- Joined
- Jun 30, 2020
- Messages
- 2,018
I promised you a more detailed reply. Here it is. Sorry for the length. I didn't have time to write a fraction of it earlier. I hope it explains the delay.
Last winter was really bad. We lost UPMan and that was mostly unexpected. Surgery is always risky but we did not expect things to go THAT bad. Only a month later we learned of COVID-19. The latter really put a damper on the replacement since in-person interviews were not possible, and everyone was hyper-social-distancing at the time (and for good reason). Well, the pandemic is still with us plus some more nasty variants, but Uniden made the decision to move ahead based on remote interviews, I believe a recommendation from UPMan, and my history of assisting Paul during times when Paul was not directly available and providing input on his ideas (a sounding board if you will). I did that to help out and not as any scheme to be Paul's successor. I truly respected the man for his efforts and wanted to see him around much longer. Last summer is when my contract was negotiated and finalized, but there were many steps I wanted to take so as to not step on toes. Initially, my role was to be the liaison between Uniden and the customer base - specifically but not exclusively in this forum. One of my requests was an official introduction on this forum, but I also wanted a separate Uniden email for 'public' use in addition to my internal use email (already proving invaluable, as my public email is receiving a lot of RR emails). If you note, this account was created on June 30, 2020 - right around the time things were moving forward. I expected to be active shortly after that creation. The beta team, one of my other duties, was revived to address some issues (minor ones) along with some re-established communications lines due to the demise of YahooGroups [and to answer the obvious question, no, we are not looking for new beta team members at this time]. It was around the September time-frame my title was 'assigned', and I was surprised that it was what it is. I asked if it was a mistake, and was told that's what management made it (surprise!) Back to the RR duties, my request for the public email was also delayed - finally being created a couple days ago. I didn't want to start things here with no official means of public email contact to gather data. Well, between resurgence of COVID, and other delays, here we are.
Cutting to the chase, earlier this week Uniden Customer Service received some inquiries with respect to a series of issues that mostly resulted from the outdated TWIKI information and outdated BC_VUP data. I was part of the discussion of how to (and who will) resolve this, and offered to update the TWIKI and pass this information on to the customer base. It only makes sense since I need to be aware of the latest firmware anyway, so why not make that an extension of my duties since it is after all communications with the public. Little by little I am taking on the duties Paul had. Yesterday, I was granted access to admin the TWIKI and BC_VUP database at which time I 'forced' the email issue (handled by the same admin). I started updating the TWIKI with the BC125AT info (the model that had the biggest issue involved) and I believed it was necessary to get this updated info out to as wide a number of people as possible ASAP, so I went ahead with the introduction that I had sent to management and made my first RR post - followed by trying to identify other issues that needed immediate addressing. (for that sudden rush, I apologize to the RR admins for blindsiding you like that - it was not the plan)
I doubt that this will receive any blowback from management, as we just seemed to be stuck in a rut but there were issues that required immediate resolutions and announcement. If any toes were stepped on, I apologize.
I have to admit that part of the delay was reluctance on my part to step in, as I was still in denial/shock about Paul's passing (it is still hard to accept, but is better than it was late last year), and I believe the same was true throughout management. But, here we are a year down the road, and mourning time is over. I decided to take the bull by the horns and act. So, we can all thank some people who called Customer Service for spurring this action. The immediate issues are resolved, and we are moving forward to solve others. For that, I'm sure Paul would be pleased.
So, there is the history in a nutshell and the reason for the delay. Uniden was never going out of business. The strained supply lines caused (and is causing) delays getting scanner inventory to dealers. The increased customer demand is not helping (but is welcomed), and we hope the supply chain is fully recovered soon. Updates are planned for nearly all the current models, so we expect them to be in production for some time.
Really, Paul was the only person at top management authorized to post here, so I doubt there was anyone else who knew how. That is why there was no update. I have been trying to restore the lines of communication here since July, but didn't want to step on toes and was not certain I was fully authorized yet. I am still testing the waters so to speak. I do not know at this time the status of @UnidenSupport who is still active but has not posted (as far as I can tell) since Paul's passing. That is something else I will look into. I had not realized their lack of posts.
While I was not the only one responsible for the delay (especially prior to the summer when I became directly involved), I will accept full responsibility for the delay, ask for forgiveness, and will do my best to make up for lost time. The plan for tomorrow (later today) is to try to update more of the TWIKI, but some info will have to wait for info from the engineers (mainly firmware release dates). Still, I expect it to be largely updated within the next 24 hours. That will include changes/clarifications suggested by RR members. BC_VUP was updated yesterday and should now allow everyone access to the latest firmware.
