It's now 31 days since
ACK made these promises:
Posted on 8-Jul-2007 8:44:15
@kirka and everyone,
A bunch of stuff is getting shipped out this week:
1) Chris's board will go out on Monday, and he should have it on Tuesday or Wednesday.
2) I'm just waiting on a few case parts for Ivan's machine that were damaged when the machine was shipped to me, but he'll have it this week.
3) Kneedeep's board will go out around mid-week.
4) Cash flow has improved and the issue with Jens will be finalized within a couple weeks.
Adam
In case anyone isn't up to speed on who Chris (AmigaAbbatoir) or Ivan or KneeDeep are, or how many years they have been waiting for their Amiga One or their money back from ACK, then I direct you to the bottom of
Hatschi's infamous ACK list.
During those 31 days, ACK's (lack of) progress was followed in this thread:
ACK customer and partner experience thread going forwardBut to summarise: Only Chris's board was returned (10 days later than promised), and nothing else since then. Neither has Jens heard back from ACK about (payment for or returning of) his sample A1200 connectors.
Given that everyone was supposed to have received their Amiga Ones back within 6 days of ACK's post, and that it is now 31 days after his post, I feel that we have given ACK more than enough leeway:
1. ACK used to run a UPS store, so he should know VERY well how long packages can take to be delivered. So underestimating delivery time is not an excuse. Not that any delivery should take anything like a month!
2. ACK has held these Amiga Ones for up to 3 years, and been repeatedly chased about returning them, so he has had more than enough time to repair them. If he can't repair them for some reason, then he should return them AND any money that was given. He has not.
3. No one forced ACK to promise the return of these boards - he did that of his own free will, knowing full well the consequences of doing that.
4. If ACK says he had another convenient problem (that occurred after he gave his promises), then I am sorry, but that is one too many conveniently timed excuses for him to be believed. You know the story of the boy who cried wolf? (see
Hatschi's infamous ACK list)
5. The (very late) return of a single Amiga One to it's rightful owner gave some hope that the others might follow, but this seems to have been a false hope - and perhaps was only done (under duress) to try to silence his critics.
There is simply no way left to believe that ACK made these (latest) delivery promises in good faith. He simply cannot have intended to deliver them on the timetable that he gave. Regardless of whether the two remaining Amiga Ones do eventually get returned (days, weeks or months later), I consider ACK's delivery promise from 31 days ago to be a proven lie.
So we move on to motivation - why would he lie? Well, there was mention of getting the authorities involved, and I think that must have been the sole reason for making these latest (broken) promises. Clearly he cannot (quickly) return these Amiga Ones, for whatever reason. Perhaps he damaged them further (when trying to 'fix' them), perhaps he sold them, who knows? But the reason does not matter, all that matters is that ACK knowingly told a very big lie, and did so without apparently worrying about the consequences. Considering his past history of broken promises (see
Hatschi's infamous ACK list),
this seems to be the way he normally acts. Such people are known as "compulsive liars", because they lie as a matter of practice, without even thinking of whether they can convincingly maintain those lies.
I do not mean to say that ACK has no technical skill - clearly he has SOME. It is merely that he appears to exaggerate it well beyond his ability to deliver (for either technical or resource reasons). Whatever is the case, he should know he cannot deliver on his promises, and the only reason he makes them is because he is a compulsive liar.
He may still deliver on some of his promises, but I will not believe (or even listen) to anything ACK
says in the future. The only thing that will interest me is if/when he ever actually
does deliver on his promises (most likely years late).
And finally we must consider the consequences of his proven lies. I think it would be fitting that he be banned from Amiga.org (and other Amiga forums), because we cannot trust what he says. By repeatedly creating hope & then squashing it, he is pushing the remaining Amiga users away, because they become disillusioned. He also has the gall to continue to solicit FURTHER Amiga One repairs on Amiga World forums!
I also think it appropriate that those who have not received their Amiga Ones should persue it with the Canadian authorities. This is up to them of course, but it seems the only way they might ever see their very valuable Amiga Ones again.
I also retract my promise to buy OS4 hardware produce by ACK, if he delivers it before everyone else - not that I think this is likely to happen. I could not in all honesty trust him to resolve any problems that might arise (whether they be design or manufacturing faults).
edit: Correct spelling mistake (thanks ajs)
