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Christopher Dawson

Interesting OLPC discussion thread from Amazon

By | November 17, 2008, 9:56am PST

OK, really for sure, my last update for the day on the Amazon OLPC sales. Just wanted to post a conversation thread from the one, concerned, negative reviewer on Amazon:

Refund Policy?, November 17, 2008
By Marilyn Jones
Last year, there were many problems with the Get 1 portion of the Give 1, Get 1 promotion. While I’m sure that using Amazon for the shipping will take care of the majority of troubles, none of the information given here addresses the issue of refunds. If someone takes advantage of the G1G1 promotion and is unsatisfied with it, will the refund be for the full $399 or will it be for only half that amount? Last year it was very difficult to get the “Give 1″ portion refunded along with the “Get 1.”

Update: This review has received two comments to the effect that I am being a poor sport. This is my answer:

If I had wanted to make a donation of $200 without the bribe [of the Get 1], that’s what I would have done long before the first G1G1. This was the case with almost all the participants! Anyway, the refunds (I was not the only person who requested one) were desired by people who never received their XO’s or whose XO’s were stolen off their porches prior to their receiving them or who received XO’s with defects and then had trouble getting replacements. The refunds were not requested by participants who received working XO’s.

Painting me as unreasonable for wanting what I paid for is not the way to attract new participants. I’ve written 81 reviews on Amazon, the majority of which were positive (look at the number of other reviews posted by the people who gave this product five stars). I am a normal consumer. If only saints should participate in the G1G1 program, then that should be stipulated along with that refund policy!

Initial post: Nov 17, 2008 7:34 AM PST
G. A. Kaiser says:
May I suggest that, in the event you are dissatisfied with the XO for your own child, that you take the $200 refund and say “Thank you,” realizing that you’re helping a child far less well off than yourself with the relatively insignificant $200 you “lost?” This is what I’m thinking for my daughter for Christmas this year, and if I had to return it, I wouldn’t even think of asking for the money back for the “Give 1″ portion.

Posted on Nov 17, 2008 8:17 AM PST
Jim of Oz says:
I don’t see why anyone should expect a refund of the “Give One” portion of this program. You’re giving something, not buying something. I wouldn’t expect a soup kitchen to return my donation if I didn’t like the soup they served, so I wouldn’t expect a return of the $200 I gave for the XO computer if I wasn’t satisfied with the computer I finally received.

In reply to an earlier post on Nov 17, 2008 8:24 AM PST
Last edited by the author 1 hour ago
Marilyn Jones says:
If I had wanted to make a donation of $200 without the bribe, that’s what I would have done long before the first G1G1. This was the case with almost all the participants! Anyway, the refunds (I was not the only person who requested one) were desired by people who never received their XO’s or whose XO’s were stolen off their porches prior to their receiving them or who received XO’s with defects and then had trouble getting replacements. The refunds were not requested by participants who received working XO’s.

Painting me as unreasonable for wanting what I paid for is not the way to attract new participants. I’ve written 81 reviews on Amazon, at least half of which were positive. I am a normal consumer. If only saints should participate in the G1G1 program, then that should be stipulated along with that refund policy!

Posted on Nov 17, 2008 9:00 AM PST
Jonathan Eisch says:
Ultimately, it seems the review was of a store, not of the product listed. Since that store wasn’t Amazon, I don’t see how any of it is relevant for a review of a product listed on amazon.

Marilyn Jones says:
It is about the REFUND policy, which is not mentioned. This is a legitimate concern and very relevant to the sale of the item through Amazon.

So what is the refund policy?

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Chris Dawson is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems. In 2011, he became the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network SaaS provider.

Disclosure

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson is the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., by day and a freelance writer and educational technology consultant by night. Well, most of his colleagues at WizIQ are based in India, so really he's working with them whenever he can stay awake. He has worked for his local school district as a teacher and technology director, for the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and for Biogen, Inc. (now Biogen-IDEC, Inc.). He has also consulted with STATNet and Cytyc Corporation and retains close ties with X2 Development Corporation (now owned by Follett Software, the supplier of the student information system he administered for several years). Follett is paying him a monthly honorarium to act as a presenter for their "SIS Voices for Student Achievement" community (he produces occasional blog posts and hosts a monthly webinar on the use of student information systems to inform data-driven instruction and school-wide change. He regularly purchases and/or recommends Dell hardware. This is because Dell makes good hardware and has truly committed itself to education in innovative ways, particularly with their "Connected Classroom" initiative. It isn't because he has dealings with the company through his role at WizIQ (which he does) or because they have provided him with long-term loans of a variety of equipment for in-depth testing (which they have). Intel (reference designer for the Classmate PCs he has implemented in his local schools) has provided him with long-term loans of Classmate PCs for testing, as have Dell and Lenovo with their educational offerings. He may report on any of these companies as his experiences with them have direct bearing on educational technology; positive reports are not necessarily an endorsement and he receives no direct financial compensation from these companies or any others. Intel paid all expenses for his attendance at the 2009 Intel Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit which he attended as the sole representative of the technology press. He was invited to attend in 2010 but his wife would have killed him if he spent 3 days in Vegas geeking out and left her home alone with a new baby. Acer provided him with a 50% discount on an Aspire One netbook in early 2009 after he tested it for 30 days through their educational seed program. He liked the netbook at the time but it has since broken and sits unused in his office. Canonical sent him Ubuntu lanyards, t-shirts, and mousepads for his kids. He stole one of the lanyards and proudly hangs his keys from it and occasionally features his 8-year old wearing an oversized Ubuntu t-shirt on his Facebook profile. Gunnar Optiks sent him a pair of computer glasses to evaluate for a holiday gift guide. He is wearing them now as he types this because they never asked for them back and they rock out loud. Seriously - they work brilliantly and make it much easier to spend 20 hours a day staring at an LCD. If they ever asked for them back, he would fork over the $99 and buy a pair. Microsoft gave him 2 free copies of Office 2010 professional, a desktop clock, and a useless book on Office 2010 when he attended the launch of Office/Sharepoint 2010. He occasionally uses the SharePoint lanyard they gave him instead of the Ubuntu lanyard for his keys, but feels dirty afterwards. Adobe provided him with a pre-release version of the CS5 Master Collection for evaluation and ultimately provided a full, licensed copy for ongoing testing of educational applications of this admittedly expensive software. Like the Gunnars, if the license expires or they come out with CS6, he'd actually go out and buy it himself. Which is saying something, because he's actually pretty cheap. Any other companies wishing to send him cool things to evaluate, wear, or otherwise adorn his kids are more than welcome to; he promises to disclose it here if he keeps any of the stuff. Finally, because WizIQ is a virtual classroom and learning network provider, Chris, as VP of Marketing, frequently interacts with, seeks out deals with, and directly or indirectly competes with a whole lot of LMS, SIS, and other Education 2.0 companies. In general, he'll limit his reporting about these companies to news that does not impact his relationship with them or with WizIQ. If he reports on them, it's because what they are doing is newsworthy or worth the attention of his readers and not because he's trying to broker some deal, damage competition, or otherwise advance his position in his day job. LMS and SIS companies, along with other online learning communities, are a pretty important part of Ed Tech. If he stops reporting on them completely, there won't be a whole lot left. He'll be sure to call out any overt conflicts of interest if they are unavoidable. Finally, Follett Software Company pays him a little tiny honorarium every month to present on their SIS Voices webinars and to write the occasional blog or discussion thread for them. Since Follett recently bought X2 (maker of an awesome web-based SIS that Chris just happened to have used, served in advisory groups for, and frequently reported on), this is probably also worth disclosing.

Biography

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, a couple-year stint in private industry, teaching high school math and technology, and 2 years as the technology director for his local school district. Most recently, he started his own consulting business and is now the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network provider. He lives with his wife, five kids (yes, 5), 2 dogs, and a hateful cat in a small town in north-central Massachusetts. Although he is no longer teaching, his roles with WizIQ and ZDNet allow him to continue helping students and teachers add value to education with technology rather than merely adding to the bottom line.
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It is not a gift if it is not given
Mahegan 17th Nov 2008
IMHO there is still a contract. The second OLPC is purchased on behalf of someone. The delivery should be timely and accurate. The computer should be functional and fit for service. Anything else is a fraud.

Gifts given between people at Christmas are still covered by warranty, etc. It is a type of meanness that treats the recipient of the gift as second class, just because they are in a "poor" country. I think that the commentary is reasonable.
You don't leave a person who gives you money pissed off. Ever. Without them you are nothing. It's far better to lose that one donation than to lose that person's goodwill. I say this as someone who works for a non-profit and a charity.
0 Votes
+ -
It was worse than pissed off....
Goatview Updated - 17th Nov 2008
Because I was pissed off (I'm now well into "bemused" territory), I was insulted, vilified, and had calumny heaped on my head. How dare I express disappointment and impatience! This program was not about me, it was about the children! Obviously I was a selfish clod and a non-techie to boot (yes, someone even ventured a guess that I would be at a loss to operate the XO had I been fortunate enough to actually get one--well, BOTH, as a matter of fact...I'd ordered/donated/paid for four of them).

I was a first day participant, incidentally, and I didn't even write or call about the non-delivery for over six weeks, which meant I couldn't recover through PayPal. I had been TOO patient rather than not patient enough. It was another 6 before I got my full refund. I used half to buy an Asus EEE and half for spays and neuters of homeless pets.

OLPC has a serious hubris problem. I was small potatoes compared to Brent Oxley:

http://blog.hostgator.com/2008/01/31/one-laptop-per-child-they-will-fail/

In short, you are right, Mr. Kelly--you don't do this to your donors.

Marilyn Jones
0 Votes
+ -
It is not a gift if it is not given
Mahegan 17th Nov 2008
IMHO there is still a contract. The second OLPC is purchased on behalf of someone. The delivery should be timely and accurate. The computer should be functional and fit for service. Anything else is a fraud.

Gifts given between people at Christmas are still covered by warranty, etc. It is a type of meanness that treats the recipient of the gift as second class, just because they are in a "poor" country. I think that the commentary is reasonable.

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