We’ve always been open and transparent with our development.
If you’ve known of us since our Kickstarter campaign, we’ve always talked about the good news but most of all, the bad. This is how we truly are as a company and we feel that our community should know about our developments.
In our previous blog update, we mentioned that we encountered issues with the red LEDs of some of our keyboards.
Not sure where the problem came from, we decided that all keyboards needed to undergo a Burnt-In test - where we put 100 keyboards at a time in a room, turn on all its LEDs to its maximum color - white - for 24 hours.
In the end, we found the culprit and it was because there was just a tiny bit of moisture, that you can only see using a microscope, inside the LEDs.
We want to make sure that we don't send keyboards with faulty LEDs so we’re doing this extra test for all Raise keyboards. Those with LEDs that appear malfunctioning will be inspected using a microscope and will be desoldered from the PCB and will be replaced with a new one.
Palm pads
Besides the LEDs, another component of the Raise that we recently discovered had some issues is the white palm pads.
The white palm pads that we approved were not the same ones that our supplier sent us from mass production. The one they sent from mass production had a white line that was clearly visible. And we really couldn’t accept this.
It’s really unfortunate that this happened but our supplier tried to cut corners and because of this, we were sent these unacceptable palm pads.
We already told our supplier to redo them, but of course, now this will take more time and money. Hopefully, the palm pads arrive just in time before we ship the silver Raise keyboards. We will be shipping the silver Raise keyboards last so this shouldn't delay shipping.
We’re planning to ship the keyboards in batches by variation. We were supposed to ship the first 500 units of the black ANSI keyboards to Spain last Friday (July 3).
Shipping complications due to COVID-19
However, we encountered complications with customs and exportation. This was mainly due to the new regulations implemented because of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
In our previous shipment in December 2019, our keyboards flew to Spain from China via the cargo load of commercial airplanes. It was easier back then because we could fly in batches on a daily basis. But now that there are hardly any commercial airplanes in operation, airlines are no longer permitting this mode of transporting goods from China.
So since we couldn’t do this, our solution was to use DHL’s cargo plane. This was the initial agreement. Unfortunately, they had implemented new bureaucratic processes that we as a company could not afford to do.
Boxes of Dygma Raise keyboards being held up waiting to be sent to Spain from China
As a result, the shipment was further delayed and our keyboards (the first 500 units) were detained in Chinese customs over the weekend.
Solution!
The good news is that we are now working with another forwarding carrier that will deliver the keyboards from China either today or tomorrow and we hope to receive them by the 4th week of July.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and that you have to wait longer for your keyboards 🙏
Despite this, we still want to ensure that the keyboards are going to arrive at each customer’s doorstep in the best condition possible. So once the keyboards arrive in Spain, we will do the final quality check in our warehouse, then ship them to customers. Customers will receive an email from DHL with their tracking number when the keyboards are on their way.
Now if you're wondering if your keyboard is part of the 500 units that's flying over to Spain first, then if you ordered a black Raise with the ANSI layout (US English keycaps) with Cherry MX Brown/MX Red/MX Blue/Kailh Speed Gold/Speed Bronze, or Speed Siver switches, then yes it is!
As I mentioned, we will be shipping orders by variation, this makes the assembly process faster.
As you know we offer 2 Raise colors, 7 keycap languages and 7 mechanical switches. That's 98 combinations! So we will start with the black Raise keyboards with ANSI layout (US English keycaps), then send the black Raise keyboards with ISO layout (all other keycaps), then the silver ANSI, followed by the silver Raise with ISO layout.
Extending pre-orders
With what’s going on in the world, manufacturing abroad and shipping worldwide is more complicated than ever. Even massive companies, such as Amazon, have experienced these issues, though they might not openly talk about them.
Eventually, the end-user rightfully gets frustrated.
Our aim is to at least inform you and always do our best to deliver great quality keyboards. Even if this means that we ship at a later date.
With all that said, we've decided to go back to pre-sales, offering a 10% discount until the end of July.
To everyone that bought a keyboard from the 29th of June to the 9th of July, we will refund you the 10%.
This is our way of apologizing for the extra delays.
We hope that this gesture shows our appreciation for all of your support. We do however understand if some would want a refund because of the long wait.
We will continue to do our best to ensure that the quality of the keyboards come first. We would rather ship a high-quality product late, than a mediocre product early.
