Pacemaker is Paradigm shifting?

pacemaker_sonar_june_2007_07

I was explaining to someone over twitter about the Pacemaker device since I was using it at the Future Media North Christmas Party. They were interested in buying some dj kit and was seeking advice from myself and Simon Lumb.

I know the pacemaker device (as its now called) isn’t coming back because frankly there wasn’t enough demand but that shouldn’t affect how ground breaking of a device it was/is. I would go almost as far as to say it was a paradigm shift in djing and mixing. No other device before it had attempted to cater for a niche like djs before and with something so bold.

I was thinking about this when my sister laid claim to my all but dormant BlackBerry Playbook which the pacemaker guys got me. Even the pacemaker guys will be first to admit the tablet isn’t a great platform for djing. Maybe I could push them to say the original vision was compromised when moving to the tablet, but its a compromise which has kept them in the game.

pacemaker_sonar_june_2007_06

The Pacemaker device was mind blowing, I would suggest almost paradigm shifting.

Everything up to that moment was aping vinyl and then some guys came along and built something which was so radical I can only suggest it was like a paradigm shift in djing. There hasn’t been such a major shift in the way you dj since direct drive turntables.
Not only that the mission was always the democratisation of djing, such a fine and impressive goal.

Of course thats my view, many would disagree? One of the best quotes I heard before I ordered my own over 5 years ago.

I wanted a PlayStation Portable for music” – Jonas Norberg

The Pacemaker in use

Never forgotten and I still use my every few weeks, in fact because of it I now buy more music legally than I had before (at least till when I was buying vinyl). What I’m wondering is if this might be a good time to do some crowd funding? A kickstarter would be easy for these guys because they have a good track record and certainly know what there doing to a certain point. I don’t know if I would pay through the nose again for a pacemaker but I’m seriously thinking about buying another one on ebay just in-case my one goes wrong in some way.

Hallmark, what on earth is going on?

I don’t understand Hallmark and generally a lot of traditional retailers… They really don’t get the internet at all!

My story started when ordering Christmas Cards from Hallmark.com. I looked at others like that flipping funky pigeon, but decided I would go with Hallmark because the quality of the cards seemed better and the website was slightly better arranged.

So I ordered all the cards for friends and families, relaxed knowing it was done and dusted.

Then I got my cards for my family in the post. Everything seemed great except my parents card had a major screw up on it. So bad was the screw up you couldn’t really read what was on the card at all. I had to go out and buy another one in a rush.

Hallmark wtf?

I complained to @Hallmark and @hallmarkuk on twitter (ah a good reason to have my twitter archive) and wrote them an email or two. Anyway I didn’t get much back till after new years.  Nothing on twitter which is very poor, over a popular season like Christmas. I referenced the tweets in the email…

In the end I got a reply over email saying…

Dear Ian Forrester
Thank you for your email

Unfortunately we are unable to click on the following link. To assist you further can you please supply us with the order number given at the time of purchase. If you have a Hallmark account this can be found on the “order history” section or you can find this information on your Hallmark confirmation email.

We hope this is helpful

Kind regards
Hallmark customer service

Yes you heard it right… HallmarkUK couldn’t click on the Yfrog image link in twitter because why? To which I replied saying…

Description on twitter reads

“Bloody @hallmarkuk screwed up my parents xmas card! twitter.yfrog.com/esy2bbt... 🙁 didn’t look like that in preview
The picture is of the card I received at the end… (attached)
Order Reference Number: POxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Joel Bussey customer support got back to me with this…

Dear Ian,

Thank you for your email, we appreciate you taking the time to advise us of this error. We have made the printing department aware of this mistake to avoid future errors.

I will process a full refund for that item for the value of £2.39.

Again I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and if you do have any further question please feel free to contact us.

Kind regards

I was frankly insulted and told them so. I also complained that there Twitter account was a total joke and some of my upset could have been defused with better engagement on twitter.

Last email I got from them was…

Dear Mr Forrester

Thankyou for your email.  I am sorry to hear about the trouble you had and the inconvenience caused.  My colleague Joel, has issued you a refund, unfortunately we are unable to reimburse any more money but as a gesture of goodwill and the trouble you encountered I can send a pack of sample cards for your use.

If you can forward me your address I shall get this out to you.

I have also passed on your details to our social media team to look into the trouble you had online with Twitter.

Thanking you and once again apologies for nay disappointment caused.

I thought this was a joke and I was insulted again because it wasn’t about the money… I found it odd that they needed my address once again?

I wrote this…

Poor show Hallmark! You call this customer service?
Most of the online retailers would just refund me the whole amount as a show of faith 🙁
Next time I’ll be taking my custom to the likes of Moo.com who know what customer service really means
You should be able to get my address from the online system I used to order the cards, if you can’t do that…
…it would suggest you might not be the person to authorise a refund either?
I’d suggest passing me on to someone who can do the refund or send me my “sorry we screwed up” order
I’ll look forward to hearing from the Social Media team.
They should have been all over my tweets on the run up to Christmas
Shameful 🙁
So I was expecting a sorry card and a pack of cheap blank cards… However for some reason I got this pile of stuff in the post today.

Hallmark wtf?

Totally random stuff! What the…?

Winnie the pooh record-able storybook (might be useful for perceptive media), 2 magnetic note pads, some odd blank book and stuffed toy which reads a book to you.

SERIOUSLY WTF! No seriously Hallmark, WTF?

All in a massive parcel and no usable cards or even a sorry card. I’m very surprised but not in a really good way. Nice of them to send me stuff and I am greatful (in a way) but WTF!!!!!! Really? I keep looking at it on my table and shouting WTF!!!!

I have no idea what they were thinking or what there trying to say? Its almost like they think I’m actually a young kid or maybe this is there way of trolling me? I just don’t get it and I have no idea what to say about it. But I know what some of the godchildren will be getting for there birthdays this year… 🙂

I warned @HallmarkUK but to be honest next time just send a card (its what you do!) and say how sorry you are! Simple!