AVE's now a thing of the past in my book...

[cctex]

I appreciate the update. I hope some of the new hires are people that can actually fill and ship orders. I can see a total cluster ....... when they do open back up and everyone is scrambling to fill their depleted supply of BB & GJ. Ben could probably make these 2 juices only and do quite well. Did you notice last time he was out of stock of these 2, the website was open all day. When they were in stock again it was open 5 minutes.

 

[MonsterTKE]

There is a lot going on and for now with the website offline (literally non-functional) .

It literally would take you 45 seconds to ftp into your site and replace your index.php with an index.html explaining what is going on.

But whatevs, Its hard to stay mad at a monopoly.

 

[unsure]

#@*^ happens!!! I guess it doesn't really surprise me its those mostly with low post counts and 2013 join dates that are doing most of the whining. If you been here long enough and know Ben you'd know he is a honest man!

 

[MonsterTKE]

#@*^ happens!!! I guess it doesn't really surprise me its those mostly with low post counts and 2013 join dates that are doing most of the whining. I you been here long enough and know Ben you'd know he is a honest man!

I know right, why cant everyone be retired with so little fulfilling activities to do.

 

[Jshill520]

Yeah guys cause your join date and number of posts directly reflects your vape date. Says the guy with 30 something posts. You could have the most posts on ecf and still have nothing to say.

 

[unsure]

Yeah guys cause your join date and number of posts directly reflects your vape date. Says the guy with 30 something posts. You could have the most posts on ecf and still have nothing to say.

True or have the less posts and have proof you have nothing to say.

 

[Jshill520]

I guess it all balances out in the end.

 

[Levitas]

I'm just glad we're all getting along.

 

[Chiwen]

I'm just glad we're all getting along.

now you made me laugh.

I love it when it gets to the whole my e-peen is bigger than yours stuff. No matter what forums you are on in the world wide waste it always comes back to post count.

Totally true Btw, your opinion doesn't mean squat until you've reached 10,000 posts. Guess I got alot of trolling to do.

Sent from my SCH-R530M using Tapatalk 2

 

[Worutaa]

#@*^ happens!!! I guess it doesn't really surprise me its those mostly with low post counts and 2013 join dates that are doing most of the whining. If you been here long enough and know Ben you'd know he is a honest man!

Not whining, but I will definitely complain.. just sayin.

 

[unsure]

Not whining, but I will definitely complain.. just sayin.

You have been here since 2009 for that alone gives more credence to your opinion and I can respect your opinion even tho it may differ from mine. I guess what angered me is someone relatively new saying a friend of mine is dishonest who can't possibly known him as long as some of us. I will agree this situation sucks. As to him making millions well I doubt it but even if he is....its only cause we are willing to pay his prices. I think they're to high also but I do have the choice to buy anywhere else as does everyone.

 

[Porphy]

It sounded more to me that they didn't appreciate the credit card fraud that they believe originated from the AVE site.

Nor should they. People effected need someone to vent the anger off at, and we're the best place. It's understandable and expected. After getting a good idea of how the intrusion was made, I'm sure there is more that can be done. This issue is the primary reason we are offline now and remain offline.

No excuses, just pragmatism. We are more tangible than the person who hacked the server and website.

I wholeheartedly agree. Less competition for boba's is great in my book.

We aren't attempting to drive customers away, that's not an intention of our closing. It may be an unfortunate side-effect, but we found that leaving the website open with an active intrusion was more detrimental.

We are working hard to get the website back online. I've been tight lipped on the progress because it is mostly a coding job and if there is one thing I've learned about contracted software jobs... always add 2.5 times the estimate. I'm hoping to have the website online by the 24th. I'll miss my anniversary by two days but I can get my gift a bit late (an open website.)

 

[Skypea]

I'm hoping to have the website online by the 24th. I'll miss my anniversary by two days but I can get my gift a bit late (an open website.)

Yes! A date estimate makes me happy. Thank you for the news.

 

[Proetus]

Thanks for the update Ben! I'll be waiting patiently!

 

[D4rk50ul]

Haven't ordered from AVE in awhile but I for one applaud them acknowledging the issue and taking appropriate actions even though it hurts their business.

As far as email responses, i imagine they got pretty slammed and what can they really say other than sorry, we are working to fix it. Still a top vendor in my book and will order again.

 

[Jethead]

So, believe me I've been just as frustrated by this latest closing as the next guy.

However as a small business owner myself, LIFE IS A ..... and I seriously doubt Ben has made "a .... ton of money" as someone else posted, simply BEING in business COST'S a .... ton of money. And who cares how much or how little money he's made it's really none of our business.

It's been frustrating that they have been tight lipped on updates but imagine this, they tell us a date, we all COUNT on it, then a supplier falls short or the webmaster falls short or an employee dies, or the .... hits the fan and all of these are great reasons to miss a promised date but NONE of them would matter to you or I as we are waiting on our beloved Boba's. You'd be ....... Better to NOT promise a thing and just open up without fanfare.

Ben & Christie, I don't know y'all from Adam, but I'll tell ya this, I'll continue to buy from you as long as you stay in America, hiring Americans and do your very best to buy from American suppliers.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Porphy]

Thanks Jethead, you summed up the delay in updates fairly well. You are spot on at least with my hesitation to set specific dates. I learned early that as soon as you set a date, something happens to extend that timeline.

We still get some hardware from overseas, but I try to stay local where I can. I like putting money back into the local area. As I explained to someone awhile ago; my lifestyle is good and my wife and I are accustomed to living a lifestyle of two bachelor college students. Anything beyond that (and some savings) I put back into the community via jobs and networking(non-internet related social networking... old-timey stuff). Right now, with the expansion and redesign we are going to be adding a few more jobs! Woohoo!

That is what gets me excited! Jobby jobs! I'm not against automation at all either, that IS coming. However, I think I hold a differing view than most larger corps in this regard. I don't want automation to take away payrolls...just jobs. I'd rather pay a human to do nothing but watch a robot work, rather than to have them needlessly engaged in a task that for all intents and purposes is taken care of.

I say "let robots take our jobs, just leave the pay!"

We excel at the creative anyway. Why pay someone to do a repetitive task when I can else-wise engage their minds to help us grow, handle customers concerns, or create new avenues of wealth? ... but I'm off on a tangent and getting into sensitive waters anyway.. I redirect back to the topic:

Our closing and slow updates ARE frustrating. I'm annoyed similarly but perhaps from a different perspective, however, I'm not so far removed from the days when I was on the other end of the order form. I can and do empathize, hell it's the fire that moves me to get my jobs done each day.

I think that over the next few days you'll get better updates from me (as I get better updates from 3 contractors) and you'll be able to see progress at the website URL. Right now (and hopefully not jinxing myself), we are moving along well, faster actually than anticipated. The limiting factors for now are the website redesign, getting familiar with the new software, and fixing the issues that WILL crop up from the previous two former points. At the same time we are trying to hire on 2 or three new folks within a few weeks, we have moved our offices already and are in the process of finalizing the finishing touches on the new property.

TL;DR: Jethead was correct, robots are awesome, and YOU ROCK!

 

[Porphy]

P.S. - Yes, I do seem to talk the way I write...lots of parenthetical tangents and additions.

 

[asf146]

speed bumps and cliff-falls do happen in business. even in successful business unfortunately.
the more consumers you have, the more people you will likely have that will be unhappy when you come up short.

I would rather them get their speed bumps taken care of, get organized with whatever it is they are needing to do to be up and running, than to have those same people spend all their time updating and updating and updating us 24/7.
I know communication to customers is important though and people want to be in the know. I do too trust me lol..... but I am sure, if whatever happened that made them shut down the site was bad enough, then in turn made them VERY busy trying to reorganize, possibly from the ground up even.

I'll be patient.

 

[Porphy]

Thanks ASF146! Really though I should be updating more. I can and should, if only to respond to forum questions, etc. Thank you for your patience and understanding, it is nice to get that message on my end. However, leave me on the hook, I need the stress and pressure. In an odd way the added stress helps.