him to login successfully.

I was visiting my brother this August and was trying to show him some of my favorite forums, and I just can't log-in, I tried (believe me) with several possible passwords that I normally used, but just can't remember the correct one. Finally, I had to give up trying. Once I was back to my PC, everything is fine (I rely on a password program to save all my id/password)!

If my PC is gone, I might need to register using another username and password. Because of the experience mentioned above, I'm saving the id/password to my flash disk (including the password program, otherwise the data file is useless/can't be open with any other program).